Home Front Civil Wars: A Unitraian Minister's Conflicts in 1860s Beverly, Massachusetts: The Diaries of Rev. John C. Kimball, Volume 2: 1865-1870 Hardcover – December 13, 2025

John C. Kimball (1832-1910) was a progressive reformer, often ahead of his time. He advocated for emancipation, equal rights for women, workers, and former slaves, and freedom of thought for all individuals. A devout believer in the teachings of Jesus and human reasoning, the graduate of Amherst College (1854) and Harvard Divinity School (1859) challenged orthodox Calvinist doctrines that still dominated Protestant faiths. Kimball was a brilliant intellectual, a skilled debater, a prolific writer, and a preacher engaged in the politics of his era. Religion, in his mind, was both to save souls and to improve the society in which those souls lived.These diary-style memoirs describe Kimball's experiences as the Unitarian minister at the First Parish Church in Beverly, Massachusetts. They contain richly detailed accounts of life in a small town during turbulent times, with lengthy excerpts from lectures, sermons, and letters. Volume 1 (1860-1864) covers the period when the issue of slavery split political parties and then erupted in civil war. An outspoken abolitionist, Kimball sought to sustain the morale of soldiers and civilians while simultaneously criticizing the military management of the war. From November 1862 through July 1863, he served as the 8th Massachusetts Infantry chaplain. Volume 2 (1865-1870) observes the end of the Civil War, the struggle over Reconstruction, and the political issues emerging from the war.Throughout both volumes, Kimball shares stories of everyday domestic life, fascinating anecdotes, humorous episodes, observations of important individuals, and descriptions of travels through the Midwest and the Great Plains. The diaries reveal how his controversial positions on political issues such as slavery, equal rights, and Protestant creeds created significant conflicts within his family, congregation, community, and the Unitarian denomination. Ultimately, opposition from conservative church members led to his departure from Beverly in 1870.Volume 1 also features a biographical profile of Kimball's life; details of his controversial ministry in Hartford, CT (1878-1888); the history and transcription of his memoirs; photographs of Kimball and his wife, Emily O. Richardson Kimball; period maps of Beverly and Essex County, Massachusetts; and genealogical charts of the Kimball and Richardson families. Volume 2 provides a combined index for both volumes and a catalog of Kimball's known writings. Read more