Mary Beckly Bristow
Today, Mary Beckley Bristow, a member of the Sardis Baptist Church in Union, Kentucky, reflects upon the recent Confederate victory at the first battle of Manassas / Bull Run, fought three days prior:
A great battle has been fought in old Virginia between the North, East & West against the South, who is battling alone for her rights. According to their own accounts the Abolition forces (I can call them nothing else, though some of them indignantly reject the name, but as they are fighting with and for abolitionism I can’t see what else they are at. However I see some symptoms of return to sanity in some of the eastern States. God grant it may be, for it looks to me like those who call themselves democrats, conservatives &c, are in fighting Lincoln’s unjust battles welding chains for themselves as fast as the Abolitionists could desire) have been defeated with great loss. I do not rejoice that the abolitionists are killed, but I know I am glad the South has gained the day and would rejoice, truely rejoice, if this battle would end the war and cause a peaceable separation between the slave-holding and nonslave-holding States.
Reflecting sentiments of politicians and civilians South and North, Bristow frames the war as a battle over African slavery. Like many southerners, she views the South as fighting for liberty and freedom, privileges applied only to whites.
In these early months of war, many northerners enlist in the Union army out of abolitionist convictions. Unlike many southerners, Bristow, while opposed to abolitionism, does not wish for the death of northern abolitionist individuals.
Sources: Bristow (link); First Battle of Manassas and Bull Run (link)
