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A Galvanized Yankee went west
A Galvanized Yankee On May 19, 1862, John Henry Smith of Catawba County was mustered into the Confederate army. He was only eighteen years old. Little is known about his experiences as a soldier, only that he was a member of Hoke’s Brigade of the 54th North Carolina...
Exempt or not exempt, Miller did his service
Jesse A. Miller was born on July 12, 1840 in Randolph County, the eldest son of Riley and Rachel Allred Miller. In the 1850s, Jesse's father built the Uwharrie Cliff Grist Mill, later called Millers Mill, on the Uwharrie River. Jesse helped his father run the mill. On...
Blood and Water and Mercy
Levi Herman, my great-grandfather, appears in the Civil War Roster books as Levi Harmon. He also appears on the Federal census with the same name. But when you look at the locations in Catawba County, North Carolina, where he lived, his family’s names, etc. you know...
Oliver Larkin Stringfield
Reminiscences of Oliver Larkin Stringfield (1851-1930): "My great-grandfather was a Virginian of Dutch descent, a soldier in the Revolutionary War -- married Miss Fellows, of Duplin County, NC. Settled there, raised six children. My grand-father, Joseph, married Miss...
Excerpts from the diary of Ellie Carus Beckwith Stringfield (1856-1950)
"This is Ellie Beckwith Stringfield writing. I was born May 2, 1856, in Western part of Wake County, NC. My parents were also born in the same County and State. "My father was Calvin Holland Beckwith and my mother was Ann Hasseltine Holleman. Green Beckwith was my...
Thomas E. Grogan, Private, US Army, 162nd New York Volunteer Infantry, 3rd Regiment, Company E
His name was Thomas E. Grogan. At 32 years of age, on the 11th of June 1862, he enlisted in the 162nd NY Volunteer Infantry, 3rd Regiment, Metropolitan Guard, Company E. He was mustered in as a private. He was my great-grandfather, and I have the journal of his war...
William Brown Avery enlisted after younger brother killed at Yorktown
William Brown Avery, born Nov. 25, 1828, was one of nine children of James and Elizabeth Hollingsworth Brown Avery. He was a farmer by trade and very faithful to his church and family. William Brown Avery ("Will") had chosen to stay home from war to see to the...
Isaac Deal, Confederate soldier
Isaac Deal, the son of William Deal and Malinda (Linda) Pickett, was born on June 12, 1840 in Duplin County, where he resided as a farmer. Isaac married Hannah Susan Henderson in New Hanover County on Sept. 16, 1860. On July 8, 1862, at age 21, he enlisted for the...
Kinsman died in a D.C. prison
My first cousin, five generations removed, was a man by the name of Granville Simpson Holt. He enlisted as a private in Company K of the 6th North Carolina Infantry Regiment on June 21, 1861, at age 35. Like many others in the regiment, he was a farmer by occupation....
“Going home to die no more…”
My great-great-great-grandfather Joseph “Joe” Huneycutt (also spelled Honeycutt) was born about 1823 in Stanly County's Almond Township. He was a family man, farmer and cobbler who, owing to his ability to make shoes for the Confederate army, avoided service for most...
Rockford Inn and Aaron Burr
In my research I found a story. As a boy, my great-great-great-grandfather, Watson Holyfield of Surry County, hung out at the store and inn. It was written and handed down that Aaron Burr, while traveling to Asheville, stopped at the inn to stay. There he befriended...
William Worthington, Confederate Cavalry Lieutenant from Mississippi
William Worthington's family were plantation owners in Washington County, MS, northeast of Vicksburg. William Worthington began his Civil War service as an officer in Company H, 1st Mississippi Cavalry, commanded by Captain William Montgomery. Captain Montgomery...
Franklin Larabee, officer in the US Colored Troops, 27th Regiment
Franklin Larabee was born in Jefferson, OH in 1828. His Civil War story begins in 1861 when, with a wife and 4 children, he enlisted as a private in the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His war records indicate that he was 5'11" with brown hair and blue eyes. He was a...
John N. Maffitt, 1st Lieutenant in the Confederate Navy
John N. Maffitt was born at sea on February 22, 1819. The location was Atlantic Ocean longitude 40W, latitude 50N. This exact position is referenced by Rudyard Kipling in his Just So Stories, "How the Whale Got his Throat." The stage is now set for young Maffitt's...
William J. Chisholm, Confederate veteran
William J. Chisholm was born Sept. 6, 1843 in Troy (Montgomery County) North Carolina, to John and Mary Chisholm, the descendants of Scottish immigrants. John’s occupation was listed as both a farmer and a mechanic. William enlisted in Montgomery County on March 1,...
William King White
William King White, CSA Here is the text on William King White from our old Civil War exhibit. (By the way, an image of him, his wife, and two children is in our newly opened chronological exhibit. The state Archives has the image if you have not seen it before.)...
Major James Benjamin White, Superintendent of the Citadel
Major J. B. White is my great-grandfather. He was in the second graduating class of the Citadel. He became a math professor there. When the war began, he became a Major and was the leader of the cadets during the war, leading them into battle. "Old Benny" was much...
Lott Gregory of Swansboro was a private in the Civil War
Lott Gregory was a farmer and commercial fisherman. He moved to Marines, NC and married Martha Caroline Barber. Their children were Charles Leonard, Jason Ernest, Mary Elizabeth, Flora LaDonia, Melissa, and Henrietta G. Millis. Lott served as a private in the Cavalry...
Brothers Elias Fairfax and John Fairfax enlisted at ages 36 and 38
Elias Fairfax was born in 1826. He enlisted in the Confederate Army from Brunswick County at age 36 on April 24, 1862 and served as a private with Battalion A of North Carolina's 2nd Light Artillery. Terms of the enlistment state the period of service was "for the...
William H. Conaway of Onslow County, killed in action June 1, 1864
My great great great grandfather, William H. Conaway, resided in Onslow County and worked as a farmer. He enlisted in New Hanover County, Wilmington, NC, on March 3, 1862 at age 36. He mustered in as Sergeant of the 51st North Carolina Regiment, Company G, Infantry....
Soldier wanted clean water for all
Levi Herman, my great-grandfather, appears in the Civil War Roster books as Levi Harmon. He also appears on the federal census with the same name. But when you look at the places he lived in Catawba County, his family’s names, etc. you know you have the correct man....
Ancestor’s story ends at a POW camp after the war’s close
Daniel J. Herman, my great-great-grandfather, married Sarah (Sally) Tritt on Jan. 14, 1830 in Lincoln County, North Carolina. They had three children, one of these being my great-grandfather Levi Herman. Daniel enlisted on May 6, 1864 in Catawba County in Company C,...
Four Hopkins boys served, and four came home
Four Hopkins Boys "Four Hopkins boys walked off in early November of 1861 to join the fight," my dad related to me after I told him about finding Barney Hopkins -- sergeant, Company H, 38th Regiment of North Carolina -- buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh. I had...
Family receives condolence letter after son dies following war’s first battle
Twenty-one-year-old Henry Harrison Avery, son of James and Elizabeth Hollingsworth Brown Avery of Morganton, North Carolina, enlisted on April 25, 1861 as a private in Company G, North Carolina 1st Infantry Regiment, known as the “Burke Rifles,” later to be known as...
Gettysburg bullet and its victim shared a postwar history
My great-grandfather, George W. Harrell, fought with the North Carolina troops at Gettysburg. He was shot in the upper part of his torso (maybe his back), and walked back to Elizabeth City. The bullet could not be removed. Years later, he experienced pain in his leg...
John Wright Bowen enlisted in Duplin County in 1861
John Wright Bowen was born in rural Duplin County in 1846. He enlisted in 1861 as a private in the 18th NC Regulars. Little is known of his assignments until he was wounded and captured on May 12, 1864 during the battle at Spotsylvania Court House, VA when he was only...
Amos Lee was a neighborhood tooth-puller
Amos Lee lived in the town of Willard in Duplin County. He was a private in the 8th Senior Reserves during the Civil War. After the war, he was a farmer, bridge-builder, and tooth-puller. If anyone had a bad tooth, they would come see Amos Lee. He would give them a...
Russell Daniel Lord enlisted at age 23
Russell Daniel Lord enlisted at age 23 on 26 Sep 1861 as a private in Company A, Georgia, 38th Regiment. He fought in many conflicts from the Seven Days' Battles to Cold Harbor and was active around Appomattox. He received a head wound at the Battle of Fredericksburg...
Moses Waddell Dobbins enlisted 24 March 1863
Dobbins enlisted as a private and served in Virginia in the medical corps of the 64th Regiment, Georgia Infantry, Company I. My family history states that he was in the medical corps at General Lee's headquarters and attended to him once when called upon. Dobbins was...
Justinian Evans, age 17, served with Cobbs Legion in Georgia
He joined Company B&G as a private, serving as a scout with Stonewall Jackson. He rode a black horse named Bullet. They both were small, fast, and unafraid, and both returned from the war without a scratch. After the war he met and married Martha Cunningham Polk. They...
Brigadier General William Henry Sebring
William Henry Sebring was born December 25, 1840 in St. Louis, MO. His early years were spent on a farm before he enrolled in an academy in St. Louis. At 18 years of age he became a resident of Memphis, TN where he read law under Thomas D. Eldridge. During the War...
Wilkes County native fought, then made it home
My paternal great-grandmother, Eliza Jane Lail, had a brother named Liler Monroe Lail. Monroe was born about 1843 in Wilkes County, North Carolina to Cynthia and Daniel Lail. At age 18, Monroe was working as a farmer in Burke County when he decided to enlist as a...
The Hidden Confederate
My great-aunt, Julia Haughton Bryan, recounted how during the War Between the States a female family member was asked to hide a Confederate from the Yankees in her house. The lady rolled the young man up in a rug and stuffed him under a bed. When the Union command...
Benjamin Franklin as a “Doc”
On March 1, 1863, at age 36, my great-great-great-uncle, Benjamin Franklin Earney (Arney) enlisted in Burke County, North Carolina as a private in Company K, N.C. 35th Infantry Regiment. This company was known as the “Burke & Catawba Sampsons.” He mustered out...
Gettysburg claims a brother
Two brothers of my great-grandmother, Susan Young, died while fighting in the Civil War. One was Peter E. Young, who was born in 1834 to Henry and Lavenia Martin Young in Catawba County, North Carolina. Peter enlisted in Burke County on May 10, 1861 as a private. He...
William Henry, the third soldier son
William Henry Pitts, my great-great-uncle, was born to John Henry and Sarah Lolly Rogers Pitts in 1841 in Catawba County, North Carolina. He joined two other brothers, Conrad and Abel, fighting the war. William enlisted in Company C, N.C. 28th Infantry Regiment, on...
Soldier deserted but returned to fight at Bentonville
Logan A. Ridge was the great-great-great-grandfather of my wife Flora Jeanette Ridge. He was the original owner of our farm and a member of Company A 10th NC Heavy Artillery. He deserted at the Battle of Savannah, went home to Randolph County, but returned to fight at...
Union soldiers robbed the Grey family farm
Someone came running through the woods to tell my family that the Yankees were coming. We think these were the soldiers who captured New Bern. The whole family--multiple generations--ran through the house and yard, grabbing what they could, and hid under the house in...
Wiley Moore fought at Fort Fisher
Wiley Moore joined the Confederate Army and was sent to Fort Fisher as an artilleryman. When his enlistment ended, he joined the Cavalry and was present when Lee surrendered to Grant. He came home to North Carolina on a poor horse, walking most of the way. When he...
Senator James Knox Polk of the Georgia Legislature
Born 3 Nov 1805, Polk was serving in the GA legislature before, during and after the war. As the family story reads, he moved to Dekalb County GA in 1862, where he purchased the "Old Samuel House" on Peachtree Road in Atlanta, GA. The house was built using slave...
Thomas Mitchell Evins, 38th Regiment, Georgia
Evins was a 1st Lieutenant and served in Texas. He enlisted in 1862 at the age of 42 in the 33rd Texas Cavalry, Duff's Partisan Rangers, 14th Battalion, Company H. His rank was 1st Lieutenant. When the war was over, he remained in TX and returned "home" some 50 years...
Yankee Raider learned a lesson
"When the Union cavalry's supplies ran short, Captain William Kent and his command foraged the plantations of Major ... Bell and James Scott: both of the plantations were on Body Road (southwest of Elizabeth City)." (Elizabeth City & the Civil War, by Alex...
A Railroad Soldier from Burke County
My great-grandfather, John Martin Butler, was born to William Hall and Jane Saphronia Kibler Butler on Dec. 14, 1844 in Burke County, North Carolina. John married Harriett Ann Simpson (1849-1921) in 1869 in Burke County. On Feb. 15, 1862, at age 17, John enlisted in...
William Hall Butler earned his promotions
William Hall Butler, my great-great grandfather, was born July 24, 1825 in Burke County, North Carolina to John and Rachel Butler. Hall Butler married Jane Saphronia Kibler in 1842 in Rutherford County. He and Jane had ten children, Hall enlisted as a private on Feb....
Soldier’s life ended in a Union prison
David Carpenter was born to Jonathan and Barbara Kistler Carpenter in Lincoln County, North Carolina, on March 18, 1826. As a private he enlisted in Company I, NC 11th Infantry Regiment (the "Bethel Regiment") on May 26, 1862. David was wounded during battle on July...
One of many who didn’t come home
Henry Carpenter, brother to David Carpenter, was born to Jonathan and Barbara Kistler Carpenter in Lincoln County, North Carolina on Aug. 22, 1824. Henry joined the army as a private, enlisting on March, 26, 1863 at age 40 in Company. I, N.C. 11th Infantry Regiment...
Catawba sent its own ‘brave’ to war
Phillip E. Arney was born to R. Henry and Elizabeth Carpenter Arney in Catawba County, North Carolina, in January of 1843. Phillip worked as a farmer during non-war time. At age 19 Phillip enlisted in Co. K, N.C. 46th Infantry Regiment on March 13, 1862. This company...
Catawba family gave three sons to the Confederacy
John Esley Arney, my great-grandfather, was a twin to Jonas Franklin Arney. The two of them, along with another brother, Phillip, all served in the Civil War. John was born to R. Henry and Elizabeth Carpenter Arney on Oct. 29, 1845. He enlisted in Company K, 46th...
The Twin who went to war
John Esley Arney, my great-grandfather, was a twin to Jonas Franklin Arney. The two of them, along with another brother, Phillip, all served in the Civil War. John and Jonas were born to R. Henry and Elizabeth Carpenter Arney on Oct. 29, 1845. Jonas enlisted in Co. K,...
Soldier’s service ended in prison
Abel Reid Pitts, my great-great-uncle, was born to John Henry and Sarah Lolly Rogers Pitts on August 30, 1826 in Lincoln County, North Carolina. Abel later lived in Burke County. He enlisted in Catawba County into Company K, N.C. 35th Infantry Regiment as a private,...
From Catawba County, Another Sacrifice
Conrad Pitts, a brother to Abel Reid Pitts, was born in 1832 to John Henry and Sarah Lolly Rogers. Conrad enlisted in Company C, 28th Regiment of North Carolina Infantry as a private on Aug. 13, 1861, in Catawba County. Conrad was not to survive the war. He mustered...
Buffalo soldiers’ raid had incidental casualties
When a party of Buffalo soldiers raided the family farm in 1863, my mother's two great-uncles were sent into the swamp to hide. Both of the teenage boys died soon after as a result of exposure. This story was told to me by my mother, Margaret Reed Small, who was told...
The Jennings Brothers in “The Pasquotank Boys”
My husband's great grandfather was one of three brothers who joined the Pasquotank Boys to serve in the Civil War. He was James Monroe Jennings (1830-1900), who served along with his brothers, William Harney Jennings (1838-1864) and Decader Cader Jennings (1844-1911)....
Civil War Letter Identified another Relative
My husband's great-grandfather, James Monroe Jennings, left behind a letter written during the Civil War to his mother, telling her of the death of his brother, William Harney Jennings. We discovered it in 2011 in an old chest. In the letter , which describes the...
Those Carpenters answered the call
Jonas Carpenter, brother to David and Henry, was born to Jonathan and Barbara Kistler Carpenter in Lincoln County, North Carolina on June 23, 1820. Jonas enlisted in Co. D, 1st N.C. Infantry Regiment as a Confederate private. It is noted that this regiment fought on...
Five Brothers in the Civil War
Submitted by: Brenda Kay Ledford and Barbara Ledford Wright The shadow of the Civil War loomed over Clay County, North Carolina. Thomas and Eliza Ledford worried that their five sons would enlist and get killed fighting for the Confederacy. Tillman enlisted at...
He Didn’t Have to Go, but
This story was told to me as a youngster in the 1950s by my great-aunt, Kate Dixon Murdock. When I was older I verified it through these soldiers' individual Confederate Army records and other research. Aunt Kate said that when the Civil War broke out her grandfather,...
Jacob Dixon was True Blue
Jacob Dixon was born near Snow Camp (now Alamance County) December 15, 1842. The son of Quakers Caleb and Mary Snotherly Dixon, he was opposed to the war, as were all members of the Society of Friends. The family story passed down from generation to generation was...
Confederate Veteran and Jack of Many Trades
Drury Alston Putnam, my great-great-grandfather, was born Dec. 23, 1830, in Cleveland county, North Carolina, to Roberts Putnam and Lucinda Weaver. He was a “jack of many trades.” The various censuses from 1850 until 1910 show him as a wagon maker, farmer,...
Serving with the 22nd North Carolina
A.J. Dula, of Caldwell County, shared in almost all of the Army of Northern Virginia's travails during the Civil War. After joining the 22nd North Carolina Regiment in Caldwell County in April of 1861, he served in almost all the battles of the Eastern...
Phone: 910-824-7282
Email: info@nccivilwarcenter.org
824 Branson Street
Post Office Box 53865
Fayetteville, NC 28305
Phone: 910-824-7282
Email: info@nccivilwarcenter.org
824 Branson Street
Post Office Box 53865
Fayetteville, NC 28305