Historical military Bibles on display at DC Museum of the Bible

The Museum of the Bible in Washington DC has opened a new exhibit featuring historical Bibles carried by American service members in nearly every major conflict since the country's founding 250 years ago, WTOP reported.

The exhibit includes a Bible from the American Revolution known as the 'Gun Wad Bible,' though the story that British soldiers used it as gun wadding is likely a myth, according to Anthony Schmidt, the museum's director of collections and curation.

Other notable items include a New Testament confiscated from Confederate soldiers by Union forces, highlighting the Bible shortage in the South during the Civil War due to most presses being north of the Mason-Dixon line.

The museum also displays a German-language Bible carried by a German-American Union soldier in intense battles like Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, as well as 'Heart Shield Bibles' with metal covers that soldiers carried in breast pockets, which were rumored to stop bullets.

Many of the Bibles have traveled globally with soldiers, including to Afghanistan, Korea, France, and Antarctica. One belonged to Navy chaplain Peter Bull, who served during World War II and Korea and participated in Operation Deep Freeze in Antarctica, where a glacier is now named after him.

Schmidt explained that soldiers carried Bibles for various reasons, including faith and personal comfort during wartime, underscoring the spiritual significance these items held for many service members.