Hundreds of thousands of soldiers comprise the armies of the United States and Confederate States combined. Battle wounds, illnesses, despair, loneliness, and other ailments often characterize the lives of soldiers who are fortunate enough to have survived the war thus far. And hovering above all is the ever-present cloud of homesickness. Left to fend for…
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…
The news of the Emancipation Proclamation has now spread throughout the North, as well as much of the South. Southern whites–including Southern Baptist newspaper editors–largely ignore the news, knowing that Abraham Lincoln‘s words are effectively meaningless as long as the Confederacy exists. Some Southern slaves hear whispers of a freedom announced from far away, hoping…