Mecklenburg County

In the county studies that I have written in the past, I’ve shied away from the large cities and their respective counties in the state. I just struggled with a way to both find the information that I wanted to include, and to find ways to write that information. I think I have figured it out. We are going to look at Mecklenburg County today, and probably for the rest of the week in a series of related posts.


Mecklenburg County was created in 1762 and named for the home of King George III’s wife, Charlotte Sophia’s home – Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The county seat, originally called Charlotte Town, was incorporated in 1768. Charlotte earned the name “The Hornet’s Nest” during the American Revolution because of the citizens’ patriotic fervor. It was also the site of the signing of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, a document that was supposedly signed a year before the far more well-known Declaration of Independence.

In 1860, there were 17,374 people who lived in Mecklenburg County, including 6,541 slaves and 290 free persons of color. Today, Mecklenburg is the most populous county in North Carolina. In 1860, Buncombe, Granville, Guilford, Halifax, New Hanover, and Wake Counties were larger. In the 1860 presidential election, eligible voters cast 1,101 votes for Breckenridge, 826 votes for Bell, and 135 for Douglas.

During the February 1861 call for a convention, eligible voters cast 1,448 votes in favor of calling the convention, and 252 against. They were allowed two candidates for the convention: William Johnson and James W. Osborne. Johnson was born in present-day Gaston County in 1817. He was a graduate of UNC (1840) and then studied law. He settled in Charlotte soon thereafter. In 1856 Johnston was a railroad president. Johnson resigned his seat in the convention when appointed Commissary General by Governor Ellis. Osborne was born in Salisbury in 1811, and graduated from UNC in 1830. He also studied law and settled in Charlotte. In 1859 Governor Ellis appointed Osborne to a judgeship, and the legislature later approved the governor’s actions. Both Johnston and Osborne died in 1896.

Numerous companies came from Mecklenburg County and joined the Confederate cause. They include Company K, 1st North Carolina Cavalry; Company E, 4th North Carolina Cavalry; Company F, 5th North Carolina Cavalry; Company B, 2nd North Carolina Junior Reserves; Company C, 1st North Carolina Artillery; Companies B and C, 1st North Carolina Volunteers; Company A, 6th North Carolina State Troops; Company D, 7th North Carolina State Troops; Companies A, E, and H, 11th North Carolina State Troops; Company B, 13th North Carolina Troops; Company K, 30th North Carolina Troops; Company G, 34th North Carolina Troops; Company H, 35th North Carolina Troops; Companies C and I, 37th North Carolina Troops; Company K, 42nd North Carolina Troops; Company B, 43rd North Carolina Troops; Company F, 49th North Carolina Troops; Company B, 53rd North Carolina Troops; and, Company K, 56th North Carolina Troops. After the war, Dr. John B. Alexander, himself a former member of the 37th North Carolina Troops, believed that 2,713 men from Mecklenburg County served in the Confederate army.

There are numerous important people (to the Confederacy) who lived in Charlotte at the time of the war. Included in this list is Daniel Harvey Hill, who was teaching at the North Carolina Military Institute at the start of the war, along with Brig. Gen. James H. Lane and Col. Charles C. Lee.

There are numerous issues we could discuss about Charlotte and Mecklenburg County and its role during the war. I would argue that Charlotte and Mecklenburg County was the second most important area of North Carolina during the war (behind Wilmington and New Hanover County). Charlotte was the site of the North Carolina Military Institute, which provided numerous officers to the Confederate army. (Check out a post about the school here.) Also located in Charlotte was the Confederate Naval Ordnance Works, a hospital, the Confederate Acid Works, a Confederate gunpowder manufacturing facility in the Moore’s Chapel/Tuckaseegee Ford area, and a prison camp – Camp Exchange. The area was the site of the last cabinet meeting of the Confederate government in late April 1865. It was in Charlotte that Jefferson Davis heard of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Charlotte was later garrisoned by Federal soldiers after the war. We’ll talk more about these in the days to come.

After the war was over, Charlotte and Mecklenburg County was home to a large United Confederate Veterans camp, the Stonewall Jackson Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the James H. Lane Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. In 1929, North Carolina held its only National Reunion of the United Confederate Veterans in Charlotte. You can learn more about that here and here. There are numerous Confederate markers and monuments around the county. Mecklenburg County is also the final resting place of D. H. Hill (in Davidson), Brig. Gen. Rufus Barringer and Brig. Gen. Thomas F. Drayton (in Charlotte).

Ghost of Winter Past

I thought since so many of us (myself included) are snowed in, I would post a few snow-related stories from the war. I hope you enjoy.

“We have plenty of snow here and the soldiers appear to enjoy themselves finely snowballing each other. Penders Brigade & Greggs had a powerful time yesterday. Both parties held their ground. It imitates a battle as much as anything I ever saw.” Lt. Burwell T. Cotton, 34th North Carolina Troops, Feb. 25, 1863, Fredericksburg, VA.

“It is mighty cold Weather here for the last 3 or 4 days there has been a very good deal of snow here the last week the mountain is white with it now the Wind blows cold from it the mountains looks so pretty and White” Benjamin and W. H. Freeman, 44th North Carolina Troops, Feb. 19, 1864, Camp on the “Rapid Ann”

“I am sorry that I haven’t any thing new or interestin to write. I will write a bout the weather. It is very rough and has been for sore time and it seems like it will continue so, for it is raining and sleating and snow occasionally and the mud is from shoo top to knee deep.” Harrison H. Hanes, 4th North Carolina State Troops, Feb. 1, 1862, Manassas, Virginia.

“This morning at 4 o’clock we were waked up by the pleasant sound of the long roll. We were ordered to get ready to march. It is very cold, snow nine inches deep.” Louis Leon, 53rd North Carolina Troops, Feb. 4, 1863, Goldsboro, NC

“times is hard here and the winter is very cold here and clothing scearse. We have no clothing, only what we have on. Our houses is the forest of the woods. Our bead is the cold damp earth. Thre of us sleeps to gether.” Thomas L. Morrison, 6th North Carolina State Troops, Jan. 7, 1863, “near Frederick va”.

“I can inform you that we left the Gap Saturday the 25th at 1 o’clock and march 10 miles west and camp in Powell Valley and just before day it commenced snowing. The ground was gray at daylight. We marched at 8 o’clock and by 10 there was a good tracking of snow. At 12 the large snow commenced flying fast and the wind blew in every direction. It was bad traveling meeting the wind. I gave 50 cents to git my gun and napsachall (carried) and it saved me for I should of gave out. Some of the boys did not reach camp that nite. Wyatt and Jim Slagle like to of gave out. We camped at 4 o’clock and bilt fires. I had a good fire when the boys got there and by dark the snow was ankle deep but I can inform you I slept good and warm. I have got that pillow yet and was a great beautiful morning on Sunday. “ Green B. Woody, 58th North Carolina Troops, Oct. 29, 1862, east Tennessee.

“"Last Sunday has not been equaled for snow and wind since the furious ‘wind and snow Sunday' of 1856: our tents and huts were all wet with it. It lay on the ground about 12 inches…" John B. Alexander, 37th North Carolina Troops, Feb. 25, 1863, near Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Johnston County

Since I have been doing quite a bit of reading on the battle of Bentonville, I thought for our next county study we would look at Johnston County.

Johnston County was formed in 1746 from portions of Craven County. The new county was named for Gabriel Johnston, a Royal Governor of North Carolina from 1743 to 1752. The county seat is Smithfield and was established in 1777. Smithfield, formerly known as Smith’s Ferry, became the county seat in 1771, and was formally chartered in 1777.

In 1860, Johnston County had a population of 15,656 people, including 4,916 slaves and 195 free blacks. Johnston County was a major cotton producing area, and in 1854, the railroad linked the cotton growers to major outlets. In the 1860 presidential election, the men in Johnston County cast 974 votes for Breckinridge, 630 for Bell, and 38 for Douglas. Johnston County’s representative to the 1861 Convention was William A. Smith. Smith was a “Union man” and went on in 1864 to serve in the state legislature. After the war, he served in the State constitutional convention and in the state senate.

Johnston County sent an estimated 1,500 men into Confederate service, serving in these companies and regiments: Company C, 5th NCST; Companies C, E and I, 24th NCT; Companies C and D, 50th NCT; Company C, 53rd NCT; Company g, 55th NCT; and Company B, 56th NCT.

Johnston County’s big moment during the war came almost at the war’s end. In mid-March 1865, the armies of William T. Sherman and Joseph E. Johnston collided near the community of Bentonville. Sherman was continuing his drive through the Southland, having already completed treks through Georgia and South Carolina. He was heading north to join with the Federal forces currently laying siege to Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia. Johnston, in the words of Mark Bradley, chronicler of the battle of Bentonville, “regarded Confederate defeat as inevitable, and believed that a stunning blow to Sherman’s army might give the South greater leverage at the bargaining table.”

It is easy to look at the battle in hindsight. Johnston should have taken control of the railroads, and more of his scattered forces (like Cheatham) could have been brought to bear against the Federals. Johnston should have told Braxton Bragg to take command of McClaw’s Division, which had been sent to strengthen Bragg’s flank, but he did not. And McClaw’s division, the largest in Johnston’s “Army of the South,” remained idle throughout the battle. Bragg, well what do you say about Bragg? He should have been somewhere else doing something else, and his troops turned over to a more competent leader. I think Bragg does have good traits, but being a battlefield commander is not one of them . Regardless, Johnston was able to catch a portion of the Federals unawares, and drive a portion of them back. All in all, there were just too many Federals for Johnston to cope with, and he was forced to retire from the field. Bentonville produced an estimated 4,738 casualties – 1,646 Federal, 3,092 Confederate.

Bentonville was the largest battle fought on North Carolina soil during the war. You can find a really good web site about the battle, and the battlefield, here.

I have been to Bentonville several times or the past decade, and, as many of you know, I am currently working on a book about one of the Confederate regiments that fought at the battle. If you ever get a chance, make sure you visit the area.

If you visit this link, you can get more information on some of the Civil War Trail markers in the area.

Union County

For our next county, we will turn our attention to the southern piedmont area: Union County.

Union County, originally populated by Native American tribes known as the Waxhaws and the Catawbas, was created from portions of Anson and Mecklenburg counties in 1842. The area had been settled since the early 1700s by Presbyterian Scots-Irish, Welsh, and Germans. The name “Union” was a compromise. The Democrats wanted to name the county in honor of Andrew Jackson, and the Whigs in honor of Henry Clay. Monroe, the county seat, was named in honor of President James Monroe. While Mecklenburg County, to the west, had prospered with an "industrial revolution" in the 1850s and 1860s, Union County was still predominantly a planter- and tenant-farmer-based society, with a small number of artisans. The county, one of the largest cotton-producing counties in North Carolina, also produced an abundant amount of tobacco. In 1860, Union County had a population of 11,202, including 2,246 slaves. The county voted for Breckinridge in the 1860 presidential election.

In February 1861, the county voted 548 for and 483 against calling a convention. Hugh M. Houston was the elected delegate for the convention.

Union County sent numerous men to serve in the Confederate army. These men served in Co. C, 10th Battalion, North Carolina Heavy Artillery; Co. F, 2nd North Carolina Junior Reserves; Co. I, 4th North Carolina Senior Reserves; Co. B, 15th North Carolina Troops; Co. B, 26th North Carolina Troops; Co. F, 35th North Carolina Troops; Co. D, 37th North Carolina Troops; Co. B, 43rd North Carolina Troops; Cos. A, E, F, and I, 48th North Carolina Troops; and Co. I, 53rd North Carolina Troops. Regiments like the 26th and 37th NCTs were some of the hardest fighting regiments of the Army of Northern Virginia.

The landscape of Union County remained untouched until the very last year of the war. On March 1, 1865, a skirmish was fought between Confederate cavalry under the command of Joseph Wheeler and Federal cavalry under Judson Kilpatrick. That same day, a group of Federal raiders rode into Monroe, stealing horses, mules, a train of ten wagons, “and nineteen negro men…” After reading the ORs, it appears that the wagons belonged to the African-Americans, thirteen of whom later escaped and returned to Monroe.

There were both UCV and UDC Camps in Union County after the war.

On the grounds of the old Union County Court House is a monument dedicated to local Confederate soldiers. The marker was dedicated on July 4, 1910. A parade with floats opened the festivities, followed by the unveiling of the monument. Next, the UDC pinned crosses of honor on the veterans present (about 150), before adjourning to the Masonic hall for dinner.

For more information, check out this web page.

Charlotte during the war

I thought I would spend a little more time dealing with Charlotte’s war-time history.
Historiography: To my knowledge, there has only been one work written since the end of the war. This was a work entitled: On the Home Front: Charlotte During the Civil War.. It was published in 1982 by the Mint Museum and only contains 20 pages. There have been other works that mention the war years, including John B. Alexander’s two works: The History of Mecklenburg County: From 1740 to 1900 (1902), and, Reminiscences of the Past Sixty Years (1908).

Charlotte, and Mecklenburg County, contributed numerous men to the Confederate cause. Of our first regiment that went off to war, two of the companies, the "Hornet Nest Rifles" (B) and the "Charlotte Grays" (C) hailed from the County. Col. D. H. Hill lived in Charlotte, as did Lt. Col. Charles C. Lee, Lt. John H. Wyatt (Assistant Commissary of Subsistence) and T. B. Boyd, hospital steward.

Other companies from Mecklenburg include:
Co. A, 6th NCT
Co. D, 7th NCT
Co. A, 11th NCT
Co. E, 11th NCT
Co. H, 11th NCT
Co. B, 13th NCT
Co. K, 30th NCT
Co. G, 34th NCT
Co. H, 35th NCT
Co. C, 36th NCT
Co. I, 36th NCT
Co. C, 37th NCT
Co. I, 37th NCT
Co. K, 42nd NCT
Co. B, 43rd NCT
Co. F, 49th NCT
Co. B, 53rd NCT
Co. K, 56th NCT

What about in Charlotte proper?

The old US Mint building, now known as the Mint Museum, served both as a headquarters building and a hospital. There was also a Wayside hospital (near Morehead street) in Charlotte. Most of the Confederate dead in the Confederate section of Oakwood Cemetery were buried beside this hospital. Charles C. Lee, mentioned above, is buried in this cemetery (killed while leading the 37th NCT in battle), as is Rufus Barringer, and Thomas Drayton.

Also in Charlotte was a manufacturing facility for the Confederate Navy. Charlotte was also the home of Julia Jackson, wife of Stonewall Jackson. During the last days of the war, Jefferson Davis held his last cabinet meeting in Charlotte, and was in Charlotte when he heard of the death of Lincoln.

More to come...