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Sunday Battles

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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 9, 1864

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 23, No. 11.

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Sunday Battles.

By Editor

The New York Observer maintains that Sunday battles have generally proved disastrous to the attacking party. It says:
"The late siege of Knoxville by the forces of Longstreet, on which the fate of East Tennessee hanged, culminated in a Sunday assault on the beleaguered city with the usual result. The rebels were repulsed on all sides with severe loss, and took to their heels without delay, the re-inforcements under Sherman having reached the scene of strife.
"We should like to publish an accurate list of the Sunday battles, of our civil war, with the issue of each justly stated. It is our belief that such a record would demonstrate the fatality of military men who desecrate the Lord's Day by needless engagements, and would go far to deter every prudent commander from imperilling his cause by braving the Word and Providence of God. Will some historian collate the facts?"
Ans. Yes, we will; for it does not require any very extensive reading of history to learn that, in reference to battles, there is no distinction between Sunday and the other secular days of the week. This is proved by the following engagements, in which the attacking parties were victorious, notwithstanding it was on Sunday. The battle of Monmouth, N. J. June 28, 1778. The capture of Fort Erie, by Scott and Ripley, July 3, 1814. A naval engagement between the Dominica and Decatur, Aug. 15, 1813. The battle of Cerro Gordo, in the late Mexican war, Apr. 18, 1847. The battle of Chapultepec, Sept. 12, 1847. Each of these dates falls on Sunday, and in each instance the party who made the attack was victorious. How far this list might be extended we do not know. It is fair however to presume, if so many instances can be readily produced on a casual search, that history will show Sunday victories, as often as Sunday defeats, on the part of the assailants. It would no doubt be a pleasing thing for the advocates of Sunday sacredness, could they array the dealings of Providence on their side of the question; but in their efforts to establish that superstitious bugbear, they make the ludicrous mistake of having Providence attest the sacredness of the wrong day!