The times are defined by war, and Baptists do their part in seeking success for their respective governments. Today in Richmond, the Confederate capital, the Confederate States Senate meets, with opening prayer by the Rev. Dr. Seeley of the city’s Second Baptist Church. Far from the storied halls of national governments, today is much like…
Rev. David G. Young, born in New York in 1829 and orphaned as a young boy, today enlists in Company D, Eighty-first Regiment Illinois Infantry. During his service he spends time in Confederate prisons and falls victim to yellow fever. Yet he survives the war, in the post-war era serving for a number of years…
Illinoisan John McBride, soldier in Company D, Fifty-First Illinois, is stationed near Corinth, Mississippi, now occupied by Union forces. Today McBride writes a letter to his mother, vividly describing life in the army and making passing reference to the regimental chaplain, Baptist minister Lewis Raymond of Chicago. Raymond tendered his ministerial services near the beginning…