B.M. Palmer (January 25, 1818 – May 28, 1902) was an American Presbyterian preacher and theologian whose influential ministry spanned the antebellum South and the post-Civil War era, shaping Southern Presbyterianism with his eloquent sermons and staunch Confederate advocacy. Born Benjamin Morgan Palmer in Charleston, South Carolina, to Edward Palmer, a teacher turned minister, and Sarah Bunce, he was educated at Amherst College (1832–1834), the University of Georgia (B.A., 1838), and Columbia Theological Seminary (1839–1841). Ordained in 1842 by the Georgia Presbytery, he began his preaching career at First Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Georgia (1841–1842), before pastoring First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina (1843–1855), and later serving as professor at Columbia Seminary (1853–1856). In 1856, he took the pulpit of First Presbyterian Church in New Orleans, where he remained for 46 years until his death. Palmer’s preaching gained national attention with his 1860 Thanksgiving Sermon, a fiery defense of slavery and secession that galvanized Confederate sentiment, earning him the title “orator-preacher of the Confederacy.” As the first Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) in 1861, he championed Southern identity during the Civil War, though he returned to pastoral care in New Orleans after the conflict, ministering through yellow fever outbreaks. A prolific writer, he penned works like The Life and Letters of James Henley Thornwell (1875) and Theology of Prayer (1894). Married to Mary Augusta McConnell in 1841, he endured personal tragedy, losing his wife in 1888 and several children. Struck by a streetcar in 1902, he died shortly after at age 84, buried in New Orleans’ Metairie Cemetery.