This week Mary Jeffreys Bethell of Rockingham County, North Carolina speaks of God and the war. A Methodist, Bethell attends a nearby Baptist church, offering her assessment of the congregation: We went to Union yesterday to hear Mr. Macneely preach, he is an old Baptist, he is a revivalist, a warm preacher, there was some…
As the war rages on in the contested state of Tennessee, death, even in the less contentious winter months, is now ever present in the city of Nashville. Today’s Tennessee Baptist speaks of Confederate anxiety, mourning and sacrifice as Union forces draw ever closer to the city: There is still a large number of soldiers…
The war time years temporarily alter the trajectory of the Baptist press. The Baptist press of the South, represented by state and regional newspapers, routinely report on war-related news from other states within the Confederacy. Prior to and after the war, this seeming fascination with tidbits of secular news from the Confederacy is unmatched. A…