The Confederate Congress and Confederate President Jefferson Davis issue a call for 100,000 volunteer soldiers to serve for twelve months. Yet uncertainty surrounds the fate of Deep South states not yet committed to the southern cause; Union sentiment remains strong in Tennessee and North Carolina. In the Upper South, Virginia is tipping toward secession. Meanwhile,…
Abraham Lincoln, raised a Baptist, is inaugurated (photo) as the 16th president of the United States of America in front of a partially finished United States Capitol. Reviled by southern white slaveholders as the “Black” president – because of their certainly that Lincoln will put an end to African slavery in the Union – Lincoln’s…
The day before his inauguration, U. S. President-elect Abraham Lincoln finalizes his Cabinet appointees. Among his Cabinet is former presidential candidate (1860) Edward Bates of Missouri, appointed as Postmaster General. A former slaveowner, Bates no longer owns slaves nor supports slavery. The story of Bates’ emancipation of his slaves intersects the world of Baptists, as…