National Civil War Chaplains Museum

One of the lesser-known duties of chaplains is to minister to prisoners of war. While most chaplains will only minister to prisoners from one side of a conflict, there was one chaplain who ministered in POW camps on both sides of the lines.

Born in County Wexford, Ireland, Father Peter Whelan was ordained as a priest in South Carolina in 1830 at the age of 28. He became the head of the first Catholic parish in Georgia, before climbing the ranks to become the coordinator of the Georgia diocese just before the Civil War. Whelan was a proud supporter of secession and volunteered to be the part-time chaplain of the Montgomery Guards stationed at Fort Pulaski near Savannah. He was taken prisoner with them when the fort fell. Whelan and the other officers were offered decent quarters on Govenor’s Island, but the enlisted men were kept in “Castle William”, where they were deprived of proper food or clothing. Whelan chose to transfer to Castle William and ministered to the men there as he shared in their misery for over a year. He contacted the Bishop of New York and was able to get clothes donated to help the men survive the harsh winter. When the prisoners were exchanged after 16 months, Whelan waited at the point of exchange for a week until all the enlisted POWs made it back.

In 1864, he and several others answered the call to minister Union POWs in Andersonville. Between the Union’s refusal to conduct more prisoner exchanges and hyperinflation making Confederate money worthless, the camp was overcrowded and there was barely enough food to feed even the guards. The other chaplains lasted less than a week. Whelan, now in his 60s, stayed for 4 months at the height of summer, working in the camp from 9 am to sundown, giving last rites and comforting those still clinging to life. He only left after a lung disease forced him to leave. Even then he didn’t forget the prisoners, borrowing the modern equivalent of $8,000 to buy flour for bread for them. The prisoners who survived would forever remember him as the Angel of Andersonville.

To learn more about chaplains serving in POW camps, come visit our “Service to the Suffering” exhibit.

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Today marks the 41st anniversary of the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, Lebanon. As a result of two suicide bombers set of truck bombs at the barracks of the 1st Battalion 8th Marines and the nearby Drakkar Building. As a result of the bombing, 241 American servicemembers, 58 French servicemembers, and 24 Lebanese civilians lost their lives. The terrorist attack left a lasting impact on many servicemembers stationed there, including three chaplains.

Jewish Chaplain Resnicoff and Catholic Chaplain Pucciarelli were some of the first to respond to the scene. Chaplain Resnicoff recalls rushing to the site of the collapsed building and being faced with the tremendous loss of life. Regardless, the chaplains, with help from others, were able to recover people from the rubble despite the horrific circumstances. One such individual was Protestant Chaplain Lieutenant Wheeler, who was buried but identified by his stole sitting nearby. The chaplains continued to provide relief to those at the site, reassuring those that were found injured, but alive. At one point, Chaplain Resnicoff lost his kippah after wiping someone’s brow, and Chaplain Pucciarelli quickly cut out a circular piece from his camouflage cap to give to him.

Four days following the bombing, then Vice President George H. W. Bush visited the site, and asked Chaplain Resnicoff to write a report of the event from the perspective of a chaplain. It was read by President Ronald Reagan as his keynote address to the April 1984 Baptist Fundamentalist convention, chaired by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. His report, “Seeking God’s Prescence,” details in his eyes both the loss of the servicemembers, but also the humanity of all those in the rescue efforts. For this, we will always remember their bravery.

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While the Chaplains Museum interprets the history of US military chaplains from July 1775 onward, there were several men who paved the way for the chaplains corps. Today, we present the third and final installment of our Forerunners of the Chaplaincy series and explore the men who transitioned the chaplaincy from a ragtag force to an official military organization.

The years leading up to the American Revolution saw the role of militia chaplains continue to be filled by volunteering pastors, but the role became much more political. The volunteer chaplains preached both to their congregation and to their units the merits of American liberty and denounced Parliament’s oppression of their rights as Englishmen. In the opening battle of the Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775, some of these ministers became closely involved in the events that occurred that fateful day. Rev. Benjamin Balch was part of the alarm company at Lexington that helped spread Paul Revere’s warning of the British army’s approach. Rev. Jonas Clarke, chaplain of the Lexington militia, formed ranks with his men to confront the redcoats and was present when the shot heard ‘round the world was fired. The fighting that day quite literally got too close for home for Rev. William Emmerson, chaplain of the Concord militia, as his house was next to the Old North Bridge, where the climax of the Battle of Concord took place.

When the Continental Congress fulfilled George Washington’s request to create an official Chaplains Corps, several militia chaplains transferred to the corps, including Balch and Emmerson. These final forerunners would form the backbone of the new Chaplains Corps, setting the strong foundation that all US military chaplains benefit from to this day.

To learn more about the beginning of the military chaplaincy, come see the “History of Service” exhibit at the Chaplains Museum.

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It’s time for another sneak peek! One reason to visit the Chaplains Museum more than once is because we constantly add new things for you to see and experience. This semester, students in Prof. Donald’s Public History class will be tackling several new projects including the research and design of a new exhibit surrounding this recently acquired object. Can you guess what it is? Stay tuned for the big reveal in just a few weeks.

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Today we present the second installment of our series on Forerunners of the Chaplaincy. While the Chaplains Museum focuses on the history of US military chaplains from July 1775 onward, there were several chaplains in the 150 years prior who paved the way for the founding of an official chaplains corps.

After the death of Chp. Robert Hunt shortly after the founding of Jamestown, the chaplaincy in colonial America entered a strange period. Whenever the English and later British military deployed regular troops to North America, each regiment would supply its own chaplain. This practice extended to colonial militias. A militia chaplain was typically the pastor of a local congregation who volunteered to be a unit’s chaplain without pay. As most of the colonial conflicts were with Quebec, many of these ministers were from New England, such as Chp. Samuel Stone in the Pequot War and Chp. Johnathan Frye who was killed in action during the Queen Anne’s War.

When the French and Indian War began, the colonies were dragged into a global conflict that eventually became known as the Seven Years War. The colonial militias swelled to a size never seen before. For the first time, there was a shortage of chaplains. The then Col. George Washington had to perform the funeral service for Gen. Braddock when his outfit’s only chaplain was wounded in the Battle of the Monongahela. This event, as well as the general lack of militia chaplains, led Washington to launch a two-year letter-writing campaign to convince the governor of Virginia to hire a chaplain for his regiment. This early realization of the importance of chaplains would lead Washington to launch a similar campaign in 1775, which resulted in the creation of the US Army Chaplain Corps.

If you want to learn more about chaplains serving on the frontlines, come see our “Service on the Battlefield” exhibit.

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Here at the Chaplains Museum, we focus on US military chaplains from the founding of the Army Chaplain Corps on July 19, 1775, to today. However, there were several men who served courageously and honorably throughout the nation’s colonial era. Today, we’re starting a series on these Forerunners of the Chaplaincy who paved the way for the military chaplains of today.

The first chaplain to come to English North America was Robert Hunt, who was hired by the Virginia Company to go across the Atlantic with the first settlers of Jamestown. Although he was an Anglican, his theology leaned Calvinist in ways that mirrored the Presbyterian movement. When the crews of the Godspeed, Discovery, and Susan Constance arrived in the New World, Chp. Hunt instructed the men to erect a wooden cross on the shores of Virginia and led them in a prayer of thanksgiving as they dedicated the new land to God and the King of England. The crew then moved up the James River and built the settlement of Jamestown. The famous Cpt. John Smith described how they used a ship sail hung between several trees as a makeshift chapel until they could build a permanent structure that John Smith described as resembling a barn. Hunt conducted prayer services twice daily in addition to two sermons every Sunday.

The men had nothing but good things to say about Hunt, respecting his upstanding character and ability to defuse tense situations. When a fire burned down most of the buildings in Jamestown, Hunt lost all his possessions except the clothes on his back. He never complained, instead focusing on his ministry to the distraught settlers. Sadly, like many at Jamestown, Hunt would succumb to disease and die roughly a year after landing in Virginia.

If you’d like to learn more about the early days of the chaplaincy, come visit our “History of Service” exhibit here at the Chaplains Museum.

#chaplains #museum #forerunners #virginia #jamestown