Washington, D.C.’s E Street Baptist Church, the city’s leading Baptist congregation, is in turmoil. In the face of an impending split, the pastor recently resigned, and mere days earlier a significant numbers of members met to begin the formation of a new congregation (soon to be known as Calvary Baptist Church). The cause of the…
Anxiety permeates Richmond, the Confederate capital. Union General George B. McClellan, months into a slow, steady drive toward Richmond, lurks on the outskirts of the city, along the Chickahominy River, with his 105,000 strong Union Army. Between McClellan and the city limits are 60,000 Confederate troops commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston. Going on the offensive,…
The war now fully engaged, territories controlled by the Union and Confederate armies are fluid. Thus far, battles have been fought on Southern fields, and Union armies are gradually pressing southward. In much of the upper South and Tennessee, civilians live in somewhat of a no-man’s land, their towns and farms seesawing between Confederate and…