Off yet again

Well, I’m off again. Tonight, I’m speaking to the Gen. James B. Gordon SCV Camp in Wilkesboro. Tomorrow night, I’ll be with the Piedmont Civil War Round Table in Charlotte.

The Hart Brothers of Ashe County

A while back, I wrote about the Robinett brothers of Alexander County (37th NCT), and the members of the Key family, two brothers and a cousin (18th NCT), all killed at the battle of Hanover Court House on May 27, 1862. I recently came across this tragedy in my current research.

On July 20, 1862, Riley, Joseph, and Andrew Hart enlisted in Company L, 58th North Carolina Troops. They were all from Ashe County. Riley G. Hart was born on November 13, 1831, and when he enlisted, he was the father of five children. Joseph Hart was next, born August 3, 1840 or 1842. Andrew Hart was the youngest, born March 4, 1843 or 1847. They were all the sons of John Hart and Nancy Floyd Hart.

Given the date that they enlisted, July 20, 1862, the Hart brothers were probably all conscripts. Almost all of Companies L and M of the 58th NCT were conscripts, which would explain their massive amounts of desertions. All were mustered in at the rank of private.

On May 26, 1863, all three brothers deserted from camp near Clinton, Tennessee. They headed northeast, but did not make it far before being "captured by the enemy" in Hawkins County. The brothers were sent to Lexington, Kentucky first, then transferred to Camp Chase, Ohio, where they arrived on June 29. From there, they were transferred to Fort Delaware, where they arrived on July 14, 1863.

Both Joseph and Riley died on August 26, 1863, while imprisoned at Fort Delaware. Riley died of "rubeola." Joseph’s cause of death was not reported. Andrew fared little better. He lived (just how much living you did while in a prison camp is debatable) until September 2, 1863, when he died of "typhoid fever." The brothers are buried in the Finn’s Point National Cemetery in Salem, New Jersey

Home at last

My spat of idiotic racing over two states has come to an end. Here’s a breakdown of my recent travels.

On Wednesday afternoon, I drove to Virginia. Portsmouth is about seven hours from my house. I spoke at the Civil War Preservation Trust’s annual conference at Portsmouth on Thursday morning and had a great crowd. I left that afternoon and drove to Hanover, Virginia. Thursday evening, I spoke to the Hanover Dragoons Camp of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans. The Hanover Dragoons meet at the Historic Slash Church, which served as General Branch’s headquarters during the battle of Hanover Court House.

I slept in on Friday, and then spent a couple of hours in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond before heading to a bookstore in Chapel Hill, and then back home.

Saturday morning found me in Wilkes County, speaking at gravestone dedications for two Confederate soldiers: William Garner of Company F, 37th North Carolina and Hillary Thomas Garner, of Company G, 54th North Carolina. Speaking about William was not easy. He enlisted in September 1861 at the age of 55. He was discharged on December 1, 1861. No reason was given for his discharge, but it most likely had something to do with his age.

Then, it was off to Burnsville, in Yancey County. There, my own SCV camp was conducting a two-day "find your Confederate ancestor" program. I had a chance to talk to many great folks and to get some good information for my upcoming book on the 58th North Carolina Troops. I was back in Yancey on Sunday afternoon for more of the same. After we packed up on Sunday, I and Michael Ledford drove over to a couple of cemeteries. I am working on an article for Confederate Memorial Day and wanted a couple of photographs of Iron Crosses on Confederate gravestones. We discovered that the Iron Cross on the grave of Sgt. Wilson Henry, CO. C, 16th NCT has been STOLEN. This Cross was located in the Gibbs-Proffitt Cemetery. Old timers recall seeing many Iron Crosses on the graves of local Confederates. With the loss of the Cross from Sergeant Hensley’s grave, that leaves only one so-marked grave in all of Yancey County. Removing Iron Crosses from graves is a CRIME!

I then headed back home, and spent last evening watching the program on Sherman on the Hitler (History) Chanel.

Today - back to work on the book on the 58th NCT.

By the way, the above photograph is my family (me, Elizabeth holding Isabella, and Nathaniel) on the front porch of the historic Nu-Ray Inn in Burnsville.

Three Federal North Carolina Regiments

This past Saturday, I got the opportunity to speak to the state convention of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars in Asheville. They were a great group of folks, and I enjoyed being there. After that, I wandered over to Books-a-Million. Someone had given me a gift certificate for Christmas and, since there is no Books-a-Million in Crossnore, and it could not be used online, I had not used it as of yet.

When I was leaving, I ran into Scott Nicholson, an Appalachian-horror writer who lives in Boone and has been kind enough to review some of my books for the Watauga Democrat. We got to talking about home yankees - those who were from North Carolina and joined Federal regiments. The three in discussion were the 2nd and 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry and the 13th Tennessee Cavalry. It is amazing how few people know anything about these regiments.

The 2nd North Carolina Mounted Infantry was organized in Knoxville, Tennessee in October 1863. The regiment was commanded by Lt. Col. J. Albert Smith, an Indiana native. A large number of men in the regiment came from Buncombe and Henderson counties. One of the company officers in the regiment was George W. Kirk, a Tennessee native. He set about to recruit his own regiment, and the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry, with Kirk as colonel, was organized at Knoxville, Tennessee in June 1864.

The 3rd NCMI was likewise made up of North Carolina men, mostly from Yancey, Wilkes, Watauga, and Mitchell Counties. Many of these men were former Confederates. Fifty-four of the men of the 58th North Carolina Troops joined these two regiments after they deserted.

Both regiments pulled almost the same service. The 2nd North Carolina was

Ordered to Greenville, Tenn., October 16, 1863, and on duty there until November 6. Moved to Bull's Gap November 6, and was on duty there until December. March across Clinch Mountains to Clinch River. Action at Walker's Ford December 2. Gibson's and Wyerman's, Miss., February 22, 1864. Duty at Cumberland Gap and patrol duty in East Tennessee until April, 1865. Scout from Cumberland Gap January 23-27, 1865. Expedition from East Tennessee into Western North Carolina March 21-April 25, 1865. Moved to Boone, N. C., April 6, and to Asheville, N. C., April 27-30. Duty in North Carolina and East Tennessee until August. Mustered out August 16, 1865.

The 3rd North Carolina did

Scout and patrol duty about Knoxville, Tenn., and in East Tennessee until December, 1864. Scout from Morristown, Tenn., into North Carolina June 13-July 15, 1864. Camp Vance June 28. Russellville, Tenn., October 28. Big Pigeon River November 5-6. Moved to Paint Rock December 7. Expedition into Western North Carolina March 21-April 25, 1865. Moved to Boone, N. C., April 6, and to Asheville, N. C., April 27-30. Duty in North Carolina and East Tennessee until August, 1865. Mustered out August 8, 1865.

Likewise, the 13th Tennessee was of the same ilk. According to Jeffrey Weaver’s web site:
The 13th Tennessee Cavalry was formed based on authority granted by Major General Ambrose E. Burnside, and was mustered into Federal service at Strawberry Plains, Knox County, Tennessee between October 28 and November 8, 1863. The regiment mustered out of Federal service at Knoxville on September 5, 1865. The regiment was commanded by Colonel John K. Miller during its existence

The 13th Tennessee Cavalry saw limited action during the first year of its existence. In the late summer of 1864, however, the regiment was pressed into active field service. The regiment skirmished the Brigadier General John C. Vaughn's East Tennessee (Confederate) Brigade on several occasions, and participated in the abortive column sent to support General Stephen Burbridge's October 2, 1864 raid on Saltville, when the Confederates soundly defeated the Federals at Bull's Gap. Subsequent fighting in November also resulted in defeat for the Federals.In December, 1864, however, General George Stoneman replaced Burbridge in operational control of forces in the area. Stoneman was a more agreeable commander for most of the Federals, increasing their morale, supply situation, and overall esprit de corps. The Confederates, on the other hand, had moved many of the men defending the saltworks at Saltville to the Shenandoah Valley and Richmond in the interim. In mid December 1864, General Stoneman led a raid, including the 13th Tennessee Cavalry on the important mines and railroad in southwest Virginia, and succeeded in wrecking the Saltville saltworks, and destroying iron forges in Smyth County, and shops in Wytheville, and eventually the lead mines in Wythe County, Virginia.The remainder of the winter of 1864-65 was spent in quarters, and occasionally chasing the remnants of John Vaughn's Confederate Brigade. The next active campaign, the last of the war, was again with Stoneman, through Watauga County, North Carolina, into Wilkes County, into Surry, and back into Southwest Virginia. The war was basically over, and little of military importance was accomplished on Stoneman's last raid

There is no modern treatment of the 13th Tennessee Cavalry. A history of the regiment was published in 1903 and has been reprinted by Overmountain Press.
In 2000, we got two books on the 3rd North Carolina. The first, by Ron V. Killan, I do not have and cannot comment on. The other, Kirk’s Raiders, by Matt Bumgarner, makes mention of the 2nd North Carolina and contains a roster of both regiments. But this book has no notes and no index.

I’m sure that I as work through the 58th NC that there will be more posts about these three regiments.

I've been everywhere, man...

Folks - I will be on the road quite a bit over the next two weeks. Tonight, I’ll be in Burnsville. Tomorrow night, Salisbury at the Rowan County Library. Thursday night, in Forest City, Friday, at the Avery County Museum in Newland (from 1 until 4pm) and Saturday, in Asheville, speaking at the state MOS&B convention.
Next week is just as active. On Thursday morning, I’ll be speaking at the CWTP’s national conference in Portsmouth, Virginia, and that evening, at the Hanover Dragoons’ SCV Camp. They meet in the historic Slash Church. On Saturday morning, I’ll be at a 37th North Carolina marker dedication in Wilkesboro, NC, and that afternoon (and Sunday afternoon), I’ll be back in Burnsville.
Hope to see you around.

Col. John B. Palmer

Several of my blogging comrades (Eric Wittenburg and J. David Petruzzi) occasionally put bios of cavalry officers on their blogs. I thought I might join in, occasionally posting bios of North Carolinians. The first concerns Col. John B. Palmer. If you were to look at traditional sources, like Civil War High Commanders by the Eichers, you would not find much on Colonel Palmer. What you will read below has taken me a decade to put together, usually just one little fact at a time.



I hope you enjoy.

Col. John B. Palmer
© 2007, Michael C. Hardy



John B. Palmer was born in Plattsburg, Clinton County, New York, on October 13, 1826. His father, John Palmer, was a lawyer and two-term legislator from Clinton County in the United States Congress. His mother was Charlotte Theresa Sailly, whose parents came from France. Both John B. Palmer’s grandfather and great-grandfather were members of the 14th New York Militia during the American Revolution. His father died in 1840, and John B. went to Detroit, Michigan, where one of his brothers and one of his sisters lived.



In Detroit, Palmer quickly established himself, going into the mercantile business with his brother-in-law, James A. Hicks. Palmer also had an interest in the shipping business, and in 1849, was one of the trustees of the new Detroit Savings Bank. On October 12, 1852, Palmer married Miss Frances Marvin Kirby, the daughter of Colonel Edmund Kirby and Eliza Brown, of New York. Miss Kirby was the first cousin of Edmond Kirby Smith, became a lieutenant general in the Confederate army. Her brother, a Federal artillery captain named Edmond Kirby, was killed at Chancellorsville. Palmer continued to rise through the ranks of society. In 1856 he was one of the directors of the new Detroit Board of Trade, and a year later was elected president of the Detroit Young Men’s Literary Society. About this time, and possibly for health reasons, or because of a relationship with the famous Childs family, he began looking at western North Carolina as a new home.



Palmer settled on a tract of land in what was then Watauga County, and made arrangements to have a house constructed. A historian once wrote that Palmer "had built the finest house in all the area that became Avery County." Palmer called his estate "Grasslands." According to the 1860 census, John B. Palmer’s personal and real estate value was $105,000, making him one of the wealthiest men in western North Carolina, but he simply listed his occupation as "farmer." Palmer quickly became an important member of the region’s society. In June 1861, he wrote to North Carolina Governor Ellis requesting the General Assembly to call a special election to fill the seat of George N. Folk, who had resigned to raise a company for the new Confederacy. A few months later, Palmer was appointed as one of the commissioners to select a county seat for one of the newest counties in the state: Mitchell County.



December 1861 found Palmer raising a company for North Carolina’s contribution to the Southern war effort. Why Palmer joined the South in her quest for independence is a mystery. At the age of 35 in 1861, he was beyond the age for conscription. Both he and his wife also had many relatives who fought for the Union. Whatever his reasons for supporting the Confederate cause, on December 11, 1861, Palmer was elected captain of the "Mitchell Rangers." In early 1862, Palmer was authorized to raise "Palmer’s Legion." A legion during the Civil War was an organization composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. Legions were falling out of favor with the Confederate government, but on May 13, 1862, Palmer was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 5th Battalion, North Carolina Partisan Rangers. Palmer created a training camp, called Camp Martin, on his property, and begin to recruit men. In July 1862, Palmer was promoted to Colonel and assigned to the newly created 58th North Carolina Troops, then forming at Johnson’s Depot (now Johnson City), Tennessee.



Colonel Palmer led the 58th NCT out of camp in August 1862 and headed for Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. At the Gap, Palmer was placed in charge of paroling recently captured prisoners. He was ordered into Kentucky in late 1862, but the 58th did not arrive in time to participate in the battle of Richmond. From Kentucky, Palmer led the 58th to various areas of east Tennessee, guarding railroads and supplies. In September 1863, Palmer and the 58th were ordered to Chickamauga, Georgia, and assigned to the Army of Tennessee. Colonel Palmer was wounded in the desperate fighting the 58th performed while routing the Yankees from their stubborn defenses. Colonel Palmer and the 58th gained great praise from their commanders. Major General Stevenson wrote that Colonel Palmer "performed his duties with such admirable zeal and efficiency that I have thought it due to so worthy an officer to add my humble merits." There was serious talk of promoting Palmer to the rank of brigadier general. Palmer returned to the 58th on November 1, 1863, and on November 19, 1863, was reassigned to command the department of Western North Carolina.



With his headquarters in Asheville, Palmer was given an area to defend and not nearly enough troops to do the job. There were constant raids from east Tennessee into western North Carolina, raids from both Federal soldiers and bushwhackers. It was during one of these raids in June 1864 that Unionists from Tennessee set out to raid the conscription camp near Morganton. On their return, the group burnt Palmer’s house at Grasslands. Palmer continued to do what he could with his limited forces, rounding up deserters in western North Carolina and helping with Confederate campaigns in Union-controlled east Tennessee. In the last days of the war, Palmer was given a field command, and the department was turned over to Brigadier General Joseph G. Martin. Palmer was paroled in Athens, Georgia, on May 8, 1865.



Colonel Palmer moved to South Carolina not long after the war, but continued to hold on to his property in present-day Avery County. He and his wife made several trips to Europe after the war. Colonel Palmer became president of the Charlotte, Columbia, and Augusta Railroad and president of the Southern Security Commission. He also served as president of two different banks in Columbia, South Carolina. In 1879, Palmer purchased 80 acres of orange groves in a new winter resort area in Central Florida: Winter Park. His property was located on Lake Maitland. Both a street in the new town and a canal were named after Colonel Palmer. In 1882 Palmer gave $50 towards the construction of a new depot in Winter Park for the South Florida Railroad. Palmer and his family continued to travel between Florida, South Carolina, and New York. On April 30, 1889, Palmer sold his Avery County property to George R. Watkins, who built the Watkins House. Colonel John B. Palmer died on December 10, 1893, possibly in Florida at his Winter Park estate, and was interred in the Elmwood Cemetery in Columbia, South, Carolina. His wife, known as Fannie, moved to New York City after his death and was known for her philanthropic work. She died in 1921 and is also buried in Columbia, South Carolina.

East Hill Cemetery, Bristol

Yesterday, we drove over to Bristol, TN/VA to have lunch with some family passing through. After lunch, we paid a visit to the East Hill Cemetery. Back last fall, I was speaking to the SCV Camp in Hampton, TN, and got some information on the cemetery.

East Hill Cemetery was begun in 1857 to meet the needs of the community of Bristol Tennessee-Virginia. During the Civil War, Bristol was the site of the junction of the East Tennessee & Virginia Railway.... About 1862, the Confederate Medical Department established hospitals in Bristol. Because of its strategic location and its railway, Bristol soon became a hospital hub for Confederate soldiers brought from battles for treatment. Those that did not survive were buried at East Hill, including many that were unknown.

The number of Confederate burials at East Hill were variously estimated to range from slightly over one-hundred twenty to nearly one hundred eighty. Recently, ongoing research has revealed that the number is closer to three-hundred and represents the largest location of Confederate graves between Knoxville, TN, and Roanoke, Virginia. Nearly every state in the Confederacy is represented. Furthermore, work by author and historian Gary Rose has helped to identify the names of over forty soldiers previously unknown.

Lieutenant William E. Allen and Lieutenant Robertson Bryan, who were two of the "Immortal 600" are buried here. James Keeling, the "Horatius of the South," who successfully defended the bridge at Strawberry Plains with the loss of his arm has a memorial here. Billy Wood, the last survivor of the young VMI Cadets who fought in the Battle of New Market on May 15, 1864, is buried here. The commanders of the 63rd and 62nd Tennessee, Colonel Abram Fulkerson and Lt. Colonel William Parker also lie here.

The battles fought by these men cover the history of the war. Captain Davidson is credited with firing the first artillery shot at First Manassas. The 37th Virginia, with many men buried at East Hill, was a part of Jackson’s famous "Stonewall Brigade." Men buried here fought at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Spottsylvania, the Wilderness, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chickamauga and Atlanta. They were there with Lee at Appomattox and at the end of the Army of Tennessee with Joe Johnston.

Among those buried here are members of the 29th NCT, the 39th NCT, the 57th NCT, the 72nd NCT, the 9th Batt. NC Reserves (Senior?), and Thomas’s Legion. I am hoping to get in touch with the some of the folks who are working on a Confederate monument for the cemetery and see if we can get those names.

The picture here is of the grave of James Keeling.

Ideas

It was great to see many of you this past Saturday and Sunday in Hickory and in Lenoir. It was also good to talk to Skip Smith of the 26th NCT.

I’ve been writing for about a decade now, full time for the past two and a half years, and the request for books never ceases to amaze for me. This past Saturday at Barnes and Noble, I got three requests to do something about Alexander County, and one request to do something on Burke County. The folks in Hanover County, Virginia, said last December that I could write about Hanover anytime, and the requests for more regimental histories is almost overwhelming. I think I’ve been fairly prolific over the past decade - my eighth book, a collection of essays on Avery County, will be released in May/June of this year. And, I’m working on that history of the 58th North Carolina right now. While I keep of list of ideas, maybe after the book on the 58th NCT is done I should take requests and put up a poll....

It was great to be with Tim Cole and Brad Foley, authors of the book on Collett Leventhorpe, this past Sunday.

Book signings

Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be at the Barnes and Noble in Hickory tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon, the Caldwell Historical Museum in Lenoir on Sunday afternoon, and in Mt. Airy at Ryan's Steakhouse for a discussion on the battle of Hanover Court House on Tuesday evening. I'd be happy to see you there!

Trust seeks help buying historic land

Folks - found this in the Raleigh News and Observer. If you are not a member of the Civil War Preservation Trust, please consider joining - they do great work. Not only are they seeking donations for this project, but also the 208 - Slaughter Pen at Fredericksburg. The later was ground fought over by Jame's H. Lane's brigade of North Carolinians.





Trust seeks help buying historic land
Acquisition boosts preservation

Peggy Lim, Staff Writer
The Civil War Preservation Trust recently appealed to its members across the country -- help us save about 188 acres at Bentonville Battlefield.

The trust closed on the land in December but still needs to raise $80,000 to get a $720,000 match from federal and state grants to pay for it.

The Battle of Bentonville, March 19-21, 1865, was the largest fought in North Carolina and one of the last clashes in the closing days of the Civil War. In 1993, Congress declared Bentonville one of the 11 most important battlefields for preservation. But until the late 1990s, only about 244 acres of its sprawling 6,000 had been saved.

Landowners, with deep roots in the southern Johnston County community, have helped turn that around in recent years. Total acreage preserved at Bentonville has grown to 1,103, said site manager Donny Taylor. In 2006 alone, the Civil War Preservation Trust was able to acquire 300 acres at Bentonville.

"Bentonville is one of the flagships of battlefield preservation," said Mary K. Goundrey, a spokeswoman for the trust. Only a few battlefields in Mississippi and Virginia have more preserved land, Goundrey said.

The acquisitions have given visitors to the Bentonville site a more vivid experience, Taylor said. The park added descriptive markers to a driving tour.

"Sitting at home, you can imagine," he said. "But here, you can get a good idea of what the troops had to fight through -- open fields, woodland."

History buffs are particularly excited about the trust's latest acquisition. The purchase gets land used on the third day of the battle, which saw "Mower's Charge" -- when the Union side captured the field headquarters of Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.

Charlie Davis, 64, who grew up on part of the 188-acre tract, said he sold the land as a memorial to his mother.

"It was her lifeblood," Davis said. She and Davis' grandmother had been active in early grass-roots fundraising efforts in the 1950s to buy a 51-acre tract, including the historic Harper House, which served as a hospital during the battle. His mother worked in a gift shop on the site until her health declined in the mid-1990s, he said.

Residents also sell to preserve a quieter way of life -- preventing hog farms, subdivisions or mobile home parks from moving in, said Philip Shaw, president of the Bentonville Battlefield Historical Association.

"It just stays farmland, and that's the main objective," said Tim Westbrook, 50 and a tobacco farmer, while tinkering with a greenhouse lawn mower on part of the Mower's Charge battleground. "You don't own it anymore, but you know it's going to be looked after."
Westbrook, who continues to live and farm on battlefields, sold about 80 acres to the Civil War Preservation Trust in June.

"When the state takes land, Bentonville is not going to grow in population," he said. "But we're willing to do that to keep it like it is."

Westbrook makes exception for the crowds, noisy cannons and hundreds of horses that turn out for major battle re-enactments once every five years. The one in 2005 drew about 40,000 spectators and 4,000 re-enactors. The events raise money for the community's volunteer fire department, which handles concessions.

And Westbrook said, "It helps unite the community."

Staff writer Peggy Lim can be reached at 836-5799 or plim@newsobserver.com.

One more from Blandford

I thought I would share one other photograph from my trip to Blandford. I took this, from the car, while leaving the cemetery. No, I don’t have the soldiers name and no, he was probably not from North Carolina. But I thought the light was good.

Pvt. John Barefoot

A couple of days ago, I mentioned a lone, marked North Carolina grave at Blandford Church Cemetery. That marker is for John Q. Barefoot. He was "born in Johnson County where he resided as a farmer prior to enlisting in Sampson County at the age of 35." Barefoot enlisted (conscripted?) On May 12, 1862, in Company B, 56th North Carolina Troops. He was a private. On November 29, 1862, he was admitted to a hospital in Petersburg, where on December 8, 1862, he died of "cont[inued] febris." There were five other Barefoots in Company B.

Blandford Church Cemtery

Last week, I was in Virginia for a book signing. On my way home Thursday, I stopped at Blandford Church Cemetery in Petersburg. I have not been in the cemetery for several years, probably back in the late 1990s when I was working on the book on the 37th NCT.

I mainly went to photograph interesting gravestones for a class on cemetery iconography that I teach occasionally at local community colleges and historical societies, and I found several good tombstones to add to my collection of images.

I have visited many cemeteries in the past decade. Being at Blandford, and standing in the large, empty field where 30,000 Confederate soldiers are buried is a very humbling moment.
While there is no documented number of Confederates buried at Blandford, the City of Petersburg has maintained for over a century that over 30,000 Confederate soldiers are buried within the confines of the cemetery. Most of these men died in the last year of the war, when Meade’s army (under the watchful eye of Grant) encircled Petersburg and slowly squeezed the life out of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Blandford Church itself was constructed in 1735-1737, but stopped being a church in the early1800s. During the war, the windows-less brick building was used as a hospital. In the early 1900s, the church became a Confederate memorial chapel, with Tiffany stained glass windows from the different former Confederate states.

There is a good chance that if you had a North Carolina ancestor who was killed during the Petersburg Campaign, that he was interred at Blandford. Many of the Confederates who died during battle were first buried on the battlefields, and later re- interred at Blandford following the war.

However, of the 30,000+ Confederates buried in the cemetery, only 2,000-3,000 are known by name.

After you pass through the large memorial arch, there is a North Carolina section. (Towards the back, right before the curve). There is only one grave actually marked in this section: Pvt. John O. Barefoot, of Company B, 56th North Carolina Troops.

Everyone should visit Blandford if you have a chance: lots of good gravestone art, the beautiful stained glass windows, and to reflect as you stand amongst the graves of 30,000 Confederate soldiers.

26th NCT monument vandalized

Greetings folks - I found this article from the New Bern Sun Journal this morning. This is just tragic.

CIVIL WAR MONUMENT IN NEW BERN VANDALIZED TWICE
Memorial went up just days before Thanksgiving 2006
Francine Sawyer /
Sun Journal Staff

March 2, 2007 - 12:00AM A Civil War memorial marks the area where Confederate and Union soldiers fought during the Battle of New Bern in 1862. Now the fight is on to stop vandalism of the 11 1/2-ton granite monument.

The New Bern Historical Society has been working for the past seven years to make the monument, located near Taberna, a part of the New Bern Battlefield Park. Mark Magnum, chairman of the battlefield committee, said someone used a hammer to chip at the monument last week. Thursday, he found someone had written profane language on it. "It's awful," he said. Magnum said the $45,000 monument went up just days before Thanksgiving last year. He said the amount of monetary damage to the monument is still being assessed.

The North Carolina 26th Monument commemorates the Civil War Battle of New Bern. That battle will be marked at a 145th anniversary celebration beginning March 10.

Magnum reported the first vandalism to police and updated them with a phone call Thursday on the latest incident. Anyone with information about the vandalism can call the New Bern police at 672-4100 or Crime Stoppers, which offers a reward, at 633-5141.

War-time bread riots

There was an article today in the Salisbury Post about the Bread Riot there in 1863. There was at least one other female led riot in North Carolina during the war, this one in Burnsville in April 1864. I wonder if the idea behind the Salisbury riot led to the one in Yancey County?




Shortage of food items resulted in Bread Riot of 1863

A bread riot in Salisbury? Oh, come on, now. Who would ever consider a riot over bread, for heavens sake? I mean, we've already had to throw away the peanut butter and now the bread?
But don't worry. Throw away the peanut butter if you want to, but there's no reason right now to get rid of your bread.

Possibly the peanut butter problem prompted Post reader Tammy Ramey to bring Salisbury's Bread Riot to our attention. Not that she was planning a bread riot of her own, but she apparently thought it was interesting enough to share with other readers.

Salisbury's Bread Riot, probably its first and only, happened March 18, 1863, when the streets of Salisbury were invaded by a group of about 50 determined local women, identified only as wives and mothers of Confederate soldiers. And the Carolina Watchman, Salisbury's newspaper of that day, was quick to let citizens know about "A Female Raid."

"Between 40 and 50 soldiers' wives, followed by a numerous train of curious female observers," the Watchman reported, "made an attack on several of our business men last Wednesday, whom they regarded as speculators in the necessaries of life."

The women believed that local merchants had been profiteering by raising the prices of necessary foods and demanded that the merchants sell these goods at government prices.
But the merchants refused, prompting the women to break down one shop door with hatchets and threaten other storekeepers.

As stated earlier, the newspaper described the event as a "Female Raid" and added that it netted the women 23 barrels of flour as well as quantities of molasses, salt and even $20 in cash.
But Salisbury wasn't the only place that had a "bread riot."

A food riot in Richmond, Va., also in 1863, was more widely known, and both are dramatic evidence of the stresses on local life brought on by the Civil War, according to the University of North Carolina's "This Month in North Carolina History Archives."

"Volunteers for the Confederate army from Salisbury and surrounding Rowan County at the beginning of the war were by and large young, unmarried men," the UNC article read.
But by 1862 the demand for fresh troops brought about the increasing enlistment of older men with wives and families.

Rowan had a large number of small farms, and when a husband or father left to fight the war, those farms suffered a serious economic loss.

"The failure of the county's attempt to provide for soldiers' families also contributed to the hardship."

But the women who participated in the incident were never prosecuted, which indicated their neighbors understood and sympathized.

And the Carolina Watchman criticized the county commissioners who failed to provide adequate help for the soldiers' families, not the women. They should, the article said, "go, all blushing with shame for the scene enacted in our streets on Wednesday last."

By then the scene was over.

But not its memory.

In fact, members of a group of like-minded people have recently organized a co-op named — how's this for a long memory? — the Bread Riot Co-op.

Nobody's planning a bread riot, but there's nothing like a good story, and a true one focused on buying locally and eating organic foods to make sure people remember and support the new co-op.

Old Forts Found on Roanoke Island

Greetings folks! I switch this account over to the new "Google" on Saturday and I’m just now getting it to work again.

This article about the discovery of an old Fort on Roanoke Island appeared in the Otter Banks Sentinel this past weekend. Really exciting news.

Ft. Raleigh? New find on Roanoke Island creates stir
BY SANDY SEMANS SENTINEL STAFF

Scott Dawson, a native of Hatteras Island and now a resident of Colington, has shared the location of a discovery he made on National Park Service property with that agency, which has now secured the area and posted surveillance to insure that intruders don't disturb the site.

Doug Stover, park historian of the Park Service, said that park officials think that the site may be the remains of Fort Blanchard, a Civil War fort.

But if proven correct in his beliefs, Dawson will be the envy of many archaeologists who have spent their careers in the search of the long-lost Ft. Raleigh, Ralph Lane's 1585 fort on Roanoke Island.

Dawson located the site on Feb. 6 and shared his findings with the Sentinel on the following day. To ensure the preservation of the site, it was agreed at that time to alert the National Park Service, and that the Outer Banks Sentinel would delay writing about it until officials had time to examine and secure the site.

A call was placed to Stover by this reporter to make arrangements for Dawson to take officials to the area. Since then, the site which includes earthworks, trenches and embankments, has been visited by several interested parties, including NPS officials, head of the Lost Colony Center for Science and Research, Fred Willard and Dawson. During one of those visits, Dawson, under a permit issued by the NPS, used a metal detector and, he said, there were numerous "hits," most of which indicated silver down under the layers of dirt.

"You wouldn't find this much silver at a Civil War site," said Dawson who is a Civil War historian. "What was interesting about using the metal detector is that it never registered lead or zinc, the two most common hits one gets when combing over a Civil War site, due to the bullets being made of lead or occasionally zinc."

Dawson agreed that there is probably a Civil War encampment on the top of the site, but said that he believes the encampment is on top of the 1585 Ft. Raleigh.

"Through careful analysis of the primary sources of the 16th century voyages," said Dawson, "I found two sentences from two separate first-hand accounts that gave me minor clues as to the location of the fort.

"Later, I found vague references to the fort's location in regimental histories from various Civil War first-hand accounts. They gave me enough confidence that I narrowed the location down to one of two places.

"Both places contained fresh water according to detailed maps from the 1700's. I decided to find where the fresh water sources used to be and then walk in a spiral pattern from them until I was at a radius of 100 meters. It didn't take that long. On Feb. 6, on my way to one of locations I had narrowed it down to, I found deep earthworks. I took some pictures and continued to search the area. Then I found more trenches cutting 90 degree angles at times and forming a large enclosure.
"I also found large square holes as well as smaller ones that formed patterns."

Dawson's primary sources for locating the site were documents written almost three centuries apart.

According to Dawson, during the Civil War, the Union Army's 27th Massachusetts camped out on top of Ft. Raleigh. He obtained that information, in part, from a letter written by William Derby, a soldier in the 27th. Derby also wrote that guards were posted to keep vandals out of the area which they were told was the original Ft. Raleigh.

"This is all over their [written] regimental history," said Dawson. "However, no one knew where they camped. Colonel Green, a Confederate commander in charge of the 2nd North Carolina, landed at Wiers Point at the end of the battle on Feb. 8, 1862. He arrived just in time to surrender because the fight was already over, but before he did, he had his men throw all their guns and equipment into a ravine -- most likely the one that is on Wiers Point since that is where he landed and surrendered.

"On the morning of February 9th, the 27th Massachusetts found these guns, and the record says they were in a ravine close by. So I went to that ravine and looked all over the place starting with a point of land that runs out into the marsh because, in John White's account, he says that in 1590 he went to a point of land opposite Dasamonquepue, which is an Indian town in Manns Harbor.

"So I went to the point of land next to the ravine south of Wiers Point. In John White's account, it never says why he went to that point of land. Only after he went there did he then round the northern tip to the settlement. Obviously, the settlement was not inside the fort or they would not have built a palisade around it.

"Also in 1587, when they are looking for Grenville's 15 men, they searched for a day and then took the boat to the fort the following day. He probably went to the settlement and after [finding] no sign of the men, then went to the fort where barracks or a few more houses were.

"There are lots of points of land on the Dasamonquepeu side of Roanoke, but the Civil War stuff narrowed that down for me. The presence of fresh water narrowed it down further."

Stover said that the next phase in the NPS investigation will be to scan the area after clearing away some of the brush. And in March, NPS archeologist Bennie Keel will visit the site to make his own preliminary assessment.

In the meantime, until further information is available, Ft. Raleigh remains a mystery. Although in the future the NPS may partner with private archaeologists on the project, currently it is a Park Service project.sandy@obsentinel.com 480-2234

I wonder whatever happened to....

Back in 1998 or 1999, I was combing through the Compiled Service Records for the 37th North Carolina Troops in preparation for writing that book. I came across this entry for Samuel S. Ferguson, first (or orderly) sergeant for Company F: "In arrest for murder charges, January - February 1865."

Ferguson was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina, ca.1841. He was a farmer prior to enlisting in the "Western Carolina Stars" on September 24, 1861. He was mustered in as a private. The "Stars" became Company F, 37th North Carolina Troops on November 20, 1861. Ferguson was promoted to corporal on December 1, 1862, and to sergeant in March-August 1863, and finally to first sergeant on May 1, 1864. He was present or accounted for until January-February 1865 when he was arrested. Ferguson surrendered with the rest of his comrades on April 9, 1865.

I was never able to find out who Ferguson was charged with killing, nor what happened to him after the war. Was he released from arrest, or was he tagging along with the regiment as they made their way to Appomattox? I was also unable to find out what happened to Ferguson after the war. He seems to have... disappeared. Maybe there was something to those charges that forced him to flee from the area.

The compiled service records are full of those kinds of little mysteries.

North Carolina and Secession

A couple of days ago, I finished reading The Secession Movement in North Carolina written by Joseph C. Sitterson and published in 1939. This was the first time that I had read the book after having owned it for almost a year. I pulled out a few quotes for readers, all written between November 1860 and May 1861:


"Who can prepare for a declaration of independence, appealing to a candid world for its approbation and sympathy, upon the ground that we have been outvoted in an election in which we took the chances of success, and a candidate has been elected who, however obnoxious, we have deemed unworthy to compete with us for our votes?" – North Carolina Standard November 17, 1860.

Lincoln’s election "means a sweeping away of all guaranties of State equality in the Union–... It means that slave property is to be excluded from the Territories, and new slave States from the Union. –it means that the whole influence of the Federal Government is to be cast into the scale of opposition to the institutions of our section of the Union...
It means, further, that while all this is to be done, we are compelled to pay a tribute in the shape of a high protective Tariff, which tribute is to swell the wealth and insolence of our oppressors." – North Carolina Standard November 15, 1860.

The result in Black Republican rule will be "riots between the different classes of our white population, our whole social system convulsed in the agonies of dissolution,... the whole world against us in sentiment, and our own government our most bitter and unrelenting foe–great God, what hope would there be? As we stood at bay, frenzied, maddened, but despairing, with our wives and children clinging to us pale and panic stricken–death itself would be a refuge." – Wilmington Journal January 10, 1861.

"People of North Carolina, shall this programme be carried out? Will you suffer yourselves to be spit upon in this way? Are you submissionist to the dictations of South Carolina?... Are you to be called cowards because you do not follow the crazy lead of that crazy state?" – Wilmington Herald December 1860.

"Remember, sir, the South has no share in this copartnership. The Northeast is to get the tariff; the Northwest the Pacific railroad and the homestead bill; and the Republicans, or Abolitionists, are to get anti-slavery.... The sagacious men of the South see the danger; and sooner than submit to be cheated and plundered in this mode, with the prospect in the future of the abolition of slavery and the utter destruction of their section, they are coming resolutely into the struggle." –Thomas Clingman, Congressional Globe.

On Lincoln’s inaugural address "It is deceptive. It coats with the semblance of peace and friendship what smells of gore and hate. It is, in short, such a declaration of sentiments as should and will bring every Southern man to his feet." – Wilmington Journal March 13, 1861.

"Freeman of North Carolina, awake! arise! and throw off the yoke of the oppressor." – North Carolina Whig April 9, 1861

"Civil war can be glorious news to none but demons, or thoughtless fools, or maddened men." – B. F. Moore to his daughter, April 15, 1861.

Lincoln "could have devised no scheme more effectual than the one he had pursued, to overthrow the friends of Union here... I am left no other alternative but to fight for or against my section. I can not hesitate. Lincoln has made us a unit to resist until we repel our invaders or die." – Jonathan Worth, May 13, 1861.

New Books

I’ve received three new books in the past week to help with my research on the 58th North Carolina Troops. They are: Lincolnites and Rebels: A Divided Town [Knoxville] in the American Civil War by Robert T. McKenzie; Contested Borderland: The Civil War in Appalachian Kentucky and Virginia by Brian D. McKnight and The Terrible Time: The Civil War in Kentucky’s Bell, Knox, Laurel, and Whitley Counties by Wayne Taylor. I am looking forward to reading these.

The 58th North Carolina spent its first 13 months of service in east Tennessee (with a couple of forays into Kentucky). It was the 58th NC’s Colonel Palmer who was placed in charge of the recently captured Cumberland Gap in September 1862 as the rest of the Confederate army marched north to do battle. I am really looking forward to reading these books and maybe even expanding my writing about the area beyond the 58th North Carolina Troops.
Other North Carolina regiments, like the 62nd and 64th North Carolina Troops, were also at Cumberland Gap.

Appalachia has interested me for sometime. My own ancestors went from western North Carolina, through Cumberland Gap, and into eastern Kentucky not long before the Civil War. And, Cumberland Gap National Park has always been a great stopping point as we travel to my wife’s parents’ home in Berea. I’ve spent a lot of time in the area (even seen the Glacier Girl) and I look forward to returning soon.

Davidson, NC

Ken Knouf wrote a few days ago asking what I liked about Davidson.

I think Davidson is an ideal place - it is a small town, but has culture and history. If I had to live in an "urban" area, I think Davidson would make a good place. Davidson reminds me of Banner Elk, with Lees-McRae College, which is not far from where I live.

And, it has history, mostly associated with the college. No, no large scale battles were waged on the grounds, etc. The school did remain open during the war, and some of the students were wounded soldiers. Federal soldiers did make a visit in May 1865. "They broke open the doors and windows of the recitation rooms and chapel and did damage to apparatus and buildings amounting to eight hundred dollars."

We’ve already mentioned that Confederate General D. H. Hill is buried in the cemetery. Hill taught mathematics at Davidson College before the war. A good description of Hill’s life can be found here: http://www.cmhpf.org/personalities/DHHill.html

But that history goes beyond just the war years. Woodrow Wilson was once a student at Davidson, before going to Princeton; the school was a leader in x-ray technology; student Wilson P. Mills was a Rhodes scholar; Dr. C. Alphonso Smith, founder of the Virginia Folklore Society; Vareen Bell, novelist; and future North Carolina governors Robert B. Glenn, James E. Holshouser, and James G. Martin were all students.

All that, not to mention the connection with Peter Stuart Ney, alleged to be Marshall Michael Ney of Napoleon’s army, who designed the school motto: Alenda Lux Ubi Orta Libertas
(Let Learning Be Cherished Where Liberty Has Arisen)