In the North, today’s edition of Harper’s Weekly features a celebrative illustration of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln‘s Emancipation Proclamation, drawn by Thomas Nast. A family of former slaves is pictured in the center, with a portrait of Lincoln hanging on the wall. The past is illustrated to the left, and a hopeful future is envisioned…
With the Confederate economy in a free-fall, many Baptist pastors, dependent upon the financial goodwill of their church members, struggle to survive. Prior to the war, Louisiana was home to some of the wealthiest counties in the entire nation, thanks to the state’s fertile soil that produced an abundance of cotton and sugar cane, soil…
The United States and Confederate States are now preparing for a long, drawn out war. Both are rapidly recruiting soldiers, seeking to gain a numerical advantage for the battles that lie ahead. In the South, the Confederate Conscription Act (military draft) is increasingly enforced, including the closing of some loopholes. Able-bodied white men, limited in…