As the year draws to a close, Union and Confederate forces continue maneuvering for control of the border state of Missouri. Four days ago Union Brig. Gen. Benjamin M. Prentiss advanced into Boone County with a force of five companies of the Third Missouri Cavalry and two companies of Birge’s Western Sharpshooters in order to…
While the Civil War disrupts much of Baptist life, as it does the life of the two American nations, Baptists continue their nineteenth-century pattern of growing through the establishment of new congregations. By the Civil War-era, the momentum of Baptist growth had swung to the South, although the war itself, by severely disrupting southern society…
The war years heighten a growing concern among many Baptists: alcohol. While most Baptist churches yet use wine (often homegrown) in communion, and few Baptists advocate total abstinence, more Baptist leaders voice disapproval of the widespread use of hard liquor, while local Baptist congregations wage a war upon drunkenness, expelling many male members for overconsumption.…