Oakwood Cemetery - Raleigh

I recently came across an article in the Charlotte Observer about the ongoing work of Charles Purser. For a second time, Purser has identified a Federal soldier buried among the Gettysburg section of Oakwood Cemetery. Hats off to Purser and his work.

But something about the article caught my attention. The article, which originally ran in the Raleigh News and Observer, interviewed Dr. A. James Fowler about the burial of Federals in Confederate Cemeteries. Here is the quote:

Mingling between Northern and Southern dead isn't so rare, said A. James Fuller, history professor at the University of Indianapolis.

Sometimes, he said, Union soldiers died on their way to prison camp and were buried in the nearest cemetery, alongside the enemy.

Cemeteries exclusively for Confederates were a product of post-war bitterness, he said, and they were set up as monuments to Southern culture. Raleigh's Gettysburg section was created by the Ladies Memorial Association. In 1871, it arranged for 137 bodies -- all of them supposedly from North Carolina -- to be reinterred.

"Cemeteries exclusively for Confederates were a product of post-war bitterness..." Ok, I’ll concede that may be true. However, are cemeteries exclusively for Federal soldiers (National Cemeteries) a product of post-war bitterness?

In 1867, when the Ladies Memorial Association of Wake County was formed, their mission was to "protect and care for the graves of our Confederate soldiers." the reason that it was the "Ladies Memorial Association" was that men were banned by the Federal government from meeting in large groups. The ladies acquired a piece of property from Henry Mordecai and began to clean and level the property. Their goal was to move the Confederates interred at the Rock Quarry Cemetery, and others buried in the surrounding area, to the new Confederate cemetery. There were an estimated 500 Confederates interred at the Rock Quarry Cemetery.

The Federals wanted the Rock Quarry Cemetery all to themselves, for a National Cemetery for Union dead. On February 22, 1867, the group received a letter from the Federal commander in Raleigh. All Confederates had to be moved from Rock Quarry Cemetery immediately to make room for a National Cemetery. The Ladies Memorial Association set about work. Volunteers disinterred the Confederates and began moving them to the new cemetery. Their progress was too slow for the Federal government, and in March 1867, the Federal commandant issued a letter, stating that if the Confederate dead were not moved by the given date, "their remains would be placed in the public road." By the end of March, the ladies and their volunteers had finished the work.

So - if the Federal government came and told you that the remains of your loved ones would be dug up and dumped in the road, well, I guess that could cause a little bitterness.

The story is almost the same around Gettysburg. As they were working their fields around Gettysburg, farmers, when finding the bones of Confederate soldiers, were more likely than not to dump those bones alongside a fence. I even recall some advertisements that Gettysburg citizens ran stating that they wanted the graves of Southerners removed from their property or the remains would be disposed of. Is that not bitterness?

And was it also bitterness that caused the early leaders, mostly former Federal soldiers, of battlefield preservation at Gettysburg to lead to the denial of former Confederates monuments in Pennsylvania?

I think Dr. Fowler’s choice of words poor.

I’m in utter shock.

A couple of days ago, I got an email from a gentleman in Connecticut who has a Confederate flag in his collection that might have come from the battle of New Bern. I was pulling the addresses for some web sites when I learned that flag historian Howard Michael Madaus passed on July 21, 2007. That was six months ago. While I had never met Madaus personally, I talked with him quite a bit via email when working on the book on the 37th NCT. I am shocked at the loss and more shocked that it did not receive wider notice. Yes, I do live in a place where the sun rarely shines (not exactly true - I do live on top of the mountains), but I do try and stay on top of things in the Civil War world. Madaus’s book on battle flags in the Army of Tennessee is one of my treasured possessions.

Then, as I was pulling up a second web site, I read that another great flag historian, Devereaux D. Cannon, passed away on December 29. While I have never spoken to Cannon, I do have several of his books. Cannon was webmaster of the Flags of the Confederacy web page. This is undoubtably one of the best pages on the world wide web. For many of the flag questions that I get, I routinely recommend people to check out this web page.

Utter shock.

The Gettysburg Encyclopedia

This afternoon, I received an email from the fine folks at Savas-Beatie Publishing. They are compiling a Gettysburg Encyclopedia, and I had the honor of writing the entries on Brig. Gen. James H. Lane and on Lane’s brigade during the Gettysburg Campaign. They are hoping to have the book "in hand" by the end of year, or early next year. I am really looking forward to the book’s release.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We had a great 2007 here in the Hardy household last year, and we are really looking forward to 2008!

Yesterday, I had to do something I really dread as a writer. I had to write a small bio on myself for an article that I wrote for an upcoming issue of Civil War Times Illustrated. I really hate writing about myself. I’m not sure if other writers feel the same; most probably do not, but I do.
I did not go to Knoxville on Saturday. We found out that we were going to need to go to Johnson City on Sunday afternoon and I stayed at home and worked. J. W. Dugger of the 58th NCT kept a diary, and on September 11, 1863, he wrote the 58th "marched four miles and engaged with the enemy. The firing ceased, at night they rested in line of battle until 10 o’clock." It took me about 1,000 words, all about the affair at McLemore’s Cove, to set up Dugger’s 22 words. And it is only Dugger’s words that I have. I don’t even know in what order Buckner (or Preston) arranged the brigades.

Which leads me to my old rant. I am constantly amazed at the number of books on the war. I probably own a thousand - I’ve added nine in the past week. Yet the number of good regimentals are few. Of the four regiments in Kelly’s brigade at Chickamauga, only the 63rd Virginia has a history - a small history at that. The 5th Kentucky Infantry has no history, neither does the 65th Georgia Infantry. Hopefully this history of the 58th NCT that I am working on will be a small addition to this major hole in Civil War historiography.

Having already written a popular history of the 37th North Carolina, I can understand why historians avoid this type of work. It’s hard. Instead of studying one battle, or even a portion of a battle, one must understand scores of battles. Camp life, drill, supply, politics in state, national politics, conditions on the home front, desertion, sickness, hospital life, ordnance, and a host of other things related to military and civilian life must be mastered.

In my writing, I have often tried to examine different issues. I often write articles about these issues. Sometimes these articles make it to print, and sometimes they do not. Right now, I am working on an article about the problem of fouling during battle. I read a great deal about the issue, I look for other articles, I examine period letters, and I ask a lot of questions. For example, in 1857, Du Pont, which was the largest supplier of gunpowder to the Union army, patented a new method of powder manufacture. They substituted sodium nitrate for potassium nitrate. Well, did gunpowder manufactured the old way, using potassium nitrate, produce more fouling that powder using sodium nitrate?. I don’t know yet (anyone have any ideas? Any chemists out there?). But maybe I’ll find that answer in the near future.

The next year promises to be exciting. I’ve got articles slated for publication, and the book on the 58th NCT will be finished. I’ve even got speaking engagements on the calender. It will be a good year.

Christmas

Greetings folks! I hope everyone has had a great Christmas! We spent a week with my mom and dad in sunny central Florida and had a great time. We only visited one War-related site, Deleon Springs, site of a Federal raid on a Confederate production site. I also took photos of the Confederate monument in downtown Orlando. Once we returned, my wife’s folks came over and spent a few days.

I’ve done no writing in about two weeks, but a lot of reading. I am gearing up to write about the battle of Chickamauga. For the past couple of days, I’ve been working on the whole McLemore’s Cove debacle. Once again, for the 58th NCT, it is a whole lot of set up just to say they were there and did not do anything - much like Hindman, Buckner, and Hill.

Tomorrow, I’m off to Knoxville to acquire a couple of needed pieces of information that inter-library loan has failed to bring.

Neighbor to Neighbor.

I’ve been out of town the past few days, and hence, no blogging. But I have been reading, mostly about Chickamauga. Right before we left town, I attended a book discussion in Watauga County on the new book, Neighbor to Neighbor: A Memoir of Family, Community, and Civil War in Appalachian North Carolina. I did finish reading the book, and here are some thoughts.

Information regarding the last year of war, and especially the reconstruction time period in western North Carolina, is sparse. Most of the information comes in the way of oral traditions passed down through the generations. Most of these oral traditions are fragments of much larger events. Therefore, we are blessed to have some new information come to light written by someone who had first-hand knowledge of those events.

William Albert Wilson was born in the Sutherland Community in Ashe County in 1861. He was a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and later served as a missionary in Japan for more than 42 years. Once he retired, Wilson returned to North Carolina and penned an account of things that he had witnessed during the turbulent years of the Civil War and Reconstruction. But the book is more than just what he remembers, it is a record of his community during those times.

Wilson starts out his tale with the death of his father, Isaac Wilson. Home on furlough from the Confederate army, Isaac Wilson was shot as he plowed his field one morning. Taken home, he lived just a short time before dying of his wounds. Isaac Wilson’s death is an example of the inner-civil war that gripped every part of life in Southern Appalachia. His death was to revenge the death of a man at the hands of the local Confederate conscription officer. That conscription officer was also named Isaac Wilson, and a case of mistaken identification might seem plausible. However, the murdered Isaac Wilson was related by marriage to his assailants.

The murder of Isaac Wilson left William Wilson and his siblings fatherless, and in a hostile location, near the Tennessee border. Wilson then crafts a tale of the mayhem, the “bushwhacking,” murder, robbery, and abuse that members of his family and community endured. Wilson’s memoir goes beyond the depredations committed during the time period, also providing a look at how a boy grew up in Appalachia in the 1870s, attending school, church, and working on the farm. The memoir is truly remarkable for that information alone.

Neighbor to Neighbor was edited by Sandra L. Ballard and Leila E. Weinstein. Ballard is a professor of English at Appalachian State University and editor of the Appalachian Journal. Weinstein is assistant editor at Appalachian. They have done a good job lightly editing the text and culling the local community for photographs.

There are also three essays introducing the text. The first, by Patricia Beaver, Director for the Center for Appalachian Studies and professor of anthropology at Appalachian State University, is entitled “”The Civil War on the North Fork of the New River: Sustaining Community.” This essay provides an overview of the North Fork Community and Ashe County during the wartime years. The next essay is by Martin Crawford, and is an excerpt from his book Ashe County’s Civil War: Community and Society in the Appalachian South. Martin is a professor of American Studies at Keele University in England. The final essay is by John C. Inscoe, professor at the University of Georgia, and the most respected historian of Appalachia and the Civil War. His essay, entitled “Guerrilla War and Remembrance,” is a look at how the people of Appalachia viewed the events in the 1860s in the years following the events.

One event that no one looked at was Isaac Wilson’s military service. Wilson volunteered with members of his family and community on September 18, 1861. On that date, he was elected a lieutenant in the “Watauga Minute Men.” Most of the men in this company were from the Cove Creek area of Watauga County, where Wilson also had family and enough connections to allow the men to elect him to this post. On November 20, 1861, the “Watauga Minute Men” became Company E, 37th North Carolina Troops. For some unexplored reason, Wilson resigned from the 37th North Carolina Troops on December 13, 1861, and returned home. The memoir clearly states that “Lieut. Isaac Wilson, was home on furlough” (73) when he was shot in June 1864. Of what regiment Wilson is a member is not discussed. After the war, Wilson’s widow applied for a pension, stating that he served in the 37th North Carolina Troops, and Wilson’s gravemarker states that he served in the 37th North Carolina Troops. No other regiment is mentioned, and thus a mystery has presented itself.

Overall, Neighbor to Neighbor (ISBN 0-9787305-0-X) is highly recommended for those interested in the war in Appalachia and western North Carolina. One downside is that the book is currently available only through the bookstore at Appalachian State University. Maybe demand for the book will lead to a wider distribution. You can contact the bookstore at: (828) 262-3070, or through their web page.

I had a chance last night to attend a book discussion on a recent release: Neighbor to Neighbor: A Memoir of Family, Community, and Civil War in Appalachian, edited by Sandra L. Ballard and Leila E. Weinstein. The narrative was written by the son of Lt. Isaac Wilson of Company E, 37th North Carolina Troops. I’ll have a review up soon.

It was also a pleasure to sit with Dr. Allan Speer, who edited the letters of one of his ancestors a number of years ago, Col. Francis Asbury Speer of the 28th NCT.

I finished the draft of chapter 6 of the book on the 58th North Carolina this past weekend. The chapter is a little over 10,000 words, possibly the longest chapter that I have ever written. Time to move on to Chickamauga.

New books on North Carolina and the Civil War

Neighbor to Neighbor - A Memoir of Family, Community and Civil War in Appalachian North Carolina edited by Sandra Ballard and Leila Weinstein (Appalachian Press, 2007)

The Making of a Confederate: Walter Lenoir’s Civil War by William L. Barney (Oxford University Press, 2007)

Elizabeth City, North Carolina and the Civil War: A History of Battle and Occupation by Alex Christopher Meekins (The History Press, 2007)

More Thoughts on Desertion

I’ve been pondering this article by Katherine A. Giuffre for the better part of a week now. The article is entitled "First in Flight: Desertion as Politics in the North Carolina Confederate Army" and was published in 1997 in Social Science History.

Through looking at deserters in the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 17th (2nd organization), 20th, 22nd, 28th, and 30th regiments, Giuffre came to the conclusion that "desertion was a politically motivated act on the part of some members of the relatively deprived class that was at odds with the eastern elites and that shouldered the burden of fighting the Civil War in North Carolina."

Let’s deconstruct this a bit and see what we come up with.

Giuffre writes "desertion was a politically motivated act on the part of some members of the relatively deprived class..." So, the poor were more likely to desert than the middle class or rich? In another article, Peter Bearman contends that "Stayers and deserters look very similar with respect to class, occupation, age, family composition, and enlistment date. Interest as structured by the occupancy of differential position in civil society cannot account for desertion."
So we have two differing views. Did your position in life influence you to desert the army? For some, even many, the answer would be a resounding yes. The wives of many wrote home saying that they were starving and needed the men at home. But I sometimes think that opinion is overplayed. Most of these families lived within large kinship groups that looked out after each other.


How was it politically motivated? Giuffre writes: "the relatively deprived class that was at odds with the eastern elites..." That is possible, but what about Yancey County? The people of the Toe River Valley fought with eastern politicians for years before the creation of a new county in 1833. Yet when the secession crisis came, Yancey voted with the eastern counties to separate from the Union.


Having spent the all of the past week studying the deserter problem with regards to the 58th and 60th Regiments, I have come to this conclusion. Some deserted because of hardships, family responsibilities, and a few were even cowards. Most simply did not want to be in the army. Some were anti-Confederate. Most were anti anything that was imposed upon them. Had the Federal army come in and conscripted the mountaineers of Ashe or Yancey counties, I am quite sure that they would have likewise deserted at the first convenient opportunity.


I wonder what Giuffre’s study would have found if she had included the 58th, 60th, 62nd, or 64th Regiments?

The 58th NCT and Desertion

Over the past few days, I've been working on the desertion problem and the 58th NCT. To say that desertion was a problem for the 58th NCT is an colossal understatement. I want to go out on a limb and say no regiment in the Confederate army had more men to desert than the 58th NCT. That might be a bit of a stretch and more research needs to bedone.

One of the problems is that records for the 58th NCT are so poor. I'll give a few examples.

Jonathan Morgan of Company F (McDowell County) was reported sick in the hospital in September-October 1863. No more records. Did he die in the hospital? Did he desert from the hospital?

George W. Moore of Company E enlisted in Caldwell County on July 5, 1862. He never again appears in the muster reports of the 58th NCT. He did survive the war, but what happened to him? Did he desert? Was he discharged?

How about Allen Pierce of Company I. He enlisted on July 24, 1862, and then disappears.

Then, there is a whole host of men who disappear between August 31,1864, the last surviving muster roll for the 58th NCT, and when the regiment surrendered at Greensboro in May 1865. What happened to these men? Were they killed? Were they left at some hospital on their trek from Mississippi to Bentonville? Did they die of disease and were buried beside some road or in a family cemetery?

And why did so many men desert? Was it cowardice? Or hardship? Or family responsibilities? Or, as Katherine A Giuffre writes in herarticle "First in Flight: Desertion as Politics in the North CarolinaConfederate Army", did it have something to do with the division between eastern and western North Carolina that existed since the late 1700s? I think for some of the men, it might have been hardship. For some, family responsibility. For a few, cowardice. Some might have seen their anti-eastern NC as being anti-Confederate. It was the "planters in the eastern part of the state that support the Confederacy and we don't want noting to do with eastern North Carolina." For some, they were Unionists (see Younce's "Adventures of a Conscript." )

Who knows! I sure don't! And, I must go and write about it in abook, and explore each option.

Book signing - tomorrow

Folks - I’ll be signing books tomorrow, December 1st, at the Carson House in Marion, North Carolina, from 12:00 until 3:00 pm. If you are in the area, drop by and say hi!

Col. Isaac E. Avery - 6th NCST

Folks - I had a reader send me a couple of days ago this piece about the marking of the grave of Col. Isaac E. Avery of the 6th North Carolina State Troops. Averyw as from Burke County, North Carolina, and penned the famous "I died with my face towards the enemy" from the fields of Gettysburg.

This article is from The Herald-Mail

Sunday November 4, 2007Family pays its last respects to Rebel soldier who was a hero
By ALICIA NOTARIANNImailto:NOTARIANNIalician@herald-mail.com

After 34-year-old Col. Isaac Erwin Avery was shot and died during the Battle of Gettysburg, his slave, Elijah, set off on a journey south to return Avery to Swan Ponds plantation in Morganton, N.C., his native soil.

As Avery’s body began to decompose, Elijah reconsidered his plan and buried Avery in Williamsport overlooking the Potomac River. Unbeknownst to his family, Avery’s body eventually was moved to Hagerstown along with thousands of other Confederate soldiers.

Avery’s family brought his native soil to him Saturday during a tombstone dedication ceremony at Rose Hill Cemetery.

For years the Avery family had been unable to locate the colonel’s remains, Civil War enthusiast and writer Richard Clem said.

Research done by Clem, 67, of Hagerstown, determined Avery’s final resting place and was the basis for a story he wrote for The Washington Times in March.

"After I wrote the article, I put the paper between my folded hands and prayed it would end up in the hands of the right people," Clem said Saturday morning. By the blessing of God that we are here this morning.

Isaac Avery’s fourth cousin, Civil War re-enactor Bruce Avery, 52, of Stevensville, Md., read Clem’s article and called him.

Bruce Avery said the mystery was solved after all these years. He said, "We need to put a stone on that grave," Clem said.

Clem provided documentation of Avery’s Hagerstown burial to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which furnished and inscribed the marker free of charge.

More than 30 people were present for the dedication, including Clem, members of the Avery family and Civil War re-enactors from Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

It was a crisp and sunny morning as Bruce Avery stood in the grass facing the ground-level marker. Avery acknowledged Clem for his efforts, then spent several minutes sharing an account of Isaac Avery’s life and service. At times, Bruce became choked up and paused to regain his composure. He said Isaac Avery’s military superiors had recommended his promotion to general, but his career was cut short by death.

Bruce’s friend and fellow re-enactor, Michael Hendricks of Virginia Beach, Va., read a letter written by Maj. Samuel Tate, Isaac Avery’s friend, following Avery’s death. Mary Ann Avery, Bruce’s wife, read an excerpt from Shelby Foote’s The Civil War " A Narrative.

"Ken Avery, 55, of Annapolis, Bruce’s brother, blessed the grave and sprinkled it with soil from Swan Ponds, the Avery plantation in North Carolina.

"May all who visit in the future know this is hallowed and sacred ground," Ken Avery said.

As the ceremony concluded, 5-year-old Christopher Avery, Bruce’s son, placed a wreath on the marker.

It’s sad for the family when you don’t know where a soldier is buried. It tore (Isaac Avery’s father apart not knowing, Mary Ann Avery said. It’s important to have him marked with soil from his home state. He is still under North Carolina soil after today.

Ken Avery said it meant a lot to finally identify his ancestor’s final resting place."We are direct descendants. He was a hero to the cause of the South," Ken Avery said. "This helps us bring some closure to this little piece of our family history."

Bruce Avery said as a Civil War re-enactor for nearly 20 years, he was especially pleased to honor his family’s history.

"I know the family story behind Isaac. It’s an honor for me to have gotten this done," Bruce Avery said. "Hopefully, he’s up there looking down and smiling."

One of the benefits of my job, at least as I see it, is being able to spend time in some of the most beautiful cemeteries in the South. There are not many cemeteries that I’ve not visited and photographed.

One of the frustrating things about working in cemeteries is finding the names of men who are of the right age to be in the war, but not being able to match those people to anyone from the area. Following the war, tens of thousands of Southern families picked up what was left of their lives and moved on. Sometimes those moves were just over the county line. More often than not, these families moved out west, to Texas, Oklahoma, Washington and Oregon.

When working in local cemeteries, I often jot down all of the names of men who have dates between 1820 and 1850. Below are the men from the Montezuma Cemetery in Avery County. This is one of the oldest cemeteries in the area, and is somewhat connected to my church, even though it is a community cemetery. Here are the names with the dates and regiment when I am somewhat certain.

Anderson, Enoch 14 Jan. 1844 - 8 Apr. 1900 Co. K, 37th NCT
Banner, Columbus B 1840-1931 4th TN (US)
Blalock, William M. "Keith" 21 Nov. 1837-18 Jul. 1913 26th NCT/10th Mich. Cav. (US)
Blalock, Sarah M. "Sam" 26th NCT
Carpenter, John C. 13 Jul. 1846-13 May 1931
Clifton, Samuel 14 Jan. 1843 - 11 Jan. 1922 (1st NCST ?)
Forbes, Abraham 13 Jun. 1846-
Franklin, John 14 Jan. 1817 - 1 Feb. 1900 Co. B, 6th NC Cav.
Harris, Rev. William J. 8 Aug. 1839-31 Oct. 1911 (Co. D., 44th NCT ?)
Luttrell, E. M. 4 Feb. 1847 - 3 Jan. 1929 Co. H, 13th Tenn. Cav.
Matney, Rev. Arthur R. 1 Nov. 1821 - 10 Apr. 1892
Matney, Rev. Thomas W. 1 Dec. 1829 - 23 Dec. 1892 Co. I, 26th NCT
Rash, James B. 13 Oct. 1845-1 Oct. 1912 26th NCT
Teague, William 15 Sept. 1818 - 18 Feb. 1894
Key, Thomas W. 1821-1892
Rominger, J. H. 1843-1898

A few days ago, Andrew Wagenhoffer on his blog Civil War Books and Authors had a review of Walter Hilderman’s They Went into the Fight Cheering: Confederate Conscription in North Carolina. Check out his review here.

In the current issue of America's Civil War, there is an article by Tonia J. Smith (TeeJ) about Abby House. (Congrats to TeeJ on the article's publication!) Abby House was from Franklintown, North Carolina, and took an active role in the welfare of Confederate soldiers from her town. She frequently visited soldiers in hospitals around Richmond. House grew vegetables on her farm, she collected clothing, blankets, and shoes for soldiers in the field. And, she gained audiences with Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, trying to better the treatment of sick and wounded Confederates soldiers. After the war ended, House moved to Raleigh, and, in a strange turn of events, was asked to represent her county (Clay) at the State Democratic Convention in 1876, becoming the first women in North Carolina to vote. If you don't subscribe to America's Civil War, try stopping by your local newsstand and pick up a copy of the January issue. The article is well worth your time.

There were other women connected with North Carolina who were just as important and interesting. Just about everyone knows about Rose Greenhow. The famous Confederate spy drowned off the North Carolina coast in 1864 after her ship ran aground near Fort Fisher. She is buried in Wilmington.

Then there is Emeline Pigott, twenty-five when the war started and from Morehead City. Pigott worked as a nurse during the early part of the war, and after her love died at Gettysburg, worked whole-heartily for the Confederacy. She operated a spy ring between Morehead City and Kinston until her arrest . Pigott was released, and continued to work as a nurse for the rest of the war. She died in 1919 and is buried in the family cemetery in Morehead City.

You can also add Laura Wesson, a young women from Virginia who worked as a nurse in High Point and died during the war. She is buried in the High Point cemetery, amongst the soldiers.

I am quite sure other stories are out there. If I remember correctly, there are two strongly documented stories about women who served as men during the war. One was Malinda Blalock from my neck of the woods. The other was from the coastal area and I seem to have forgotten her name.

Travels

I think that I have almost recovered from my recent excursion. On Monday evening I spoke to the SCV Camp in Lenoir. This is a fine group of folks. I spoke for about 30 minutes about Confederate Veteran Reunions, and then for the next hour and a half, we just talked about the War. I find myself enjoying this type of dialog more and more.

On Tuesday, I journeyed to Duke University. I had been informed that there was letters from William Oxford of the 58th NCT in a collected under his sisters name. Well, there was a letter from July 1863. Just one more piece of the puzzle. There also letters from soldiers in the 7th, 22nd, and 26th Regiments.

From Duke, I made my way to Raleigh. I had half a dozen pension records that I wanted to look at. When I got off the elevator, I hardly recognized the place. I actually thought that I was on the wrong floor. The place has been remodeled beautifully. Most of the pension records were a bust, or did not contain any pertinent information. One did, andI'll discuss that later. I did have chance to meet Chris Meekins, who works at the archives, is on the Sesquicentennial Committee, and confessed to being a blog reader.

After leaving the archives, I traveled South out of Raleigh, and spent a large part of the evening talking with the fine folks at the SCV Camp in Garner. I was planing to spend the night, but some circumstances here on the home front brought me back. I got in about 1:00 am and spent most of yesterday trying to recover.

I had a great time at all of the venues that I visited, and it is nice to find folks who read these random thoughts of mine.

By the way, if you have emailed me recently, I am about 140 responses behind. I'll get to yours soon.

Yet another busy past couple of days. On Friday, I had the honor to take my son to Linville Caverns with his homeschool group. Linville Caverns is located in Burke County. During the War, the Caverns were used by deserters as one of the many hideouts in the area. As the story goes, one of the men in the cave, a cobbler, started making shoes and traveling to town (Morganton?) to trade the shoes for supplies. We have the bench that he supposedly used in the museum in Newland. Inside the caverns there was a small area covered with sand, one of the only dry areas in the entire complex. This is where the men camped and built a fire. The smoke from the fire filtered out of the top of the caverns, disclosing their whereabouts to the local home guard, and the men were captured. The photograph on the right is the area where the men built their fires.

On Saturday, I had the privilege of helping install several gravestones and one iron cross on graves in cemeteries in Mitchell and Avery Counties. Pictured on the right is the marker we placed on the grave of Lt. Col. John Keener of the 58th NCT. The group went on to place more markers in Yancey County, and I came home to get ready to go to Boone for a reception for the Watauga County Historical Society. That group is 30 years old this month.

Tonight, I am off to Lenior for a book signing. Tomorrow night, I’ll be in Gardner, just below Raleigh. I’m hoping to get some research done over the next couple of days at Chapel Hill and Duke.

Program last night

The program last night at the public library in Spruce Pine was great. Sixteen people gathered and we spent two hours on all aspects of the war. While the previous meeting in Yancey County focused on "battles and leaders," our discussion this time covered politics and local history.

I would really like to see these type of discussions going on in each of North Carolina’s 100 counties. Events are already in the works to hold "round table" discussions about the War in Avery, Watauga, and Caldwell Counties next spring, and I am quite certain that we will hold meetings in Yancey and Mitchell again. That leaves 95 counties to go.

While I could not participate in discussions in all of North Carolina’s counties (that would be something like three a week, considering I don’t travel January through March), I think that I’ll work toward as many as possible.

If you are interested in having a "_____ County and the Civil War" discussion in your county, please drop me a line at mchardy@michaelchardy.com

Mixed Arms

Last night, I was up at ASU again, continuing my journey through the compiled service records of the 58th NCT. It takes me about three hours to go through one roll. And to be honest, three hours is about as much microfilm reading that I can do at one time. The one really interesting thing that I found was a requisition, showing that the 58th NCT "borrowed" two cases of ammunition from the 65th GA: one thousand rounds of musket cartridges, and one thousand rounds of Mississippi ammunition. I suspect that the musket cartridges were .69 cal. smoothbore. Mississippi to me would mean .54 cal. What does all of this mean? That on the eve of the battle of Chickamauga, the 58th was mixed when it comes to their arms - possibly a nightmare for their ordnance officer.

Having a regiment with different caliber of arms seems to be a common thing for the first half of the war. Granted, I have only studied one other regiment on this level, the 37th NCT. The 37th started the war with flintlocks. By the time of the battle of New Bern, they were armed with altered .69 cal. muskets. After arriving in Virginia in May 1862, two companies of the regiment were armed with Enfield rifles (.577 caliber). In keeping with earlier time periods, these two companies should have been the flanking companies of the regiment. It was not until May/June 1863 that the rest of the regiment traded their smoothbores in for rifles.

Maybe in time, as I study other North Carolina regiments, more of this type of history can be brought to light.

Mitchell County and the Civil War round table announcement

Do you have an ancestor who served in the Confederate or Union army? Want to know what happened on Bakersville during the War of Northern Aggression? What did the men who marched away in 1861 and 1862 do? Were they at Gettysburg? Chickamauga? Bentonville? Appomattox? Join a group of local historians on Tuesday, November 6, at 6:30 pm, at the Spruce Public Library as we discuss the both Mitchell County and the War for Southern Independence, and the role that Mitchell County men played in many far off places. This event is free, and the public is invited to attend. Please bring a friend and all of those questions about the Civil War that you never knew whom to ask. For more information, please contact Michael Ledford at (828) 682-9152.

North Carolina Sesquicentennial

If you have not had a chance yet, please check out the North Carolina Sesquicentennial web site. I am really looking forward to this celebration.

However, I do have two concerns. One, I hope that the Sesquicentennial events move beyond the hallowed halls of academia. We need events, local events, in every county of the state, in an effort to get local people interested in Civil War history in their city or community. Every spot within the state has some ties to the events that transpired between 1861 and 1865.

Second, I hope that the western portions of the state receive their fair coverage. So many times we in the western part of the state get shunned as pro-Unionist hillbillies. Folks seem to forget that in the western part of the state, enlistment in the Confederate army outpaced enlistment in other parts of the state during the first part of the war. Folks also seem to forget that two western North Carolinians, W. W. Avery and Thomas L. Clingman, played a large hand in taking North Carolina out of the Union. Also forgotten is that our most famous governor, Zebulon Baird Vance, was from the western part of the state, along with most of our most famous regiment, the 26th North Carolina. Lastly, folks seem to forget that Asheville was once considered for the capital of the Confederacy.

Our trip to Wake Forest was good. However, it rained all day Friday, so I got no sight seeing/cemetery crawling accomplished. On Saturday, we drove to Morganton for an author's festival, which went really well. Terrel Garren was there, author of Mountain Myth, along with Jerry Goodnight, co-author of The Tarheel Lincoln.

On Sunday afternoon, I had the chance to participate in a memorial service for Levi Franklin Jarrett, a member of Company B, 58th NorthCarolina Troops. The descendants of Jarrett placed a cenotaph next to the grave of his wife in the Lily Branch Cemetery in Mitchell County. Jarrett died in November 1863. His final resting place is unknown. He died of the measles, possibly in Atlanta, or Chattanooga, or maybe even in Newton, NC. There are good stories to back up each of those places.

There are seven other Confederates and one Federal soldier buried inthe Lily Branch cemetery.

Yesterday, I finished transcribing the Gettysburg section of the diary of Lt. Nathaniel Horton of Company B, 37th North Carolina Troops. I have edited the transcript, and made some remarks about Horton's service. Horton was wounded and captured on July 3, and was in prison until the end of March 1865.

Tonight, I'm off to App to continue my research into the 58th NCT.

Sorry for not posting more this week - been hard at work on the 58th NCT book. I’m off to Wake Forest today. My darling wife is presenting a paper at the Seminary’s C. S. Lewis conference tomorrow.

On Saturday, I’ll be signing books at the authors fair at the public library in Morganton. If you are in the area, stop by and say howdy!

Changing Theaters for a moment

Ok - time to change campaigns. I have this article about the 37th NCT at Gettysburg that I've been tinkering with on and off for about three years. I always get to this point and the article comes to a grinding halt. Here is the sticking point.

Lt. Thomas Norwood writes in July 16, 1863 letter: "I was taken prisoner when I was wounded. I was very near the batteries when I was shot..."

Norwood adds in his October 6, 1877 letter: "The cannoneers then left their guns. I rushed forward thinking the day was ours."

Whose artillery is Norwood talking about? The common interpretation is Egan's section, posted near the Bryan Farm. But Norwood makes no mention of being captured near the Bryan farm, or farm buildings. He was"very near the batteries..." Could it be that Norwood was captured nearArnold's remaining piece, before Weir comes up? I can also find no reference to Egan ever abandoning his section of artillery.

I am really interested in other folk's interpretation of these two statements.

At Chickamauga

After leaving Crow Valley Road, I drove a few miles north to visit the Chickamauga battlefield. I stopped by the information desk, and picked up some files to go through. Park Ranger Lee White was more than helpful, andI greatly enjoyed chatting with him. I did find a few good pieces of information that I did not have, and I was able to leave a few pieces that the park did not have.

While waiting for photocopies, I wandered through the museums. The weapons collection is one of the best, if not the best, in the country. I wonder how often they open those cases and clean all of those musketsand rifled-muskets.

There were five North Carolina regiments at the battle of Chickamauga. Instead of the infantry regiments being brigaded together into one Tar Heel brigade, the regiments were spread out.

6th North Carolina Cavalry - Davidson's Brigade, Armstrong's Division, Forrest's Corps
29th North Carolina Troops - Ector's Brigade, Walker's Division, Hill's Corps
39th North Carolina Troops - McNair's Brigade, Johnson's Division, Buckner's Corps
58th North Carolina Troops - Kelly's Brigade, Preston's Division, Buckner's Corps
60th North Carolina Troops - Stovall's Brigade, Breckinridge's Division, Hill's Corps

After leaving the museum, I headed to Snodgrass Hill. For some odd reason, which I am sure was logical at the time, I decided to trace the path of the 58th North Carolina in reverse. I started at Snodgrass Hill, looking for the monument of the 58th North Carolina. I had visited this site once before, in February, probably in 1999. It took several minutes to orient myself to the map that I had purchased.

By the way, when are the western theater battlefields going to get the map work of Fredericksburg or Spotsylvania?

After several minutes of searching, I found the monument to the 58th North Carolina. This is the only monument in existence to the regiment.

After taking a lot of photographs, I set out in search of the iron tablets to Kelly's brigade and Preston's Division. All three of these are not on the well-traveled path, each requiring a hike down some path through the woods. Two of these markers were not that far from Snodgrass Hill. The last was on the other side of the park, not far from where the brigade crossed over the Chickamauga River at Dalton's Ford.

I spent the rest of the evening photographing different monuments.

Gettysburg Magazine

Yesterday, I received a letter from Andy Turner, the newish editor ofGettysburg Magazine. Gettysburg Magazine is a publication devotedentirely to the study of the Gettysburg Campaign. I've been subscribing for about six or seven years, and I've had three articles, all about North Carolina, published in the magazine. Each issue of the magazine runs about 150 pages, has great maps and photographs, and no advertisements! It is released twice a year and is an incrediblere source. To be honest, it is more of a academic journal than amagazine.
In his letter, Andy writes:
The subscription rate has remained steady for many yars now at about 1,500. I find it hard to believe that in this entire country there are only 1,500 people who would want to subscribe to this magazine. This is where we can use your help. If every subscriber could get one new subscriber, it would go a long way to securing the future of the magazine. It could be a friend, a fellow Round Table member, or even the local library. Every subscription helps.
I would highly recommend anyone interested in the battle of Gettysburg to subscribe to this most worthy publication. For more information, please contact Andy at:

www.gettysburgmagazine.net
email: gettysburgmagazine@yahoo.com

Gettysburg Magazine
P.O. Box 1311
Dayton, Ohio 45401
(937) 667-6737

Now, if we could just get other such publications on other campaigns- like the Overland Campaign or North Georgia...

Busy weekend as usual. I was at the heritage festival in Spruce Pine on Saturday and had an enjoyable time. Yesterday, after church, I headed to ASU to continue to go through the 58th NCT’s compiled service records. I found a great letter, a petition to Colonel Palmer from the officers in the regiment asking for a chaplain for the regiment.

Tonight, I’m off to the Mitchell County Historical Society to give a talk. This upcoming Saturday, I’ll be in Wise County, Virginia, giving a talk for their local SCV Camp.

After leaving Tunnel Hill, I stopped and got some lunch. While I was eating, I pored over a map that I had gotten and found what I was looking for - Crow Valley Road. It was off this road that on May 4, 1864, twelve members of the 58th and 60th North Carolina Troops were executed for desertion. I do not know where these men are buried (yet).

It was in this area that the battle of Rocky Face Ridge was fought between May 7 and 13, 1864. I found this historical marker on the edge of some woods. The actual fighting would have taken place to the right of this marker. For some reason, I did not take a photograph of that area, which is odd for me. I took over three hundred photographs in three days.

Tomorrow - on to Chickamauga

One of the first places I visited on my trip was Tunnel Hill. I was at Tunnel Hill maybe eight years ago, before the museum and tunnel were opened. It was in September, and I was there for the reenactment. This time I was on the hunt for information.

One of the 58th NCT diarists reported being at Tunnel Hill from September 24 to October 9, 1863. I was hoping to run into someone whocould help me find the burial site of the Dalton executions. I had n oluck with that quest, but I did enjoy the museum and a walk in the historic tunnel. I did find the names of three North Carolina soldiers who died at Tunnel Hill during the war.

The first name on the list was Jesse C. Black. There were soldiers by this name in both the 58th NCT and the 60th NCT. The Jesse Black in the58th NCT died in Charlotte at the end of the war. I looked up the other Jesse Black, and according to the troop books, he was reported as sick in the hospital in March-April 1863, then died at Tunnel Hill on May 7,1863.

Next one the list was Martin V. Lankford. According to the troop books, Lankford served in Company K, 16th North Carolina Troops. He was from Polk County, and enlisted on April 20, 1861, at the age of 26. Lankford was discharged on October 12, 1862, by reason of "secondary syphilis." Just how he got to a hospital in Tunnel Hill, Georgia, is a mystery.

Last on the list was William F. Patton. There were several soldiers by this name who served in different North Carolina regiments. There were two, a William L. and a William S. in Company E, 62nd NCT. I'llneed to look these up at a later date.

All three of these, along with many others, were disinterred from the Citizens or Foster Cemetery in July 1869 and taken to Ringgold, then onto the Confederate Cemetery at Marietta, Georgia.

If you ever have a chance, stop by the Tunnel Hill Heritage Center. It is areally neat place.

We got back from our trip west late last night. I did not get to a third of the places that I wanted to or needed to visit. But, I had a great time nevertheless. Boy was it hot! I did not take this trip this past summer because of the heat. It was in the 90s the whole three days that I was gone. I will post more about the trip later.

This photograph was taken at Ft. McCook at Cumberland Gap.

I did pick up a couple of new books:

A Masterful Retreat: The Story of the 7th Division’s Retreat Across Eastern Kentucky from Sept.17 - Oct. 3 1862 by Lewis D. Nicholls (Avant Grade Publishing, 2006)

and

Capt. Ed Baxter and His Tenneessee Artillerymen, CSA (Baxter’s Company, Yennessee Light Artillery) by Dennis J. Lampley (Westview Book Publishing, 2007)

I’ll have a report on these in the near future.

Well, I’m off today for a trip to the battlefields of north Georgia. Some of these sites I’ve not visited in several years - probably a decade since I’ve been to Chickamauga/Chattanooga probably two decades since I’ve been to Kennasaw Mountain. I’ve never been in downtown Atlanta. I am really looking forward to this trip and the research that I’ll get done. I will not be posting while I’m gone, but should have good pictures when I get back.

That last post was my 100th - a small milestone. I do wish that it had been on a happier subject.

I finished chapter 5 of the 58th NCT book last night. The regiment has left Cumberland Gap and is on the way to Big Gap Creek.

When writing such a piece as a regimental history, you often come across things that just beg for more information. Sometimes, you are able to uncover what you need, and sometimes not. I mentioned this before, but I have a new example.

On Tuesday evening, I was transcribing a letter by Isaac Bailey, Company B. Bailey would go on to become Captain of Company B. This letter was written on October 2, 1862, from Cumberland Gap. I came across this sentence: "Tell Curtis that Palmer has not had me under arrest any more, But he has had all of the Commissioned officers under arrest." Earlier, I came across the resignation letter of Capt. Jacob Bowman, also of Company B. Bowman resigned on March 5, 1863, because of charges brought against him.

These two statements beg for more information. There is a story here, and maybe I'll get to tell it.

Some might say, well these two events are indicative of the conditions of the 58th NCT. That's true to some extent. They were unwilling volunteers or conscripts. Their personal freedoms, freedoms they had always exercised, had been replaced by a code of military discipline. Plus, for a colonel, they had an extremely intelligent, Northern-born commander.

That's not to say that almost all regiments did not have some of those same problems. I could pull numerous examples from my shelves of men saying the same things when they started to go to the war. And many histories agree that the part of the April 1862 Conscription Act that allowed men who reenlisted to reorganize their regiments with new officer elections was extremely damaging. This act replaced good men with a lot who valued discipline less.

Like I said, there is a story here and I hope I get to tell it. Anyone know if Kirby Smith had a judge advocate on staff? How about Braxton Bragg?

Stolen

We discovered last week that Yancey County’s last original iron cross, found on the grave of James T. Fox, a member of the 58th North Carolina Troops, has been stolen. This iron cross was located in the Holcombe-McCracken Cemetery. There is a Reward being offered for return of cross or information that leads to arrest and prosecution.

If you have information, please contact the Yancey County Sheriff’s Department at (828) 682-2124 or contact the Col. John B. Palmer Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans at (828) 682-9152.

It is amazing how quickly time flies. Has it already been a week since I posted last? We (my family) spent this past Saturday at olde timey days in Burnsville. Our local SCV Camp set up a display, including information tents, a Confederate officer’s tent (mine), and a artillery piece - 12-pound iron Napoleon. We had a great time - it was one of those perfect fall days in the mountains - in the low 70s and not a cloud in the sky. The photo here is of me and my nine-month old daughter, Isabella.

58th NCT update and the last Confederate soldier from North Carolina.

Well, I finished chapter four last week, and I'm well into chapter five. The regiment has finally gotten out of the mountains and is inJohnson's Depot (now Johnson City), Tennessee.

Yesterday, I was in Caldwell County doing some research. I came across this article, dated April 1, 1947:

Only Six Confederate Veterans Still Remain in North Carolina

With the death in Los Angeles of Capt. Alden G. Howell, native ofHaywood County, there are only six Confederate veterans left in North Carolina. Captain Howell was believed to have been the only surviving commissioned officer in the Confederate Army.

The six remaining veteran members of the N. C. State Troops are G. W.Dickerson of Buncombe County, who served in Capt. Walter Bryson's Company; R. V. Collie of Franklin, Co. A, First Regiment; G. W. Benson, Mecklenburg, Co. H, 26th Regiment; Charles S. Riggan, Warren, Co. B, 39th Regiment; A. S. Cockerham, Surry, Co. F, 33rd Regiment; and S. M.Bennett of Yancey, member of the Black Mountain Regiment.

Only one body servant still lives in the state. He is Alfred Blackburn of Yadkin, who was with Capt. Blackburn.

The men draw a $72 monthly pension from the State.

The 21 remaining widows of Confederate veterans who are not incapacitated draw $18.33. There are 502 widows who are disabled, and they receive a pension of $35monthly.



Most people recognize S. M. Bennett, a.k.a., Samuel Bennett, as the last remaining Tar Heel soldier. He died in 1951. But there seem to be alot of holes in Bennett's story. He is listed, according to a pension record, as serving in Company K, 58th North Carolina Troops.

Another newspaper clipping that I found today, this one from Burke County, states that

The last surviving North Carolina Confederate Army veteran died in the mountains of Yancey County on Mar. 8, 1951. He was 100 years old. Samuel E. Bennett, age 13, enlisted in the Black Mountain Regiment of the Confederate Home Guards along with his grandfather and four unclesin 1864. Pvt. Bennett was wounded in a dynamite blast while digging trenches near Richmond, VA, but recovered and served until the war ending in1865. He was mustered out at the age of 14.

As many of you who have followed this blog along know, the 58th NCT was not digging trenches at Petersburg. They might have been digging trenches around Atlanta, but not Petersburg. Also, there was not a"Black Mountain Regiment." The writer was probably referring to the"Black Mountain Boys," i.e., Company C, 16th North Carolina Troops, in which Sam Bennett did have numerous relatives. I thought that I had a copy of an article discussing the problems with the Sam Bennett story, but I can not seem to locate it. If anyone has a copy of this article, could you drop me a line?

Flags of Lane's Brigade at Gettysburg

Keith Snipes wrote recently looking for more information regarding the battle flags of Lane’s brigade. Keith wrote:

Your writing of the missing state flag for the 37th North Carolina compels me to ask about another of the regiment's apparently missing banners - the 1863 Richmond Depot issue with the blue battle honors.

Mr. Glenn Dedmondt's The Flags of Civil War North Carolina doesn't mention such a banner existing. Yet, his book does confirm that each of Lane's other four regiments had carried such a flag. The only regimental standard discussed for the 37th North Carolina is the earlier issued Branch/Lane brigade banner.

I’ve given this subject matter a lot of thought and some debate. I usually get shot down on the debate end. But hey, what would the world be without a little debate.

A lot of folks say that Lane’s brigade (7th, 18th, 28th, 33rd, and 37th NCTs) got new Richmond Depot flags right before the battle of Gettysburg. These flags have the battle honors painted in blue, with the regimental desigantion in gold above and below the center star. Dedmont writes in his The Flags of Civil War North Carolina:

The 7th Regiment North Carolina State Troops received this flag as part of the June 1863 distribution of 3rd (bunting) issue flags to A. P. Hill’s Light Division.

Dedmondt goes on to say the same thing about flags issued to the 18th, 28th, and 33rd, but not the 37th. And please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not picking on Dedmondt. Others have said this; I just happen to have Dedmondt’s book here on my desk.

So, did the 37th NCT get one of these flags? You would think, that had this been a wholesale flag issue to the regiments in the Light Division, that there would be some mention of the 37th NCT’s flag. But alas, no mention what-so-ever of the flag being issued to the 37th NCT. Furthermore, there appears to be no record of another flag ever being issued to the 37th NCT. It would seem that they carried their December 1862 for the rest of the war, until it was captured on April 2, 1865, just outside of Petersburg.

Now for the problems. I’ll start with the 37th. I’ve spent considerable time standing in front of the display case (when at Pamplin Park) looking at the 37th NCT’s flag. While I know that the flag has been restored, it is still in remarkable shape for a flag that belonged to one of the hardest fighting regiments in the ANV. That flag would have seen the whistle of balls and the shriek of cannon at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, and a host of the battle during the Petersburg Campaign. While some patching of the flag is evident, one would think that it would be shot to shreds.

So, based upon this simple observation, I would think that there would be another 37th NCT battle flag out there somewhere. Maybe it was captured and some Yank took it home as a souvenir, or maybe it was taken home by a member of the regiment, or maybe it was tied to a rock and dumped into a river on the retreat.

Now for more problem with the flag of the 7th NCST captured at Gettysburg. Why does the flag issued to the 7th NCST and supposedly captured at Gettysburg have both the "Wilderness" and "Chancellorsville" painted on it? Some folks say that this represents two different actions during the battle of Chancellorsville. But why do none of the other regiments in A. P. Hill’s Division, who were involved in the same actions at Chancellorsville, have this same arrangement of battle honors?

Why is it that the 7th NCST was carrying this flag, while the 28th NCT was carrying their flag with the white battle honors, which they also lost on July 3. Is it possible that the flag of the 7th NCST captured at Gettysburg was also their first issued battle flag, of which only a fragment survives? Is it possible that the flag always attributed to being captured on day 3 was captured at a later date and mis-identified as the flag captured at Gettysburg?

Well, there we have it. As I said earlier, what’s the world without a little debate? Maybe some day I’ll post the reasons why Lee chose Wilcox over Lane to command the Light Division. No, it has nothing to do with Jackson.

Keith - I enjoyed the article in Gettysburg Magazine (Issue 37). As a side note, the brigade arrangement on page 119 is not correct. It was the 7th North Carolina and five companies of the 37th that broke away from the rest of the brigade. Also, the email you sent me some time ago, got accidently deleted the day after you sent it. I would love to talk to you more.

Civil War markers unveiled in Lexington

Found this article on my web crawl this morning. Good to see Chris is still out there working on preserving local history. I first met him when he was an undergrad at ASU. He used to come over and set on my porch and talk about the war. This is from the Lexington Dispatch


Civil War markers unveiled in Lexington
BY GLEN BAITY
The Dispatch


When local historian Chris Watford decided to take a closer look into Davidson County’s Civil War history in 2003, the multi-state Civil War Trail program hadn’t yet expanded into central North Carolina.

Within two years, the first two Davidson County markers on the trail were dedicated in Thomasville. A third in the Chair City followed in March of this year, commemorating a field hospital that treated union and confederate soldiers wounded in the Battle of Bentonville in Johnston County.

On Saturday, Watford, alongside tourism and history museum officials, unveiled two new markers in Lexington with a third to follow Sunday at Lake Thom-A-Lex. For Watford, the unveilings of the county’s fourth, fifth and sixth markers were a recognition of the role local people played in a pivotal moment in U.S. history.

“I came to realize, as a historian and a history buff, that these were some great stories that needed to be told,” Watford said.

The Saturday unveilings were performed amid a living history event that helped tell the story of the Union occupation of Lexington in the late spring and summer of 1865, when Maj. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick took up residence in The Homestead on South Main Street, a private residence owned by Dr. William R. Holt. The doctor was away at the time of Kilpatrick’s arrival, securing his plantation, Linwood, against the threat of raiders. Holt’s wife, Louisa, offered up The Homestead to Kilpatrick upon his arrival in Lexington to prevent it from being taken by force, something she feared might place her family in danger.

After Kilpatrick set up his command at The Homestead, the Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry arrived in Lexington and took up residence at the Old Court House on the Square. The Union forces would remain in Lexington through July 1865.

The Union’s attraction to the two sites is understandable: The Old Court House was just as striking a presence in that era as it is today, and The Homestead was widely regarded as the most impressive house in the city at the time.

“In May of 1865, these were two of the most prominent landmarks in Lexington,” Watford said.

On Saturday, reenactors from the 26th and 27th North Carolina stepped momentarily out of character, donning blue Union uniforms to portray the Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry in a living history event hosted in cooperation with the county’s Tourism Recreation Investment Partnership and the Davidson County Historical Museum. The regiment hosted “School of the Soldier” demonstrations, showing those in attendance the training exercises a newly enlisted man in the Civil War era would have undergone.

“It was part of the training that the men went through to learn to operate as a cohesive unit in battle,” said Capt. Dennis Brooks of the 26th North Carolina. Sgt. Clint Johnson, also of the 26th, said these types of events can be illuminating for smaller towns not commonly thought of as Civil War hot spots.

“It gives the citizens a chance to realize that history happened in their town,” he said.

To aid in that realization, the Davidson County Historical Museum opened its exhibit, “Marking the Trail of Our Civil War History,” featuring artifacts on loan from local ancestors of Civil War soldiers. Those items range from rifles and sabers to a wooden leg that once belonged to a local confederate soldier, Lindsay Lemuel Conrad, on whose land along Abbotts Creek, near modern-day Lake Thom-A-Lex, Confederate President Jefferson Davis camped in April 1865. That occurrence was noted on the Civil War marker at the lake Sunday afternoon.Museum curator Catherine Hoffmann said the exhibit focuses on the events of all six Davidson County markers.“We’re using these objects as triggers to discuss what visitors are interested in,” Hoffmann said.

With six markers on the Civil War Trail now firmly established in the county, Watford has his sights set on more official recognition for local historic sites. The two that were unveiled Saturday, he said, were made possible by years of concern for local landmarks by area residents.

“These sites were preserved not only throughout the federal occupation but by the care and concern of the people of Lexington,” Watford said.

Glen Baity can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 227, or glen.baity@the-dispatch.com.

Chris Graham sent me an email with the accession number for the remnants of the flag of the 17th North Carolina - thanks Chris! I’m not sure why my searches did not produce this. Maybe the internet fairies were not with me???

Here is the flag:

Where have all of the flags gone?

I had an email this evening from Russ Lane, a descendant of a member of the 17th NCT. He was asking about the battle flag of the 17th NCT. I pulled out Glenn Dedmondt’s The Flags of Civil War North Carolina and flipped to the page with a drawing of the Second National carried by the 17th NCT. Dedmondt’s book is considered the standard reference source on the subject.


I like the book. However, it lacks a lot. The information for the flag of the 17th NCT says that "There is little left of the 2nd National flag used by the 17th Regiment. The tattered remains are 55" along the hoist. The flag was hidden by Pvt. Able Thomas and taken home with him after the surrender." I want more. When was the flag made? When was it issued? Was Thomas the regimental color bearer? What battles did the flag see? When was it donated to the Museum of History in Raleigh?


I went to the Museum of History’s web page, but the flag was not listed in the artifacts search. I did find reference to the flag of the Pasquotank Guards, which would become Company L, 17th NCT. This flag, a fragment of which is pictured here, is not mentioned in Dedmont’s book.
All of this leads me to this: we need a detailed history of North Carolina’s war-time flags. I’ll give you three questions that I’ve yet been able to find an answer to. Maybe this will help uncover some more material.


One. Did the 37th NCT get a state issued flag, where is it, and what flag did the 37th NCT carry between November 1861 and December 1862, when they were issued the ANV battle flag with the white battle honors?


Two: Did the 58th NCT get a state issue flag and what happened to it?


Three: Were the 2nd and 3rd North Carolina Mounted Volunteers (US) issued flags and what became of them after the war?


I know that researching flags is not easy. I’ve researched these two regiments for a decade, and I’ve written about the 37th NCT, and I am currently working on a book about the 58th NCT. I understand how important a flag was to the men in a regiment. I just wish we had some more material concerning flags.

Well, I’m in the middle of a very busy week. I had the book signing Sunday in Lenoir. I had another last night in Clyde (Haywood County), then rushed back over to Burnsville to talk with Terrell Garren, author of Mountain Myth: Unionism in Western North Carolina. Tomorrow, I’ve got a book signing at the Banner House Museum in Banner Elk. Friday, I’ll be speaking at the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival in Burnsville, then I’m off to the Brown Mountain lights Festival in Linville Falls. On Saturday morning, I’m off to the Cove Creek Heritage Festival in Watauga County, before heading back to Burnsville. On Sunday, there is a decoration service at the old Bakersville Cemetery.

I think I’m crazy!

In 58th news, I’m still plugging away at chapter 4. Did you know that Company K was made up of men primarily from Companies A and E? I’ve not come across a good reason yet - maybe they were dissatisfied with their company commanders. Or, maybe the Company K commanders saw an opportunity for advancement. Or ?

New Caldwell County Book

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to sign books at the open house of the Caldwell Heritage Museum in Lenoir. While I was there, John Hawkins, director of the museum, showed me his new book, Wars and Rumors of War. John has been writing history-related articles for his local newspaper since 1990, and Wars and Rumors of War is a collection of articles relating to the military and Caldwell County. All time periods of the service are included in this new book, from the American Revolution to Operation Desert Storm.

For the War Between the States afficionado, countless stories abound of Gettysburg and Stoneman’s raid. Many of these stories are from the actual participants. At least half of this book is about the war.

If you are interested in a copy of the book, please contact the museum at 828.758.4004 or visit their web page.

While I was there I mentioned to John about having the Museum and/or the historical society sponsor a Round Table discussion much like the Yancey County one that we did last week. He liked the idea, and we are hoping to put this together next spring.

Old Cemetery Discovered Near Averasboro

Old Cemetery Discovered Near AverasboroHistory Buffs Working To Preserve It
Tom Woerner

From the My Daily Record

Harnett County News EditorBryan Avery says history is one of his passions, so when he heard about a discarded cemetery lost in the woods near the Averasboro Battleground, his interest was roused.

Mr. Avery went to work learning about the heritage of the area and is now working to clean up the burial plots of some of the area's first settlers.

The Norris Family Cemetery appears, from a distance, to be part of a wooded area near what history students and lovers know as Averasboro. Down a dirt road, away from regular traffic, visitors to the cemetery are rare.

A closer look reveals the work Mr. Avery and other local history buffs working with him have done.

Tombstones, some as old as 200 years, now rise into an area which will soon have the appearance it deserves. Mounds in the ground mark where other bodies may lie. The exact number of those buried here is unknown.

"There are 90 recorded markers and there could be a lot more," Mr. Avery said.

The identified graves include those of soldiers, family members and others, and Mr. Avery said. He said the oldest of the people buried here were born in the 1750s.

Mr. Avery said he first learned of the cemetery when reading about the history of the old village of Averasboro, which sits south of Erwin. It was there that brave Confederates soldiers offered some of the only resistance to the destructive forces of Gen. William T. Sherman in the waning days of the Civil War.

Mr. Avery began an investigation and learned more about the burial plot from Wade Hampton West, who has lived nearby all his life. Mr. West is a living history book of the area, and is named after Confederate War hero Wade Hampton. He eagerly offered exact burial spots of individual Confederate soldiers.

Mr. Avery said once he was made aware of the situation involving the historic burial site, he felt he needed to do something.

"The history of Harnett County is right here," he said. "We love history and that is what everything we do is about."

Mr. Avery plans to provide many more people the chance to see the cemetery. He and friend Bill Faircloth have spent numerous days, including several Saturdays, with power equipment and hard labor to clear the area.

When they started, most of the graves were hidden by hundreds of years of debris and dirt. Now the names of the graves' occupants are clearly visible. Some of them have rested in the ground since the days of the Revolutionary War.

Rows between the graves that were once cluttered are now being cleared, offering easy access. A new fence will soon replace trees as the boundaries of the area.

Mr. West looks on the project with a smile. He is now slowed by age but still eagerly seeks out locations he has known most of his life.

His parents and grandparents have lived in the area since the Civil War. He is overwhelmed to see the work Mr. Avery and Mr. Faircloth are doing.

"This is something I have wanted to see for a long time," Mr. West said. "This is where I grew up and I want to see it look better."

Yancey County program last night.

Last night, we had a Yancey County and the Civil War discussion at the public library in Burnsville. Talking about the war is one of my greatest joys. And, for a little over two hours, that's all we did. The topics ranged from Longstreet, Lee, and Stuart at Gettysburg; to A.P. Hill, Braxton Bragg, Nathan Bedford Forrest, the role of cavalry during the war, and a host of other topics. The questions and answers came as fast as they could with not much down time. Seventeen people were on hand. As I said, spending two hours with a group of fine folks just talking about the war is a great way to spend a couple of hours.

We are already talking about doing this type of program again in November in Mitchell County. I would like to see this type of grassroots discussion of the war in every county across the state. If you are interested in helping organize one in your community, please drop me a line at: mchardy@michaelchardy.com

The Civil War Trails marker program here in Avery County is proceeding slowly. I did meet with a couple of folks on Friday. Hopefully, I'll have something to report on soon. I'm also working with some folks (Cheryl Richardson) on getting a section of the Old Turnpike Road in Avery County designated a scenic by-way. This is part of a road used by Federal soldiers escaping from Salisbury and heading into east Tennessee during the war.

Civil War preservation and interest is alive and well in Western NC!

Yancey County Civil War discussion

Greetings folks! Though I would share with you this event that I am participating in this Tuesday.

Do you have an ancestor who served in the Confederate or Union army? Want to know what happened on Jack’s Creek or in Burnsville during the War of Northern Aggression? What did the men who marched away in 1861 and 1862 do? Were they at Gettysburg? Chickamauga? Bentonville? Appomattox? Join a group of local historians on Tuesday, September 4, at 6:30 pm, at the Yancey County Public Library Annex as we discuss the both Yancey County and the War for Southern Independence, and the role that Yancey County men played in many far off places. This event is free, and the public is invited to attend. Please bring a friend and all of those questions about the Civil War that you never knew whom to ask. For more information, please contact Michael Ledford at (828) 682-9151.

The Western Enterprise and the Mountain Mercury

Monday night I was at Appalachian State (I was there Tuesday night also) systematically going through sources for the book on the 58th NCT. These sources range from their compiled service records which are on microfilm, to family history to historical society newsletters. You never know when a set of letters, or some little tidbit of information will pop up.

I grabbed a roll of microfilm out of the cabinet that was labeled Miss. McDowell Co. Newspapers. I found a real treasure. I was not aware that Marion, in McDowell County, had attempted to start a newspaper during the war.

The first was The Western Enterprise. On this roll of microfilm, they had Volume 1, Issue 1, dated March 14, 1862. It is rare to find the first issue. The paper was published by R. L. Abernathy and E. A. Poe. This issue was extremely hard to read, but had articles on President Davis’s Inaugural Address and a possible treaty with France. The next issue was Volume 1, Number 7, dated April 25, 1862, which contained an article on the battle of New Bern, North Carolina. The last issue on the roll of microfilm was a different newspaper, the Mountain Mercury. This was also Volume 1, Issue 1, dated January 7, 1863. It appears that A. C. Halyburton and William Williams had purchased the Western Enterprise and had renamed the newspaper.

In this solitary issue, C. O. Conley, Captain of Company F, 58th North Carolina Troops, had issued a $180 reward for the apprehension of a group of men that had deserted his company.
I have no other information regarding the Mountain Mercury, no other issues, no idea when it ceased publication. I don’t recall it being on the Guide to North Carolina Newspapers on microfilm before (it’s there now).

It is always nice to find little gems when one is out researching.

For the next few weeks, I’ll be spending a lot of time at App., going through newspapers, more family histories, and whatever else I can get my hands on as I try and wrap up my research.

Names from the 1863 Yancey Baptist Report

After I posted about the resolution Brother Collins had reported on, expressing my desire to know their names, Keith Snipes wrote back. Here are the names. I was hoping to get time to look these men up and see what regiment they served in and how they died. But alas, I just do not have time. I am really behind in my work on the 58th. I am hoping this week and next week to get those last little research trips finished. Then, it will be time for some serious writing. To be honest, the writing part is not hard. Making sure that you’ve got everything (and you never have everything) out there is the time-consuming part.

One other bit of information before we get to those names. When I wrote the history of the Thirty-seventh, if was pretty straightforward when it came to enlistment. For example, William R. Rankin helped put together the "Gaston Blues." On September 24, 1861, 111 men enlisted in his regiment, which would become Company H, 37th North Carolina Troops. Yes, other men would join later on, after the passage of each conscription act, and a few junior reserves. Today, I was working on Capt. John Keener’s Company, which would become Company E, 58th North Carolina Troops. About half a dozen men joined the company before Keener formally began raising a company. On June 25, the day he officially started, 41 men joined. Then, on June 27, another 32 joined. There was one on June 28, seventy-six on July 5, three on July 7, three on July 16, seventeen on July 21, one on July 23, and one on July 25. And, they came from three different counties. My theory is that Keener started recruiting in Mitchell County, then, after he was unable to finish his recruitment goals (largely due to the fact the two other companies had come out of Mitchell County in the two previous months) he went to Caldwell County where he finished recruiting for his company.

Oh well, now to that list of names. These are men from Yancey County who were Baptists that died prior to August 1863:

A. Hollifield; William Collins; J. McKinney; William Woody; William Byrd; G. W. Byrd; Daniel Quinn, Ansel Randolph; Bartlett Wilson; E. J. Buchanan; William Grindstaff; J. M. Robertson; John Robertson; J. D. Howell; Thow McKinney; James Willis; James Harris; H. Willis; John Beaver, and Milas Hollifield.

E. Kirby Smith bio

Don recently asked what bio on E. Kirby Smith I am planning to read. I have a copy of General Edmund Kirby Smith, C. S. A., written by Joseph H. Parks. It was published in 1954 by LSU and reissued in 1982. I did some searching, and I could find no other recent bio on Smith. I do not know if I will get to read the whole bio at this time. Too many books... I know, that smacks against one of my favorite quotes from C. S. Lewis - No book too long, no cup of tea too large.

With the way that books on the war are turned out, I find the task of trying to read them all daunting. I have about 1,000 books on the war, and many more on Appalachia, early American history, and literature. Add to that a smattering of religious texts and biographies, books on Scotland, histories in general, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and philosophy. I’ve also got around 200 books printed prior to 1860 - once again history, literature, text books, biographies, state laws and codices, etc.,

If you add the books that belong to my wife, (she’s an English professor), that includes just about anything ever written by or on C. S. Lewis, and enough Shakespeare to keep a person busy for a lifetime. Well, I really need a bigger house with lots of wall space for book shelves.
Some of these are good books, some bad.

Maybe a list of my favorite War Between the States books is in order.

This past Saturday morning, I was digging around at my local library, and I found a book entitled A Baptist Looks Back by James Oliver Young. It is a history of sorts of the Baptist Associations in the Toe River Valley area, i.e., Yancey, Mitchell, and Avery Counties, with a little McDowell and Buncombe thrown in. In my search I found that in 1863, Elder S. M. Collis "was asked to furnish a list of names of..." the soldiers who had died since the beginning of the war so that the Association might enter them into the minutes. Collis does this, then adds:

The above Brethren were members of the Baptist church and had been ornaments to the denomination to which they belong and when they came up under a sense of duty to their country they turned their backs upon their families and their breast to the cannon, bidding adieu to wives and children, fathers and mothers, the most of them having little families to mourn their loss. Some of their bodies lie in around Richmond, Va., and some around Gettysburg, Pa., while others of them fell in Mississippi. Peace to their silent dust and honors to their memories. The Association tenders her heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved fathers and mothers, wives and children, yet would not sorrow as those without hope, believing that the are resting in heaven where war will disturb them no more.
How many thousand widows
Bereft of husband brave
How many thousand orphans
With fathers in the grave
The Father’s seat is empty
‘Twas never so before
The brother’s voice is silent
And shall be heard no more.

I don’t think that I can add anything else....

The Slave Who was a Soldier...

Folks - I found this recently in the Charlotte Observer. I was kind of surprised.

Regards,
Michael


THE SLAVE WHO WAS A SOLDIER: DAUGHTER SEARCHES FOR TRUTH
Memorial will honor man who fought for Confederate Army

Cliff Harrington Wary Clyburn is a local Civil War hero I bet many of you don't know about. He's a former slave who fought for the Confederate Army from 1863 to1865. He was born in Lancaster County but moved to Union. Many of his descendants live in the Wingate area, and they're planning to honor his memory next month. Pension documents confirm that Clyburn was a former slave and a Civil War veteran. The documents say he volunteered for the Confederacy with Capt. Frank Clyburn, who was the son of the man who owned Wary Clyburn (Note: The documents spelled his first name several ways: Werry, Weary and Wary. His daughter says the correct spelling is Wary).

According to the pension documents, Wary Clyburn served as the bodyguard for Frank Clyburn in Company E of the 12th regiment. Wary carried Frank on his shoulders to rescue him during intense fighting. Wary also served as a special aid to Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Monday morning I met Mattie Clyburn Rice of High Point; she's the daughter of Wary Clyburn. She had come to the Heritage Room at theOld Monroe Courthouse to get information about her father. She already had a good bit of documentation. That's where I saw the documents that had been filed when Wary wanted to get pension payments as a Civil War veteran. Clyburn did get his pension in 1926, and after that many other former slaves also got pensions, according to his daughter.

Mattie Clyburn Rice was born in 1922 and her father died in 1930. Rice said her father spent a lot of time telling her about his life. He was too old to work in the fields."He would send my brothers to the fields and he would stay with me," she said. "He would tell me about his life and I didn't have any computers or anything, so I had to remember all of this. I kept it in my head and I've been looking and searching."

When she became an adult, she left Union County but continued to look for information about her father, including a search for the site where he was buried. Mattie Clyburn Rice said she found her father's grave about 10 years ago. It's in what we now know as Hillcrest Cemetery.

She didn't have time to show me the exact spot Monday. However, when the discussion turned to her father, a big smile lit her face. She loved her father and that has driven her to gather information.

Even now, she wants to know more. There is a photo of Wary Clyburn, but his daughter didn't have it with her. She had a photocopy. It showed a man with a grand smile, seated with what appeared to be his Confederate military jacket on. He was holding a fiddle.

Mattie Clyburn Rice said when she was small, her parents took her to First Church of God on Morgan Mill Road. In her search for information, she again has found the church and that's where the family plans to honor Mr. Clyburn on Aug. 26. There will be a family reunion.

The obvious question is this: Why would a slave volunteer to fight onthe side of people who held him in bondage?That's a question that only Mr. Clyburn can answer. Too often when it comes to the Civil War and slavery, we hear versions of the truth that are woven from conjecture and narrow perspectives. It's refreshing when you find the truth. This is it. Wary Clyburn was a brave and loyal hero. And he deserves to behonored by all of us. IN MY OPINION

The Memorial Wary Clyburn will be honored Aug. 26 during a reunion of his
descendants. The ceremony will be at First Church of God, 301 MorganMill Road.

GOT INFORMATION?Mattie Rice Clyburn is still compiling information about her father. If you have information, please write to her: Mattie Rice Clyburn, P.O. Box 1503, High Point, NC 27262.

I had a great time this past weekend at the Franklin reunion in Linville Falls. I had a chance to talk to many people who had ancestors who served in various North Carolina regiments, and it was great to meet all of them.

I’ll be speaking tonight at the Col. John B. Palmer Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Burnsville. Next Monday, I’ll be speaking at the SCV Camp in Haywood County - they meet at the fire department in Clyde. On Tuesday, I’ll be at a book festival in Rutherfordton, at the historic church there - St. John’s I believe.

Still researching more than I am writing. The researching should come to an end very soon, even though I’ll still be on the hunt until the day I turn in the manuscript.

For the past few days, I’ve been trying to tackle the whole conscription event. Conscription is largely the reason for why we have a 58th North Carolina.

I’ve searched through a lot of books trying to gain a better understanding, including:
Weitz - More Damning than Slaughter

Trotter - Bushwhackers
Inscoe and McKinney - The Heart of Confederate Appalachia
Hilderman - They Went into the Fight Cheering
Wert - "Confederate Conscription Woes" CWTI
Johnston - Zebulon Vance Papers
Yearns and Barrett - North Carolina Civil War Documentary
Thomas - The Confederate Nation
Yearns - The Confederate Congress
Rable - The Confederate Republic
Moore - Confederate Conscription
and
McPherson - The Battle Cry of Freedom

I am no fan of McPherson. However, it is in the latter that I found this:

The main purpose of conscription was to stimulate volunteering by the threat of coercion rather than by its actual use.

That is just what happened with the 58th NCT. One company, the Mitchell Rangers, already existed. Another, the one from Caldwell County that was recruited for Vance’s Legion, was a by-product of conscription. Eight other companies (there were twelve in the 58th NCT) were recruited prior to the cutoff date for volunteering. The last two, L and M, were made up of conscripts, forced into service.

I wonder if any of the other regiments mustered into service after April 1862, follow this same steps? All I need is yet another project.

You might have noticed that I have changed my photograph on the above header. Before, we had the Confederate monument in Greensboro. Now, it is the Monument to Women of the Confederacy on the capital grounds in Raleigh. I took this photograph last summer. The monument was dedicated in 1914.

Yesterday, I ventured to Boone, researching on the 58th NCT. I wanted to make sure that I missed nothing in my research. I came away with a few dates and middle names, but not much more. I used to work at this library, almost a decade ago, and I went through the collections pretty thoroughly. Plus, I went through them when I wrote the history of the 37th NCT and my history of Watauga County.

I have yet another busy weekend. Tomorrow, I am going to hear Dr. Anne Whisnant, who wrote a history of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I have a research trip to Burnsville on Friday morning, then I will be at the Franklin family reunion in Linville Falls Friday night and Saturday. I am taking a display on the 58th NCT. There were several members of the Franklin family who served in the 58th NCT, so maybe I will come away with some good stuff.

Often, in the many talks that I give, I get questions regarding the pro-Union sentiment of the mountains of western North Carolina. I often tell folks that western NC was not as pro-Union as the "historians" have made it out to be. I’ve been preaching that sermon for a decade now. Western North Carolina, especially in the first year of the war, was more pro-Confederate than the rest of the state - more mountaineers joined the Confederate army in the first year of the war than men off the mountain.

Another thing that I often talk about is three different groups all battling against each other in western North Carolina. Today, I up that number to four. In answer to an email that I received, here is my response:

No one could "live open" during this time. You have the Confederate home guard (after mid-1863), doing their best to police the area, and round up conscription dodgers and deserters. Then, you have groups of regular Confederate soldiers who swept into the area from time to time. These groups were usually worse than the deserter bands, impressing men into service and stealing whatever they could. You have the deserter bands, men who have illegally left the army and have formed themselves into armed bands who prey upon a largely defenseless civilian population. Lastly, you have individuals or family groups that use the war as excuses for carrying out acts of violence on their neighbors. This would later transmit into the "family feuds" that color writers would exploit later in the 19th century (i.e., the Hatfields and McCoys).

Well, that sounds like the outline for a book.

What do you think?