With the commencement of warfare, Baptist newspapers in Georgia and Virginia, among others, advocate strongly for the Confederacy. Establishing a pattern that will remain in the months and years ahead, Georgia’s Christian Index and Virginia’s Religious Herald expend much ink reprinting war news from southern secular newspapers and editorializing on behalf of the Confederacy. Today,…
President Abraham Lincoln sends a message to South Carolina Governor Francis W. Pickens stating that he will attempt to send supplies to Fort Sumter: …an attempt will be made to supply Fort Sumter with provisions only, and that if such attempt be not resisted, no effort to throw in men, arms, or ammunition will be…
While Southern Baptist leaders, most of whom are slaveholders, are generally strong supporters of slavery and the Confederacy, common Baptists are more diverse. The differences among common Baptists are to a significant degree attributed to socio-economic factors; non-slaveholding whites tend to be poorer and less enthusiastic advocates of slavery, and Baptists are no exception. Waitman…