The Civil War has raised a host of issues for white Baptists of the South, a largely rural people who, echoing the early frontier ethos of their spiritual ancestors, frame religion as personal piety rather than social responsibility. Local church minutes of the 1850s and 1860s are often concerned with personal sins such as card…
This week the 118th United States Colored Troops regiment is forming in Kentucky. Many former slaves enroll today in Owensboro, eager to take up arms to help put down the Rebellion and free the remaining slaves in the Confederacy. Former slaves are now daily enrolling in the Union Army, and in so doing are ensuring…
Disloyalty to the Confederate cause is becoming a significant problem, even in the Deep South. Thousands of Confederate soldiers in the heart of the Confederacy, disgruntled at fighting a slaveholders’ war and anxious to assist their suffering families, have deserted and returned to their families and communities. The desertions should come as no surprise to…