Some Southern Baptist soldiers succumb to illnesses early in the war, leaving the battlefield behind and returning to the home front. Such is the case of Rufus Wiley Phillips, a graduate of Georgia Baptists’ Mercer University. Weeks prior, Phillips, a Junior 2nd Lieutenant in a Lowndes County (GA) unit, was discharged from Confederate service in…
Today is Sunday, the Christian Sabbath. As is often the case these on Sunday mornings during these troubling times, the subject of war – whether directly or indirectly, in large part or in passing – is mentioned from many Baptist pulpits, South and North. What does a typical Baptist church look like in the Confederate…
Today, 35-year old William E. Wiatt, formerly a Baptist pastor in Gloucester County, Virginia and currently a private in the 26th Virginia Infantry, is appointed as chaplain of his regiment. Little does Wiatt know that he will one day achieve the distinction of being one of few Confederate chaplains to serve for the duration…