A couple of weeks ago, I posted information on a member of
the 40th United States Colored Troops who is buried in the Hardin Cemetery in
Avery County. There is another interesting grave at this cemetery. It is the
grave of Peter Hardin. There are not a lot of "facts" concerning the
life of Peter Hardin. It seems that Hardin was a slave, possibly park Creek
Indian. He was owned by Jordan Council Hardin, the same man who ran the
Cranberry Iron Works for the Confederacy. As the local story goes, Peter Hardin
would take a load of iron-ore down the mountain to Morganton once a month. The
Iron-ore was then taken by train to some facility (possibly Salisbury or
Charlotte) to be turned into munitions of war for the Southern war effort. Once
the war ended and the 13th Amendment was adopted in December 1865, Hardin continued
to live in Cranberry and work at the Cranberry Iron Mines. The cemetery where
he is buried is named for him. Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Laboring for the Confederacy
A couple of weeks ago, I posted information on a member of
the 40th United States Colored Troops who is buried in the Hardin Cemetery in
Avery County. There is another interesting grave at this cemetery. It is the
grave of Peter Hardin. There are not a lot of "facts" concerning the
life of Peter Hardin. It seems that Hardin was a slave, possibly park Creek
Indian. He was owned by Jordan Council Hardin, the same man who ran the
Cranberry Iron Works for the Confederacy. As the local story goes, Peter Hardin
would take a load of iron-ore down the mountain to Morganton once a month. The
Iron-ore was then taken by train to some facility (possibly Salisbury or
Charlotte) to be turned into munitions of war for the Southern war effort. Once
the war ended and the 13th Amendment was adopted in December 1865, Hardin continued
to live in Cranberry and work at the Cranberry Iron Mines. The cemetery where
he is buried is named for him.
Thankyou Michael,we tend to forget about men like Peter Hardin.They also gave all and need to be remembered!
ReplyDeleteMicheal--
ReplyDeleteThanks for this little Tidbit. Like Anthony said we tend to forget about people like Hardin and they definitely need to be remembered.