Stonewall Jackson Window

Stonewall Jackson Window behind the pulpit of Church in Roanoke, Virginia
"In Memory of Stonewall Jackson"
"Let us cross over the river and rest in the shade of the trees."

The article below is reprinted from The New York Times, Published July 30, 1906

Stonewall Jackson Window

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Erected in Negro Church by Contributions from Negroes.

ROANOKE, Va., July 29 -- A memorial window of Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson was unveiled in the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church today.  The congregation is composed of negroes.  The window was erected by the pastor, the Rev. L. L. Downing, the money for its purchase coming wholly from negroes.

The Exercises were largely attended by both races, the Confederate camps of Roanoke and Salem and the chapters of the Daughters of the Confederacy.  There were addresses by white citizens of Roanoke.

Downing's father and mother were members of a Sunday school class of negro slaves taught by Jackson at Lexington before the war, and to-day's exercises marked the realization of an ambition Downing has had since boyhood, to pay fitting tribute to the Confederate commander.

The picture presented on the window is that of an army camping on the banks of a stream, the inscription underneath being Jackson's last words: "Let us cross over the river and rest in the shade of the trees."

Here is a link to the New York Times article:  http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F10910FA395512738DDDA90B94DF405B868CF1D3

The Confederate Ghost at First Presbyterian Church, Cleveland, Tennessee

First Presbyterian Church, Cleveland, Tennessee

One of the very pleasant memories I have of growing up in Cleveland. Tennessee, is listening every afternoon at about four o'clock for the hymns that rang out from the belfry of First Presbyterian Church. The bells chimed familiar tunes which could be heard all over the town - even at our house which was about seven blocks away.  As a kid, I was oblivious to the fact that this beautiful old church was badly damaged by Mr. Lincoln's Northern invaders who occupied our beautiful East Tennessee town, about 30 miles northeast of Chattanooga, during the War to Prevent Southern Independence.  Musket balls are still embedded in the steeple to this day.

First Presbyterian, on North Ocoee Street, is the oldest existing church building in Cleveland - this structure having been dedicated in October 1858. At the time, the church served both black and white congregants.  As was the case in so many southern churches, the black members chose leave and build their own church during the post-War Between the States era known as "Reconstruction."  Abuses by carpetbaggers and scalawags from the North helped to create a divide between black and white in the South that exacerbated policies of segregation for a century in both the North and the South.  

Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, First Presbyterian is said to be the destination of a return trek each autumn by a Confederate soldier who lost limbs during the War Between the States. According to the 150 year old story, the soldier received his injuries in this location while defending his home against the aggressive Yankee hoards when they blasted their way into town.  The Confederate ghost revisits the site each year and carries a lantern as he tries to find his missing arm and leg.



The church's pastor, Rev. Dr. Joe Tanner, when interviewed after having served the congregation for 24 years, confessed that he had seen the ghostly light, but says he does not believe in ghosts. He added that he had heard others tell of seeing the light too. However, after an addition was made to the church in 1999, there have been no more reports about a light. Tanner jokes that the soldier may have been "armless" but is also "harmless."



Jefferson Davis Birthplace - Bethel Baptist Church

First organized in 1814, Bethel Baptist Church stands on property donated to the congregation in 1886 by Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, 1861 - 1865. The church occupies the same spot as the log cabin in which Jefferson Davis was born in 1808.

LIke many other churches in the antebellum South, this congregation had both caucasian and negro members before the Yankee attrocities of "reconstruction" following the War Between the States caused a racial divide which has never been fully overcome. In 1870 the church had 62 black members who requested permission to be dismissed in order to organize their own church at nearby Pembroke, Kentucky.

Jefferson Davis was present for the dedication of the church in November, 1886. On that occasion he addressed the congregation with these words:

“It is with heart full of emotion that I thank you for commerating the spot of my nativity by building this temple to the Triune God. In reply to the question why I am not a Baptist I would only say that my father who was a much better man than myself was a Baptist. I left this place during my infancy, and after an absence of many years revisited it on a previous occasion. On both visits I have felt like saying, “This is my own, my native land.” I see around me now in this beautiful house of worship, the most gratifying use to which the spot of my birth could be devoted. It speaks highly for this community that the most commodious and handsome of all its buildings belongs to God. It shows your reverence and love for your Creator. I rejoice to hear of the continued progress and prosperity of my old home. I am not here for the purpose of making a speech nor would I mar the effect of this solemn dedication, nor of the beautiful and eloquent sermon to which you have listened, by attempting one. I came only to tend to you formally the site on which this building stands. May He who rules the heavens bless this community individually and collectively and may his benediction rest upon this house of worship always. I thus leave it with you. More than this it would be improper for me to say.”

A slab of violet-gray finely polished Tennessee marble set in the wall of the church has this inscription:

JEFFERSON DAVIS,
OF MISSISSIPPI, WAS BORN
June 3, 1808,
ON THIS SITE OF THIS CHURCH
HE MADE A GIFT OF THIS LOT
March 10, 1886,
TO BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH,
AS A THANK-OFFERING TO GOD

You can learn much more by following this link: www.westernkyhistory.org/christian/church/bethelchurch.html
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Bethel Baptist Church viewed from atop the Jefferson Davis Monument

Story and photos by J. Stephen Conn

Integrated Pre Civil War Church in Mississippi

On the south side of Rt. 370, across the highway from Brice's Cross Roads National Battlefield Site, is the Bethany Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. During the battle of Brice's Cross Roads, Bethany Church was across the street from its present location. The church served as a field hospital following the June 10, 1864, battle.

The Bethany A.R.P. Church Cemetery, in use for more than 150 years, is also the burial site for 96 Confederates that fought and died as a result of the battle. Union dead from the battle have been re-interred to the National Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee.

A historic marker at the church states that it was organized in 1852 with 25 charter members, including 4 African-Americans. The fact is, integrated churches were not unusual in the antebellum South. Even with the deplorable institution of slavery, the pre-Civil War South was more racially integrated than much of the North, which had very restrictive anti-black laws.

After his visit to America in the 1850s, Alex De Tocqueville, the French historian observed that "Race prejudice seems stronger in those states that have abolished slavery than in those where it still exists, and nowhere is it more intolerant than in those states where slavery was never known."

Had there been on War, slavery would have soon ended peacefully in the South, just as it did in the North, and many more Southern churches and other institutions would have remained integrated.

Northern atrocities of the War Between the States, followed by 12 years of Federal occupation and abuse during the disgraceful period called "Reconstruction," exacerbated a racial divide that would not be overcome in America for 100 years..

Visiting Stonewall Jackson's Church

I recently found myself in Lexington, Virginia on a Sunday morning, so decided to visit the historic First Presbyterian Church. This is the view from my pew on the back row.

It is here at First Presbyterian Church of Lexington that Confederate General Stonewall was a deacon while serving as a professor at the Virginia Military Institute. Jackson was instrumental in establishing and teaching a Sunday School in this church for black parishioners, both slave and free. It is thought that he not only taught the Bible but also taught the black population of Lexington to read and write. The black Sunday School was in existance for several years before the outbreak of the War Between the States.

Several black churches in southwestern Virginia can trace their roots to Stonewall Jackson's black sunday school. An excellent book which tells that story is, "Stonewall Jackson: The Black Man's Friend,." by Richard G. Williams Jr. Here is a link to the book on Amazon:

Confederate Monument at St. James United Methodist Church

This white marble monument stands in the median strip of Green Street, in front of St. James United Methodist Church, Augusta, Georgia. The monument was erected by the Sabbath School of the St. James church in memory of local soldiers who had lost their lives while defending their homeland from Northern invaders during the War Between the States.

The St. James Church, founded in 1854, was only seven years old when Lincoln's Union troops marched against the South. Twenty-four members of the church lost their lives during the ensuing "War for Southern Independence." Inscriptions on three sides of the monument list the names 285 Augustans, including the 24 St. James members, who were killed in the war. Inscribed on three sides of the monument are the individual names of all of these men. Closeup photos of the names can be found in my Augusta, Georgia set of travel photos on Flickr.com.

The cenotaph was unveiled on December 31, 1873, making it one of the earliest Confederate monuments to have been erected anywhere. This was even five years before the much larger Richmond County Confederate Monument was unveiled a few blocks away on Broad Street, in the center of Augusta. The primary inscription on the St. James monument reads:

THESE MEN DIED
IN DEFENSE OF
THE PRINCIPLES
OF THE
DECLARATION OF
INDEPENDENCE

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Photo and Article by J. Stephen Conn