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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:...
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 Featherstone...
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 was...
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 enlisted...
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...
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