The Spirit of Prophecy and Military Service

Chapter 1—Vision at Parkville

For January 11 and 12, 1861, meetings were appointed in Parkville, Michigan. These were attended by James and Ellen White and Elders J. H. Waggoner, Uriah Smith, and J. N. Loughborough. On Sabbath, January 12, after Sister White had spoken, she was taken off in vision. SPMS 3.1

In this vision it was revealed to Mrs. White that other states would unite with South Carolina, and that a most terrible war would result. She was given views of armies in conflict, with terrible carnage by bullet and bayonet. She saw battle fields covered with the dead and dying. She witnessed scenes of suffering in overcrowded prisons, and she saw homes where distress and anguish reigned because of the loss of husbands, sons, or brothers. SPMS 3.2

After coming out of vision, she looked around the house, and said sadly, “There are those in this house who will lose sons in that war.” ² SPMS 3.3

At the time this vision was given, neither the North nor the South was expecting a great war to follow. The Southern politicians argued that they “could make better terms out of the union than in it.” It was their thought that they would “withdraw temporarily from the Federal government until proper guarantees for the observance” of what they regarded as their rights and interests should be given. “They did not believe the United States authorities would really attempt” such a tremendous undertaking as the occupation of their vast territory in an effort to conquer them by force. (See Encyclopedia Britannica, art. United States.) SPMS 3.4

As for the Federal government, their limited expectations regarding the war are indicated by the fact that even after the first aggressive shot had been fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, and war was regarded as inevitable, the president on April 15 issued a call for only 75,000 men, and that for a period of three months. SPMS 4.1