Our State – Our Stories
Joseph and Delia Russell Youngblood’s War Stories
SUBMITTED BY: Joanne Wickman Farris (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Editor’s Note: The following story is based on information contained in Terrell T. Garren’s historical fiction novel, The Secret of War: A Dramatic History of Civil War Crime in Western...
Samuel Anders Dowless’ Civil War Story
SUBMITTED BY: David W. Dowless Jr. (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter; letter transcribed by Carl E. Dowless [1981]) Samuel, Elisha, and John Dowless were brothers from Bladen County, North Carolina who all fought for the Confederacy. According to their military...
My Family History: Alexander Lowery (1831-1862)
AUTHOR: Melanie Forbes Cook (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) The following is an excerpt from a blog entry, which was originally published at https://familyhistory4u.blogspot.com/2013/02/alexander-lowery-1831-1862.html?m=1: My Family History: Alexander Lowery...
A Simple Tombstone
AUTHOR: Jeff T Giambrone (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Over the years, I have visited cemeteries in many different states, and I have to say that I have enjoyed these trips immensely. For a historian such as myself, visiting a cemetery is like opening a...
A Confederate Chaplain: Adolphus W. Mangum (1834 – 1890)
SUBMITTED BY: Geri Irwin (written by Cheri Todd Molter) The attachment is the scan of a page from The Mangums of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Utah, and Adjoining States, by John T. Palmer, PhD...
Hiram Hamilton Hartley
AUTHOR: Linda H. Barnette (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Hiram Hamilton Hartley, known as H. H. or “Hi” to friends and family, was my great-great-grandfather. Born in Davidson County, N. C. in 1839, Hartley was a plantation owner who had inherited his...
A Special Order & Voucher Referring to the War Experiences of Dr. Robert Mijamin Patterson, A Confederate Assistant Surgeon
SUBMITTED BY: George L. Moore (transcribed by Cheri Todd Molter) [To learn Dr. Robert Mijamin Patterson’s full story, read “The War-Time History of my Great-Grandfather, Robert Mijamin Patterson, M.D.”] Introduction: Born in 1837, Dr. Robert Mijamin Patterson got his...
The War-Time History of my Great-Grandfather, Robert Mijamin Patterson, M.D.
AUTHOR: George L. Moore (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) What follows is a condensed history of my Great-Grandfather, Robert Mijamin Patterson, who served the Confederacy as an Assistant Surgeon throughout the Civil War. (Click image to enlarge.) Robert...
Lt. Colonel James Land & The Deserter
AUTHOR: Glenn Land (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) In the past, I submitted a poem written by my 1st cousin 4 times removed, Confederate Lieutenant Thomas Charles Land, who served in the 1st & 53rd N.C. Infantry Regiments. [That story is titled “Return...
From a Confederate Deserter to a Soldier on the Overland Trail: The War Experiences of Elias Day
RESEARCHED AND WRITTEN BY: K. Jeffery Torgler and Cheri Todd Molter Elias E. Day was born in 1831 in Surry County, North Carolina, and his parents were William and Nancy (Triplett) Day. Before 1850, William and Nancy had relocated their family to Wilkes County, North...
Lt. Lal White’s Letter to his Brother, Murdock: October 8, 1863
SUBMITTED BY: Sandra White Hinton (researched and written by Cheri Todd Molter; letter transcribed by Cheri Todd Molter & Caitlin Crenshaw) Note from Sandra: Here are Lal's letters. Please do upload them. His handwriting is so neat! All the Whites were educated,...
Dr. Eleazor Aaron Pyatt (1832-1902): Ass’t. Surgeon, CSA
AUTHOR: Daniel E. Johnson IV (edited by Cheri T. Molter; vetted by Carolina Echeverri and Cheri T. Molter) Click to enlarge the picture above. Please see the full story of Dr. Pyatt at this link: Dr. Eleazor Aaron Pyatt
Henry Richard McFadyen’s “Amazing Grace”: The Reflections of a “living link between what now is and what has been”
SUBMITTED BY: Emily Whitaker Poetz (Introduction vetted and edited by Cheri Todd Molter; Manuscript written by Henry Richard McFadyen) My name is Emily Whitaker Poetz and my aunt, Claudia Whitaker, sent me a link to your story submission page and said the History...
My Great-Great-Grandparents, Caleb Smith and Elizabeth Braxton Smith, of Pitt County, North Carolina
AUTHOR: Linda Branch (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Caleb Smith was my great-great-grandfather. He married Elizabeth Braxton (the daughter of Jesse Braxton), and she was the mother of my great-grandfather, Caleb Putnell Smith (called “Put”). Caleb Putnell...
Lt. Lal White’s Letter to his Brother, Murdock: November 22, 1863
SUBMITTED BY: Sandra White Hinton (Introduction researched and written by Cheri Todd Molter; Letter Transcribed by Cheri Todd Molter & Caitlin Crenshaw) Note from Sandra: Here are Lal's letters. Please do upload them. His handwriting is so neat! All the Whites...
June 8 2020 Statement by the Board of Directors
It is with great sadness for the families and friends of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor—and for where we are as a state and as a nation—that we at the North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center issue this statement. The unjust and...
Josiah, James, and John Haywood: Union County Brothers Who Fought for the Confederacy
SUBMITTED BY: Sandra Haywood Nivens (researched and written by Cheri Todd Molter) My great-great-grandfather was Josiah Haywood. We didn’t know much about him until a few years ago. Josiah and his two brothers, John Franklin Haywood and James Madison Haywood, all...
C.S.A. Captain John Tillinghast Taylor (1834—June 27, 1862)
AUTHOR: Robert Taylor (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Born in Granville County, N.C., John Tillinghast Taylor was a son of John Camillus Taylor and Emily Elizabeth Tillinghast. His mother had been born in Cumberland County, N.C., to Paris Jenckes Tillinghast...
An Orange County Family during the Civil War
AUTHOR: Ruth C. Couch (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Both my husband and I have Orange County, North Carolina, Couch family roots. I had always heard that my great-great-grandfather had fought in the Civil War and died without seeing his twin sons—my...
Dicey Couch’s Petition to the Commissioners of Claims: The Orange County Woman Sought Compensation for a Horse, a Mule, and Bacon
SUBMITTED BY: Ruth C. Couch (transcription of original document by Ruth C. Couch; vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) To read the petition, click on the link here: 1588269639-Dicey-Couch-claim
Jane Dickinson Cowan DeRosset’s “Sherman’s Men Enter North Carolina”
SUBMITTED BY: Beacham McDougald; AUTHOR: Jane Dickinson Cowan DeRosset (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Col. Robert H. Cowan, Jr. was a grandson of Governor David Stone (1808-1810) of Bertie County, North Carolina. Col. Cowan was also president of the...
Nathan Bradshaw: A Soldier of the Overland Trail
SUBMITTED BY: K. Jeffery Torgler (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) This is an outline of research results—census records, military records, etc.—that tell the story of the life of Nathan Bradshaw. We were compiling this information to track down the grave...
“[T]ell me what we poore soldiers wifes is to do”: Mrs. Susan Shearin, Mrs. L. Reid, Mrs. M. Neal, Mrs. C. Aycock, Mrs. Thomson, and Mrs. Elbeth Write a Letter to Gov. Vance
SUBMITTED BY: Jean Finch Inscoe (introduction written by Cheri T. Molter; original document transcribed by Jean Finch Inscoe; submission transcription by Cheri T. Molter) Life was difficult for women, too, during the Civil War. After able-bodied men went off to...
Thomas Warren “Capt. Plunk” Shearin
SUBMITTED BY: Jean Finch Inscoe (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Thomas Warren Shearin was born on April 24, 1832 to his parents Seth and Mary “Polly” Pike Shearin of Warren County, North Carolina. As an adult, Thomas married Susan D. Myrick and the couple...
“[W]e can talk over the old times that tried mens [sic] souls”: A Letter from George Fitts to John L. Shearin
SUBMITTED BY: Jean Finch Inscoe (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter; transcription by Cheri Todd Molter and Carolina Echeverri) John Lindsey Shearin was born in 1842 in Warren County, North Carolina. He worked as farmer in Warren County and enlisted in the...
A Captain in the U.S. Army and a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army: Lewis Addison Armistead (1817-1863)
AUTHOR: Robert Taylor (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) The burial place of Lewis Addison Armistead was a mystery to most people until 1939 when a Gettysburg Park official told people to look for his memorial at the Old St. Paul’s Cemetery in Baltimore,...
Doctor Parks Turner Beeman of Peachland, North Carolina
SUBMITTED BY: Steve Bailey (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Editor’s Note: Born on Dec. 4, 1833 in Anson County, Dr. Parks Turner Beeman was a pacifist who was opposed to the Civil War. During the war years, Beeman was arrested for making a derogatory remark...
A Civil War Mystery Solved: Crowder Patience and Thomas Lawrence Jr. were Brothers from North Carolina
AUTHOR: Dr. Juanita Patience Moss (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) (Click on photos below to enlarge.) Thomas D. Lawrence Jr., born enslaved in Edenton, North Carolina, circa 1836 and dying there in 1929, was the son of Thomas D. Lawrence Sr. and his wife...
Granny Harriet
AUTHOR: Beverly Levi-Parker (edited by Cheri Todd Molter) I’ve been chasing my Western North Carolina ancestors for over 40 years, and thankfully, I’ve “met” most of them. I know stories of some of their hardships and their victories. I know most of their descendants...
“The Fidelity of Lewis” by Mrs. Cornelia Worth French
SUBMITTED BY: Frances Cullom Morgan (edited by Cheri Todd Molter) Note from Frances Cullom Morgan: Cornelia Murphey Worth French was the daughter of Barzillai Gardner Worth and Mary Elizabeth Jessie Carter. (Editor’s Note: The author of the following story, Cornelia...
Letter to Cousin Martha H. “Pattie” Aiken from Cornelia Murphey Worth
SUBMITTED BY: Frances Cullom Morgan (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Note from Frances Cullom Morgan: This letter was published in A Goodly Heritage by Emma Woodward MacMillan, a niece of Cornelia Murphey Worth and my great-aunt. Although many of Emma's...
The Oral History Shared by my Great-Grandmother, Emily Jones Morrison
SUBMITTED BY: Sonny P. Jones (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) My Great-Grandmother was Emily Jones Morrison, and she was the daughter of Hiram King and Lucretia Jones of Henderson County, North Carolina. She was born in 1853 and died when I was in the 11th...
Dr. Francis Hamilton Conoly: A Man Who was Born in Robeson County, Fought for the Confederacy, then Relocated to South Carolina
SUBMITTED BY: Elizabeth Smith (researched and written by Cheri Todd Molter) Note from Elizabeth Smith: My great-grandfather was Dr. Francis Hamilton Conoly, and Cheri found the records that brought him and his family members to life for me. She gave me knowledge of my...
Emeline Jamison Pigott: A Confederate Heroine
SUBMITTED BY: JC Knowles (written by Cheri Todd Molter) (Click photo above to enlarge) Emeline Jamison Pigott was the daughter of Levi Whitehurst and Eliza Dennis Pigott of Carteret County, North Carolina. She was born on December 15, 1836, and her father died when...
Major Robertson and George Clopton: Two of My Ancestors Who Died during the Civil War
SUBMITTED BY: Jean Finch Inscoe (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) The following men are two of my Granville County, North Carolina, ancestors who served in the Confederacy during the Civil War. Pvt. Major Robertson (click image below to enlarge) Major Robertson...
A Tale of Two Brothers: Their Civil War Experiences
SUBMITTED BY: Jean Finch Inscoe (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) The following men were some of my ancestors who served in the Confederacy during the Civil War. Ewell Taylor Green and William Alexandria Green were brothers who were born in Virginia but moved...
Jeffrey Stark [AKA Edward F. Small]: An Account by a Civil War Veteran
SUBMITTED BY: Pam Barry (story written by Edward F. Small; submission transcribed by Carolina Echeverri; introduction researched & written by Cheri Todd Molter) Pam Barry’s note: Here is the story I told you about, written by my great-grandfather, Edward...
My Finch Ancestors Who Served in the Confederate Army
SUBMITTED BY: Jean Finch Inscoe (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) William Finch William S. Finch was born on June 1, 1834. He resided in Granville County, but enlisted in Wake County, N.C., as a Private in the Confederate Army on July 8, 1862. He served in...
Three of Dicey Shearin’s Sons Fought for the Confederacy and Only One Survived
SUBMITTED BY: Jean Finch Inscoe (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Dicey Shearin lived in Warren County and had four children: James O. Shearin, William H. Shearin, John Lindsey Shearin, and Catherine Shearin. All three of her sons fought for the Confederacy...
Pvt. Franklin Cauble and the Great Shohola, Pennsylvania, Prison Train Wreck, July 15, 1864
WRITTEN BY: Tom Fagart (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) On July 12, 1864, 833 Confederate soldiers, many who had been captured during the Battle of Cold Harbor, were loaded onto the steamer Crescent, which was tied up along the dock of the Point Lookout...
The Graves of Union Cavalrymen Henry L. Sennet, Calvin Simpson, David Woods, Reid Allcorn and Mathew L. Ross were Marked in Richmond County
SUBMITTED BY: Steve Bailey (vetted and edited by Cheri Todd Molter) Hello, my friends! While searching on the Richmond County, N.C. Genealogy Website, I stumbled upon this interesting history article & hope you can include it on your website. (Click photo to...
Lt. Lal White’s Letter to his Father: October 7, 1863
SUBMITTED BY: Sandra White Hinton (researched and written by Cheri Todd Molter; transcribed by Caitlin Crenshaw & Cheri Todd Molter) Lt. Lal White’s Letter to his Father: October 7, 1863 Lallister M. White, or “Lal”, was born in Sampson County, North Carolina. He...
Ruins of Winton, N.C.: A Sketch of the Scene after the Town was Burned by Union Troops
SUBMITTED BY: Elizabeth Jones (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Editor’s Note: This is a sketch by Charles E. H. Bonwill for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, an illustrated literary and news publication that was founded in 1855 by Frank Leslie. The sketch...
North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center – Phase 1
Always nice to share good news. Even in the throes of the virus, the History Center is pressing ahead with completion of Phase 1. Progress is great! We are still on course to have Phase 1 complete by the end of April. Stay tuned for the ribbon cutting and...
History Village Progress!
The North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center is making great progress on Phase I's "History Village"! In the architect's birds-eye drawing above (click to enlarge), you can see the Village in the lower left as well as Phase II's Picnic Pavilion and...
The Burning of Winton in 1862
SUBMITTED BY: Elizabeth Jones Thomas Parramore, “The Burning of Winton,” North Carolina Historical Review (Winter 1962): 18-31. Dr. Thomas Custis Parramore grew up in Winton and was a Raleigh historian, author, lecturer and Meredith College history professor...
Illustration of General Foster’s Troops Disembarking at Winton, N.C. Feb. 1862
SUBMITTED BY: Elizabeth Jones (edited by Cheri Todd Molter) An Illustration of General Foster's troops disembarking at Winton, N.C. Click to enlarge. This was the prelude to the burning of the town of Winton, which occurred in February 1862.
Watson L. Daniel of Hertford County Votes against Secession
SUBMITTED BY: Elizabeth Jones (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) The following is an excerpt from The Secession Movement in North Carolina, which was written by Dr. Joseph Carlyle Sitterson and published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1939: “The...
My four Civil War ancestors
SUBMITTED BY: JD Mayo (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Photo of Charity Rose Womble. Click photo to enlarge. I have four ancestors who joined the Confederate Army during the Civil War. My great grandmother’s mom was Cherry Rose Robbins Sears (1867-1939). Her...
Minnie McClenny Sutton’s Family Experiences during the Civil War
SUBMITTED BY: Adrienne Stanley (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Minnie McClenny Sutton was my great-grandmother, and I found two separate sheets of paper on which family members had recorded their interviews with Minnie while asking her about the Civil War....
Lt. Lal White’s Letter Home: May 25, 1863
SUBMITTED BY: Sandra White Hinton (transcribed by Cheri Todd Molter and Caitlin Crenshaw) Note from Sandra: Here are Lal's letters. Please do upload them. His handwriting is so neat! All the Whites were educated, and they were all Masons, as well. Uploads here:...
The Letters of Charles and George W. Dellinger, Lincoln County Brothers Who are Stationed in Wilmington and Missing Home
SUBMITTED BY: Michael Stroupe (introduction and modern transcriptions written by Cheri Todd Molter) Charles and George Dellinger were brothers, and their parents were Adam and Anna Faulks Dellinger. They grew up in Lincoln County, North Carolina. The following are...
Polk County, N.C. during the Civil War: The Story of Charity Holbert & Her Husbands
AUTHOR: Oren Jerry Hill, Jr. (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Geographical, cultural, political, and socioeconomical diversity in the mountain counties of North Carolina led to the occurrence of a wide range of incidents, from those of unusual cruelty to...
Willis Richardson: The Story of an African American Playwright
SUBMITTED BY: JC Knowles (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Willis Richardson, an African American playwright, was born to Willis Wilder and Agnes Ann Harper Richardson on November 5, 1889. His parents lived in Wilmington, North Carolina, at the time of his...
Lt. Lal White’s Letter Home: July 19, 1863
SUBMITTED BY: Sandra White Hinton (transcribed by Cheri Todd Molter and Caitlin Crenshaw) (Note from Sandra: "Here are Lal's letters. Please do upload them. His handwriting is so neat! All the Whites were educated, and they were all Masons, as well.") Lallister M....
What a Good Birthday Party Can Do: The Birth of a ‘Little General’ Unites Both Sides in Celebration
SUBMITTED BY: Steve Bailey (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Abstracted from the February 2020 Issue of the Marshville N.C. Museum & Cultural Center Newsletter: “[In July 1864], the army of the Union and the army of the Confederacy were locked in vicious...
Ann Eliza Brown White (1838 – 1927)
SUBMITTED BY: Sandra White Hinton (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Here is a picture of Ann Eliza Brown White (1838-1927). She was born in Sampson County, North Carolina, on Aug. 8, 1838. Ann married Murdoch White and was Lt. Lal White’s sister-in-law (some...
Lt. Lal White’s Letter Home: August 20, 1863
SUBMITTED BY: Sandra White Hinton (transcribed by Cheri Todd Molter and Caitlin Crenshaw) August_20_1863 Lal and James White and August_20_1863_backside (click on links at left to view PDFs of letter) (Note from Sandra White: "Here are Lal's letters. Please do upload...
From Enslaved to Landowner: The Story of James H. Woodard
SUBMITTED BY: Dr. Algeania W. Freeman (researched and written by Cheri Todd Molter) The Woodard story is also told in “Black River” (a historical fiction novella written by Algeania W. Freeman, PhD). Much of this story is based on the oral history passed down through...
The Proffit Brothers of Wilkes County, North Carolina
SUBMITTED BY: Glenn Land (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) (click photo to enlarge) A family connected to my ancestors in Wilkes County, N.C., by marriage, was that of William Proffit (Proffitt, Prophet) and Mary Walsh Proffit. Their daughter, Rhoda, was...
Woodrow Wilson at Davidson College
AUTHOR: JC Knowles (edited by Cheri Todd Molter; vetted by Daniel Whiting and Cheri Todd Molter) In 1873, a sixteen-year-old lad entered Davidson College, a Presbyterian liberal arts college in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. At Davidson he was known as Thomas...
Jackson County’s John B. Queen is Memorialized by his Friend, Elbert Brown
SUBMITTED BY: Elizabeth Lackey Brock (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) John B. Queen was my 2x great uncle. He was the son of James H. & Isabel Bryson Queen of Jackson County, North Carolina. John was born in 1836 and was twenty-five years old when he...
Robert H. Jordan: Born and Raised in Hertford County, Made a Home in Tennessee, and Served in the Union Army
SUBMITTED BY: Carroll White (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) My 2x great grandfather, Robert H. Jordan, was born in Hertford County, North Carolina. His parents, Robert and Lavenia Jordan, died young, and he moved to Tennessee afterward. When he arrived in...
Catherine Sweet Babington: The Only Woman Master Mason
SUBMITTED BY: JC Knowles (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Along with many other “firsts” to its credit, North Carolina can claim to be the state that the first woman Master Mason in the history of the craft—from King Solomon's Temple to the present day—called...
Finding Brothers William and Levi Monroe
SUBMITTED BY: Rick Monroe (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) I've known for quite a while my great-great uncles, William Johnson Monroe and Levi Deaton Monroe, were both killed during the battles for Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864 and 1865. A number of times,...
Long Way Home
SUBMITTED BY: Alan Ashworth (vetted by Cheri Molter) My Great-grandfather John Calvin McFadyen served the Confederate Army in Co E, 38th NCT—the Richmond County Boys. A copy of their unit song is in Rankin Museum in Ellerbe, NC. John's unit was guarding the Southside...
My Civil War Great-Great-Uncle James D. Ellington
SUBMITTED BY: Judy Ellington Stainback; Letters Transcribed by Cheri Todd Molter, Caitlin Crenshaw, Carolina Echeverri, and Daniel Whiting A note from Judy Ellington Stainback: I grew up on a 300-plus-acre tobacco farm in Drewry, Warren County, North Carolina. Part of...
The Winton-Triangle: A Mixed-Race Community’s Civil War
SUBMITTED BY: Marvin T. Jones (vetted by Cheri Molter) The Winton Triangle is a community of land-owning people of color in the Winton-Cofield-Ahoskie area of Hertford County, North Carolina. Originally inhabited by the Chowanoke people, the first landowners of color...
The Story of Lt. William Beavans, Company D, 43rd Regiment CSA
SUBMITTED BY: William R. "Bill" Beavans William “Billy” Beavans, a Confederate soldier from Halifax County, N.C., served in Company I of the 1st North Carolina Infantry Regiment and with the 43rd North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Company D. He was wounded at...
An Excerpt from Elliot Daingerfield’s Autobiography
SUBMITTED BY: Linda S. Anderson and Julie Dulaney Elliot Daingerfield was born on March 26, 1859 in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). His parents were Captain John Elliot Parker Daingerfield and Mathilda Wickham De Brua Daingerfield. The family relocated...
Jeff Sanders, A Free Black Man Who Served for the Confederacy During the Civil War
SUBMITTED BY: Lakeysha Medlin (vetted and edited by Cheri Todd Molter) (Click images to enlarge) My name is Lakeysha Medlin, and this story is about my 3rd Great Grandfather Jefferson "Jeff" Sanders. Jefferson “Jeff” Sanders was my 3rd Great Grandfather. He was born...
Samuel Spake & Harriet Dellinger Spake: “We are still in the land of the living and trying to do the best we can.”
SUBMITTED BY: Mike Stroupe (written by Cheri Todd Molter) Samuel Spake was born June 23, 1821 in Lincoln County, North Carolina. He married Harriet R. Dellinger, daughter of Peter Dellinger and Margaret Haines Dellinger, around 1842. According to the 1850 Census,...
Wilmington’s Confederate General William MacRae
SUBMITTED BY: Hugh MacRae II (written by Susan Block, edited by Cheri Todd Molter) (Click image to enlarge) William MacRae was born in Wilmington, North Carolina on the ninth of September, 1834. He was the…son of Alexander MacRae, president of the Wilmington and...
The Messer boys survive the war
SUBMITTED BY: Glenn L. Taylor (edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) Two brothers from Haywood County, William and Lawson Messer, decided to join the Confederate Army together. They served in Co E, 29th Infantry, N.C. Troops. William, or Bill, was thirteen years...
The Cleveland County “Merchant Tailor”: Anonymous W. Quinn’s Civil War Experiences
AUTHOR: Jim Dugan (vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) (Click on images to enlarge) Anonymous William Quinn, LDS ID LC32-RXV, #8845442, (family tradition states he was named Aaron at birth, but he didn't like the name and changed it to Anonymous; another reference states...
The Freedmen’s Bureau Record and Clara Lennon Ashley
SUBMITTED BY: Stephen Pope (transcribed by Cheri Todd Molter) The following is a transcription of the document in the attached photograph (click to enlarge): Office Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands … for Robeson County Lumberton Sept 2nd 1865 This...
The History of First Baptist Church in Fairmont, NC: An Introduction with Slaves Leading the Way
SUBMITTED BY: Stephen Pope (transcribed by Cheri Told Molter) The following is an excerpt from the church history, as written on their web site [The full story can be read here: https://www.firstbaptistfairmontnorth.org/weve_come_this_far_by_faith]: "Pleasant Hill,...
Solomon Keyes’ life during and after the Civil War
SUBMITTED BY: Lee Keyes VETTED BY: Cheri Todd Molter Solomon Keyes (also spelled Kees and Keys) (b. 8/31/1836 on Stony Fork, Wilkes County, d. 1/02/1929 in Caldwell County) enlisted on 9/15/1862 at Camp Holmes, near Raleigh, NC. He became part of Company C 26th North...
A Recollection of a Genealogical Rediscovery from the Civil War Sesquicentennial
SUBMITTED AND WRITTEN BY: Earl Ijames, NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources In July 2014 I had been invited to give the keynote program to commemorate the 150th year since the Battle of Atlanta. The Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum in Georgia wanted...
A grandmother’s recipe for washing clothes
SUBMITTED BY: JC Knowles The following is a recipe for washing clothes, handed down from a grandmother in North Carolina to her granddaughter, who was a new bride. It was found in an old scrapbook and is an exact copy as written—with spelling errors and all: WARSHING...
More Civil War Soldiers
SUBMITTED BY: Linda H. Barnette (vetted by Cheri Todd Molter) As both a genealogist and a member and supporter of the North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center, I decided to try to find out how many of my 8 great-great-grandfathers actually fought...
“[H]e will come back to dixey again”: A Letter of Reassurance from a Soldier to his Sister
SUBMITTED BY: Mike Stroupe Written and transcribed by Cheri Todd Molter (Click photos to enlarge letter) Frederick Washington “Wash” Dellinger wrote this letter to Margaret Dellinger Brown, his sister and the wife of William B. Brown. Wash fought for the Confederacy,...
“[M]y Dear I dont expect to git home and if I dont, try and do the best you can”: Letters written by Jacob L. Hartsoe
SUBMITTED BY: Louis Stewart (vetted by Cheri Molter) These letters were written by My Great-Great-Grandfather, Jacob Laban Hartsoe, who served in the Catawba Braves 46th-K. Jacob L. Hartsoe was born on July 29, 1833 and a native of Catawba County, North Carolina. He...
Visiting Ashe County Relatives in 1862: An Excerpt from Francis Marion Wilcox’s Journal
SUBMITTED BY: Christopher Robinson Edited and Vetted by Cheri Molter (Note from Christopher Robinson: There is much information contained in the journal of Francis Marion Wilcox (written in ca 1893) regarding the Civil War period in Ashe County, NC. The author,...
Love in the midst of war
AUTHOR: Roy Ledbetter Out of my 8 great great Grandfathers, 7 of them fought under the Bonnie Blue Flag, they were all from Western NC. One of my maternal Great Great Grandfathers fought in the Shenandoah Valley with Jackson. He was wounded at the Battle of Port...
Joel Elmore (Company A, 40th NC Troops) and the Ft. Fisher shark
AUTHOR: William Everett Elmore Joel Elmore (9/15/1831 – 4/8/1919) was born north of Whitehall in Wayne County but married and moved to Lenoir County in 1855. Early in 1862, Joel joined Company A of the 40th NC Troops (3rd Battalion of Heavy Artillery) and was sent to...
“we donte get husking Suppers here”: Philip S. Baity’s Letter to his Wife, Mary Jane
SUBMITTED BY: Eddie Hinson WRITTEN AND TRANSCRIBED BY: Cheri Molter A note from Eddie Hinson: Philip S. Baity was my 2nd Great-grandfather. So far, this letter is the only physical evidence of him. I know he could read and write and seemed to be a religious person....
The Obituary of Sergeant Clark Allen
SUBMITTED BY: Eddie Hinson I found this obituary for Clark Allen in the personal effects of my Aunt Ethel Hinson. It was passed down from Larkin Allen, a brother of Clark’s and my 2nd Great-grandfather. Clark’s Civil War headstone is in Pleasant Hill Baptist Church...
A. W. and Delilah Hughes Bryant
SUBMITTED BY: Andrew Bryant, Jr. RESEARCHED AND WRITTEN BY: Cheri Molter Delilah G. Hughes Bryant was born on October 24, 1888 in Cumberland County, North Carolina. She was the daughter of Sallie McMillan Hughes and James Hughes. She had two siblings: Armetta and...
The Story of William B. Brown: A Confederate Soldier & a Union Soldier, including Transcriptions of a Letter to Margaret, His Wife
SUBMITTED BY: Mike Stroupe WRITTEN AND TRANSCRIBED BY: Cheri Molter William B. Brown was born in Lincoln County, North Carolina in 1840. He was a farmer when the war started and twenty-one years old when he enlisted in the Confederate army. On October 25, 1861, he...
Hamilton Chamberlain Jones, Jr.: He Made a Difference
SUBMITTED BY: JC Knowles Hamilton Chamberlain Jones was born on November 3, 1837 in Salisbury, North Carolina. He received his education at the Ben Sumner School in Rowan County. He studied law at the University of North Carolina and graduated in 1858. When he...
Wounded, Taken Prisoner, and Survived: William J. Nott’s Story
SUBMITTED BY: Caitlin Crenshaw William J. Nott enlisted in the Confederate Army on May 9, 1862 when he was 21 years old. William lived in Cumberland County, North Carolina and served as a Private in Company I of the 51st Infantry (North Carolina). William was wounded...
The Nott Family in Fayetteville
SUBMITTED BY: Caitlin Crenshaw Elizabeth Gaylord, the daughter of Samuel Gaylord and Azubah Atkins, was born in Middletown, Connecticut on January 6, 1791 (Middletown Upper Houses Genealogical Book). In April 1809, Elizabeth married William Nott; William Nott was...
That Story and Dear John
SUBMITTED BY: Sandra White Hinton Lyman Abbott White, my grandfather, was well known around Salemburg and Roseboro as a great storyteller. When I was a little girl, he would set me on his knee and tell me about Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Fox. I loved my grandfather's...
Public Hearings and Meetings
The North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center is not something we just dreamed up last year and decided to build. In fact, we have held numerous public hearings and meetings with public officials, etc. Click the links below to download a list of the...
Prominent African American Scholars and Academics Advising the History Center
Prominent African American Scholars and Academics Advising the North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center: Dr. James Anderson, retired Chancellor and faculty, Fayetteville State University, member of our Board of Advisors Dr. Spencer Crew, former...
Questions and Answers
You've got questions. We've got answers... Q.We don’t like the name A: Change it. The N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center was chosen by the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center Foundation to refer to the proposed facility and...
The Vause Family in Lenoir County during the Civil War and Reconstruction
SUBMITTED BY: Roland Franklin Vause (Click picture to enlarge) Antebellum The future looked promising to Robert Bond Vause in March of 1861. He was living on a prosperous farm in the Wyse Fork community of Lenoir County with his wife Susan Adaline Jackson. The Vause...
Researching my family of soldiers at the National Archives and Records Administration
AUTHOR: Marvin T. Jones (Reprinted from the Fall 2011 newsletter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc.) "Seventeen members of the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) in my family, our own stores, a fairground and our own airstrips--that is what...
“Take Charge of My Farm” & “I Want [the Children] Raised Right”: Levi McCasin’s Letters to his Family
SUBMITTED BY: Mike Stroupe These are letters written by Levi McCasin to his brother and his wife. He was a husband, father, brother, and soldier who was obviously concerned with how things were being handled back at home while he was stationed at Camp Mangum, near...
Lawrence O’Bryan Branch
SUBMITTED BY: JC Knowles Lawrence O’Bryan Branch was born at Enfield, North Carolina on November 28, 1820. When he was five years old, his mother died. After her death, he and his father moved to Tennessee where his father then died in 1827. Following his father’s...
My Father was Raised by His Grandmother, who had been Enslaved: The Story of Amanda B. Powell
SUBMITTED BY: Sherry Jackson My father, James Powell, was a little boy when his grandmother told him the stories, but he remembers bits and pieces. This is what he recalls: His grandmother, Amanda B. Powell, was born into enslavement in the 1800s in Franklin County,...
Tom Baggett’s life after the War
AUTHOR: Penny Beasley I have a love of history and have retraced some of my great-great-grandfather’s, James Tom Baggett’s, steps across the battlefield (See story titled “Tom Baggett and the Grey Patch!”). His post war life is fascinating as well… My grandparents...
The Retelling of an Oral Tradition: Tom Baggett & the Grey Patch!
SUBMITTED BY: Penny Beasley Whilst being reared down on the Custawhiskey Creek on the Northampton/Hertford County line near Woodland, North Carolina, James Thomas “Tom” Baggett learned to fish, trap, and hunt. Tom helped his parents around their farm; the old log...
James Clontz: A Union County Man Who Fought for the Confederacy
AUTHOR: James Paris James Clontz was a farmer in Union County, North Carolina before the Civil War started. On July 4, 1862, when he was thirty-two years old, he enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private. He served in Company H of the 57th Infantry (North...
George MacKinnon “Mack” Wilson
AUTHOR: James Paris George MacKinnon “Mack” Wilson was seventeen years old and a resident of Cabarrus County, North Carolina when he enlisted in the Confederate Army on July 4, 1862. He was a private in Company H of the 57th Infantry, North Carolina. His father, John...
John Newton Wilson, Sr.
AUTHOR: James Paris A forty-seven-year-old resident of Union County, NC, John Newton Wilson Sr. enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army on July 4, 1862 in Rowan County. He served in Company H of the 57th Infantry, North Carolina alongside his son, George...
Forefathers who Fought and a Foremother’s Opinion
AUTHOR: James Paris I had 3 forefathers and 3 uncles in the same 57th Regiment of North Carolina. John and George Wilson were father and son. One of my uncles was James Clonts… Now George was not even married yet because he was only seventeen years old. He served in...
William Gaston Lewis: He Made a Difference
AUTHOR: JC Knowles It is said that Lewis was the last Confederate officer wounded during the Civil War and that he laid on the battlefield as dead. However, some soldiers saw him and took him to safety. He survived the war. William Lewis Gaston was born in Rocky...
Judy Ellington Stainback’s Civil War Great-Great Uncle, Byrd Ellington
SUBMITTED BY: Judy E. Stainback I grew up on a 300-plus acre tobacco farm in Drewry, Warren County, North Carolina. Part of the farm had belonged to the Hilliards but was later bought by my great-grandfather, George W. Ellington (sometimes I refer to the farm as...
Ten Days of Hell: Sherman’s Army in North Carolina
SUBMITTED BY: Joel Rose WRITTEN BY: Jerome Tew “There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but boys, it is all hell.” - William T. Sherman The Ohio State Journal reported General Sherman's “War is Hell” speech on August 12, 1880. By that date he...
David Jesse Farthing
SUBMITTED BY: Ben Setser David Jesse Farthing, older brother of my great grandfather James King Farthing, enlisted in Company A, North Carolina 6th Cavalry Regiment on 1 Oct 1864. His brother James also joined the 6th Cavalry three months later on Dec 24, 1964. After...
James King Farthing
SUBMITTED BY: Ben Setser 7 May 1848 - 17 Apr 1931 (1910 photo)
The Old Home Place of Ephraim D. Setser
SUBMITTED BY: Ben Setser
Fessenden’s Radio Experiments
SUBMITTED BY: JC Knowles In 1901 and 1902, the man some consider "America's Greatest Radio Pioneer," Reginald Fessenden, was conducting successful experiments on Roanoke Island, North Carolina. As a young man Reginald Fessenden secured a job as assistant tester at...
Zerald Crowder: A Stone Cutter and Confederate Soldier
SUBMITTED BY: Judy E. Stainback - Written by Joyce L. Granger Zerald Crowder was born about 1818 in Petersburg, Virginia but lived in Warren County, North Carolina for the later part of his life. His name was recorded in a variety of different ways: Zerald (the most...
Anne “Annie” Carter Lee (1839-1862)
SUBMITTED BY: Judy E. Stainback Mary Ann Randolph Custis Lee (Mrs. Robert E. Lee) and her daughters, Mildred, Agnes, and Anne Carter, were guests at the White Sulphur Springs in Warren County, North Carolina in the late summer of 1862. In October of 1862, Anne “Annie”...
The Daguerrotype
AUTHOR: Linda H. Barnette It all began many years ago when my grandmother, Blanche Dwiggins Smith, gave me a daguerreotype of one of her ancestors who was killed in the Civil War. I wish I had asked her more about it, but being young and busy earning a living, I did...
Elizabeth G. Nott: A Woman of Fayetteville, NC
SUBMITTED BY: Jadaea Mills During the 1820s, Elizabeth G. Nott and her family lived in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Elizabeth was the daughter of Elizabeth Nott and William Nott, Sr. and born in 1810. She also had a younger sister named Margaret A. Nott. Elizabeth...
A Letter to the Editor: Covington Describes the State of his Plantations after Sherman’s Men Pass Through
SUBMITTED BY: Cheri Todd Molter In March 1865, D. A. Covington owned two plantations, one in Anson County, North Carolina and another in South Carolina. Covington wrote to the editor of the Western Democrat on March 13, 1865 to complain about Sherman and his men...
Civil War Story of Rutha and Skilton Dennis
SUBMITTED BY: Robert Barwick Pitt County Genealogical Quarterly PCGQ February 9, 2001 "Recites Heroic Incidents of the Civil War Days Daily Reflector, Jan. 4, 1941 An incident of the Civil war in which a Pitt county woman played the part of a heroine in an improvised...
My Great-Great-Grandfather Thomas McDaniel
SUBMITTED BY: Sherry Winebarger-Reeter (Another post on this site from Ms. Winebarger-Reeter contains a letter from Thomas McDaniel to his wife.)
Person County Farmer
SUBMITTED BY: Garland Allen Bartlett Yancey Allen reported to Weldon, NC on June 6, 1861 and joined The Confederate States of America’s 24th Regiment (North Carolina), serving in Company H. Private Allen fought in seventeen battles of the Civil War. In one battle, he...
A Letter from Thomas McDaniel
SUBMITTED BY: Sherry Winebarger-Reeter This letter was written by my great-great grandfather, Thomas McDaniel: October the 12 1864 Deer wife I set my self to rite you a few lians [lines] to let you no that I am well as comon [common] at this time hoping when thes[e]...
Julia Telfair Small’s “A Leaf from the Old South”
SUBMITTED BY: Pam Barry Here is a story written by my great-grandmother, Julia Telfair Small. Julia was the daughter of Alexander Freeland Telfair and the great niece of Edward Telfair, the governor of Georgia. Julia’s father was a doctor in Smithfield and her...
A Confederate Soldier: William M. Stroup
AUTHORS: Mike Stroupe and Sid Stroup Private William M. Stroup was residing in Gaston County, NC at time of his enlistment into Company H of the 37th Infantry (North Carolina). He was conscripted in the CSA for a period of 3 years by J. C. McRae of Statesville in...
Former NC Governor Jim Hunt on WIDU
An interview today with Governor James B. Hunt, Jr. asking for the community’s support for creation of the Civil War & Reconstruction History Center in Fayetteville. Click below to listen...
NCCWRHC receives $6.5 million painting…
N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center receives $6.5 million painting, completes local funding requirement for $5 million state appropriation For immediate release: June 4, 2019 (For a video of the painting donated to the N.C. Civil War &...
Dark Days of the War
AUTHORS: Joel Warrick Rose On June 19, 1879, General William T. Sherman gave an address to the graduating class of the Michigan Military Academy in which he used the often-quoted phrase “war is hell.” It is probably the most memorable statement that was ever...
Solomon Luther Stroup: A Confederate Deserter Who Relocated to Arkansas
AUTHORS: Mike Stroupe and Sid Stroupe On October 28, 1861, Solomon Luther Stroup volunteered to serve in the Confederate Army in Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. He was 24 years old at the time and volunteered for 3 years of service. On May 19, 1862,...
Four Brothers Fighting in the Civil War: Wesley C. Stroup, Robert B. Stroup, Jesse Isaac Stroup Jr, and William M. Stroup
AUTHORS: Mike Stroupe and Sid Stroupe Wesley, Robert, Jesse, and William M. Stroup were brothers who all fought during the Civil War. Their father was Jesse Isaac Stroup Sr of Lincoln County, North Carolina.On March 25, 1862, Wesley C. Stroup enlisted at the age of...
Hiram Hamilton Hartley’s Civil War Experiences
AUTHOR: Linda H. Barnette My great-great-grandfather, Hiram Hamilton Hartley, was a plantation owner in Davidson County, North Carolina, at the beginning of the Civil War. Obviously, he felt strongly about the Confederate cause and enlisted in Wake County on July 15,...
Memories of the Civil War
SUBMITTED BY: Katy F. Sigmon My name is Katy Louise Frye Sigmon. I am almost 93 years old. I was born and raised on this farm. The log house stood until December 1918 but burned to the ground then. As a child I knew where the brick oven stood, where the foundation of...
Samuel Porter, James Haywood Porter, and Margaret Jean Butler Porter: Their Stories of Loss, Hardship, and Death
SUBMITTED BY: Yvonne Spell Williams I was born and raised in Sampson County, North Carolina. We lived in Cumberland until we moved to Utah to be closer to my son’s family. My mother was a Porter and her great-grandfather, grandfather, and grandmother are the focus of...
Esther Bullard’s horse: A Civil War mystery
SUBMITTED BY: Joel W. Rose, written by Stephen Lee (Photograph above by Joel Rose of the Bullard farm house, located on Carry Bridge Road in the Hayne community of Sampson County, NC.) Generations of descendants of Thomas Bullard (1812-1878) have heard the story of a...
The Civil War comes to Sampson County
SUBMITTED BY: Joel W. Rose By E.M. Bullard (1880-1959)Early in March of 1865 one division of Sherman’s Army, composed largely of Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio troops, broke camp at Blockersville (now Stedman) and began their march through Sampson County. A troop of...
From the family of Confederate soldier Joseph Boon Herring
SUBMITTED BY: Joel W. Rose According to The Family of Confederate Soldier Joseph Boon Herring, written by Ronald A Herring, "Joseph Boon Herring went by the name Boon Herring most of his life and it is believed that he was named for his Great Grandmother, Esther...
Surviving Sherman
SUBMITTED BY: Joel W. Rose Penny Alderman was a young farm wife in antebellum North Carolina. Her husband, Reverend Amariah B. Alderman, was a Baptist minister who served many churches from the south end of Sampson county. Written in 1854, her diary records Penny’s...
My Civil War Ancestors
AUTHOR: Wanda Morrison Tillotson Basically, this is my story: I grew up just down the road alongside all my maternal relatives. My Jackson line, including my 3rd Great Grandfather, Lewis/Louis Jackson, his first three sons—John Calvin, Edmund Coleman and William...
Large wooden canteen brought home by a New York Civil War veteran
SUBMITTED BY: Robert Jones This would be considered a “Wagon” or “Surgeon’s” canteen because of its larger size. It has a diameter of 10 ½” x 6” deep and stamped on one side of the canteen is “N C”, for North Carolina. It has a raised “bung” and tightly lapped wooden...
Kenneth Thomas Morgan: My Great-Great-Grandfather’s Civil War Experiences
SUBMITTED BY: John Marshall I was born John Warren Calhoun. When I was a child, I was adopted at the age on ten by Woodrow L. Marshall and Pocahontas Bachelor Marshall of Rocky Mount, North Carolina. This is how my last name became Marshall.I’m the biological son of...
Levi, Samuel, and Samuel Stroup: A Father, a Son, and a Nephew Who All Fought for the Confederacy
SUBMITTED BY: Sid Stroupe and Mike Stroupe Levi Stroup was married to Nancy Stucky Stroup and they had one son and four daughters. On September 19, 1861, Levi, then forty-six-years-old, enlisted in the Confederate States Army. The family was residing in Gilmer County,...
Silas M. Stroup of Buncombe County
SUBMITTED BY: Sid Stroupe and Mike Stroupe In September of 1864, Silas M. Stroup, the son of David Rufus Stroup and the grandson of Joseph Stroup, enlisted at the age of 18 in Buncombe County, North Carolina. He was reported on a Bounty Roll in the same county in...
Lt. Franklin Murphy’s North Carolina Civil War Experiences
SUBMITTED BY: Alfred Ferguson The following is an excerpt from a book that includes the letters written by my great-grandfather Lt. Franklin Murphy. He helped demolish the Fayetteville Arsenal. An excerpt from Bernard A. Olsen’s (2000) A Billy Yank Governor, the Life...
Randy Taylor
AUTHOR: Brenda Farthing Cooter My great-great-grandfather Randy Taylor fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. He was born about 1832 and was the son of John Taylor and Rebecca Clark. He married Rebecca Moody, and their daughter was Lelia Taylor, my...
Joshua Winkler: A Farmer, a Blacksmith, and a Mill Operator of Watauga County
AUTHOR: Brenda Farthing Cooter My Great-Great-grandfather, Joshua Winkler, was the son of John Winkler and Mary Pinion Pennell, born on Oct. 14, 1816 in Wilkes County, NC. Joshua’s maternal grandparents were Benj. Pennell and Elizabeth Judd. Elizabeth was the daughter...
Evander N. Robeson and the Bladen Guards
SUBMITTED BY: Mrs. Hoyt Randall The following is an excerpt from The Bladen Journal, written by Mrs. Carl Campbell and dated Thursday, December 7, 1961: “Evander N. Robeson volunteered under Captain Tate on April 26th, 1861 in Elizabethtown, when the “Bladen Guards”...
John Ward, a carpenter from Watauga County
AUTHOR: Terry Harmon This ambrotype of John Ward dates between 1861 and 1862. Born circa 1831, he was a carpenter from the Sugar Grove/Cove Creek section of Watauga County. He enlisted as a Corporal in Co. E, 37th Regiment, NC Infantry, Confederate Army on September...
African American men in Anson County NC who received a pension for their service in the Civil War
SUBMITTED BY: Steve Bailey (On microfilm at the Hampton B. Allen Library in Wadesboro NC)Reverend Sandy Ingram Born 1841 Died September 6, 1936 – 4th South Carolina Regiment – Services to Thomas J. IngramShadrack Streeater Born 1840’s Died September 20, 1937Michael...
Jonas & Rosa Griffin: A Civil War Veteran Wounded, A Widow Scorned
AUTHOR: Nia Jai I still find it amazing that I had an ancestor who fought in the Civil War. But it's mind-blowing to know that I had not one, but two (and maybe more)! The information surrounding my great-great-great grandfather Isaac Bain(s) was intriguing to say the...
The Griffin Legacy of Martin County, NC: Jonas Griffin, A Civil War Veteran
Enlisted: 11 March 1864 (Norfolk, VA/Washington, NC) Mustered Out: 11 February 1867 (Raleigh, NC) AUTHOR: Nia Jai Originally, this story was supposed to be about the things I'd already learned about the Griffins. But as I pulled together information for the post, I...
“Reconstruction of Our County”
SUBMITTED BY: Judith O'Connor Excerpt from a book written by the late Hattie Caldwell Davis, titled "Civil War Letters and Memories from the Great Smokey Mountains." Copyright 1999 Hattie C. Davis, Second Edition. In the late spring and summer of 1865 our soldiers...
Civil War Grandfather
Submitted by: Jeanie Lewis Parker My grandmother Lizzie Franklin told me lots of stories when I was growing up in Madison County NC. One of which was of her grandfather William "Bill” Gentry. Now we all know that NC was divided in their loyalties to the south in the...
The Last Battleground: The Civil War Comes to North Carolina.
The North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center sponsored a presentation by Philip Gerard, author of the book The Last Battleground: The Civil War Comes to North Carolina on Thursday, March 28, 2019 in Fayetteville, NC. Watch the entire presentation...
William Burton “Burt” Joyner
AUTHOR: James Marshall Joyner (Click image to enlarge) In 1838, Hilliard and Penninah (spelled “Penina” in some records) Johnston Joyner had a son, William Burton “Burt” Joyner. Burt and his parents resided in the eastern portion of Nash County, which became Wilson...
Robert M. Stroup and Peter Lafayette Stroup: Brothers Who Died at Point Lookout
AUTHOR: Sid Stroupe and Mike Stroupe Joseph Franklin and Eliza Moore Stroup had nine children, including two sons—Robert M. Stroup and Peter Lafayette Stroup—who served in the Civil War. In November 1862, Joseph passed away, but before their father’s passing, Robert...
Rufus Lott, Nancy, and James Zebulon Stroup: A Family Affected by War
AUTHOR: Michael Stroupe On September 11, 1861, nineteen-year-old Rufus Lott Stroup volunteered for the Confederate Army at Buncombe County, North Carolina. For unknown reasons, he enlisted again on May 13, 1862, in the same county. He served as a Private in Company H...
Philip R. Stroup, 1831-1862
AUTHOR: Sid Stroupe and Mike Stroupe At the age of 31, on July 4, 1862, Philip R. Stroup enlisted in the Confederate Army at Lincolnton, Lincoln County. He was a Private in Company G of the 57th Infantry Regiment (North Carolina). Shortly after his enlistment, on...
Moses Stroup, Jr.: a POW who survived being captured three times
AUTHOR: Sid Stroupe and Mike Stroupe (Click photo to enlarge) On July 30, 1861, Moses Stroup Jr. was twenty-two and lived in Gaston County, southeast of White Pine, which is currently Cherryville, North Carolina, when he enlisted with the Confederate Army for one...
Major General William Dorsey Pender: The Fighting Tarheel from Tarboro
SUBMITTED BY: Jack Travis William Dorsey Pender was born on February 6, 1834, to James and Sarah Routh Pender, on the family’s plantation near Tarboro, NC. On July 1, 1850, at the age of sixteen, he went to the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. Pender...
Phone: 910-491-0602
Email: info@nccivilwarcenter.org
824 Branson Street
Post Office Box 53865
Fayetteville, NC 28305
Phone: 910-491-0602
Email: info@nccivilwarcenter.org
824 Branson Street
Post Office Box 53865
Fayetteville, NC 28305