Own a piece of Presbyterian history deeply associated with the Civil War.

The present missionary annual is excellent in its own right, and the provenance is a snapshot reminding us of the fascinating variety of roles played clergy during the War between the States. 

Boldy signed on the ffep, Wm Blount Carter. That would be William Blount Carter [1820-1902]. He was an American Presbyterian minister who intentionally positioned himself in Tennessee to engage in spy-craft and, ultimately, sabotage against the Confederate and Pro-Slavery cause.

Born in Elizabethton, Tennessee, his entire family were Southern Unionists, his brothers becoming officers in the Union Army during the War. He left Tennessee to study theology at Princeton. He pastored at Rogersville, TN until ill-health forced him to return to Elizabethton. An avid abolitionist, he voted for Fairmont in 1856 and Lincoln in 1860.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, he returned to preaching and offered himself as Chaplain to local churches filled with Confederate troops, all the while listening for information, and engaging in guerrilla warfare against the Southern cause. 

His most ambitious action was that of the Tennessee Bridge Burnings of 1861, thereby cutting off supplies and fresh troop movements to Tennessee. It is thought that he proposed the plan to the Federal Government and that it was approved and ordered by Abraham Lincoln himself. 

By 1862, it was considered too dangerous for him, and he and and others, including Parson Brownlow, etc., were evacuated. 

Contents include: Accounts of Missionary Work in South Africa; at Allahabad; The Sailing of J. P. Alward for Africa and His Subsequent Death; Missions at Assam; Presbyterian Mission at Bangkok Thailand; Biography of the Rev. Dr. Robert Morrison of China; Mission Stations in Burmah; Missionaries Wanted at Calcutta; Mission among the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians; Missionary to the Creek Indians; Beginning of the Presbytery of Florida; Dr. Grant's Visit to the Nestorians; Mission Stations in Greenland [Moravian - United Brethren]; J. C. Hepburn Sails for Singapore; Reports of the Scottish Deputation to the Jews [Robert Murray M'Cheyne, etc.]; Journal of the Rev. E. Kincaid among the Karens; Mission Stations at Labrador; Missions in Mexico and Texas; Letters from Rev. R. W. Orr of China; Account of Missions in Polynesia; Missions in Siam and Siberia; Sermon of Rev. Dr. Sprague on Missions; Native Mission among the Tambookies; Revival of Religion in Cape Town, A Revival among the Karens resulting in some 2,000 converts, etc. etc. 

A significant amount of content on slavery, including Slave Factories at Sierra Leone; Fatal blow to Slavery in Monrovia [Liberia]; On the Release of Slaves Captured from Slave Traders in Sierra Leone; Slave Factories in Gallinos; Revival of the Slave Trade in 1809; Animosity between Slave Traders and Missionaries; Slavery Makes Missionary Work Nearly Impossible; Attack on Liberia Prompted by Slave Traders; etc. etc. 

Engravings of a Native Wig-Wam; Hindu School Girl; The Great Pagoda at Rangoon; etc., 

Anonymous. The Missionary Chronicle: Containing the Proceedings of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church; and a General View of the Transactions of Other Similar Institutions. Vol. IX. Published Monthly, Under the Direction of the Executive Committee. New-York: Published at the Mission Rooms. 1841. 384pp.

[Bound With]

Anonymous. The Fourth Annual Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, in the United States of America. May, 1842. New-York. Published for the Board. 1841. 32pp.

A good - copy, bound in half leather; leather on spine is dry and heat damaged. Text inexplicably bound upside down. Generally solid, with moderate foxing and occasional stains.