Daniel Webster Whittle

Who was Daniel Webster Whittle?

Major Daniel Webster Whittle was a 19th-century American gospel song lyricist, evangelist, and Bible teacher. He was associated with the evangelistic campaigns of Dwight Lyman Moody.

Marrying Abbie Hanson in 1861 the night before he deployed with Company B of the 72d Illinois Infantry, he served in the American Civil War. He was wounded at Vicksburg and marched with General William Tecumseh Sherman’s forces through Georgia. Whittle was breveted with the rank of major at the end of the war and is still widely known among hymnologists as Major Whittle. Settling in Chicago to work for the Elgin Clock Company, he became closely associated with Moody, who successfully encouraged him to go into evangelistic work. One of Whittle’s war experiences served as the basis for the gospel song "Hold the Fort" by Philip Paul Bliss, of whom Whittle edited a biography.

Whittle wrote mostly under the pseudonym "El Nathan" although editors of later hymnals routinely credit his actual name. Of his approximately 200 hymns, "I Know Whom I Have Believed" and "Showers of Blessing" are among the most familiar.