Emancipation along the North Carolina coast began over a year ago when Union General Ambrose Burnside landed on Roanoke Island in February 1862. Soon, much of the coastal mainland was under United States control, and New Bern became Union headquarters for the region. From the landing of Ambrose to the present, African slaves have, in…
Baptist ministers respond to the war in diverse ways. Some remain in their pulpits; others leave the pastorate to enroll as chaplains or missionaries or soldiers; and a few step down from preaching in order to engage the enemy in an unofficial capacity. The latter is the case with an unnamed Baptist minister in Arkansas…
Today in Union-occupied Alexandria, Virginia yet another African Baptist congregation is formed in the aftermath of the Emancipation Proclamation. The church narrates its beginnings in the following way: During the Civil War, the Union Army occupied the City of Alexandria to prevent the Confederate Army from having a route into Washington, D.C., the capitol. Since…