Beyond the war’s battlefields and among the personal lives of Baptist soldiers and civilians lurk tens of thousands of Baptist stories. Little noticed as most of these stories are, many offer insights into Baptist life that stretch far beyond any one individual. One such representative story is that of Baptist Finnick, an 18-year old former…
This month the state Baptist Association of Illinois convenes and, following the lead of other state Baptist groups of the North earlier this year, affirms as God’s will freedom for all humans and the righteousness of the war against Southern slavery. In the midst of many dangers and reverses which have overtaken our arms during…
The Civil War is a story of both events and individual persons. Among the soldiers of the United States Army is Thomas L. Magee, born in Cambridge, Guernsey County, Ohio in 1836, and raised in Peoria County, Illinois. At the age of thirteen, Magee accepted Christ in a Baptist church. In his young adult years,…