Today near Chancellorsville, Virginia, Union Gen. Joseph Hooker and his Army of the Potomac, having crossed the the Rappahannock River four days earlier, begin a major offensive against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee’s much smaller army attacks Hooker’s advance with enough ferocity that the cautious Hooker, overriding the wishes…
This month the First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia licenses Deacon James M. Simms to preach. Born in Savannah, Georgia in 1823, Simms for much of his life was not involved in church. But in 1857 he had purchased his freedom, and in 1858 returned to the church and within a few months had…
At Boston’s Twelfth Baptist Church, the celebration of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation continues until after the sun rises. Today’s Boston Journal thus describes the scene of the prior night (at the Tremont Baptist Church) and early morning hours of this day (at the Twelfth Baptist Church): the grand demonstration in this city, yesterday,…