By the waning days of 1863 the trickle of Confederate deserters has turned into a relative flood. Government officials and military officers alike grow increasingly concerned that the South will not have enough manpower to overcome the superior numerical advantage of the United States. Most deserters who manage to escape recapture spend the rest of…
Winter is setting in following decisive summer Union victories at Gettysburg (Pennsylvania) and Vicksburg (Mississippi) and a series of major victories in Tennessee during the autumn months. While far from settled, momentum now resides with the United States as armies North and South settle into winter camps. On the home front, Kentuckians remain caught between…
As the war moves into its third winter, the state of Virginia, home to Richmond, the capital city of the Confederacy, struggles all the more. The Virginia General Assembly is in session in Richmond today, the fifth day of the 1863-1864 session. Jeremiah Bell Jeter, pastor of the city’s Grace Street Baptist Church and ardent…