What the Prophet Saw

What did Mrs. White see in this vision (for she was totally oblivious to the excitement created by Dr. Brown and those who were baiting him during this 20-minute vision)?GVEGW 79.3

After coming out of vision, Mrs. White addressed the congregation, according to eyewitness Loughborough, and said: “There is not a person in this house who has even dreamed of the trouble that is coming upon this land. People are making sport of the secession ordinance of South Carolina, but I have just been shown that a large number of states are going to join that state, and there will be a most terrible war.GVEGW 79.4

“In this vision I have seen large armies of both sides gathered on the field of battle. I heard the booming of the cannon, and saw the dead and dying on every hand. Then I saw them rushing up engaged in hand-to-hand fighting [bayoneting one another].GVEGW 79.5

“Then I saw the field after battle, all covered with the dead and dying. Then I was carried to prisons, and saw the sufferings of those in want, who were wasting away. Then I was taken to the homes of those who had lost husbands, sons, or brothers in the war. I saw there distress and anguish.” ^{21RPSDA 236, 237; cf. GSAM 338; The General Conference Bulletin, 1893, 60; “Sketches ... No. 121.” Martha D. Amadon, who saw Mrs. White in vision upon a number of occasions, wrote down her recollections on Nov. 24, 1925, at the age of 91 years. She recalls two visions, (a) “the year before the civil war” [1860] and (b) “the last year of the war” [1863]. In the former, Mrs. White spoke in a tent, which would seat about 50, pitched in a pasture by Martha’s father, John Byington (in 1863 he would become the first president of the first SDA General Conference). At that meeting Mrs. White is reported to have predicted, “This country will be deluged with blood.” The White Estate is unable to confirm the authenticity of this memory statement. The event, if indeed it occurred at all, would have had to take place at least one year earlier than Mrs. Amadon dates it. At her advanced age such confusion as regards dates is quite understandable.}GVEGW 79.6

Then, surveying her audience, Ellen slowly added a foreboding note: “There are those in this house who will lose sons in that war.” ^22Ibid.GVEGW 79.7

It is important at this point to place this vision and its content in a chronological context:GVEGW 79.8

• December 20, 1860—South Carolina secedes from the Union.GVEGW 79.9

• January 9, 1861—Mississippi secedes.GVEGW 80.1

• January 10, 1861—Florida secedes.GVEGW 80.2

• January 11, 1861—Alabama secedes.GVEGW 80.3

• January 12, 1861—Ellen White’s vision at Parkville, Michigan.GVEGW 80.4

• January 19, 1861—Georgia secedes.GVEGW 80.5

• January 26, 1861—Louisiana secedes.GVEGW 80.6

• February 1, 1861—Texas secedes.GVEGW 80.7

• February 4, 1861—Constitution of Confederate States of America drafted.GVEGW 80.8

• February 18, 1861—Jefferson Davis inaugurated president of the C.S.A.GVEGW 80.9

• March 4, 1861—Abraham Lincoln inaugurated president of the U.S.A.GVEGW 80.10

• April 12, 1861—C.S.A. military fires on Fort Sumter at Charleston, South Carolina.GVEGW 80.11

• April 15, 1861—Lincoln calls for Union troops to retake Fort Sumter. The C.S.A. regards this act as a declaration of war. Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee subsequently join the Confederates.GVEGW 80.12

When Ellen White received her first vision of the U.S. Civil War on January 12, 1861, she, as everyone else in the nation, was aware that South Carolina had seceded from the Union 23 days earlier. However, she may or may not have known of the secession of Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama during the three days immediately preceding her Sabbath vision at Parkville.GVEGW 80.13

It matters little, however, for the firing on Fort Sumter by the Confederate forces—generally considered by American historians as the opening of the Civil War—was still exactly three months future from the day of this vision.GVEGW 80.14