The African Baptist Church

The African Baptist Church. Fredericksburg: Timeless.. , Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site) sits on the site once occupied by the African Baptist Church, which was initially the Fredericksburg Baptist Church. In 1857, after the white congregation had built a larger church on Princess Anne Street, it sold the first sanctuary to its African American members. At that time, Virginia law prohibited persons of color from meeting without a white person present, so the African Baptist Church had a white pastor, the Reverend George C. Rowe., Following the Civil War, the congregation adopted the name Shiloh Baptist Church and George L. Dixon, a slave who purchased his own freedom in 1856 became its first African American pastor. In 1886, a river flood caused a portion of the structure to collapse. Church members disagreed on where to rebuild and eventually divided into two congregations. In 1890, Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site) rose where the original church had stood. Shiloh Baptist Church (New Site) established itself on Princess Anne Street., [Aside:] , During the Civil War, approximately 400 members of the African Baptist Church fled north, to gain their freedom. Many of them helped to found the Shiloh Baptist Church of Washington, D.C., "These brethren, who have been driven from their homes and scattered among strangers, long to be gathered into a church that they may worship God unitedly as they formerly did." , , Reverend William J. Walker, 1863 (Walker was born a slave near Fredericksburg in 1817)., [Captions:] , Reverend Jame C. Brown came to Shiloh Baptist Church in 1887. He remained with the congregation that rebuilt the church on its original site., Reverend George C. Rowe served as the first pastor of the African Baptist Church. He resigned after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863., This Civil War photograph shows Fredericksburg's many churches, including the brick African Baptist Church (circled). The steeples and the court house cupola in this image are visible over the rooftops to your left.