The Great Awakenting



   They decided to hold a camp meeting of their own; and
did so from August 6 to 13, 1801, near Cane Ridge church,
in a grove seven miles east of Paris. It was attended by
more than twenty-five thousand persons and it is yet his-
torically known as "The Great Cane Ridge Camp Meet-
ing.)"
   Some even attended from Cincinnati and points north.
They came on foot, on horseback and in all sorts of con-
veyances. Eleven hundred and forty-three vehicles were
counted at the meeting; five hundred candles besides many
lamps and fires were used for illumination; and more
than three thousand persons, mostly men, were said to
have made confessions and to have subsequently united
with some church.
   Among the Presbyterian preachers heard at the camp
meeting were Father Rice, Barton W. Stone, Robert Mar-
shall, Joseph P. Howe, who led the singing, and Calvin
Campbell. Though the movement was instituted by
Stone, then a Presbyterian, it was for all purposes a un-
ion service and the great crowd was addressed by Meth-
odist and Baptist preachers as frequently as by Presby-
terian.
   As evidencing the interest manifested, it is conserva-
tively estimated that more than one-tenth of the total
population of the state attended the meeting. The cen-
sus of 1800 gave the population of Kentucky at 220,955,
and many estimated the crowd in attendance at exceed-
ing 25,000.
   The fifth day of the meeting was known as Roger
Williams or Baptist day 'and only Baptist preachers were
heard. The crowd was so great that three different con-
gregations were addressed at a time. The principal ser-
mon was preached by John Gano.



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