Dual Baptist narratives continue in South Carolina this month, intertwined yet divergent. Many white citizens (including Baptists) of Charleston, South Carolina, a city besieged by nearby Union naval forces since July, have fled inland and northward to Orangeburg. The roster of refugees, mainly women and children, continues to grow as winter looms. An area with…
Following U.S. President Abraham Lincoln‘s Emancipation Proclamation of January , 1863, a group of approximately 75 enslaved blacks escaped from Boone County, Missouri and made their way northward. Many if not most were of the Baptist faith. Accounts indicate that the runaway slaves traveled part of the way by river and were rescued and towed…
Union Gen. William S. Rosecrans and his army are penned up in Chattanooga. Confederate Gen. Braxton’s Bragg’s forces control most routes in and out of the city; Union supplies have difficulty reaching Chattanooga. To make matters worse, today Confederate Major Gen. Joseph Wheeler and his men intercept a Union supply train, overpowering the guards. Confederate…