Chapter V

RELIGION IN THE CAMP

"It is earnestly recommended that all officers and soldiers diligently to attend Divine Service and all officers and soldiers who shall behave indecently or irreverently at any place of Divine worship shall if commissioned officers be brought before a court martial there to be publicly and severely reprimanded by the President, if non-commissioned officers or soldiers, every person so offending shall for his first offence forfeit one sixth of a Dollar to be deducted out of his next pay, for the second offence he shall not only forfeit a like sum but be confined for twenty-four hours and for every like offence shall suffer and pay in like manner, which money so forfeited shall be applied to the use of the sick soldiers of the troops or company to which the offender belongs."[146]

The continental congress in its acts for the regulation of the Army issued the above orders. Orders also came from headquarters directing the soldiers actions along religious lines. "All officers see that their men attend upon prayers morning and evening also the service on the Lord's Day with their arms and accouterments ready to march in case of any alarm, that no Drums to be beaten after the parson is on the stage".[147]

But the religion of the American soldier was more than an order from the provincial congress or from headquarters. It was an influence which was an important factor in the soldiers life and in the war. In the American Revolution perhaps the religious element was not the paramount factor as it had been in the crusades or the Puritan Revolution giving character to the whole movement, it rather stayed in the back ground and supported the political and military organizations.[148]

The pulpit had been a factor in shaping the soldier's life before he left home, it was a day when newspapers and other means of disseminating ideas were not very plentiful and the pulpit was about the only way of reaching the majority of the people. It is said of one minister who was famous for his bold sermons and his purely political discourses although they were delivered from the pulpit he "knows all our best authors and has sometimes cited even in the pulpit passages from Voltaire and Jean Jaques Rousseau".[149]

The house of representatives of Massachusetts saw the value of the clergy in shaping public opinion and passed a resolution asking them to make the question of the rights of the colonies a topic of their discussions on week days. The pulpit, too, had its place in the election campaign. There was preached before the governor and house of representatives of Massachusetts what was called the "election sermon". It was a sermon preached by the best ministers of the colony, not exactly as a mere compliment to religion, but with the object in view of instruction. The ministers did not only deliver dissertations on the doctrinal truths, but they discussed the rights of men, the nature of government and theories of liberty and equality. The sermons delivered on such occasions do not seem to be impracticable theological discourses, but rather on the other hand very practicable. The questions of the day being subjects discussed; for it was through the medium of the church that the people received the foundation for their beliefs in political affairs.

On Monday the 29th of May, 1771, John Tucker of Newbury preached the election sermon on the text "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of men for the Lord's sake whether it be the king as Supreme". From that as a text he went into a discussion of the sort of submission which was due to the rulers. In 1773 Charles Turner preached from Romans and tried to show why it was the right and duty of the clergy to enter into politics. The next year when excitement was reaching its height it is interesting to note the sort of text Rev. Hitchcock of Pembroke took for the basis of his sermon. It was from Proverbs XXII, 2, "When the righteous are in authority the people rejoice but when the wicked bear rule the people mourn".[150] It is not hard to believe that just such sermons and many others like them had some thing to do with the Revolution as well as Navigation Acts and Correspondence Committees. Of course it must be said that since the people did not rise as one man there was another view to take on the question, but the people were guided in the opposite view also by the clergy.[151]

The clergy did more than discuss politics from the pulpit before the conflict broke for when the war was on in earnest and troops were being raised the ministers left their pulpits to take their place in the army not always as chaplains, but sometimes in the ranks and sometimes as head of the company. In one company of minute men from Domeers the deacon went as captain and the minister as lieutenant.[152] Besides the part played by the clergy, the church as a whole was one of the forces working for the care and comfort of the American Soldier. The churches were turned into barracks and hospitals.[153] Messages of the officers of the army describing the soldiers' conditions in camp were read from the pulpit on Sunday Morning; the afternoon congregation would be made up almost entirely of men, and the women were to be found at home knitting or spinning.[154]

When Washington assumed command of the army at Cambridge he found chaplains attached to different regiments sent from various colonies, especially from the New England colonies. Some of these were volunteers without pay and others were appointed by the provincial congress.[155]

The chaplain of that war was not like the chaplain of the present time. A sort of half-soldier, half-minister, never expected to fight or endure the hardships of the private; on the other hand he was one of the men on the field, but also reverenced by the soldiers because of the place he had filled in their activities at home.[156]

At first, as has been noticed, there was no regulation concerning the appointment and pay of the chaplain by the continental congress. Washington wrote to congress in December 1775 and said, "I need not point out the great utility of gentlemen whose lives and conversation are unexceptionable being employed for that service in the army".[157] He went on to suggest plans whereby all regiments might be served by a chaplain. The plan which congress adopted was of having a chaplain for every two regiments and they fixed the salary at thirty-three and one-third dollars a month.[158] The plan worked when the soldiers were in camp, but not when they were on the march.[159] In 1776 a chaplain was allowed for each regiment.[160]

According to the regulations of the army, there were to be prayers morning and evening,[161] and on Sunday services were almost continuous. There were always two services and often more, the chaplains from the various regiments preaching in rotation.[162]

The places of holding religious meetings varied with circumstances, services were held in a church[163] in or near camp, on a college campus,[164] in an opening in the woods,[165] and in a log hut built for the purpose.[166] When the army entered Cambridge, the next day was Sunday and a stage was erected on the campus by turning up a rum hogshead.[167] On another occasion a pulpit was formed out of knapsacks piled together.[168]

The kind of sermons provided by the chaplains to the soldiers makes an interesting study, they were always of a practicable nature. The sermons seemed to fall into two general classes, one class setting forth the characteristics of a good soldier,[169] and the other those which had to do with the political and social troubles of the time.[170]

There are records of the attitude of the soldier being changed very materially by some of the sermons heard both concerning his own personal attitude[171] and his attitude in general toward the war. The story is related that one time Rev. Gano knew that a number of the soldiers in his audience were men who had only enlisted for a few months, hence during the service he made the remark "he could aver of the truth that our Lord and Saviour approved of all those who had engaged in His Service for the whole warfare". The rank and file were much amused and those who enlisted for the whole war forced many short-term men by their jesting to re-enlist.[172]

Another observance which might be considered part of the soldier's religion, was the day of fasting and prayer ordered by congress and the officials of the various colonies.[173]

There is yet one more effect which grew out of the religious activities of the soldier while in the army camp. That is the weakening of the rigid lines which had been drawn between sects. When the soldier was at home he was, Presbyterian, Anglican, Catholic or what not, but in the army there was a tendency to forget the barriers; both Protestant and Catholic services were held, but it was one of the orders of Washington that no person should make light of another's religion.[174] It had been the custom of the people near Boston to celebrate what was called "Pope Day" when they burned an effigy of the Pope; the soldiers were contemplating a celebration of this custom when Washington issued orders against it calling it a "ridiculous and childish custom."[175]

The fact that the chaplain of a regiment might have members of a number of sects in his audience would tend to create a common interest, and also the fact that whenever the troops were near a church they were ordered to attend regardless of denomination. The incident is related of Washington who was Anglican that he and a number of his men, asked a Presbyterian minister to give them communion in his church, and it was gladly done.[176] All of which were factors in bringing about democracy in the church.

[Footnote 146: _Journals of Continental Congress_, Vol. II, p. 112.]

[Footnote 147: Coit, _Orderly Book_, (June 14, 1775), p. 19.]

[Footnote 148: Headley, _Chaplain and Clergy of the Revolution_, p. 14.]

[Footnote 149: "Narrative of Prince De Broyle" in _American Historical Magazine_ Vol. I, p. 378.]

[Footnote 150: For election sermons see Headley, _Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution_.]

[Footnote 151: See on that phase "Free Thoughts" by Samuel Sebury.]

[Footnote 152: Greene, _Historical Men of American Revolution_, p. 215.]

[Footnote 153: See, _Wilds Journal_, p. 80; Boudinot, Elias, p. 189; Niles, _Principles and Acts of the Revolution_, p. 361.]

[Footnote 154: Headley, _Chaplain and Clergy of Revolution_, p. 323.]

[Footnote 155: Headley, _Chaplain and Clergy of Revolution_, p. 89.]

[Footnote 156: Headley, _Chaplain and Clergy of Revolution_, p. 89.]

[Footnote 157: Ford's, _Writings of Washington_, Vol. III, p. 310.]

[Footnote 158: Ibid., Vol. III, p. 310.]

[Footnote 159: Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 187.]

[Footnote 160: Ibid., Vol. III, p. 310.]

[Footnote 161: Farnsworth, _Journal_, (April 20 and May 1, 1775), p. 79.]

[Footnote 162: Gardner, "Last Cantonment of Continental Army of Rev." in _Am. Hist. Mag._ Vol. X, p. 369.]

[Footnote 163: Hosock, "Life of Clinton" in _Harper's_, February 1859.]

[Footnote 164: Headley, _Chaplain and Clergy of Revolution_, p. 291.]

[Footnote 165: Ibid., p. 95.]

[Footnote 166: Gardner, "Last Cantonment of Army of Revolution" in _Mag. Am. Hist._ Vol., X, p. 369.]

[Footnote 167: Headley, _Chaplain and Clergy of Revolution_, p. 291.]

[Footnote 168: Ibid., p. 95.]

[Footnote 169: Hitchcock, Diary p. 87; Roger, _Journal_ (July 11, 1779) p. 250; Lyman, _Journal_ (Oct. 15, 1775) p. 121.]

[Footnote 170: Boardman, _Journal_ (Sept. 25, 1775), p. 227; Farnsworth, _Journal_, (Oct., 1, 1775), p. 86, Thorton, _Pulpit in the Revolution_, p. 187.]

[Footnote 171: Farnsworth, _Journal_, (May 14, 1775), p. 79.]

[Footnote 172: Quoted by Bolton in _Private Soldier Under Washington_, p. 161.]

[Footnote 173: Hitchcock, _Journal_, p. 107; Coits _Orderly Book_ (July 15, 1775) Moore "Diary" p. 18.]

[Footnote 174: Griffin, _Catholics and the American Revolution_, Vol. I, p. 127.]

[Footnote 175: Griffin, _Catholics and the American Revolution_, Vol. I, p. 127.]

[Footnote 176: Hosach, "Life of Clinton," _Harper's_, Feb., 1859.]