Reddit mentions of Baptist Successionism: A Crucial Question in Baptist History (Atla Monograph Series)

The Trail of Blood is actually a pretty late entry into the realm of Baptist Landmarkism.

Landmarkism develops out of what is known as Successionism, which is, properly speaking, what the Trail of Blood is about. Successionism is a (major) part of the larger system of Landmarkism, which was popularized by figures like J. R. Graves and B. H. Carrol in the 19th century.

Successionism was developed in response to something called Campbellism or the Stone-Campbell movement. This movement was a Restorationist movement that broke away from the Baptist church, claiming that they had better restored the New Testament Church than the Baptists had. The Stone-Campbell movement eventually led to the founding of the Disciples of Christ and Church of Christ/Christian Church denominations.

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The Baptist response to the Stone-Campbell movement was Successionism, developed by figures like G. H. Orchard in the 1850s. The purpose was to argue that Baptists did not need to restore the New Testament church as the Stone-Campbell movement claimed to because the Baptist church had always been the New Testament Church.

Successionism was integrated into the theology of J. R. Graves, which became known as Landmarkism. Landmarkism emphasized not only successionism but also the invalidity of non-Baptist churches.

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The Southern Baptist Convention rejected Landmarkism in 1859. Successionism was first formally disproved by William H. Whitsitt in 1896 when he published "A Question in Baptist History."

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Despite these condemnations of Landmarkism/successionism, the theory was popular enough among the laity that Whitsitt was forced to resign as President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The movement reached its height in the early 20th century under the leadership of figures like Ben Bogard.

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Today, the best academic refutation specifically focused on this issue is by William McGoldrick: "Baptist Successionism: a Crucial Question in Baptist History." (Note the similar title to Whitsitt's work. It can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Baptist-Successionism-Crucial-Question-Monograph/dp/0810827263

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Successionism is, as others have already noted, bogus. But, it is not propaganda for propaganda's sake. It was a theory developed in a context to help the Baptist church survive the enormous competition for believers in the 2nd Great Awakening and the westward expansion of America.