Baptists and the American Civil War: January 9, 1861

Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the United States. Among Mississippi’s leading advocates of secession and promoters of the Confederacy is Reuben Davis (1813-1890), a politician/physician/historian/lawyer from a Baptist family. “A true Southerner” and ardent advocate of black slavery, Davis is a renowned lawyer and Mississippi congressman who resigns his congressional seat upon…