“Deserters came over last night from grants army…they Say they will not fight if Such reports Be true we can look for success”: Emanuel Houser’s Letter to his Cousin, JRD

Apr 29, 2024 | Confederate affiliation, Lincoln, This Month's Featured Story

Submitted by Michael Stroupe; Written, vetted, and transcribed by Cheri Todd Molter On Sept. 11, 1861, Emanuel Houser was a 20-year-old farmer of Lincoln County, NC, when he volunteered to serve in the Confederate army for a term of one year. He was mustered into...

Simon and Oleona Atkins: Black Educators of Winston Salem

Feb 23, 2024 | Forsyth, Reconstruction, This Month's Featured Story

Researched and written by Kobe M. Brown and Cheri Todd Molter On June 11, 1862, Simon Green Atkins was born to Allen and Eliza Atkins and grew up on a farm in Chatham County. Even from a young age, Mr. Atkins took his education seriously and was known to be an astute...

Dr. Manassa Thomas Pope and Family

Dec 6, 2023 | Antebellum era, Mecklenburg, Northampton, Reconstruction, This Month's Featured Story, Wake

Researched and Written by Cheri Todd Molter and Kobe M. Brown Manassa Thomas Pope was a free person of color born near Rich Square in Northampton County, North Carolina in 1858. Both of his parents, Jonas Elias Pope and Permelia Pheobe Hall Pope, were free persons of...

Conscripted in the Confederate Army: George W. Walters

Nov 27, 2023 | Chatham, Confederate affiliation, This Month's Featured Story, Wake

Researched and written by Cheri Todd Molter and Kobe M. Brown George W. Walters was a farmer who lived in Chatham County, North Carolina, when the war started. In 1862, thirty-three-year-old Walters was conscripted into the Confederate army as a private. He was...

“Going home to die no more”: The Transcription of a Letter that Joseph Huneycutt Wrote to His Family Before Being Shot for Desertion, March 1865

Dec 5, 2022 | Confederate affiliation, Stanly, This Month's Featured Story

According to an article written by Elizabeth Cook in 2011, Emma Green[e] of East Spencer had shared a letter that was written in March 1865 by a Stanly County man named Joseph Huneycutt, who was anticipating his execution for desertion with the Salisbury Post. In that...

“[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

May 6, 2020 | Confederate affiliation, Halifax, This Month's Featured Story

Submitted by Jean Finch Inscoe; Written and transcribed by Cheri Todd Molter   Life was difficult for women, too, during the Civil War. After able-bodied, young men went off to fight, older men, women and children were left behind to survive as best as they could...