Joseph Addison Turner (1826-1868), long-time writer and now editor of The Countryman, a newspaper published from Turner’s Putnam County, Georgia plantation–Turnwold–today affirms the Baptist & Banner newspaper’s recent addition of a literary department to the publication. In this same edition of his paper, Turner publishes an unusual story about the late Baptist giant John Leland,…
In the Deep South town of Savannah, Georgia, blacks — enslaved and free — increasingly seek autonomy as the war rages on. Not allowed to gather except for religious purposes, some turn to the Masons, creating the Eureka Lodge. Eureka Lodge has the proud distinction of being the first Black secret organization to be formed…
Today Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, beloved of white Southern Baptists (and a Baptist church-goer as a teenager), is promoted to lieutenant general. Thus rewarded for his battlefield daring and bravery, upon Jackson’s shoulders falls ever more the burden of ensuring that the Confederacy emerges victorious over the United States. The general’s exploits are already…