Today Kentucky declares its neutrality in the Civil War. Kentucky’s decision is a big blow to the Confederacy, ultimately proving important to Union victory four years down the road. The decision, this same day, of North Carolina’s secession convention to withdraw from the Union – the tenth state to do so – does not mitigate the Confederacy’s disappointment over Kentucky’s neutrality.
Meanwhile, some men of other nations find themselves fighting in the United States Civil War. Norwegian sailor Godred Hübert remembers his early service in the United States Union Marine during the American Civil War. The son of a state-supported Lutheran minister in Oslo, Hübert, having chosen a career on the seas, is sailing along the East Coast of the U.S. when he first encounters Baptists.
“I and a Christian brother entered the ship ‘Ohio’, as we had enrolled in the Union Marine, mainly in order to witness to the sailors. … In one of the ships we got a rich opportunity to give our testimonies. We were allowed to hold meetings two to three evenings during the week and on Sunday afternoon. Most of our officers as well as the crew attended our meetings and God blessed our efforts. While onboard this ship I was reminded by the Lord to go home to Norway to tell my relatives the great things the Lord had done to me.”
Baptized on May 19, 1861, today he steps aboard the “Ohio.”
Hübert is one of thousands of Norwegians who serve in the military during the American Civil War (collectively, Norwegians were represented on both sides of the conflict). In the summer of 1862, Hübert’s appointment with the Union Marine concludes, and the Norwegian returns to his homeland and enters the ministry. There, he becomes a successful Baptist pastor and publisher, as well as a strong defender of the Baptist doctrines of religious liberty.
Sources: Godfred Hübert, Under Hans Vinger (Under His Wings), 1910, p. 156 (memoirs); Peder A. Eidberg, Det folk som kalles baptister (The People called Baptists), 2003. [The history of the Norwegian Baptists until 1902.] Illustration of U.S. Navy ship (link)
Information courtesy of Dr. Peder A. Eidberg of Norway, Baptist theologian at the Baptist Seminary of Norway.
