White Baptist commitment to the Confederacy is similar to that of the South’s other Christian denominations: many if not most embrace (in some fashion or another) the Confederacy as God’s Kingdom on earth, while few publicly disagree with the belief that African slavery is God’s will for the black race. Calvinism, a long-held Christian belief…
Southern slave holders long ago staked out the public position that their African slaves are happy and fulfilled in their lives of bondage. Africans’ inherent intelligence, so the reasoning goes, is suitable–at its best– for a life of enslavement consisting of social and racial isolation, hard work, meager rations, primitive housing, no familial bonds, and…
Union forces continue their march to Richmond. Norfolk is now occupied by Union troops, while the U.S. Navy searches for the Confederates’ flag ship ironclad, CSS Virginia. Boxed in and unable to make a run for freedom because of a low tide and unsuitable wind, the order is given to scuttle the Virginia. Early this…