910-824-7360

info@nccivilwarcenter.org

Opening in 2027!

There’s no script for war

by | Mar 10, 2014 | News

Abolish the unthinkable and you can have no more wars.

Is there even a remote chance that Alexander McRae, a U.S. Army officer from Fayetteville, idly wondered during his time as a West Point cadet if he would die in New Mexico Territory battling rebels led by his former commander — a fellow North Carolinian?

How could a North Carolina boy who signed up to defend hearth and home against federal “invaders” find himself bleeding to death on a Pennsylvania hillside?

Early on, there was fierce fighting in the mountain counties — not between Yankees and Southerners, but between North Carolinians with irreconcilable notions about secession. It was a rebellion within a rebellion.

Imagine a young Louisiana girl, displaced by the federal onslaught at New Orleans in 1862, finding refuge among friends who lived along the upper Cape Fear River — in the exact path that William T. Sherman’s 60,000-man juggernaut would take three years later.

North Carolina chose secession in May of 1861. Before summer’s end, Hatteras had fallen. Ambrose Burnside’s campaign soon followed. Yet, despite their early victories and successful occupation, federal forces were unable to secure the critical rail junction at nearby Goldsboro until 1865.

For most of the war North Carolina was an exporter of troops, a place whose noncombatants adapted to new laws, new ways and reliance on blockade runners for things they’d long taken for granted. They pitched in, innovated and went on with their lives as they awaited news from far away. But it was in North Carolina that the long, gory enterprise finally ground to an end on April 26, 1865, with the largest troop surrender of the war.

Things seldom go just as expected, as both sides learned at awful cost. Preserving their stories acknowledges their sacrifices and enlightens the living.

Browse By County

Latest News

  • November 2022 Year End Update

    Dear Friends: We are pleased to announce officially our new name—The NC History Center on the Civil War, Emancipation & Reconstruction—and that we have secured the necessary funding from Cumberland County and the City of Fayetteville to almost complete our fundraising effort from public sources! We’re very grateful to the …Read More »
  • Media Advisory: October 3, 2022

    The NC History Center On The Civil War, Emancipation & Reconstruction in Fayetteville is bringing an open house of sorts to two Fayetteville-area churches in October. The Center will have panels that will outline the plans that historians and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources have made …Read More »
  • Videos from the June 2nd ground-breaking for Phase 3

    Opening:   Mac Healy, Chair, Board of Directors Dr. James Leutze, Co-Chair, Board of Advisors Written remarks from Representative John Szoka Dr. James A. Anderson, Co-Chair, Board of Advisors, introduces guest speaker Dr. Spencer Crew, Emeritus Director of the National Museum of African American History and CultureRead More »

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This