In the case of the smitten rock of the Palestine desert water doubtless existed in an abundant, although unknown supply. The Almighty, by the agency of Moses, brought it forth for the satisfying of a great multitude. The prophet was commanded to speak to the rock and it would give forth water. The response could be from none other than the Creator of all mountains and flowing streams. And although Moses went beyond the Divine command, and struck with a rod instead of speaking with his voice, yet the Divine goodness was not withheld, "and the water came abundantly." So at Andersonville the sufficient, though unknown, supply was close at hand. Human voices pleading for relief were answered by Him who spoke by the wind, the lightning and the flood. It is said that the spiritual desires of our hearts are the reflection of what God is waiting to do for us through our own co-operation. Surely then, the prayers of the Andersonville prisoners for water were incited by Him who saw their dire necessity, and who waited only for human hands to aid in the release of the fountain of water which his Omnipotence had created. During the subsequent years the writer has given the foregoing account in lectures and conversations to his comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic and to many others. Gentlemen of scientific and Christian attainments have said that this explanation of the phenomenon of Providence Spring is the most satisfactory of any that they have heard. The event here chronicled is commemorated by the erection on the spot of a granite pavilion which is appropriately named "Providence Spring." The inscriptions are as follows: This Fountain Erected by THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF UNION EX-PRISONERS OF WAR In Memory of the 52,345 Comrades who were confined here as prisoners of war, and of the 13,900 comrades buried in the adjoining National Cemetery. Dedicated Memorial Day, May Thirteenth, Nineteen Hundred and One. James Atwell, National Commander. S. M. Long, Adjt. Gen'l. J. D. Walker, Cham. Ex. Committee. A reverse tablet bears the words: This Pavilion Was Erected by the WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic In grateful memory of the men who suffered and died in the Confederate Prison at Andersonville, Georgia, From February, 1864, to April, 1865. "The prisoner's cry of thirst rang up to heaven; God heard, and with his thunder cleft the earth And poured his sweetest waters gushing here." "Erected 1901." CHAPTER VIII. DELIVERANCE.