The fact that you or anyone else see this as being an UNusual occurance that a Black preacher would be the Chaplin of White Confederate Troops demonstrates the effectiveness of the propaganda campaign that there was no intermixing of the black and white races in the south.

This is far from the truth.

Whites and Blacks regularly attended church together. It was in fact the one form of "education" of blacks which was more or less excepted in the south. For example Stonewall Jackson "Sunday school" for the blacks in Lexington, Virginia. There is also the story of Gen'l R.E. Lee attendng a church service in Richmond, shortly after his surrender, where as the alter call was given, Both he and a color gentleman answered and knelt in prayer at the railing together. While "schooling" of blacks was unlawful in several state, "Religious education" was generally overlooked.

There are many examples of churches in the south which had mixed congregations. In fact almost all southern churches had a segment of black attendence. A few even had mixed boards of Deacons and even Pulpits of mixed congregational churches being filled by blacks preachers. Many of the black churches of today have their origins in the plantation churches that the owners established and attended with their slaves.

The "Oldest" Black church in my community states it was established in 1864 according to its history. At that time, the town was under Union occupation. What they omitted, and it is strange that this would be purged from their history, is that the church existed as early as 1850 as a mixed race congregation during that period. It was governed by a mixed board of deacons and had from time to time either a White or Black preachers in the pulpit.

The idea of segregated Churchs and seperate Church services did not come about until AFTER the War was over and reconstrction was in full force. So do we really know what the truth is about White and Black relationships in the south before the war were anymore?