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…
Today the war momentarily fades to the background as Baptists of Muncie, Indiana celebrate a milestone. Founded at the courthouse on September 11, 1859, the First Baptist Church of Muncie met for weekly worship at the courthouse for the following two-plus years. On January 12, 1861, the congregation voted to build a meeting house, and…
The United States is now interring prisoners of war in Camp Douglas near Chicago. The city also sends many soldiers to fight for the Union. Today, the ladies of Chicago’s First Baptist Church display their patriotic side, as noted in the Chicago Daily Tribune: On the morning of the 3d inst., a committee of ladies…