Peter Barrow was born a slave near Petersburg, Virginia in 1840. As a child he was taken to a plantation in Alabama. Earlier this year, perhaps when Union naval and army forces invaded and gained control over the Mobile Bay area in February, Barrow, now a young man, managed to escape. Fleeing to Vicksburg, this…
The war grinds on in the midst of winter, the cold largely confining the conflict to winter army camps, Union-held towns and cities, freedmen camps, war prisons,army hospitals, statehouses and courthouses, newspapers, street corner conversations, sermons, and sparse kitchen tables. Many white Baptists of the South keep abreast as best as they can of the…
Retreating Confederate forces achieve success today in the Battle of Ringgold Gap, a minor clash that follows the just-concluded three day Chattanooga Campaign. The victory allows the Confederate Army of Tennessee to retreat safely through the mountain pass known as “Ringgold Gap.” Confederate casualties number about 200, while the Union suffers some 500 casualties. Gen.…