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Calvin Crozier Texas Martyr

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• Let's open our Bibles then to the book of John chapter 1. And if you would look at verse 6. I'm just going to take this one verse. John chapter 1 verse 6. The message today is on Calvin Crozier. C-R-O-Z-I-E-R. Texas Martyr. Calvin Crozier, Texas Martyr. Notice if you would John 1 and verse 6. The Bible says, "There was a man sent from God whose name was John." Let me just take that one phrase, "there was a man."

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• I want you to think about that. When God looked down upon John the Baptist, He said, "There was a man." It's not just that there was a man sent from God whose name was John. John was indeed a man. And when God refers to John the Baptist as a man, we must understand that He's referring to the character, to the courage, to the valor, to the integrity, of John the Baptist, and all of those things were exceedingly evident in his life. He was indeed a real, genuine man. You have to remember that it was John the Baptist who took on the religious establishment of his day. You remember there in Matthew chapter 3, when those Pharisees and Sadducees flocked to John, the Bible says when John saw the Pharisees and the Sadducees come to him, he said, "O generation of vipers, who had warned you to flee from the wrath to come." So he referred then to the religious establishment as a generation of vipers.

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• Can you imagine that today? A preacher going to the local ministerial association and saying, "You bunch of snakes, let me tell you something." Well, that's exactly what John the Baptist did. And John the Baptist could not and would not put up with their hypocrisy, with their legalism, and with their phariseeism. Moreover, let me remind you that it was not just the religious leaders that John took on, but he also took on King Herod. Now the Bible tells us that King Herod feared John, but in Mark chapter 6, when King Herod had taken Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, John said to the king, "It is not lawful for thee to have her." So John then even jumped on the king. And of course the next verse tells us that Herodias had a quarrel with John because he said very obviously it was not lawful for Herod to have her and she wanted John put to death. And of course you know the story there how that eventually Herod did indeed have him put to death. But it was John, if you will look at in Matthew chapter 3, who preached very pointedly to the people, and he told them that they must repent.

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• But notice if you would, John not only spoke to the people, but he also preached to the soldiers. They asked, "What then shall we do?" And he told the soldiers that they likewise to repent. They were not to exact anymore than was demanded by law, etc., and be content with your wages and do no violence to any man. In other words, here was a man that was very plain spoken. Here was a man who spoke the truth. And very obviously, he was a man of character, courage, valor, integrity, and truthfulness.

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• All of these were marks of his manhood. Hopefully, everyone in this room recognizes that manhood in reality has nothing to do with age. You're not automatically a man just because you're 21. You're not a man just because you're 31 or 41 or 51 or any age. According to the Bible, manhood deals with character and responsibility and integrity. One of the greatest faults of modern day society is that we have lost the concept of manhood.

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• You stop and think about that. We've lost the concept of manhood in about every way, because men will not be the head of their homes, they will not work, they will not keep their word, they will not fulfill their responsibility. It's kind of like that old joke that you've heard about the men who died and went to heaven. And here were two lines, and one line said, "For hen-pecked husbands," and it was just really a long line. And then there was another line that says, "For all husbands who were not hen-pecked," there was one man standing in it. And Peter came up and asked him, what in the world was he doing in that line? He said he didn't know, his wife just told him to go over there.

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• You understand what I'm saying? We have today in this society a loss of true manhood. We have sired a generation of adults, men and women unhappily, that are selfish, mean, despicable, worthless, and characterless. No longer are we men of our word. No longer are we men of chivalry? No longer are we men of courage and valor. No longer are we men of principle and truth and righteousness.

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• And what we have done is this. We have forgotten these principles that have made our nation great. We've forgotten these principles that have made our families strong and individuals strong.

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• Now I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Corinthians chapter 16. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. And look if you would please at verse 13. Notice what God says, 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 13. Here is a command from God. He says, "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." Now note, "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, and be strong."

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• Now the Greek word for men literally means to make brave or to be as brave men. One such man of bravery, courage, valor, integrity and character was Calvin Shepard Crozier of Texas. His story is one that displays his character most vividly. Calvin was a confederate soldier on his way home to Texas after the war was over. He was traveling in September of 1865. Calvin Crozier was born in Brandon, Mississippi in August of 1840.

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• Now I've also seen the year of his birth as 1839. So there's probably no way to determine exactly if he was born in 1839 or 1840. The year does not really matter that much, but whichever year that is was his real birth date, means this, he was either 25 or 26 years of age at the time of his death.

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• Now Calvin was reared and educated in Galveston, Texas. He was living in Dallas, Texas when the War of Northern Aggression broke out and he enlisted in Goods Battery of the Light Artillery, 1st Texas Artillery, also known as Douglas' Battery.

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• Now during the war, Crozier transferred to a company raised by Richard Gano, and when this unit joined John Hunt Morgan's brigade, it was called the 3rd Regiment, Morgan's Brigade, or the 7th Kentucky Cavalry. There was a sister of Calvin Crozier, Mrs. Mary S. Rogers of Bloom, Texas, and she wrote this. Listen carefully. I find this fascinating. She said, "Our father was too old and feeble to go to the war." In other words, he would have entered the war if he could have. But she said, "Our father was too old and feeble to go to the war, but he had five sons and two sons-in-law who served through the war."

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• "My husband was a private in General Gano's command three and a half years. My brothers served in Texas regiments and all went safely through the war except one brother who was wounded in the battle of Pleasant Hill." Now I find that absolutely astounding that here five brothers, five sons of one man, and two sons-in-laws went through the entire war with only one of them being slightly wounded. Can you imagine that? On the other hand, some of you will remember the message I preached a few years ago on Manse Jolly, the South Carolina Avenger. Manse Jolly lost five brothers during the war. Four of them were killed in battle and one died in an army hospital.

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• Now, you can probably ask the question, if the war was over in April of 1865, why in the world was Calvin Crozier on his way home in September of 1865? I mean, surely he should have been on his way home much earlier than that. Well, the answer is very simple. Crozier was captured during Morgan's Kentucky raid and sent to a northern prison camp. He was held there until the war ended. In fact, he was quite ill during his prison confinement and was not even able to travel until September of 1865. Actually, when John Hunt Morgan was raiding not only out of Kentucky but into Ohio, that is where Calvin Shepard Crozier was captured at Syracuse, Ohio on July the 20th, 1863. And listen to this. He was imprisoned at Camp Douglas, Illinois.

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• On March the 2nd, 1865, he was transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland. Now, Point Lookout was another northern prison that was very infamous for its mistreatment of prisoners. But he was only there a week or two until he was finally sent to Virginia on March the 10th, 1865.

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• Now that means he spent two years at Camp Douglas. Camp Douglas is located in Chicago near the shores of Lake Michigan. Camp Douglas was the northern prison camp with the highest mortality rate during the entire war. It is known as 80 Acres of Hell. Some of you may have seen, if you have not seen it, the program comes on the History Channel, and it is entitled 80 Acres of Hell. And it is an expose of Camp Douglas. And believe it or not, it is a pretty decent expose of Camp Douglas. The first prisoners arrived in Camp Douglas in February of 1862. Conditions were so bad that one in every five prisoners within those walls died.

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• Punishment by officials and punishment by the guards was extremely, unusually cruel. Confederate soldiers were starved to death purposefully, deliberately, their rations were either cut to the point that they could not live or their rations were taken away from them altogether. Many of the men were deprived of blankets and literally froze to death during the severe weather. Prisoners were regularly deprived of their clothing to prevent escape. Some of the prisoners, for their clothing, all they had were sacks with the head hole and the arm holes cut out. They had no clothes other than sacks.

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• Very few had underwear at all. Blankets that were needed to offset the winter weather in the north were confiscated from the few individuals that had them. The weakest of those Confederate prisoners just simply froze to death. The Chicago winter of 1864 was extremely devastating. The loss of 1,091 Confederate soldiers in four months was due to freezing to death. That is the highest death rate of any northern prison for a four-month period. Nearly 1,100 soldiers froze to death. There is no way of knowing how many Confederate prisoners actually died and were murdered at Camp Douglas.

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• But I have seen the minimum given at 6,000. In fact, if you will watch the History Channel presentation of Camp Douglas, if a black Confederate walked into the prison usually he was shot down on the spot by other black Yankee soldiers. And a lot of times the guards played games at shooting Confederate soldiers. It was indeed a very horrible experience. Point Lookout, as I mentioned earlier, was either just as bad or worse, but thankfully Crozier was only there for a short period of time.

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• And thus you can see why he was delayed in going home. He was very weak and had to have time to recover his strength. But finally, Crozier was indeed on his way home. The war was over. He had recovered from his long spell of sickness and he was going home in anticipation of meeting the loved ones that he had not seen in four years. I want you to stop and think about that for me. Just for a moment. Can you imagine what it must be like to be away from your wife, or your sweetheart, or your mother, your father, your brothers and sisters for four years?

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• And you've got to remember, there were no cell phones. Most of the telegraph lines were torn down. If you wrote a letter, it may or may not get through. And if you wrote a letter, it may take a month or two months to get through, if then. Can you imagine what it must be like in anticipation to think, "I'm finally getting to go home. I'm finally going to see my family." I would imagine that thought runs through the mind of every soldier. I imagine those in Vietnam wanted to come home. Those in Iraq, those in Afghanistan want to come home. So there's got to be a great deal of anticipation. Additionally, one article that I read on Crozier said that as he was coming home, he again fell sick in North Carolina.

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• And a good Samaritan took him in and nursed him back to health and sent him on his way again. Now, Calvin Crozier had two companions who were traveling with him. One of them was Amid Price. In one account, his name was spelled Amid. And then Amid's younger brother, Clem, who was also called Ben. I suppose his name was Clement Benjamin. But Clem, or Ben, was only 15 years of age. And he had met his brother and Crozier in North Carolina and was just simply traveling home with them. They took the train as far as they could take a train, and when the train line ended, either because of the destruction of the tracks or some reason, they walked. And then they would take another train. Ben Price, the younger brother who was traveling with them, said this. "When these two men, Crozier and his brother, Amid, left Raleigh, North Carolina in September of 1865 for their respective homes, I joined them."

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• "And our trip was uneventful until we reached the interior of South Carolina. The railroads were torn up in places, and we sometimes had to walk from one point to another." So very obviously, it was very slow going, coming home. Now, there is a discrepancy concerning a charge that was given to Calvin Crozier in South Carolina. And the discrepancy is not that big. I'll tell you what it is in just a moment. But around Orangeburg, South Carolina, a gentleman placed two young ladies who were journeying in the same direction under the care and custody of Calvin Crozier.

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• Now, some say that the gentleman was the depot manager of the railroad. There's no way of knowing exactly who it was, I suppose. And there's also a discrepancy as to how many young ladies were committed to his care. Some say one, some say two, some say three or even more. The Calvin Crozier murder site in Newberry, South Carolina plainly states that there were two young ladies under his charge. Regardless of how many there were, one, two, three, four, it doesn't really matter, Calvin had taken their charge and Calvin had agreed that he would get them safely to their destination. So chivalry was certainly not dead in the South at that particular time. And everything went well until they reached Newberry, South Carolina. They walked to Austin and there took a train going west until they reached Newberry on the night of September the 7th, 1865. Now there was either some obstruction on the track or the train left the track temporarily and the Crozier and the young ladies and Amid had to stay on the train overnight.

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• There was a lack of hotel rooms in the area, and they were forced then to stay on that train. I don't know if the train had sleeper cars or just regular cars, probably just regular cars. But they just had to make themselves as comfortable as they could for that night. During the night, while they were resting quite peacefully where they were, members of the 33rd U.S.

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• Colored Troops under the command of Colonel Charles T. Trowbridge entered the car and became unruly and offensive to the point that the young women became offended and afraid. So Crozier then asked the black soldiers to leave the train. They refused and a fight broke out. Crozier had a small knife, pocket knife. He ejected one of the black soldiers without any difficulty, but the other one really wanted to fight. And with his pocket knife, he cut the black soldier slightly on the neck and then got him out of the train. Now, you'll remember these black soldiers were under the command of Colonel Charles Trowbridge. I don't know if you remember that message that I preached on Manse Jolly, the South Carolina Avenger. But Manse Jolly also had a run-in with Colonel Trowbridge. You're going to find that Colonel Trowbridge was indeed a very wicked man. In fact, here is Trowbridge's own words concerning his meeting with Manse Jolly. Of course, everybody wanted to get Manse Jolly. No one ever did. But Colonel Trowbridge, in his own words, said this, "After I had my breakfast, I stepped out on the porch, leaving my pistol in my room."

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• "Went up, rode Jolly to the edge of the sidewalk and said, 'My name is Manse Jolly, the man you're looking for. Now take me if you can.' And with that, Jolly rode off." Well, Trowbridge could not and did not want to catch an armed man, for Jolly was certainly armed, but you're going to find he had no difficulty with unarmed men. A more detailed account of the fight is given as it is stated, and by the way, let me tell you, this is from the history of Edgefield County, and I'm going to read it verbatim because of the language. The history of Edgefield County from the earliest settlements to 1897, "A more detailed account of the fight is given and it is stated that the coach was invaded by two half-drunk soldiers cursing and using indecent language."

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• "Crozier called upon them to desist, directing their attention to the presence of the ladies. They replied they didn't care a damn. One attempted gross familiarities with one of the ladies. Calvin ejected him. The second Negro interfered. There was a struggle in the dark. One Negro fled unhurt and the other with a slight cut ran toward his camp yelling, 'I'm cut by a damn rebel.'" The soldiers then returned with more of their cohorts and were intent on getting the man that had forced them off the train. They were intent on getting the man who had fought them. However, in their anger, in their animosity, in their rage, in their frustration, they nabbed the wrong man.

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• In fact, they seized Jacob S. Bowers, who was the superintendent of the Greenville and Columbia Railroad, and when they grabbed him, they immediately planned to lynch him.

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• Now, I want you to stop and think. Calvin Crozier could have escaped death either by flight, or by evasion, or by silence. They had the wrong man. They were going to hang Mr. Jacob Bowers. When Crozier found out what was happening, he would not allow it. Crozier was not only a southerner, but he was also a man and he understood principle and he understood responsibility. And so Crozier then immediately, without hesitation, stepped forward and identified himself as the one who was in the fight with the two black soldiers and that Mr. Bowers had nothing to do with it.

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• He was not even there. I want you to note something. Calvin Crozier not only took and spoke the truth, he took responsibility for what he did, regardless of the consequences. It's amazing in this day and time that no one is responsible for anything unless it's good. Look in Washington DC, the Democrats blame the Republicans, Republicans blame the Democrats. The executive office blames the Congress. Congress will blame the judicial system. Isn't it amazing? Everything happens and no one's responsible. Well, Calvin Shepard Crozier was not that kind of man. He was the man that not only spoke the truth, he took responsibility for his acts.

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• You remember I told you in 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 13, when the scripture says, "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." I told you that the word for men there means to make brave and to be as brave men. Crozier at this point certainly revealed his bravery and his valor because he was not afraid to take responsibility for his actions and he was not afraid to die.

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• Let me remind you of something. Circumstances never make or break a man, they just reveal him. Stop and think about it. Circumstances never make or break a man, they just reveal him. And if you really want to know what your character is, if you really want to know what kind of principles you hold, you just get in trial and tribulation and pressure and let your life depend on something and you will know exactly what you're made of. And evidently, Calvin Crozier was made of a different metal than most people today, that's for sure. There were a number of eyewitnesses to what happened to Calvin Crozier.

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• One of them was W.M. Fenton. And I want to read to you what he said. "I was then a youth of 15 years and was living at Newberry when the brave Crozier yielded up his life so that another might not suffer. The memory of that day is a tragedy never to be forgotten. The war had ended and the soldiers of the disbanded Confederate Army and parole prisoners were passing through South Carolina to their homes in the West. Among them was Calvin Crozier, a Texan who arrived at Newberry on September the 7th, 1865, and was delayed there overnight."

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• "He had some ladies under his care, and as hotel accommodations were very meager, they decided it would be best to pass the night in the car on which they had traveled. Late in the night, some Negro soldiers under the command of Colonel Trowbridge, who had arrived at Newberry that day, entered the car where Crozier and the ladies were under his care, were quietly reposing, and they made themselves very offensive to the ladies. Crozier requested them to leave, but they refused to do so, and a difficulty arose. In the scuffle which followed, one of the Negroes was slightly cut by Crozier with his knife. The regiment to which they belonged was encamped in a graveyard near the depot, and very soon after the difficulty occurred, a number of them appeared at the depot bent on avenging the one who had been dealt with by Crozier."

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• "In their madness, they seized Mr. Jacob S. Bowers, who was then the general superintendent of the Greenville and Columbia Railroad, and despite his many protestations, were about to lynch him. When Crozier learned what they were about, without a moment's hesitation, he presented himself and acknowledged that he had wounded the Negro soldier. He was at once taken, tied and taken to the camp mentioned above, and was shot to death by the fiends."

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• "His body was thrown in a shallow grave, and they danced in ghoulish glee upon his new-made grave. The officers of the Negro regiment, principally white, were appealed to in behalf of Crozier, but in vain. Trowbridge, the colonel of this regiment, was heard to declare that he took upon himself all the responsibility for the act. Prince Rivers, a Negro, who was then an officer in the same regiment, wishing to save the life of Crozier, went to him and begged him to deny that he was the man who had the difficulty with the Negro soldier, but he refused."

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• "Seldom, indeed, do we find such heroic self-sacrifice as is recorded of the noble Texan. He might have gone free to his far western home had he permitted an innocent man to suffer. However, fondly he may have dreamed of his arrival at his Texas home, Galveston, and the greeting of loved ones there, he gave it all up and laid down his life that another might live. No ignoble spirit could have acted as he did."

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• "Such a death must work forgiveness for many misdeeds and shortcomings, and where he now sleeps must be holy ground. His body remained there where he was buried by the Negro soldiers until 1891, when the people of Newberry had him buried at Rosemont Cemetery and erected an enduring monument to his memory. In erecting this monument, they honored themselves."

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• Now, there were several accounts given of what actually happened. Some of these were eyewitnesses. Some of them were simply based upon eyewitness accounts. The state newspaper wrote an article, and they said this, "Crozier was tried, condemned, and shot without the sanction of law, and it all transpired in the night."

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• Now, let me just stop right there. Please understand what happened late at night. Before daylight, Crozier was murdered.

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• Now what kind of trial or what kind of military tribunal can you have in the dark of the night through, say, 6 o'clock in the morning? And the answer is none. So the newspaper account goes this. "Crozier was tried, condemned, and shot without the sanction of law, and it all transpired in the night. We were powerless to help him with this regiment of Negro soldiers under the direction of a federal colonel as brutal in his instincts as the horde at his command. The infuriated creatures, men and women, after Crozier's death crowded about the depot cursing and vowing that they had had some white blood that morning and they were going to have more. Crozier, after his identification as the man who cut the Negro's throat, was hurried away. Some town official was notified and an attempt was made, but a feeble one, of course, under the condition of affairs then, to give Crozier a proper and legal trial. But before anything could be done, he was shot. Crozier had an uncle who lived in Galveston, Texas, and relatives in the other parts of the state."

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• "While at his grave, just before he was shot, he wrote Amid Price a note giving his uncle's address and asking him to write his uncle the cause of his death. He stated in this note that it was hardly day yet and he could scarcely see to write." His sister then said that she had searched through all of the belongings and she had never found this note and yet the newspaper here said that of course the note was indeed written. Another newspaper, the Newberry Herald, wrote this concerning Crozier's death.

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• and I'm skipping the first part of it because it's essentially the same as the other, but the latter paragraph is a little more enlightening. The Newberry Herald wrote, "The right man however promptly appeared declaring Bowers innocent and gave himself up. A part of the squad was for instantly shooting him, but others objected and insisted on taking him to headquarters. He was taken before the colonel, that is Colonel Trowbridge, and acknowledged what he had done and said that he would do the same thing again."

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• "He was then told that he must die. He was taken from camp a few yards and a hole being dug, he was ordered to kneel. The deceased is said to have been a most estimable young man, brave and generous, and was shown by giving himself up when he might have escaped. During the morning on Friday, our citizens had the body taken from the hole where it was only partially covered, and placed in a neat coffin, preparatory to the internment, which was done in the afternoon."

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• "A very large, respectable, and sympathizing procession of ladies and gentlemen, following it to its final resting place in the graveyard." Now the state newspaper goes on to say this, publishing an eyewitness account of Mr. George A. Langford, and George Langford said, concerning the murder of Calvin Crozier, that he was within 30 feet of the soldiers when they fired, and within about the same distance of Crozier when he fell, and he said he saw firsthand what happened, and here is his account. "Crozier was caused to turn around facing the south, and he stood erect and folded his arms across his breast. Five Negro soldiers were lined up 30 feet in front of him, their officer to the right of the soldiers. The command was given to fire, and the rain of lead poured into Crozier's breast, each of the five balls taking effect between his arms. He fell instantly."

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• "And while he was struggling in the agony of death, the Negro officer walked up to him and sent a pistol ball speeding through his brain, saying with an oath, 'Now you will lie still.' Crozier had fallen into the ditch behind him. And with their feet the Negro soldiers raked the leaves over his body. It was clear morning in September shortly after sunrise." Mr. Langford puts the time a little before seven o'clock. Another account says he, Crozier, "was summarily shot to death and buried on the spot in a shallow grave. The Union soldiers danced gleefully on the new grave." Another report says "he was heard in the nighttime to the bivouac of the regiment to which the soldier belonged, was kept under guard all night, was not allowed communication with any citizen, was condemned to die without any form of trial, and was shot to death about daylight and the following morning his body was mutilated."

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• Now there's a huge problem with all of this. I mean here are eyewitness accounts. Calvin Crozier has been shot, has been murdered. You say, "But he cut the throat of the Negro soldier." Well, yes he did. But the problem was this. The Negro soldier whose throat was supposedly cut and who supposedly died was one Private Mills. And not only was he not dead, he reported for duty the next morning. It was just a slight cut.

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• Something that a band-aid could cover. So Private Mills was not dead. So Crozier, an innocent man now, has been brutally murdered by angry Union soldiers. And Colonel Trowbridge, the troop's commander, he said that he believed that Crozier had killed Private Mills instead of just slightly injuring him. And remember, it was Trowbridge now who said that he took full responsibility for the act. Well, when the facts became known, Lieutenant Colonel Trowbridge was indeed court-martialed. And he was court-martialed on the charge of murdering Calvin Shepard Crozier.

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• Would you like to take a guess at the outcome? He was acquitted.

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• Now, there was one Union soldier, Major General Charles Devens, a Union officer from Massachusetts, who believed that Trowbridge should be punished. And he could not figure out how such a blatant act of murder could be excused in a military tribunal until he realized that Brigadier General William T. Bennett had been appointed to the review board to bring forth justice in this case and he found out that Brigadier General William Bennett had previously served as the commander of the 33rd United States Colored Troop and Trowbridge was under him. And so one officer looking out for the other officer found him not guilty. Well, General Devens was incensed. He was irate. He was angry. He was upset. He requested that the board reconsider its findings. And here is what he wrote the board.

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• He said, "The execution of Calvin Crozier seems to me to be an act without form of law or justifiable cause. That Crozier had committed an act worthy of death is not now even pretended in the defense. How then can this officer who caused him to be executed be held guiltless? It is earnestly urged on this court martial that this act is one which ought not to go entirely unpunished."

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• So for his request for reconsideration, they reconsidered and still acquitted him. Devens signed his last order on the subject November the 21st, 1865, and he said "the findings of the above case are disapproved." In other words, he didn't approve of it. He said "Calvin Crozier was executed summarily by Lieutenant Colonel Trowbridge for the murder of Private Mills, 33rd United States Colored Troop, who was not murdered but is today alive and well."

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• "It was, in my opinion, a most unjustifiable act and indicates a weakness in yielding to momentary clamor and excitement unworthy of a brave and judicious officer." He then went on to state that he had requested reconsideration, but that the board had adhered to his decision. Given that, he stated, he was compelled to order Trowbridge's release. The state newspaper had one other thing to say, and let me give you this quote. "The deceased is said to have been a most estimable young man, brave and generous, as was shown by giving himself up when he might have escaped."

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• "During the morning of Friday, our citizens had the body taken from the hole where it was only partially covered and placed in a neat coffin preparatory to final internment." And then he goes on to say, "They took him then with that large procession to its final resting place." On April the 24th, 1890, the Newberry Observer put in its newspaper there a plea and they said this, "Now fellow citizens, let us do what ought to have been done long ago and put a marble headstone at the grave of this brave Texan to preserve his name and memory."

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• "There is no need for a costly monument. All subscriptions for this purpose will be acknowledged under the head of the Crozier Fund." Well what happened when they put that in the newspaper was that they were overwhelmed with contributions. And so consequently what they did, they not only took up his body and then carried it to the Rosemont Cemetery, but then they erected a handsome monument which every Memorial Day get special attention by the ladies of Newberry. Here is what is on the monument in Newberry, South Carolina. "Calvin Crozier, born at Brandon, Mississippi, murdered at Newberry, South Carolina, September the 8th, 1865," and then this.

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• "Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead, dear as the blood you gave, no impious footsteps here shall tread the herbage of your grave, nor shall your glory be forgot, while fame her record keeps, or honor points the hallowed spot where valor proudly sleeps." A beautiful monument. I want to give you one more quote and then we'll make some applications. But here is Mr. Sidney Andrews. He was a citizen of Newberry.

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• And he writes concerning the murder of Calvin Crozier, and he says this. "In the Newberry District, a case has recently occurred in which the Negroes took justice into their own hands. It appears that in a car which was standing on the track were three or four women and two rebel soldiers, one of them a Texan. A Negro sergeant had occasion to enter the car and was roughly ordered out by the Texan. He responded to the effect that he knew his own business and should mind it. The two rebel soldiers therefore seized him and undertook to thrust him out."

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• "He resisted and the Texans stabbed him, inflicting what was supposed to be a mortal wound. In an hour, the two rebels were caught by the Negro soldiers of the regiment, to which the sergeant belonged, and three hours more, the Texans had been tried by a drumhead court-martial, shot and buried. As to the military murder of the Texan soldier at Newberry, for it was indeed in truth a murder, it was not shown nor could it be shown at the Drumhead Court Martial that he had acted in an unjustifiable manner. The ladies in the car were under his protection and the Negro sergeant was an intruder and being an intruder, Crozier had certainly the right to put him out if he could since he would not go without it."

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• "Calvin Crozier was a hero and his death was one of the finest instances of self-sacrifice of which I've ever heard or read. It was sometime after the difficulty was over before any arrest was made. And then the colored soldiers arrested the wrong man, a man who knew nothing of the difficulty and was not present when it occurred, an employee of the railroad. They were about to deal with him summarily when Calvin Crozier, the Texan, who stabbed the Negro, who was then at large, unrecognized, and might have escaped entirely, free, voluntarily, made himself known to the man and surrendered himself to certain death to prevent another and that other a stranger from suffering what he had done."

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• "To the honor of Prince Rivers," now listen to this, remember Prince Rivers was the black officer who tried to save Crozier. "To the honor of Prince Rivers, who was an officer at the time in that colored regiment and who was afterwards somewhat well known in Edgeville, be it said that he wanted to save and tried to save Crozier from doom that awaited him. The people of Newberry have honored themselves in erecting a monument to the memory of Calvin Crozier."

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• So here is a man who gave himself for another. Let me make a couple of applications. I want you to listen. I want you to remember this first one. Manhood is not age related. It is character related. I would not hesitate to say that I know very few 50 and 60 year old men who would do what this 25 or 26 year old man did. Calvin Crozier had biblical manhood because biblical manhood deals with integrity. It deals with right and wrong. It deals with character. It deals with principles. It deals with righteousness. Calvin Crozier was one who was willing to do what was right, listen carefully, and then willing to face the consequences for doing that which was right. You know, he kind of reminds me of Martin Luther. You remember when Martin Luther was called before the Diet of Worms, Worms Germany, the Parliament, and there sat the Emperor Charles V, and the Pope, and all the Cardinals.

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• And they were asking him to deny his writings. And what did Luther say? Luther said, "Although I'm convinced by plain Scripture, I cannot do this." He said, "I can't go by the councils because they're councils of men and they disagree. I can't go by what someone else says." He says, "My conscience is bound only to the Word of God. Here I stand. God help me. I can do no other."

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• You know, that was Crozier's position. "God help me, I can do no other. I'm only going to do what's right," he said. "If it costs me my life, I will do what is right." Do you understand there was a time in this country when men believed that there were some principles that were worth dying for. Not just worth fighting for, but worth dying for. That's why we have this country.

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• And what did our forefathers pledge? Their lives, their liberty, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Manhood is not age-related. It's character-related. The second application is this. John 15 and verse 13, the Bible tells us, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend." In 1 John 3 and verse 16, the Bible says this, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Now, notice what the scripture says, "Hereby perceive we the love of God." Why? Because He laid down His life for us. Real love is not just words, it is action, it is conduct. We know that God loves us, not just because He told us that He loves us, but that He gave His only begotten Son, and His only begotten Son laid down His life for us. Now, what did the Scripture say? "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

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• I can understand how one man could be willing to lay down his life for his friend. But Calvin Crozier laid down his life for a stranger, whom he did not even know. He knew what was right, and he did it. Now let me take this one step further. You don't have to turn there. I'll quote the scripture. If you understand what our Lord meant when He said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend." And we can understand how much greater it is to lay down your life for a stranger.

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• Thirdly, I want you to think with me just for a moment and see the fullness, the greatness, the beauty, the majesty, and the marvelous of the grace of Jesus Christ who laid down His life, are you listening? For His enemies. The Bible says in Romans 5, verses 7 and 8, "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet enemies, sinners, Christ died for us." We may have been His people by election, but we were sinners by imputation and by practice. And being sinners, we were at enmity with God according to Romans 8, verses 6-8. And our Lord loved us and laid His life down for us while we were yet sinners. It's possible for a man will die for his friend, and a stranger, and even for a good man, as Scripture says. But Christ laid down His life for sinners. The greatest sacrifice is the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on behalf of His people.

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• Calvin Crozier, was indeed a Texas martyr. But Jesus Christ is a living Savior. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We're so thankful that You've given us illustrations and examples of men of integrity and character and principle. And Father, we pray that You would enable us to emulate those and have the godly character in our lives that we need. But Father, may we ever praise Thee and glorify Thee for Thy so great salvation that has been given to us in Jesus Christ our Lord. We're so thankful today that You loved us and that You gave Yourself for us even while we were yet sinners and in our sins and in our rebellion. And You've saved us, regenerated us, convicted us, converted us, and brought us to Thyself, for which we give Thee all the glory and the honor and praise, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T12:58:14Z