Meeting this week, the Philadelphia Baptist Association – the nation’s oldest Baptist association – meets and issues a statement concerning the war: The rebellion has unlawfully seized property and usurped constitutional powers and made war on the United States. It is necessary for Christians to avoid “complicity with traitors” and must work solely for the…
Today is a national day of fasting and prayer in the United States. Requested by Congress and with the assent of President Lincoln, the declaration results in numerous war-focused sermons from northern pulpits, evidencing broad-based religious support of the Union cause. Some Baptist preachers and congregations observe the day of fasting and prayer. Pastor James…
Today, Presley Barry Womack enlists in Company I, Forty-eighth Illinois Infantry. He serves as a hostler for the officers of the company, and sees action in the battles of Fort Henry and Shiloh. Born in Wayne County, Illinois in 1830, Presley, a Baptist, has personal childhood memories of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. When Womack was…