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]

---

[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.

Confederates buried at the Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

    Recently, Dana Shoaf, editor at Civil War Times, did a live stream from the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. When the guide was asked about the row of Confederate tombstones, he did not really seem sure how they came to be buried in what is considered the nation’s first “national cemetery.” Likewise, the self-guided tour brochure for the Congressional cemetery, states that “Historians believe that these wartime burials were Confederate soldiers who succumbed in nearby hospitals.” Let’s clear this up: these are the graves of Confederate soldiers who died at either the Old Capitol Prison or the Old Capitol Prison Hospital during the war. There are also more graves than the ten tombstones all lined up in a row. According to records, there are at least twenty-five Confederate soldiers interred at the Congressional Cemetery, along with three (or more) civilians.

   The Old Capitol Prison has an interesting history. Located right behind the U.S. Capitol, where the U.S. Supreme Court building now sits, the structure was constructed in 1815 to house Congress after the British burned the capitol building in August 1814. It would take time to reconstruct the U.S. Capitol. Congress met in the building until 1819, and President James Monroe was inaugurated here on March 4, 1817. After 1819, the building served as a private school, then as a boarding house until 1861. (John C. Calhoun died here in 1850.)

   At the start of the war, the property was acquired by the Federal government and turned into a prison for captured Confederates, spies, political prisoners, prostitutes, and Union officers. Among those incarcerated here were Rose Greenhow, Belle Boyd, John Mosby, Henry Wirz, Dr. Samuel Mudd, Mary Surratt, Louis Weichmann, and John T. Ford. Originally, the building could house up to 500, but the acquisition of adjoining buildings pushed the number to 1,500.

   The Old Capitol Prison often served as a funneling spot for other prisons. Most of the prisoners were captured in the eastern theater of the war. Officers passed through and went to Johnson’s Island in Ohio, while privates were sent to Fort Delaware (usually, but not always). According to the official Records, 5,761 prisoners of passed through the Old Capitol Prison. It is unclear if that number covered just Confederate prisoners, or all prisoners. Like other prisons, The Old Capitol Prison had a hospital, although information about this structure (or room), seems to be lacking. At least 457 prisoners died while incarcerated at the prison. Some of these men were buried a mile away at the Congressional Cemetery. (see the Official Records, series 2, volume 8, 990-1004 for additional numbers.)

   In 1807, the Congressional Cemetery was established by a private association. In 1812, once the purchase was paid off, the cemetery was turned over to Christ Church and officially named the Washington Parish Burial Ground. According to the cemetery’s web site, if a member of Congress died in Washington, he was likely interred in this burial ground. The first was Connecticut senator Uriah Tracy, who passed in 1807. Congress soon began purchasing plots, eventually owning almost 1,000, hence the name, Congressional Cemetery, although the property is still owned by Christ Church. There are more than 60 members of Congress buried here, along with former mayors of Washington, Vice President Elbridge Gerry, the Choctaw Chief Push-Ma-Ta-Ha, and John Philip Sousa. There are supposedly more than 60,000 graves, although only about half are marked.

   It is unclear why the Congressional Cemetery was chosen for Confederate Prisoner of War burials. The first appears to be Thomas Chambers, 6^th Alabama Infantry. It is unclear where Chambers was captured, but he was admitted to the “General Hospital, Capitol Hill,” on August 18, 1861 and died on August 22, 1861. (All information on Confederate soldiers was gathered from their Compiled Service Records, Record Group 109, National Archives). Most of the burials took place in 1863. Several who were captured at Hatchers Run in April 1865 died in the following weeks and were buried at the cemetery.

   There are undoubtedly more than those Confederates listed below buried within the Congressional Cemetery. There are also quite a few on this online list of burials, who are listed as Confederate soldiers, but who are, in fact, Federal soldiers. Maybe in time, more research can be done and this piece of forgotten history recovered.

Confederates buried at the Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

ANDRESS, SETH A, Company G, 41^ST Virginia Infantry. Captured on May 3, 1863, Fredericksburg, Virginia. Arrived in Washington, D.C., May 4, 1863. Transferred to Old Capitol Prison. Died Old Capitol Prison Hospital, May 16, 1863.

 BARR, DAVID, Company I, 2^ND Virginia Infantry. Captured August 3, 1863, at Chester Gap, Virginia, and confined at Old Capital Prison, Washington, D.C. Admitted to the Old Capitol Prison Hospital September 16, 1863, and Died December 11, 1863.

 BARRETT, LEVI, Company C, 15TH North Carolina State Troops. Captured October 14, 1863, Bristoe Station, Virginia. Confined at Old Capitol Prison, October 16, 1863. Admitted to the Old Capitol Prison Hospital November 23, 1863. Died November 27, 1863.

 BAXLEY, WILLIAM G. D., Pvt., Company A, 2^nd Maryland Infantry. Wounded in right thigh and captured on April 2, 1865, at Hatchers Run Virginia. Confined at Old Capitol Prison, April 5, 1865. Died on April 22, 1865. [later removed and reinterred elsewhere]

 BEARD, WILLIAM S., Company B, 28^TH North Carolina Troops. Captured December 3, 1862, Fredericksburg, Virginia. Confined at Old Capitol Prison January 27, 1863. Admitted to the Old Capitol Prison Hospital, March 25, 1863. Died of Fever, April 10, 1863.

 BROOKS J. M., Stafford County, VA, d. 5/--/1863

 CAMPBELL, A LORENZO, Company I, 11^TH North Carolina State Troops Captured in hospital in Winchester, Virginia, July 21, 1863. Confined at Old Capitol Prison. Admitted to the Old Capitol Prison Hospital, July 30, 1863. Died August 5, 1863, of pneumonia.

 CARLTON, C WINSHIP, Company C, 44^th North Carolina Troops. Captured at Brisoe Station. Died Old Capitol Prison of “pleurisy and pericarditis”

 CHAMBERS, THOMAS, Company A, 6^TH Alabama Infantry. Unclear where he was captured.  Admitted to the General Hospital, Capitol Hill, August 18, 1861. Died October 14, 1862, of Variola.

 CHANEY J., Pvt., 6^th Alabama, d.1/28/1862

 COCKRELL, BAILEY, Farmer, Loudon County, Virginia. d. 03/03/1864

 FARROW, R S, CAPTAIN, CONFEDERATE, CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY, d. 04/01/1865.

 FOSDICK, HENRY A, PVT, Company I, 6^TH Alabama Infantry. d. 09/19/1863.

 GASQUE, THOMAS, Company H, 1^st SOUTH Carolina Rifles, d. 09/11/1862

 HARDCASTLE, JOHN, CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY, d. 05/01/1863.

 HARRINGTON, JOHN, Company E, 33RD North Carolina Troops. Captured October 18, 1863, Bristoe Station, Virginia. Confined at Old Capitol Prison October 22, 1863. Admitted to the Old Capitol prison Hospital, November 16, 1863. Died December 10, 1863, “chronic diarrhea.”

 HODGES, JOHN T, CPL, Company H, 61^ST VA Infantry. Captured at Rapidan Station, Virginia, October 7, 1863. Listed as “rebel deserter.” Confined at Old Capitol Prison October 9, 1863. Admitted to the Old Capitol Prison Hospital on October 9, with a “gunshot wound of arm.” Died October 16, 1863.

 HUGHLETT, JAMES, CPL, Company F, 47^TH Virginia Infantry. Date and place of capture unknown (Possibly Gettysburg). Admitted to Old Capitol Prison Hospital July 18, 1863. Died August 3, 1863, of pneumonia.

 JACKSON, JOHN C, Company H, 20TH North Carolina State Troops. Reported missing in September 1862. Admitted to the Capital Hospital, September 21, 1862, Transferred to the Capitol Prison Hospital, September 30, 1862. Died October 30, 1862, dysentery.

 KEYS, REUBEN, CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY, d. 04/18/1863.

 MCMILLAN, WILLIAM, Company A, 14^TH LOUISIANA Infantry. Captured November 7, 1863, near Brandy Station, Virginia. Confined Old Capitol Prison, November 8, 1863. Admitted Old Capitol Prison November 25, 1863. Died December 1, 1863, typhoid fever.

 MILLS, WILLIAM J, Company D, 12^TH GEORGIA Infantry. Captured May 30, 1862, near Front Royal, Virginia. NFR.

 MILSTEAD, JAMES, Company H, 6^TH Virginia Cavalry. Wounded left thigh and captured April 1, 1865, at Hatchers Run, Virginia. Admitted to hospital at City Point, Virginia, April 3, 1865. Transferred to the Lincoln General Hospital, Washington, D.C., April 11, 1865. Died May 23, 1865, of “Chronic Diarrhea.”

 MORAN, ROBERT, Farmer, Loudon County, Virginia. d. 02/29/1864.

 MURCHISON, CICERO, Company G, 44TH, Georgia Infantry. Captured on November 28, 1863, Mine Run, Virginia. Confined at Old Capitol Prison, December 5, 1863. Admitted Old Capitol Prison Hospital, December 6, 1863. Died December 11, 1863, pleurisy.

 NAAK, LUDWIG, 1ST LT & ADJ FIELD &, CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY, d. 01/30/1862.

 NEALLY, ISIAH, Company D, 20TH North Carolina Infantry. Captured December 3, 1863, Mine Run, Virginia. Confined Old Capitol Prison, December 3, 1863.Admitted Old Capitol Prison Hospital, December 24, 1863. Died December 24, 1863, pneumonia.

 PIERCE, STEPHEN, Company D, 48^TH Virginia Infantry. Captured in Front Royal, Virginia, May 30, 1862. NFR.

 POWELL, CHARLES, Company F, 35^TH Georgia Infantry. Reported missing May 5, 1862. Reported in U.S.A. Hospital, Williamsburg, Virginia, May 9-11, 1862. NFR.

 RUCKER, JAMES S, Moorman’s Company, Virginia Horse Artillery. Captured September 13, 1863, near Culpepper, Virginia. Confined at Old Capitol prison September 14, 1863. Admitted to the Old Capitol Prison Hospital on October 3, 1863. Died on October 7, 1863.

 SHIPLETT, WILLIAM, UNKNOWN, ROCKINGHAM, CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY, d. 05/01/1863.

 STONE, JOHN W, CPL, Company H, 4^TH Virginia Cavalry. Captured near Brandy Station on February 23, 1863. Arrived in Washington, D.C., February 23, 1863. Assigned to Old Capitol Prison on February 23, 1863. Admitted to the Old Capitol Prison Hospital on March 9, 1863 Complaint: Pneumonia. Died on May 12, 1863. 

TRIGGER, ROBERT, Company E, 15^TH Virginia Cavalry. Listed as a deserter on Federal prison records. Took the Oath of Allegiance February 19, 1863. Arrived in Washington D.C., February 21, 1863. Died Old Capitol prison, February 25, 1863, of Pneumonia.

Site Visit Saturday: Fox’s Gap and Brig. Gen. Samuel Garland, Jr.

    Do lawyers make good generals?  Some of them have. Others, not so much. There were a slew of lawyers who became Confederate generals, such as Lawrence Branch, John B. Gordon, Theodore W. Brevard, Jr., Daniel W. Adams, and Alpheus Baker, just to name a few. Included in the bunch was Samuel Garland, Jr.

   Born in Lynchburg, Virginia on December 16, 1830, Samuel Garland, Jr., was the great-grandnephew of United States President James Madison. His father was an attorney (who died when Samuel was ten years old). Samuel was educated in a private school in Nelson County, then at Randolph Macon College, and finally, the Virginia Military Academy, where he graduated in 1849, third in his class. He went on to study law at the University of Virginia, and after John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry organized a militia company. When the war came, that company became a part of the 11^th Virginia Infantry, and Garland was commissioned the regiment’s colonel. Garland and his regiment fought at the battle of Manassas in July 1861, as a part of Brig. Gen. James Longstreet’s brigade. Following the battle of Seven Pines, in which Garland was wounded in the elbow, he was promoted to brigadier general. He commanded a North Carolina brigade composed of the 5^th, 12^th, 13^th, 20^th, and 23^rd Regiments.

 

Garland Marker, Fox's Gap

   With the reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia following the Seven Days campaign, Garland found his brigade in D.H. Hill’s Division, Jackson’s wing. During the Maryland Campaign, while the rest of Jackson’s command invested Harper’s Ferry, D.H. Hill’s command was sent to guard the gaps across South Mountain, protecting the rear of Jackson’s forces capturing the town. At the beginning of the fight, Garland was ordered to take his brigade and defend the National Pike. D.H. Hill wrote after the battle that “The firing had aroused that prompt and gallant soldier, General Garland, and his men were under arms when I reached the pike. I explained the situation briefly to him, directed him to sweep through the woods, reach the road, and hold it at all hazards, as the safety of Lee's large train depended upon its being held. He went off in high spirits and I never saw him again. I never knew a truer, better, braver man. Had he lived, his talents, pluck, energy, and purity of character must have put him in the front rank of his profession, whether in civil or military life.”  During the fighting at Fox’s Gap, Garland was struck in the back by a bullet that passed through his body. His last words were “I am killed. Send for the Senior colonel.”

   Following his death, Garland was interred at the Presbyterian Cemetery in Lynchburg, next to the graves of his wife and son who had passed in June and July 1861 of influenza.

   In September 1993, the Sons of Confederate Veterans erected a commemorative marker near the spot of Samuel Garland’s death. I last visited the site in May 2011.

Revision: 1,500 Confederate regiments

I recently found the late Arthur Bergeron's Guide to Louisiana Confederate Military Units, 1861-1865, on my own shelf. Not sure why I did not look at it when I made my initial post a few weeks back. Crute's Units of the Confederate States Army lists 77 infantry, cavalry, and artillery organizations from Louisiana. Bergeron lists 111. So, the new number of Confederate regiments, battalions, and batteries raised during the war stands at 1,500. I image this number will continue to rise.

A couple of days ago, I received this question through my contact form, from Edgar: "I found many union regimental histories/biographies on the Hathi Digital website when I was researching Sherman's march campsites (Goldsboro-Raleigh) last winter, but I can't find much about Confed. regiments there." So, why not more Confederate regimentals? That's a question. The reason that a person cannot find more Confederate regimentals on online databases like HathiTrust is probably because they were not written.

Using North Carolina as a guide, we find in Stewart Sifakis's Compendium 233 Confederate regiments, battalions, and batteries. Of those 233 organizations, only seven had histories written and published by the veterans themselves. Those seven are:

Harris, Historical Sketches of the Seventh Regiment North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865 (1893)

Smith, The Anson Guards: Company C, Fourteenth Regiment North Carolina Volunteers 1861-1865 (1914)

Mills, History of the 16th North Carolina Regiment in the Civil War (1901)

Carr, History of Company E, 20th N. C. Regiment 1861-1865: Confederate Grays. (1905)

Underwood, The 26th Regiment N.C. Troops, Pettigrew's Brigade, Heth's Division, Hill's Corps, A. N. V. 1861-1865 (1901)

Sloan, Reminiscences of the Guilford Grays, Co. B 27th N. C. Regiment (1883)

Day, A True History of Company I, 49th Regiment North Carolina Troops (1893)

If my math is right, that is only 3 percent of North Carolina regiments, battalions, and batteries that had a book written about their service prior to the 1960s. To take this a step further, of the seven, only three are actually regimental histories. The others deal with companies. Now, to North Carolina's credit, the North Carolina Confederate Veterans Association, under the direction of Walter Clark, began to collect essays by veterans about their regiments at the turn of the 20th century. This was later published in 1901 in a five-volume set. To my knowledge, no other state has anything equal to this: a short history of almost every regiment, written by a veteran of that regiment. (By the way, all five of these volumes have been digitized and are online.)

   So to answer the question posed, the reason there is not more information on these regiments is because the veterans did not write down their histories. Union regimentals are plentiful. Confederates, not so much.

Brunswick County

For our study today, I thought we would move about as far away from my mountain home (where it is currently snowing), as we can get: Brunswick County. I have been fortunate enough to visit Brunswick County four or five times in the past ten years. Each of those stays was for several days, including a week at Fort Caswell.

Brunswick County is located in the coastal area of North Carolina. The county was formed in 1764 and named for King George I, who was also the duke of Brunswick. The area had been settled by Europeans several decades earlier. Brunswick Town, founded in 1725, was the first permanent European settlement on the Lower Cape Fear River. Bolivia was once the county seat, but since 1975, Southport has gained that honor.

In 1860, the total population of the county was 8406, including 3,021 slaves. That same year, the presidential vote was also a tie. Breckinridge received 326 votes, while Bell received 386. Douglas got one. The elected convention representative was Thomas D. Meares.

Brunswick County men served in the following regiments: Company G, 20th North Carolina Troops; Company C, 30th North Carolina Troops; portions of Companies G and K, 36th North Carolina Troops (2nd North Carolina Artillery); and, Company G, 51st North Carolina Troops.

You might say that the Civil War in North Carolina began in Brunswick County. On January 9, 1861, a group of local militia seized Fort Caswell. Named for North Carolina’s first governor, Fort Caswell was a part of the third system fortifications along the coast of the United States. The fort was manned only by a caretaker. That same day, Fort Johnston, a little to the north of Fort Caswell, was also seized. Fort Johnston was much older, portions of it dating back to 1745. Both forts were returned to the Federal government by Governor Ellis, only to be retaken on April 16, 1861.

Costal fortifications

Fort Johnston was served as a early recruiting and training depot, and functioned as a supply depot for much of the war. The fort was modified, beginning in late 1861, with an earthen battery, which in 1863, was expanded. The battery contained four, 10-inch guns. The fort was also known as Fort Branch, and in late 1863, Fort Pender. The 20th North Carolina Troops was stationed at the Fort until June 1862. Portions of the 1st North Carolina Artillery were also stationed at the fort, along with portions of the 2nd North Carolina Artillery. Fort Johnston was abandoned after the fall of Fort Fisher. Later, the fort was garrisoned by the 149th New York, 27th and 37th United States Colored Troops. The Confederate earthworks were gone by 1870. Today, only the officers’ quarters are left.

Fort Caswell

Fort Caswell was likewise reworked, and massive sand batteries were constructed around the fort’s brick walls. These earthworks protected 29 heavy guns. These included 32-pounders, 8 and 10-inch Columbiads, and a 150-pounder Armstrong. Two of the guns on duty at Fort Caswell survive: they flank the Confederate monument on the capitol grounds in Raleigh. There were several plans laid in 1862 through 1864 to bombard or assault Caswell, but none of these plans was ever executed. Finally, with the fall of Fort Fisher across the Cape Fear River, Fort Caswell was abandoned. On January 16, 1865, the barracks were burned and the magazines destroyed. When the magazines blew up, they took a large portion of the fort with them. The explosion was felt as far away as Wilmington and Fayetteville.

Both the garrisons from Forts Johnston and Caswell retreated north to Fort Anderson. This earthen fort, which is incredibly preserved, was constructed at the site of the ruins of Brunswick Town mentioned above. The fort was first known as Fort St. Phillip, named in honor of the church ruins on site; later it was called Fort Henderson, and finally, Fort Anderson, in honor of the late Confederate general George Anderson. The massive earthen walls contained ten cannons. In February 1865, the fort withstood three days of bombardment before the garrison evacuated during the night.

Other earthen batteries were constructed in Brunswick County during the war. They included Batteries at Dutchman Creek, Deep Water Point, and Reaves Point. Also on Oak Island near Fort Caswell was Battery Campbell, containing at least fifteen guns, including a 100-pound Brooke Rifle. Between Campbell and Caswell was a battery with one 10-inch Columbiad. This might have been called Battery Shaw.

Across from Fort Caswell and Oak Island is Bald Head Island and the Bald Head Lighthouse. The southern tip of the Island contained at least five batteries, the most impressive of which was called Fort (or battery) Holmes. The current Bald Head Lighthouse was constructed in 1817. During the war, the lighthouse guided blockade runners into the Cape Fear River. The light was darkened with the Fall of Fort Fisher. While no longer in use, the Bald Head Lighthouse is the oldest such structure in North Carolina.

The Confederates from Forts Caswell and Anderson retreated north and made a stand behind Town Creek. The Confederates, under the command of Brig. Gen. Johnson Hagood, were flanked out of their position, losing some 400 men captured.

Brunswick County offers a visitor some good places to visit today. Fort Anderson/Old Brunswick Town is a state park and well worth a visit. The earthen fort at Old Brunswick is impressive. Fort Caswell still survives, and is owned by the North Carolina Baptist Assembly. Make sure you stop by the office to announce your presence to the folks there. You can also ferry over to Bald Island to see the lighthouse.

You can find a good photo tour of Fort Caswell here. The state web site for Fort Anderson/Old Brunswick Town can be found here

Sources: Johnson, Touring the Carolinas’ Civil War Sites; Angley, A History of Fort Johnston; Herring and Williams Fort Caswell in War and Peace; Powell, Encyclopedia of North Carolina.