During the antebellum and Civil War years most, but not all, Southern Baptist ministers harbored loyalties for the Confederacy. Of those who were Unionists, sympathies with the Union remained buried, or at least subdued. James Ryland Kendrick is one such example. Born in Poultney, Virginia in 1821, he graduated from Hamilton Seminary (New York) and…
Prior to the war the Madison Baptist Church in Georgia, like many other congregations in the Deep South, had almost as many black members as white members. Most, if not all, black members were slaves, their presence forced by their masters and policed by white church members. In 1859 a new church sanctuary was constructed.…
Sherman‘s army is rapidly marching through Georgia. Feinting toward Augusta on the left and Macon on the right this day, they effectively divide and confuse the remaining Confederate forces in the state. The Federals leave Macon untouched, leaving some 10,000 Confederate soldiers and local guardsmen bewildered yet relieved. Augustans are also concerned, but the Union…