Today Confederate General Jubal Early and the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, having raided several towns in Maryland, approach Fort Stevens just to the northwest of Washington, D.C. Early had hoped to make a surprise invasion of Washington, but had been detained too long in the previous day’s Battle of Monocacy to…
The First Baptist Church West Main Street, Charlottesville, Virginia, an African American congregation, traces its beginnings to March 16, 1863. That was the day that some 800 black members of the Charlottesville Baptist Church petitioned the church’s white leaders to allow them to form their own congregation. Today their request is finally granted, and the…
While in Virginia the North and South struggle over control of Petersburg–and hence the Confederate capital of Richmond–numerous minor skirmishes take place this summer throughout Virginia at large. One such clash occurs today when Confederate Col. John S. Mosby’s Rangers (or Raiders), a crack cavalry unit, attack 150 Union cavalrymen near the Mt. Zion Old…