William A. Boon was born on January 15, 1845. Of mixed racial heritage, Boon was born a free man. As a young adult, his skin was light enough that he possibly passed himself off, at times, as a white man. On August 4, 1864 Boon enlisted in the Union Army and was assigned to the…
Baptists of Kansas City were involved in the abolition movement before and during the Civil War. In the first two years of the war, runaway slaves (or contraband) found refuge in Union Army camps and towns and cities of the North. Of the latter, Leavenworth, Kansas served as a refuge for runaway slaves in the…
During the war many Baptist associations and state conventions, South and North alike, formed committees on the “State of the Country” during annual gatherings. Not surprisingly, Northern Baptist reports commonly voiced support for emancipation of slaves and the Union efforts to defeat the South. Conversely, (white) Baptist groups who offered such reports (and many did…