Today near Chancellorsville, Virginia, Union Gen. Joseph Hooker and his Army of the Potomac, having crossed the the Rappahannock River four days earlier, begin a major offensive against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee’s much smaller army attacks Hooker’s advance with enough ferocity that the cautious Hooker, overriding the wishes…
Today is designated national fast day in the United States, as declared by the government. Many sermons are preached on this occasion, including a discourse by Northern Baptist minister Daniel C. Eddy to the combined congregations of the First Baptist Church and Tabernacle Baptist Church, both of Philadelphia, the latter of which Eddy serves as…
While women in the North have for decades been active in the abolitionist movement and generally have some voice in social reforms, white Southern women live in a male-dominated society where proper gender roles are reinforced by a literal reading of the Bible. Although the war-time absence of many Southern men from home and church…