In the midst of secession fever in January 1861, the (white) First Baptist Church of Nashville, Tennessee established a “Second Colored Baptist Mission” in Edgefield, east of Nashville’s downtown, on Fatherland Street. The mission church was supervised by a white committee and pastored by George Dardis, a free black preacher. Nelson G. Merry, free black…
Even as the clouds over the Confederacy grow ever darker–or perhaps because the future of the South looks so bleak–the veneration of the deceased Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson as a Southern saint is well underway. Having died less than a year ago, Jackson’s image is the subject of much debate among those who vie…
The Union’s Red River campaign heats up as the weather warms up. The objective is to invade Texas by way of Shreveport, Louisiana. To that end the federals under Union General Nathaniel Banks are advancing to Shreveport. Yesterday, however, Banks made the mistake of trying to take a short cut to Shreveport, in the process…