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Intercoastal Waterway

Fort Fisher

FortAnderson

Bald HeadIsland

Carolina Beach State Park

Battery Buchanan

Wilmington

FreeFerry

FAYETTEVILLE

DepartingAverasboro

Old Bluff Church

Route toBentonville

Mitchener Station

DunnAverasboroBattlefield Museum

C.S. 3rd Line

Lumberton

Whiteville

GREENSBORO

WINSTON-SALEM

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C.S.MilitaryPrison

HallHouse

Rowan County Courthouse

PiedmontRailroadCemetery

Thomasville

High Point

Concord

Kannapolis

Asheboro

Burlington

Salisbury

RALEIGH

DURHAMBennett

Place

The LastEncampment

PiedmontRailroad

Leaksville Cotton Mill

ScalesLaw Office

BelewsLake

Hanging RockState Park

WentworthCemetery

LeighFarm

WestPoint

BrassfieldStation

Durham’sStation

Garner

Annie ElizaJohns

MadisonWentworth

Eden

Chapel Hill

Hillsborough

Reidsville

DukeHomestead

HistoricStagville

Wyse Fork

CSS NeuseHistoric Site

Battle ofGoldsboro Bridge

ConfederateLine of DefenseEngagement

at Whitehall

Last Mass Union Capture

Union Attackat Southwest Creek

Cat Hole

Roanoke CanalMuseum

Wilmington & Weldon RR

HastingsHouse

C.S. Line of March

Kittrell ConfederateCemetery

MountOlive

Confederate Retreat

Clayton

Smithfield

RoanokeRapids

Weldon

Historic HalifaxCSS Albemarle

Jackson

RockyMount

Wilson

Greenville

GoldsboroWayne County Museum

Henderson

Bentonville Battlefield Kinston

Battle ofSouth Mills

Battle of Elizabeth CityMuseum of the Albemarle

Burning of Winton

Dismal Swamp CanalWelcome CenterDismal Swamp

National WildlifeRefuge

USCT MonumentHertford

Battle of Boone’s Mill Winton

Oakdale Cemetery

Siege of Washington

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Asa Biggs HouseWilliamston Plymouth

Fort Branch

Roanoke RiverNational WildlifeRefuge

Battle ofAlbemarle Sound

Edenton

Lake Phelps

Lake Mattamuskeet

AlligatorLake

PungoLake

Columbia

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Creswell

Hammocks BeachState Park

Jacksonville

Cape Lookout Lighthouse

CroatanNationalForest

Fort MaconState Park

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CarolinaCity

BeaufortHoop Pole

Creek

NewportBarracks

Bogue SoundBlock House Morehead City

Havelock

Attmore-OliverHouse Museum New Bern

Academy Hospital

UnionPoint Park

New BernBattlefield

John Wright Stanly HouseJones House

New BernOcracokeLighthouse

Cape HatterasLighthouseToll Ferry

Toll FerryCape Hatteras National Seashore

Hatteras

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Freedmen’sColony

Roanoke IslandFestival Park

Bodie IslandLighthouse

Jockey’s RidgeState Park

RoanokeIsland

Currituck BeachLighthouse

Mackay IslandNational Wildlife Refuge

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Henry ShawHouse

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NORTH CAROLINA★ ★ ★

Civil War Trails

North Carolina’s Civil War stories are asdiverse as its landscape. The Outer Banks andcoastal rivers saw action early in the war, asUnion forces occupied the region. Storiesabound of naval battles, blockade running,Federal raids, and the Confederacy’s struggleto supply its armies. Other tales are told in thewestern mountains, a sometimes-lawless regionwhere Unionists and Confederates fought a warwithin the war. In the rolling central pied-mont, memories linger of Union Gen. WilliamT. Sherman’s relentless march north early inthe spring of 1865, when his army defeated theConfederates under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.Finally, on April 26, Johnston surrendered,essentially ending the Civil War.

Experience these and many more sto-ries as you tour the North Carolina Civil WarTrails. Please drive carefully as you visit thesites where ironclads and wooden ships, spiesand smugglers, heroes and villains, slaves and soldiers engaged in the greatest conflict in American history.

Fort Hamby

HickoryAsheville

StatesvilleVanceBirthplace

Smith-McDowell House

CHARLOTTE

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Carolinas Campaign Site

Confederate Lifeline Site

Coastal Expeditions Site

Foster’s Raid Site

Other North Carolina Civil War Trails Site

National, State or County Park

Information or Welcome Center

Mileage Scale

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WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

CSS AlbemarleCourtesy of Naval Historical Foundation

“James Bennett’s House, Where Johnston Surrendered,”

Harper’s Weekly

“Battle of Bentonville,”Harper’s Weekly

Follow this sign

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20 0 Civil War

sites throughout

North Carolina.

Sherman’s Left and Right Wings turned northeast toward Fayetteville.Wheeler posted his artillery on the rise in front of you to command

the approaches along the road. As Kilpatrick led his division into North Car-olina on March 1, he encountered the Confederate earthworks on Cane Creek.In the engagement that followed, one Union caval-ryman was killed, and two others were woundedand captured. Kilpatrick retired to the south tocontinue screening Sherman’s army. The next day,Wheeler moved east to press Kilpatrick, havingfired some of the first shots in North Carolinahere against Sherman’s advance.

Camp Creek

Cane Creek

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WILSON’S STORE CLASH★ ★ ★

Blocking Sherman’s Feint

C A R O L I N A S C A M P A I G N

Northern newspapers and magazines portrayed Kilpatrick as a dashingcavalry commander, as in this illustration, Harper's Weekly, May 30, 1863

As Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s army marched north from Columbia,South Carolina, on February 19, 1865, Confederate authorities in North Car-olina assumed that Charlotte was his objective because of its railroads andnavy yard. Confederate Gen. Joseph Wheeler and his cavalry command hadbeen shadowing Sherman’s Left Wing and his cavalry under Gen. H. JudsonKilpatrick, fighting several engagements in Georgia and South Carolina as Kilpatrick protected the flanks of Sherman’s infantry. Wheeler occupiedWilson’s Store to your right across the road on February 26, and his men

The Carolinas Campaign began on February 1, 1865, when Union Gen. William T. Sherman led his army north from Savannah, Georgia, after the March to the Sea. Sherman’s objective was

to join Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia to crush Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Scattered Confederate forces consolidated in North Carolina, the Confederacy’s logistical

lifeline, where Sherman defeated Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s last-ditch attack at Bentonville. After Sherman was reinforced at Goldsboro late in March, Johnston saw the futility of further

resistance and surrendered on April 26, essentially ending the Civil War.

entrenched in front of you along Cane Creek.On March 1, Shermanordered Kilpatrickto move in force fromLancaster, South Car-olina, toward Char-lotte, as if to clear theway for the infantry.The maneuver was afeint, however, as

Gen. William T. ShermanCourtesy Library of Congress

Gen. H. Judson KilpatrickCourtesy Library of Congress

Gen. Joseph WheelerCourtesy Library of Congress

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THE WAR COMES TO WARSAW★ ★ ★

Lewis’s Railroad Raid

C O N F E D E R A T E L I F E L I N E

During the war, the Wilmington and WeldonRailroad was part of a rail network that trans-ported vital supplies north to Confederate forcesin Virginia. Cutting that line became an impor-tant Union objective.

On July 5, 1863, Lt. Col. George W.Lewis’s 3rd New York Cavalry struck Warsaw at 6 A.M., after burning the Confederate StatesArmory at Kenansville the day before and empty-ing a safe (now on display at the Duplin County

Veterans Museum) of a large amount of Confed-erate money. Lewis’s primary mission was todemolish Wilmington and Weldon Railroad track.His troopers destroyed two miles of track andtelegraph wire, removing the wire and cuttingdown the poles.

Here in Warsaw, two rail cars, a freighthouse full of Confederate stores, about 4,000 bar-rels of resin and turpentine, and some gunpowderwere destroyed. Lewis’s men took about 150 headof livestock and several bags of mail with themwhen they left, as well as 30 prisoners. About400 black men, women, and children followed theUnion forces as they rode away, back east throughKenansville toward Trenton in the afternoon. En route, the Federals burned a barn containinghundreds of pounds of bacon; the aroma filledthe air here for several days thereafter.

Lewis’s departure may have been promptedin part by the proximity of four companies of Confederate infantry and four artillery piecesstationed ten miles south of here at Magnolia.

A locomotive pulled fourteen empty boxcars toMagnolia from Warsaw to fetch the troops beforeLewis arrived; however, they did not come, andhis attack and withdrawal were unimpeded.Federal cavalrymen destroying railroad track – Courtesy Library of Congress

Ca. 1845 Pierce-Bowden House, W. Hill St., a Confederate hospitalduring the war – Courtesy Leon Sikes

ST. JOHN’S LUTHERAN CHURCH★ ★ ★

Community Sacrif ice

During the Civil War, about two hundred mem-bers of St. John’s Lutheran Church served in atleast eight Confederate army units. The unitsincluded companies in the 8th, 20th, 33rd, 52nd,and 57th North Carolina Infantry regiments, aswell as a company in the 1st North Carolina Cav-alry. Church members were engaged in at least194 different skirmishes, battles, and campaigns.These included Manassas, Mechanicsville, Freder-icksburg, Chancellorsville, Winchester, Peters-burg, and Appomattox Court House, Virginia;

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Charles -ton, South Carolina; HarpersFerry, West Virginia; Antietam,Maryland; and numerous battles inthe eastern part of North Carolina.The 2nd Regiment Detailed Men,with members of the congregation,served as guards in the prisoner-of-war camp in Salisbury.

Approximately a hundredCivil War veterans are buried in theSt. John’s cemetery. The congrega-tion lost about one hundred men to wartime deaths. Most of the deadwere buried on the battlefield or in prisoner-of-war camps. Here inCabarrus County, women, children,and the elderly found operating their farms andmeeting the daily obligations of life stressful withso many of their men away in the army. Sacrificesand challenges on and off the battlefield trans-formed the St. John’s congregation, and it tookthe members many years to recover.

Major funding for this project was provided by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, through the Transportation Enhancement Program of the Federal Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century.

CivilWarTrails.org

St. John’s Lutheran Church was organized by 1745 as Dutch BuffaloCreek Meeting House. The present sanctuary was constructed in 1845.Revolutionary patriots who fought at the Battle of Moore’s CreekBridge in North Carolina, Camden in South Carolina, and in severalother actions are buried in the older part of the cemetery. The grave-yard also contains the remains of pioneers, bishops, pastors, andformer slaves. The first full-time Lutheran pastor in North Carolina,German native Adolph Nussmann, is buried here.

Confederate Reunion in front of St. John’s Schoolhouse, ca. 1905Courtesy Ellen Eich

St. John’s Lutheran Church, ca. 1880 – Courtesy The St. John’s Archive

OCCANEECHI IN THE SERVICE★ ★ ★

Piedmont Indians in the Civil War

When North Carolina passed laws in 1833 torestrict the rights of free blacks; they also limit-ed the rights of Indians. In old Orange (later Ala-mance) County, many Occaneechi Indians includ-ing Dixon Corn, Jesse Jeffries, Enoch Jones, andAndrew Jeffries were prosperous farmers andtradesmen. The law kept them from joining themilitia, but during the war many volunteered asforagers, teamsters, hostlers, and paid body ser-vants. In North Carolina’s mountains, someCherokee fought as soldiers in Thomas’s Legion.

“Nick” Mebane, of Co. F, 6th North Carolina State Troops, employed William Haithas his body servant. Will Liggins was a servantto James E. Boyd in Co. E, 13th North CarolinaState Troops. Marshall Jeffries performed similarservice. His kinsman Bedford Jeffries “served ascook and servant … never bore arms but … wasalways with the troops near the front.” When Lt.Bartlett Yancey Mebane was killed at Cold Har-bor, Virginia, on June 7, 1864, Jeffries broughthis remains home to the family.

Indians Buck Parker and James Wilson

were paid servants with Co. K, 6th North CarolinaState Troops. Wilson foraged for food and supplies,and it was reported that “[he] has foraged andstole enough during the war” to keep the companywell fed. His kinsman, William Wilson, served Lt. George Bason in the Ordinance Department.

The motives of these men probably werethe same as those of many young white men whoenlisted: pay, excitement, and escape from thefarm. Given the manpower shortages in the Con-federate army by 1863, men like these helpedkeep it in the field until 1865.

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Bedford Jeffries Marshall Jeffries Will Haith

All images courtesy Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation


CHASING GEN. POTTER★ ★ ★

Pursuers and Pursued

P O T T E R ’ S R A I D

On July 20, 1863, Union Gen. Edward E. Potterled his cavalrymen through Pitt County fromTarboro on the return march to New Bern. Afterfording Otter Creek and his encounter with Col.Newton, Potter, led by local blacks, took back

roads through woods and farms rather than themain roads in an effort to avoid encounters withConfederate troops. Eventually, Potter made his way to the Plank Rd. (HWY 264 ALT) about5 miles west. From there, he turned east towardGreenville and then south at Marlboro (HWY 258)toward Snow Hill. Potter’s men most likely passedby the James May House on their way through the area. The next morning, from Otter Creek,Confederate Col. William C. Claiborne dispatchedCapt. Lycurgus J. Barrett and Co. G, 7th Con -

federate Cavalry, inpursuit of Potter. Capt.Barrett, a member ofthe May family, knewthe area well. Clai-borne took quick cutsfrom Otter Creek toBallards Crossroads,six miles east, to try to intercept Potter. Onarriving at Ballards,

On July 18, 1863, Union Gen. Edward E. Potter led infantry and cavalry from New Bern to destroy the Wilmington

and Weldon Railroad bridge at Rocky Mount. Potter sent the infantry toward Kinston and part of the cavalry

to Rocky Mount, occupying Greenville and Tarboro with the rest. The raiders damaged or destroyed bridges, trains,

munitions, and mills before returning to New Bern on July 23, but the Confederates restored rail service by Aug. 1.

Claiborne learned that Potter was near Snow Hill.He then made his way to Scuffleton with theintent of destroying the bridge there and forcingPotter into a trap waiting for him at EdwardsBridge in Lenoir County. Potter’s force was rest-ing at Grimsley’s Church in Greene County.

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SwiftCreekVillage

Tarboro

New Bern

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Gen. Edward E. PotterCourtesy U.S. Army Military

History Institute

Potter’s Raidfrom New Bernto Rocky Mountand Tarboro

James May House – Courtesy May Museum

James May, whose family was influential in the early development of this part of Pitt County, constructed this house about 1854. May’sdescendant Tabitha Marie De Visconti left the house and its contents,including a photographic history of Farmville, to the town.

Capt. Lycurgus Barrett, 7th Confederate Cavalry

Courtesy May Museum

JOHNSTON MOVES WEST★ ★ ★Holt’s Mill


Confederate Gen. William J. Hardee led Gen.Joseph E. Johnston’s southern column of theArmy of Tennessee here to Holt’s Mill on therainy morning of April 15, 1865, on the marchwest away from Union Gen. William T. Sherman’sarmy. Gen. Robert F. Hoke discovered a moresuitable crossing herethan at the Bellmontford earlier that morn-ing, although floodinghad raised the usuallyplacid creek up to thelevel of a cartridgebox—three feet deep.The men and boys hadalready made perilouscrossings to get here;

they also feared a Federal cavalry attack. Col.John W. Hinsdale, 3rd North Carolina JuniorReserves (72nd North Carolina State Troops),wrote, “In the midst of the peril of the crossingof the river, Lieutenant-Colonel [W. Foster]French, realizing the danger to which the smallerboys were exposed, jumped from his horse, andstationing himself in mid-stream just below theline of march, rescued several brave lads frominevitable death. Standing there, watching hischance to save life, he was every inch the faithful

officer and brave soldier, and no wonderthe boys loved him.”

The columnbivouacked along bothsides of this roadbetween here and theold Alamance Regula-tor battleground of1771 two miles south-west, and learned that

Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginiahad surrendered six days before at AppomattoxCourt House. The main body of the Federal armywas more than sixty miles away from Hardee’scolumn on this day, so there was little threat of an engagement, but some of his men had diedsimply crossing flooded rivers and creeks.

The Carolinas Campaign began on February 1, 1865, when Union Gen. William T. Sherman led his army north

from Savannah, Georgia, after the March to the Sea. Sherman’s objective was to join Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia

to crush Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Scattered Confederate forces consolidated in North Carolina,

the Confederacy’s logistical lifeline, where Sherman defeated Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s last-ditch attack at

Bentonville. After Sherman was reinforced at Goldsboro late in March, Johnston saw the futility of further resistance

and surrendered at Bennett Place near Durham on April 26, ending the Civil War in the East.

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Army marching in the rain – Courtesy Library of Congress

The textile industry came to Alamance County early in the 19th centurywith the Quakers of Cane Creek. Edwin M. Holt’s mill here producedAlamance Plaid and marked a technological innovation: weaving dyedfibers together rather than dyeing the finished cloth. His mill kept NorthCarolina soldiers well clad. Contrary to the myth of the Confederatesoldier in rags, North Carolina governor Zebulon Vance reported 92,000sets of uniforms in warehouses when the government evacuated Raleigh.

Lt. Col. W. Foster FrenchCourtesy North Carolina Office

of Archives & History

Col. John W. HinsdaleCourtesy North Carolina Office


You Are HereSalem(April 10)

Jonesville(April 1)

Taylorsville(April 14)

Statesville(April 13)

Salisbury(April 12)

Hickory(April 15)

Lenoir(March 30 and

April 15)

Boone(March 28)

Jonesboro

Morristown(March 23)

Asheville(April 26)

SwannanoaGap (April 20)

Morganton(April 17)

Hendersonville(April 23)

Rutherfordton(April 21)

FortHamby

Howard’sGap

(April 22)

To Hillsville, Wytheville, Christiansburg,and Martinsville, Va. (April 2-10)

Civil WarTrails Site

Carson House(April 19)

Lincolnton(April 16)

Wilkesboro(March 29)

Hickory Nut Gorge (April 26)

Siloam(April 1–2)

Rockford(April 1–2)

Columbus (April 22)

Route of Stoneman’s Raid inTennessee, Virginia, and NorthCarolina, March–April 1865.

On April 11, 1865, two brigades of Union Gen.George Stoneman’s force, about 3,000 men, crossedthe Yadkin River at Shallow Ford en route to Sal-isbury to free Federal captives in the Confederateprison camp there. A Home Guard unit of 21 menincluding fifteen-year-old E.L. Gaither assembledat Elisha Creek Hill just north ofMocksville, exchanged a few shotswith the Federals, and then scattered.

Stoneman’s men burned theMcNeely cotton factory half a mileeast; it had not operated since the1840s. Some threw county recordsinto the street. A deed recorded in 1872 asserted that the original“was destroyed by Stoneman’s men.”The courthouse stood in the center

of the square facing south, and some of the troopsused the weathervane for target practice. It wastaken for repair to a tin shop in the March Housesoutheast of here, but a later fire destroyed boththe weathervane and the house.

Townspeople were forced to feed the soldiers and endure looting. Raiders broke intoBraxton Bailey’s store, ruined his goods, andstole four horses. His wife was held at gunpointin the Lee House on Cartner Street when sheresisted demands for money; a bed pillow was set

on fire, but the soldiers left withoutharming her. The fire was quicklyextinguished. The only remainingartifact, a charred wallboard, is nowon display at the library.

Stoneman bivouacked southof town in Ephesus, taking fivehostages, who escaped. He hastenedto Salibury to find that the prison-ers had been moved to Wilmingtonin February.

DAVIE COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR★ ★ ★

Stoneman in Mocksville

S T O N E M A N ’ S R A I D

On March 24, 1865, Union Gen. George Stoneman led 6,000 cavalrymen from Tennessee into southwestern Virginia

and western North Carolina to disrupt the Confederate supply line by destroying sections of the Virginia and

Tennessee Railroad, the North Carolina Railroad, and the Piedmont Railroad. He struck at Boone on March 28, headed

into Virginia on April 2, and returned to North Carolina a week later. Stoneman’s Raid ended at Asheville on April 26,

the day that Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Union Gen. William T. Sherman near Durham.

Davie County Courthouse, ca. 1914 – Courtesy Davie County Public Library

Gen. George StonemanCourtesy Library of Congress


On May 16, 1771, Gov. William Tryon led 1,200 militi-amen here and defeated the frontier rebels calledthe Regulators, who protested high taxes andlack of legal recourse. The North Carolina troopswho bivouacked here in April 1865 would haveknown the story of the governor’s treatment of therebels after the battle—six local men “stretchedhemp” in Hillsborough for their “treason.”

THE REGULATORS’ FIELD★ ★ ★

A Lesson for the Defeated


Confederate Gen. William J. Hardeeled Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’ssouthern column of the Army ofTennessee through AlamanceCounty on April 15, 1865, marchingwest away from Union Gen. William

Capt. William E. Stoney, assistantadjutant general of Hagood’s South Carolina Brigade, recorded in thebrigade diary, “Tonight, Colonel[Charles H.] Olmstead, of the FirstGeorgia Regiment, tells me posi-tively that General Lee has surren-dered. Great God! Can it be true? I have never for a moment doubtedthe ultimate success of our cause. I cannot believe it.”

This ground, where Hardee’smen received the historic news, was a renowned local landmark. InApril four years earlier, local Union-ists planned a flag rally at the old

The Carolinas Campaign began on February 1, 1865, when Union Gen. William T. Sherman led his army north from Savannah, Georgia, after the March to the Sea.

Sherman’s objective was to join Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia to crush Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Scattered Confederate forces consolidated in North Carolina,

the Confederacy’s logistical lifeline, where Sherman defeated Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s last-ditch attack at Bentonville. After Sherman was reinforced at Goldsboro late in March,

Johnston saw the futility of further resistance and surrendered at Bennett Place near Durham on April 26, ending the Civil War in the East.

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Gen. William J. Hardee – Courtesy Library of Congress

T. Sherman’s army. After a wetmarch and the loss of several soldiersdrowned at river crossings, the lead elements of Hardee’s columnbivouacked here in the mud.

Adding to the misery was the confirmation of Gen. Robert E.Lee’s surrender at AppomattoxCourt House on April 9. Rumors ofcatastrophe in Virginia had spreadwhile the column bivouacked theprevious night in Chapel Hill on thegrounds of the University of NorthCarolina. Here, however, the offi-cers and men got irrefutable proofthat the rumors were true: paroleesfrom the Army of Northern Virginiagoing home from Appomattox.

Regulator Battlefield at AlamanceCreek, but the firing on Fort Sumterand President Abraham Lincoln’scall for troops derailed its symbolicpurpose. Few attended.Army marching in the rain – Courtesy Library of Congress


JOHNSTON MOVES WEST★ ★ ★Ruff in Mills


The southern column of Confederate Gen. JosephE. Johnston’s Army of Tennessee approached theHaw River here at Ruffin Mills as it marchedwest away from Union Gen. William T. Sherman’sarmy on the rainy morning of April 15, 1865. Col. John W. Hinsdale, 3rd North Carolina JuniorReserves (72nd North Carolina State Troops)

“The men tried to form the Monkey’schain by holding each others hands, but the cur-rent was too strong and broke their hold,” wrotemusician William J. Worsham, 19th TennesseeInfantry. “We … debated in our minds whetherto go on or return as the water then was underour arms and deeper further on. Just then Gen.[Benjamin F.] Cheatham came riding in and ashe passed us we caught hold of his horse’s tailand landed safely on the other side.”







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later wrote, “We foundthe stream rising rap-idly. In crossing theriver, several of ourboys were drowned byleaving the ford toreach some fish trapsa short distance belowand being caught inthe swift current andswept down into thedeep water below.”


Lt. Robert M. Furman, 2nd North Car-olina Junior Reserves (71st North Carolina StateTroops), wrote, “One of the smaller boys disap-pearing under the water, a taller and stoutercomrade grabbed him and pulled him up, hedived down a second and third time and on beingpulled up by his comrades, suspecting an attempt at suicide, asked what he meant. ‘Why,’ said thelittle fellow, shivering and dripping, ‘My gun’sdown thar and I’m trying to git hit.’”



Lt. Robert M. FurmanCourtesy North Carolina Office


Musician William J. WorshamCourtesy North Carolina Office



OCCANEECHI IN THE SERVICE★ ★ ★

Piedmont Indians in the Civil War

When North Carolina passed laws in 1833 torestrict the rights of free blacks; they also limit-ed the rights of Indians. In old Orange (later Ala-mance) County, many Occaneechi Indians includ-ing Dixon Corn, Jesse Jeffries, Enoch Jones, andAndrew Jeffries were prosperous farmers andtradesmen. The law kept them from joining themilitia, but during the war, many volunteered asforagers, teamsters, hostlers, and paid body servants. In North Carolina’s mountains, someCherokee fought as soldiers in Thomas’s Legion.

“Nick” Mebane, of Co. F, 6th North Carolina State Troops, employed William Haithas his body servant. Will Liggins was a servantto James E. Boyd in Co. E, 13th North CarolinaState Troops. Marshall Jeffries performed similarservice. His kinsman, Bedford Jeffries, “served as cook and servant … never bore arms but …was always with the troops near the front.” WhenLt. Bartlett Yancey Mebane was killed at ColdHarbor, Virginia, on June 7, 1864, Jeffries broughthis remains home to the family.

Indians Buck Parker and James Wilson

were paid servants with Co. K, 6th North CarolinaState Troops. Wilson foraged for food and supplies,and it was reported that “[he] has foraged andstole enough during the war” to keep the companywell fed. His kinsman, William Wilson, served Lt. George Bason in the Ordinance Department.

The motives of these men probably werethe same as those of many young white men whoenlisted: pay, excitement, and escape from thefarm. Given the manpower shortages in the Con-federate army by 1863, men like these helpedkeep it in the field until 1865.

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Bedford Jeffries Marshall Jeffries Will Haith

All images courtesy Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation


NATHANIEL POLK DESHONG★ ★ ★

The Southern Diaspora

Nathaniel Polk DeShong descendedfrom Huguenot immigrants whosettled near the Haw River about amile and a half north of here. Heenlisted on June 21, 1861, at 17years of age under Capt. James W.Lea “for the War” in the 6th NorthCarolina State Troops at Camp Alamance (5 miles west). A slightman who handled animals well,DeShong was detailed as a teamsterand ambulance driver on February6, 1862. In that capacity, he removedthe wounded from the battlefields of Antietam, Maryland, and Gettys-burg, Pennsylvania, and neverforgot their screams and moans.

DeShong returned to the Haw River after being paroled at Appomat-tox Court House in April 1865. Although his father owned six slaves beforethe war, they lived in the house with his family instead of in separate quar-ters, as was sometimes the case on small farms. When DeShong remarriedin 1865, the former slaves made a rolling pin from a single piece of woodsmoothed with elm bark as a wedding gift.

Like many Southerners during the postwar depression, DeShong and his second wife, Catherine McRae, headed west to Texas, where he puthis experience with horses to good use in Paris, in Lamar County. He neverforgot, however, the “crystal-clear streams, towering oaks or corn higherthan your head” of Alamance County as he reminisced to his children. Perhaps inspired by his stories of treating the wounded, some of his descen-dants entered the field of medicine. His youngest daughter returned “home”here in 1994, almost 130 years after her father left.


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Nathaniel Polk DeShong, 1861

Reunion badge, United Confed-erate Veterans

Former DeShong family slaves, ca. 1890All images courtesy Haw River Historical Museum

MICAJAH MCPHERSON★ ★ ★

“We have Fought the Good Fight and Kept Our Faith”

Micajah McPherson, a trustee of Freedom HillWesleyan Methodist Church and abolitionist, waslynched about a mile and a half southeast of here.Although there are different stories about hislynching, they agree that he was an innocent manlynched by vigilantes whom authorities protected.

According to his descendants, after theConfederate Conscription Act was passed in 1862,riders approached McPherson’s house one day anddemanded, “Where’s your boy?” “The Hunters”—

the Chatham County sheriff ’s men, Home Guards,and McPherson relatives seeking conscripts—were looking for McPherson’s service-age son,Tommy, who was in hiding. The two had workedout a plan to keep the boy fed and his father fromlying. When young McPherson returned an emptyfood basket to the house for refilling, he left anote inside that said where to deliver the fullbasket. His father then could say truthfully thathe did not know where his son was.

Dissatisfied with McPherson’s denials,“the Hunters” dragged him to a split-rail fence,forced his hands into the narrow space betweentwo rails, and then jumped up and down on the upper rail. When his answer did not change, theyhauled him into the woods, fired a shot at hishouse to intimidate his family, and hanged himfrom a large dogwood tree by the creek.

McPherson survived the hanging, however,saying later that a noise startled “the Hunters,”who fled. He heard one of them say, “I do notbelieve the old SOB is dead yet.” Years later at achurch service, according to tradition, McPherson

approached a stranger to the church and toldhim, “You are one of those that hanged me.” The stranger left and never returned.


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Micajah McPherson and his wife, Phebe McPherson – Courtesy John Braxton

Home Guards and guerrillas frequently terrorized civilians, taking horses,seizing conscripts, and looting houses, Harper’s Weekly, Dec. 24, 1864

JOHNSTON MOVES WEST★ ★ ★

Logisticians at Work


You are standing where the northern column ofConfederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s Army ofTennessee divided on April 15, 1865, as it maneu-vered west away from Union Gen. William T.Sherman’s army. Confederate Gen. A.P. Stewart’s

corps marched to Gib-sonville along present-day U.S. Route 70, whileGen. Stephen D. Lee’scorps, which Johnstonaccompanied, marchedthrough Elon ontoday’s N.C. Route 100.The other Confederate

column moved west through southern AlamanceCounty as Johnston and Sherman began negotiat-ing the inevitable Confederate surrender.

overly cautious, most soldiers thought that hewas unwilling to risk their lives unnecessarily.Johnston himself was concerned that he hadbeen returned to command of the army to serveas a scapegoat for failure—a concern that laterproved to be well-founded.







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Gen. Joseph Eggleston Johnston had a unique connection to AlamanceCounty. Here, his father, Peter Johnston, and his father’s close friend,Joseph Eggleston, had fought under Lt. Col. Henry “Light-Horse Harry”Lee, Robert E. Lee’s father, during the Revolutionary War at an engage-ment known here as Pyle’s Hacking Match. Johnston was named for his father’s friend and carried his sword, refusing to leave the SevenPines Battlefield without it after he was wounded.

Gen. A.P. StewartCourtesy Library of Congress

Gen. Stephen D. LeeCourtesy Library of Congress

Johnston’s army was marching back up its supply lines as itmoved west, meetingtrains bringing foodand equipment fromSalisbury under thedirection of Gen. P.G.T.Beauregard. The Confeder-ate supply situation herecontrasted sharply withthat confronting Gen. Robert E. Lee. Lee evacu-ated Richmond and Petersburg on April 2–3 and marched west, away from his supply sources,then planned to turn south and join Johnston.Lee lost valuable time at Jetersville waiting forsupplies that never arrived, which enabled Federal cavalry to block his way south.

The soldiers in the Army of Tennesseerevered Johnston, who was known for taking careto see that his men were well fed and supplied.While Johnston’s critics believed that he was

Gen. Joseph E. JohnstonCourtesy Library of Congress

Army marching in the rainCourtesy Library of Congress


JOHNSTON MOVES WEST★ ★ ★Holt’s Mill


Confederate Gen. William J. Hardee led Gen.Joseph E. Johnston’s southern column of theArmy of Tennessee here to Holt’s Mill on therainy morning of April 15, 1865, on the marchwest away from Union Gen. William T. Sherman’sarmy. Gen. Robert F. Hoke discovered a moresuitable crossing herethan at the Bellmontford earlier that morn-ing, although floodinghad raised the usuallyplacid creek up to thelevel of a cartridgebox—three feet deep.The men and boys hadalready made perilouscrossings to get here;

they also feared a Federal cavalry attack. Col.John W. Hinsdale, 3rd North Carolina JuniorReserves (72nd North Carolina State Troops),wrote, “In the midst of the peril of the crossingof the river, Lieutenant-Colonel [W. Foster]French, realizing the danger to which the smallerboys were exposed, jumped from his horse, andstationing himself in mid-stream just below theline of march, rescued several brave lads frominevitable death. Standing there, watching hischance to save life, he was every inch the faithful

officer and brave soldier, and no wonderthe boys loved him.”

The columnbivouacked along bothsides of this roadbetween here and theold Alamance Regula-tor Battlefield of 1771,two miles southwest,and learned that

Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginiahad surrendered six days before at AppomattoxCourt House. The main body of the Federal armywas more than sixty miles away from Hardee’scolumn on this day, so there was little threat of an engagement; however, some of his men haddied simply crossing flooded rivers and creeks.







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The textile industry came to Alamance County early in the 19th centurywith the Quakers of Cane Creek. Edwin M. Holt’s mill here producedAlamance Plaid and marked a technological innovation: weaving dyedfibers together rather than dyeing the finished cloth. His mill kept NorthCarolina soldiers well clad. Contrary to the myth of the Confederatesoldier in rags, North Carolina governor Zebulon Vance reported 92,000sets of uniforms in warehouses when the government evacuated Raleigh.

Lt. Col. W. Foster FrenchCourtesy North Carolina Office





JOHNSTON MOVES WEST★ ★ ★

Hardee’s Column


Here, on the rainy morning of April 15, 1865, thesouthern column of Confederate Gen. Joseph E.Johnston’s Army ofTennessee approachedthe crossroads on yourright along the road toyour left as it marchedwest away from Union Gen. William T.Sherman’s army. Thecolumn, under Gen.William J. Hardee, hadbivouacked in ChapelHill on the campus ofthe University of North Carolina. Supposed tomove out at 4:30 A.M. toward Greensboro, it didnot depart until after 6:00. Its destination also

was changed to Swepsonville and the Haw Riverford there, along present-day N.C. Route 119.

Hardee’s column included the 3rd NorthCarolina Junior Reserves (72nd North CarolinaState Troops) under Col. John W. Hinsdale. Sixteen- and seventeen-year-old Alamance andForsyth County boys comprised Co. C. Hinsdale

later wrote that “ourline of march was onthe Salisbury andHillsboro road, overwhich 200 years beforethe Catawba Indianspassed in their visitsto the Tuscaroras inthe East. Governor[William] Tryon andlater Lord Cornwallishad led their troops

over this historic way in the vain endeavor tosubdue the men whose sons now trod footsore andweary over the same red hills, engaged in a like

struggle for local self government.” The columndeparted from that path here and headed toRuffin Mills.

The winter of 1864-65 had been very wet,and early in April, a flood destroyed all of thebridges across the Haw River except the railroadbridge at Granite Mills. The choice of crossinghad potentially fatal consequences because ofhigh water.







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Gen. William J. HardeeCourtesy Library of Congress




FREEDOM HILL CHURCH★ ★ ★

“No slaveholder can be a Christian!”

A mile south of here is the site of Freedom Hill Wesleyan Methodist Church, a simple frame buildingthat measured 27 by 36 feet and was dedicated in March 1848. When local residents sent a plea for aminister to the Wesleyans in Ohio in 1847, the Rev. Adam Crooks accepted the call. Among the mostoutspoken of southern abolitionist groups, the Wesleyans held to the principle that no Christian couldin conscience own slaves, a position similar to that of the Quakers. Confrontation with the dominant

slave-owning society here was inevitable. Pro-slavery mobsattacked the congregation and fired small arms at the churchdoor. The sanctity of the pulpit was no protection, but the congregation and Crooks refused to renounce their beliefs.

Members of the congregation were active in the Under-ground Railroad and, thereby, put their property, families, andlives at risk. Nearby are several hiding places that runawayslaves used. During the Civil War, members of the congregationconcealed deserters, draft resisters, and escaped Federal prisoners-of-war. If they had been caught, they would have beenconfined in the Confederate prison in Salisbury. North Car-olina’s government did not acknowledge the Wesleyans as paci-

fists, in contrast to the official attitude towardthe Quakers. Conscription wagons took manyWesleyans away to forced military service.

The old church has been moved twice, and now stands on the campus of Southern Wesleyan University in Central, South Carolina.


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Freedom Hill Wesleyan Methodist Church, photo ca. 1950sCourtesy Friends Historical Collection, Guilford College

Bullet-riddled door to church,ca. 1970s – Courtesy North CarolinaOffice of Archives & History

The Rev. Adam Crooks (1824–1874),who came to North Carolina from Ohio in 1847, was tarred andfeathered in effigy, beaten, poi-soned twice, barred from speakingat the courthouses in Guilford and Forsyth counties, and jailed in Randolph, all for his faith. He asked his congregants, “Canyou give your life for the cause?”In 1851, North Carolina forced himto leave, but he had already plantedWesleyan abolitionist churches in North Carolina and Virginia.The physical abuse he endured contributed to his early death.

The Rev. Adam Crooks – CourtesySouthern Wesleyan University

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CANE CREEK MEETING HOUSE★ ★ ★

Suffering for Peace

The Quakers (Society of Friends) were early anti-slavery supporters of theUnderground Railroad. Once the war erupted and Alamance County resi-dents chose sides, supporters of the Confederacy regarded the Friends as Unionists. Never attacked directly by their neighbors, the Quakers weresubjected to various pressures to conform. The government, attempting

to enforce the conscription acts, not only tried to persuade Quakerconscripts to renounce their faith,but also inflicted physical and psychological violence on them.

Solomon Frazier, of neighbor-ing Randolph County, endured anexperience suffered by many others.Early in the war, Frazier paid a $500 fine to avoid conscription. By1864, however, when Confederatemanpower needs were acute, he was


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Cane Creek Meeting House, ca. 1900 – Courtesy Friends Historical Collection, Guilford College

arrested and taken to the prison at Salisbury. There, despite being beatento make him renounce his beliefs, he refused on religious grounds to “take upthe gun” or to serve as a prison guard. When the officer in charge becamefurious with him, Frazier said “If it is thy duty to inflict this punishmenton me, do it cheerfully; don’t get angry about it.” When rifle barrels wereleveled at his face, Frazier calmly said, “It is the Sabbath and as good a dayto die as any.” Never broken, he survived this mistreatment and the war.

William Thompson, conscripted from this Meeting (congregation),was killed at Gettysburg, leaving a wife, Martha, and small children. At leastseven Confederate veterans are buried in the cemetery a mile west, a silenttribute to the Friends’ spirit of forgiveness of those who did take up the gun.

As a minister for thisMeeting, Isham Coxbecame the spokes manfor the Quaker commu-nity to surroundingfaiths. His membershipon the Yearly Meeting’sCommittee on Sufferingled him to seek bettertreatment for SolomonFrazier during Frazier’sconfinement. Cox suc-ceeded because of hisprestige with the NorthCarolina governmentand finally secured Frazier’s release.

Isham CoxCourtesy Friends

Historical Collection, Guilford College

Nov 2010 NC CWT Signs

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