Conclusion and Sources

Charles Todd Quintard’s Balm for the Weary and Wounded is more than just a devotional book. It offers a window into the lived experiences of Civil War soldiers and the broader culture of faith, print, and chaplains. Its inexpensive production reflects the changing ways people read across social classes, while its devotional content highlights the importance of religion in the camps. Its distribution by chaplains emphasizes their pastoral role. Quintard himself embodies this duality as a physician turned priest. He was a chaplain who delivered both medicine and scripture to the front lines and, later, as a bishop and educator, rebuilt institutions in the postwar South. His life and work show how books were not passive objects in war but active tools of resilience, identity, and healing. Through Quintard’s ministry and his book, we see how print culture and faith worked together to offer a true balm for weary souls, sustaining soldiers in battle and communities after conflict.

Sources

1. American Antiquarian Society, “Reading in the Civil War Era,” Collections Spotlight, accessed November 12, 2025, https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/reading/civil.htm
2. American Battlefield Trust. “Religion in the Civil War.” Accessed November 9, 2025. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/videos/religion-civil-war.
3. Black, Daryl, “Confederate Chaplains in the Civil War.” American Battlefield Trust. Updated July 9, 2024. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/confederate-chaplains-civil-war.
4. Black, Daryl, “Religion and the Civil War.” American Battlefield Trust. Updated September 6, 2022. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/religion-and-civil-war.
5. National Archives. “Faith on the Firing Line.” August 15, 2016. https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/spring/chaplains.html.
6. Penn State University Libraries, “Newspapers and Journals during the Civil War Era,” The People’s Contest: A Civil War Era Digital Archive, accessed November 11, 2025, https://peoplescontest.psu.edu/newspapers-and-journals-during-civil-war-era/index.html
7. Price, David. “Civil War Chaplains.” National Museum of Civil War Medicine, February 5, 2017. https://www.civilwarmed.org/chaplains/.
8. Pettegree, Andrew, The Book at War: How Reading Shaped Conflict and Conflict Shaped Reading (New York: Basic Books, 2023).
9. Rust, Randal. “Quintard, Charles Todd.” Tennessee Encyclopedia, n.d. Accessed November 10, 2025. https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/charles-todd-quintard/.
10. The Historical Association. “American Dime Novels 1860-1915.” June 6, 2011. https://www.history.org.uk/student/resource/4512/american-dime-novels-1860-1915.