Updated 1/20/15
Some interesting facts from early Brigade materials -
Did you know when
Christian Service Brigade began in 1937 it was originally called
Christian Service Squad?
Christian Service Brigade was adopted in 1938.
Joe Coughlin when he started the Christian Service Squad was volunteering at a local Methodist church in conjunction with the Christian Service Council. Hence the name "Christian Service Squad (Brigade)". (Timothy Larsen: Pioneer Girls: Mid-Twentieth-Century American Evangelicalism's Girl Scouts, The Asbury Journal 63, pg 61)
The first Brigade handbook was developed not in Illinois but Bemidji, Minnesota during the summer of 1938.
From it's start in December 1937 to June 1938, CSB grew to 7 Battalions. By June of 1939 it was 18 Battalions.
June 1939 was the first Brigade Summer Camp in Lake Geneva Wisconsin, it lasted 5 days. In the summer of 1940 it was 5 weeks, summer of 1941 it was 9 weeks.
In March 1940 a boys group began in Summit, Illinois independent and without knowledge of CSB. It ran an outdoor summer program in the North Woods of Wisconsin. This group became the first "Stockade" of the Pioneers Christian Boys Club.
The Sons of Daniel Boone (and Beard's later organization, the Boy Pioneers) had "stockades" of eight boys each. Four stockades made up a "fort."
The Pioneer Christian Boys Clubs called each of their local groups "Stockade" and included the junior aged boy (at this point not yet included in CSB)
In September 1941, the Pioneer Christian Boys Clubs and CSB united and introduced Brigade Pioneer ranks to CSB. Pioneer Stockades became Brigade Battalions.
After the merger with
Pioneer Christian Boys Club Brigade in 1943 CSB Battalion for the first time included boys as young as 7 and added two additional ranks. Pages were boys 7-10 years old and they could work to earn the rank of "Squire". Once a Squire they could work towards Brigade Dexter (Boys Guidebook 1943)
The title
Stockade was reintroduced in 1945 when CSB began 'Stockade" for 8-11 year old boys. A new trail book was introduced for Stockade and Battalion and for the first time was not a "Knight" theme. Stockade was what the Pioneer Christian Boys Club called their local groups.
Pioneer Christian Boys Club used
Ecl. 12:1 (Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, I find no pleasure in them ) and
1 Tim. 4:12 (Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.) as their key verses.
Vanguard Battalion is first mentioned in the 1942 Boys for Christ, pg 55
http://www.brigadeleader.com/Book_Interiors/1942_Boys_for_Christ/Pages/29.html and has been reorganized with the first Vanguard Battalion in Rochester NY.
http://csbvanguard.org/The original 7 Points of Valor (1941 Handbook) were - Honor, Courage, Chivalry, Purity, Loyalty and Consecration
