John R. Bowles, born June 13, 1826 in Lynchburg, Virginia, is a free black and a Baptist minister. As a young man, Bowles settled near Chillicothe in Ross County, Ohio, marrying Sarah Jane Bryant in 1848. There the couple grew their family, in addition to participating in the Underground Railroad. At thirty years of age,…
The Civil War has raised racial tensions to new heights in the South and in some areas of the North. The number of openly racist Northerners is such that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is not assured of re-election in the coming 1864 election. Hoping to tip the presidential election away from Lincoln and force the…
While public opposition to the Confederacy from within Southern Baptist churches is rare, Northern Baptists are not nearly as unified regarding their views of the United States. Although seemingly most Baptists of the North are anti-slavery and support the Union cause, some Baptists openly support the peace movement in the North, an effort to put…