Disloyalty to the Confederate cause is becoming a significant problem, even in the Deep South. Thousands of Confederate soldiers in the heart of the Confederacy, disgruntled at fighting a slaveholders’ war and anxious to assist their suffering families, have deserted and returned to their families and communities. The desertions should come as no surprise to…
Anxieties North and South are high. The moment of truth is mere days to come. The United States and Confederate States, both weary of war, steel for yet another season of bloodshed and anguish. This most uncivil of wars was never expected to last this long. The public is nervous, politicians are wary, and soldier…
This week’s edition of the Tennessee Baptist reprints a list of “Rules for a Good Overseer.” Slave overseers (generally white) are men who are employed by slave owners to manage plantation slave labor for maximum profit. Relatively few Baptists of the South in 1861 own plantations or own enough slaves to merit an overseer. Likewise,…