During the Civil War he was the pastor of a church at Macon, Mississippi. The state legislature had taken refuge there after the Federal armies had ravished Jackson. Governor Charles Clark was pushing a bill that would draft all ministers under the age of sixty. The Speaker of the House of Representatives asked Reverend Harmon to give the session’s opening prayer. He did so with a vengeance, attacking the proposed legislation by closing with “O Lord, let not this vile act of legislation become the law of the land.” The bill was defeated.