Tens of thousands of former slaves were fighting for the United States against the Confederacy by the end of the war. One was Paul Sandridge. Born into slavery near Lynchburg, Virginia in 1841, Sandridge was liberated from bondage upon the death of his owner in 1853. As a free man he settled near Portsmouth, Ohio,…
Today in Georgia, Sherman‘s army burns the Washington County courthouse as they march eastward to the coast. As is the case each day of the march, white citizens alternately remain out of sight or express great anger as the invaders plunder and destroy. Many black slaves, on the other hand, flee from their masters and…
As has typically been the case in the history of the American South to the this point, slave marriages are rarely recognized as legitimate by masters, courts or churches. Yet some exceptions do exist, at least in part, as is evidenced by a marriage ceremony that takes place this day at the May’s Lick Baptist…