Reverend Samuel Tupper left Worcester, Massachusetts, for the "Camp of 9th Army Corps near Alexandria" in May 1865. There he served as a delegate of the U. S. Christian Commission, a Union relief organization formed to provide comfort and supplies to the armies and navies not furnished by the federal government. It received its support primarily from churches.
The U. S. Christian Commission was charged with "visiting hospitals, camps, and battle-fields, for the instruction, supply, encouragement, and relief of the men of our army, according to their various circumstances; distributing stores, where needed, in hospitals and camps; circulating good publications amongst our soldiers and sailors; aiding Chaplains in the ministrations and influence for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the men under their care; encouraging special and stated meetings for prayer amongst men in the field and in the hospital; encouraging soldiers and sailors to communicate freely and frequently with their friends, aiding them to do it, etc." Formed in New York in 1861, the organization collected more than $2.5 million in cash, in addition to large quantities of supplies during the four years of the Civil War.
Biographical and historical information derived from the collection.
From the guide to the Diary of the Reverend Samuel Tupper, 1865 May 24-1865 June 30, (University of Delaware Library - Special Collections)
