Baggett's history is the first to be compiled since the university moved to its North Jackson campus. The first chapter of the book, which Baggett completed this summer, is another first in its own right. It's the first written history of Union's roots in Murfreesboro.

Baggett describes Union's conception as the result of two roads converged. While the first "road" (that of the Jackson Male Academy and Southwestern Baptist University in Jackson) has been fully documented in Richard Ward's earlier A History of Union University, the second "road" (that of Union University in Murfreesboro) has not.

What has he discovered so far? Baggett says his most interesting discoveries have been that of Union's tie with one of the first medical schools of Memphis (which was chartered under Southwestern Baptist University's name and graduated about 100 physicians a year, from 1880 to 1894) and the origins of female education at Union. Women were first enrolled at Union in 1889 not because of pressure from local suffragettes but from Union professors who wanted their daughters to continue their lifelong education on a collegiate level.

A historian by profession, Baggett began his time at Union as a Professor in the History department and became a university administrator in 1981. He has remained heavily involved in the history field, specializing in 19th century America and the Civil War.