Prior to the war, “Lee Town” in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa became a refuge for escaped slaves fleeing from Missouri, as well as slaves freed by Missouri slave owners who came to oppose the peculiar institution. The Underground Railroad was nearby. Some freedman passed through Lee Town; others, finding protection, stayed. Soon after the Civil War…
Loyalties are not always clearcut in North Carolina. Although the state has contributed more soldiers to the Confederacy’s cause then any of her neighboring states, Union sentiment in the Tar Heel State is robust enough that eight Union regiments are ultimately formed from the state’s citizenry. Skirmishes between Confederate and Union loyalties have been ongoing…
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln‘s April 16, 1862 emancipation of slaves in the District of Columbia set in motion a chain of events that result in this month’s establishing of a black church for freed persons on the grounds of the former plantation of Robert E. and Mary Lee, a congregation from which two black Baptist…