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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...
William Cicero and Rebecca Miller Taylor’s Family Bible
SUBMITTED BY: Barbara Taylor **About the Picture (click to enlarge): William Cicero Taylor and Rebecca Miller Taylor’s family, taken about 1910/1911 in Peak Creek, North Carolina before they moved to Virginia. The family members are: Back row (left to right): Charles...
Ben Casey, 3rd NC Heavy Artillery
AUTHOR: William Smith My Great-Grandfather, Ben Casey, served in the 3rd NC Heavy Artillery during the Civil War. He was from Indian Springs, NC in Wayne County. He enlisted in 1862 and was stationed at Southport, NC where he served as a boatman - one of a crew that...
Sherman’s Cavalry
AUTHOR: Michael Williams My family still resides on the farm that has been in our family since the 1700s. Near the end of the Civil War, family lore has it that Sherman's cavalry camped on the farm and in anticipation of its arrival, g-g-grandfather had ledges dug...
A soldier froze in a swamp, making his way home
AUTHOR: Phil Powell My father used to tell me a story about a family member who fought in the Civil War and died while making his way home by freezing to death in the swamp. I always thought the mystery soldier was from the Phillips side of the Powell family, but...
A branch from the Foushee family tree
SUBMITTED BY: Brenda Oakes Much has been written about the elusive but intriguing mystery surrounding the parentage of Adnah Campbell Foushee, who was born March 5, 1801, presumably near Bushy Fork near the Double Creek in Person County, NC. Speculation points to two...
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