CHRISTIANS SERVING IN THE MILITARY

Greeting in the Lord!  This month's feature is the last in a series of biographies of Christians who served our nation and Lord with distinction.  BGEN Gustavus Loomis was a man who influenced many for 6 decades of service.  You will find his story a testimony of God's grace and diligence from a faithful servant.  Enjoy!
  Our second article is a short encouragment for those going through a real battle or just some difficulty.  It was submitted by our own Chaplain Pat Opp.  God bless.

There sometimes can be conflict in the minds of Christians in the military. When is it right to fight? How shall I treat my enemies? How can I maintain a testimony for Christ while serving in the military? One Christian of distinction, who fought in five wars, was U.S. Army Brigadier General Gustavus Loomis (1789-1873). In Loomis we see the ideal balance of Christian faith, devotion to family, and excellence in military service.

Born in Thetford, Vermont in 1789, Gustavus Loomis came from a large middle class family. His ancestors came from Connecticut. He was educated in a one room schoolhouse in Thetford. From his childhood he was a devoted Christian. Gustavus was accepted into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1808, graduating in 1811. He was ranked tenth in his class of eighteen students.     

After West Point, Lieutenant Loomis was assigned routine duties at Fort Columbus in New York Harbor. When the War of 1812 began duties at Fort Columbus intensified, but the British never attacked. Loomis was then transferred to the combat zone of northern New York and Ontario, Canada, where he fought in two battles (an American victory and a defeat) and was briefly a prisoner of war to the British. After the War of 1812 Loomis again conducted routine artillery duties; then became part of the Unite d States Coastal Survey, making maps and maritime charts around New York City and southern New England.

In 1817 Gustavus Loomis married Miss Julia Mix of Connecticut. Eventually had three children, only one which survived infancy, a daughter Eliza.  

In the early 1820s, Lieutenant and later Captain Loomis and his wife and daughter were stationed throughout southern regions of the United States. Loomis worked with Seminole Indians in Florida; with engineers in New Orleans creating navigation channels in the Mississippi River; with Creek Indians in Alabama and Mississippi; and then back to Florida and the Seminoles to enforce treaties. On these southern assignments Captain Gustavus Loomis was first exposed to slavery, an experience that solidified his anti-slavery upbringing from Vermont. By this time in his career, Loomis developed the reputation as a junior officer who was tactically and administratively skilled and who was sincerely religious, a man of faith and prayer.

The next military assignments for Gustavus Loomis and his family were in the old Northwest Territories, in places that would later be the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. In the 1830s this region was mostly unsettled by whites, an area of tense conflict between white settlers and Indians. Captain Loomis played a major role in the 1831-1833 Black Hawk War while stationed at Fort Crawford, now in Wisconsin. He made significant tactical decisions that help defeat Black Hawk and end the Black Hawk War, saving lives on both sides and giving him brief national recognition. Loomis and his family then moved north to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, for several years of peacekeeping duties between Indians and white settlers. When no chaplain was around, Captain and later Major Loomis conducted church services and prayer meetings. He was an instrument for revival.

From 1837-1842, Gustavus Loomis served in the Second Seminole War in Florida. He lived there for five years through miserable weather, horrible insects, inadequate supplies, debilitating humidity, and illusive Seminoles. Here Loomis earned a reputation both as a fierce combatant and as a devout Christian commander. He was now a Major, which was a senior rank in the old army of that time. He became known as one who had Christian compassion on blacks and Indians in Florida, teaching them to read the Bible and having religious services for them. Many southern officers hated him for this while northern officers thought he was benevolent but perhaps a little eccentric.

After a grueling five year tour in Florida, Major Gustavus Loomis and his family headed west to serve in Indian Territory. From 1842-1848 Loomis was stationed mostly in what is now the state of Oklahoma, assigned to Fort Gibson, Fort Towson, and a few other places. None of these forts exist today. His duties in the Indian territories were to keep peace between Indians; and to protect American pioneers, settlers and missionaries. The army was the law on the frontier and Gustavus Loomis was known as a compassionate Christian commander who was skilled in military matters and was devout in his faith. His discipline of wayward troops was fair but firm. His men loved him. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1848 at around age 59. 

His next tour of duty was in the Mexican War. For most of the 1846-1848 Mexican War Gustavus Loomis served at Ft. Gibson and Ft. Towson, near the Mexican border province of Texas. He was responsible for training and deploying troops into combat in Mexico. In 1848 the Army was exhausted and under strength from two years of combat and a large number of soldiers ill or deceased from sicknesses in Mexico. In 1848 Loomis deployed with over 1,000 troops to Mexico as a relief force. Although he missed all the major combat of the war, Loomis stayed in Mexico about six months providing security; chasing bandits, helping rebuild the Mexican government, and then helped deploy the Army back to the United States.

At the end of the Mexican War in 1848, Gustavus Loomis had served in the army for thirty-seven years. He could easily have retired at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and gone into civilian life. None could have predicted that he would wear his uniform for another twenty years.   

His next stations were at Ft. Snelling, Minnesota, Fort Atkinson and Ft. Crawford in Wisconsin, Jefferson Barracks, in Missouri, Fort Leavenworth and Fort. Scott, Kansas; and Ft. Laramie, Wyoming. Here he skirmished with Indians; assisted Christian missionaries; conducted religious services; and buried his wife Julia in 1849. Every indication is that Gustavus and Julia had a strong marriage. Records show they prayed together and ministered to Blacks and Indians as lay missionaries. She was a glowing Christian woman who died unexpectedly in 1849 at age 52. Eliza and Gustavus had one child and several grandchildren when she died. Gustavus remarried two years later to a widower, Mrs. Annie Panton. The army moved the newly married couple to Texas, serving in miserable climate and run down forts until 1857. He was promoted to Colonel, a huge accomplishment.

Then came the Third Seminole War, 1857-1858.  The Seminole Wars are the longest of all U.S. wars, lasting off and on from 1817 to 1858. For the last years of the Third Seminole War, Colonel Gustavus Loomis was the senior military officer in Florida. At age 69 he showed good health and a clear mind. He made tactical decisions that forced the Seminoles to surrender or starvation.  President James Buchanan and General in Chief of the Army Winfield Scott publically praised Colonel Loomis for his excellent handling of the Seminoles and his closing of the war. Loomis’ name was publicized nationwide. 

At the end of the Third Seminole War, Colonel Loomis was easily old enough to retire. He was placed on paid leave from the Army, 1858-1861. This was because he had not taken military leave in many years, resulting in accumulated back pay for unused leave. Gustavus hung up his uniform and moved to southern Connecticut, where his second wife Annie had family and where Gustavus had distant relatives. Here they were very active in supporting their local church in revivals and assisted in the Underground Railroad.

In 1861 the Civil War began. Gustavus Loomis was 72 years old. He was called out from extended paid military leave to serve from a few months before the war began, to two years after the war ended.

He put his uniform back on and served first as a recruiter for the Union Army in Connecticut and in Rhode Island. He was so good at recruiting that President Abraham Lincoln made him the senior recruiter for the entire Union army. He moved to Fort Columbus, New York, where he started his military career in 1811.  At Fort Columbus he coordinated all recruiting policies for the Union Army. He was also made a commandant of a Confederate prison camp on Governor’s Island. The Confederate prisoners saw Colonel Loomis as an elderly man who showed Christian compassion. There were prayer meetings and Bible studies at Fort Columbus, lead by Loomis and his chaplain. Colonel Loomis was also heavily involved with legal matters related to court martials for everything from petty crimes to treason and desertion. For two years after the war ended, Colonel and later Brigadier General Gustavus Loomis was consumed with paperwork related to recruiting records, pensions, medical benefits, discharges, retirements, and other administrative duties.

At the end of the Civil War in 1865, Brigadier General Gustavus Loomis was 76 years old, the oldest soldier on either side of the war. He was still mentally sharp and physically fit. He stayed in uniform until 1867, busy with administrative duties related to the ending of the war. At the remarkable age of 78 years old, Loomis hung up his army uniform for the last time.

Retired Brigadier General Gustavus Loomis and his wife Annie returned to southern Connecticut and settled into civilian life. They maintained their active church ministries. Gustavus Loomis died at age 82 on March 5, 1872, a veteran of almost six decades of military service. He fought in five wars – the War of 1812; the Black Hawk War; the Mexican War; the Seminole Wars; and the Civil War. The old soldier from Thetford, Vermont had a remarkable and distinguished military career.

Brigadier General Gustavus Loomis was known as a man of faith who was technically and tactically respected in military matters. His attention to detail, his drilling of troops, and his combat experiences, all gained him praise from others. His men admired him. In his tent in the field, or in his home in garrison, the sounds of psalm singing and scripture reading were common. Gustavus Loomis always placed God first in his life, then his family, then his career. In all three of these areas he was blessed of the Lord.  

           NOTE: Chaplain (COL) Ken Lawson has recently published a 420-page biography of BG Gustavus Loomis. The book is available through www.amazon.com.

Looking for a Good Battle Buddy?

by

Chaplain (CPT) Pat Opp

68^th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion

Help Wanted:  Looking for a Good Battle Buddy?  Need someone who is humble, approachable, compassionate, and willing to listen; a true team player able to carry heavy burdens with no complaining.  I will help you get on track and find the much needed rest you’re looking for.  If interested, I can help.  Call 1-800-RU-WEARY.

I can imagine in ancient Palestine, this is what Matthew the tax collector was hoping to find when he read the local paper’s Help Wanted ads.  Matthew was a young Jewish man hired as a servant to collect taxes for the hated Roman Government.  The pay was decent, but job satisfaction and morale was very low.  On top of that, collecting money from neighbors by use of deception or brutality brought a tremendous job stress upon him.  No doubt, he dragged into work many days hating life.

This is what many people feel like today.  They feel worn-out and unsatisfied with life.  They see themselves stuck, helpless and just plain exhausted. Matthew needed a change badly.  Then one day he heard about this traveling rabbi who preached with authority about healing, peace and rest to anyone who had a child-like faith to trust in God.  People who were desperate.  Well, there wasn’t anyone more desperate then this tax collector.  The story tells us then one day this teacher came to him and said, “Come, follow me.”  Matthew was no dummy.  He got up, left everything and followed Jesus. 

Matthew found the rest he sought and he shared that source with us today.  He writes, “Come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  (Matthew 11:28).  He learned some powerful truths. First, he is invited.  The word ‘come’ is an invitation.  Even notorious tax collectors were welcomed.  Second thing he learned is that he is qualified.  Matthew was about as weary and worn-out as they come.  Third, Matthew recognized his need for rest and this is something Jesus offered him. We all need to rest at one point or another and recognizing that need is half the battle!

Matthew discovered that the best Battle Buddy in life is the one who helps you carry your troubles and leads you to the much-needed rest you’re looking for.  We all need rest and we all need to be taken care of at some point in life. It is my prayer for you that whatever faith tradition you come from or hold to, that you can find that spiritual “battle buddy” who can offer you rest, peace and comfort like no other.