DID YOU KNOW

Dunking of Baptist Ministers
David Barrow was pastor of the Mill Swamp Baptist Church in the Portsmouth, Virginia, area. He and a "ministering brother," Edward Mintz, were conducting a service in 1778, when they were attacked. "As soon as the hymn was given out, a gang of well-dressed men came up to the stage . . . and sang one of their obscene songs. Then they took to plunge both of the preachers. They plunged Mr. Barrow twice, pressing him into the mud, holding him down, nearly succeeding in drowning him . . . His companion was plunged but once . . . Before these persecuted men could change their clothes they were dragged from the house, and driven off by these enraged churchmen."

The Dunking of David Barrow and Edward Mintz in the Nansemond River, 1778
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/f0509s.jpg
Oil on canvas by Sidney King, 1990
Virginia Baptist Historical Society (141)

SOURCE: Religion and the State Government