Bibles and Bullets

R. Lee Hadden | November 06, 2003  | 0 comments  | Print  | E-mail

Historical reenacting is a serious pastime that has gripped America by storm. Since the first major reenactments at the turn of the 20th Century, reenacting has become more authentic, sophisticated and popular. For most reenactors, the thrill of being a part of living history and carrying on the memory of fallen heroes or villains, or just plain slick-sleeved soldiers, is a great personal reward and worth the cost, effort and study necessary to be true to this new pastime. Each edition, my series of articles will discuss this world of reenactment and living history.

The purpose of the reenactor is to show today’s generation the similarities and differences of people in the past. One of these differences and similarities is in front of me now as I write this article — a reproduction of a New Testament Bible for Civil War soldiers. Neat, pocket sized, with small text, many of these Bibles were printed for the soldiers on both sides of the Civil War to take with them when they went into battle. Designed to read in camp they were often carried in the soldier’s breast pocket.

There were mixed ideas concerning the distribution of these small, pocket-sized Bibles, Testaments, and prayer books. Some distributors hoped to make the owners into Christian soldiers by having the Word with them to influence their life. Tracting and colporterage (giving away copies of Holy Scriptures as part of their Christian ministry) were also active endeavors by many during the war. The Civil War was the first war in which so many tracts were passed out to so many soldiers.

Most soldiers spent more time in camp than in battle and the Bibles gave the soldier something to read in the tedious days in between engagements. Certainly the books gave comfort and inspiration to the men in times of trial, fear and despair. This is what they were intended to do, but they were also used for other purposes. Many of these small books were thought to be "bullet-pullers," in that a bullet aimed at a soldier would swerve and hit the Bible held in the breast pocket instead. Many tales were told, re-told and exaggerated by superstitious or religious men whose lives were saved in this miraculous way. Indeed, this was one of the great "old chestnuts" of the Civil War, and was used to either bore or thrill (depending upon the story-telling abilities of the veterans) generations of grandchildren, often with the mute remains of the Bible held in triumphant evidence. Many men kept their small Bibles as a kind of supernatural good luck token, and as something to rely upon in the chaos of battle where they had so little control over the fearsome forces around them.

Bullets fired from muzzle loaded muskets of the Civil War era did not have the penetration power of today’s high-tech rounds. Cynical soldiers and sailors of the Civil War remarked that a deck of cards or even a piece of hardtack in the left breast pocket of the uniform jacket would stop a bullet just as well, and in the case of the hardtack, perhaps even better. Other soldiers kept their Bibles throughout the war as special keepsakes from their mother, wife, sweetheart, sister or daughter. Inscriptions in these books often reveal the desperate heartache of women sending their men off to a brutal war with the very real consequences of death or capture. These inscriptions were sometimes read more often than any single text in the Bible. These sentiments kept the bonds of affection tighter for those loved ones who went into harm’s way.

The types of Bibles varied according to the family circumstances. Those who were well-off could afford expensive copies with good paper and leather bindings. Those less wealthy would often get cheaper paper editions from the home church or the chaplain. When that staunch Presbyterian elder, Colonel John Wood of the 4th NC, was killed in action at Snicker’s Gap, Virginia, his will bequeathed $500.00 to buy small Bibles and Testaments for the soldiers of his regiment.

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