Today’s Franklin, Virginia newspaper summarizes the post-war trajectory of local freedmen in Methodist and Baptist life in Staunton since the end of the war, describing an unusually cooperative arrangement between the city’s white and black Baptists. “At the recent session of the Methodist Conference in Washington, Bishop Simpson and a colored preacher, the Rev. Mr.…
This month in Virginia the American Baptist Home Mission society establishes the Richmond Institute, a school devoted to the training of African American preachers and teachers. Twenty-four initially enroll, and the classes are held at night. The following year the name of the school is changed to the National Theological Institute of Richmond, and in…
Today the four convicted assassins of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln are hanged: Lewis Powell (also Payne or Paine), David Herold, George Atzerodt and Mary Surratt. General Winfield Scott Hancock, a hero of the war, is the officer in charge of the executions. Hancock is a Baptist. Lewis Powell, one of the most hated men…