The Slave Who was a Soldier...

Folks - I found this recently in the Charlotte Observer. I was kind of surprised.

Regards,
Michael


THE SLAVE WHO WAS A SOLDIER: DAUGHTER SEARCHES FOR TRUTH
Memorial will honor man who fought for Confederate Army

Cliff Harrington Wary Clyburn is a local Civil War hero I bet many of you don't know about. He's a former slave who fought for the Confederate Army from 1863 to1865. He was born in Lancaster County but moved to Union. Many of his descendants live in the Wingate area, and they're planning to honor his memory next month. Pension documents confirm that Clyburn was a former slave and a Civil War veteran. The documents say he volunteered for the Confederacy with Capt. Frank Clyburn, who was the son of the man who owned Wary Clyburn (Note: The documents spelled his first name several ways: Werry, Weary and Wary. His daughter says the correct spelling is Wary).

According to the pension documents, Wary Clyburn served as the bodyguard for Frank Clyburn in Company E of the 12th regiment. Wary carried Frank on his shoulders to rescue him during intense fighting. Wary also served as a special aid to Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Monday morning I met Mattie Clyburn Rice of High Point; she's the daughter of Wary Clyburn. She had come to the Heritage Room at theOld Monroe Courthouse to get information about her father. She already had a good bit of documentation. That's where I saw the documents that had been filed when Wary wanted to get pension payments as a Civil War veteran. Clyburn did get his pension in 1926, and after that many other former slaves also got pensions, according to his daughter.

Mattie Clyburn Rice was born in 1922 and her father died in 1930. Rice said her father spent a lot of time telling her about his life. He was too old to work in the fields."He would send my brothers to the fields and he would stay with me," she said. "He would tell me about his life and I didn't have any computers or anything, so I had to remember all of this. I kept it in my head and I've been looking and searching."

When she became an adult, she left Union County but continued to look for information about her father, including a search for the site where he was buried. Mattie Clyburn Rice said she found her father's grave about 10 years ago. It's in what we now know as Hillcrest Cemetery.

She didn't have time to show me the exact spot Monday. However, when the discussion turned to her father, a big smile lit her face. She loved her father and that has driven her to gather information.

Even now, she wants to know more. There is a photo of Wary Clyburn, but his daughter didn't have it with her. She had a photocopy. It showed a man with a grand smile, seated with what appeared to be his Confederate military jacket on. He was holding a fiddle.

Mattie Clyburn Rice said when she was small, her parents took her to First Church of God on Morgan Mill Road. In her search for information, she again has found the church and that's where the family plans to honor Mr. Clyburn on Aug. 26. There will be a family reunion.

The obvious question is this: Why would a slave volunteer to fight onthe side of people who held him in bondage?That's a question that only Mr. Clyburn can answer. Too often when it comes to the Civil War and slavery, we hear versions of the truth that are woven from conjecture and narrow perspectives. It's refreshing when you find the truth. This is it. Wary Clyburn was a brave and loyal hero. And he deserves to behonored by all of us. IN MY OPINION

The Memorial Wary Clyburn will be honored Aug. 26 during a reunion of his
descendants. The ceremony will be at First Church of God, 301 MorganMill Road.

GOT INFORMATION?Mattie Rice Clyburn is still compiling information about her father. If you have information, please write to her: Mattie Rice Clyburn, P.O. Box 1503, High Point, NC 27262.

I had a great time this past weekend at the Franklin reunion in Linville Falls. I had a chance to talk to many people who had ancestors who served in various North Carolina regiments, and it was great to meet all of them.

I’ll be speaking tonight at the Col. John B. Palmer Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Burnsville. Next Monday, I’ll be speaking at the SCV Camp in Haywood County - they meet at the fire department in Clyde. On Tuesday, I’ll be at a book festival in Rutherfordton, at the historic church there - St. John’s I believe.

Still researching more than I am writing. The researching should come to an end very soon, even though I’ll still be on the hunt until the day I turn in the manuscript.

For the past few days, I’ve been trying to tackle the whole conscription event. Conscription is largely the reason for why we have a 58th North Carolina.

I’ve searched through a lot of books trying to gain a better understanding, including:
Weitz - More Damning than Slaughter

Trotter - Bushwhackers
Inscoe and McKinney - The Heart of Confederate Appalachia
Hilderman - They Went into the Fight Cheering
Wert - "Confederate Conscription Woes" CWTI
Johnston - Zebulon Vance Papers
Yearns and Barrett - North Carolina Civil War Documentary
Thomas - The Confederate Nation
Yearns - The Confederate Congress
Rable - The Confederate Republic
Moore - Confederate Conscription
and
McPherson - The Battle Cry of Freedom

I am no fan of McPherson. However, it is in the latter that I found this:

The main purpose of conscription was to stimulate volunteering by the threat of coercion rather than by its actual use.

That is just what happened with the 58th NCT. One company, the Mitchell Rangers, already existed. Another, the one from Caldwell County that was recruited for Vance’s Legion, was a by-product of conscription. Eight other companies (there were twelve in the 58th NCT) were recruited prior to the cutoff date for volunteering. The last two, L and M, were made up of conscripts, forced into service.

I wonder if any of the other regiments mustered into service after April 1862, follow this same steps? All I need is yet another project.

You might have noticed that I have changed my photograph on the above header. Before, we had the Confederate monument in Greensboro. Now, it is the Monument to Women of the Confederacy on the capital grounds in Raleigh. I took this photograph last summer. The monument was dedicated in 1914.

Yesterday, I ventured to Boone, researching on the 58th NCT. I wanted to make sure that I missed nothing in my research. I came away with a few dates and middle names, but not much more. I used to work at this library, almost a decade ago, and I went through the collections pretty thoroughly. Plus, I went through them when I wrote the history of the 37th NCT and my history of Watauga County.

I have yet another busy weekend. Tomorrow, I am going to hear Dr. Anne Whisnant, who wrote a history of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I have a research trip to Burnsville on Friday morning, then I will be at the Franklin family reunion in Linville Falls Friday night and Saturday. I am taking a display on the 58th NCT. There were several members of the Franklin family who served in the 58th NCT, so maybe I will come away with some good stuff.

Often, in the many talks that I give, I get questions regarding the pro-Union sentiment of the mountains of western North Carolina. I often tell folks that western NC was not as pro-Union as the "historians" have made it out to be. I’ve been preaching that sermon for a decade now. Western North Carolina, especially in the first year of the war, was more pro-Confederate than the rest of the state - more mountaineers joined the Confederate army in the first year of the war than men off the mountain.

Another thing that I often talk about is three different groups all battling against each other in western North Carolina. Today, I up that number to four. In answer to an email that I received, here is my response:

No one could "live open" during this time. You have the Confederate home guard (after mid-1863), doing their best to police the area, and round up conscription dodgers and deserters. Then, you have groups of regular Confederate soldiers who swept into the area from time to time. These groups were usually worse than the deserter bands, impressing men into service and stealing whatever they could. You have the deserter bands, men who have illegally left the army and have formed themselves into armed bands who prey upon a largely defenseless civilian population. Lastly, you have individuals or family groups that use the war as excuses for carrying out acts of violence on their neighbors. This would later transmit into the "family feuds" that color writers would exploit later in the 19th century (i.e., the Hatfields and McCoys).

Well, that sounds like the outline for a book.

What do you think?

Reading on Braxton Bragg

I started my reading this past weekend on Braxton Bragg - are there any "good" books on Bragg? I’ve started with the two-volume Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat.
I recently finished Contested Borderland: The Civil War in Appalachian Kentucky and Virginia. by McKnight - loved it! Just wished there had been a little more about the military campaigns that affected the socio-economic outlook of the area.

I also read War at Every Door: Partisan Politics and Guerrilla Violence in East Tennessee 1860-1869 by Fisher - I really liked this book also. I took lots of notes

Lastly, I’ve read The Terrible Time: The Civil War in Kentucky’s Bell, Knox, Laurel, and Whitley Counties by Taylor - I really wanted to like this book. I spend a lot of time in this area. Alas, there is not really anything here that cannot be found online for free. Plus, a full third of the book is reenactorisms. I’ve reenacted for over 25 years; I think I know how to load a musket.

After Bragg, I plan to read the bio on E. Kirby Smith.

58th update

Gloomy day here in the mountains of western NC. It seems that we have tried to make up for our year-long rain deficit in the last couple of days.

If you have emailed me in the past couple of weeks, please be patient - I am getting to them as fast as possible. I think I sent close to one hundred emails in the past week. I’ve probably still got one hundred to go.

I did take time last night to actually work on the 58th NC book. I took chapter 3 and dropped it onto the bottom of chapter 1. Chapter 2 stayed the same, and the new chapter 3 is all about Vance’s Legion. Chapter 4 deals with the actual formation of the regiment. Chapter 1 now gives background on Colonel Palmer, the bridge burners, and the formation of the Mitchell Rangers. Chapter 2 backtracks and covers some of the foundations of why we had a war, especially from a North Carolina point of view.

Chapter 4 should not be too difficult - just a lot of names and dates and brief county histories.
I’m still having a hard time trying to divide up chapter 5. This chapter, time wise (at least in my mind), covers from August of 1862, when the 58th North Carolina arrives in east Tennessee, until September 1863, when they leave and join the Army of Tennessee in time for the battle of Chickamauga. While the regiment did not fight in any battles, they did move around a lot. Plus, probably 50 percent of my primary sources fall within this chapter. Once the regiment joined the AofT, they wrote fewer letters. Original letters are such treasures, and it’s so great to tell the story in the soldiers’ own words that I like to use as much of this material as I can.

What to do about Vance's Legion....

For most of you who have been reading this blog for some time, you know that I’ve taken an interest in Vance’s Legion. Now I’m trying to decide what to do with the information that I’ve collected.

In the spring of 1862, Col. Zebulon B. Vance came up with the idea of recruiting a Legion. A Legion is an organization composed of Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery. His motivation behind the Legion seems to solely be gaining a brigadier general’s star. Maybe that’s not quite a fair assessment, but that is the way it comes across in Vance’s correspondence.

Once gaining approval from the Confederate officials in Richmond, Vance began to run into problems. Vance had assumed that he would be able to get help from the governor in Raleigh - NOT! - They were of different political persuasions, and since Vance had not sought their approval, they turned a deaf ear to the young colonel. Vance assumed that he would be able to get companies already formed and in the training camps around Raleigh - NOT! See above for the reason.

Vance was facing a tight deadline regarding the Conscription Act. He basically had thirty days to finish his recruitment for his Legion. However, Vance could not even secure a pass from his commanding officer to allow him to go and recruit himself. Lastly, there were other people out recruiting, taking (not on purpose) men from the areas that Vance was most popular - his former 10th Congressional District, in the mountains of the western part of the state.

In the end, Vance was only able to recruit four companies for his Legion, three of infantry and one of cavalry, before his time ran out. The Legion failed, not only because it never met its recruitment goals, but because the idea of Legions became unpopular with the Confederate high command. Those four companies joined other regiments.

That leads me to this: I’ve come up with enough primary sources (there are almost no secondary sources) on Vance’s Legion to put together a small booklet on the organization. Say maybe 30 or 40 pages, with a roster. Would anyone out there be interested in a book on a group that never really existed?

Please drop me a line and let me know. I would probably self-publish the book. I’ve written eight books and have always worked with traditional publishers. The self publishing route would be a different road for me. I’m interested in your feedback!

blogging

Yesterday, I answered about 35 emails concerning the 58th NCT, and two concerning the 37th NCT. I am trying hard to get the emails from my recent genforum posting caught up. If I have not answered yours yet,please be patient. Yesterday's emails brought a smattering of birth and death dates, a couple of obits, and three post-war photographs. I am glad to have every one.

Richard Williams at Old Virginia Blog wrote a great posting on civility in the blogging world. I'm thankfully on his "safe list." However, it led me to think about my own blogging habits. Most bloggers have long lists of other people's blogs. I don't. Not that I don't find everyone else's ramblings of interest. I try really hard to put up only the blogs that I have time to read. I am a full-time writer, and the time that I spend sitting here I try really hard to devote myself to the craft. Otherwise, I'm either sitting in my big leather chair reading, or I'm spending time outside, or with my family. I started to teach my six-year-old to play chess yesterday.

Well, I guess it's time to get back to that email pile. I think I still have about 70 emails to go.

This past Saturday, I had the privilege of going out with a fine group of folks to place VA grave markers on the graves of Confederate soldiers in Mitchell and Yancey Counties. The group later went on to Madison County, but I was not able to go with them. Our first stop was the old Bakersville Cemetery. We placed a new marker on the grave of Albert N. Marker. Next, we marked for the first time (save for a rock) the grave of John F. Baker. Baker died during the war in a hospital in Bakersville, North Carolina.

The group then took off for the Bear Creek Cemetery, where we replaced the broken grave marker of William Duncan.

Next, we took off up Rebel’s Creek to place a centotaph for John Howell. That is the large group photograph. The fellows in suits are from the SCV Camp in Blountville, Tennessee, and one of them is related to Pvt. Howell.

Finally it was off to Yancey County and the Silver Cemetery, where we placed a marker for W. Alexander Silver. Silver died in Yancey County in 1862, and we believe that he is buried here in this cemetery near his parents.

That is when I had to leave the group and head for the Toe River Storytelling Festival. As usual, I have far more to do than I have days on the calendar!

I started a new blog yesterday. It is called Glimpses of Avery County and is a place to show off some of my local photography.

Last night, at 11:57pm, I finished posting the names all 2,003 men who served in the 58th North Carolina Troops on genforum. This project has taken weeks - I’ve posted the names of the soldiers, along with where they were from, when they were born, and in what company they served. I did this with the book on the 37th North Carolina Troops I did several years ago, and I had really good results.

I have already had really good results this time around. I’ve acquired several good family stories, several unpublished photograph, and an unpublished diary from Caldwell County. So, it has already been worth the time that it is has taken me to get it done.

I’ve got a couple more local research trips before I can get back to seriouss writing. I’ve been trying to find a way to divide up chapter three, which covers January to July 1862. I think I am going to pull out the information on Vance’s Legion and make it a separate chapter and move the current chapter three to chapter four.

Well, time to go to work. If you sent me an email in the past week, I’m going to start trying to answer them today.

Richmond is a hard road to travel

What a trip - I left home Wednesday morning at 11:00 am, and got back home Thursday afternoon at 12:45 pm. I drove to Ashland, Virginia, did a program for the Hanover Metal Detecting Club, spent the night, and came home. My six - year old son has caught a bug, and I needed to be at home by 1:00pm so Elizabeth could go to work. This is not the quickest trip to Richmond that I’ve ever taken. Once, when we were in grad school (before kids), we day tripped from Boone, NC, to Richmond. We were poor, and could not afford a room, so we left early one morning and drove to the area (I think it was on a January 2, maybe 1996 or 1997), and visited a few of the attractions - I remember the Poe Museum. We then ate, and drove home - that is 12 hours on the road, plus a full of day of battlefield and museum tromping.

I’ve been working on this site - what do you think? I’ve added another topic line to the right - what I’m reading right now. I’m reading War at Every Door for research purposes. The other book, Science of the Founding Fathers- is for fun. I thought about a column for books that I’ve purchased recently. I’ve picked up the new book on Lee by Pryor, Atlanta and the War by Garrison, and a history of Wise County, VA, and the War. I had never heard of the book by Garrison. It was published in 1995, and I got it for $5 in a used book store in Berea, Kentucky.

I didn’t mind not having much time in the Richmond area for this trip. I really don’t enjoy battlefield tromping with the temps 90+.

I really enjoyed seeing some of the treasures of the Hanover Metal Detecting Club. It is nice to know that some of these artifacts are being rescued from construction sites.

All this just to say...

A couple of days ago, I wrote a paragraph, a nice long one, on the bridge burnings in east Tennessee and their connection to the formation of the first company of the 58th North Carolina Troops. This was for my book on the 58th NCT. Sometimes writers spend a lot of time setting up a scene - like the bridge burnings, just to say something might have happened. I discovered this when putting together my book on Watauga County. I spent over a page writing about the causes of the Spanish-American War and the recruiting process for local men, just to sum up the section by saying that these recruits never got into the war.
The same might be said for my research into Vance’s Legion. Off and on for the past month I’ve been researching this group - an organization that never really existed.
I’ve often wondered why the 29th, 39th, 58th, and 60th North Carolina regiments were sent to east Tennessee, and later the Army of Tennessee or other western commands. The 29th NCT was sent in direct response to the bridge burnings. Not sure about the 39th NCT and 60th NCT yet. The 58th NCT was sent to attempt to secure the area and help stem the tide of men leaving east Tennessee for Federal regiments in Kentucky.
This afternoon, I’m off the Virginia to speak to the Hanover Metal Detecting Club at the library in Ashland.

New Book - Just Released

Folks - I am happy to announce the release of my eighth book - Remembering Avery County: Old Tales from North Carolina’s Youngest County, published by the History Press of Charleston, South Carolina.

Remembering Avery County picks up where my Avery County pictorial history, released in 2005, left off. When one puts together a pictorial history, one is confined to a small amount of words for each photograph. So many of those people in those photographs have amazing stories and that is what this book does - tells stories. There are twenty-five essays in this book (along with forty plus photos) that tell the story of Avery County’s past, like biographical information on the county’s namesakes - Waightstill Avery and William C. Newland, Jr. You can find information on Howard C. Marmon, designer of the car that won the first Indy 500 and who lived in Pineola; Lulu Bell and Scotty, who were national radio personalities and helped preserve mountain music; Keith and Malinda Blalock, who ran an underground railroad through the area in the 1860s. There are also essays on mining, railroading, Grandfather Mountain, and the Land of Oz.

The book has also gotten its first good review. Check out what Scott Nicholson wrote in the Mountain Times at http://www.mountaintimes.com/mtweekly/2007/0628/hardy.php3

I am taking orders - you can obtain a signed copy of Remembering North Carolina’s Confederates for just $22.00. Checks or money orders can be sent to PO Box 393, Crossnore, NC 28616. I will also be doing some local book signings in the very near future. I hope to see many of you at an upcoming event!

I got an email from a friend a couple of days ago. He is interested in a group of Georgians stationed along the coast of North Carolina in April 1862. One of the soldiers wrote a letter headed "Bivouac of the N. C. Battalion, near Elizabeth City, N. C., April 24th 1862." It is believed that the letter was written from the Richardson’s Farm or Richardson’s Mill area. Does anyone know to what NC Infantry Battalion the writer is referring? It is not the 2nd North Carolina Battalion - they had all been captured and sent home on parole. Another clue - The Georgia writer also writes "that after the evacuation of Norfolk and Portsmouth, this battalion marched to Petersburg with Huger’s Division"

Does anyone have any idea to whom the writer was referring? I told my friend that I’d throw this information out and we’ll see what comes back in. I’m looking forward to seeing what surfaces!

Delap Family Cemetery

I’ve spent the past few days on "vacation" in east Tennessee and Kentucky. I know many people would not consider the constant tramp through battlefields, museums, and cemeteries as much of a vacation - but it is the only way I know. Last Friday, I revisited the Delap Family Cemetery in Campbell County, Tennessee.

For those of you not familiar with this story, here are portions of an article that I wrote two years ago:

North Carolina Confederate Soldiers Honored at Last.

On a recent warm and humid Saturday morning, more than 250 people gathered on a hilltop in LaFollette, Tennessee. They were there to honor a group of long-lost Confederate soldiers. Many of those soldiers were from the mountains of western North Carolina.

In the summer of 1862, these soldiers marched away from Grasslands, the estate of Col. John B. Palmer. The soldiers who left for war that summer represented some of the oldest families in the area, and they joined for many reasons: personal and family honor, desire to "see the world," and fear of conscription.

The regiment was the 58th North Carolina Troops. Their destination was garrison duty in east Tennessee. The first winter for these soldiers, 1862 to 1863, was a difficult one. Over sixty men from the 58th North Carolina perished far from their mountain homes. They died not from battlefield wounds, but from a host of diseases, including measles, typhoid, and even dehydration from intestinal viruses. Since their encampment was described as being "near a spring," it is possible that they were exposed to contaminated water. Those who succumbed were buried in a local family cemetery and, for the most part, forgotten.

But there were a few local residents who remembered the cemetery. Eighty-four-year-old Alice Coker learned about the cemetery from its caretaker, Bob Delay, in the 1960s.

In 2003, Watauga County native Leta Cornett, whose grandfather had served in the 58th North Carolina and met his death in camp that winter of 1862-1863, stopped by the Campbell County Historical Society and Museum and inquired about the location of the burial ground. She was directed to Coker.

Ms. Coker quickly identified the cemetery, grown up with trees and thorny bushes after years of neglect, as the long-lost burial ground of the 58th North Carolina. Historical societies and government agencies from across Tennessee and North Carolina quickly became involved, and the cemetery was cleaned and restored. Tombstones were ordered from the Veterans Administration....

I wrote several articles about the cemetery, many of which were published in local newspapers and in the Carolina Confederate. Sadly, the story of these Confederate soldiers is not well known out of Campbell County, Tennessee, and western North Carolina.

This was my first trip back to the cemetery since the memorial service in June 2005. I wanted to take a few pictures without all of the people milling around. The photograph above was one of those that I brought home, along with all the food, baby clothes, and zucchini that my wife’s relatives loaded into our car!

I’m having a rather restful July Fourth before heading down to our little community celebration this afternoon. It’s a great little event with plenty of fun photo opportunities and chances to visit with the public. I always look forward to it.

More on the bridge burners

A few days ago I advanced a theory on the bridge burnings in east Tennessee as being an impetus behind the formation of the Mitchell Rangers. I spent some time at the library reading through North Carolina newspapers trying to find a public reaction to the event. I found almost none, mostly just reprints from out of state newspapers.

The burning of the railroad bridges in east Tennessee was the idea of Rev. William B. Carter, a Tennessee native. Carter took the idea to the commanding generals in Kentucky, including Sherman and Thomas, and then on to Washington, where he received the blessings of McClellan, Cameron, and Lincoln. Carter then returned to Kentucky, and then east Tennessee.

The idea was to organize small bands of east Tennessee loyalists into groups that would burn nine railroad bridges between Bristol, on the Virginia-Tennessee line, to Bridgeport, Alabama. Then, a Federal force would march to Knoxville and capture the city and gain control of the railroad, a vital link between Virginia and the deep South.

November 8, 1861, was the date set for the attacks. Just hours before the attack, Gen. William T. Sherman, whose support for the operation had been tenuous, pulled his support and ordered General Thomas not to advance. Of course, word could not be sent to Carter and his bridge burners. They proceeded to destroy five of their nine targets.

Unaware that the Federal soldiers had abandoned them, large numbers of loyalists turned out in different counties. At Elizabethton, not too terribly far from Mitchell County, an estimated 1,000 loyalists gathered, organized themselves into companies, elected officers, and stockpiled supplies. Confederate re-enforcements quickly arrived and the loyalist bands dispersed. Several of the actual bridge burners were arrested, tried, and hanged.

On November 18, 1861, North Carolina Governor Henry T. Clark sent a note to Secretary of War J. P. Benjamin, stating that he had two regiments on hand that were asking to be sent to the area to protect their own families. One of those regiments was the 29th North Carolina Troops, under the command of Col. Robert B. Vance.

As far as North Carolina reaction, there was an article in the newspaper from Asheville, stating that Confederate forces in east Tennessee had driven 500 (or 1,000) loyalists out of Tennessee and into Madison County, North Carolina. The folks in Asheville were obviously concerned, even though the loyalist figures were greatly exaggerated.

So, while I have no hard proof that the Mitchell Rangers were organized as a direct response to the bridge burning episode, I do think that there is a substantial circumstantial case.

Your thoughts?

A full day

I really enjoy being a writer. Yesterday, I left out about 9:30 am, onmy way to the Caldwell Historical Museum in Lenoir. I had to sign booksfor a group of teachers (the Broyhill Scholars) who were touring themuseum. I then had a wonderful lunch with them before darting off toWilkesboro. In Wilkesboro, I spent three hours going through the papersof the Lenoir family. I was particularly interested in the letters anddiary of Walter W. Lenior. Walter was an unofficial member of the 25thNorth Carolina and then helped recruit a company for Vance's Legion. After the Legion failed, that company joined the 58th North CarolinaTroops. However, right before the regiment's organization, Walter waselected lieutenant, then captain, of Company A, 37th North CarolinaTroops. Six weeks later, Walter lost a leg at Ox Hill. The diary that heleft behind is a important piece of North Carolina history.

After three hours in Wilkesboro, I went to Boone and ASU to do alittle research. I wanted to know just what North Carolina's opinion was regarding the east Tennessee bridge burnings. The conclusion I reached after two hours of reading microfilm was not what I had hoped: not much reaction by the press (save Asheville) whatsoever.

I got home last night a little after 8:30. The only downside to anotherwise great day doing what I love: with drive time, I logged in 11 hours yesterday. But some days are like that, and it's great to do whatI love, even for longs days!

bridge burning in E. Tenn. and the Mitchell Rangers

Ok - question of the day. Did the bridge burnings in east Tennessee have a direct influence on the formation of the Mitchell Rangers? The bridge burnings, one as close as Carter County, Tennessee, disrupted an important link between the deep South and Virginia. These burnings were led by local (east Tennessee) men in mid-November 1861. Six weeks later, the Mitchell Rangers were formed, with the mission of providing protection to the Toe River Valley area. The Mitchell Rangers would become Company A, 58th North Carolina Troops. The 58th NC, after its formation, was sent to east Tennessee (August 1862-September 1863) to help garrison the highly pro-Union area.

Maybe a little look into North Carolina’s reaction to the bridge burnings in east Tennessee is in order...

Civil War enthusiast identifies three soldiers buried in Raleigh

Good morning folks! - I found the below story on my morning internet hunt. It was found on a TV station’s web site in Minnesota.

Civil War enthusiast identifies three soldiers buried in Raleigh

A Civil War enthusiast has identified the remains of three soldiers buried in Raleigh - including one Minnesota Yankee resting among Confederates.

Charles Purser spent thousands of hours scrutinizing hospital logs, regimental rosters and cemetery records to put names to the headstones at the Oakwood cemetery in RALEIGH, North Carolina. He recently identified Drury Scruggs, who marched to the Civil War from his home in North Carolina's mountains and later died at Gettysburg. There's also William P. Wallace, a farm boy from Montgomery County. Both had been resting under anonymous headstones.

Purser also spent time working with New York-based historian Glen Hayes. Comparing notes, the researchers decided that John O. Dobson from North Carolina didn't exist. They agreed that John O. Dolson - a Yankee from Minnesota - had been shipped to Raleigh in his place.

Purser, 67, plans to hold a ceremony in September to honor the three soldiers with new headstones."It's three American soldiers getting their identity," Purser said. "That's what tickles me."

Purser, an Air Force veteran and retired postal carrier living in Garner, first helped rescue the Confederate cemetery from neglect in the early 1980s.

He now has names for all but five of those buried at Oakwood, save 14 unknowns in a mass grave.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Asheville

Last week was another busy week. I had book signings in High Point (Tuesday) and Albermarle (Thursday). Wednesday was a research day.

This past Saturday, I had the distinct privilege of leading a group of people on a tour of Civil War-related sites in Asheville/Buncombe County. We started out at the Vance Birthplace near Weaverville. It is a beautiful place with several restored cabins. If you are in the area and get a chance, please visit. After a picnic at the Birthplace, we headed to the campus of UNC - Asheville. We visited the breastworks used on April 6, 1865, to ward off an attack by the 101st Ohio Infantry.
This was followed b

y a trip to Riverside Cemetery to visit the graves of Gov. Zebulon B. Vance, Brig. Gen. Robert B. Vance, Brig. Gen. Joseph G. Martin, Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Clingman, and Col. Stephen Lee 916th NCT), along with many others.

Finally, a few of us visited Newton Academy Cemetery. There are 29 unknown Confederates buried here, along with five Federals who died during the reconstruction days. There is a monument to the Confederate soldiers dedicated by the UDC in 1903.

It is interesting to note that Asheville has a remarkable Confederate history - Governor Vance was from Asheville, the town was headquarters for the Department of Western North Carolina, the town was a training ground for new soldiers, had a armory that manufactured rifles, had a hospital, has a cemetery with three generals and many others officers, and had a battle, but does nothing to capitalize on this history. How sad...

This week is almost as busy. I’ll be speaking tomorrow night in Lancaster, South Carolina, and Thursday night in Mt. Pleasant, North Carolina. I’m going to try and sneak in some more research time also.

The picture above in the 1903 Confederate monument in Newton Academy Cemetery in Asheville.

Civil War Trail Markers

The Civil War Trails signs meeting last Thursday went well. The money for two markers has been appropriated, and we put together a small committee to finalize which two markers we would like to erect.

I’ve been a fan of the Civil War Trail Markers program for some time, even though at times when traveling, those signs in Virginia with arrows get me terribly confused. I end up following those signs and get totally confused as to where I am. Thankfully, those confused days are usually free days, and I really don’t mind.

There are already markers in Wilkes, Caldwell, and Yancey Counties here in the western part of the state, and I look forward to Avery County joining the group.

Has anyone thought of making Stoneman’s Raid a tour?

Civl War Trail markers in Avery County

Thanks to the Civil War Interactive web page for the mention of this blog.

I’m off to two meetings this afternoon. The first is our regular monthly meeting of the Avery County Historical Society and Museum. I’ve been on the board of directors for about three years now. This afternoon, I’ll be discussing the Civil War Trails marker program in Avery County. There are four sites that I’ve recommended:

First, the site of Colonel John B. Palmer’s (58th NCT) house. The home was burnt by Kirk’s raiders in June 1864. This is also the site of Camp Martin, where portions of the 58th North Carolina Troops were mustered into service, possibly even trained.

Second, a marker on Keith and Malinda Blalock. While their graves are accessible, there is no good place to park. I am thinking about Grandfather Mountain for this marker. The Blalocks hid out on Grandfather, and their underground railroad ran across the northern portion of the mountain.

Third, a marker in Cranberry dealing with the Cranberry Iron Ore deposits. This site employed a couple dozen men during the war. The iron was transported via wagon to Morganton. Some was taken to Asheville to be used by the Asheville Armory.

Fourth, a marker in Banner Elk, where the escaped Salisbury POWs and other dissidents arrived, often under the care of the Blalocks. Usually, one of the other scouts met them (like Dan Ellis), and they continued on their journey to Kentucky and Tennessee.

That second meeting begins a hour after the first and involves the Avery Heritage Council. The markers are one of the items on the agenda.

The article about Vance’s Legion is shaping up. I’ll post more information soon.

Missed Materials

Eric Wittenburg wrote on June 3:

The primary source material from the Civil War that continues to surface never ceases to amaze me. It also makes me wonder what else like it remains out there, unknown and languishing…. He goes on to detail the mostly unpublished materials of Pennock Huey, a federal cavalry officer.

That has led me to this line of thinking for aspiring authors.

When Bob Krick reviewed my first book, on the 37th North Carolina Troops, he wrote
Michael C. Hardy's The Thirty-seventh North Carolina Troops: Tar Heels in the Army of Northern Virginia (McFarland & Company, Jefferson, N.C., 2003, $45) mines such hidden riches in gratifying detail. The author unearthed dozens of accounts, from a wide range of locations, by the soldiers in a regiment that fought steadily at center stage throughout America's Civil War. He also constructed a first-rate roster of the 37th by scouting cemeteries, digging out obituaries and tracking down descendants.

Finding those primary sources is an uphill battle. As most of you know, I’ve been working on a regimental history of the 58th North Carolina. They were one of just four North Carolina Infantry regiments that fought with the Army of Tennessee. While I have been collecting information for the past ten years, the real hunt has been on for the past couple of months. This hunt has led me to read/browse dozens of family histories and county heritage books for the little details that I want to make the project as complete as possible.

Also, I’ve started to post the names of the hundreds of men who served in the 58th North Carolina on online family discussion groups. This gives me access to an untold amount of materials, like photographs, documents, and stories, that are not in books or public repositories.

I once got an email from someone writing a book on a particular North Carolina regiment - a project that I myself had hoped to eventually undertake. This author has written several books on the war, most of which have not garnered positive reviews. I prepared a list of sources and dissertations and people to contact in response to this author’s request for information. This author basically responded, "I do not have time to go through all of this material." Instead, this author is willing to write a book with only a few easily accessible sources. Why bother writing something about the war if you are not willing to go through every possible source or at least make the effort to find material? This is not to say that my research methods are perfect, but I do make the effort to run down as much information as I can to give readers and scholars the most complete text possible.

The sad thing is that no publisher will be willing to tackle a new history of this regiment for quite some time, and readers and scholars will be stuck with a less-than-thorough resource.

My advice - go through everything: archives, newspapers, family histories, county histories, everything. And even when you think that you have been through it all, there will be items that have been missed.

As historians, we have a responsibility to leave behind us the best tools possible for others.

Saving the South

What a great weekend. The Avery County Heritage Festival was good. I had a chance to talk to quite a few people about the old 58th NCT.

On Sunday, we went to the reenactment in Jonesville, Virginia. The local SCV Camp - the Wise County Rangers (I think), had a booth set up and I went to ask about one of my Wise County relatives. (Louis Roberts, Co. B, 7th Battalion, Confederate Cavalry). The gentleman manning the both was Allen Thomas, a descendant of men who had fought in both the 37th NCT and the 58th NCT. It was nice to have a few minutes to talk to Mr. Thomas about well known places.
I’ve not had a chance to work on article about Vance’s Legion since I last posted.

Today, I am working on proposals for Civil War Trail Marker signs in Avery County.

This evening, I’m speaking with the SCV Camp in Yadkinville.

Another busy weekend

Well folks, another busy weekend is upon us. I’ll be at the Avery County Heritage Festival tomorrow. The festival is being held in Crossnore this year, about a mile and a half from where I live. Then on Sunday, I’m off to the reenactment in Jonesville, Virginia.

For the past couple of days, I’ve been researching Vance’s Legion. It’s not easy researching a organization that never really existed. Parts of the Legion became companies E and H of the 58th North Carolina Troops. Another group became Company A, 4th North Carolina Cavalry.

Has anyone ever come across any other company that was a part of Vance’s Legion?

Confederte Monument in Wadesboro

I got home from out rambling in the Sunshine State late Saturday night. There has been plenty of catch-up work on Sunday and Monday. Last night found me in meeting with the SCV Camp in Wadesboro, North Carolina - a fine group of folks.

I took these two photographs of the Confederate monuments in Wadesboro. The first is the monument to Women of the Confederacy, dedicated on September 22, 1934. It is on the courthouse grounds.

To its right, is the second, older monument, dedicated on January 19, 1906. The bronze soldier on the top is made in the likeness of John Richardson of Ansonville.

I was informed last night of a third monument, this one inside the courthouse. We’ll see if we can’t get more information on this marker.

I had a very good question last night that I could not answer - what percentage of the Confederate markers in North Carolina have soldiers crowning them? A little research should provide an answer.

I had another good question a couple of weeks ago, a question that I’ve not yet been able to answer - when was the first Iron Cross placed on a Confederate grave? (North Carolina or otherwise). I know that Iron Crosses were prevalent prior to the US Government-issued tombstones. If you have an answer for me, drop me a line at mchardy@michaelchardy.com

Rambling in the Sunshine State

I’ve been on vacation for the past week – we started out by spending a weekend in Savannah, then came on down to Florida to visit with my folks. I am once again reminded of all of the people who made Florida what is, after they were soldiers in the War. Many of them were North Carolinians.

Here in Greater Orlando, we have Capt. Bluford M. Sims. He was in Thomas’s Legion and came to the area west of town, and basically created the town of Ocoee and is buried there.

Col. John B. Palmer of the 58th NCT came to what is now Winter Park and bought a number of acres of old orange groves on Lake Maitland. Palmer Ave, the main thoroughfare through old Winter Park, is named for him, and the canal where the boat tours are run was once called Palmer Creek.

The founder of the newspaper in Apopka (whose name escapes me right now – hey, I’m on vacation) was a former soldier from Haywood County.

And, there are many others. Zellwood was named in honor of Lt. Col. Thomas Ellwood Zell of the 121st Pennsylvania Infantry (Not sure where the Lt. Col. rank came from as he is only listed as a captain in NPS).

St. Cloud, south of Orlando, was founded as a home for Union Veterans.

Yesterday, while out rambling, I came upon the grave of “Col. John L. Moore 3rd Ga. Regt.” in the Umatilla Cemetery I wonder what his story is?

To go a little further afield, if I remember correctly, both Maj. Ellis of the 20th Maine and Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon died in Miami.

There are hundreds of these little stories all across the state.

So many stories, so little time….

I should be back home in a day or so.

Captain Pearson

I had a great time speaking to the groups in Bessemer City and Greensboro. However, all of this zipping around the state has me tired.

I’ve spent the morning researching the Captain Pearson I alluded to a couple of days ago. I believe that this is Isaac A. Pearson, born ca. 1815 on Silver Creek, Burke County. He appears in the 1850 and 1860 Yancey County census. In the latter, he is a 43 year old merchant residing in Bakersville. John W. McElroy mentions him in a letter to Vance on February 5, 1861. McElroy writes: "I do not know who will Run as a candidate in this County but I suppose Pearson, Broyles or old Sam Byrd, as I understand that they all want to be elected to that Body. I Suppose a disunion man will be elected." I would take this to mean that Pearson was a Union man.

It appears that Pearson moved to Catawba County after the war, and is listed in the 1870 census as a revenue officer, and in 1880 as a farmer. He was remarried to a widow from Virginia. He is not in the 1900 census, so we can assume that he passed on between 1880 and 1900.

Can I say that the Pearson living in Bakersville is the Pearson who was trying to recruit a local company in January 1861? No, not yet. If it is not, then I’ll have a lot of research on Isaac A. Pearson from Bakersville. Maybe this afternoon I should ride over to the Mitchell County historical society and see if I can find anything else.

All of this work for something that will probably just appear as a footnote in the 58th NCT book.

NC Ordinance of Secession back in Capitol

Sure wish I could go and see this, but alas, I already have plans. If anyone makes it, please drop me a line.


North Carolina Secession Observance Date: Friday, 18 May 2007, through Sunday, 20 May 2007 T

he original North Carolina Ordinance of Secession will be on display for three days only in the House Chamber of the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh NC. A special legislative session convened on 1 May 1861 and called for the election of delegates to a convention. The convention met at the Capitol on 20 May 1861, and voted to secede from the Union, launching North Carolina into the War for Southern Independence. The Capitol building will be open to visitors on Friday from 8AM to 5PM, on Saturday from 10AM to 4PM, and on Sunday from 1PM to 3PM. The Capitol is located at 1 E. Edenton Street in Raleigh. For further details or directions, please call (919) 733-4994 or send e-mail tostate.capitol@ncmail.net

To Gaston and beyond

Off yet again. This evening, I’ll be speaking to the SCV Camp in Bessemer City, and tomorrow, to the SCV Camp in Greensboro. Hoping to get by the Hollybrook Cemetery in Lincolnton, NC, this afternoon to photograph the grave of Capt. Frederick A. Tobey, Co. A, 58th NCT.

On a side note, anyone know anything about a Captain Pearson who was recruiting a company for local defense in Mitchell County in January 1861? If so, please drop me a line at mchardy@michaelchardy.com

Confederate Memorial Day

Greetings folks! - Here is a copy of the talk I will be giving this evening at the Old Bakersville Cemetery in Mitchell County, North Carolina. The known Confederates buried there are:

Private James W. Bailey,
Co. C 58th North Carolina

Private Theodore P. Baker,
Co. I 29th North Carolina

Private Albert N Blaylock,
Co. G 58th North Carolina

Captain Jacob Bowman,
Co. B 58th North Carolina

Private William G. Bowman,
Co I 29th North Carolina

Lieutenant John H. Flemming,
Co. A 49th North Carolina

Captain John Wilson Gudger,
Co. C 29th North Carolina

Sergeant Berry Stewart
Co. B 58th North Carolina

Today is Confederate Decoration Day, or Confederate Memorial Day in North Carolina. This special day was first observed in North Carolina in Raleigh 140 years ago today. A group of ladies, many of them widows of Confederate soldiers, met at the capital, walked over to Oakwood Cemetery, and decorated the graves of the Confederate dead that had been recently moved from the old burial ground at the Rock Quarry Cemetery.

For the past week, all across the state, people have gathered to commemorate the Old North State’s Confederate soldiers. From a large observance last Saturday in the state capital to wreath laying ceremonies like the one in Salisbury, from the countless flags placed on graves in large and small cemeteries to the flying of the Confederate and state colors on the grounds of the courthouse in Yancey County, we have met to honor the state’s Confederate soldiers.

The greatest fear of the old soldiers, especially as they grew aged and gray, as other conflicts and current events bypassed their moment on the pages of history, was that they and their deeds might be forgotten. Sadly, that terrible fear has become reality for most of these men as they have slipped beneath the surface of our nation’s memory.

We should all be sad, we should all shed a tear, that so many of the South’s valiant sons lie in forgotten graves, with only the green sod as their marble monument.

We should all be sad that the deeds of the old soldiers are no longer passed down from father to son, that the heartache that once was born in a woman’s bosom for a lost husband or son or father, has been forgotten.

Ms. Anna Smith, grand daughter of Pvt. Abner Smith of the 37th North Carolina, once spoke these words during a reunion of old soldiers not too far from where we are.

The world will always wonder at and admire the valiant deeds of the men who followed Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and those other matchless leaders of the Southern cause. No army ever fought as they did; they battled against overwhelming odds and their many victories were only achieved by death-defying courage and devotion to duty equal to that of the soldiers of ancient Rome.

Well Ms. Smith, I am sorry to say, almost one hundred years after you spoke, the world no longer wonders and admires the valiant deeds of the men who followed Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and those other matchless leaders of the Southern cause.

We few are here this beautiful spring evening to remember a handful of old soldiers. None of these perished in strife, none paid the ultimate sacrifice, but they served; they answered the call when the Tar Heel state bade them come.

We, the descendants of the old soldiers buried here, or in other cemeteries across the South, have a responsibility. That responsibility was laid before us by Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee in 1906, when he committed to us, the descendants of Confederate soldiers,

the vindication of the cause for which we fought. To your strength will be given the defense of the Confederate soldier's good name, the guardianship of his history, the emulation of his virtues, the perpetuation of those principles which he loved and which you love also, and those ideals which made him glorious and which you also cherish.

Tonight, as we close our service of remembrance, let me, a descendant of Confederate soldiers, challenge you, to go back to your homes, learn about the deeds of your Confederate ancestors, and then pass those stories down to sons and daughters, you grand children, and the members of your community. These men, former Confederate soldiers, earned the right to be remembered.

Virginia

I had a great time at my numerous events this past weekend. On Sunday afternoon, we were out putting up flags on the graves of Confederate soldiers who lie in cemeteries in Avery County. In the cemetery in Cranberry, we came across the grave of John J. Bateman, a member of the 51st Virginia. Why did he (and his wife), come to Cranberry? Did they work in some capacity for the mining company? Why put him on the blog? Maybe someone out there on the world wide web is looking for Bateman, and can fill in the details of his life or use this information on his final resting place.

I’m off this evening to speak at the Stonewall Brigade Camp 1296 Sons of Confederate Veterans in Lexington, Virginia. I am really looking forward to spending a couple of days in the Valley.

Two Programs this Weekend

Folks - I have two really exciting events coming up this weekend, and everyone is invited. On Saturday afternoon (1-4pm), we are having a Watauga County History Day at the Public library in Boone. Lots of good speakers, including yours truly, who will be speaking about the rise of the Confederate veteran movement in the area.

On Sunday evening, at the Aaron Baptist Church in historic downtown Montezuma (that’s in Avery County), I’ll be doing a program on gravestone art (or cemetery iconography). Program starts at 7:00 pm

Both of these events are free and open to the public.

Hope to see you there.

A Tar Heel Warning for Stonewall

Working with the public, I often come across family stories that simply are not true - I could not count the times that the "my ancestor held General Lee’s horse at Appomattox" story has come up. And after a little research, we find out that this ancestor finished out the war at Elmira, or Point Lookout, or was in the Army of Tennessee, and was not in a position to have Traveller or anyone else’s horse at Appomattox. But sometimes, I get a story that does have interesting possibilities.

When working on the book about the Thirty-seventh North Carolina, I got an email from a descendant, stating that his ancestor, Thomas Lowery, had told Jackson on the night of May 2, "I wouldn’t go in there now. It’s too dark, and your men may take you for the enemy and shoot you." My first response was, Yeah right! How many men from Lane’s brigade would not have claimed they had uttered those words after the events that would soon transpire?

Wanting to use the story in the book, I did some research. James Thomas Lowery was born on May 10, 1843, in Union County, North Carolina. He was a farmer and enlisted in the North Carolina Defenders on September 16, 1861. He was mustered in as a private. The North Carolina Defenders became Company H, Thirty-seventh North Carolina Troops, on November 20, 1861. Lowery was captured at the battle of Hanover Court House, Virginia, on May 27, 1862. He was exchanged on August 5, 1862, and returned to duty by November 1, 1862.

On the night of May 2, 1863, Lowery’s Company D was in the position of the second company, or the company on the far left side of the regiment. (The first company is on the far right, and the third company is in the center. Confusing, huh?). They were in position on the Orange Plank Road. The rest of the regiment was to their right. Lowery was acting second sergeant that day. So, he was the last man in line, standing on the Orange Plank Road, or very near it. The rest of the regiment was to his right. So, as Stonewall Jackson rode down the Plank Road on his reconnaissance, then there was no better person to say to Jackson "I wouldn’t go in there now. It’s too dark, and your men may take you for the enemy and shoot you." So, while we can’t verify that the family story is absolutely true, it is a real possibility.

Lowery was wounded the next day and did not return to duty until September of that year; in November, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. He was with his regiment for the rest of the war, surrendering at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. He died on February 18, 1901, and was buried in the Mt. Olive Church Cemetery, Anson County, North Carolina.

Something that I notice while typing this - Lowery celebrated his twentieth birthday on the day that Jackson died - May 10, an eerie coincidence.

Off yet again

Well, I’m off again. Tonight, I’m speaking to the Gen. James B. Gordon SCV Camp in Wilkesboro. Tomorrow night, I’ll be with the Piedmont Civil War Round Table in Charlotte.

The Hart Brothers of Ashe County

A while back, I wrote about the Robinett brothers of Alexander County (37th NCT), and the members of the Key family, two brothers and a cousin (18th NCT), all killed at the battle of Hanover Court House on May 27, 1862. I recently came across this tragedy in my current research.

On July 20, 1862, Riley, Joseph, and Andrew Hart enlisted in Company L, 58th North Carolina Troops. They were all from Ashe County. Riley G. Hart was born on November 13, 1831, and when he enlisted, he was the father of five children. Joseph Hart was next, born August 3, 1840 or 1842. Andrew Hart was the youngest, born March 4, 1843 or 1847. They were all the sons of John Hart and Nancy Floyd Hart.

Given the date that they enlisted, July 20, 1862, the Hart brothers were probably all conscripts. Almost all of Companies L and M of the 58th NCT were conscripts, which would explain their massive amounts of desertions. All were mustered in at the rank of private.

On May 26, 1863, all three brothers deserted from camp near Clinton, Tennessee. They headed northeast, but did not make it far before being "captured by the enemy" in Hawkins County. The brothers were sent to Lexington, Kentucky first, then transferred to Camp Chase, Ohio, where they arrived on June 29. From there, they were transferred to Fort Delaware, where they arrived on July 14, 1863.

Both Joseph and Riley died on August 26, 1863, while imprisoned at Fort Delaware. Riley died of "rubeola." Joseph’s cause of death was not reported. Andrew fared little better. He lived (just how much living you did while in a prison camp is debatable) until September 2, 1863, when he died of "typhoid fever." The brothers are buried in the Finn’s Point National Cemetery in Salem, New Jersey

Home at last

My spat of idiotic racing over two states has come to an end. Here’s a breakdown of my recent travels.

On Wednesday afternoon, I drove to Virginia. Portsmouth is about seven hours from my house. I spoke at the Civil War Preservation Trust’s annual conference at Portsmouth on Thursday morning and had a great crowd. I left that afternoon and drove to Hanover, Virginia. Thursday evening, I spoke to the Hanover Dragoons Camp of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans. The Hanover Dragoons meet at the Historic Slash Church, which served as General Branch’s headquarters during the battle of Hanover Court House.

I slept in on Friday, and then spent a couple of hours in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond before heading to a bookstore in Chapel Hill, and then back home.

Saturday morning found me in Wilkes County, speaking at gravestone dedications for two Confederate soldiers: William Garner of Company F, 37th North Carolina and Hillary Thomas Garner, of Company G, 54th North Carolina. Speaking about William was not easy. He enlisted in September 1861 at the age of 55. He was discharged on December 1, 1861. No reason was given for his discharge, but it most likely had something to do with his age.

Then, it was off to Burnsville, in Yancey County. There, my own SCV camp was conducting a two-day "find your Confederate ancestor" program. I had a chance to talk to many great folks and to get some good information for my upcoming book on the 58th North Carolina Troops. I was back in Yancey on Sunday afternoon for more of the same. After we packed up on Sunday, I and Michael Ledford drove over to a couple of cemeteries. I am working on an article for Confederate Memorial Day and wanted a couple of photographs of Iron Crosses on Confederate gravestones. We discovered that the Iron Cross on the grave of Sgt. Wilson Henry, CO. C, 16th NCT has been STOLEN. This Cross was located in the Gibbs-Proffitt Cemetery. Old timers recall seeing many Iron Crosses on the graves of local Confederates. With the loss of the Cross from Sergeant Hensley’s grave, that leaves only one so-marked grave in all of Yancey County. Removing Iron Crosses from graves is a CRIME!

I then headed back home, and spent last evening watching the program on Sherman on the Hitler (History) Chanel.

Today - back to work on the book on the 58th NCT.

By the way, the above photograph is my family (me, Elizabeth holding Isabella, and Nathaniel) on the front porch of the historic Nu-Ray Inn in Burnsville.

Three Federal North Carolina Regiments

This past Saturday, I got the opportunity to speak to the state convention of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars in Asheville. They were a great group of folks, and I enjoyed being there. After that, I wandered over to Books-a-Million. Someone had given me a gift certificate for Christmas and, since there is no Books-a-Million in Crossnore, and it could not be used online, I had not used it as of yet.

When I was leaving, I ran into Scott Nicholson, an Appalachian-horror writer who lives in Boone and has been kind enough to review some of my books for the Watauga Democrat. We got to talking about home yankees - those who were from North Carolina and joined Federal regiments. The three in discussion were the 2nd and 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry and the 13th Tennessee Cavalry. It is amazing how few people know anything about these regiments.

The 2nd North Carolina Mounted Infantry was organized in Knoxville, Tennessee in October 1863. The regiment was commanded by Lt. Col. J. Albert Smith, an Indiana native. A large number of men in the regiment came from Buncombe and Henderson counties. One of the company officers in the regiment was George W. Kirk, a Tennessee native. He set about to recruit his own regiment, and the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry, with Kirk as colonel, was organized at Knoxville, Tennessee in June 1864.

The 3rd NCMI was likewise made up of North Carolina men, mostly from Yancey, Wilkes, Watauga, and Mitchell Counties. Many of these men were former Confederates. Fifty-four of the men of the 58th North Carolina Troops joined these two regiments after they deserted.

Both regiments pulled almost the same service. The 2nd North Carolina was

Ordered to Greenville, Tenn., October 16, 1863, and on duty there until November 6. Moved to Bull's Gap November 6, and was on duty there until December. March across Clinch Mountains to Clinch River. Action at Walker's Ford December 2. Gibson's and Wyerman's, Miss., February 22, 1864. Duty at Cumberland Gap and patrol duty in East Tennessee until April, 1865. Scout from Cumberland Gap January 23-27, 1865. Expedition from East Tennessee into Western North Carolina March 21-April 25, 1865. Moved to Boone, N. C., April 6, and to Asheville, N. C., April 27-30. Duty in North Carolina and East Tennessee until August. Mustered out August 16, 1865.

The 3rd North Carolina did

Scout and patrol duty about Knoxville, Tenn., and in East Tennessee until December, 1864. Scout from Morristown, Tenn., into North Carolina June 13-July 15, 1864. Camp Vance June 28. Russellville, Tenn., October 28. Big Pigeon River November 5-6. Moved to Paint Rock December 7. Expedition into Western North Carolina March 21-April 25, 1865. Moved to Boone, N. C., April 6, and to Asheville, N. C., April 27-30. Duty in North Carolina and East Tennessee until August, 1865. Mustered out August 8, 1865.

Likewise, the 13th Tennessee was of the same ilk. According to Jeffrey Weaver’s web site:
The 13th Tennessee Cavalry was formed based on authority granted by Major General Ambrose E. Burnside, and was mustered into Federal service at Strawberry Plains, Knox County, Tennessee between October 28 and November 8, 1863. The regiment mustered out of Federal service at Knoxville on September 5, 1865. The regiment was commanded by Colonel John K. Miller during its existence

The 13th Tennessee Cavalry saw limited action during the first year of its existence. In the late summer of 1864, however, the regiment was pressed into active field service. The regiment skirmished the Brigadier General John C. Vaughn's East Tennessee (Confederate) Brigade on several occasions, and participated in the abortive column sent to support General Stephen Burbridge's October 2, 1864 raid on Saltville, when the Confederates soundly defeated the Federals at Bull's Gap. Subsequent fighting in November also resulted in defeat for the Federals.In December, 1864, however, General George Stoneman replaced Burbridge in operational control of forces in the area. Stoneman was a more agreeable commander for most of the Federals, increasing their morale, supply situation, and overall esprit de corps. The Confederates, on the other hand, had moved many of the men defending the saltworks at Saltville to the Shenandoah Valley and Richmond in the interim. In mid December 1864, General Stoneman led a raid, including the 13th Tennessee Cavalry on the important mines and railroad in southwest Virginia, and succeeded in wrecking the Saltville saltworks, and destroying iron forges in Smyth County, and shops in Wytheville, and eventually the lead mines in Wythe County, Virginia.The remainder of the winter of 1864-65 was spent in quarters, and occasionally chasing the remnants of John Vaughn's Confederate Brigade. The next active campaign, the last of the war, was again with Stoneman, through Watauga County, North Carolina, into Wilkes County, into Surry, and back into Southwest Virginia. The war was basically over, and little of military importance was accomplished on Stoneman's last raid

There is no modern treatment of the 13th Tennessee Cavalry. A history of the regiment was published in 1903 and has been reprinted by Overmountain Press.
In 2000, we got two books on the 3rd North Carolina. The first, by Ron V. Killan, I do not have and cannot comment on. The other, Kirk’s Raiders, by Matt Bumgarner, makes mention of the 2nd North Carolina and contains a roster of both regiments. But this book has no notes and no index.

I’m sure that I as work through the 58th NC that there will be more posts about these three regiments.

I've been everywhere, man...

Folks - I will be on the road quite a bit over the next two weeks. Tonight, I’ll be in Burnsville. Tomorrow night, Salisbury at the Rowan County Library. Thursday night, in Forest City, Friday, at the Avery County Museum in Newland (from 1 until 4pm) and Saturday, in Asheville, speaking at the state MOS&B convention.
Next week is just as active. On Thursday morning, I’ll be speaking at the CWTP’s national conference in Portsmouth, Virginia, and that evening, at the Hanover Dragoons’ SCV Camp. They meet in the historic Slash Church. On Saturday morning, I’ll be at a 37th North Carolina marker dedication in Wilkesboro, NC, and that afternoon (and Sunday afternoon), I’ll be back in Burnsville.
Hope to see you around.

Col. John B. Palmer

Several of my blogging comrades (Eric Wittenburg and J. David Petruzzi) occasionally put bios of cavalry officers on their blogs. I thought I might join in, occasionally posting bios of North Carolinians. The first concerns Col. John B. Palmer. If you were to look at traditional sources, like Civil War High Commanders by the Eichers, you would not find much on Colonel Palmer. What you will read below has taken me a decade to put together, usually just one little fact at a time.



I hope you enjoy.

Col. John B. Palmer
© 2007, Michael C. Hardy



John B. Palmer was born in Plattsburg, Clinton County, New York, on October 13, 1826. His father, John Palmer, was a lawyer and two-term legislator from Clinton County in the United States Congress. His mother was Charlotte Theresa Sailly, whose parents came from France. Both John B. Palmer’s grandfather and great-grandfather were members of the 14th New York Militia during the American Revolution. His father died in 1840, and John B. went to Detroit, Michigan, where one of his brothers and one of his sisters lived.



In Detroit, Palmer quickly established himself, going into the mercantile business with his brother-in-law, James A. Hicks. Palmer also had an interest in the shipping business, and in 1849, was one of the trustees of the new Detroit Savings Bank. On October 12, 1852, Palmer married Miss Frances Marvin Kirby, the daughter of Colonel Edmund Kirby and Eliza Brown, of New York. Miss Kirby was the first cousin of Edmond Kirby Smith, became a lieutenant general in the Confederate army. Her brother, a Federal artillery captain named Edmond Kirby, was killed at Chancellorsville. Palmer continued to rise through the ranks of society. In 1856 he was one of the directors of the new Detroit Board of Trade, and a year later was elected president of the Detroit Young Men’s Literary Society. About this time, and possibly for health reasons, or because of a relationship with the famous Childs family, he began looking at western North Carolina as a new home.



Palmer settled on a tract of land in what was then Watauga County, and made arrangements to have a house constructed. A historian once wrote that Palmer "had built the finest house in all the area that became Avery County." Palmer called his estate "Grasslands." According to the 1860 census, John B. Palmer’s personal and real estate value was $105,000, making him one of the wealthiest men in western North Carolina, but he simply listed his occupation as "farmer." Palmer quickly became an important member of the region’s society. In June 1861, he wrote to North Carolina Governor Ellis requesting the General Assembly to call a special election to fill the seat of George N. Folk, who had resigned to raise a company for the new Confederacy. A few months later, Palmer was appointed as one of the commissioners to select a county seat for one of the newest counties in the state: Mitchell County.



December 1861 found Palmer raising a company for North Carolina’s contribution to the Southern war effort. Why Palmer joined the South in her quest for independence is a mystery. At the age of 35 in 1861, he was beyond the age for conscription. Both he and his wife also had many relatives who fought for the Union. Whatever his reasons for supporting the Confederate cause, on December 11, 1861, Palmer was elected captain of the "Mitchell Rangers." In early 1862, Palmer was authorized to raise "Palmer’s Legion." A legion during the Civil War was an organization composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. Legions were falling out of favor with the Confederate government, but on May 13, 1862, Palmer was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 5th Battalion, North Carolina Partisan Rangers. Palmer created a training camp, called Camp Martin, on his property, and begin to recruit men. In July 1862, Palmer was promoted to Colonel and assigned to the newly created 58th North Carolina Troops, then forming at Johnson’s Depot (now Johnson City), Tennessee.



Colonel Palmer led the 58th NCT out of camp in August 1862 and headed for Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. At the Gap, Palmer was placed in charge of paroling recently captured prisoners. He was ordered into Kentucky in late 1862, but the 58th did not arrive in time to participate in the battle of Richmond. From Kentucky, Palmer led the 58th to various areas of east Tennessee, guarding railroads and supplies. In September 1863, Palmer and the 58th were ordered to Chickamauga, Georgia, and assigned to the Army of Tennessee. Colonel Palmer was wounded in the desperate fighting the 58th performed while routing the Yankees from their stubborn defenses. Colonel Palmer and the 58th gained great praise from their commanders. Major General Stevenson wrote that Colonel Palmer "performed his duties with such admirable zeal and efficiency that I have thought it due to so worthy an officer to add my humble merits." There was serious talk of promoting Palmer to the rank of brigadier general. Palmer returned to the 58th on November 1, 1863, and on November 19, 1863, was reassigned to command the department of Western North Carolina.



With his headquarters in Asheville, Palmer was given an area to defend and not nearly enough troops to do the job. There were constant raids from east Tennessee into western North Carolina, raids from both Federal soldiers and bushwhackers. It was during one of these raids in June 1864 that Unionists from Tennessee set out to raid the conscription camp near Morganton. On their return, the group burnt Palmer’s house at Grasslands. Palmer continued to do what he could with his limited forces, rounding up deserters in western North Carolina and helping with Confederate campaigns in Union-controlled east Tennessee. In the last days of the war, Palmer was given a field command, and the department was turned over to Brigadier General Joseph G. Martin. Palmer was paroled in Athens, Georgia, on May 8, 1865.



Colonel Palmer moved to South Carolina not long after the war, but continued to hold on to his property in present-day Avery County. He and his wife made several trips to Europe after the war. Colonel Palmer became president of the Charlotte, Columbia, and Augusta Railroad and president of the Southern Security Commission. He also served as president of two different banks in Columbia, South Carolina. In 1879, Palmer purchased 80 acres of orange groves in a new winter resort area in Central Florida: Winter Park. His property was located on Lake Maitland. Both a street in the new town and a canal were named after Colonel Palmer. In 1882 Palmer gave $50 towards the construction of a new depot in Winter Park for the South Florida Railroad. Palmer and his family continued to travel between Florida, South Carolina, and New York. On April 30, 1889, Palmer sold his Avery County property to George R. Watkins, who built the Watkins House. Colonel John B. Palmer died on December 10, 1893, possibly in Florida at his Winter Park estate, and was interred in the Elmwood Cemetery in Columbia, South, Carolina. His wife, known as Fannie, moved to New York City after his death and was known for her philanthropic work. She died in 1921 and is also buried in Columbia, South Carolina.

East Hill Cemetery, Bristol

Yesterday, we drove over to Bristol, TN/VA to have lunch with some family passing through. After lunch, we paid a visit to the East Hill Cemetery. Back last fall, I was speaking to the SCV Camp in Hampton, TN, and got some information on the cemetery.

East Hill Cemetery was begun in 1857 to meet the needs of the community of Bristol Tennessee-Virginia. During the Civil War, Bristol was the site of the junction of the East Tennessee & Virginia Railway.... About 1862, the Confederate Medical Department established hospitals in Bristol. Because of its strategic location and its railway, Bristol soon became a hospital hub for Confederate soldiers brought from battles for treatment. Those that did not survive were buried at East Hill, including many that were unknown.

The number of Confederate burials at East Hill were variously estimated to range from slightly over one-hundred twenty to nearly one hundred eighty. Recently, ongoing research has revealed that the number is closer to three-hundred and represents the largest location of Confederate graves between Knoxville, TN, and Roanoke, Virginia. Nearly every state in the Confederacy is represented. Furthermore, work by author and historian Gary Rose has helped to identify the names of over forty soldiers previously unknown.

Lieutenant William E. Allen and Lieutenant Robertson Bryan, who were two of the "Immortal 600" are buried here. James Keeling, the "Horatius of the South," who successfully defended the bridge at Strawberry Plains with the loss of his arm has a memorial here. Billy Wood, the last survivor of the young VMI Cadets who fought in the Battle of New Market on May 15, 1864, is buried here. The commanders of the 63rd and 62nd Tennessee, Colonel Abram Fulkerson and Lt. Colonel William Parker also lie here.

The battles fought by these men cover the history of the war. Captain Davidson is credited with firing the first artillery shot at First Manassas. The 37th Virginia, with many men buried at East Hill, was a part of Jackson’s famous "Stonewall Brigade." Men buried here fought at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Spottsylvania, the Wilderness, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chickamauga and Atlanta. They were there with Lee at Appomattox and at the end of the Army of Tennessee with Joe Johnston.

Among those buried here are members of the 29th NCT, the 39th NCT, the 57th NCT, the 72nd NCT, the 9th Batt. NC Reserves (Senior?), and Thomas’s Legion. I am hoping to get in touch with the some of the folks who are working on a Confederate monument for the cemetery and see if we can get those names.

The picture here is of the grave of James Keeling.

Ideas

It was great to see many of you this past Saturday and Sunday in Hickory and in Lenoir. It was also good to talk to Skip Smith of the 26th NCT.

I’ve been writing for about a decade now, full time for the past two and a half years, and the request for books never ceases to amaze for me. This past Saturday at Barnes and Noble, I got three requests to do something about Alexander County, and one request to do something on Burke County. The folks in Hanover County, Virginia, said last December that I could write about Hanover anytime, and the requests for more regimental histories is almost overwhelming. I think I’ve been fairly prolific over the past decade - my eighth book, a collection of essays on Avery County, will be released in May/June of this year. And, I’m working on that history of the 58th North Carolina right now. While I keep of list of ideas, maybe after the book on the 58th NCT is done I should take requests and put up a poll....

It was great to be with Tim Cole and Brad Foley, authors of the book on Collett Leventhorpe, this past Sunday.

Book signings

Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be at the Barnes and Noble in Hickory tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon, the Caldwell Historical Museum in Lenoir on Sunday afternoon, and in Mt. Airy at Ryan's Steakhouse for a discussion on the battle of Hanover Court House on Tuesday evening. I'd be happy to see you there!

Trust seeks help buying historic land

Folks - found this in the Raleigh News and Observer. If you are not a member of the Civil War Preservation Trust, please consider joining - they do great work. Not only are they seeking donations for this project, but also the 208 - Slaughter Pen at Fredericksburg. The later was ground fought over by Jame's H. Lane's brigade of North Carolinians.





Trust seeks help buying historic land
Acquisition boosts preservation

Peggy Lim, Staff Writer
The Civil War Preservation Trust recently appealed to its members across the country -- help us save about 188 acres at Bentonville Battlefield.

The trust closed on the land in December but still needs to raise $80,000 to get a $720,000 match from federal and state grants to pay for it.

The Battle of Bentonville, March 19-21, 1865, was the largest fought in North Carolina and one of the last clashes in the closing days of the Civil War. In 1993, Congress declared Bentonville one of the 11 most important battlefields for preservation. But until the late 1990s, only about 244 acres of its sprawling 6,000 had been saved.

Landowners, with deep roots in the southern Johnston County community, have helped turn that around in recent years. Total acreage preserved at Bentonville has grown to 1,103, said site manager Donny Taylor. In 2006 alone, the Civil War Preservation Trust was able to acquire 300 acres at Bentonville.

"Bentonville is one of the flagships of battlefield preservation," said Mary K. Goundrey, a spokeswoman for the trust. Only a few battlefields in Mississippi and Virginia have more preserved land, Goundrey said.

The acquisitions have given visitors to the Bentonville site a more vivid experience, Taylor said. The park added descriptive markers to a driving tour.

"Sitting at home, you can imagine," he said. "But here, you can get a good idea of what the troops had to fight through -- open fields, woodland."

History buffs are particularly excited about the trust's latest acquisition. The purchase gets land used on the third day of the battle, which saw "Mower's Charge" -- when the Union side captured the field headquarters of Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.

Charlie Davis, 64, who grew up on part of the 188-acre tract, said he sold the land as a memorial to his mother.

"It was her lifeblood," Davis said. She and Davis' grandmother had been active in early grass-roots fundraising efforts in the 1950s to buy a 51-acre tract, including the historic Harper House, which served as a hospital during the battle. His mother worked in a gift shop on the site until her health declined in the mid-1990s, he said.

Residents also sell to preserve a quieter way of life -- preventing hog farms, subdivisions or mobile home parks from moving in, said Philip Shaw, president of the Bentonville Battlefield Historical Association.

"It just stays farmland, and that's the main objective," said Tim Westbrook, 50 and a tobacco farmer, while tinkering with a greenhouse lawn mower on part of the Mower's Charge battleground. "You don't own it anymore, but you know it's going to be looked after."
Westbrook, who continues to live and farm on battlefields, sold about 80 acres to the Civil War Preservation Trust in June.

"When the state takes land, Bentonville is not going to grow in population," he said. "But we're willing to do that to keep it like it is."

Westbrook makes exception for the crowds, noisy cannons and hundreds of horses that turn out for major battle re-enactments once every five years. The one in 2005 drew about 40,000 spectators and 4,000 re-enactors. The events raise money for the community's volunteer fire department, which handles concessions.

And Westbrook said, "It helps unite the community."

Staff writer Peggy Lim can be reached at 836-5799 or plim@newsobserver.com.

One more from Blandford

I thought I would share one other photograph from my trip to Blandford. I took this, from the car, while leaving the cemetery. No, I don’t have the soldiers name and no, he was probably not from North Carolina. But I thought the light was good.

Pvt. John Barefoot

A couple of days ago, I mentioned a lone, marked North Carolina grave at Blandford Church Cemetery. That marker is for John Q. Barefoot. He was "born in Johnson County where he resided as a farmer prior to enlisting in Sampson County at the age of 35." Barefoot enlisted (conscripted?) On May 12, 1862, in Company B, 56th North Carolina Troops. He was a private. On November 29, 1862, he was admitted to a hospital in Petersburg, where on December 8, 1862, he died of "cont[inued] febris." There were five other Barefoots in Company B.

Blandford Church Cemtery

Last week, I was in Virginia for a book signing. On my way home Thursday, I stopped at Blandford Church Cemetery in Petersburg. I have not been in the cemetery for several years, probably back in the late 1990s when I was working on the book on the 37th NCT.

I mainly went to photograph interesting gravestones for a class on cemetery iconography that I teach occasionally at local community colleges and historical societies, and I found several good tombstones to add to my collection of images.

I have visited many cemeteries in the past decade. Being at Blandford, and standing in the large, empty field where 30,000 Confederate soldiers are buried is a very humbling moment.
While there is no documented number of Confederates buried at Blandford, the City of Petersburg has maintained for over a century that over 30,000 Confederate soldiers are buried within the confines of the cemetery. Most of these men died in the last year of the war, when Meade’s army (under the watchful eye of Grant) encircled Petersburg and slowly squeezed the life out of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Blandford Church itself was constructed in 1735-1737, but stopped being a church in the early1800s. During the war, the windows-less brick building was used as a hospital. In the early 1900s, the church became a Confederate memorial chapel, with Tiffany stained glass windows from the different former Confederate states.

There is a good chance that if you had a North Carolina ancestor who was killed during the Petersburg Campaign, that he was interred at Blandford. Many of the Confederates who died during battle were first buried on the battlefields, and later re- interred at Blandford following the war.

However, of the 30,000+ Confederates buried in the cemetery, only 2,000-3,000 are known by name.

After you pass through the large memorial arch, there is a North Carolina section. (Towards the back, right before the curve). There is only one grave actually marked in this section: Pvt. John O. Barefoot, of Company B, 56th North Carolina Troops.

Everyone should visit Blandford if you have a chance: lots of good gravestone art, the beautiful stained glass windows, and to reflect as you stand amongst the graves of 30,000 Confederate soldiers.

26th NCT monument vandalized

Greetings folks - I found this article from the New Bern Sun Journal this morning. This is just tragic.

CIVIL WAR MONUMENT IN NEW BERN VANDALIZED TWICE
Memorial went up just days before Thanksgiving 2006
Francine Sawyer /
Sun Journal Staff

March 2, 2007 - 12:00AM A Civil War memorial marks the area where Confederate and Union soldiers fought during the Battle of New Bern in 1862. Now the fight is on to stop vandalism of the 11 1/2-ton granite monument.

The New Bern Historical Society has been working for the past seven years to make the monument, located near Taberna, a part of the New Bern Battlefield Park. Mark Magnum, chairman of the battlefield committee, said someone used a hammer to chip at the monument last week. Thursday, he found someone had written profane language on it. "It's awful," he said. Magnum said the $45,000 monument went up just days before Thanksgiving last year. He said the amount of monetary damage to the monument is still being assessed.

The North Carolina 26th Monument commemorates the Civil War Battle of New Bern. That battle will be marked at a 145th anniversary celebration beginning March 10.

Magnum reported the first vandalism to police and updated them with a phone call Thursday on the latest incident. Anyone with information about the vandalism can call the New Bern police at 672-4100 or Crime Stoppers, which offers a reward, at 633-5141.