April 28, 1861 (Sunday)

New Birth in Springtime...
Babes suckling.

The narrative of the day -- Civil War Daily Gazette:  Missouri Unofficially Raising an Official Army, The Posh Life of the Seventh Regiment

"On this Sunday morning in Washington, the Seventh New York held church services in their quarters, the Chamber of the House of Representatives.  The pulpit was the Speaker's desk."


An article about Dorothea Dix...In April of 1861 she traveled to Washington from Trenton to meet President Lincoln.  She volunteered to organize a corps of women nurses.  She was the organizing force behind the enormous wartime nursing effort.  Here is her story...anecdotes include Clara Barton and Louise May Alcott, author of Little Women.  "Ms. Dix Comes to Washington," by Judith Giesberg, Disunion--New York Times, April 27, 2011.


A Diary from Dixie -- Mary Chesnut:  Daily Observations from the Civil War

"...The New York Herald says, 'Slavery must be extinguished, if in blood.' It thinks we are shaking in our shoes at their great mass meetings. We are jolly as larks, all the same.
Mr. Chesnut has gone with Wade Hampton¹ to see President Davis about the legion Wade wants to get up. The President came across the aisle to speak to me at church to-day. He was very cordial, and I appreciated the honor...."

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Baptists and the American Civil War:

Monday, April 22, 1861:  Diary of Mary Bristow, an active member of the Sardis Baptist Church in Union, Kentucky

Tuesday, April 23, 1861:  Conversation Rev. Richard Fuller, Baptist pastor in Baltimore, had with President Lincoln -- Fuller was pro-slavery.

Saturday, April 28, 1861:  The Annual Georgia Baptist Convention issues a report on the present political crisis.

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From the Pulpit:  The Long Recall, The American Interest

• Rev. E. E. Adams preached a sermon on Government and Rebellion today at Philadelphia’s Broad Street Church.
• William R. Alger preached a sermon in Boston today discussing the religious implications of the current war.
• “The Love of Country” was the topic of a sermon preached today at Philadelphia’s Presbyterian Church.
• At the West Church in Boston today, a sermon was preached discussing “The Duty of Our Time.”
• At the First Presbyterian Church in Dubuque, Iowa, Rev. A. A. E. Taylor preached a sermon titled “Israel Against Benjamin,” discussing our current national troubles.
• Charles Wadsworth preached a sermon today discussing patriotism in America.