The U.S. Christian Commission's Library and Literacy Programs for the Union Military Forces in the Civil War

The U.S. Christian Commission's Library and Literacy Programs for the Union MilitaryForces in the Civil WarAuthor(s): David M. HovdeSource: Libraries & Culture, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Summer, 1989), pp. 295-316Published by: University of Texas PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25542169 .

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The U.S. Christian Commission's Library and

Literacy Programs for the Union Military Forces in the Civil War

David M. Hovde

Prior to the 1880s library services to military personnel were generally left up to concerned civilian organizations and personnel within the various

military camps, posts, ports, and ships. For example, in the fiscal year end

ing 30 June 1860, the U.S. Army spent $1,109.67 on library materials for

the West Point Academy Library. No other library funds were allocated for

any other army facility. That same year $624.91 was spent for the salary of a dancing master at West Point.1 The possession and use of such things

as

military manuals were generally limited to commissioned and noncommis

sioned officers, and ammunition and equipment cases were color-coded.

Thus, there was little or no perceived need, by some, for literate troops.

General Winfield Scott, a strong believer in the education of the enlisted

man, was a salient example of the opposite view.2 During the War of 1812, Scott had been noted for taking his portable library, "a five foot book

shelf," everywhere he went, even during military campaigns.3 True to his

beliefs, he included a provision for the establisment of post libraries in the

General Regulations for the Army, 1821. The money for these libraries was raised

through tax on the post sutler. However, the tax was also to be used for

the relief of indigent widows and orphans of officers and soldiers and disabled

military personnel not subject to pensions, and for the expenses of the bake

house, the post band, and the schools for soldiers' children.4 With no other

provisions or central authority, these libraries varied in size and quality. The funding for post libraries was dropped in 1857, but restored again in

1861.5

With the advent of the American Civil War, various private citizens

recognized many deficiencies in the federal government's ability to care for the needs of the military forces. The availability of reading materials and

literacy classes were among the basic needs. In 1860 over half a million white and free black males over the age of 20 were considered illiterate;

Libraries and Culture, Vol. 24, No. 3, Summer 1989 ?1989 by the University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713



296 L&C/The U.S. Christian Commission

with the freeing of the slaves, that number would swell in the next few

years.6 Both of these groups would enter military service during the Civil

War along with hundreds of thousands of educated troops eager for news

and general literature.

The American Civil War caught the United States government without

any real plan or organization for the care and comfort of its trooops in the

field or hospital. This was brought to the particular attention of the north

ern population by the disaster of the First Battle of Bull Run. The resulting flood of soldiers needing medical assistance quickly overtaxed the hospitals in the nation's capital as wounded men straggled into Washington for

several days after the defeat. In 1860, for a standing army of 16,267 men,

there were only 182 surgeons and hospital stewards scattered in forts from

Washington to California.7 Novelties such as ambulances were just then

emerging from the experimental stage.

It soon became clear to many outside of government that civilian agen

cies had to step in to fill the void left by the unprepared federal and state

bureaucracies. These problems were not due to lack of concern as much as

an overextended resource base. In the four years that followed the Battle of

Bull Run the federal army expanded from under 16,000 men (with the

resignation of prosecession elements) to approximately a million men at

arms. An official in the U.S. Sanitary Commission described the situation:

It is one of the fortunate peculiarities in our American life that

when great evils force themselves upon the public attention as requir

ing immediate and practical remedy, earnest and thoughtful men are

to be found who generally, by means of some formal organization,

determine, with more or less force, to grapple with them.

The evils themselves were so glaring, the danger from them to

health and efficiency of the army so imminent, and the Government

apparently so helpless to provide

an adequate remedy, that it was

determined by some enlightened men ... to try the experiment of

infusing some of the popular enthusiasm and popular sympathy into

the cumbrous machinery of Government.8

At the beginning of the war, relief efforts for the soldiers and sailors

throughout the North were full of patriotic fervor, but lacked unified

organization or specific goals. Chicago volunteer activist Mary Livermore

recalled housewives who "rifled their store-rooms and preserve-closets of

canned fruits and pots of jam and marmalade which they packed with

clothing and blankets, books and stationery."9 Another volunteer said of

the early efforts that the volunteers left "with their Bibles, bandages, food

?whatever they could get together, through the support of their local

church."10



297

In the "chaos of philanthropy" numerous organizations

soon sprang up

with varied success and often competed with each other in purpose and for

the same resources.11 Organizations such as the Women's Central Associa

tion of Relief, the Michigan Soldiers' Relief Association, the Western

Sanitary Commission, the United States Sanitary Commission, the New

York Christian Commission, and the Ladies' Christian Commission worked

either independently or as subsidiaries to larger agencies.

One of the largest civilian relief agencies in the North during the war was

the U.S. Christian Commission, created during the confused and fearful

months following the cataclysm on 21 July 1861 at Bull Run, Virginia. It

was formed on 14 November 1861 by representatives of the YMCA from

fifteen cities, at the suggestion of Vincent Colyer, who would later become

the president of the parent organization. George Hay Stuart, a Philadel

phia dry goods merchant, was appointed to head the commission.

The headquarters of the commission was located in Philadelphia, from

whence it directed the work of several regional and state offices. The

Philadelphia office and its subsidiaries organized the relief efforts of hun

dreds of local committees and acted as distribution centers for supplies and

delegates; delegates were clergy or laymen who enlisted as unpaid volunteers for six weeks or more. One or more of these individuals was at

tached to each of the federal divisions as field agents to direct or facilitate

the work of regimental chaplains and subordinates, establish stations, ob

tain shelter and materials, order stores, and report to the commission on

the progress of their work.

Field Conditions

The most pressing need that these volunteers could fill, of course, was

the provision of food and hospital care. Special diet kitchens and hospitals were organized by several of the relief agencies, some of which were within

the range of Confederate artillery. The federal troops had other needs as

well. During the winter months the war all but ceased on land, with oppos

ing armies settling in their encampments to await the spring campaigns.

During these long periods a great deal of boredom, homesickness, and

despondency threatened to make army life intolerable. These problems worked toward a disillusionment with the cause for which the troops were

fighting,12 and desertion rates during this time of the year were high: "Camp life, such as we have been compelled to endure for months past, becomes to

the American Soldier very heavy and monotonous. Our boys seem not only

waiting, but anxious for something to turn up."13

According to Bell Irwin Wiley, little was done on the part of officers to

alleviate the problem. To the officers, command during the Civil War was

simply a matter of discipline, drill, and fight. Officers, if they gave any



298 L&C/The US. Christian Commission

thought to recreation for troops under their command, regarded the plan

ning of such activities as extraneous, if not downright unbecoming to their

positions.14

As a result, many federal troops had a good deal of time on their hands

with nothing to do. Diversions such as drinking, gambling, and being ab sent without leave were common and are mentioned in many diaries, even

though there were severe punishments when caught. The lengthy inactivity was something new to the farmers and laborers who filled the ranks. The

one almost universal escape was reading; the soldiers, as one wrote, read

"everything that we can get in the way of reading matter."15

A Norwegian immigrant soldier from Wisconsin wrote:

I received ... an armload of newspapers?among them a half

score of copies of "Emigranten." ... As soon as

"Emigranten" ar

rives there are always many hands to grab for it. Everyone wants to

see it; and some want to be the first to do so. However, the condition

imposed is that he who gets it must read it aloud to his comrades in

the same tent, so that all may have a chance to devour it at the same

time.16

Another soldier wrote that he "longed more for something to read than

for something to eat,"17 Their desperation for anything to read is shown by

another, who said, "There was no novel so dull, trashy, or sensational as

not to find someone so bored with nothing to do that he would not wade

through it. The mind was hungry for something, and took husks when it

could get nothing better."18

The soldiers found various ways to procure reading material. For exam

ple, one chaplain noted that soldiers:

At some of the stockades on the lower part of the road . . . put a

board on a post, silently asking passengers to "DROP A PAPER."

At one place they have printed, in large capitals, on the white side of a

poncho or gym blanket, "PLEASE DROP PAPERS." As the train

approaches, two of them hold up the request, and, if need be, shake it

to secure attention. The papers once thrown off, there is a race who

will first get them, and then all gather around for the news and good

reading they contain.19

A Connecticut soldier described another method of gaining information:

Ten minutes from canip, toward town, is a pump where we are

obliged to go for water. Good water. A great meeting place for the

people and soldiers. News of the day is talked over. It is known as the



299

news pump. Newspapers are not very plentiful. They come from

Baltimore and Ohio. Those who are first at the pump in the morning

bring the news and stories that can be picked up, and are soon cir

culated through camp. So we look for the morning news from the

pump.20

Not all efforts to obtain and distribute reading material were so hap hazard. Some regiments, not stationed in permanent military posts with

existing libraries, formed literary clubs and libraries, placing an officer or

chaplain in charge. The books were obtained in various ways?purchased

from suders, sent from home, obtained from a local relief agency, or con

fiscated from Confederate sympathizers. The libraries were often housed in

the regimental chapel tents that also served as the literary societies' meeting

houses.

Beyond the troops themselves, the morale of the men was often the re

sponsibility of the regimental chaplain. Although the efforts of some of

these men to improve the reading habits of the troops were noble enough, they were often of little consequence due to the lack of outside support. The

main thrust of the U.S. Christian Commission was to uplift the moral and

spiritual aspect of the soldier as well to provide for his physical well

being, and thus assist "the brave men in arms to put down a wicked

rebellion."21

Like many of its counterparts, the commission began its efforts in the realm of reading materials as a distributor of secondhand tracts, news

papers, and books that were donated to the cause by the citizens. The

commission, for example, published tracts that asked the reader to send:

GOOD READING MATERIAL.?Send no trash. Soldiers deserve the best. A library is a valuable hygienic appliance. For the

able-bodied, good publications are mental and spiritual food. For

convalescents, lively, interesting books, the monthlies, the pictorials, works of art, science, and literature, as well as those for moral and

spiritual culture, such as you would put into the hand of a brother

recovering.22

Later small publications from religious tract societies were added to this distribution. Among the titles were the American Messenger, the Tract Journal, and the Christian Banner. A number of these tracts were written specifically for military circulation.

As time progressed, the commission's work in this area evolved into a

more sophisticated operation with specific goals. As Moss states, "the feel

ing grew that the soldiers deserved the freshest and best that could be secured."23 To accomplish this end, the commission began purchasing the



300 UkC/The U.S. Christian Commission

material it was to distribute rather than relying on donations, an action that

gave the commission more control over the exact type of materials it

distributed. By the fall of 1863, the commission was regularly distributing

religious weeklies.

The commission's work was primarily evangelical in nature; up to this

point, the literature distributed by the organization was chiefly religious in content. This was certainly true of the material purchased by the commis

sion. Although many soldiers and sailors were desperate to read anything

that crossed their path, some did not look upon the commission's work with favor:

Religious tracts were scattered among the soldiers by thousands, it

is true, and probably did some good. I heard a Massachusetts soldier

say, not long ago, that when his regiment arrived in New York en

route for the seat of war, the men were presented with "a plate of thin

soup and a Testament." This remark to me was very suggestive. It

reminded me of the vast amount of mistaken or misguided philan

thropy that was expended upon the army by good Christian men and

women, who, with the best of motives urging them forward no doubt, often labored under the delusion that the army was composed entirely

of men thoroughly bad, and governed their actions accordingly.24

Another soldier commented that the tracts were "first-rate to kindle

fires."25

With the standardization of the distribution of the tracts and religious

periodicals came the introduction of standardized book distribution. Along with Bibles, testaments, hymnals, and psalm books the commission also

forwarded knapsack books (volumes designed to fit in the pockets of

uniforms or knapsacks) and library books.

The reliance on donations of books, many of dubious quality, and the

monotonous proselytizing nature of the tracts were problems that were

recognized not only by the troops. The Reverend A. M. Stewart, a

chaplain who worked with the commission, wrote of an arrival of a box of

books:

An arrival extraordinary, some days since, in the shape of a box

about twenty inches square, and packed with a choice selection of

books, proved a real God-send, and was to us a source of much rejoic

ing. These were books?not tracts, or pamphlets, periodicals, or little

volumes for children's reading?but books, handsomely bound, vary

ing in value from a quarter of a dollar to a dollar and a quarter. Good

friends, who make liberal provision for reading matter to the army,

seem often to make a mistake with respect to what is sent. This has



301

generally been small reading matter; so much so, that the same matter

has once and again been distributed to the same regiment. Such have

lost their interest for power and good. It should be remembered that

we have men in the army?educated, reading, thinking men?many

of whom have been more than two years deprived of access to a

library.26

A commission delegate noted that what was distributed to the troops was

frequently dull and unsuitable. At one point the soldiers were so desperate that he was forced to distribute pamplets on the "condition and duties of

women."27

Foreign-Language Material

The commission's work quickly spread into the realm of the non

English-speaking military units. In the beginning the material was still

proselytizing in its nature. With the cooperation with the Bible Society, the

commission provided testaments in German, Danish, French, Italian,

Spanish, and Portuguese. This effort is noteworthy in that there were

substantial numbers of foreigners in the Union Army and Navy. Using one

ethnic group as an example, there were approximately 130 regiments,

com

panies, batteries, and cavalry troops that were predominately German in

national origin.28 A total of 1,451,748 volumes was provided to the troops

through this cooperation. Non-English publications distribifted by the com

mission would later include knapsack books, newspapers, and library books. An example of this work on the local level was a chaplain in the

Caryville Military Hospital who provided German-language literature to

his immigrant patients.29

Literacy Programs

The activities of the commission took another turn when chaplains began

opening up their tents and cabins to secular activities:

An effort will be made to have a literary lecture, each Tuesday or

Friday evening. The portion of our regiment wearing shoulder

straps, will also be urged to furnish a lecture, weekly, on Military Science. In addition to these, our tent is already being arranged for a

large reading room, to be kept warm all day, and lighted each eve

ning. We have already on hand above five hundred bound volumes, besides a

large amount of tracts, pamphlets, and magazines.30

In some regiments and ships the lectures evolved into regular literary




classes: "Whether a new feature of camp life and exercises or not, at least to

myself both pleasing and interesting has been the organization, not long since, of a

large class, for the study of English grammar, and also a similar

one for recitation in Latin. Our class in grammar already numbers

thirty."31

The literacy programs were not just restricted to white soldiers. Through out the former territories of the Confederacy, various agencies developed

programs for the thousands of freed slaves. An example is in a narrative by

Chaplain H. Clay Trumbull. He noted that the former slaves recognized that reading, a skill long forbidden to them, was power and that they had to

attain the ability in order to survive in their new world. He reported that the

blacks read their spelling books and small readers during their work breaks

and well into the night by the light of pine branch fires. At times Trumbull was awakened by the students reciting the passages from the textbooks.32

Although a number of agencies were involved in this activity, the com

mission's efforts were by far the most comprehensive. Nowhere did the

commission's activity in this area become as strong as it did in the Twenty

fifth Corps, Army of the James, a corps entirely made up of black troops with white officers. This effort also extended to the black teamsters,

laborers, and children of those recently escaped slaves who now worked for

the federal forces. These individuals were supplied with a variety of

elementary school books and periodicals designed for their "circumstances

and attainments." For example, late in the war, the American Tract Society

published an illustrated monthly known as the Freedman. It ceased

publication in December of 1865, after 1,423,000 copies had been printed.

STATION AT GENERAL HOSPtTAt, CITY POINT, VA.

Fig. 1



303

Since many of the black troops had only recently been freed, it is no sur

prise that few could read, and thus it was useless to distribute reading material to them. A meeting was held by chaplains of this corps at Butler

Station, near City Port, Virginia, during the early part of the winter of

1864 (fig. 1). At this meeting the members proposed to furnish teachers,

primers, blackboards, chalk, and any aid deemed necessary if the chaplains would immediately organize schools for the troops in their respective

regiments and support the commission's attempt to organize schools in

regiments that were not staffed with chaplains. The chaplains then sent a

petition to the Executive Committee in Philadelphia to endorse the pro

posal of their agents in the field.33

According to the commission records the Philadephia office responded with a call for fifty teachers to serve the black troops in the field. Through out the North a general effort was made to purchase primers and collect old

spelling books. The New York Committee was one of those that responded:

In this connection it may be proper to state, that this branch of the

Christian Commission, being more direcdy

on the Southern sea

board, has been called upon largely to relieve the necessities, and

furnish reading matter for those men who have recently escaped from

the house of bondage; in fact almost all the colored troops are in this

field. No difference in the men who wear the United States uniform

is recognized, except in modifying the nature of the publications sent

to meet more accurately the wants of those for whose use they are

destined. The Committee have forwarded large number of books, and primers, and first lessons in arithmetic, for the use of the colored

troops, and thousands have learned to read, who were untaught and

would have remained in ignorance, if in the former state of slavery.34

Blackboards, seats, and writing desks were built in the field using lumber

provided by the government. Canvas for roofing was requested and the

troops themselves assisted in the construction of the school buildings. Thirty buildings were built and furnished in this manner. Schools soon were available to many of the regiments; the operations of these schools did not end until the commencement of field operations.

Two commission stations were established for these activities in the

Twenty-fifth Corps, both of which were within range of Confederate ar

tillery. Civilians working in these relief societies often found themselves under fire. Annie Wittenmyer's account of her arrival in the trenches, in

vesting Vicksburg, demonstrates the hazard of their work:

During that dreadful day I sat down in one of the tents for a little

while; there was a patch of weeds growing near the tent-door. I noticed




the weeds shaking as though partridges were running through them.

I called attention to the matter, which made the surgeon smile, as he

explained,

"Why, those are bullets!"

"Bullets? Do bullets come so near as that?"

"Oh, yes," he answered cheerfully; "they are flying around here

quite thick."

"Do you consider yourself safe while in this tent? It seems to me

the bullets are coming very close."

"It is considered very safe. The bullets fall a little short you see."

All the while I sat there I watched the bullets coming over and clip

ping through the weeds.

Three days from that time an officer was killed while sitting in the same chair on the same spot where I had sat and watched the bullets

shaking the weeds.35

One of the stations serving the Twenty-fifth Corps in Virginia was

responsible for ten regiments. Classes were held both day and night for the

soldiers to attend as they went off duty. It was estimated that three thou

sand a week attended those classes. The reports on the schools indicated the

troops were eager to read:

Some, without any knowledge of the alphabet, learned to read in

easy sentences in six days. And for the majority, according to the

uniform report of the teachers, the average time required to learn to

read in easy sentences, was only four weeks. They take easily the nor

mal system, the pupils who have acquired one letter casting about at

once to teach it to someone as ignorant as they

were a few days

before. So that a teacher, multiplied in this geometrical ration, would

very soon be felt as an educating power in an entire regiment.36

In the federal army post at Stephenson, Virginia, in 1865, a similar

school was opened for former slaves. The commission's delegate there

stated he had a student body of sixty-seven ranging in age from 12 to 46.

The commission claimed great success in its short-lived attempt to educate

the black troops and workers: "Hundreds of those who could not read at

the beginning of the winter, were sufficiently advanced at its close to read in

the Testament; and many of them had learned to write with rapidity and

elegance. It was no uncommon thing for one riding along the line of works

held by this corps to see men, at every step of this progress, reading or

studying in their primers."37



305

Secular Literature

From the beginning the commission stated the need for "reading matter, suitable in quality and sufficient in quantity."38 Although the work of the

commission was evangelical in orientation, some of the chaplains and

delegates recognized that secular material should be provided as well. It was not just one soldier who thought of the religious tracts as "just what I want to light my pipe with."39 It was the stated goal of the commission to

provide "lively, interesting books, the monthlies, the pictorials, works of

art, science, and literature, as well as those for moral and spiritual

culture. "40

This was acted upon by an

enterprising chaplain by the name of

the Reverend J. C. Thomas, who served as the chaplain of the Eighty eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Army of the Cumber land. During December of 1862 Thomas began to develop the idea of sup

plying his regiment with secular periodical literature as well as the standard

religious periodicals of the day. The success of this was dependent on prompt

delivery, regularity, and limited expenditures. By April of 1864 the com

mission officially had begun a large-scale effort to distribute leading religious and secular magazines, reviews, and newspapers (both local and

national) to the Army of the Cumberland under the direction of Thomas. A large number of publishers rose to the occasion and offered to furnish

their publications at half-price, and a shipping company known as the

Adams Express Company declared its willingness to handle all the deliveries free.41 The Adams Express Company helped Thomas and the

commission throughout the war, shipping the various forms of literature

gratis.42 With the cooperation of the other chaplains, the Army of the

Cumberland was regularly supplied with quality secular periodicals cover

piii:^^ : ,;vg, :

MIMHHRHH^NHiHIM':]

Fig. 2




ing the areas of general news, politics, science, and literature. Due to

limited funds the commission was forced to sell these to the troops, which

caused a good deal of concern among some members of the commission.

The magazines and reviews offered were such things as the North British

Review, North American Review, Eclectic Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, Harper's Magazine, LittelVs, Scientific American, and Living Age. The scores of news

papers included foreign-language publications. These items sold at cost or

less and the delegates accepted the equivalent in postage stamps. Each item

bore the label shown in fig. 2.

While this idea was expanding from its beginnings in 1862, Thomas's

plans evolved into providing not only quality periodicals, but also secular

monographs. From this developed the concept of portable libraries for

regiments in camps, hospitals, and ships. In September of 1863 Thomas was detailed by General George Henry

Thomas (who gained immortality that same month as the "Rock of Chicka

mauga'') to take on the position of "General Reading Agent for the Army of the Cumberland." Chaplain Thomas began upgrading his efforts by consult

ing with the commission. He had felt for some time that a close association

with one of the national relief societies was necessary to enable his efforts to

be both comprehensive and efficiently run. The commission was initially ten

tative about further expansion into the area of secular materials since such

an operation was not sanctioned by its charter. A few months later, however,

the activity proceeded under the auspices of the commission.43

Libraries

Although the distribution of periodical literature was officially confined to the western theater of the war, another of the Reverend Thomas's

ideas?mobile libraries?would become much more universal. Library ser

vice to nontraditional users under the auspices of a benevolent organization was not a new concept. In the first half of the nineteenth century western

economies and social structures were being disrupted by the advent of the

Industrial Revolution. Thousands of people migrated to the growing cities.

A number of individuals became concerned over the "haunts of vice and

dissipation" that these cities offered the new arrivals.44 By the 1850s

numerous American towns and cities had benevolent societies such as

mechanics' institutes, seamen centers, and young men's societies. In 1852

the New York YMCA stated its object was "no less than the prevention of

the ruin, physical and spiritual, which overtakes so large a portion of the

multitude of young men constantly arriving in our city."45

From its founding in 1844 in England, the YMCA concerned itself with

library service to both white- and blue-collar workers. The library served as

an inducement to these workers to spend their evenings in places other than



307

saloons. In the United States the YMCA centers offered libraries, lecture

courses, and social activities that centered in rooms strategically situated

and attractively furnished, supporting the primary concern for the spiritual and moral welfare of young men adrift in the cities.46 The Boston YMCA

was an outstanding example. It had several hundred books and subscribed

to forty New England newspapers and thirty-five magazines. The pre-Civil War benevolent societies placed their services in a fixed

location in the midst of those in need, not an easy task for wartime work

with a highly mobile army and navy. With this in mind, Thomas devised

the idea of a mobile library system in 1863. His ideas were based on

systems developed for an Illinois regiment and the American Seaman's

Friend Society.47 Curiously not mentioned by Thomas were the activities of

another organization?the Connecticut Chaplain's-Aid Commission pro

vided portable library cases containing from 75 to 125 bound volumes to

the ten Connecticut regiments then in the field. This service ceased in

1862.48

Thomas's system was finalized in the early part of 1864. As with the

secular periodicals, negotiations were held with leading publishers. The

majority of these offered their books at half the retail price, and the agree ment reached in January fixed the price at the current level. This price re

mained in effect even though the cost of printing and materials increased

during the duration of the war. With this arrangement fifty dollars could

buy, on average, 180 books on a wide range of subjects.49

Thomas compiled a 28-page catalogue of 1,500 books deemed suitable for army libraries based on approximately a hundred publishers' cata

logues.50 Prior to the completion of the catalogue, weeks were spent studying dictionaries of authors, catalogues, and the works themselves in libraries

and bookstores. The books were chosen according to the following rules:

"None but the best works; none but the best, most suitable and cheapest editions; secular works as well as

religious; utility rather than variety."51 In each of the major publishing centers one publisher volunteered to act

as a clearinghouse for the receiving, packing, and shipping of all the pur

chases made in the respective cities. This was done without charge. The

publishers were Gould and Lincoln, Boston; Chas. Scribner and Com

pany, New York; Ashmead and Evans, Philadelphia; and Poe and Hitch

cock, Cincinnati. The enthusiasm for this venture by the publishers is shown in a letter to Thomas from Chas. Scribner and Company, dated 10

September 1864: "It has been considerable trouble to us; yet we are willing to do twice, yes, ten times, as much for our brave soldiers; and only wish that we had shoulders broad enough and arms strong enough to crush this cursed rebellion, and bring or send every soldier to his fireside. As it is, you and they have our

morning and evening prayers, and our further offer to

do all in our power."52




i^^^^^^^HwiiltliBHI18 Rill ffliiu r^ 7 I

I^^^B^^^^^^^^fclBB^^BKlB?li^M ill w f' 1

A LOAN LIBRARY.

Fig. 3

With the approval of the secretary of war, Edwin McMasters Stanton, General Thomas supplied the material for the library cases and had them

built at government expense.53 The loan libraries were designed to be por table (see fig. 3). The cases were three feet square with a depth of eight inches; the corners were dove-tailed and fitted with iron supports; and the

shelving was designed to fit books that were 18 mo, 16 mo, 12 mo, and 8

vo. The front of the cases opened at the center, using two swinging door

panels secured with strap-hinges, and the doors were closed by means of a

clasp and padlock. The cases were stained, except for the door panels, and

varnished. The door panels were labeled as shown in fig. 4. The Adams Ex

press Company agreed to ship the cases free of charge.

Each portable library contained 125 volumes. The subject matter of

these books included history, biography, poetry, fiction, science, religion, and the like. Included were such titles as Bryant's Selection from American

Poets, Ivanhoe, Paradise Lost, Pilgrim's Progress, Ten Nights in a Bar-Room, Liv

ingstone's Travels and Explorations in South Africa, Sargent's Arctic Explorations, and Tome's Americans in Japan.54 The books were bound in flexible oilcloth so as to be impervious to water, and each was labeled and numbered. The

catalogue for these libraries was located on the inside panel of the doors of

the cases so that when the doors were opened, the catalogue was displayed



309

** - HllililS .'; t' 11

Fig. 4

to the user. The catalogue was alphabetically arranged by the author and

numbered, with additional space for 35 more books. Portable card cata

logues were also provided for the convenience of bedridden hospital patients. The libraries were loaned to hospitals, camps, depots, and naval vessels,

and were subject to the control of the commission. This was done with the

understanding that when the library was no longer needed it was to be

returned, so it could be sent to another needy unit. The individual placed in

charge of the library was generally a chaplain, surgeon, or officer in the

regiment or vessel. He was required to sign a statement in which he pledged faithful care of the library and its contents and was also required to send

monthly reports on its condition and use. Ledgers

were provided to record

the statistics used in the reports, each containing 172 pages, allowing a page for each book in the library. The number assigned to each volume cor

responded with the numbered page in the ledger and the extra pages were

for incidental memoranda.55 Each of the pages was divided into eight col umns with the headings: Name, Regiment, Company, Ward, Bed, Drawn,

Returned, and Remarks. The statistics for monthly reports were drawn

from these columns. The reports then were sent to the general library

agent, who was able to determine the location of each library, its condition, and the circulation statistics. An example of a monthly report follows:




Library 70. Second Wisconsin Cavalry, Alexandria, La. Report,

by Chaplain B. L. Brisbane. For June 1865; Volumes drawn, one

hundred and eleven; volumes lost, none. The library is a fine collec

tion. It is doing immense good. It is the best thing the Christian Com

mission has done for the service. Every regiment should have one. It

has a deep and abiding influence?intellectually, morally, and

spiritually. For July: Volumes drawn, two hundred; volumes lost, none. The longer we have the library, the more useful we find it. For

August: Volumes drawn, sixty-one, volumes lost, none. Have been

on the march to Hempstead, Texas. For September: Volumes

drawn, three hundred and thirty; volumes lost, seven. Some men in

hospital were sent off and discharged without returning, some of

whom carried off books. We are very thankful for the library. No

estimate can be made of the good it is doing. For October: Volumes

drawn, one hundred and twenty-nine; volumes lost, three. Some

books carried off by deserters, or others. Library has already well

paid for itself. A number of souls lately converted. A good work going on in the regiment. I ascribe much to the library.56

Two hundred and fifteen loan libraries were built that contained the full

number of 125 volumes. Seventy libraries containing 75 volumes were also

prepared. Thus, two hundred and eighty-five loan libraries containing

32,125 volumes were made available to the federal forces. One hundred

and eighty-five of the loan libraries contained new books purchased directly

from the publishers. Thirty of the large libraries and all seventy of the

smaller ones contained secondhand volumes obtained via a number of

appeals.57

The libraries were used until the end of the war; although some were lost

at the war's closing, many of them were used into the late 1860s. Enough

survived to supply libraries to approximately fifty permanent military posts and twenty-five naval vessels.58 John Bougham in two letters to Thomas

mentions the last libraries to be sent out of the Philadelphia office. In

December of 1866 the last shipment to the army was sent and in January of

1867 the last shipment was sent to the navy.59 This system of traveling loan

libraries for military installations was not seen again until Luther L.

Dickerson, the War Department library specialist, reactivated the program in 1924.60

Conclusion

The beliefs and actions of the commission and its parent organization were part of a vast pervasive reform milieu that encompassed practically

every aspect of American society and culture. To the reformers in this



311

movement, which began three decades prior to the Civil War, it was a time

to continue the evolution of the great democratic experiment. It was a time

to expand the limits of all aspects of a purely American culture to all

segments of society, and many of these efforts centered on the democratiza

tion of knowledge. The reformers believed that truth, if widely disseminated, would set the people free.61 The educated literate masses would then not

only improve their own condition, but society as a whole.

The provision of universal education through the use of public schools,

libraries, literacy programs, and lyceums was a solution to a

myriad of

social ills. To some, the changes brought on by the Industrial Revolution

and the influx of new groups of immigrants created problems associated

with slums, class differences, and an increase in crime. A well-trained

population would be less prone to idleness and reduce expenditures for

charity.62

Others, like the leaders of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, believed

that education was a means of indoctrinating patriotic values, discipline,

and social control. Education would then bring a sense of nation to the

many diverse groups throughout the country,63 thus lessening the chances

of social discontent, mob action, and even revolution.64 With a vast

military force composed of immigrants, blacks, and poor white farmers and

laborers, this view was not lost on many who worked in the various

benevolent societies.

A third view was held by members of the evangelical groups such as the Christian Commission and the YMCA and the American Tract and American Bible societies. These and like groups believed the millennium was soon to come; therefore, it was necessary to spread the word and save

souls. Education was a means of moral regeneration and curbing sin.65

The work of the United States Christian Commission to provide library services and literacy classes to federal soldiers and sailors, although

secon

dary to the primary goal of saving souls, was the first national effort by any organization directed toward a nontraditional library user. The dele

gates did not place these services in a town square across from the court

house or school to await the arrival of patrons, but took the service directly into the camps, front-line trenches, and the high

seas. The commission

began its efforts as a religious organization with a strong Anglo-American,

Protestant orientation, which held traditional beliefs of charity as a

religious obligation.66 The members of the commission had strong religious beliefs and nationalistic ideals. From their letters and reports it is clear that

they were committed to undertake their duties to the fullest and do their

part in the destruction of the Confederacy. In much of the literature pro duced by the commission the two commitments to God and country were

inseparable. This was not unique among the mainline Protestant denomi nations in the North; the pervasive tenet of American nationalism at the




time was that their country was blessed by God. Its divine mission was to

be an example to the rest of the world. The concept that the Republic was

the new "chosen people" was marred by slavery and secession, and the

rebellion had to be crushed at all costs.67 Whatever the motives of the in

dividuals involved, nationalistic, simple proselytizing, or benevolent, the

goal of the commission was to promote the spiritual as well as the temporal welfare of the federal forces.

The U.S. Christian Commission, without the aid or backing of library

professionals, 125 years ago developed mobile libraries to serve nontradi

tional users, the distribution of foreign-language materials to non-English

speakers, and literacy classes. These activities were done through private

agencies with little or no help from the government.

Postscript

Immediately after the Civil War interest in libraries and literacy ap

parently regressed with the reduction of the size of the military and its ex

penditures. Although the Revised Regulations for the Army of the United States, 1861 restored the tax on sutlers, many of the post libraries ceased to func

tion.68 By the 1870s a number of military posts contained "a few miscel

laneous books, but no regular library."69 During the decade of the 1870s

the United States Military Post Library Association continued the work of

the Christian Commission. The association had originally been formed in

1861 to provide library services to the military forces in and about New

York City.70 By 1870 the association had expanded its efforts to all military installations in the United States; its goals and objectives were similar to the

Christian Commission's. The association endeavored to improve the

social, moral, and religious condition of the soldiers and to influence the

federal government to fund permanent libraries and reading rooms on all

military posts.71

In 1875 over fifty military posts had libraries and reading rooms; some of

these were quite large.72 Yet testimonials from commanding officers in

association publications indicate that not all the posts benefited from the tax

on suders. Other statements attest to the inadequacy of some of the existing

libraries.73 An example of this inadequacy can be seen in the regulations

concerning the post funds. General Order No. 22 specifically states that a

maximum of two newspaper subscriptions could be purchased per post if

garrisoned by a

single company or one subscription per company at all

other stations. That adds up to one paper for fifty to one hundred men.74

The association sent over 100,000 copies of leading newspapers and

periodicals to military installations throughout the country in 1873.75 It also

sent tens of thousands of its own publications. As far as books were con

cerned, the association employed two methods: public donations and dis



313

counts on book orders from selected publishers.76 By 1875 the association

had begun distributing boxed libraries, each containing seventy-five volumes.77

With the onset of the Spanish-American War civilian agencies such as

the YMCA once again provided such services. This time, the federal

government stepped in as well. In the Report of the Quartermaster General

in 1899, he states, "During the fiscal year newspapers and periodicals have

been supplied for the enlisted men of the army at 110 military post libraries at the cost of $2,953.02. These posts were garrisoned by 337 companies and

detachments."78 There is also evidence that the army was building

or plan

ning to build structures specifically designed as libraries.79 The develop ment of ongoing library and literacy programs in the military continued into

this century with a progressively lessened involvement of civilian agencies.

For further information on the reading habits of Civil War military per sonnel, the publishing trade, libraries, and literacy programs during the war

see David Kaser, Books and Libraries in Camp and Battle (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984), and Bell Irwin Wiley, The Life of Billy Yank (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1981).

Notes

1. U.S. Senate, 36th Congress, 2nd Session, Statement of authorized amounts

paid by the treasurer of the United States Military Academy, prepared for the

Secretary of War, 1861 (serial 1079), p. 284.

2. Miller J. Stewart, "A Touch of Civilization: Culture and Education in the Frontier Army," Nebraska History 65 (1984): 258.

3. Charles Winslow Elliott, Winfield Scott: The Soldier and the Man (New York:

Macmillan, 1937), p. 90.

4. United States War Department, General Regulations for the Army (Philadelphia: M. Carey and Sons, 1821), article 41, par. 11-14, p. 72.

5. Stewart, "Civilization"; United States War Department, Revised Regulations for the Army of the United States, 1861 (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1861), par. 200, p. 35.

6. Edwin Leigh, Illiteracy in the United States, annual report of the Commis sion of Education, prepared for the Secretary of the Interior, Executive Documents of the House of Representatives of the United States, 41st Cong., 3rd Sess., no. 1, pt. 4, 1870

(serial 1450), p. 473. 7. S. Cooper, Report of the Adjutant General, prepared for the Secretary of

War, Executive Documents of the Senate of the United States, 36th Cong., 2nd Sess., vol. 2, no. 1 (serial 1079), pp. 208-209.

8. Charles J. Stille, History of the United States Sanitary Commission (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1866), pp. 34-35.

9. Donald Dale Jackson, Twenty Million Yankees (Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life

Books, 1985), p. 119.




10. Alvin Duane Smith, "Two Civil War Notebooks of James Russell Miller,"

Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society 37 (June 1959): 66. 11. Robert H. Bremner, "The Impact of the Civil War on Philanthropy and

Social Welfare," Civil War History 12 (December 1966): 299. 12. Bell Irwin Wiley, The Life of Billy Yank (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State

University, 1981), p. 152.

13. The Reverend A. M. Steward, Camp, March and Battlefield (Philadelphia: J as.

B. Rogers, 1865), p. 298.

14. Wiley, Billy Yank, pp. 152-153.

15. Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary 1862-1865 of Charles H Lynch, 18th Conn. Vols. (Hartford, Conn.: Case, Lockwood and Brainard, 1915), p. 36.

16. Lieutenant Widwey, "Army Correspondence," Emigranten (a Norwegian

Language Newspaper from Madison, Wis.), 7 October 1861, translation by Inga B.

Norstog, Luther College Archives, Decorah, la.

17. Wiley, Billy Yank, p. 153.

18. John D. Billings, Hardtack and Coffee or the Unwritten Story of Army Life (Boston:

George M. Smith, 1888), p. 65.

19. Lemuel Moss, Annals of the United States Christian Commission (Philadelphia:

J. B. Lippincott, 1868), p. 708.

20. Lynch, Diary, p. 148.

21. United States Christian Commission, Facts, Principles and Progress

(Philadelphia: C. Sherman, Son, 1863), p. 7.

22. Ibid., p. 35.

23. Moss, Annals, pp. 685-686.

24. Billings, Hardtack, p. 65.

25. Henry N. Blake, Three Years in the Army of the Potomac (Boston: Lee and

Shepard, 1865), p. 310.

26. Stewart, "Civilization," p. 332.

27. Philip D. Jordan, "William Salter and the Slavery Controversy, 1837

1864," Iowa Journal of History and Politics 33 (April 1935): 117.

28. Ella Lonn, Foreigners in the Union Army and Navy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana

State University Press, 1951), pp. 666-672.

29. United States Christian Commission, United States Christian Commission for the

Army and Navy: Work and Incidents, First Annual Report (Philadelphia: United States

Christian Commission, 1863), p. 70.

30. Steward, Camp, pp. 109-110.

31. Ibid., p. 333.

32. H. Clay Trumball, War Memories of an Army Chaplain (New York: Charles

Scribner's Sons, 1917), pp. 383-384.


Army and Navy: Fourth Annual Report for the Year 1865 (Philadelphia: United States



Army and Navy for the Year 1863: Second Annual Report (Philadelphia: United States


35. Annie Wittenmyer, Under the Gun (Boston: E. B. Stillings, 1895), p. 127.

36. United States Christian Commission, Fourth Annual Report, p. 119.

37. Ibid.

38. United States Christian Commission, Second Annual Report, p. 271.

39. Blake, Three Years, p. 310.

40. United States Christian Commission, Facts, Principles and Progress, p. 35.



315

41. Chaplain J. C. Thomas, "Periodical Literature for the Army and Navy," Nashville Daily Union, 8 March 1864, p. 1.

42. Alfred Gaither, "To Rev. J. C. Thomas," 24 July 1863, and Alfred Gaither, "To Col. John Bougham," 4 September 1863, letters from the Reverend J. C.

Thomas Collection, Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress. 43. Moss, Annals, p. 715.

44. Doris M. Fletcher, "Read a Book and Sin No More," Wilson Library Bulletin

31 (March 1957): 521. 45. Ibid.

46. C. Howard Hopkins, History of the Y.M.C.A. in North America (New York:

Association Press, 1951), p. 15.

47. The Reverend J. C. Thomas, "To Lt. Col. C. Goddard, A.A.G.," August 1863, letter from the Reverend J. C. Thomas Collection, Manuscripts Division,

Library of Congress; and the Reverend J. C. Thomas, "Loan Library System," United States Christian Commission for the Army and Navy for the Year 1864: Third Annual

Report (Philadelphia: United States Christian Commission, 1865), p. 49. 48. W. A. Croffut and John M. Morris, The Military and Civil History of Connecticut

during the War of 1861-65 (New York: Ledyard Bill, 1868), p. 184. 49. Ladies Christian Commission, Christ in the Army (Philadelphia: J. B. Rogers,

1865), p. 69.

50. United States Christian Commission, Catalogue of Fifteen Hundred Works (Cin cinnati: Caleb Clark, 1864).

51. Thomas, "Loan Library System," p. 47.

52. Moss, Annals, p. 718.

53. Major General George Henry Thomas, "Special Requisition No. 40"; Brig. General J. F. Miller, "Special Order No. 40," 9 August 1864.

54. United States Christian Commission, Loan Library Catalog ?501, from the

Reverend J. C. Thomas Collection, Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress, and Merle Curti, The Growth of American Thought (New York: Harper and Row,

1964), p. 455. 55. Thomas, "Loan Library System," pp. 48-49; Moss, Annals, pp. 719-720. 56. Moss, Annals, p. 722. 57. United States Christian Commission, New Year's Gift Camp Libraries, n.d.,

tract from the Reverend J. C. Thomas Collection, Manuscripts Division, Library of

Congress. 58. Robert S. Scott, "The Methodist Library in New York," Epworth Herald(7),

16 January 1897, p. 3.

59. John Bougham, "To Rev. J. C. Thomas," 6 December 1866 and 4 February 1867, letters from the Reverend J. C. Thomas Collection, Manuscripts Division,

Library of Congress. 60. Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (New York: Marcel Dekker,

1968), vol. 1, p. 545.

61. Curti, Growth, p. 336.

62. Ibid., p. 341.

63. George M. Fredrickson, The Inner Civil War (New York: Harper Torchbooks,

1965), pp. 98-112; and James MacGregor Burns, The Vineyard ofLiberty (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982), p. 502.

64. Merle Curti, Human Nature in American Thought: A History (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1980), p. 182.

65. Burns, Vineyard, p. 502.

66. Bremner, "Impact," p. 301.




67. Herman Attaway and Lloyd A. Hunter, "The War inside the Church," Civil

War Times Illustrated 26 (January 1988): 30. 68. Stewart, "Civilization," p. 258.

69. United States Military Post Library Association, Correspondence to Army Post

Stations (New York: United States Military Post Library Association, 187?), p. 2.

70. David Kaser, Books and Libraries in Camp and Battle (Westport, Conn.: Green

wood Press, 1984), pp. 122-123.

71. United States Military Post Library Association, Annual Report of the U.S.

Military Post Library Association, 1870-1871 (New York: United States Military Post

Library Association, 1872), p. 7.

72. War Department, Surgeon-General's Office, A Report on the Hygiene of the

United States Army, with Descriptions of Military Posts (Washington, D.C.: Government

Printing Office, 1875). 73. United States Military Post Library Association, Correspondence to Army Post

Stations and Annual Report of the U.S. Military Post Library Association, 1870-1871, pp.

52-58.

74. War Department, Surgeon-General's Office, Report, pp. xxv-xxvi.

75. "Books for the Army," New York Times, 27 November 1873, col. 6, p. 5.

76. United States Military Post Library Association, Library Work in the Army, U.S. Military Post Library Association, Annual Report, 1871-72 (New York: United

States Military Post Library Association, 1872), p. 29; "Notes," Nation 14 (25 April 1872): 273-274; United States Military Post Library Association, Annual Report of the

U.S. Military Post Library Association, 1870-1871, pp. 21, 36.

77. Kaser, Books and Libraries, p. 123.

78. House of Representatives, 56th Congress, 1st Session, Report of the Quarter master-General (Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office, 1899), serial 3900,

p. 212.

79. "Library Economy and History," Library Journal 25 (March 1900): 137.

