John Fletcher Hamlin from Warren, Pennsylvania is a soldier in the190th Pennsylvania Infantry. Originally having enlisted with the Pennsylvania First Rifles on August 23, 1861, he was 20 years old at the time of his re-enlistment with the 190th. As is the case with many soldiers North and South, Hamlin writes letters to home during…
William Elgin, Baptist minister, is chaplain of the 14th United States Colored Infantry. As the third full year of the war draws to a close, the Union increasingly depends on the growing ranks of black regiments to provide the extra manpower needed to finally win the war against the rebelling Southern states. Elgin is “a…
This week’s North Carolina Baptist Biblical Recorder publishes a recent letter from a soldier in the 22nd North Carolina Regiment. Letters from soldiers are eagerly read by home front families who constantly search for news in the camps and from the battlefields. Baptist soldiers’ interpretations of the war, including the religious aspects of army life,…