A week after U.S. Lt. John Henry Russell enters Confederate-controlled Pensacola harbor and destroys the Confederate schooner Judah, a crowd gathers at Hamilton Baptist Church in Harris County, Georgia, for the annual meeting of the Columbus Association. Grumbling discussion, condemnation, and fear spiked by this first naval action of the Civil War is surely on…
Throughout the Confederacy, dozens if not hundreds of Baptist associations convene this month. At each meeting, the war is a popular topic of conversation, whether informally or formally. In Texas today, the Waco Baptist Association, meeting in Marlin, hears a report on home missions: “In view of the condition of the country, engaged as we…
While the month of September is otherwise occupied with Baptist associational meetings throughout the Confederate States and United States, the stream of Baptists marching off to war continues. Many of the new soldiers will not return to their home churches. Among those marching off to war never to return is John Simms of Stamford, Connecticut.…