U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, influenced in his youth by the anti-slavery Primitive Baptist church of his upbringing, is moving ever closer to officially making emancipation a goal of the war against the Southern Confederacy. Today Lincoln meets with a delegation of Progressive Friends (a Quaker organization working with other anti-slavery advocates), who urge him to…
Illinoisan John McBride, soldier in Company D, Fifty-First Illinois, is stationed near Corinth, Mississippi, now occupied by Union forces. Today McBride writes a letter to his mother, vividly describing life in the army and making passing reference to the regimental chaplain, Baptist minister Lewis Raymond of Chicago. Raymond tendered his ministerial services near the beginning…
Anxiety permeates Richmond, the Confederate capital. Union General George B. McClellan, months into a slow, steady drive toward Richmond, lurks on the outskirts of the city, along the Chickahominy River, with his 105,000 strong Union Army. Between McClellan and the city limits are 60,000 Confederate troops commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston. Going on the offensive,…