AUTHOR: Robert Jones
This is a crude wooden mallet and tent stake, still having a piece of the original rope. It was left behind by Confederate forces when moving between Washington, NC and Plymouth, NC. It was picked up and put in an antebellum barn, where it remained for 150 years.
Confederate forces captured Plymouth in mid-April 1864 and would force the complete Federal withdrawal from nearby Washington on April 28, 1864. During the evacuation, the town was intentionally burned by Federal troops. Union General Innis N. Palmer, in an order condemning the atrocities by his troops, used these words: “It is well known that the army vandals did not even respect the charitable institutions, but bursting open doors of the Masonic and Odd Fellows’ lodge, pillaged them both and hawked about the streets the regalia and jewels. And this, too, by United States troops! It is well known that both public and private stores were entered and plundered, and that devastation and destruction ruled the hour. They are not soldiers, but thieves and scoundrels”.
