In Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley this day, Union forces deal a decisive blow to Confederates in the Battle of Cedar Creek. So conclusive is the Federal victory over Confederate General Jubal Early‘s army that Confederate resistance in the valley effectively comes to an end. Meanwhile, in Bridgeport, Alabama, Lewis Raymond, Baptist minister and chaplain of the…
Newlyweds Anderson and Dora Richards Miller today arrive in Arkansas, seeking to escape the travails of war. Having moved from New Orleans, Arkansas is a new experience for Dora. Perhaps an Episcopalian (the church in which the couple was married), Dora in her diary describes the day and days following, including observations of religious life…
Today one of the worst fears of Southern slaveholders is realized: the first school for emancipated slaves is established in Alexandria, Virginia by Mary Chase, an African American woman. The laws of southern states, with the lone exception of Tennessee, have long decreed that it is a crime to teach African slaves to read and…