As the Confederacy’s largest city — New Orleans — is surrounded by the Union Navy, to the East the annual meeting of the Georgia Baptist Convention convenes at the First Baptist Church of LaGrange. The travails of the war are evident from the opening session, as both the appointed preacher, and the alternative, for the…
Confederate citizens and soldiers watch in dismay as a Union naval squadron, led by Flag-Officer David G. Farragut, today sails up the mouth of the Mississippi past forts Jackson and St. Philip. The fall of New Orleans is inevitable; surrender takes place on April 28. Union occupancy of the Confederacy’s largest city begins May 1,…
In the South, the Virginia city of Fredericksburg is now living in the early days of what will prove to be a four month Union occupation. While the scene is peaceful on the surface, tension mingles with joy. White citizens are on edge, while liberated slaves receive food provisions from the U.S. commissary, the best…