The Confederacy continues winding down. This month the one remaining Confederate medical laboratory, located in Columbia, South Carolina, shutters its doors. There is not much left in the largely empty building when the keys are handed over to a Union officer in the city. While the remaining vestiges of Confederate government properties are turned over…
Today in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. General William T. Sherman and his wife attend a Sanitary Commission fair, demonstrating their support for the organization that has done so much in support of soldiers. Many American (Northern) Baptists also support the Commission. Southward in Virginia a new black Baptist church is founded, the Bethlehem Baptist Church of…
Black residents of Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana first learn of their freedom this day when Federal soldiers march into town with good news. The soldiers, tasked with helping with Reconstruction in the state through the Freedmen’s Bureau, remain in Shreveport for ten years.The Bureau assists former slaves in securing jobs with fair pay and obtaining…