The steady drip of bad news within the Confederacy continues. The summer and fall of 1863 witnessed a growing number of soldier desertions, a problem that only worsens during the cold days of winter. Already short of manpower, military officials (unlike earlier in the war) now routinely execute deserters who are unfortunate enough to be…
Today in Greene County, Georgia the Springfield Baptist Church of Greensboro is established. The founding of the congregation takes place at a time when many Baptist churches in middle Georgia are striving merely to keep their doors open nearly three years after the beginning of the Civil War. In the midst of such struggles, church…
Union Gen. Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts is commander of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. Butler is hated among white Southerners for his distinction of authoring the designation of fugitive slaves in Union controlled-territory as “contraband,” an order he had issued in May 1861 while commanding the Department of Eastern Virginia. While prior…