Baptists and the American Civil War: October 17, 1865

North Carolina MapToday in the Haven’s Creek Baptist Church of Roanoke Island, North Carolina, the Roanoke Baptist Missionary Association is formed, the latest of several African American Baptist associations formed in the months following the war.

Baptist associations provide an avenue for newly-formed black Baptist congregations to work together in educational efforts, ministerial training and missionary endeavors.

Meanwhile this day, the United States government signs a treaty with the Cheyenne, Arrapahoe, and Apache Indians. Post-war Indian treaties represent an effort on the part of the U.S. to bring stability to western lands, thus easing the way for more white settlement. However, treaties are often broken by the U.S. Friction and periodic warfare between the United States and various Indian tribes remain for several more decades.

Sources: Linwood Moorings Boone, The Chronological History of the Roanoke Missionary Baptist Association, Volume 1, Bloomington, Ind.: Authorhouse, 2012, p. 5