Nearly two months after the formal beginning of warfare between the United States and Confederate States, young men North and South excitedly prepare to defend their respective countries. Duty, ideology, adventure, honor, and the defense of homeland, family and freedom are some of the reasons that compel soldiers to fight. In Georgia, Baptist’s Mercer University,…
The Fourteenth Indiana Infantry, formed in May, remusters for three years. Among the soldiers is Harrison Woodsmall, future Baptist minister and educator, who leaves Indiana State University to join the army. Woodsmall serves with distinction, fighting at Antietam (Virginia) and attaining the rank of major in the 115th Indiana Regiment. While in the war, he…
Baptist organizations North and South convene in the opening days of the month. Virginia’s General Baptist Association – the state organization of Virginia Baptists – meeting in Petersburg offers pointed statements regarding the war, expressing a willingness to give all Baptist monies to the Confederacy in order to secure southern victory: The long-cherished hatred of…