Tabernacles in the Wilderness

The US Christian Commission on the Civil War Battlefront

Rachel Williams

• Publisher: The Kent State University Press
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781606354735
• eBook ISBN: 9781631015373

Examining how a civilian organization used the Civil War to advance their religious mission

Tabernacles in the Wilderness discusses the work of the United States Christian Commission (USCC), a civilian relief agency established by northern evangelical Protestants to minister to Union troops during the American Civil War. USCC workers saw in the Civil War not only a wrathful judgment from God for the sins of the nation but an unparalleled opportunity to save the souls of US citizens and perfect the nation. Thus, the workers set about proselytizing and distributing material aid to Union soldiers with undaunted and righteous zeal.

Whether handing out religious literature, leading prayer meetings, preaching sermons, mending uniforms, drawing up tailored diets for sick men, or bearing witness to deathbed scenes, USCC workers improvised and enacted a holistic lived theology that emphasized the link between the body and soul.

Making extensive use of previously neglected archival material—most notably the reports, diaries, and correspondence of the volunteer delegates who performed this ministry on the battlefront—Rachel Williams explores the proselytizing methods employed by the USCC, the problems encountered in their application, and the ideological and theological underpinnings of their work. Tabernacles in the Wilderness offers fascinating new insights into the role of civilians within army camps, the bureaucratization and professionalization of philanthropy during the Civil War and in the United States more broadly, and the emotional landscape and material culture of faith and worship.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: “God Has Commanded Us to Go Forward”
• Chapter One: Christian Manliness and the Volunteer Delegate System
• Chapter Two: Female War Work and the Christian Commission
• Chapter Three: Evangelization and the Printed Word
• Chapter Four: Preaching and Praying
• Chapter Five: Clothing the Union Soldier’s Body
• Chapter Six: The Gospel of the Loaf
• Chapter Seven: Death, Salvation, and the Christian Commission
• Epilogue: “See What the Lord Hath Wrought”
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index