| Summary: | Dr. William H. Mitchell was the minister of the Presbyterian Church in Florence during the Civil War. On Sunday, July 27, 1862, Dr. Mitchell was arrested during the church service when he prayed for Jefferson Davis and the success of the Confederacy. General Don Carlos Buell’s Provost Marshal, Colonel John Marshal Harlan was present during the prayer and made the arrest. Dr. Mitchell was incarcerated at Alton, Illinois, for a number of months before he was released and allowed to return to Florence.
Sallie Independence Foster recorded the incident in her diary on July 27:
“The Yanks went into the Presbyterian Church and took Dr. Mitchell prisoner while he was praying and took him over the river, the Yankees sent word to his wife that she must come to see him or she would not see him again. They would not let him hoist up his umbrella. They said he could stand the sun as well as they could. Poor man, he used to be the president of our school. He said school would open again the 1st of September, but I don’t think it will as we have no president now.”
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