The victory of the United States over the Confederacy and subsequent emancipation of remaining slaves in the South has brought an end to decades-old Southern laws mandating the supervision of black churches by whites. Freed from such constraints, the African American Ebenezer Baptist Church in Richmond installs Rev. Peter Randolph (1825-1897) as the congregation’s first…
The closing months of the war have been a bitter time for many white Floridians. Florida governor John Milton, despairing of the collapse of the Confederacy early in the year, had committed suicide on April 1. His last words to the legislature had been, “Death would be preferable to reunion.” When news of the Lee’s…
Some five weeks after the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, the ripples of the South’s defeat continue to spread. Today Jacob Elliot, a lawyer and Texas Baptist, hears rumors of the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederate Army: “May 19: — Mr. S. Williams reports that the…