Confederate Cemetery To Be Dedicated at Bentonville, Site of Bloodiest Battle

FOUR OAKS – Grave markers honoring 20 Confederate soldiers who died during the three-day Battle of Bentonville, which caused nearly 4,200 Union and Confederate casualties, will be dedicated at the site on June 11. The ceremony is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources’ 2nd Saturdays summer series combining arts and history, and is also the site’s annual June Summer Seasonal Living History Program.


Starting at 10 a.m., visitors will hear artillery and musket fire such as split the air in March 1865. The permanent marker dedication ceremony will be at 2 p.m.

The farm home of John and Amy Harper became the Union Army XIV field hospital during the battle, where nearly 600 Union soldiers and an unknown number of Confederates were treated. After the battle the Union army marched on to Goldsboro , paroling at least 45 wounded Confederates left in the care of the Harpers. In spite of the Harpers’ best efforts, 23 of the soldiers died and 20 were buried on the farm.

Over the years the exact location of the Confederate graves was lost. Thanks to 21st-century technology and discovery of a late 19th-century photograph, the cemetery was found. The picture shows 20 headstones and footstones just south of the Harper family cemetery. Assistant State Archaeologist John Mintz and Wake Forest University Director of Public Archaeology Kenneth Robinson led a team of archaeologists who confirmed the graves’ location using ground-penetrating radar.

The Harper House Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a Bentonville Battlefield support group, is raising funds to purchase headstones for the graves. To contribute, contact the site at (910) 594-0789.

During the dedication, research historian Michael Hill from the N.C. Office of Archives and History will present a talk about the care of a fallen Confederate soldier at one of the war’s first battles. Archaeologist John Mintz will speak on archaeological discoveries at Bentonville and on the treatment of the dead in the last days of the war. A musket and artillery salute by Civil War re-enactors will follow.

Bentonville Battlefield is located at 5466 Harper House Road , Four Oaks, N.C. 27524, three miles north of Newton Grove on S.R. 1008; it is about one hour from Raleigh and about 45 minutes from Fayetteville . For more info rmation, visit http://www.nchistoricsites.org/bentonvi/ or call (910) 594-0789.

Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site in the Division of State Historic Sites is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. For more info rmation on Cultural Resources, visit http://www.ncculture.com/.

Alleghany County Public Library Honors “Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory”

Alleghany County Public Library Honors “Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory”

With Civil War Photography Exhibit on Display May 2-28

RALEIGH – Since the beginning of the Civil War (1861-1865) 150 years have passed, but its widespread impact and defining characteristics remain vivid. These can especially be seen in North Carolina due to the state’s role in the war as illustrated by the Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory: Civil War Sesquicentennial Photography Exhibit (www.nccivilwar150.com). The exhibit will be hosted by Alleghany County Public Library from May 2-28, honoring North Carolinians in the Civil War with a variety of images.


“The Civil War was the first war widely covered with photography,” explains Deputy Secretary Dr. Jeffrey Crow of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. “The Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory exhibit provides images of historic figures, artifacts, and documents that brought the reality of the war from the battlefront to the home front, then and now.”

The exhibit will travel the state from April 2011 through May 2013, visiting 50 libraries and several museums with its showcase of 24 images. The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources (www.ncculture.com) commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with images gathered from the State Archives (www.archives.ncdcr.gov), the N.C. Museum of History (www.ncmuseumofhistory.org) and State Historic Sites (www.nchistoricsites.org). A notebook will accompany the exhibit with further info rmation and seeking viewer comments.

Among the various pictures is an image of a mourning ring crafted by a North Carolina Confederate soldier. The ring, made out of a type of easily-carved rubber called guttapercha, contains mother-of-pearl and gold inlay. Mourning rings were used to buy various items in prison like socks and were also fashionably worn by Southern women as a symbol for loved ones fighting or fallen in the war.

Call the Alleghany Public Library (336) 372-5573 for more info rmation on the exhibit. Contact the Department of Cultural Resources (919) 807-7389 for tour info rmation.

The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources is the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. Information on Cultural Resources is available 24/7 at www.ncculture.com.

North Carolina Monument at Allatoona

A week and a half ago (Yes, I really am that far behind), I had the opportunity to venture to North Georgia, to one of those battlefields where Tar Heels bled and died. The occasion was the dedication of a monument to the 29th and 39th NCT regiments, and I was blessed with being able to present the keynote address.


Here are a few excerpts from my talk.

The 29th and 39th Regiment were often in the thick of things during the Atlanta campaign of the spring and summer of 1864. They were engaged at New Hope Church, Picket’s Mill, Smyrna, Peachtree Creek, the battles for Atlanta, Ezra Church, and the evacuation of Atlanta in September 1864. As Hood moved north toward Tennessee, his goal was to draw out Sherman and look for an advantageous position to attack. Hood also planned to cut Sherman’s supply line coming from Tennessee, making the Federal position in Atlanta untenable. Hood’s men struck the railroad at Acworth and Big Shanty. Next lay Allatoona, with its large storehouse of provisions. Capturing Allatoona was assigned to French’s division, containing Ector’s brigade and the 29th and 39th Regiments. The three redoubts protected about 2,000 Federals. The Confederates captured the railroad and its protecting blockhouse, before demanding the Federals surrender. They declined, and the Confederates attacked. The 39th Regiment did not actively participate in the attack, being sent to serve as supports for Confederate artillery and skirmishers. The rest of Ector’s brigade were placed in support during the initial attack. During the attack, the 29th Regiment advanced under fire through some thick woods, before discovering that they had lost contact with the rest of the brigade. Major Ezekial Hampton ordered the regiment to advance at the double quick. They stopped just short of the Federal works, dropped to the ground, and reloaded. Soon Hampton ordered his men up and advanced over the works. Three color bearers were struck before the flag of the 29th Regiment was planted on the Federal works. According to one historian, “the 29th ran into the Federal trench and fought ‘hand-to-hand with swords, bayonets, rifle butts, and rocks.’ The Confederates killed many of the enemy and captured 25 or 30 prisoners… no sooner had they taken the Federal works than Major Hampton ordered his men forward again. The 29th got within 20 yards of the Star Fort before their charge was stopped.” Before French could order his men to attack the final Federal position, he received word that the Federals were coming up in his rear. Fearing the he would be cut off, French ordered his men to retreat. Hampton, in his official report, stated that the 29th North Carolina took 138 men into action, losing 12 killed, 39 wounded, and 3 missing. Colonel David Coleman of the 39th North Carolina reported that his regiment lost only two men wounded.

Conference in Raleigh May 20 Examines Civil War Memories

RALEIGH -- As it has for generations, the Civil War engages and fascinates students of history like almost no other topic. A keynote address by David Blight of Yale University titled “Race and Reunion : Has Civil War Memory United or Divided America?” will kick off an all-day conference at the N.C. Museum of History on Friday, May 20.


The conference, “Contested Past: Memories and Legacies of the Civil War,” is being held on the 150th anniversary of North Carolina ’s secession from the Union . It is the first of three sesquicentennial symposiums the N.C. Office of Archives and History will sponsor around the state between 2011 and 2015.

Following Blight’s address, other experts in the field of Civil War history will examine aspects of memory and the war in breakout sessions with topics that include literature, historiography, statuary, monuments, race, women, heritage organizations, and other legacies.

A registration fee of $25 covers all lectures, morning refreshments, a boxed lunch and a reception late Friday afternoon. To register, send a check made payable to the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association (NCLHA) by May 10 to Parker Backstrom, 4610 Mail Service Center , Raleigh , NC 27699-4610 . For more information, call the N.C. Office of Archives & History at (919) 807-7280, or go to www.nccivilwar150.com.

Sponsors include the North Caroliniana Society, the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission, the North Carolina Civil War Tourism Council, and the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association

On May 20, 1861, delegates meeting in the State Capitol voted to take North Carolina out of the Union and align with the Confederate States of America . For the next four years North Carolinians , other Southerners and those in the North engaged in a protracted war touching every part of society.

A team of North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources staff, operating with an advisory panel of leading historians, has planned more than 200 events, lectures and exhibits across the state to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources (www.ncculture.com) is the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future.

Presenters

David W. Blight, Class of 1954 Professor of History at Yale University , is the author of “Race and Reunion : The Civil War in American Memory,” for which he received the Bancroft, Lincoln, and Frederick Douglass Prizes.

John Coffey is the deputy director for art at the North Carolina Museum of Art where, since 1989, he also has been the Curator of American and Modern Art.

Adam H. Domby is a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . His current research explores the memory of dissent and intra-community violence in North Carolina .

Mark Elliott is associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro . Along with John David Smith, he co-edited Undaunted Radical: The Selected Writings and Speeches of Albion W. Tourgee.

James Gillispie teaches history at Sampson Community College in Clinton . He is the author of Andersonvilles of the North: The Myths and Realities of the Northern Treatment of Civil War Confederate Prisoners.

John Haley is a retired professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington . The study of race relations and the Civil War and Reconstruction are his areas of specialty.

Michael C. Hardy maintains the blog “ North Carolina and the Civil War.” In 2010 he was named North Carolina Historian of the Year by the North Carolina Society of Historians.

John C. Inscoe, University Professor and Albert B. Saye Professor of History at the University of Georgia , is author of “Race, War, and Remembrance in the Appalachian South” and “Writing the South through the Self.”

Elizabeth C. King is a survey specialist in the Eastern Office of the State Historic Preservation Office. She is completing a comprehensive survey of historic architectural resources in Beaufort County .

Leonard Lanier is a graduate student at Louisiana State University . His research interests include post-Civil War political violence in eastern North Carolina .

David Madden, the Robert Penn Warren Professor Emeritus at Louisiana State University and founding director of the United States Civil War Center, recently retired to Black Mountain .

Jaime Martinez is an assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where her primary teaching area is 19th-century U.S. history.

Chris Meekins is correspondence archivist at the North Carolina State Archives and serves as chairman of the symposium subcommittee of the North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee.

Barton A. Myers, assistant professor of history at Texas Tech University , received the Jules and Frances Landry Award for “Executing Daniel Bright: Race, Loyalty and Guerrilla Violence in a Coastal Carolina Community, 1861-1865.”

Erica St. Lawrence is a Master’s degree candidate in public history at North Carolina State University . Her interests include myth and memory-making in public history and early modern European history.

Shannon SanCartier is an archivist for the Historical Society of the Lower Cape Fear. Her thesis about Fort Fisher was selected best history thesis ( University of North Carolina at Wilmington ) in 2010.

David Silkenat is an assistant professor of history and education at North Dakota State University . He is the author of “Moments of Despair: Suicide, Divorce, and Debt in Civil War Era North Carolina.”

Tom Vincent is a local records management analyst for the North Carolina State Archives. He maintains the Web site “North Carolina Civil War Monuments Survey” (http://ncmonuments.ncdcr.gov/).

A Tar Heel's view on Fort Sumter, pt. 2

A fleet of steamers arrived off the bar early in the day and came to anchor. The number was afterwards increased, for on Sunday, when we went down the harbor, we saw seven.


We were told by gentlemen from Morris Island that Anderson had signal lights burning constantly, and that his flag was at half-mast a part of the time. The vessels did not seem to take any notice of him.

The conduct of this fleet is enough to bury the stars and stripes forever in infamy. They had witnessed the fight all day, riding quietly at anchor in sight of the wharves and not more than three miles from Fort Sumter. When night came every one confidently expected the attempt would be made to come it, or land troops, and if they had their own time to choose out to five years, they could not have been favored with so many advantages. There was a splendid tide, the wind was in their favor, it was as dark as pitch, rainy and misty and there were no lights burning on the old hulks in the harbor as there had been the night before. Their attempt was regarded as so certain that preparations were redoubled at every point. Every one looked to see a general engagement—Thus the night wore away.

Early Saturday morning the fire was resumed, and in a very short while the cry went through the city, “Fort Sumter is on fire,” and so it was. A dense volume of smoke rose from the fort, and lurid flames leaped up visible to the naked eye.—Anderson still kept up his fire on the Floating Battery and Fort Moultrie, but it evidently became slower and weaker. The boys on Morris Island gave him three cheers for every gun he fired. And now there comes a tremendous explosion in the fort, resembling the blowing up of a house, and throwing smoke and flame high in the air. Some said the magazine had exploded; others that he was blowing up the barracks to stop the flame; but the truth was that a shell or hot shot had struck some hand-grenades and loose ammunition, causing the explosion. Anderson’s fire ceased altogether, as the devouring element enveloped the fort; but the shell from his enemies burst around him with increased rapidity and fury as he endeavored to extinguish the flames. At last, a yell from the whole line of spectators along the wharves and battery announced the fall of the flag which had been defiantly floating throughout the engagement, but which had been shot away. It was so long before the flag was raised again that the opinion became general that his men were exhausted or smothered with smoke, or killed, and that he could not raise the flag again, and accordingly, Col. Wigfall started in a small boat from Morris Island, bearing a white flag for Fort Sumter. Before he reached the fort, however, Maj. Anderson had showed the stars and stripes again, together with a white flag; but the firing continued at the sight of the former, and Col. Wigfall entered the fort through a storm of shell and shot, and asked for Major Anderson. – When he made his appearance, Col. Wigfall said that seeing his distress, his utter inability to hold out, and the his flag was not raised, he, as aid to Gen. Beauregard, claimed a surrender. Major Anderson wish to know upon what terms he was expected to surrender, to which Col. Wigfall gracefully replied, that Gen. Beauregard was a gentleman and a soldier, and know how to treat as brave an enemy as Major Anderson; whereupon an unconditional surrender was made to Gen. Beauregard in behalf of the Confederate State. The stars and stripes were then hauled downed and the batteries on Sullivan’s Island ceased their fire.

At the first appearance of the white flag, the enthusiasm and excitement became very great all over the city and among the troops, and when the Palmetto and Confederate flags were raised on the parapet, the ordnance from all points of the harbor pealed forth their joyful thunder. The water was alive with craft of all sorts. The details of surrender were made. Major Anderson was allowed to carry out his property and side arms and to salute his flag. The Isabel went down from the city, at his own request, to take him to New York.

And we would be glad to close this brief narrative here—but the worst and the best thing connected with the battle of Fort Sumter, happened subsequently. The hand of Providence seemed to be in this flight. History records no where the fact that skilful artillerist on both sides have fired for 33 hours without killing, or seriously wounding a man. Major. Anderson’s men were so small in number that, notwithstanding the fort is a scene of desolation inside, they could all be safely stowed away in the casemates and thus escape the iron hail. The sand batteries and iron batteries protected the South Carolinians wonderfully. The only loss of life was experiences occurred when Major Anderson’s men were saluting his flag immediately previous to leaving the fort. In firing one of the guns, some shells of loose ammunition lying on the parapets caught and exploded, killing one man instantly, and mortally wounding three or four others, two of whom have since died. Gen. Beauregard ordered that the one that was killed should be buried with military honors, which was done.


From the Wilmington Herald
Reprinted The Daily Register, April 20, 1861.

A Tar Heel’s views of Fort Sumter

What We Saw in Charleston


We left Wilmington on Thursday night last to witness, and, if allowed to participate in the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Our journey was full of excitement which one might expect to realize when on his way to the field of battle for the first time. On Friday morning, when about twenty-five miles from Charleston, we heard the heavy ordnance of Sumter and the different batteries on the islands, and as the jarring thunder steadily and a regular intervals broke upon the early morning air. The excitement on the cars increased to fever heat and the passengers could scarcely restrain their impatience at one or two very brief stoppages of the train to take up several South Carolinians who were hurrying to the scene of action. As the train approached the city, the dull, heavy explosions shook the air in rapid succession like thunder-claps, and at last the clouds of smoke from the different batteries became visible, and the smell of burnt powder was wafted pleasantly on the breeze. We found the streets comparatively quiet--the citizens and strangers of both sexes having crowded down to the Battery—and, eating a hurried break fast, we ascended to the roof of the Mills House, with a friend, to take a view. And such a view!

There lay the waters of the beautiful harbor, sparkling and heaving gently to the kiss of the morning breeze. Directly before us arose out of the deep the beleaguered fortress, all its angles softened by the distance—the once glorious ensign of a once glorious republic floating proudly over its walls, and the whole scene looking as peaceful and beautiful as God intended it should be. But see! from a point on the right a white puff of smoke is sent, and, ere the report reaches us, a red flame burst over the flag-staff of Fort Sumter and the dreadful bomb scatters its fragments over the doomed fort and comes to the ear with a report almost equal to that of the mortar from which it proceeded. Another puff from the opposite wise where the floating battery and Fort Moultrie are located, an answer from Maj. Anderson, a round shot hurtles through the air from Cumings Point; and so it goes. We hurry down, passing the bulletin boards of the Mercury and Courier offices, and learning there that, as yet, “nobody is hurt.” Arrived at the Battery… we find several thousand ladies and gentlemen, citizens and strangers gazing at the conflict and all impressed with the character of the drama which was being enacted. Soldiers on horback and on foot, messengers and aids hurry to and fro. There was no weeping—no apparent distress—but upon the faces of all,--men, women and children, Determination was stamped in unmistakeable characters. We took our stand and watched every shot from every battery on each of the islands and from Fort Sumter. “There goes Stevens’ Battery,” ‘There goes Anderson,” “Look at that shell,” “now for the Floating Battery,” “Ripley keeps up the fire from Fort Moultrie gloriously,” “I’d give $100 to be there,” and a thousand other similar expressions constantly greeted the ear, while every time a should would explode over Sumter, leaving its little cloud of white smoke, a cheer would go up from the large concourse of spectators. Major Anderson generally alternated his shots with the different batteries (five or six in number) that were playing on him; but sometimes he would open fire from both sides at once.—He seemed about 9 o’clock on Friday to be paying his particular respects to Fort Moultrie, and a rumor reached the city that 30 or 40 men had been killed there, and that the battery was terribly exposed; but a short time proved these and various other rumors to be false. Moultrie kept pegging away slowly and steadily, as did the others. Fort Sumer replied briskly. Dispatches now came that the iron battery (Stevens) on Cummings’ Point, was rapidly making a breach in the Southwest wall of Sumter, and we think Major Anderson did not fire at Cummings’ Point after 2 o’clock on Friday. Cheering news arrived from all quarters, of the harmlessness of Anderson’s shots and the good spirits of the “boys.” The firing was kept up under dark, which there seemed to be only one gun about every ten or fifteen minutes, as it intended to keep Major Anderson awake.

To be continued….

State Capitol Commemorates 150th Anniversary of North Carolina ’s Secession Vote

RALEIGH – On May 20, 1861, delegates from across the state met in the House Chamber of the State Capitol and voted to sever North Carolina ’s ties with the Union . On Saturday, May 21, 2011, the Capitol will present “North Carolina Secedes,” a living history program commemorating the historic vote and a look at the state’s early wartime preparations.

The free event will take place from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and is open to the public. It is part of the North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial, a commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War in North Carolina (www.nccivilwar150.com).

The re-enactment of the Secession Convention’s vote will take place in the historic House Chamber at 11 a.m. Contemporary accounts of the day recall that following the unanimous vote, a handkerchief was dropped from the west portico as a signal to the crowd below that North Carolina had seceded and joined the Confederacy. Stephen Dodson Ramseur’s artillery unit was posted on the grounds for the occasion and announced the historic moment by firing its cannons and infantry. Approximately 100 re-enactors from the 26th North Carolina Regiment will portray Ramseur’s battery and re-enact the infantry firing on the southwest grounds.

In the afternoon, the event will feature a drill and dress parade, a field music concert and lectures on the state’s military organization, war flags, and the early uniforms and equipment of both North Carolina and Union soldiers. Additionally, a facsimile of North Carolina ’s Ordinance of Secession will be on display inside the Capitol.

For those hoping to get a glimpse of Confederate camp life, the 26th NC (http://www.26nc.org/) will be encamped at Historic Oak View County Park on the east side of Raleigh . On Sunday, the group will present “Preparing for War: The 26th NC in 1861” at the park from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Visit http://www.wakegov.com/parks/oakview for details.

The State Capitol’s mission is to preserve and interpret the history, architecture and functions of the 1840 building and Union Square . The Capitol is bounded by Edenton, Salisbury , Morgan and Wilmington streets. For more info rmation, visit www.nchistoricsites.org/capitol/default.htm or call (919) 733-4994.

Administered by the Division of State Historic Sites, the State Capitol is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. Information on Cultural Resources is available 24/7 at http://www.ncculture.com/.

A look around the Old North State…

You can find some real interesting figures about women in Raleigh in 1860 by visiting the CivilWarTime blog. I wonder how those numbers had changed by 1865?

Josh Howard’s quest to find how many Tar Heel soldiers died during the War continues to make headlines, including this post on Fox News and the Wall Street Journal.

The Asheville Citizen Times is trying to help people find their Civil War ancestors. Check it out here.

More information about Civil War/family research can be found here.

The Battle of Big Bethel get’s an early reenactment this year. Learn more here.

Dr. Judkin Browning is going to be speaking at the Western North Carolina Civil War Round Table in Sylva next Monday – you can learn more here.

An interesting story about a Yankee who dig relics off the Bentonville Battlefield can be found here.

An article on the Tweets of a member of the 30th NCT can be here in the Raleigh News and Observer.

And,

The Burlington Times-News has an article on the Kirk-Holden War. Check it out here.

Allatoona Battlefield this Saturday.

Having a job as a full-time Civil War historian has its perks – ok, it has a lot of them, like working with original sources, handling original artifacts, unveiling conserved flags, and talking to scores of great folks. One those many perks is getting to spend time on original battlefields.

This Saturday, at 11:00 am, I get to speak on one of those battlefields. The Georgia Division and the North Carolina Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, are unveiling a monument to two North Carolina regiments that fought at the battle of Allatoona Pass. And yours truly gets to spend fifteen or twenty minutes talking about those two regiments and what they did during the battle. Everyone is invited. If you have ancestors who served in one of those two regiments, the event organizers would like you to help unveil the monument. This Saturday, April 9, 2011, looks to be a great day! I hope you can join me on the Allatoona Pass Battlefield.

Volume XVIII: Junior Reserves and Detailed Men in the North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster series is now available for ordering!!!

Volume XVIII contains the history and rosters of the North Carolina Senior Reserves. The Senior Reserves were men between the ages of 45 and 50, drafted in the last year of the war, as the Confederacy faced a disastrous shortfall in manpower. Between the spring and fall of 1864, North Carolina raised five regiments, four battalions, and two independent companies of Senior Reserves. These men guarded bridges and depots, rounded up deserters, and guarded prisoners at Salisbury and elsewhere. The exigencies of the war drew them into active service, some in South Carolina with General Hardee as he attempted to hold off the Federal advance to North Carolina; some in defense of Fort Fisher, south of Wilmington; and some at Bentonville, the last major battle of the war.

Also in the last year of the war, the Confederate government decided that it could no longer afford to have white men working “on detail” in ordnance works, quartermaster service, recruiting service, or other non-combat operations. In the fall of 1864, North Carolina began organizing its detailed men into military units. Eventually, three regiments, two battalions, and an independent company were organized from the detailed men in the state, but the war ended before they had an opportunity to participate in combat.

An authoritative 114-page history of the Senior Reserves begins the volume. The history is followed by a complete roster and service records of the officers and men that served in the Senior Reserves. The service records include important information such as full name, rank, county of birth and residence, occupation, place and date of enlistment, age, whether the individual was wounded, captured, hospitalized, paroled, transferred, or promoted and whether or not he died during the war or survived. A 19-page history of the Detailed Men is followed by a complete roster and service records of the officers and men that served in those units. A detailed index completes the volume.
To learn more about this important, new contribution to Civil War scholarship (and to order a copy), please visit:

http://nc-historical-publications.stores.yahoo.net/3499.html

In Old Wilkes

Last night, I had the opportunity to speak at the opening of the new Civil War exhibit at the Wilkes County Heritage Museum. Not only did I speak, but so did Gary Coffey, commander of the James B. Gordon Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, who sponsored the event; Skip Smith, Colonel of the 26th North Carolina Troops, Reactivated; and Chris Hartley, author of the new book on Stoneman’s Raid.


If you get a chance, stop by the Old Wilkes Court House and check out the exhibit – it includes weapons, flags, and uniforms, and is well worth the ride. Thanks again to the Wilkes Museum for allowing me to come and speak for a few minutes. I look forward to working with them in the future.

Michael C. Hardy, Chris Hartley, and Skip Smith.

Wilkes County

Seeing that I’m speaking at the opening of a new Civil War exhibit at the Wilkes County Museum this week, I thought maybe we could turn our attention to Wilkes County as our next county study. My ancestors landed in Wilkes County in the mid to late 1700s and include members of the Laws, Hampton, and Proffitt families.

Wilkes County, just east of the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, was formed in 1777 from Surry County, and was named for a member of the British Parliament who fought for American Independence: statesman John Wilkes. The county seat, Wilkesboro, was incorporated in 1847. In 1860, Wilkes County had a population of 15,749, including 261 free persons of color and 1,298 slaves.

In the 1860 presidential election, there were 1,323 votes cast for Bell, and 363 for Breckinridge. Wilkes County men voted overwhelming against calling the convention in February 1861, with 51 for and 1,890 against. The county had two delegates. Peter Eller (1805-1872) was a farmer, elder in the Baptist Church, a member of the House of Commons (1856-1858); Eller “opposed secession until he thought opposition useless.” The other representative was Dr. James Calloway (1806 - 1878) Calloway was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and the only doctor in the area for many years. He was a representative in the House of Commons from 1828 until 1832.

According to Terrell Garren’s Mountain Myth, Wilkes County furnished1,599 men to the Confederate army, and 145 who joined the Federal army. Those in the Confederate served primarily in Company B, 1st North Carolina State Troops; Company B, 11th North Carolina State Troops; Company C, 26th North Carolina Troops; Company D, 33rd North Carolina Troops; Company F, 37th North Carolina Troops; Company F, 52nd North Carolina Troops; Company K, 53rd North Carolina Troops; Companies E and G, 54th North Carolina Troops; Company B, 55th North Carolina Troops; and, Company D, 1st Battalion North Carolina Junior Reserves. Most of the Federal troops served in the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry (US) and the 13th Tennessee Cavalry. Once again according to Garren, 472 Confederates died while in service.

Wilkes County also produced a number of higher-ranking Confederates, including Brig. Gen. James B. Gordon, mortally wounded at the battle of Yellow Tavern in May 1864, Col. William Barber (37th NCT), mortally wounded in September 1864; Col. Monford Stokes (1st NCST), mortally wounded in June 1862; and Lt. Col. William H. H. Cowles (1st NCC); and, Lt. Col. Abner Calloway (55th NCT).

Wilkes was a troubled place during the war, and some have even argued it was one of the most Unionist counties in the state of North Carolina, even though both Yancey and Buncombe furnished more Federal soldiers. We really find events heating up in Wilkes County beginning in the summer of 1863. There are rumors of camps of deserters and dissidents in Wilkes with 500 to 1,200 men. On one occasion that summer, a group, supposedly of pro-Union militia, marched out of the Trap Hill area and to Wilkesboro, where they held a pro-Union rally and raised a United States flag at the courthouse. The militia company was soon out roaming the countryside, “harassing residents” and marching “under an old dirty United States rag.” Governor Vance asked Robert E. Lee to spare some troops for the area, and Lee sent Brig. Gen. Robert F. Hoke and two infantry regiments (21st and 56th NCTs), and a battalion of cavalry. Hoke spread his forces out in the surrounding counties, and by October, was reported to have captured 3,000.

Governor Vance chose to visit Wilkes County in February 1864. His speech that day was prefaced by the band of the 26th North Carolina Troops, and a crowd of between 800 and 2,000 people heard Vance kick off his re-election campaign. But neither the sweep of Confederate troops nor Vance’s visit could prevent another Unionist visit. Portions of McMillan’s cavalry were back in the area in the summer of 1864, skirmishing with the deserter bands.

In March 1865, real Union soldiers arrived. The brigades of Maj. Gen. George Stoneman rode through Wilkes County on their infamous raid, “gathering” supplies from a population that had been unwillingly supplying deserters and dissidents for quite some time. Stoneman soon left, the war ended, and the problems with bands of lawless men continued. One of the most famous (or infamous) was the Fort Hamby episode, in which a group of men used the Hamby home as a base for their robbing and plundering the countryside. The site is currently under water. You can read an essay about those events here.

There were reunions after the war for Wilkes County’s Confederate soldiers, and in 2008, a monument to local Confederates was placed on the courthouse grounds. You can learn more about Wilkes County and the War by visiting the Wilkes Heritage Museum.

Civil War Symposium

The Rockingham County Historical Society Museum and Archives, the Eden Preservation Society, and the Eden Historical Museum are presenting a Civil War Symposium to be held in June.

Date: Saturday, June 25, 2011
Time: 9:30am - 5:00pm
Location: Eden City Hall, Eden, NC

Seating is limited, so register early!

The subject of the symposium is Capt. Thomas Robinson Sharp, who spent the last 30 years of his life in what later became the Draper section of Eden, NC. Under Stonewall Jackson, Sharp masterminded one of the great railroad heists of all time during the Civil War. On May 24, 1861, soldiers began to seize some 40 locomotives and nearly 400 railroad cars they had accumulated and relocated them 130 miles over land. Read more about The Great Train Raid of 1861 – Strasburg, Virginia.

Sharp was from a railroad family. His father was superintendant of several railroads in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Thomas R. Sharp was assistant superintendent and later superintendent on numerous railroads prior to the Civil War. Although born in Pennsylvania, during the war he became the military road superintendent of the Confederate States of America, achieving the rank of captain. During this time, General Jackson recommended to General Lee, and Lee to President Davis that Sharp become head of the Quartermaster Dept., although this did not happen. Sharp became the mastermind behind the Great Train Raid of 1861, the Confederates stealing of locomotives, cars, rails, telegraph wire, etc. from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the building of the Centreville Railroad, the first Confederate government railroad. He also worked in the railroad shops in Raleigh, Charlotte, and Columbia, South Carolina.

After the war, Sharp continued in the railroad business along the East coast, and even worked for the B & O Railroad, the very line he had robbed of equipment during the war!

About 1879, he bought over 1400 acres of land in what is now the Draper section of Eden, NC, and developed a hamlet by the name of “Sharp, NC.” Even then, he continued working in the railroad business (including serving as president of the Danville, Mocksville & Southwestern Railroad Company), often leaving his wife and children to oversee the bustling plantation. He died in 1909 and is buried at Lawson Cemetery in Eden, and his wife, daughter and father-in-law are buried at Church of the Epiphany in Eden.

Cost of the symposium is $40 and includes lunch. Registration deadline is June 11, 2011. Limited seating so register early!

To register, or for more details about the CIVIL WAR SYMPOSIUM, visit our website:
http://www.edenpreservation.org/symposium.html

Or call: Melissa Whitten at (336) 623-6393.

You may also send us an email at: edenpreservationsociety@yahoo.com
The Rockingham County Historical Society Museum and Archives
http://www.rockinghamcountyhistory.com/id21.htm

Eden Preservation Society
www.edenpreservation.org

Eden Historical Museum
http://www.edenpreservation.org/EHM.html

On the Road

Folks, I’ll be at the McDowell County Public Library this afternoon, signing books, and speaking before the McDowell County Historical Society this evening. Stop by and say hi if you are in the area!

On the Road

Folks, I’ll be at the McDowell County Public Library this afternoon, signing books, and speaking before the McDowell County Historical Society this evening. Stop by and say hi if you are in the area!

Three of Asheville's Confederate monuments.

In about a week, I need to submit the paper I am presenting at the Civil War Memory Symposium that is taking place in Raleigh in May at the Museum of History. The paper is on the process of remembering the War in western North Carolina, specifically on the monuments that were erected. So, last night I went to ASU to root out any additional materials from the different newspapers, and I came across a good mystery, which I might have already solved. But the mystery first.

For a long time, I’ve worked on a list of North Carolina-related Confederate monuments. The list is five pages and includes both monuments in the state and out of state. On this list, I have entries for five monuments or plaques in Asheville: one for Willie Hardy, one for Thomas L. Clingman, one for the 60th North Carolina, the large Vance obelisks, and one in the Newton Cemetery. I knew from previous research that the monument to the 60th NCT was dedicated on November 8, 1905.

Last night, I dug out the corresponding Asheville Citizen for the dedication of the monument for the 60th NCT. Not only did the citizens of Asheville erect and dedicate this monument on November 8, 1905, but they also dedicated monuments for Thomas L. Clingman and William B. Creasman. All three were located on the grounds of the Buncombe County Court House in Asheville.

The dedication of the monuments followed the usual routine. About 1,500 people gathered for the unveiling ceremony. The monument to the 60th NCT was draped in white, with eight ribbons hanging from the corners, which were held by eight little girls. As the crowd sang, “In the Sweet Bye and Bye,” the coverings were taken off. The monument to Clingman was unveiled by the UDC and Children of the Confederacy, and the monument to Creasman was unveiled by his descendants.

Due to the weather, the crowd was moved indoors to the courthouse. There, North Carolina governor Robert Glenn addressed the crowd, stating in his opening remarks that he “hoped the day would never come when his tongue would refuse to speak of that glorious cause for which my father died.” After the governor’s address, County Commissioner Locke Craig received the monuments on behalf of the county. At the conclusion, refreshments were served by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

All three of the monuments were designed and manufactured by the Cherokee Marble Works. That being said, I believe all three would have been similar in construction. The monument to the 60th NCT still stands in downtown Asheville. You can see an image of it here. I believe that the monument to Clingman now resides over his grave in Riverside Cemetery. You can view that monument here. So what about the monument to Creasman? And, why did he have a monument?

According to the Asheville Citizen, there were eighteen men who were colonels and came from Buncombe County: Robert B. Vance (29th NCT), Zebulon B. Vance (26th NCT), Thomas L. Clingman (25th NCT), J M. Lowry (29th NCT ), David Coleman, (39th NCT), Robert Coleman (7th NC Cav.), Thad Coleman (58th NCT), Harry Deaver, Washington M. Hardy (60th NCT), James M. Ray, J. Thomas Weaver (60th NCT), Stephen Lee (16th NCST), Philetus W. Roberts (14th NCST), A. H. Baird (5th Batt. NC Cav.), George N. Folk (6th NC Cav.) George W. Clayton (62nd NCT), William B. Creasman (29th NCT), and James L. Gaines (1st NC Cav.). Two interesting points: despite the Citizen’s statements, not all of these men were colonels, and, not all of them hailed from Buncombe County. For instance, George N. Folk lived in Watauga County in 1860 and is buried in Caldwell County. And, why is James S. McElroy, colonel of the 16th NCST, who moved to Weaverville after the war, not included?

And, why is Creasman’s name on this marker, and why did he have his own monument? Creasman was born in Yancey County and lived in Yancey County at the start of the war. He did not move to Buncombe County until the war was over, and actually died in July 1869. By this I am perplexed.

Also, what happened to Creasman’s monument? Is the monument that stands on Creasman’s grave at Bethel Baptist Church in Buncombe County the monument that was placed on the courthouse grounds in Asheville? It does not seem to fit the same motif as the monuments to the 60th NCT and to Thomas L. Clingman. Furthermore, the newspaper article described Clingman’s monument as a “granite-based marble shaft ten feet high” while Creasman’s is described as a “marble block in ornament design.” Maybe this “block” resembled Governor Vance’s tombstone in Riverside Cemetery.

I found this on a genealogical web site, from Kevin White in 2000 (this is the original text, without corrections):

Hi Rob,




I dont know what accomplishment earned Col Creasman the monument, but i do recall the monument, which was a granite stone with brass plaques attached to both sides. It was located in the middle of Pack Square in the center of downtown Asheville, maybe 20 yards east of the still extant Pack Memorial obelisk. This was directly in front of the main entrance to Pack Library, where it was then located, and there were benches next to it. I used to wait there on those benches for my mom to pick me up from visits to the library, and i recall her telling me that the Col Creasman memorialized there was my ancestor.


As an adult i developed an interest in genealogy, and i went back to see this monument, only to find that it was gone. Sometime in the late 1970s, the Akzona Corporation (formerly American Enka) decided to relocate its corporate headquarters to Asheville, and built a new building (designed by I. M. Pei) on the north side of the square. The city took this opportunity to "renovate" the square, because among other incentives the city gave to Akzona to induce this relocation was the right to build underground parking under the square for their new building, in complete violation of the original grant from Pack to the City for the square for "public use". At that time the public restrooms ("white" and "colored") under the square had been closed for many years, but now all traces of them were removed, along with the monument to Gen Clingman and Col Creasman, and another monument placed on the square by the Daughters of the Confederacy honoring other persons. I am ashamed to admit how many years passed before i noticed this uprooting of monuments.


Once i was aware the monument was gone i attempted to find out what had happened to it. The Asheville City Parks and Recreation Department, at least at that time, had the responsibility of maintaining the square, and the head of that department since the early 1970s, now in honored retirement, was Ray Kisiah. I spoke to Mr Kisiah, who told me 1) no such monument had ever existed, and 2) the City wouldn't have removed it without first contacting those groups or parties who had placed the monument there. He suggested i contact the president of our local chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy. This was about 1993, just before Mr Kisiah retired. I did as he suggested and called the president, whose name escapes me, and related to her the substance of Mr Kisiah's remarks, including his assertion that no monument would be removed without first contacting the groups who had placed the monument. She replied "Why, they certainly did NOT do so. If one of our members hadnt happened to be driving by as they were uprooting our monument we would have had no notice at all". It was only a few months before this conversation that the Daughters had succeeded in having their monument reset on the square, after about 15 years in storage somewhere.


But apparetnly, since no one who cared witnessed the City uprooting the monument to Gen Clingman and Col Creasman, the city was safely able to dispose of that monument, and now apparently officially maintains the stance that this monument was never there. Makes me proud to pay my taxes.

Col Creasman is still mentioned on a monument to all the confederate Colonels and Generals from Buncombe county, which is located just beside the courthouse, and is apparently too big and prominent to be safely sanitized.

What do you think? Is the rock at Bethel Baptist Church the monument the one that used to be on the lawn of the Court House in Buncombe County? Or is Creasman’s monument tucked away somewhere in a warehouse, right next to the Ark of the Covenant?

Setting Stones

I’ve probably said this before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again: I believe that every soldier’s grave should be marked by a tombstone. This past Saturday, I got to help put in two.

On Saturday morning, I joined our local SCV Camp at a cemetery in southern Yancey County. The camp had been asked by a family to help clean a long-forgotten cemetery, and to install a Confederate marker. The family had already finished most of the work when we arrived. We did take out a couple of small trees and did some raking. I worked with a friend on re-setting the numerous leaning field rocks that mark the final resting places of about 30 or 40 people. Finally, we got the stone for Pvt. Burton Chrisown of the 49th North Carolina Troops placed in the ground. Private Chrisown lies in the cemetery under one of those field rocks.

Later in the day, I joined a couple of friends at another cemetery, this one in northern Yancey County. We had taken it upon ourselves to order a gravestone for Pvt. Henry H. Howard. Private Howard originally enlisted in Company G, 29th North Carolina Troops. He was discharged nine months later by reason of “disease of the heart.” On March 1, 1865, Howard joined Company K, 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry (US). Two weeks later, he was promoted to sergeant. Howard was also buried under a field rock, with the family indicating which rock he was under. Now his grave is marked.

It was a great day, and I hope to be able to do it again really soon.

Tweets Show North Carolina’s Civil War Home Front, 140 Characters at a Time

RALEIGH – Over the next four years, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources historian LeRae Umfleet will use new technology to tell an old story. Through the Twitter account http://twitter.com/civilianwartime, she is tweeting the words of North Carolina civilians who witnessed the triumphs and tragedies of the war. An accompanying blog, http://civilianwartime.wordpress.com, will contain the full citation for each Twitter message.

“This is a great tool to understand the impact of war in their words, not ours,” said Umfleet, who is the Collections Management Chief for Cultural Resources. “We hope that students, history buffs and cultural travelers will sign up for the tweets and the blog as the stories unfold.”

A tweet from the first week of the project, “I fear there will be civil war,” comes from the diary of Mary Jeffreys Bethell, which is part of the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . The corresponding “CivilianWartime” blog entry helps put the tweet in context:

March 11, 1861
“I have just received a letter from my daughter Mrs. Williamson in Ark , says they are all tolerable well, she wrote a very cheerful letter it done me good. Mr. Bethell wrote that he would be at home in a few days, he left here the 5th. of Feb. I have just seen the President’s message, Mr. Lincoln, I think he intends to coerce those seceding States. I fear there will be civil war, and our happy and peaceful Country laid in desolation and ruins, every Christian should unite in fervent prayer to God, in behalf of our Country.”

The Twitter account and blog are extensions of the work of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources to observe the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. For more information about the sesquicentennial commemoration, visit www.nccivilwar150.com.

The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources is the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina ’s social, cultural and economic future. Information on Cultural Resources is available 24/7 at www.ncculture.com.

A Pardon for Governor Holden?

Have you heard about the efforts of a Raleigh attorney to get a pardon for William Woods Holden, the North Carolina reconstruction governor who was impeached in 1870? You can read more about it here, here, and here.


The newspaper articles all stray a bit in telling their stories. The piece from the Charlotte paper reads “Holden declared Alamance and Caswell counties to be in insurrection and dispatched the state militia. The troops took control of courthouses and arrested more than 100 accused Klan members. As a result, the newly elected Democratic House brought eight impeachment charges against Holden.”

Well, that is not exactly true. It was not the state militia that Holden called out. It was a group of hired guns that Holden recruited for the purpose of going into the counties that Holden believed were in insurrection and quelling the violence. Were the counties of Alamance and Caswell in a state of insurrection, caused by clashes between conservatives and liberals? Yes. Did Holden overstep his constitutional powers by bringing in non-North Carolinians and organizing them into a quasi-military organization to deal with the violence? Yes. And hence, I believe that was the cause of Holden’s impeachment.

The first charge reads: “that William W. Holden did, on the 7th day of March, 1870, ‘proclaim, and declare that the county of Alamance, in said State, was in insurrection; and did, after the days and times last aforesaid, send bodies of armed, desperate, and lawless men, organized and set on foot without authority of law, into said county, and occupy the same by military force and suspend civil authority, and the constitution and law of the State; and did, after the days and times last foresaid, and before the time of impeachment in this behalf, through and by means of such armed, desperate, and lawless men, arrest many peaceable and law-abiding citizens of said county of Alamance, then and there about their lawful business; and did detain, hold, imprison, hand, beat, and otherwise maltreat and injure many of them, when he well knew that such and said proclamation was utterly groundless and false, and that there was no insurrection in said county, and that all civil authorities, both State and county, in said county, were peaceable and regularly in the full, free, and unrestrained exercise, in all respects, of the functions of their offices, and the courts were all open, and the due administration of the law was unimpeded by any resistance whatsoever.”

Article IV of the indictment states that Holden had used the powers of his office to “incite, procure, order, and command one George W. Kirk, and one B. G. Burgen… to assault, seize, detain and imprison and deprived of their liberty and privileges as freeman and citizens of said state…”

Article V read, in part, that Holden had “’unlawfully recruited, armed, and equipped as soldiers, a large number of men, to wit, five hundred men and more, and organized them as an army… [and] placed [them] under the command and control of one George W. Kirk, as colonel, aided by one B. G. Burgen, as lieutenant colonel…”

Articles V and VI detailed some of the problems that Kirk and his band caused. Article VII stated that Holden, as governor of North Carolina, “without any authority of law, but in contravention and subversion of the constitution and laws of said state and the United States, and intending to provoke and stir up civil strife and war, recruit and call together from this state and the state of Tennessee a large number of men, to-wit: Five hundred men and more, many of them of the most reckless, desperate, ruffanly and lawless characters, and did then and there organize, arm and equip them as an army of soldiers, and place the same under the chief command of a notorious desperado from the state of Tennessee, by the name of George W. Kirk… and did send large numbers of such armed desperate men in said counties… and did there and then without warrant or authority, seize, hold, imprison and deprive of their liberties for a long time… of twenty days and more, many of the peaceable and law-abiding citizens of said counties…” and that Kirk “without any lawful authority, made his warrant upon David A. Jenkins, treasurer of state, for large sums of money, to-wit: for the sum of seventy thousand dollars and more, and caused and procure… the treasurer of the state, to… pay out of the treasury such said large sums of money to the agent or paymaster of the said William W. Holden… did then and there and by the means and in the manner aforesaid, commit a high misdemeanor in office, in violation of the constitution and laws of the state, and of the peace and interests and dignity thereof…

Article VIII once again hits upon Kirk and the armed forces, and how Holden’s recruitment of the force was “without the sanction of the constitution and laws of said state…” (taken from Public Laws of the State of North Carolina (1871))

The 1835 Constitution of the state of North Carolina gave the governor permission to call up the militia when the General Assembly was not in session (Section 18). However, according to the Revised Code of North Carolina (1855) the militia had to be “citizens of this State, or of the United States residing in this State…” (398) The Constitution of 1868 further enforced this rule; to be in the militia in North Carolina, one had to be a citizen of the state. George W. Kirk was not. Kirk hailed from Greene County, Tennessee, and as far as I have been able to ascertain, never lived in North Carolina. Kirk served as a captain in the 2nd North Carolina Mounted Infantry and later as colonel of the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry. One local historian considered Kirk’s band “a notorious band of scoundrels and thieves.” Kirk’s tactics in western North Carolina were unconventional, and included using Confederate prisoners as human shields, wanton destruction of private property, robbery, and many other depredations. Western North Carolinians hated Kirk above all other Yankees.

Just how did Holden justify violating North Carolina’s Constitution and bringing in Kirk? In Holden’s memoirs, he writes: “I authorized the formation of two regiments of militia… Col. Kirk was fiercely, and roundly, and unjustly assailed by his enemies, mainly because he was a native man. He had raised three regiments of North Carolineans [sic] and Tennesseans for the federal government and had been a faithful soldier of the Union. He was employed by me in good faith in accordance with the law…. It was stated in some of the evidence (in the impeachment proceedings) that he said that if he were attacked at his place in the Court House at Yanceyville, that he would resist and burn the town and murder the women and children….” However, Holden, in his memoirs, never tells us where he obtained permission, or derived the power from, to appoint Kirk as colonel of a North Carolina state force.

As an aside, both Kirk and his second in command, Lt. Col. George B. Bergen, also from Tennessee, were later arrested for their actions.

Or course, I am not the only one to make this argument: that Holden hired foreign mercenaries to deal with acts of domestic terrorism. Mr. Graham states the same thing, during Holden’s impeachment trial, on March 15, 1871: “From the character of Kirk and his troops, the last instruments that any sane official would have employed to promote peace. Instead of taking for a commander a man of character from among our own citizens, whose name would have inspired confidence in his purpose to do right, with a body of militia composed of respectable and orderly men, and appointing them to the duty of the arresting prisoners and delivering them over to the civil magistrates, the introduction of a stranger with certainly the character of a brigand in this state, with an army composed in great part of foreign mercenaries, and of undisciplined and lawless recruits from the frontier of the state, was an insult and an offence to the pride, manhood and self respect of the people, calculated to provoke the fiercest collision.” And later, “Kirk’s army was an unlawful force, both in view of the constitution of the United States, which forbids any state to “keep troops or ships of war in time of peace,” and of the constitution of the laws of North Carolina.”

The prosecution then lays out the facts against Kirk’s force: 1) 399 of Kirk’s 670 were below the age of 21, the required age to be enrolled in the militia; 2) 64 of the men were over the age of 40, once again in violation of the law; 3) more than 200 of the 670 were from out of state, mostly from Tennessee; 4) all of the field officers were from Tennessee…

These disqualifications go on and on. There are thousands of pages of testimony in the matter, more than I have time to read and digest. While the violence in certain parts of the county was reprehensible, and something needed to be done, Holden overstepped his constitutional boundaries in appointing George W. Kirk to led the men, a third of whom were from out-of-state, to tackle to job.

Thoughts?

On the road…

I’ll be speaking and signing books tonight (March 14) at the Caldwell Heritage Museum in Lenoir at 7:00 pm. Come on out and join us!

Tomorrow evening, (March 15) I will be speaking at the monthly meeting of the Col. Henry K. Burgwyn Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans. They are meeting at El Cerro in Wendell.

So, if you are free, come on out and join us!