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 against Jefferson Davis and was imprisoned at the Confederate training facility located near Raleigh, Camp Holmes. According to local lore, after he was released, Beeman refused transport assistance back to Peachland, so he walked the one-hundred-forty miles to return home.
Excerpts from the book History of Anson County, NC, written by Mary L. Medley:
(Page 114) “During Civil War days Doctor Parks Turner Beeman in a pathetic letter written to his wife Penny at their home near present day Peachland, he told of how the Confederate prisoners were left out in the rain with no tent, no shed & no food. The food finally given him was awful. He was then released & walked all the way home from Raleigh NC. Doctor Beeman would later become known for the successful feedings of fever patients at a time when other doctors starved them. He would in time serve NC with honor.”
(Page 131) “In 1868 Anson County was represented in the State Senate by Doctor PT Beeman who served creditably for a term & was then offered the position of physician for the City of Raleigh but he declined the offer & returned to his practice in Anson County”