The American Missionary Association (AMA), founded in 1846, was comprised primarily of Congregational Church members and abolitionists. The AMA maintained that denying citizenship to African Americans (especially those who were enslaved) was a contradiction of the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and of the teachings of Christianity. Its first efforts were to help the newly freed, and it operated hundreds of anti-slavery churches in border states, especially in Illinois. Nathaniel Hitchcock of Deerfield, Massachusetts, subscribed to the association in August, 1865, just after the end of the Civil War. At that time, the association was committed to serving those newly freed in the South, building them churches, and setting up schools. Nathaniel Hitchcock lost his only son, James Childs Hitchcock, during the war. He was captured in 1864, and died several months later at Andersonville prison in Georgia.
American Missionary Association. American Missionary Association membership of Nathaniel Hitchcock. August 17, 1865. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l01-089/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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