Restoring a North Carolina flag

Preserving old textiles is no easy feat, especially when they are made of silk. My friends in the Yadkin Gray Eagles Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, decided back in the fall to tackle the preservation of a company-level Confederate silk flag now located at the North Carolina Museum of History.

The Yadkin Gray Eagles was the local designation of group of men who enlisted in Yadkin County in May 1861, before North Carolina had even left the Union. John K. Connally was the first captain. The Yadkin Gray Eagles was mustered into service as Company B, 11th North Carolina Volunteers, a designation that was changed to the 21st North Carolina Troops in 1862. The flag was made by local women, and Miss L. M. Glenn presented the flag to the men before they marched away. The flag resembles a First National, and on the observe is the phrase "We Scorn the Sordid Lust of Self & Serve Our Country For Herself."

The flag was supposedly carried throughout the war, but not surrendered at Appomattox. Instead, it was returned to Miss Glenn. The flag was eventually donated to the North Carolina Hall of History.

For decades, the flag had been in storage, and no one was quite sure what to expect when it was unrolled in 2016. But the great folks at the North Carolina Museum of History believe that it can be conserved. So many times, the silk flags from the time period are found in little pieces.

The price tag is $30,000, far more than the cost to conserve a bunting (wool) flag. I do not know of a web page or gofundme page, but if you are interested in helping, please contact my friend Greg Cheek at ghcheek@earthlink.net.

To learn more, check out this article. 

Davidson County

It has been a while since we looked at one of North Carolina’s counties and the war. So, I thought we would pick up and take a look at Davidson County, located in the Piedmont section of the state.

Davidson County was formed in 1822 from Rowan County and was named for William Lee Davidson, a patriot during the Revolutionary War who was killed at the battle of Cowan’s Ford, on the Catawba River, in 1781. The county seat is located in Lexington, named for the 1775 battle of Lexington at the start of the Revolution. The railroad arrived in Davidson County in 1855. Another principal town is Thomasville.

In 1860, Davidson County had a total population of 16,601 people, including 3,076 slaves and 147 free people of color. In the 1860 presidential election, 1,186 men voted for Bell, 728 for Breckinridge, and 15 voted for Douglas. In the February 1861 vote on whether or not to call a convention to consider secession, Davidson County men voted 368 for and 1806 against the convention. Their elected delegates were Benton C. Douthitt and Benjamin A. Kittrell. Douthit was born in 1811 and served in the house of Commons in 1844 and the State Senate in 1858. He was a Unionist who switched when Lincoln called for troops. Kittrell was born in 1831, attended UNC, and studied law under Judge Pearson. He also opposed secession.

Davidson County sent nearly 2,000 men into Confederate service. Some of those men served in Companies B and I, 14th North Carolina Troops; Company A, 21st North Carolina Troops; Companies A and I, 42nd North Carolina Troops; Company K, 45th North Carolina Troops; Companies B and H, 48th North Carolina Troops; and Company A, 54th North Carolina Troops.

There are many interesting sites throughout the county. Several soldiers took advantage of the depot at Thomasville and left for the war from that point. A NC Civil War Trail Marker marks the site. Near Main Street and Salem Street in Thomasville is another marker. This one teaches us about a site nearby that was a hospital and a refugee camp. The hospital started out for Confederate soldiers, but later provided care for soldiers from both armies. Not far away is the Thomasville City Cemetery. There are 36 soldiers interred in the soldiers’ plot. Certain websites write that the Thomasville City Cemetery is the only cemetery in the world where Confederate and Union soldiers are buried together in a single gravesite. Thomasville was also the site of a shoe factory that helped supply Confederate soldiers during the war. In Lexington, the county courthouse was burned in February 1865 and General Kilpatrick stayed at the home of Dr. Holt at the close of the war. General Stoneman was stopped in a skirmish on April 12, 1865, at the Yadkin River bridge, and Jefferson Davis camped in a “pine grove” on April 16, 1865, as he sought to evade Federal troops.

In September 1905, “Several thousand people from Davidson and surrounding counties gathered to witness” the unveiling of Davidson County’s Confederate monument. Among the throngs were an estimated 300 to 400 Confederate veterans. The monument was originally in the center square in front of the courthouse, and it was frequently hit by automobiles. In the 1950s the monument was relocated to a less dangerous place, not far from the original site.

Rockingham County

It’s been a while since I posted one of my county histories. So, I thought this morning, we would look at Rockingham County.

Rockingham County, located along the state’s northern border, was created in 1785 from portions of Guilford County. The county was named for Charles Watson Wentworth, the Second Marquis of Rockingham, a member of the British Parliament who advocated American independence. The county seat is Wentworth, named for the marquis, and was incorporated in 1799.

In 1860, Rockingham County had a total population of 16,746 people, including 6,318 slaves and 407 free persons of color. In the 1860 presidential election the county cast 1,017 votes for Breckinridge, 485 for Bell, and162 for Douglas. When the time came for the proposition of calling a state convention to consider the question of secession in February 1861, Rockingham County voted 808 to 570 in favor of the idea. Representing the county at the secession convention in May 1861 were Dr. Edward T. Brodnax, a War of 1812 veteran and a representative in both the state house and senate. The other Rockingham County representative was former North Carolina governor David S. Reid. Besides serving as governor, he was also a state senator, a representative in the US House, a US Senator, delegate to the Peace Congress, and a member of the Confederate Congress.

Companies from Rockingham County include Companies H, I, and K, 13th NCST; Company G, 14th NCST; Company L, 21st NCT; and Companies A, D, E, F, G, H, and K, 45th NCT.

While Rockingham County saw no large troop movements, or pitched battles, there are numerous points of interest. Alfred M. Scales, a Confederate brigadier general, was born in Rockingham County in 1829. Scales was a lawyer and represented his area in the state house in 1852 and 1856, and in the US House in 1857. During the war, Scales served as colonel of the 13th NCST, and was promoted to brigadier general on June 13, 1862. His brigade consisted of the 13th, 16th, 22nd, 34th, and 38th NCT regiments. Following the war, Scales continued to practice law and served again the state house, and in 1874, in the US House, where he remained until 1884, when he was elected governor of North Carolina. He retired from politics in 1889, and served as president of Piedmont Bank in Greensboro, and as an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro. He died in 1892 and is buried in the Green Hill Cemetery in Greensboro. There is a historical marker off NC 87 that talks of his birthplace.

Another point of interest is a home, located two miles east of Madison, in which in 1847, Stephen Douglas married Martha Martin. The local family connection did not seem to help Douglas carry the county in the 1860 presidential race.

Rockingham County was also the birthplace of Thomas Settle, Jr., in 1831. Prior to the war, Settle was a lawyer and served in the NC House in 1854, and in 1858, became speaker of the house. He was also on the board of directors of UNC (there was only one at the time). During the war, he served for a year as a captain in the 3rd North Carolina Infantry. After the war, he was a member of the 1865-66 Constitutional Convention, and in the fall of 1865, was elected to the NC Senate, where in he was elected speaker of the senate. He soon became one of the leading founders of the Republican Party in North Carolina. He was elected an associate justice of the state supreme court in 1868, and then in 1871, served as ambassador to Peru. In 1872 he was back in North Carolina where he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the supreme court bench. He tried twice to run for governor, and was defeated the last time by Zeb Vance in an election known as “The Battle of the Giants.” Afterwards, Settle was appointed to a US District Court as a judge in Florida, serving until his death in 1888. He is also buried in Greensboro.

Surprisingly, Rockingham County has fully embraced the North Carolina Civil War Trails Marker program. The county has seven markers in the county, denoting Scales’s law office; the important rail link over the Dan River; Annie Eliza Johns, a nurse in the hospitals in Danville, Virginia; the Leaksville Cotton Mill; and the Wentworth Cemetery, among others. You can check out the list here.

Yadkin County

Well, I missed posting a county last week, so I am behind. Maybe I can get two done this week. I thought we would look at Yadkin County first.

Yadkin County is located in the foothills of western North Carolina, not far from Winston-Salem. The county was formed in 1850, taken from Surry county, and named for the Yadkin River that flows through the county. Yadkinville, the county seat, was chartered in 1857.

According to the 1860 US Census, Yadkin County had a total population of 10,711, including a slave population of 1,438. In the 1860 presidential contest, Yadkin County voted overwhelming for Bell (842, 495 for Breckinridge, and 23 for Douglas). In the February 1861 call for a convention, Yadkin voted 34 for calling the convention, 1490 against. Their delegate was R. F. Armfield.

Yadkin County men largely served in these organizations: Company B, 21st NCT; Companies F and I, 28th NCT; Company B, 38th NCT; and, Companies A and H, 54th NCT. The number of local Confederates has been placed at 1,200 men.

One of the most memorable activites in the county during the war occurred at the Bond School House. At the start of the war, local resident Jesse Virgil Dobbins did not want to join the Confederate army. He continued to resist after the conscription act in 1862. Some cite his Quaker beliefs as the obstacle. However, his beliefs did not stop him from wanting to join the Union Army. Dobbins, believed by some to be the head of Unionist activities in Yadkin County, began to fear the Confederate authorities, and determined to slip across the mountains to east Tennessee. He, along with several others, met at the Bond School house, near Yadkinville, on the evening of February 11, 1863. Having learned of the gathering, the local militia converged on the school house, and on the morning of February 12, a shootout occurred. Two men on each side were killed. Dobbins and his brother, William, survived and joined the Federal army. I am not sure which regiment that Dobbins joined. There are men by that name in the 1st Battalion, Tennessee Light Artillery, 2nd Indiana Cavalry and 8th Indiana Infantry. There are over 38 men named William Dobbins in the Federal army, including a William T. Dobbins who served in the 1st Battalion Tennessee Light Artillery. Jesse survived the war; William did not.

The other notable event was the arrival of Stoneman’s Raiders in April 1865. They passed through the county several times, and, on April 11, at a place called “Shallow Ford," on the Yadkin River, a portion of the command surprised part of the local home guard battalion. The local defenders put up some resistance, but were later driven off. The Federals later burned the “Red Store” in Huntsville, and the mill at Buck Shoals.

I have never found any reference to a United Confederate Veterans camp in Yadkin County, nor is there a Confederate monument.

This Saturday, there will be a dedication for a North Carolina Civil War Trail Marker in Huntersville. Stop by if you get a chance.