War

The Bible's literature was heavily valued by both sides during the Civil War. "In 1861, the Bible was America’s most read and valued book. Printed and imported in massive quantities during the War, soldiers on both sides read and carried the Scriptures in many forms. In a predominantly Calvinist America, the Bible was truly the national book par excellance – and yet in the 1840s it became the cause of a deadly moral and theological crisis."

Many soldiers kept Bibles are family heirlooms, but many were lost to time because of the dirty, bloody war that buried soldiers with their items. For example, Postwar veterans recalled one soldier on a Richmond battlefield who died with his hand resting on these words of Psalm 23 - “Thy rod and staff they comfort me.”