Baptists in Middle Georgia During the Civil War

Abstract

Historians thus far have largely portrayed Baptists in the South as uniformly supportive of the Confederacy and Civil War, other than in regional pockets which exhibited widespread Union sympathy. This study focuses on Baptists in middle Georgia, a region not known for widespread Union sympathy, and utilizes local source material in an effort to analyze Baptist voices at the ground level. The records include those of individual Baptists, local churches, regional associations and the Christian Index, the latter a Baptist newspaper headquartered in Macon. Collectively, these sources provide a rich tapestry of Baptist voices emanating from and to Baptists of middle Georgia. Varied and diverse, these voices reflect a complex view of the Confederacy and the Civil War, suggesting that presumed uniformity among Baptists of the South breaks down at the local level.