In the fall months of 1864 many newly-freed blacks from the Border State of Kentucky enrolled in the Union Army. Also in late 1864, more and more emancipated black Baptists, no longer forced by their masters to attend white churches, began meeting autonomously. The ensuing months have witnessed a continued exodus of black Baptists from…
Confederate General John Bell Hood’s Army of the Tennessee, retreating from the Battle of Nashville less than two weeks ago, today completes a re-crossing of the Tennessee River into Mississippi, en route to Tupelo. With the crossing, the war comes to an end in Tennessee. Dispirited and demoralized, the Rebel army mirrors the feelings of…
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln‘s program of Southern reconstruction occupies much of his time and thought. Announced on December 8, the now six-week-old effort has proven more successful than many Northerners had hoped, while causing consternation among the political and military leaders of a fraying Confederacy. At the heart of reconstruction is the eradication of slavery…