Massaponax Baptist Church is a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

church built in the

Greek Revival style The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

, located in Spotsylvania County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. It is affiliated with the

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wor ...

. The

congregation that built the church was established in 1788 at a small church near Massaponax Creek. When that building became too small to hold the growing congregation, the church was moved to its present location at the intersection of U.S. Route 1 and State Route 608 (Massaponax Church Road). The new church was a small, frame building which was also outgrown. In 1859, the current brick building was constructed on the site.

Kilns A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...

in a nearby field fired the bricks for the exterior walls. By October 1859 the new church was completed at a cost of $3,000. Joseph Billingsly was the first pastor in the new building. An addition was built in 1949 and a brick cottage for the pastor, was built near the church in 1956. The church was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in January 1991. Not long after the new church was occupied, the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

began. Black members of the church were given letters of dismissal. Several small churches were established for the disenfranchised blacks. Church services ended for the duration of the war. During that time, the church was used as a stable, hospital, headquarters for planning strategy. Soldiers used the interior walls to draw scenes of battle, write messages, and leave names of troops, companies, and soldiers. The walls were whitewashed after the war to cover the graffiti. In 1938, during renovation work, the writing on the walls was exposed. Portions of the graffiti are now visible behind plexiglass frames. GrantsCouncilofWar1864

On May 21, 1864, Lieutenant General

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

, Major General George Meade, other generals and their staffs met at the church after the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Also present was Assistant Secretary of War Charles A. Dana. During the meeting, Grant ordered his troops to carry church pews outside to provide a place for the generals to rest and plan strategy. The meeting was photographed from the second floor of the church by

Timothy H. O'Sullivan Timothy H. O'Sullivan (c. 1840 – January 14, 1882) was a photographer widely known for his work related to the American Civil War and the Western United States. Biography O'Sullivan's history and personal life remains unclear as there is lit ...

, a noted 19th-century photographer of the Civil War and, later, of the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

References

External links

Massaponax Baptist Church
{{NRHP in Spotsylvania County, Virginia Baptist churches in Virginia Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Spotsylvania County, Virginia Georgian architecture in Virginia Churches completed in 1864 Buildings and structures in Spotsylvania County, Virginia Southern Baptist Convention churches