excitement was short lived, and the winter resulted in a return to spiritual malaise. At this point, McGready instituted regular prayer and fasting to be observed in the churches on the last Saturday of each month. By the summer of 1798, the sacrament observances were the site of more conversions, but criticism circulated by rival Presbyterian minister James Balch, recently arrived from another community, brought conflict and doubt and, according to McGready, quelled the enthusiasm, so that again, stagnation followed. In July of the following year, McGready noticed a “remarkable spirit of prayer and supplication…a sensible, heart-felt burden of the dreadful state of sinners” among those in his congregations. At Red River, McGready reported the conversion of “bold and daring sinners” weeping bitterly. At the subsequent sacrament at Gasper River, he reported the first incidences of a phenomenon that would continue to characterize the assemblies—people falling into swoons with groans and loud cries for mercy, often lying helpless for hours. Similar results followed at subsequent sacrament observances as McGready and other area ministers traveled throughout the Cumberland region to congregations at Muddy River, Clay Lick, and The Ridge, a congregation in Tennessee. The revival begins: Summer 1800 The Sacrament at Red River In June 1800, McGready was joined at Red River by several area Presbyterian ministers, including William Hodge, John Rankin (whom McGready had recently appointed as minister of the Gasper River congregation), and the brothers William and John McGee. The latter was a Methodist minister who, some years later, wrote his account for the Methodist Missionary Magazine. His narrative vividly described the revival’s beginnings: “All was silent until Monday, the last day of the feast. … While Mr. Hodge was preaching, a woman in the East end got an uncommon blessing, broke through order, and shouted for some time and then sat down in silence." McGee continued, relating that most of the ministers were already gathered outside the meeting house while the people remained seated inside, unwilling to leave, when his brother, William, “felt such a power come on him that he quit his seat and sat down in the floor of the pulpit." John McGee began to tremble as weeping erupted through the congregation. The woman in the east end began to shout again and McGee started toward her just as someone reminded him that his Presbyterian hosts were “much for order” and would not “hear this confusion;