The ravages of war upon Southern family life are by now all too evident. Within Baptist congregations of the South, pastoral care is uneven. In many if not most instances, congregations never officially acknowledge the hardships of member families, while members in informal but very real ways often help one another through difficult times.
In some instances throughout the South during the war years, local Baptist church minutes reveal congregational action on behalf of hurting members. In addition, Baptist church buildings sometimes become a community gathering place for local citizens concerned with the welfare of their neighbors. Such is the case of the Palestine Baptist Church of Mississippi, where citizens recently gathered and offered resolutions that are now being reprinted in Baptist newspapers of the South.
Resolved, 1st. That a Commissioner be appointed to each neighborhood to see that the families of volunteers are supplied with the necessaries of life while their head is absent.
Resolved, 2nd. That we the citizens enter into an obligation to see that the families of volunteers do not suffer while they are absent.
Few Baptists of the South realize, at this time, how much greater will be the suffering and deprivation of Southern families in the coming years.
Source: “Provision for the Family of the Soldier,” Biblical Recorder, May 7, 1862 (link); Civil war era Mississippi map, from Harper’s Weekly, February 1864 (link)
