16

But there was a bright side. Polk was dead. The symbol of
Southern recalcitrance, the murderer-bishop, had been punished.
He would not be present. Only the smallest, the most vengeful
spirit could propose a resolution of posthumous censure. Someone
did but McIlvane rose to bring perspective. The obstacles to
reunion faded, harmony prevailed. The roll call which had begun with
Alabama set the tone. A united church was preserved. Had Polk
possessed omniscience, he would have gladly made the sacrifice.

Jefferson Davis said that after the death of Albert Sidney
Johnston at Shiloh and of Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville,
the Confederacy suffered its greatest loss when Leonidas Polk was
killed near Atlanta.

Dr. W. Cabell of Barnard College said, "After Alfred the Great,
there has lived no one man who achieved such stature in religion,
war, and education as Leonidas Polk." He was the first Episcopal
bishop in America to hold jurisdiction over foreign soil--the
Republic of Texas.

The bishop who became a general left a signpost.

There is no pattern of human life worth following but that
of Christ himself. Take no other model. If you do, you may
rather acquire its defects than its excellencies.

Few men have started with more, lost more, endured more, or
striven harder to follow Christ than Leonidas Polk.