Noble Leslie DeVotie

Noble Leslie DeVotie was born on January 24, 1838 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.[1][2] His father, Dr. James H. DeVotie, was the pastor of Siloam Baptist Church in Marion, Alabama and later the First Baptist Church of Columbus, Georgia.[1][2] His mother was Margaret Noble DeVotie.[1] He had a brother, Howard DeVotie.[2] DeVotie was baptized in the Baptist faith by his father at Siloam Baptist Church when he was eleven years old.[1]

DeVotie first attended Howard College, later known as Samford University, before transferring to the University of Alabama.[1] He graduated in 1856.[1] While there, he co-founded Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the age of eighteen.[2] He then studied Christian Theology at the Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey for three years.[1]

He was ordained as a Baptist pastor in Selma, Alabama in November 1859.[1] He served as pastor at the (now demolished) First Baptist Church of Selma, built in 1850 and located on the corner of Church Street and Alabama Avenue.[3]

In the lead up to the American Civil War as Abraham Lincoln became the President-Elect and the secession crisis occurred, he joined the Confederate States Army as a chaplain.[1] Many of his young male congregants had joined the CSA.[1] He was stationed at Fort Morgan near Mobile, where he pastored many of his former congregants.[1] He also pastored the Independent Blues and Governor's Guards, two Confederate companies from Selma.[1]

He drowned on February 12, 1861.[1] As he was about to board a steamer at Fort Morgan, he made a misstep and drowned.[1] He was buried at Linwood Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia.[2][4] His funeral was conducted by Isaac T. Tichenor,[5] with a sermon by Basil Manly, Sr..[1]