Frederic Denison was born in Stonington, Connecticut, on September 28th, 1819. Educated at Bacon Academy in Colchester and later the Connecticut Literary Institute in Suffield, he earned his way through school through carpentry. After this, he attended Brown University and, after graduation in 1847, became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Westerly, Rhode Island. He married his wife, Amey, in 1848 and obtained his Master of Arts degree from Brown in 1850. He pastored two more churches between 1850 and 1861, at which point he enlisted in the Northern Army in the Civil War.
Denison was firmly against slavery and was one of the first men to enlist. He served as chaplain for the First Rhode Island Cavalry and after, the Rhode Island Heavy Artillery. He wrote two books during his time of service and letters describing conflicts to the Rhode Island newspapers at home. After the war’s end, he returned to pastoring, where he served in Connecticut and Rhode Island before settling in Providence, RI. “Battle Song,” a composition of Denison’s, is a stirring testimony to Christian warfare. Surely Denison, more than most, would understand what it meant to stand firm as “a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” (II Timothy 2:3)
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