Honor

Unlike Virginia, the site of so many Civil War battles, North Carolina’s wartime story centered on the home-front. It is important to document …

… the story of ordinary people living in extraordinary times. At the History Center we affirm the memory of all who persevered through those times that brought death and deprivation to most families in our state. We honor the women, children, and the elderly left behind to fend for themselves as soldiers of both sides marched off to war, or who followed their men to serve however they could. We honor the enslaved, who suffered even more. We honor the losses of North Carolina’s soldiers, whether Confederate or Union, including U.S. Colored Troops, who paid with their youth, their health, and often their lives.

Visitors to the Center will get a sense of stepping into the shoes of these individuals and their families from a place of compassion and empathy, to help them understand what it was like to experience extreme hardships that are hard to imagine today. From this, all North Carolinians should come away from the exhibit experience with a deepened sense of honor and a stronger understanding of our state’s collective past.

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