Some six weeks following the assassination of former president Abraham Lincoln, today has been set aside by president Andrew Johnson as a memorial to Lincoln, a “Day of Humiliation and Prayer.” Hundreds of sermons are delivered this day, many in Baptist churches. In the nation’s capital of Washington, the Calvary Baptist and E Street Baptist…
The United States Christian Commission (USCC) supports Union soldiers by providing supplies, medical assistance (in collaboration with the U.S. Sanitary Commission) and religious literature to troops. The work of the USCC is carried out through Protestant chaplains and social workers, many of whom are Baptists. Today the USCC convenes for its annual meeting in Washington,…
By this point in the Civil War, the Confederacy’s three evangelical denominations–Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists–are frequently echoing one another when it comes to stoutly defending African slavery and prognosticating ultimate Confederate victory as the will of God. Prominent ministers, writers and journalists of all three denominations also in unison revile the North and U.S. President…