The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

III. Camp Meetings Develop on the Frontier

1. ORIGIN OF THE CAMP MEETING

Revivalism soared to the height of excitement in the almost unchurched borderlands of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio, ¹⁹ where there was a sprinkling of New Englanders of Puritan stock, along with the dominant Scotch-Irish strain. It was here that earnest Presbyterian preachers with Methodist cooperation, started the camp meetings of the West in Logan County, Kentucky, in 1799. ²⁰ That was when the McGee brothers, on a tour across “the barrens” toward Ohio, preached at McGready’s Red River church, where sacramental services were being held. ²¹ The powerful preaching attracted so many people that the meetings were held in a grove, and lasted several days. Similar gatherings were soon appointed elsewhere. ²² PFF4 41.3

The first planned camp meeting was held in 1800 at the Gasper River church in Logan County, Kentucky, on McGready’s invitation. Since many came forty, fifty, or even a hundred miles, they camped-a few in tents, the majority in their wagons, and others in brush shelters. A regular encampment was laid out in a hollow square, with hewn logs for seats, and a preaching stand in the center of the enclosure. For illumination at night, candles, torches, or brush fires were lighted. The tremendous appeal of this unique plan, once inaugurated, spread like wildfire along the frontier. ²³ PFF4 42.1

2. EXCESSIVE EMOTIONALISM AT CANE RIDGE

During the summer of 1801 the revival spread to northern Kentucky, centering at Cane Ridge, in Bourbon County. Here the Presbyterian minister, Barton W. Stone, who had visited McGready’s meetings in Logan County, called a general sacramental meeting (interdenominational) for August, where the most spectacular—and unrestrained—single phase of the whole movement took place. Business was suspended and homes deserted as old and young came in almost incredible numbers—estimated at twenty thousand. And the revival was marked by awe-inspiring results—as well as unfortunate excesses, as will be noted. PFF4 42.2

Some three thousand “fell,” under the highly emotional preaching, and hundreds of others broke forth in various ways, with outcries for mercy, faintings, trances, or hysteria* The irreligious, who had come from curiosity, drank raw whisky freely. Peter Cartwright attributed the falling of hundreds to the power of God, although even he was appalled when an epidemic of such excesses swept the country. To those accustomed to quietness, dignity, and order, such emotionalism was looked upon as a travesty of religion. ²⁴ PFF4 43.1

3. CAMP MEETINGS SPLIT PRESBYTERIANS

From this time on Western Presbyterianism was divided over camp meetings and revivalism. Two revivalist secessions resulted. One was the Cumberland Presbyterian Church; the other, in northern Kentucky, developed into the New Light (Stoneite) group, which became a branch of the Christians, and partly of the Disciples. The split was over Calvinism and the emotional type of appeal. Revivalism found adherents among the regular Presbyterians and the Congregationalists, and among the Lutherans and the German Reformed. It even appeared among some Episcopalians, but with opposition to emotional extravagance. The camp meeting plan came to prevail not only in the Western settlements and the South, but also in the more conservative East, including the New England States, where it was introduced by the Methodists. From 1810 to 1830 such assemblies multiplied rapidly, with thousands added to the churches as a result. ²⁵ PFF4 43.2

4. METHODISTS ADOPT CAMP MEETING SYSTEM

Although soon repudiated by the Presbyterians on account of excesses, the campmeeting was effectively used by the Methodists for reaching the scattered population of the frontiers, and it fitted admirably into their itinerant system. ²⁶ Bishop Asbury, in his Journal, often mentions camp meetings favorably and reports their results. Although not a subject of legislation or official action, they were discussed in various Methodist periodicals, and there were various camp meeting manuals. ²⁷ PFF4 44.1

5. AMONG THE BAPTISTS AND IN ENGLAND

Meetings of voluntary associations of Baptist churches held in the woods, with large lay attendance, corresponded somewhat to the campmeetings. ²⁸ Transplanted to England during the visit of Lorenzo Dow, ²⁹ camp meetings were censured by the Wesleyan Conference of 1807, but they were continued under the sanction of the Primitive Methodists, organized in 1810. PFF4 44.2

6. AT THE CREST; THEN ON THE WANE

The camp meetings in America became increasingly important in spreading Methodism. By 1812 at least 400 such meetings, of various sizes, were held annually in the United States. ³⁰ But eventually the camp meetings waned, and many old Methodist meeting grounds became summer resorts and places for summer conferences. The Chautauqua movement, with its lecture platform, school, concert music, physical education, social culture, and entertainment features, has been one secularized outgrowth of the original camp meeting. ³¹ PFF4 44.3