The Execution of Confederate Spies at Johnson’s Island

 

   Spies are one of the more difficult subjects to research and write about. Several times over the years we have attempted to tell this story, whether it be Nettie Slater (read about here), Lottie and Ginnie Moon (here), or Rose Greenhow (here). At times, were spies really spies, or where they people who just got labeled as spies? Were William Corbin and Thomas Jefferson McGraw spies, or just at the wrong place and wrong time?

   William Francis Corbin was born near Carthage, Kentucky, Cambell County, in 1833. One of his neighbors, John C. DeMoss, chose to raise a company in Campbell County, and Corbin was elected first lieutenant. This was prior to the war. When the Federals invaded Kentucky, DeMoss, Corbin, and about twenty-five others returned their state arms, made their way through the lines, and, in September 1862, enlisted in Captain Thomas Moore’s Company, 4^th Kentucky Cavalry. Corbin returned to Campbell County in the winter months of 1863, working on raising his own company. He had with him Jefferson McGraw, who was also working on recruiting men in Campbell County. 

William F. Corbin (Findagrave)

   According to DeMoss, “the arrangement between Corbin and McGraw was, that they should meet at Daniel’s house on the night of the capture, and that Corbin and his recruits arrived on time. After waiting some little while for McGraw, and fearing that something had happened to him, he started his men on, in the direction of Paris, preferring to wait alone. Simultaneous with McGraw’s arrival, the [Federal] soldiers appeared, and surrounding the house, made the capture.” Found on Corbin were a commission from Brig. Gen. Humphrey Marshall, a blank book with forms and an oath to administer to new recruits. Corbin’s name appeared in the book as a “Recruiting Sergeant.” Corbin was armed with a Colt pistol and knife. Another member of the 118^th Ohio recalled Corbin burning some papers the following morning.[1]

   A Northern newspaper editor noted that “those captured near Morris’ Mills, are Wm. F. Corbin, T.J. McGraw and Samuel T. Reardon.”[2] Another newspaper noted that “Lieutenant Rickison, of the 118^th Ohio Regiment, with a squad of thirteen men, captured Jefferson McGraw and another man, in the neighborhood of Rouse’s Mill, on Wednesday evening [April 8, 1863]. These men were sent under guard to DeMossville.”[3] The newspapers imply that Corbin and McGraw were a part of “the notorious Capt. Jim Caldwell’s band.” Not long after Corbin and McGraw were captured, the 118^th Ohio ran into Caldwell and a chase began. In the vicinity of Germantown, Mason County, Caldwell was “surprised and completely routed… Caldwell escaped on a very fleet horse. Most of his men jumped from their horses and took to the woods… A carpet bag containing a large number of letters from the neighborhood of Demossville and Mullins’s Station, addressed to persons in the rebel army, was captured; also a pair of saddle-bags, containing a lot of cakes…horse shoe nails, yard, socks, undershirts, suspenders, &c.”[4]

   Corbin and McGraw were taken to Kemper Barracks, Cincinnati, Ohio, where they were imprisoned on April 18, 1863.[5]

   Following the loss at Fredericksburg, Maj. Gen.  Ambrose Burnside was assigned to be commander of the Department of Ohio. On April 13, 1863, Burnside issued General order No. 38. Stating that “all persons found within our lines who commit acts for the benefit of enemies of our country, will be tried as spies or traitors, and if convicted will suffer death.” This included people who were “Carriers of secret mails; Writers of letters sent by secret mails; Secret recruiting officers within our lines; Persons who have entered into an agreement to pass our lines for the purpose of joining the enemy.”[6]

   Corbin and McGraw were hauled before a military court martial in Cincinnati on April 22. Corbin was charged with recruiting within Union lines and carrying of the mail. Corbin pled “Not guilty.” McGraw was charged with recruiting within Union lines, to which he pled not guilty. Both men were found guilty of the charges against them and ordered “to be shot unto death, at such time and place as the Commanding General shall direct.” Corbin and McGraw were sent to Johnson’s Island, where, “subject to the approval of the President of the United States [Abraham Lincoln], to see that their sentences are duly executed at that post, between the hours of twelve o’clock noon and three o’clock P.M., Friday, May 15, 1863.”[7]

   There were attempts to intervene and stay the execution. Corbin’s sister Melissa went to Cincinnati, where she met with former mayor R.M. Bishop. Bishop confessed that he had already attempted to intervene, “so far without avail.” Together they went to see Nicholas Patterson, president of the local Union League. He promised to try and help. Melissa decided to appeal directly to Burnside. She was accompanied by Bishop and Patterson, and a local pastor, along with a petition addressed to Lincoln and signed by local Unionists.[8]

   According to one of the party, Burnside’s “only reply was that he had determined to make an example of these men and that the matter was out of his hands, and only the President had the power to give the relief asked for.” They asked if Burnside would forward the petition and request with his recommendation, but he would only forward the petition, and would give no recommendation. Melissa received letters of support from local Union men, and with an escort, made her way to Washington, D.C. Lincoln refused to meet with Melissa, and refused to read a letter she wrote to the President, commenting “that these men were bridge-burners and bad men and should be punished, and that he could not interfere with General Burnside’s order.” Melissa then returned to Cincinnati, relating her sad tale to Bishop, and the others, including General Burnside. John C. DeMoss, who knew the family and had accompanied Melissa to Cincinnati and Washington, D.C., received permission from Burnside to go to Johnson’s Island. DeMoss found Corbin and McGraw in “a common soldiers’ canvas tent; the furnishing consisted of straw and blankets for a bed, and camp stools to sit on. The men were chained to a ball which would weigh about twenty pounds, the chain being riveted around one ankle.” DeMoss explained to the pair about Melissa’s attempts with Burnside and Lincoln. Corbin and McGraw had won the admiration of the guards and prison officials.[9]

   The next morning, Corbin and McGraw were allowed to attend church, with Corbin speaking. DeMoss met with them in the afternoon, and they passed letters to him to deliver to those back at home. “Two hours after our interview,” DeMoss continued, the pair was marched out of their cell, “bearing their own ball and chains, each surrounded by a squad of twelve soldiers, to the shore of the island, where the waters of Sandusky Bay washed the green sward on the shore.” “The men were blindfolded, hands tied behind them, and seated on their coffins, facing the firing party standing twelve paces away… Standing about one hundred feet from them, I could distinctly hear the command, ‘one, two, three, fire!’ and the deed was done.” The execution took place May 15, 1863. “Afterward the bodies were properly cared for by the soldiers detailed for that purpose, placed in coffins, and forwarded by express, to their homes in Kentucky, the government furnishing transportation.”[10]

   Corbin was buried in his family cemetery in Carthage, Cambell County, Kentucky. McGraw was interred in the Flagg Springs Baptist Church Cemetery.

   How did Burnside get past ex post facto? Both the U. S. Constitution in 1788 (Article I, Sections 9 and 10) and the Supreme Court when it ruled in 1798 in Calder v. Bull prohibit passing a law after the fact that adds or increases penalties for acts people have already committed. Kentucky was not under martial law until July 1864. Since many in the North believed that Southern States could not leave the Union, how could Burnside get away with this?

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[1] DeMoss, A Short History of the Soldier-Life, Capture, and Death of William Francis Corbin, n.p.

[2] The Cincinnati Enquirer, April 15, 1863.

[3] Cincinnati Commercial, April 13, 1863.

[4] Weekly-Courier-Journal, April 21, 1863.

[5] Corbin, CMSR, NA

[6] DeMoss, A Short History of the Soldier-Life, Capture, and Death of William Francis Corbin, n.p.

[7] The Cincinnato Enquirer, April 30, 1863.

[8] DeMoss, A Short History of the Soldier-Life, Capture, and Death of William Francis Corbin, n.p.

[9] DeMoss, A Short History of the Soldier-Life, Capture, and Death of William Francis Corbin, n.p.

[10] DeMoss, A Short History of the Soldier-Life, Capture, and Death of William Francis Corbin, n.p.

Civil Defense and the Confederacy

   Mention Civil Defense (Cold War) or Civilian Defense (World War II), and we get pictures of Air Raid Wardens, the Aircraft Warning Service, blackouts, Victory Gardens, and scrap drives. The Office of Civilian Defense was established by Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt on May 20, 1941, an effort to coordinate federal and state responses in regard to protecting civilians and mobilizing them for what became World War II. The program was terminated on June 4, 1945. In 1950, another movement began, this time labeled as Civil Defense, an attempt to try and prepare people in the advent of nuclear war. Many programs under Civilian Defense and Civil War defense were the same.

   Someone recently asked if there was a correlation between what the United States government was doing in the 1940s and 1960s and the Confederate government. Like most historical questions, the answer is no, and yes.

In the Hospital, 1861, by William L. Sheppard.

   Nationally, there was no one in charge of any type of program in the Southern Confederacy. (Really no program like this in the Northern states, either.) Civilian Defense during World War II was run by the governors in various states, who appointed county-level boards and committees. However, in most cases in the South, people in various communities set up what might be termed “civilian defense” on the local level. 

Ladies Aid Societies – at the outset of the war, various Ladies Aid Societies were set up to provide clothing and other necessities for soldiers. Just about every community had these organizations. The Greenville Ladies Association (South Carolina) held their first meeting on July 19, 1861.Their purpose was “to relieve the sick and wounded among soldiers, by forwarding to them linen, underclothing, cordials, bed ticks, socks, etc. Secondly, to make winter clothing for the volunteers of the Confederate Army.”[1] These aid societies were not just confined to large areas. Smaller counties likewise set up Aid Societies with the same goals. In the foothills of western North Carolina, the ladies of Caldwell County likewise formed an aid society in September 1861. They often collected necessities for the soldiers. This included normal things, like socks, shirts, drawers, coats, quilts and comforters, as well as the more unique, like three dozen candles, four bottles of lemon syrup, half a dozen cups and saucers, thirty copies of the New Testaments, and roots like slippery-elm, sage, pepper, mustard, flax-seed, hops, etc.[2] Women will continue to make and donate clothing throughout the war, but many of the uniforms were manufactured via contract or “piece” work. A depot would provide the materials, already cut out, and the ladies would take them home and sew them, returning the finished articles to the depot and being paid by the piece they completed. Sewing, especially during the Great Depression and in the days of the Works Progress Administration, often under the auspices of the Red Cross, was a major producer of locally made clothing and mattresses. Women mailed packages to their loved ones overseas, and took on jobs, making uniforms in factories.

War effort – during War World II, families were encouraged to save by-products from the kitchen, namely grease from cooking bacon, which could be used in manufacturing explosives (glycerin). The government went as far as to set up the American Fat Salvage Committee. During the 1860s, it was not so much bacon grease that was collected, but nitre for making gunpowder. The Nitre Bureau in Richmond ran an advertisement in a newspaper in 1864, asking the public for dead animals.[3] John Haralson famously posted in a newspaper in Selma in July 1863: “The ladies of Selma are respectfully requested to preserve the chamber lye collected about their premises for the purpose of making nitre. A barrel will be sent around daily to collect it."[4]

Hospitals were a kind of novelty at the start of the 1860s. They existed, but they were usually for the poor. Doctors usually made visits to patients in homes. With the excess of patients that the war produced, both those wounded and those who were sick with one of the many camp diseases, hospitals sprang up all over the place. Due to the number of soldiers passing through Charlotte in mid-1862 via the railroad, local ladies stepped up and established a hospital association. They acquired the wash house of the North Carolina Military Institute. The names of the ladies on duty were published in the local newspaper, while two other volunteers visited the homes of the Hospital Association volunteers to collect supplies – food and bandages – to staff the hospitals. The Confederate government later took charge of the hospital, but the ladies continued to volunteer. This was repeated across the South.[5] During World War I and World War II, the Red Cross employed “Grey Ladies,” volunteers who wrote letters, read, and provided other services to disabled soldiers. There were many medical volunteers in Civilian Defense during World War II, beyond the Red Cross, including doctors, nurses, and nurses aids.

Different Civilian Defense jobs,

Ambulance Drivers – along the same lines as those who ministered in hospitals were ambulance drivers. The Richmond Ambulance Corps was established in 1862. This group met the trains bearing wounded at the depot in Richmond, conveying them to various hospitals, and later the receiving hospital, for medical care.[6] During World War II, there were volunteer messengers recruited into Civilian Defense.

Scrap Drives – Outside of Rosie the Riveter, the most iconic image of the United States home front during World War II was of the scrap drives. School children and scout troops collected thousands of pounds of scrap in the way of old iron, tires, records, and paper to be turned into munitions for the war effort. Likewise, there were collections of scraps across the South during the war years. S.D. Rodifer advertised in February 1862 that he was paying the “highest price in Cash” for “Wrought Scrap,” brought to his shop in Selma, Alabama.[7] William L. Brown, in charge of the Confederate States Arsenal in Richmond, advertised in June 1863 that he was looking for “Scrap iron and Lead, Wrought iron and scrap lead.”[8]

Chaplains – one of the volunteer roles for Civilian Defense was that of chaplain, although the role is not clearly defined. During the 1860s, pastors of churches visited local hospitals, worked on collecting foodstuffs and clothing, forwarding the items to the front and at times taking the items to the front themselves. Several churches and denominations sent missionaries and colporteurs to the front with tracts and Bibles.

While not called Civilian Defense during the 1860s, the ideas were certainly woven into the fabric of Southern society.

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[1] C.M. Landrum, Minutes of the Proceedings of the Greenville Ladies’ Association in Aid to the Volunteers of the Confederate Army, 1861-1865, James W. Patton, ed., New York, 1937, 15.

[2] Semi-Weekly Standard, November 13, 1861.

[3] Richmond Dispatch, March 23, 1864.

[4] If you have an actual citation for this oft repeated quote, please drop me a line.

[5] Hardy, Civil War Charlotte, 34-35.

[6] Ash, Rebel Richmond, 14.

[7] The Daily Selma Reporter, February 10, 1862.

[8] Daily Richmond Whig, June 25, 1863.

The French Lady and the Lincoln Assassination

    We don’t discuss much about Lincoln here on Looking for the Confederate War, really only once that I can recall, and it was on Lewis Powell, alias Payne. I had a chance to visit his grave, or at least one of his graves, back in 2021. (You can read more here.)

   A few days ago, I was reading a little book by George Raynor entitled Rebels and Yankees in Rowan County (North Carolina). Raynor has a chapter on Sarah Antionette “Nettie” Gilbert Slater, also known as the French Woman or the Veiled Lady. Raynor believes that Slater once lived in Rowan County, North Carolina. He also believes that she was a Confederate courier and spy in 1865.

Godey's Fashion Prints from the 1860s

   She was born January 12, 1843, in Middleton, Connecticut. Her father, Joseph Gilbert, was a French teacher and made pills. Parts of the family, including Nettie, moved to Kinston, North Carolina, ca. 1858, and then to New Bern, where she met Rowan Slater. He had studied music at Trinity College, then worked as a traveling musician and dance instructor. New Bern was a little more welcoming of his talents than Salisbury. They were married in New Bern in June 1861.[1]

   Slater worked as a purchasing agent for the Confederate government in Goldsboro. In 1863, the moved to Salisbury, settling on the family farm. On July 23, 1864, he enlisted in Company A, 20^th North Carolina Troops. He is listed as present or accounted for until he was captured on April 6, 1865, in the vicinity of Farmville, Virginia. Slater was confined in Newport News, Virginia, until he took the Oath of Allegiance and was released on June 26, 1865.[2]

   For some reason, Nettie decided to head north in January 1865. Raynor speculates that it was to visit her mother who was still living in New York City. She approached Burgess S. Gaither and James G. Ramsey, two North Carolina Confederate Congressmen, for a pass between the lines. They wrote Maj. J.H. Corrington, Confederate provost marshal, recommending a pass. “She has lost her only brother in the Confederate Army and we have no hesitation in vouching for the loyalty of this lady and her high social position and hope she will meet with no difficulty in passing the lines of our army.”[3] Secretary of War Seddon endorsed the request.

   What happened next is not really clear, but Nettie was recruited into the Confederate spy network. She was chosen to deliver messages to Montreal. She spoke French perfectly and could claim French citizenship. Raynor lays out a quick timeline. She made her appeal to go to New York on January 16, and was on her way to Montreal on January 31. Nettie was taking documents to support the claims that the St. Albans raiders were acting under orders. She was escorted by another Confederate agent, August “Gus” Howell. On her return trip, also bearing information, she met John H. Surratt, Jr. in New York, and he accompted her to Washinton, D.C., and the Surratt boarding house. Howell then went with her to Richmond.[4]

   More documents were needed by Confederate agents in Canada, and Nettie was back in Montreal on March 17, making the trip back through New York and Washington to the Surratt boarding  house. From there, they traveled to the Surratt Tavern. Federals had raided the tavern the night before, arresting Howell. John Surratt and Nettie crossed the Potomac River and then headed to Richmond. David Berry ferried them across the river. When Federal authorities questioned Berry, he described Nettie, who was using the alias of “Mrs. Brown,” as “a rather thin delicate woman. I think she had black eyes and dark hair. I do not recollect whether I saw her with her bonnet off. I think she wore her veil down all the time.” (Raynor, Rebels and Yankees, 15.)

   In Richmond she met with state department and treasure department officials who asked her to go to Montreal a third time. She and Surrat returned to Washington and on April 4, set out again. Just what takes place over the next few days is unclear. Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865. Several individuals were arrested, including Mary Surratt, John’s mother. She and three others were quickly tried, found guilty of being accomplices to John Wilkes Both, and were executed. John Surratt fled to Canada. Or, maybe he was already there.

   Raynor wrote that he was unaware of what happened to Nettie. She simply disappeared from history. Yet we do have more of the story. Nettie was arrested on April 30, 1865, and interrogated by a Colonel Ingram. Several witnesses swore that she was a Confederate agent known as the “French woman,” and a major link between the Confederates in Richmond and those in Montreal. Nettie was released.[5]

   For some writers, Nettie’s involvement was more serious. Michael Schein believes that John Surratt and Nettie were lovers, and that she had many aliases, including Kate Brown, Kate Thompson, and A. Reynaud. He also believes that if there was an order coming from Richmond for authorizing the assassination of Lincoln, it was carried by Slater and Surratt. (This has never been proven.)[6] Schein writes that Surratt, using an alias, and Nettie checked in to the St. Lawrence Hall in Montreal on January 10, 1865, at least three weeks before her first trip. Of course, the Mr. T.H. Hendrickson and Miss Slater that registered could be anyone. And why would he use an alias and she wouldn’t? The entire letter by the two Confederate congressmen was just a ruse, Schein claims.[7] Schein’s account seems full of “maybes” that rely on a lot of guesses and circumstantial evidence. He further speculates that Nellie fled with Surratt to Canada after Lincoln’s death. He had taken a round-about trip to rescue his “beautiful young co-conspirator with whom he is in love.”[8] Schein goes on, believing that Nettie left Surratt in late August 1865, returning to New York City.[9] Back in North Carolina, Rowan Slater files for divorce, which is granted on November 19, 1866. He believes that Nettie is dead. According to Schein, Nettie marries William Spenser, her sister’s widower, who also passes. Nettie, according to Schein, lives under the alias of “Sarah A. Long” in New York, passing away on April 20, 1920. “The Government never caught up with her. Whatever her crimes, they died with her,” Schein concludes.[10]

   One of Schein’s sources is an article by James O. Hall that appeared in North and South in August 2000. Hall claims that “Federal detectives sought to find an elusive young Confederate agent they knew only as ‘Mrs. Slater,’ sometimes referred to as ‘the French woman’ or  ‘the lady in the veil.’ The deceives never found her. It was not for lack of trying.” Chamlee, in his book Lincoln’s Assassins, actually cites records from the adjutant general’s office stating she was arrested, interrogated, and released – Records of the Judge Advocate General’s office, Roll 2, Nos. 766-784, National Archives. Hall concludes that Nettie disappeared from the pages of history following the war.[11]

   A lifetime could be spent on the mysterious life of Sarah Antionette “Nettie” Gibert Slater, centered around the last four months of the war. There are primary sources to explore, like those cited by Chamlee, and fanciful writings to debunk, like those of Schein. A good scholarly book on Confederate spies and the secret service as a whole is also needed. I confess that I do not have the books by Ted Boyias, Harold W. Mills, Jr., or Charles Rivers. I do have Tidwell’s Come Retribution: The Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination of Lincoln. Like Schein, there is too much “But it is not hard to draw a logical conclusion” speculation. Tidwell uses this phrase in describing the January 1865 trip of Surratt to Richmond.[12]

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[1] Raynor, Rebels and Yankees, 10-12.

[2] Jordan and Manarin, North Carolina Troops, 6:444.

[3] Raynor, Rebels and Yankees, 13.

[4] Raynor, Rebels and Yankees, 14.

[5] Chamlee, Lincoln’s Assassins, 198.

[6] Schein, John Surratt, 65.

[7] Schein, John Surratt, 66.

[8] Schein, John Surratt, 150.

[9] Schein, John Surratt, 180.

[10] Schein, John Surratt, 181.

[11] Hall, “The Veiled Lady” North and South, (August 2000), 34-44.

[12] Tidwell, Come Retribution, 341.

North Carolina's Mars Hill College and the War

   Mars Hill. That’s an interesting name for a place. In western North Carolina, in the rugged mountains of Southern Appalachia, is the small community of Mars Hill. It is home to Mars Hills University. Like so many other places across the nation, it has a deep and interesting war-time history.

   The area was a crossroads of sorts, with roads connecting Asheville to the south and Marshall, the county seat of Madison County, to the west. Local people wanted their children to have a better education. There was the Burnsville Academy to the west, but it was a several days’ walk, and was run by the Methodists. People in the area decided to form the French Broad Baptist Institute in 1858. They renamed the school Mars Hill College in 1859, choosing to remember a site in ancient Greece where the Apostle Paul debated the leading thinkers of Athens. The school had over 100 students in the 1860-1861 term.[1]

    In September 1862, the Rev. John Ammons, writing from Mars Hill College, implored fellow Baptists across the South to take up collections for missionaries and colporters for the Confederate army. “It is to you then, Pastors, that we appeal,” Ammons wrote. “Ask your congregations to give and they will do it. Let every pastor lay the matter before his congregation and take collections for Army Colportage for N. Carolina.[2]

    The College remained open the first two years of the war, under the tutelage of President Pinkney Rollins. Rollins was a closet Unionist, who after the war, made his views known. “[T]he rebels said he was a traitor, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and most of them refused to patronize him.”[3] Whether it was Rollins’s political views or due to the continuous draw of Confederate forces upon the male population, Mars Hill College closed its doors at the end of term in the spring of 1863.[4] Shortly thereafter, at least 100 Confederate soldiers arrived and took over the buildings. Colonel James Keith and Lt. Col. Lawrence Allen, often associated with the 64^th North Carolina, used the campus as a base for a short amount of time. The two are often connected with the Shelton Laurel war. Most of the 64^th North Carolina was captured when Cumberland Gap was surrendered in September 1864 (read more about that here.)[5]

   The college campus also became home to the headquarters of the home guard of Brig. Gen. John W. McElroy. One amusing incident occurred when a Confederate officer at home on leave conspired with the home guard commander to test the effectiveness of the home guard. That night, the two officers positioned themselves on a nearby hill and “began to fire. The company became frightened; the commander shouted to his men ‘Fall out’, ‘Attention!’ Whereupon one, Ned Waldrop, stated that he would fight if the captain would let him get where he wanted to be. ‘Where do you want to be?’ responded the captain. “Behind the College building, sir,’ was the reply. It was soon learned that the attack was just a joke, or “training.”[6] 

Missing marker at Mars Hill University 

    On another occasion, one member of the home guard who was working at Mars Hill bragged to another worker about his unit killing three brothers and almost killing the mother. A few days later, the mother’s brother, James Norton, arrived at the site and killed the man. Norton was tried for murder, but acquitted.[7]

    Often, the home guard was away chasing dissidents from the Shelton Laurel area. In late April or early May 1864, one group of dissidents from Shelton Laurel, composed of fourteen men and three women, raided across West Fork, possibly into Buncombe County. They killed one man and beat another to “nearly to death.” The group was caught by the home guard at Mars Hill, with only one man and one woman escaping. “The women were armed with revolvers and took a hand in the murder and robbery,” the newspaper reported.[8]

   In late March or early April 1865, portions of George W. Kirk’s command, the 2^nd and 3^rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry (US) visited the college, ransacking the buildings and burning two of them.[9]

    The college rebuilt after the war and continues, as Mars Hill University. There was a North Carolina Civil War Trail marker on campus denoting the war in the area until recently. Maybe once construction is finished, it will return.

  

[1] Carr, “Mars Hill College,” 6.

[2] The Biblical Reporter, October 1, 1862.

[3] McLeod, From These Stones, 65.

[4] Carr, “Mars Hill College,” 5.

[5] Gaston, Partisan Campaigns of Col. Lawrence M. Allen, 16.

[6] Carr, “Mars Hill College,” 2.

[7] Inscoe and McKinney, The Heart of Confederate Appalachia, 270.

[8] Weekly Progress, May 17, 1864.

[9] Carr, “Mars Hill College,” 5-6.