Mere weeks before the major spring campaigns are to begin, Confederate Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest today attacks Tennessee’s Fort Pillow. Forrest’s Cavalry Corps are known for their guerrilla-like strikes in Union-held territory in Kentucky and Tennessee. Located on the Mississippi River some forty miles north of Memphis, Fort Pillow is manned by 200-295 white…
Newly-opened Andersonville Prison in southwest Georgia is the Confederacy’s answer to the problem of where to hold Union prisoners awaiting exchange. Located near the Southwestern Railroad and far from the battle front, the 16.5 acre open compound had been constructed by slaves in January. A stream flowing through the compound provides water for prisoners. The…
The war has forced both North and South into a prolonged, anguished and uneasy conversation about death. Baptists (as well as other persons of faith) discuss death at a level perhaps never before witnessed, crafting a narrative of a “good death”–a passing which is wrapped in the honor of sacrifice for family and nation and…