Cumberland County Public Library and Museum of the Cape Fear

Cumberland County Public Library and Museum of the Cape Fear Will Display Civil War Sesquicentennial Photography Exhibit in April

RALEIGH – Determination, commitment and pride are among many characteristics of North Carolinians depicted in the Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory: Civil War Sesquicentennial Photography Exhibit (www.nccivilwar150.com). The exhibit commemorates the role our state played in the Civil War (1861-1865), a defining period in United States history. It will visit the Cumberland County Public Library in Fayetteville from April 1-13 and the Museum of the Cape Fear from April 16-28.


“The Civil War was the first war widely covered with photography,” explains Deputy Secretary Dr. Jeffrey Crow of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. “The ‘Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory’ exhibit provides images of historic figures, artifacts, and documents that brought the reality of the war from the battlefront to the home front, then and now.”

Images gathered from the State Archives (www.archives.ncdcr.gov), the N.C. Museum of History (www.ncmuseumofhistory.org), and State Historic Sites (www.nchistoricsites.org) will illustrate valiant members of the Confederacy, African Americans fighting for freedom, and daring women dedicated to the South. A total of 24 images will be exhibited by the N.C. Department of Culture Resources (www.ncculture.com) in 50 libraries throughout the state from April 2011 to spring 2013. A notebook will accompany the exhibit with further info rmation and a section for viewer comments.

Amidst the photos will be an image from a re-enactment of the Battle of Bentonville, Opposing Lines at Bentonville, which depicts the largest engagement to occur in North Carolina during the Civil War. The original battle took place March 19-21, 1865, involving more than 80,000 Union and Confederate soldiers. At its conclusion, the battle claimed more than 4,000 lives. Even today, soldiers from Fort Bragg visit the Bentonville Battlefield to study the strategies used during this critical assault.

For info rmation on the tour visit www.nccivilwar150.com or call (919) 807-7389. The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources is the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. Information on Cultural Resources is available 24/7 at www.ncculture.com.

The most hallowed spot Tar Heels fought on?

Got an email a couple of days ago from the Civil War Trust about their latest battlefield preservation campaign. They are raising funds to preserve 104 acres along McPherson Ridge. For many in North Carolina, or who had North Carolina ancestors who fought under the banners of the state during the war, there is probably no more important piece of property that that of McPherson Ridge. It is on this land that the Iron Brigade battled portions of Pettigrew’s brigade, and it is on this land that the 26th North Carolina lost more than ten color bearers, and where Col. Henry Kidd Burgwyn received his mortal wound.

The Civil War Trust has put up some great information about the battle here.

Would you please consider joining with me to preserve this piece of historic property?

Any last words?

Recently, I’ve been working through several volumes of published letters from North Carolina Confederate soldiers. One thing I have noticed in these letters home are the numerous references to fellow soldiers being executed. The practice seemed to weigh heavily on those who had to witness such scenes.

Article 20 of the Articles of War states that “All officers and soldiers who have received pay, or have been duly enlisted in the service of the United States, and shall be convicted of having deserted the same, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as, by sentence of a court-martial, shall be inflicted.” This article was amended in 1930, the amendment reading that “No officer or soldier in the army of the United States shall be subject to the punishment of death, for desertion in time of peace.”

And along those same lines, Article 23 reads that “Any officer or soldier who shall be convicted of having advised or persuaded any other officer or soldier to desert the service of the United States, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be inflicted upon him by the sentence of a court-martial.”

The Confederate laws read the same, just substituting Confederate States for United States.

According to research done by Jack Bunch, in his two books on the Confederate military justice system, there were 215 soldiers executed (shot) and 35 hanged. Of that number, 99 North Carolinians were shot, and 22 were hanged. These numbers, due to the paucity of the records, are low.  

These men were executed for a variety of reasons, with desertion ranking above all other causes. Among other causes are murder and robbery (Riley Cage, 16^th NCST); cowardice (Green W. Ford, 37^th NCT); and advising desertion (John M. Harrison, 44^th NCT).

The largest number of men from a single regiment appears to be 14 men from the 8^th Battalion, North Carolina Partisan Rangers, which became the 66^th North Carolina Troops. These men were executed by Mag. Gen. George Pickett in February 1864 in the Kinston area. There were 22 men total executed, all former Confederate soldiers who had joined the Union army and then were captured. You can learn more by visiting this great web site.

The next largest group would be 12 men from the 58^th North Carolina Troops, executed for desertion in May 1864, just north of Dalton, Ga. The 3^rd North Carolina State Troops falls next, with eight men executed during the war. The 18^th North Carolina lost six men, the 26^th, 37^th and 38^th Regiments lost four apiece.

Lt. Burwell T. Cotton of the 34^th North Carolina Troops left this description in a letter home, written on October 3, 1863, while stationed near Orange Court House, Virginia: “To day I witnessed a very sad scene although it is getting to be very common here. It was a man shot for desertion. There were three condemned to be shot to day but two were deferred until Tuesday as there was a reprieve sent up for them and did not get back. Two were shot last Saturday one of them was a member of our company viz John A. Thomas. He deserted sometime in August last and was arrested before he got home and brought back and court martialed. The sentence was death. It looks very barbarous to see men shot in that way but it is necessary to maintain the discipline of an army. the one what was shot to day was not killed dead the first fire. Consequently he was shot twice. You can not imagine how cruel it looks to see a man shot. Twelve men shot at him about ten steps. Only one ball hit him in the side. He fell over on his face [and] was examined by the Surgeon who pronounced him not dead. Two men then were ordered out with loaded muskets who shot him dead.”

Sad times for sure….

New book – coming soon.

At times it is amazing how long bits and pieces of projects lie about before they come together to make a book or an article. Back when I started to go through material while working on my first book (37th NCT), I started to find some great information related to the battle of Gettysburg. I photocopied many of these items, stuck them in a folder, and filed it away. I do this with many of my future projects. A good example would be the article I wrote on “Dixie” that was in Civil War Times a couple of years ago. Every time I come across some soldier that mentions singing the song, I copy it and put it in the folder.

I’ve been collecting references to North Carolina and Gettysburg for almost 15 years. After finishing the project on the 58th North Carolina, I thought it might be a good time to get serious with the project. So I did. I started combing even more Tar Teel newspapers looking for mentions of Tar Heel soldiers and the battle. After collecting numerous first-hand reports, I looked them over and selected the best to include in a new book – North Carolina Remembers Gettysburg. This new work is being published by Ten Roads Publishing out of Gettysburg.

Yes, I’ll be honest up front – there are many stories from members of the 26th, 11th, and 6th regiments. Those folks seemed to write a great deal about their experiences during the battle. Of course, there are also other stories, from the 1st NC Cavalry, Reilly’s Battery, and the 37th NCT. All told, there are seventy-seven first person accounts, some written while the battle was going on, and others many years after the battle. I lightly edited the stories, trying to fill in whole names or at times, specific locations. But, this is their story, using their own words.

I often say the same thing about my other books, like the ones on the 37th NCT and 58th NCT – it is the soldiers’ story, using, as much as possible, their words. My job is to tell you what is going on around them.

Details about ordering North Carolina Remembers Gettysburg will be available soon – keep watching!

Happy Birthday, Avery County!

A little off topic, but important nevertheless. Avery County, the place I call home, was created 100 years ago by the General Assembly. We are North Carolina’s last county! While the county was not here in the 1860s, the area is rich in Civil War history, like the Cranberry Iron Mines; the home of Col. John B. Palmer, burnt during a raid in June 1864; and, the final resting places of Keith and Malinda Blalock. I’ll be speaking about local history this morning at Cranberry Middle School, and then giving tours this afternoon at the Avery County Historical Museum in Newland. The Museum will be open from 10:00 am until 5:30 pm. If you are in the area, stop by and say hi!

News and notes……

Time to look around the Old North State and see what’s going on.


A very interesting article on slave and free blacks in the Winston-Salem area during the war. Check it out here.

In Monroe, a marker for Black Confederates to go on the grounds beside the courthouse, where markers already exist for Confederate soldiers and Confederate women, was recently rejected. Check out this story here.

A great little interview with Tom Vincent of the Department of Culture Resources can be found here. In the interview, Tom talks about his work of documenting North Carolina’s “Standing Soldiers”.

Another interesting article on monuments, particularly “Silent Sam” on UNC – Chapel Hill’s campus, can be found here. However, the author believes that at the time of the war, slavery was a “unconstitutional practice”. Despite Thomas Jefferson’s proposal that slave be constitutionally prohibited, just the opposite was true.

Information on the North Carolina town of Skyco (on the coast) and a small Union raid can be found here.

Lecture Shows North Carolina Torn between Union and Confederacy

DURHAM - A lecture, “Red Strings: Unionist Sentiment in Piedmont , North Carolina ,” presented by N.C. Division of State Historic Sites Assistant Education Curator Jeff Bockert, will commence on Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. It kicks off commemorative events at Duke Homestead State Historic Site. Light refreshments will be provided.

Despite the state's allegiance to the Confederacy, some North Carolinians supported the United States actively by enlisting to fight for the Union . Other citizens deserted from or evaded enlistment into the Confederate army and questioned North Carolina 's sacrifices as a Confederate state. Strongholds of unionism existed across the state. Vicious clashes between these groups and Confederate authorities attracted both state and national attention.

The program is the first in a series of events at Duke Homestead for the Civil War Sesquicentennial. Bockert will discuss the anti-secessionist political efforts during the antebellum period in the Piedmont .

Duke Homestead is located at 2828 Duke Homestead Road , Durham , NC 27705 . For more info rmation call (919) 477-5498, or e-mail duke@ncdcr.gov. The site is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. It is closed to the public on Mondays and most major holidays.

The mission of Duke Homestead State Historic Site is to preserve and interpret the history of the Washington Duke homestead and the North Carolina tobacco industry.

Informational resources and observances of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War are being organized by the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. Information on Cultural Resources is available 24/7 at http://www.ncculture.com/

Into E. Tennessee

I am one of those people who believes every soldier who fought in the Civil War, whether Confederate or Union, needs to have his grave marked. And over the course of time, I’ve been able to help mark quite a few of them. This past Saturday, I was in Blount County, Tennessee, with some friends, marking the grave of a member of the 58th North Carolina Troops: Elisha Gardner.

According to the North Carolina Troops roster, Elisha M. Gardner lived in Mitchell or Yancey County when he enlisted in Mitchell County at the age of 18 on May 17, 1862. On July 29, 1862, he was mustered in as a private in Company B, 58th North Carolina Troops. Gardner deserted at Bell’s Bridge, Tennessee, on July 24, 1863, and had returned to duty some time before December 31 of that year. At some point prior to August 31, 1864, Gardner transferred to Company D of the 58th regiment. Gardner was paroled on May 1, 1865. At some point, Gardner moved to east Tennessee, where he died on May 20, 1909. He is buried at the Chilhowee Primitive Baptist Church.

As I walked around this old cemetery, I came across another interesting grave – that of another Tar Heel soldier. This was the grave of Pvt. Andrew Whitehead. This is what I found in his compiled service records: Born in Carter County, Tennessee. Enlisted June 15, 1864, in Elizabethon, Tennessee. Mustered in as private in Company A, 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry. Whitehead was 19 years old, six foot, two inches, with yellow eyes and light hair. On September 16, 1864, while stationed at Bulls Gap, Tennessee, he was declared absent without leave. In February 1865, he was charged for one “Ballard Rifle and Equipment – one Knapsack one Haversack and one Canteen.” Whitehead returned to his regiment on April 30, 1865, and was discharged on August 8, 1865. At some point, Whitehead, like Gardner, moved from his home and settled in the Chilhowee area.

So there they were, two veterans, one who wore the blue and another who wore the gray, buried in the same cemetery and on the same hill, about 30 or so feet apart. I wonder what homecoming Sundays were like…..

‘Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory’: Civil War Sesquicentennial Events in North Carolina

RALEIGH – The American Civil War wrought great hardship upon the state and nation. North Carolina suffered at least 35,000 deaths, one-quarter of all Confederates lost, and felt more than its share of pain. The nation and state survived the war years, 1861-1865, but at great price.

In observance of the Civil War sesquicentennial (www.nccivilwar150.com) the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources (www.ncculture.com) has planned more than 200 events statewide.

“The sesquicentennial is a great opportunity for all North Carolinians to more clearly and carefully examine these events which shaped our state and nation,” observes N.C. State Historic Sites Division Director Keith Hardison . “We are planning events to take a fresh look at the war and engage kids to grandparents, and also illustrate how our nation survived this great test.”

Sesquicentennial programs will examine the roles of women, Cherokee, U.S. Colored Troops and more. The impact of the war on home life, sickness and mortality, battles on land and sea, Civil War music, and freedman’s colonies are among topics that will be explored.

In April, the “Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory: The Sesquicentennial of the Civil War Photography Exhibit” begins touring the state, starting with Fayetteville in the east and West Jefferson in the west. The images of soldiers in combat, women helping the war effort and African Americans seeking freedom are all encompassed in the exhibit that will visit 50 libraries and four museums statewide through spring 2013. Images from the State Archives, the N.C. Museum of History collection, and photographs of contemporary Civil War re-enactments at historic sites will offer a broad look at that tumultuous time.

The first of three significant conferences of the sesquicentennial will be on the theme “Memory” on May 20 at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh ; it will examine literature, historiography, statuary and other legacies. Attention turns to “Freedom” for the second panel at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem in 2013, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. A final symposium in 2015 at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington will examine “Sacrifice” in the anniversary year of the fall of Fort Fisher , Sherman ’s March and the close of the war.

The Historical Publications Section (www.ncpublications.com) in April will publish Volume 18 of the North Carolina Roster of the Civil War, covering the Senior Reserves. The North Carolina Civil War Atlas, to be published in fall 2014, is a comprehensive study of the total number of North Carolinians to serve in the Civil War, deaths, the price of materials, maps, military campaigns and more.

For additional info rmation call (919) 807-7389. North Carolina will examine the Civil War objectively and comprehensively, and invites citizens to participate in the reflection and conversations in their own communities.

The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources is the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. Information on Cultural Resources is available 24/7 at www.ncculture.com.

Robeson County

Well, it’s been a while since we looked at a North Carolina county and the War. For this post, I chose Robeson County, simply because someone emailed me a couple of days ago asking about what happened in Robeson County. I hope you enjoy.

Created from Bladen County in 1787, Robeson County was named for Col. Thomas Robeson, a Revolutionary War patriot. The county seat, Lumberton, was chartered in 1788 and named for the local Lumber River. Much of the history of the area is tied to the Lumbee Indians, who inhabited the area prior to European contact.

In 1860, Robeson County had a population on 15,489, including 1,450 Indians and free persons of color, and 5,456 slaves. In the 1860 presidential elections, white Robeson County men cast 720 votes for Breckinridge, 648 for Bell, and 134 for Douglas. A few weeks later, many of those same men gathered to cast ballots on the question of calling a convention to consider the secession of North Carolina. There were 490 for calling the convention, while 871 were opposed. The Union men of the county met on February 16, 1861, and elected two Union men for the proposed convention: T. A. Norment and Col. T. J. Morisey. When the convention was finally called in May 1861, John Powell Fuller and John C. Sutherland, who had ran against Norment and Morisey and who both who were considered “red hot secessionists,” were elected to represent the county at the convention.

Just what brought about this change, from voting against the convention to electing two “red hot secessionists” is unclear. On January 1, 1861, there was a large Union meeting held at the court house in Lumberton. A pro-Union set of resolutions was adopted, and 33 guns fired in honor of the Union. A second pro-Union meeting was held on January 11 in Howellsville, and a third followed at St. Paul’s on January 19, and again in Lumberton on February 16.

However, on April 20, 1861, possibly in response to the firing on of Fort Sumter and Lincoln’s call for troops, another public meeting was held at the court house in Lumberton. At this meeting, Unionist T. A. Norment remarked that “ he had often pleaded in behalf of the Union, and that the awful calamity of civil war might never fall upon his country, but at the same time that he told them these things, he also stated that his party were totally and unequivocally opposed to coercion, and that if the government should attempt oppression in that form, or in any other, that the Union men of North Carolina, so far from being found in the back ground, would be in the foremost ranks of the contest, willing to die if need be for the honor and safety of the State…” A few days later, Richard Norment was leading a group of 80 men to Raleigh to volunteer for state service.

Fuller was born in Robeson County in 1834, and was a graduate of Randolph-Macon College in 1856, and two years later earned his license to practice law. During the war, Fuller worked for a time for the Treasury Department. After the war, he moved first to St. Louis, Missouri, and then to New Orleans, where he died in 1868. Sutherland was born in Robeson County in 1815, and spent a large portion of his life as an educator. His estate and personal papers were burnt by Sherman in 1865. Sutherland died in 1881 in Maxton.

Several companies went out of Robeson County. They include Battery E, 3rd North Carolina Artillery; 1st Company D, 12th North Carolina State Troops; Company D, 18th North Carolina Troops; Company G, 24th North Carolina Troops; Company A, 31st North Carolina Troops; Company A, 64th North Carolina Troops; Company B, 50th North Carolina Troops; Companies D, E, and F, 51st North Carolina Troops; Company I, 3rd North Carolina Junior Reserves; and, Company C, 7th Battalion North Carolina Junior Reserves.

Numerous Robeson County fathers, brothers, and sons went off to fight in the war. This left large portions of the county open to local raiders. Probably the most infamous was William Allen. Here is some information that I found on Learn NC’s “North Carolina in the Civil War and Reconstruction”:

The Lowry War


On March 3, 1865, Allen Lowry and his son William were tried in a hastily organized sham court, declared guilty of theft, and executed in Robeson County. While William was almost certainly a member — and perhaps even the leader—of a gang that committed robberies, it is unlikely that the elderly Allen was involved in any raids. What is certain is that the two men’s deaths sparked North Carolina’s famous Lowry War, a seven-year period of raids, robberies, and murders.


After the outbreak of the Civil War, many Lumbee Indians living in Robeson County were conscripted to work on the construction of Fort Fisher. To avoid forced labor and the Confederate Home Guard conscription officers charged with enforcing it, many Lumbee men camped in the woods and swamps near their homes and depended on friends and relatives for subsistence. For a community already facing desperate times, this practice, known as “laying out,” was taxing.


By December 1864, the riches of their more affluent neighbors became too tempting for four of Allen Lowry’s sons and they stole two hogs from wealthy slaveholder James P. Barnes. Several months of local troubles followed this theft. Barnes suspected the Lowrys, and when he attempted to have them captured, he was shot by a gang that included at least two Lowry brothers. In January 1865, the Lowrys killed J. Brantly Harriss, a local man who had murdered three of their cousins. They also raided the Robeson County Courthouse, stealing guns and ammunition which were then used in a series of February raids against the area’s rich planters.


On March 3 the Home Guard searched farms and homes and questioned suspects, eventually finding stolen guns, clothes, and a gold cane-head at the home of Allen Lowry. They promptly arrested Lowry, his wife, five of their twelve children, and a young woman who was visiting them. The suspects were taken to a nearby plantation and the Guard quickly convened their own version of a court of law. During the trial William Lowry attempted an escape with the aid of one of his brothers. He was shot and recaptured, but the escape attempt brought the court to a swift decision and the members voted to execute Allen Lowry and his sons Calvin, Sinclair, and William. Shortly thereafter, Calvin and Sinclair were given a reprieve because no stolen items had been found on their property or persons. That evening, William and Allen were taken back to the Lowry property, bound to a stake, blindfolded, and shot.


One journalist wrote that “[f]rom a thicket near at hand Henry Berry, the son of Allen Lowery, saw the volley fired which laid his brother and father bleeding on the ground. There he swore eternal vengeance against the perpetrators of the act.” Thus, not only did the executions fail to stop the raids, but they served to further exacerbate local tensions and made the Lowrys determined to get revenge upon the prominent persons that had wronged their family and community. After the Civil War ended, Henry made raids a constant part of local life, organizing a small band of men and coordinating their attacks on local plantations. For years these “swamp outlaws” stole from the wealthy, evaded prosecution, and killed law enforcement officers that tried to arrest them. During what came to be called the “Lowry War,” the band carefully directed their actions toward the community’s more affluent citizens. This earned them popularity and Robin Hood-like reputations among the area’s poorer citizens.


The Lowry Band committed its last major act of outlawry on 16 February 1872, raiding Lumberton and escaping with $1000 worth of goods and a safe filled with over $20,000. Shortly thereafter, Henry Berry Lowry disappeared completely and the $12,000 reward for his capture went unclaimed.


The stories surrounding Henry Berry Lowry’s fate range from the plausible to the incredible. Among the claims are that he died of a gun-shot wound; drowned; faked his own death; or was smuggled out of the area in a tool box. At least one report claimed that he fled to South America; another said that he escaped to the northwest and led the Modoc Indians in their 1872-1873 war against the federal government in Oregon. Still others claimed that he never left the area. As late as 1937 Lowry’s great-nephew, Dr. Earl C. Lowry, claimed that his uncle was still alive.


Although his ultimate fate is unknown, the legend of Henry Berry Lowry and his band of outlaws has never died. They became folk heroes, with one journalist in 1872 calling them “the Rob Roys and Robin Hoods” of Robeson County. Lowry’s influence continues today: the Lumbee community’s highest honor is named for him, several novels and plays have been written about his exploits, and since 1976 a musical drama entitled Strike at the Wind! has been performed in Robeson County every summer.

Some of General Sherman’s men visited the area on March 9, 1865, with orders to burn all bridges and railroad property in Lumberton.

After the war, there was a United Confederate Veterans camp in Robeson County – the R. F. Hoke Camp 1241, with T. F. Toon and J. H. Morrison as commander and adjutant. In 1907, the county erected a monument to local Confederate soldiers on the courthouse grounds.

Cadmen County - 20 questions

Here is our next set of 20 questions from Bruce Long. How many can you get?



1. How many companies were formed on 30-31 May 1861, prior to North Carolina seceding from the United States?

2. Who was the highest ranking Confederate officer that lived in Camden prior to the outbreak of the war?

3. How many soldiers from companies formed in Camden were captured at the battle of Hatteras Inlet?

4. What was the name of the Camden company that had its colors captured at the battle of Hatteras Inlet? (The flag is now in the possession of the North Carolina Museum of History.)

5. What was Capt. Granville Gratiott Luke's occupation prior to commanding one of the three original companies raised in Camden?

6. Which Jonesboro Guards officer wrote a diary while imprisoned at Governor's Island and Fort Warren?

7. Which paroled officer captured at Hatteras is mentioned in Johnson's The Long Roll? (The 9th NY stopped at his house to eat breakfast while on the march to destroy the locks at South Mills.)

8. When was the battle of South Mills fought?

9. Who commanded the Union troops at the battle of South Mills?

10. Who commanded the Confederate forces at the battle of South Mills?

11. Who won a Congressional Medal of Honor for their actions at the battle of South Mills?

12. Where did 3000-4000 Union soldiers wade ashore from transports in the Pasquotank River prior to marching to the battle of South Mills?

13. What company formed in Camden fought in the battle of Gettysburg?

14. What Union company was formed in lower Camden County on 10 August 1863?

15. Who commanded the North Carolina Partisan Ranger company formed in Camden on 7 July 1863?

16. What expedition freed slaves, recruited soldiers, and hunted for guerrillas between 5 December and 24 December 1863?

17. After the skirmish at Sandy Hook on 18 December 1863, where did the guerrillas retreat to?

18. Name the elderly man taken hostage by General Wild on 19 December 1863. (Wild also burned the man's house.)

19. What Union companies were involved in the skirmish at Sandy Hook? (There were five.)

20. How many Camden men joined the USCT/NCCV during the war? a) 50-90 b) 90-130 c) less than 50 d) more than 130

Bonus: How many stop lights are there in Camden County?

Slaves in Camp

A few days ago, something on Kevin Levin’s Civil War Memory blog caught my attention. And while I’m not going to speak for the South as a whole, I will address a few questions and refer to my research into western North Carolina. Kevin was referring to a interview by Noah A. Trudeau and brought out some interesting points. However, I think Kevin might suffer from too many viewings of Gone with the Wind. Kevin seems to have a problem with the idea that there were “bonds of intertwining trust” between master and slave formed during the war, much less that they might have existed before the war. Kevin writes: “I have no doubt that the war probably brought master and slave together in close contact and I have no doubt that certain bonds were formed. The problem for any historian researching this, however, is that there is almost nothing available to help fill in the blanks.” Here is my rub: while in some instances the war might have brought master and slave owner together to form bonds, in many instances, those bonds were formed many years prior to the war. I’m sure that for some masters, or maybe better put, the sons of slave masters, this closeness might not exist. For the vast majority of slave owners, there was no big house, with rows of slave cabins tucked neatly off in some field, not visible from the house. The slaves, usually just one or two, lived in the house with the master. I’ve encountered this on two or three occasions here in local research. At the McElroy House in Burnsville, the was never any evidence of slave housing, but passed-down stories of how the slaves lived in the house, in a room over the kitchen. Also, in the Bethel community in Watauga County, with the Farthing family, this was the same story. No slave housing. Their slaves lived with them. Since the vast majority of slave owners owned only a couple of slaves, and at times (or maybe full-time) they lived in the same house, adjusting to having slaves in the army would not have been nearly the ordeal that Kevin makes it out to be.

Kevin writes: “ The one topic that I am trying to wrap my head around is the way in which the war shaped race relations in camp. The war forced slaves and masters to confront one another in an environment that was unfamiliar to both.” What would be unfamiliar? I broke down the 1860 Watauga County Census. There were 104 slaves in Watauga County, owned by 30 men and one women (31 total). Of these, 20 owned 3 or fewer slaves. If we take out the one woman, that leaves 19. Of that 19, 10 served in the army. Seven were enlisted men, one was a colonel, and the other two were lieutenants. Plus, as folks have often said, slave ownership effected more than just a slave owner. Masters frequently rented out their slaves to help their neighbors at certain times of the year to help with different manual labor projects. Estimating this number is next to impossible, but, the idea of a small farm owner who has hired a slave for a day or week sitting on a horse watching others work (once again, a Gone with the Wind idea) is absurd. Like the small slave owner, these men would have been in the field working side by side. So, for an unknown percentage of men in camp, having slaves, or even freedmen serving alongside, or working alongside the men in the ranks, is not that hard of an idea to grasp. A certain percent of the population had lived with men and women of color, and had worked in the fields with men of color.

Just something to think about….

Victory in the Wilderness

It case you have not heard, Wal-Mart chose not to build their superstore on the Wilderness battlefield in Virginia. This is something we have all been working against for some time. Maybe Wal-Mart will take the next step and donate the land to the National Park Service, or Civil War Trust… Maybe.  You can learn more by visiting this press release by the Civil War Trust.

Bowen Family Letters Tell a 150-year-old Story in Historic Bath Exhibit

BATH – “Sometimes it is the little stories that matter,” said Leigh Swain, site manager at Historic Bath. Many of those stories are contained in letters from Washington County ’s Bowen family showing the home front side of the Civil War story.

A new display at Historic Bath, “The Civil War at Home: Uncovering Local History Through Family Letters,” will highlight some of the ways readers can glean bits of local knowledge 150 years later through personal letters exchanged during this pivotal era in American history. Canteens, spectacles, binoculars and belt buckles from the Civil War era will be on display through 2011.

Based on these letters, Historic Bath staff member Bea Latham will give a lecture titled “A Woman’s Place was in the Home: Learning about Life Through Civil War Letters” on April 16 at 10 a.m.

“Sometimes when the men went away, the wives were left to hold the pieces together,” Swain observed.

In addition, the commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War will be underway with programs, educational symposia and re-enactments throughout North Carolina . Activities for life-long learners, travelers, teachers and school children will feature the theme “ North Carolina and the Civil War: Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory.” For additional info rmation visit http://www.nccivilwar150.com/.

For info rmation about Historic Bath call (252) 923-3971 or visit www.nchistoricsites.org/bath/bath.htm. The Historic Bath office is located at 207 Carteret Street , N.C. 27808 .

Historic Bath is part of the Division of State Historic Sites in the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. Information on Cultural Resources is available 24/7 at http://www.ncculture.com/.

20 questions - Pasquotank County

Here is our next set of 20 questions, with a special thanks to Chris Meekins!



1) Q. The Confederate Veterans camp in Elizabeth City was named for what Pasquotank-born Confederate officer?

2) Q. What US Congressman was captured in Currituck County (Coinjock) in 1864 but immediately released in Pasquotank County (Elizabeth City)?

3) Q. How many times did United States forces occupy Elizabeth City in 1863?

4) Q. How many guerrilla fighters did General Edward A. Wild hang in Pasquotank County in December 1863?

5) Q. Who burned the Pasquotank County court house on February 10, 1862?

6) Q. In the Battle of Elizabeth City, what did USS Valley City quarter gunner John Davis do that earned him a Congressional Medal of Honor?

7) Q. Who met the Union forces at the Elizabeth City wharfs immediately after the engagement on the river ended?

8) Q. In what language did Rowland Martin Hall of the 3rd New York Cavalry greet Mayor John C. B. Ehringhaus of Elizabeth City when they met in October 1863?

9) Q. How many Pasquotank County women did General Edward A. Wild hold hostage for the safe return of some of his soldiers?

10) Q. Who was ambushed and killed by guerrilla fighters near New Begun Creek in lower Pasquotank County?

11) Q. What still standing Pasquotank County plantation can count Las Vegas star Wayne Newton among its owners?

12). Q. Pasquotank County newspaper editor Richard Benbury Creecy, although never having served in any armed force during his long life, was known by what honorary military title?

13) Q. How did the local skirmish known as “Tuttle’s Run” get its name?

14) Q. The CSS Appomattox escaped capture at the Battle of Elizabeth City and made her way up the Dismal Swamp Canal towards Norfolk. She made it as far as South Mills but no further. Why?

15) Q. Which ethnicity was the larger percent of Pasquotank County’s 1860 population?

16) Q. When Pasquotank County soldiers were captured at Fort Hatteras in late August 1861 where were they sent to be imprisoned?

17). Q. What was the name of the Grand Army of the Republic camp formed in Elizabeth City and who formed it?

18) Q. When was the Confederate Soldiers’ Monument erected next to the court house?

19) Q. How many markers are there in the Pasquotank County Civil War Trails?

20) Q. What noted historian was born in Pasquotank County during the Civil War?

Free Lecture To Discuss Groundbreaking North Carolina Civil War Death Study

A new study shows that while North Carolina still lost the most men in the war of any Southern state in the Civil War, the figures used since 1866 are wrong. Josh Howard, a research historian in the Research Branch of the N.C. Office of Archives, will discuss his work on the North Carolina Civil War Death Study on Tuesday, Jan. 25, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Government and Heritage Library, 109 E. Jones St. , in downtown Raleigh . The talk is free and open to the public.

The project, spearheaded by Howard, encompasses reviewing the military records, as well as archival and newspaper accounts of military deaths during the American Civil War amongst North Carolina Confederate and Union units. The project also reveals for the first time ever the number of black and white North Carolinians who died in Union service within North Carolina ’s total losses, which prior to now have only focused on the Confederate troops.

For more information on the lecture, contact Rebecca Hyman at (919) 807-7454, rebecca.hyman@ncdcr.gov.

The Government and Heritage Library is part of the State Library of North Carolina (http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/index.html), a division of the Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. Information on Cultural Resources is available at www.ncculture.com.

20 questions - Avery County

A few folks probably already know this, but many do not. This year is the 100th Anniversary of the county I call home. Avery County was formed in 1911 and is the 100th and last county in North Carolina. We’ve been working here in Avery County to create many special events and programs to commemorate Avery County’s birth. One of those is a series of newspaper articles, and to start off the series, we came up with the idea of 100 questions about the county, in lists of twenty. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote twenty questions about the Civil War and Avery County.
You will find the questions below. I’ll post the answers in a few days.

So a challenge – come up with twenty questions (and answers) about your North Carolina county and War, and I’ll post them here. Make sure the majority of your questions deal with the county itself. You can send them to me at mchardy@michaelchardy.com

So, here are 20 questions about Avery County and the Civil War:

1. Who was the highest-ranking Confederate officer from present-day Avery County?

2. What raid took place in June 1864 through Cranberry, Pineola, and Altamont?

3. What mine provided iron ore for the Confederacy?

4. What three Linville Falls area brothers attended the 50th Reunion of the battle of Gettysburg?

5. Which community was a stop for an underground railroad that funneled escaped Union prisoners out of Salisbury?

6. What famous couple, who both served in the 26th North Carolina Troops, later served as guides on our underground railroad?

7. Which former slave of the Avery family served in the 40th United States Colored Troops and is buried in the Peter Hardin Cemetery?

8. What no-longer existing Avery County community, renamed Calhoun in 1861, briefly served as the county seat for Mitchell County?

9. Col. William J. Martin, commander of the 11th North Carolina State Troops and post-war professor at Davidson College, was the father of which famous Avery County doctor?

10. In April 1862, David Oaks and John B. Palmer were arguing about cattle when Oaks tried to kill Palmer. According to Uncle Jake Carpenter, what happened to Oaks?

11. The raid of what Watauga County home guard camp originated in Banner Elk?

12. The community of Pyatt is named for which member of the 58th North Carolina Troops?

13. After the raid on Camp Vance, then-captain George W. Kirk had the home of Col. Palmer, burned. In what community was his home located?

14. Today in Banner Elk, an historic home, built circa 1865, is used as a museum. What Union soldier supposedly built this home?

15. John M. Houston of the 6th North Carolina Troops was the father of what famed Avery County school teacher?

16. What Watauga County home guard commander led a raid into the Avery County communities of Poga, Dark Ridge, Heaton, and Banner Elk in October 1864, resulting in the Battle of Beech Mountain?

17. Which Beech Mountain resident was a Union soldier, was captured at home on leave, and supposedly tunneled out of Salisbury Prison?

18. Lt. Col. John C. Keener, of the 58th North Carolina Troops, donated the land for what Methodist Church in the Ingalls community?
19. What Banner Elk resident owned six slaves, was a stop on the underground railroad, and had at least one son in the Union army?

20. Ensor C. Wiseman, a member of four different Confederate regiments (6th North Carolina Troops, 58th North Carolina Troops, 5th Battalion, North Carolina Cavalry, and 6th North Carolina Cavalry), fought at what famous first land battle of the war in July 1861?

Program at the NC Museum of History

Sometimes, usually late at night as I drive back home from a lecture someplace, I think about all of the great experiences that I have had over the past 28 years. Some of these include re-enactments, like the 135th Antietam and 135th Gettysburg events; living histories like the ones at Fort Clinch; speaking engagements, like at Pamplin Park and the annual CWPT meeting on the Peninsula; and awards with which I’ve been honored, like being named North Carolina’s Historian of the Year by the NC Society of Historians, and being presented the Jefferson Davis Gold Medal in 2009. On Saturday, I added another event to that list: unveiling the conserved flag of the 58th North Carolina Troops.

I spent this past Saturday at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh. I had a table set up in the lobby, next to the gift shop, and sold quite a few books, while at the same time getting to speak to scores of folks about the war. About 2:30 pm we were ushered into the auditorium and treated to a rousing performance by the drum and fife corps of the 26th North Carolina Troops. After opening remarks by Col. Skip Smith of the 26th NCT, Jackson Marshall of the Museum of History spoke on the history of the 22nd North Carolina Troops. Then, descendants of the men who fought in the 22nd NCT made their way to the front and the conserved flag was unveiled.

Then it was my turn. I spoke for a few minutes on the 58th North Carolina Troops, a talk that I entitled “A Fragmented History.” In this talk, I spoke of how the history of the 58th NCT, what we know about the regiment, is as fragmented as the remnants of the flag we were unveiling. Then, Skip asked that Jackson Marshall and myself unveil the flag. After the descendants arrived at the front of the room, we unveiled that flag. It was the first time I had ever actually seen the remnants of the flag of the 58th NCT in person. I was deeply moved, even more so than when I helped Tom Belton take the coverings off the flag of the 37th NCT in that very room a couple of years ago. Maybe it was because I had seen the flag of the 37th NCT previously, while it hung at Pamplin Park. I had always worked from a photograph of the flag of the 58th NCT, knowing that it was in very rough shape. I had never realized just how threadbare and fragile those fragments were.

However, my day was not finished. After hanging out for at the museum for a while longer, talking with other descendants and interested folks, we zipped over to Greensboro. The North Carolina Civil War Round Table was having a special meeting at the Greensboro Museum of History, with the one-of-a- kind Ed Bearrs giving a program about the beginning of the War in South Carolina.

Saturday was a fanatic day! What a great way for me to start off the sesquicentennial of the War. I am not quite sure how I will top this past Saturday in 2011, but I sure look forward to trying.

Congratulations to Col. Skip Smith and the 26th North Carolina Troops, reactivated, for their outstanding work in conserving the history of North Carolina’s role in the Civil War!

Civil War Preservation News

I’ve been a supporter of the preservation of the Civil War battlefields for a long time – I actually have a pen here on my desk stamped with the logo of the APCWS – Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites. I actually got the pen when I first joined many years ago. A decade ago, it was the APCWS. Not long thereafter if merged with another preservation group to form the Civil War Preservation Trust. A few days ago, the CWPT shortened its name to the Civil War Trust and came up with a new logo. I guess I am going to need a new hat….

Last night, I received an email from the Civil War Trust. They are working on preserving some ground at Resaca. Yes, I know, many of you are interested in eastern battlefields. But here is a good way to help a western theater battlefield. The land the CWT is seeking to acquire was a part of the May 14-15, 1864, battle, and two North Carolina regiments, the 58th and 60th North Carolina Troops, fought over this ground. They were a part of Reynolds’s brigade and helped push the Federals back in an attack. See the map below. If you can help the Civil War Trust preserve these 500+ acres, please contact them. You can learn more here

A look around the Old North State

Sorry for the slow posting this week. It’s not that I’m not thinking about North Carolina and the War – I am. I’ve researched and written about the 29th, 39th, 58th, and 60th regiments at Chickamauga, the 58th and 60th regiments at Chattanooga, and the 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers at the battle of Olustee. Today, I’m working on the second day of the battle of the Wilderness. All of this is for my book Civil War North Carolina, being published by the History Press. I would like to have the manuscript turned in by March, and I still have over 30,000 words to go, so I have my work cut out for me.

I have made some remarkable progress, considering that it is snowing quite a bit here in western North Carolina, keeping me home and off the roads.

So, on to other news. Here are a few things going on in the state that have appeared in the news.

There is a very interesting article in the Charlotte Observer about some of the local libraries and historical societies and some of the events that they are sponsoring. Check it out here

The speakers for the 14th Annual Salisbury Prison Symposium have been announced. Check out the list here

According to this article, the preservation of the field at Kinston has grown by three acres. Three cheers for the Harper sisters.

Information about a new web site to focus on the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill during the war, can be found here

Lenoir County is getting ready for the sesquicentennial – learn more here

Information about Mary Middleton Orr, from Western North Carolina, and her experiences during the war, can be found here

Lecture at Somerset Place Jan. 15 Examines Slaves’ Side of Civil War

CRESWELL – Somerset Place State Historic Site in Creswell will present the lecture "The Impact and Implication of the Civil War from the Enslaved Person's Perspective: Forced to Aid My Enemies' Cause," on Saturday, Jan. 15, at 2 p.m. Former site manager Dot Redford will speak.

For more info rmation, call (252) 797-4560.

Somerset Place is a representative state historic site offering a comprehensive and realistic view of 19th-century life on a large North Carolina plantation. Originally this atypical plantation included more than 100,000 densely wooded, mainly swampy acres bordering the five-by-eight-mile Lake Phelps , in present-day Washington County . During its 80 years as an active plantation (1785-1865), hundreds of acres were converted into high-yielding fields of rice, corn, oats, wheat, beans, peas and flax; sophisticated sawmills turned out thousands of feet of lumber. By 1865, Somerset Place was one of the upper South's largest plantations.

From Somerset 's earliest days through the end of the Civil War, pe opl e of different races and different legal and economic status lived on the property. A labor force of almost 200 men, women and children was assembled before 1790. They were black and white, enslaved and free. Over the life of the plantation three generations of owners, around 50 white employees, two free black employees and more than 850 enslaved people lived and worked on the plantation.

The present-day historic site includes 31 of the original lakeside acres and seven original 19th-century buildings. With the goal of accurately representing the lives and lifestyles of the plantation's entire antebellum community, the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources has acquired the reconstructed Overseer's House and reconstructed one-room and four-room homes representative of where enslaved families once lived, along with the plantation hospital.

The commemoration of North Carolina ’s Civil War 150th anniversary (http://www.nccivilwar150.com/) is sponsored in part by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History, within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina’s social, cultural and economic future.

For info rmation on other Civil War-related events, see the sesquicentennial calendar at http://hscal.ncdcr.gov/civilwar150/default.aspx. For more info rmation on Cultural Resources, visit www.ncculture.com.

Program on the flags of the 22nd and 58th NCT regiments this Saturday.

Probably two years ago, I started prominently displaying photographs of Confederate flags which were the focus of the conservation fundraising efforts of the 26^th North Carolina Troops, reactivated. I’m not a member of the 26^th NCT, but I believe in what they are doing, and I want everyone to know that they can help with these worthwhile projects. As an aside, I know that other groups are working on raising funds to preserve flags as well– send me a link to your web site and a photo of the flag, and I’ll put it up.

Back in May of 2008, I had the privilege of speaking at the North Carolina Museum of History when the conserved flag of the 37^th NCT was unveiled. This flag is held by the Museum of the Confederacy, and in 2008 was placed on long-term loan at the North Carolina Museum of History. You can see a post about the event here, and the flag on display here.

This Saturday, I’ll be in Raleigh again, this time speaking about the 58^th North Carolina Troops as their flag, along with the flag of the 22^nd North Carolina Troops, is unveiled. Both flags have been sent to the conservators and both are back.

The flag of the 58^th NCT, of should I say remnants of two flags of the 58^th NCT were never surrendered at the end of the war. Many of us believe that these fragments are from a Second National and an 1864-Dalton issued flag. They were taken home by Maj. George W. F. Harper of Caldwell County at the end of the war, and his descendants gave the pieces to the Museum after the turn of the century.

The flag of the 22^nd NCT is a 3^rd issue Richmond Depot flag that was given to the regiment in June 1863. The flag was captured by a member of the 42^nd New York during the battle of Gettysburg. It was taken to the War Department and given number 76. In May 1905, the flag was returned to the state of North Carolina.

Three cheers to the folks in the 26^th North Carolina Troops, reactivated, and the work that they are doing to preserve North Carolina’s history.

If you are at the program on Saturday, stop by and say hi! The event begins at 2 and is free to the public.

Bentonville’s Harper House Re-opens for Tours after Repairs

FOUR OAKS — After months of being closed for plaster repair work, the Harper House at Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site re-opens today for guided tours. Tours are given on the hour beginning at 10 a.m., with the last tour at 4 p.m. Admission and tours are free to the public.

During the 1865 Battle of Bentonville, the Harper House was used as a field hospital by the Union Army’s XIV Corps. Nearly 600 Union and Confederate soldiers were treated in the home during the three-day battle. Eleven members of the Harper family were forced upstairs while the downstairs was used as a hospital.

The home was lived in after the battle until 1957, when it was purchased by the state for conversion to a house museum.

Bentonville Battlefield is located at 5466 Harper House Road , Four Oaks, NC 27524, three miles north of Newton Grove on S.R. 1008, about one hour from Raleigh and about 45 minutes from Fayetteville . The address is 5466 Harper House Road , Four Oaks, NC, 27524. For more info rmation, visit www.nchistoricsites.org/bentonvi/bentonvi.htm or call (910) 594-0789.

Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. For more info rmation on Cultural Resources, visit http://www.ncculture.com/.

Reconstructing the life of Lt. Col. James Grayson

A couple of months ago, I was out on a ramble. Not exactly a ramble – I was taking pictures for a local magazine I write for, but I was hitting some old cemeteries as well. In the Zionville Baptist Church Cemetery, in Watauga County, just a hundred yards or so from the Tennessee line, I came across the grave of Lt. Col. James W. M. Grayson.

Grayson was born in North Carolina in 1832. At some point prior to 1860, he moved to Johnson County, Tennessee, where in 1860 he was living, giving his occupation as that of a farmer. Grayson was one of many who worked hard in an attempt to keep Tennessee out of the Confederacy by attending several of the meetings held in 1861 for that purpose.

Grayson was appointed adjutant of the 4th Tennessee Infantry (US) on December 20, 1862; reported sick and in the hospital in Louisville, Kentucky in April 1863; appointed lieutenant colonel on May 1, 1863; September 9, 1863, relieved of command and mustered out of the regiment. He was mustered out to accept a position in 13th Tennessee Cavalry and then was appointed major on November 12, 1863, in the 13th Tennessee Cavalry, at Camp Nelson, Kentucky. He resigned April 1, 1864, by reason of “For the good of the service.” In October 1864, Grayson was appointed (or elected) one of the electors for the presidential (US) election, representing Johnson County.

After the war, Grayson served a term in the Tennessee legislation (1867-1870). Grayson was living in Johnson County, Tennessee, in the 1870 census, with his family. He reported his occupation as that of a lawyer. 1880 found Grayson still in Johnson County. It is possible (as reported in the notes of the Andrew Johnson Papers), that Grayson moved back to north Carolina between 1880 and his death in 1900.

You are probably more familiar with Grayson through a song made famous by the Kingston Trio in the 1960s: “Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley.” It seems that in July 1866, Thomas Dula, himself a former Confederate soldier, showed up at the Grayson farm, asking for work. Grayson consented and Dula worked long enough to acquire a new pair of boots. Not long after Dula left the Grayson farm, a posse from Wilkes County, Tennessee, arrived on Grayson’s doorstep. Dula had used an alias, Tom Hall, but matched the description that the posse provided. Dula was wanted for the murder of a woman back in North Carolina. Grayson went to find the sheriff, but was unable to do so, so he led the posse himself. They soon found Dula and arrested him, and Grayson helped transport him back to Wilkes County. It appears that the North Carolina General Assembly reimbursed Grayson $62.50 for his expenses (or was this reward money?). Dula was tried (one of his lawyers was Zeb Vance) and later hanged for the crime.

New Markers Extend Civil War Trails across North Carolina

RALEIGH – Burning bacon or a bridge, firing on a church or scribbling in a courthouse, moving toward or away from troop supplies, all are tales told on North Carolina ’s most recently erected Civil War Trails markers (www.civilwartrails.org).

The 12 newest markers are among nearly 200 in the state, and part of a network including Maryland , Virginia , West Virginia and Tennessee . The signs, adorned with a red bugle under blue Civil War Trails lettering, can lead history buffs on a motor tour across the state and region. The latest additions are in Alamance, Cabarrus, Cumberland , Duplin and Gates counties, and contribute to the observance of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War (www.nccivilwar150.com).


Before going off to war, members of the Gates County militia signed their names on a second-floor wall of the courthouse in Gatesville. The signatures are still visible today.

In March 1863, Union forces burned the Confederate armory at Kenansville, emptied a safe of Confederate money and, more importantly, destroyed two miles of track of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, cutting supply lines to Confederate forces in Virginia . The Federal troops destroyed other supplies and burned a barn containing hundreds of pounds of bacon, leaving an aroma for days.

The congregation of Freedom’s Hill Wesleyan Methodist Church was among the most outspoken of southern abolitionist groups. Active with the Underground Railroad, the church stated that no Christian could hold slaves. Proslavery mobs attacked the congregation, and small arms were fired at the Alamance County church. Vigilantes lynched congregant Micajah McPherson, who survived after his assailants were scared off. Members of the Quaker community also were subjected to physical and psychological violence but never were attacked directly by their neighbors.

Several of the new markers denote incidents from the Carolinas Campaign, which started Feb. 1, 1865, when Union Gen. William T. Sherman led his army north from Savannah , Ga. , after the March to the Sea. In March 1865, Confederate forces burned a bridge and slowed the Union advance as Fayetteville was evacuated. At Averasboro, Confederates delayed the Union advance before falling back to their third line of defense.

Many stories of sacrifice and heroism are remembered on the Civil War Trails markers. Information and observances of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War also will be organized by the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. Information on Cultural Resources is available 24/7 at www.ncculture.com.

The top secessionist.

There has been a recent trend in Academia to downplay the role of Unionism of western North Carolina. For decades , the academic party line was that the region was entirely pro-Union. Now, finally, scholars are beginning to take a more balanced approach. Unfortunately, it takes a long time for that trend to be come to fruition. I could not tell you how many times that I’ve given lectures, and during the question time, the ideas of a Unionist western North Carolina come out. I’ll say it again: western North Carolina was strongly pro-Confederate, with a few pockets of Unionism, and, as the war progressed, a lot of disinterest in the war, and both of the sides fighting it.

I was looking through Sitterson’s The Secession Movement in North Carolina a few days ago, and came across an interesting little side note. On pages 182-183, Sitterson gives a list of leading Unionists and Secessionists in the state House and Senate. Those who were Unionist in the House were as follows: D. D. Ferbee of Camden County; P. T. Henry of Bertie County; A. K. Simerton of Iredell County; and J. D. Wilkerson of Person. In the state senate, we have Bedford Brown of Caswell County; Josiah Turner of Orange County; John M. Morehead of Guilford County; David Outlaw of Bertie County; and J. D. Ramsey of Rowan County. Those considered the leading secessionists in the House were: John F. Hoke of Lincoln County; Samuel J. Person of New Hanover County; and Robert R. Bridgers of Edgecombe County. And in the state Senate, we have W. W. Avery of Burke County; Marcus Erwin of Buncombe County; Eli W. Hall of New Hanover County; and, V. C. Barringer of Cabarrus County.

What is interesting to note is that there were no leading Unionists in this list who were from western North Carolina, while leading Secessionists include Hoke of Lincoln County, Avery of Burke, and Erwin of Buncombe.

What Zeb Vance thought we should do?

Zebulon Baird Vance, still a representative in the US House, wrote local lawyer Walter W. Lenoir in Caldwell County on December 26, 1860. His letter outlines what Vance thought the states should do in regard to the dissolution of the Union:

“Many think we could do better, and the method is to form a great middle confederacy, composed of the border slave and border free states. In this way we could preserve this Capital, the public lands, the form and prestige of the old government, secure greater homogeneousness, and finally re-organize and reconstruct the whole Union around this grand and over-shadowing nucleus! … And I think the only way that the Union can be reconstructed and these cotton states be brought to treat us with proper respect, is this idea of a great Central Confederation. It could dictate terms of compromise which Georgia would be compelled to accept, and the withdrawal of Georgia would break the back bone of the whole seceding Kingdom. As for New England, we would kick it out if it refused to secede, and would never let it back unless as the single state of New England, with only two Sumners in the Senate to play the blackguard. What do you think of it?”

A look around the Old North State

Well folks, this will probably be the last look around we do for 2010, and, there are lots of stories around.

The site of the C. S. S. Peedee was recently discovered by archaeologists. You can learn more here.

More battlefield land has been preserved in and around Kinston, NC. You can check out an article here.

There are some interesting thoughts from Rob Neufeld about some of his recent comments regarding his post on the sacking of Asheville, a post you can read here. You can read the original post here.

There are a couple of posts around about a new cannon being installed at Fort Macon near Morehead City. You can read these posts here and here.

Tar Heel thoughts on the Secession of South Carolina

As many of you know, yesterday was the day – Secession Day. 150 years ago, South Carolina seceded from the Union. I chose not to post yesterday for one very large reason: most North Carolinians, 150 years ago, would have had no idea what had happened in South Carolina for days. Yes, there were a few places like Wilmington and Raleigh that were connected to the telegraph so their citizens knew that the Union was being torn asunder, but the rural folks across the state would be without the news for days.

For those places that did receive the telegraphed news, the information quickly lit a fire. Wilmington is a good example. As soon as the news arrived that the Palmetto State had withdrawn from the Union, the Wilmington Minute Men, a local militia group that had organized in November, began firing a 100- gun salute along the waterfront. This was answered by the schooner Marine, anchored in the Cape Fear River, that “answered the salute gun for gun.” Wilmington was not the only town to offer up the salutes. There were 100-gun salutes also in Mobile, Alabama; Pensacola, Florida; and Montgomery, Alabama.

This is not to say that everyone in Wilmington was thrilled with the idea. On December 21, the Wilmington Daily Herald published a piece entitled “The Fearful Leap Taken” believing that “It may be a dreadful civil war, a civil war such as the civilized world has never seen...” The Daily Herald also believed that the number of American flags flying from ships at anchor in the river actually grew as the salute went on.

Just because there were some in the state who were supportive of the secession of South Carolina, there were many others opposed. An oft-repeated story is of a North Carolina mountaineer attending a secession meeting and shouting, “For God’s sake! Let South Carolina nullify, resolute, secess, and be damned!”

Book signing this Saturday in Boone.

Given that I’ve had to cancel my past two engagements (due to the weather) I’ve been hesitant to post this. But, I think we are going to be able to get this in. On this Saturday, December 18, I’ll be speaking about the 58^th NCT and Watauga County and the War at the Watauga County Public Library at 1:00 pm. Make sure you get there early to get a seat.

Just who is Colonel Draughon?

It is unusual to come across a Confederate tombstone with so little information on it. However, if you visit Cross Creek Cemetery in Fayetteville, you will find this stone. So, just who was Col. Walter Draughon?

Draughon was born in Sampson County, North Carolina, ca. 1811, and at some point moved to Cumberland County. It was Draughon, then a general of the state militia, whom Governor Ellis ordered to capture the Fayetteville Arsenal in 1861, which he did. On September 26, 1861, Draughon was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 30th North Carolina Troops. However, when the regiment was organized in May 1862, Draughon was defeated for re-election and returned home. It appears that he later enlisted in Company F, 2nd Battalion North Carolina Defense Troops, and was mustered in as a private. At the end of the war, he had been promoted to sergeant. He died ca.1880.

Draughton is buried in the old section of Cross Creek Cemetery. Interestingly, his Confederate stone gives his rank as colonel, has no regimental information, and has only one date: 1880. Why do you think this is? Were his descendants who erected the stone uninformed? or maybe he harbored ill feelings regarding his defeat for reelection? We will probably never know.

Travis Lecture at Ft. Anderson on Jan. 18 Details Battles for Coastal Forts

WINNABOW – Brunswick Town /Fort Anderson State Historic Site in Winnabow will present local historian Jack Travis, who will speak on "Jumping the Gun: The January 1861 Captures of Forts Caswell and Johnston" on Tuesday, Jan. 18, from 7-9 p.m. Travis is the author of “Men of God, Angels of Death: A History of General Lee’s Premier Artillery Battery.” For more information, call the historic site at (910) 371-6613.

A major pre-Revolutionary port on North Carolina 's Cape Fear River, Brunswick Town was razed by British troops in 1776 and never rebuilt. Colonial foundations dot the present-day tour trail, which crosses the earthworks of the Confederate Fort Anderson. In 1861 the Confederate States of America decided to build a large fort on the old village site as part of the river defense of Wilmington . The Cape Fear was an essential route for supplies moving by rail from Wilmington to Petersburg and Richmond for General Lee's army.

The Confederate army used manual labor to construct the large sand fortification originally called Fort St. Philip's. There were two batteries, each with five cannons overlooking the shipping channel and providing protection to blockade runners.

In February 1865, following the fall of Fort Fisher at the mouth of the river, Union forces repositioned to attack Fort Anderson . Federals attacked from the land and river. After three days of fighting, the Confederates evacuated the fort at night. Union gunboats started firing at first light, unaware that Federal soldiers were breaching the walls of the fort. The infantry frantically waved sheets and blankets to stop the deadly fire from their own forces. There was a one-day fight north of the site at Town Creek before the Federals occupied Wilmington on George Washington's birthday, Feb. 22, 1865.


The commemoration of North Carolina ’s Civil War 150th anniversary (http://www.nccivilwar150.com/ ) is sponsored in part by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History, within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. For more information, visit http://www.ncculture.com/.

Schedule change

Well folks, as can be the case for this time of year, I am going to be forced to cancel a lecture and book signing. I was scheduled to go to Salisbury tonight to speak to their SCV Camp, but I am not going to make it due to the weather. We are looking at rescheduling in the spring.


You know, signed books make wonderful Christmas presents. If you are interested, drop me a line or visit my web page to order a copy of the new book on the 58th North Carolina Troops, or maybe the book on the 37th North Carolina Troops.

“be it Resolved”

Public political meetings used to be much more frequent than they are now. I’m not sure why, maybe someone has done a study of it, or maybe it is just my perception. At the political meetings in the 1860s, men (and women) would meet, someone would be appointed president, someone secretary, and then a resolution committee would be formed. As the committee met, there would be music, and speeches, to entertain the crowd. Once the committee drafted its resolutions, the chair of the committee would report the resolutions, which the crowd would vote upon. The resolutions would then be sent off to the newspaper to be printed. It seems, once Lincoln was elected, meetings become much more frequent. Some were pro Union meetings, some were pro-secession meetings. Some counties had both. Cleveland county had a secession meeting November 12, 1860, in Tarboro a couple of days later, and Wilmington on November 19, 1860.

The Wilmington Resolutions stated that the election of Lincoln, “upon grounds purely sectional… cuts off the last hope of the preservation of the present Union…” “That a Convention of the people of North Carolina, should be called without delay, for the purpose of deliberating upon the best mode of maintaining the dignity and honor of the State…” and that “we consider it the imperative duty of our Legislature, to proceed speedily to enact a law to organize and arm the Militia of the State.”

There were Union meetings in Ashe County in October, Wilkes County on November, Fayetteville around the first of December, Charlotte on December 21, 1860, and in Caldwell County toward the end of the December.

However, don’t let the title “Union meetings” mislead you. The resolutions of the Fayetteville meeting read in part: “Therefore, be it Resolved, That the election of Abraham Lincoln, the candidate of this party, to the Presidency of the United States, should be productive of serious consideration and unceasing vigilance upon the part of the South, and although not in itself cause for the dissolution of the Union, yet any attempt upon his part to carry out the policy of his party, will meet with our most determined resistance. “

As an interesting side note, the meeting in Fayetteville also produced a minority set of resolutions. These resolutions proclaimed that the “repeated acts of aggression on the part of a purely sectional party of the Northern State on the rights of the South… and the election of Abraham Lincoln… requires on the part of the Legislature and people of the State an immediate preparation for the defence of the rights of North Carolina. [Resolved 2nd] That the Constitution of the United States is a compact of sovereign, independent States, and that the right of secessions exist whenever it is necessary to protect the property of persons from legislation, or when there is failure on the part of Congress to recognize and secure to the Southern States their rights under the Constitution.

These meetings continued unabated all over the state throughout the winter months of 1861. We’ll look at that more in the future.

Fort Fisher Presents “Glory Enough For All” as Part of Civil War 150th

“Glory Enough for All,” a day-long event commemorating the kickoff for the sesquicentennial commemoration of the Civil War in North Carolina , will be held Saturday, Jan. 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Fort Fisher State Historic Site in Kure Beach . The program will focus on post-war reunions and efforts to memorialize the battle.

“Glory Enough for All” will include a new temporary exhibit featuring a United Confederate Veterans uniform and a blue-and-grey reunion button from 1907. Visitors will enjoy speakers, artillery demonstrations, infantry demonstrations and thematic tours. Offered only during this event will be a special tour of Battle Acre and the United Daughters of the Confederacy monument that was placed at that location in the 1930s. The program is free and open to the public.

At the dawn of the American Civil War, the Confederacy took control of a neck of land in southern North Carolina near the mouth of the Cape Fear River and constructed what was to become the largest and most important earthwork fort in the South. Two major battles were fought there, and many Union soldiers received the Congressional Medal of Honor for their gallant participation in that fighting. Today only a few of the mounds remain, since much of the fort has been eroded by the ocean.

Until the last few months of the Civil War, Fort Fisher kept North Carolina 's port of open to blockade runners supplying necessary goods to Confederate armies inland. By 1865, the supply line through Wilmington was the last remaining supply route open to Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. When Fort Fisher fell after a massive Federal amphibious assault on Jan.15, 1865, its defeat helped seal the fate of the Confederacy.

Visitors are invited to tour the remains of the fort's land face featuring an impressive reconstruction of a 32-pounder seacoast gun at Shepherd's Battery . Shaded by gnarled live oaks, a scenic trail leads tourists from the visitor center past the gigantic earthworks and around to the rear of the fort. Guided tours and wayside exhibits provide historical orientation. Other exhibits include items recovered from sunken blockade runners.

The commemoration of North Carolina ’s Civil War 150th is sponsored in part by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History, within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. For more info rmation, visit www.ncculture.com.

A few thoughts on writing a regimental history.

Y’all are probably tired of me talking and writing about this, but I’m going to beat this horse for one or two more posts.

What kind of resources does a person need to write a regimental history? I would say that the answer to this question covers a broad range ofsubjects. This list is not in any order.

First, a collection and then a study of period manuals. From Hardee’s Infantry Tactics, to US or CS Army regulations. Some folks will try and tell you that you should look at other Infantry tactics manuals beside Hardees, but don’t be fooled. Unless you find someone writing saying that he was using something else, use Hardee's. It was the overwhelming choice among Southern Regiments. I also have several military handbooks, military law books, and dictionaries (all 1860 reprints) that I have acquired over the years. Some of these are online. Reading and studying these manuals will help greatly with understanding what they are talking about in the Official Records.

Second, spend time with a good reenacting group. Borrow the clothes and other gear and spend the weekend being drilled and learning what a soldier would have learned in the 1860s – how to stand, how to march, how to load and fire the weapon. Go a mile in their shoes (or maybe without) carrying what they carried. I would probably recommend a living history over a small reenactment. Now, if you can attend a national event (battle reenactment), do that. Being in line with five or six thousand other reenactor soldiers will definitely give you a different perspective.

Third, visit the battlefield. If you are writing about a regiment that fought in a lot of battles, this will be a challenge. I learned this through my work on the 37th NCT – they were involved in 35+ battles and skirmishes during the war. I went to all of these save one: Ox Hill. Not much left but modern houses. The same is true for the 58th NCT. I went to all of their fields of battle save some of the stuff when they were in the works at Atlanta. I did not visit this area for the same reasons as I skipped Ox Hill--covered by houses--and for a few events, I’m still not sure where they were. Studying maps and walking in the spots where they fought will help with your narrative. Just make sure you take lots of pictures and corresponding notes.

Fourth, books, books, books. For the eastern theater, there are so many good books on the different battles and campaigns. Reading these will help give you a good grounding on what took place. For the regimentals that I have written, I often read the secondary sources, take notes on the parts of battles they were involved in, and then compare this to the primary sources. Sometimes they match up. Other times, they do not. When they don’t match, I figure out why and then write an endnote about how why they don’t, how what the soldiers wrote disagrees with what other historians have written. I have an article, which has been accepted by one of the Civil War magazines, that largely disagrees with what Gordon Rhea wrote in his book on the battle of Spotsylvania Court House regarding the role of Lane’s brigade. The article is based upon a post-war letter written by James H. Lane that adds new details to the events. I surely wish this would appear in print. Also, do not neglect books that explore the supporting elements of the army, like books on military justice, the provost marshal’s department, and chaplains.

Fifthly, look everywhere for sources. Yes, the traditional places are a given: libraries, museums, and archives. But, do not neglect local historical societies, and especially the family history section at local libraries. So many times you can find a letter, (or ten or twenty), that great grandpap wrote home that got passed down that someone included in a family history book. In my history of the 58th NCT, I found several letters from the Bailey family in a set of Bailey family history books. The same is true with a letter from a McBride in the 58th NCT. It was Volume 1 of the Heritage of Watauga County. Yes, it is time consuming.

Sixth, use the internet. There are numerous books, newspapers, and collections that have good, documentable information on what you might be working on. Yes I know, some it might not be true. For the longest time there was a picture of flag reportedly belonging to the 58th NCT. It was a Hardee’s Corps flag (blue field with a white disk) with crossed cannons. For a variety of reasons, this is not a flag that the 58th NCT would have received. Also, try and use a resource like WorldCat to look for information. When I was working on the 37th NCT book, a search of the words “37th North Carolina” did not pull up the letters of Maj. Jackson L. Bost. However, I when I went through and typed in every single officer into a WorldCat search, it did pull up Bost's letters at Duke University. There are several war-time letters which were of importance, especially in the last year of the war. Also, do not be afraid to use family surname groups like rootsweb and genforum to solicit information. I have ten sets of letters listed as “private collections” in the bibliography of the book on the 58th NCT that largely came from internet searches.

Lastly, find a couple of readers. Get someone who has a really good understanding of the War to read the text, and then get someone who is a master of grammar to proof the text before sending it to the publisher. No book is perfect, but do not expect a publisher to catch things. One of the greatest complaints you will see in reviews today (outside of the cost of a book), is poor proofreading. And it is something that can be fixed. There are companies and individuals that do this. If funds are tight, hire grad students from a university’s English grad department. They’ll be happy to have something to put on their resumes.