Civil War Collection, CW

Access Restrictions

Available for research.

Use Restrictions

Copyright is retained by the authors of these materials, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law (Title 17 US Code). Individual researchers are responsible for using these materials in conformance with copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials.

Please consult the Military Collections Archivist and Registrar before using this collection.

[Identification of item], Civil War Collection, 1860-1965, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, USA.

The Civil War Collection, 1860-1965, contains petitions for pardon, bounty payrolls, quartermaster department records (express receipts, vouchers, pay records, and supply and requisition records), disabled veterans' claims and correspondence pertaining to artificial limb companies, regimental and unit records, union regimental clothing books, regimental and unit records, muster rolls, and correspondence.

Miscellaneous records include original sheet music, copies of poems and music, and printed and manuscript items compiled by the United Daughters of the Confederacy; lists of Confederate dead buried in cemeteries near battlefield; essays and reminiscences about prisons of the Civil War; and a list of Confederate prisoners of war taking the oath of allegiance to the U.S.A. The collection also includes several reminiscences about incidences and happenings during the War as remembered by N. C. women of the Confederacy, with emphasis on the county's role, the railroads, the Confederate flag, and other organizations; and a collection of United Daughters of the Confederacy essays written by chapter historians and students about various aspects of the War. There are also scrapbooks compiled from United Daughters of the Confederacy collections, and contain items ranging from Confederate songs and poetry to photographs and newspaper articles relating to Confederate veterans.

The collection also contains maps of battlefields and other relevant sites.

The Civil War Collection is an "artificial" collection of private papers and, to a limited extent, official records relating to the Civil War. Over the past half century, these materials have been known variously as Civil War Papers, Civil War Records, War for Southern Independence Collection, and possibly by other names. There has apparently been some shifting back and forth of materials in this collection and records of the Auditor's Office and in the Private Collections (P.C.'s).

In the most recent (1965-1966) arrangement and description of the Civil War Collection, those records which were clearly identifiable as Auditor's records were returned to that group. A few others have been transferred to the Private Collections group or to Organization Records.

At the present time, it is intended to "close" the Civil War Collection to further additions to the boxes herein described. In other words, any materials acquired in the future which would reasonably fall within the purpose of this collection will be added in subsequent boxes rather than inter-filed with material described in these pages. Finding aids for this subsequently acquired material will be added as appropriate.

It will be observed that there is considerable disparity in the amount of detail in the description of the various boxes within the collection. The miscellaneous nature of some of the boxes has necessitated an almost item-by-item description. In other cases, several boxes are described in a few lines (e.g. most of the quartermaster and supply records).

In the case of some of the records in the Civil War Collection, no real attempt has yet been made to arrange or to describe them in more than very general terms. Specifically, this is the case with the large quantity of quartermaster requisitions and vouchers contained in boxes 17-34.

Records related to military units have generally been described in accordance with the final official designation of the unit, with previous or unofficial designations, where known, included in parentheses. In some cases, normal numerical order of regiments and battalions has been upset by the discovery of a different final official designation of the unit after the records relating to it have been foldered and filed.

➤ Container Count 3 Boxes

• Civil War Collections 13-20

Civil War Collections 13-20

• CW 2-5

CW 2-5

• CW 7-9

CW 7-9

Original Civil War Collection (1903-2014)

Scope and Content:

The Original Civil War Collection (1903-2014) record group is part of the Civil War Collection of the Military Collection at the State Archives of North Carolina. It is composed of the original "Civil War Collection," most of which was collected and organized from 1903 to 1965 within the Military Collection. This record group of series and collections was originally (and still is) organized in straight box number order, regardless of series. It is composed of the Civil War Collection Boxes 1.1-93. All new Civil War Collection collections after 2014 are numbered with a Military Collection war period abbreviation for "Civil War," followed by numerical order for the collection. For example, the first collection in the post-2014 Civil War Collection is numbered "CW 1." Each series of materials and collections in this record group corresponds to the old Civil War Collection finding aid, available upon request or for viewing in the State Archives' public Search Room. This collection is composed of approximately 32.4 linear feet.

CW ORIG

Civil War Maps Collection, 1860-1865, undated

Access Restrictions:

Please consult staff before accessing the Civil War Map collection.

Processing Information note:

Maps catalogued by Samantha Rich, May 2013.

Scope and Content:

The Civil War Maps Collection is composed currently of 28 maps--mostly reproductions from the 20th century--collected by the State Archives of North Carolina from the early 20th century to 2013. There are no original Civil War-era maps within the collection. A number of the maps are negative photostat copies of original maps not in the possesion of the State Archives.

CW MAPS

Tomberlin Family Papers, 1853-1866, 1869, undated

Access Restrictions:

There are no restrictions on accessing this collection.

Processing:

When the collection was first received donated in April 2017, all of the materials in the collection had remained folded tightly, and stored in a plastic container. The materials were in possession of the Tomberlin family since the Civil War, and have never been separated from family ownership since 1864. Many of the letters were folded as they had last been read, with the first and last pages reversed and the inside pages of a multiple-paged letter facing outward. From their storage and the fold lines on the letters, it appears they have been stored that way since at least the late 1800s and possibly back to the Civil War. Initially, it appeared that all of the correspondence was written by and to William M. Tomberlin, but that could not be determined until the materials were all carefully flattened. A number of letters had been grouped together in single Civil War-era envelopes, with no idea if any of those letters actually were mailed in the envelopes.Starting in 2017, a processing plan was created for these Civil War materials, to address numerous conservation issues, how to flattened carefully and effectively all of the correspondence, and how to work to identify the creators of the materials. Before any work could actually be done on the collection, all of the materials had to be carefully flattened. The correspondence had multiple crease lines, often in opposite directions of each other (as they had been folded in multiple directions and times). This made flattened of the letters extremely difficult, especially for some of the fragile letters. In order to solve this, all of the correspondence was flattened by hand slowly, done over several days spread out over nine months. The goal was to get the correspondence as flat as possible, then store small groups of letters in archival folders in archival boxes. This provided some compression-and over a year period through the late spring of 2018-slowly and naturally forced the correspondence to flatten back out, as they were stored in an environment with more moisture and consistent temperature than they had previously ben.With the correspondence and documents flattened, organization of the collection was begun in 2018. While sorting through the materials, it became evident that the collection documented more than just William Tomberlin's life and Civil War service; but also other relatives of his before, during, and after the war. The initial collection title was to be the "William M. Tomberlin Papers" prior to discovering this; it was changed to better reflect the creators of the materials in the collection to the "Tomberlin Family Papers." Also, while sorting the materials into groups by creator, format (like receipts), or purpose (like songs), 23 letters and a poem were discovered to be in such poor condition-ripped along crease lines, separated sections of the same letter, holes, pest damage, etc.-that they required immediate conservation treatment and repair. These items were either photocopied, or in the case of extremely fragile letters only the first page was photocopied, and the copies were inserted within the archival folders in the collection's new organizational scheme. The conservation treatments will take well into 2019 to complete, after which they will be returned to the folders and replace the photocopies.A number of other letters have tears or are fragile; but, they were able to be stabilized by storing the letters temporarily in acid-free archival plastic photograph sleeves until they can be properly conserved later. A number of letters written by Tomberlin in late January and February 1864 were written on acidic brown paper with very acidic iron-gall ink. The ink is spreading as the acids in the ink react with the acidic paper. They are very difficult to ready, and the paper is very brittle. Currently, they are stable, and will be treated by the State Archives' conservator after those letters which were in the direst conditions are completed in being treated. This was part of the processing plan-to address in smaller sets the most troubled sets of materials in the collection first, and continue to work through conserving the letters in descending order of immediate conservation needs. Conservation for the whole collection will be an ongoing effort through the year 2021.Correspondence is arranged within folders chronologically based on the dates written on the letters. The correspondence is separated by author or receiver of the correspondence. A couple of letters written to or by William Tomberlin to other individuals than his wife are stored in the 1861 letters folder, simply to keep the chronology in place for his group of letters. All of Tomberlin's complete letters have full dates written on them. There are fewer letters stored on average in the archival folders, in order to better conserve the whole collection and not have the letters bending in overstuffed folders.William Tomberlin had several key phrases that he used to address his wife Mary Ann at the start of all of his letters, which helped with identifying to whom he was writing. Also, William and Mary Tomberlin, the Price brothers, and other letter authors, all wrote at the end of the letters from whom and to whom the letters were written. Typically, William Tomberlin would write at the end of his letters: "W. M. Tomberlin to M. A. Tomberlin."There is also a folder of incomplete or partial letters written by numerous individuals or unidentified individuals. Many of these partial letters have page numbers, but do not match up with William Tomberlin's letters or other identifiable correspondence in the collection. Some are partial pages cut or torn off. Most of these letters that have dates are from 1862 and 1863, while a number have no dates on the pages. It seems from this that at some point in the past, a number of pages or letters from William Tomberlin, Mary Ann Tomberlin, and other family members were lost, destroyed, or separated from the bulk of the Tomberlin collection.There were a number of damaged envelopes in which multiple letters had been stored prior to their arrival at the State Archives. Some of these envelopes have information on William Tomberlin's unit locations, and some have notes about the letters they contained being taken to Tomberlin's wife by a friend or other agent. A small number of envelopes contain rare printed scenes, songs, and poems on them from the Civil War era, specifically related to Southern patriotism and causes. At least one of these envelopes was printed in Fayetteville, N.C. The envelopes are very rare. As a result, a selected number of regular envelopes and the printed envelopes with decorations were retained by the processing archivist. The envelopes were stored flat in archival folders, with each envelope separated from the ones in front or behind them in the folder by sheets of archival bond paper. This is to ensure any adhesive residue, ink, or other material on the envelopes does not cause damage to the other envelopes in the folders in long-term storage.A few oversized documents or letters, including William Tomberlin letters written during his military service were too large to fit within the letter-sized archival boxes and treated like oversized materials. Oversized materials were removed from the main collection to be stored separately in a large, flat archival folder. The artifact was removed from the main collection and placed in a separate artifact box (see "Separated Material" note for more information on the oversized materials and artifact). Both the oversized materials and the artifact were arranged at the end of the collection.

Biographical/Historical:

William M. Tomberlin William M. Tomberlin was born around 1831 in Union County, N.C., to David Daniel and Margaret Helms Tomberlin. The family was living by 1850 in the area of Richardson Creek in Union County, and David Tomberlin was working as a farmer then. On December 5, 1854, William Tomberlin married Mary Ann Price in Union County. ("William once told his nephew S. W. Tomberlin that William had the prettiest wife that his nephew ever saw.") In 1855 around the age of 24, William Tomberlin was examined for and received a common school teacher's certificate for Union County. He also received a certificate in 1856. William's mother Margaret died in 1857. By 1860, William was a farmer and Mary a seamstress, with a two-year-old son, David A. Tomberlin. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Tomberlin enlisted in a local company from Union County, stationed near Goldsboro, N.C., by January 4, 1862. Between March and April 1862, Company I of the 53rd North Carolina Infantry Regiment was raised. The men were mustered at Camp Mangum on April 30, 1862. On May 31, 1862, Company I left Raleigh for Weldon, but Tomberlin remained hospitalized. This began his recurring health problems, including what he called "colic." He spent time in hospitals in Halifax County and Wilson, N.C., before rejoining the army in Virginia in September 1862. By December 17, 1862, he was back in Goldsboro for winter quarters. By February 26, 1863, he was at Camp Daniel near Kinston. By April 1, he was near Washington, N.C., skirmishing with Union forces along Blounts Creek. By May 26, 1863, Company I was at Hamilton's Crossing near Fredericksburg, Virginia, serving under Brig. Gen. Junius Daniel in Rodes' Division. On May 27, Tomberlin was at Guinea Station. By June 17, 1863, his company crossed into Maryland. During this time, William and Mary welcomed a baby girl, Mary J. Tomberlin. Tomberlin fought at Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863. In a July 8 letter, he wrote: "Mary Ann, I can tell you that we have had one of the hardest fights that Ever has been fought..." His brother Jacob S. Tomberlin, also in Company I, was captured at Gettysburg and died of smallpox at Point Lookout on December 31, 1863. Through late 1863 and 1864, Tomberlin's unit moved throughout Virginia and Maryland, participating in the Battles of Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna, Lynchburg, and possibly Staunton River Bridge. He was hospitalized again in July 1864. In October 1864, Tomberlin suffered severe colic. His last letter home was dated October 5. William M. Tomberlin died in camp at New Market, Virginia, on October 9, 1864. Josiah G. Tomberlin Josiah Greenberry Tomberlin was born February 15, 1842, in Union County, N.C., a younger brother of William. He married Elizabeth Price on January 23, 1861. He enlisted on May 5, 1862, in Company I, 53rd North Carolina Infantry. He was wounded at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, captured July 5, and imprisoned at Fort Delaware and later Point Lookout. He was paroled March 17, 1865, and permanently paroled May 15, 1865. Josiah lived as a farmer in Monroe, N.C., remarried after his first wife's death, and died May 3, 1921. A. W. H. Price Andrew W. H. Price was born around 1839-1840 in Union County, N.C., one of 13 children of Andrew and Martha Price. His sister Mary Ann Price married William M. Tomberlin. He enlisted on September 16, 1861, in Company D, 37th North Carolina Infantry. He was captured at Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, exchanged shortly after, and returned to duty. He was wounded in the left leg at the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6, 1864; the Minie ball remained in his leg for life. He retired from service on February 18, 1865, due to gangrene and permanent muscle contraction. He married Beady M. Chaney on November 12, 1865, and died in 1921.

Scope and Content:

The collection is composed of letters, partial letters, a song, a poem, a military will, receipts, checks, teacher's certificates, Civil War paper currency, and miscellaneous documents, from the life and family of William M. and Mary Ann Price Tomberlin of Union County, N.C. The materials date from 1853 through 1869, with the bulk of the materials having been created during the Civil War. The overwhelming majority of the collection is composed of 202 letters from William M. Tomberlin, written to his wife while he was serving in the U.S. Civil War in Company I, 53rd North Carolina Infantry, Confederate States Army, for his entire service period. The letters date from January 1862 to October 1864 (with some gaps). In total, William Tomberlin's letters are the most complete personal accounting of life in Company I, 53rd North Carolina Infantry, known to exist in the public from a non-officer.Many of Tomberlin's 1862 and early 1863 letters are written from little-known camps or locations in North Carolina, of which William Tomberlin discusses life in the area or his view of the areas through which his unit hiked. There are a large number of letters written in the winter to spring of 1863 while he was camped near Goldsboro and Kinston, N.C. The letters written while he was camped on the coast near Washington, N.C., in April 1863, discuss the Union Army's Tidewater Operations, including references to engagements and skirmishes Tomberlin and Company I were involved in that appear to have been part of the Battle of Washington.Tomberlin's best letters as far as historical content regarding military engagements and battles are his letters from July 1863 (beginning with his Gettysburg account) through September 1864. These letters provide great detail regarding the Overland Campaign from May 4 to June 24, 1864, including the Battle of the Wilderness. There is also a lot of detail regarding the Valley Campaigns of 1864 (also referred to as the Shenandoah Campaign of 1864). Tomberlin specifically writes detailing the following battles and locations in 1864: Orange Court House; Battle of Spotsylvania Court House; Battle of North Anna; Battle of Lynchburg; Battle of Staunton River Bridge; and Battle of Strasburg.The collection also contains a small number of letters written by and to William's wife Mary Ann Price, including those from her brothers Andrew W. H. Price and Thomas A. Price, both who served in Company D, 37th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, during the war. There are miscellaneous receipts of all sizes and types for purchases, land, sale of farm crops, store purchases, promissory notes, and other types of receipts to and from William and Mary Tomberlin while living in Union County, N.C., before, during, and after the Civil War. The collection also includes an 1862 song written by William Tomberlin, and his February 1864 military will. A selected number of envelopes, including those with rare printed scenes and poetry or songs on them, were retained in the collection as well from letters William Tomberlin sent to his wife.

3 Boxes, 1 Folder

Thomas K. McBryde Diary, March 1861-September 1862, ca. 1911, 1918, undated

Restrictions on Access:

There are no restrictions on accessing this collection.

Processing Information:

The diary has been maintained in the McBryde family since the U.S. Civil War. As of the 1940s, the diary was in the possession of the Rev. John Malcolm McBryde, the son of Thomas K. McBryde. It would be transferred into the possession of his daughter Margaret Alexander McBryde of Virginia, the granddaughter of Thomas K. McBryde. The diary passed on to Ruth McBryde Hill, who is the donor of the diary.

The diary is very fragile and small, measuring 2.75-inches wide by just under 4.75-inches tall. A piece of the thin back cover has cracked off, and is maintained with the diary. The front cover of the diary has the handwritten identification of "Thomas McBryde Diary" in iron-gall ink written on it. Part of the front cover is missing, and the rest has a large tear that has almost removed the front cover completely. The fabric or paper covering on the spine of the diary has fallen off over the years. A digital copy of a hand-written transcription of the diary, created by Thomas McBryde's granddaughter, was provided by the donor to the State Archives to provide textual access for the diary to researchers until a full, typed transcription can be made available later.

In order to stabilize the diary while it is in long-term storage, an adjustable acid-free book box was used to house it. The book box has four flaps that interlock, and is fastened with Velcro buttons. The original transcription was made in a spiral notebook by Margaret McBryde Patterson in either the 1970s or the 1980s. At some point, the McBryde family digitized the original notebook, which is now lost. A copy of the transcription was printed out by the Military Collection Archivist, and a PDF digital file of the transcription is maintained in the Military Collection Archivist's digital collection records folder for CW 2.

The newspaper clipping which was retained was photocopied as a preservation copy, to protect other archival materials in the collection from the acidity in the newspaper clipping.

Biographical Note:

Thomas K. McBryde was born on January 28, 1842, in Robeson County, N.C., to Malcolm and Mary Gilchrist McBryde, who were of Scottish descent. Thomas McBryde attended the University of North Carolina from 1856 to 1857. Thomas McBryde was in Texas as of March 1861, possibly visiting McBryde family members who had moved to Texas prior to the Civil War. He arrived in northern Robeson County, N.C., on March 24, 1861-some 22 days before U.S. President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 troops to be supplied to squash the secession of Southern states from the Union. North Carolina seceded from the Union on May 20, 1861. McBryde served from May 1861 to June 17, 1865.

Thomas McBryde enlisted formally in the 24th Infantry Regiment, North Carolina Troops, on June 4, 1861. It appears that McBryde was going to enlist in a Federal Army unit prior to May 1861, but he quit on May 1, 1861, as tensions rose between North Carolina and the federal government. He joined the 14th Regiment of North Carolina Volunteers on May 15, 1861, and they went into encampment on May 27, 1861, at Floral College in Robeson County. June 4th was the day that McBryde got his officer's commission as a Sergeant in Company G (nicknamed the "Highland Boys" after their Scottish Highlands' heritage) in the newly-formed 24th Infantry Regiment, North Carolina Troops.

In August 1861, Thomas McBryde's "Highland Boys" were ordered to western Virginia, serving in the Appalachian Mountains under the command of Confederal Brigadier General John Buchanan Floyd (later commander of Fort Donelson in Tennessee) in the Confederate Army of the Kanawha. McBryde's company remained in western Virginia until December 5, 1861. By that time, McBryde's regiment was transferred under the command of General Robert E. Lee. McBryde's unit was stationed in Meadow Bluff, Virginia (now West Virginia), working on fortifications in that area in September 1861. McBryde and his men first encountered the Union Army (in a manner of speaking) on September 28, 1861, as they could "hear the music of the Yankees" and were "in expectation of being attacked" on September 29th. Although such a military engagement with the Union forces did not materialize at that time, the 24th Regiment was devastated by illness and inadequate provisions.

After a furlough to Robeson County in December 1861, McBryde's company returned to service at Petersburg, Virginia, in January 1862, where McBryde would attend the local Presbyterian church. He remained stationed in Petersburg until February 12, 1861, during which time he took part in city life and Army activities. Thomas McBryde's regiment was sent to Norfolk, Virginia, in early March 1862, where he witnessed the Battle of Hampton Roads between the CSS Virginia and the USS Congress. His company was ordered to Murfreesboro, N.C., after Hampton Roads.

McBryde's company was involved in the incursion of the Confederate Army into Maryland in 1862, and participated in the Battle of Antietam in Sharpsburg, Maryland. McBryde would write a list of all of the men in his company following Antietam, and notes the number of men killed or wounded in the battle. He was a Sergeant who was later promoted to 3rd Lieutenant on January 1, 1863. On March 25, 1865, McBryde was captured near Fort Stedman, Virginia, by Union forces, and confined at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C. He was transferred to Fort Delaware in Delaware on March 30, 1865, where he remained until he was released after taking the United States' Oath of Allegiance in June 1865.

Thomas McBryde returned to Robeson County after the war to work as a farmer. He would go on to hold a distinguished political career. In 1882, Thomas McBryde married Mary McDuffie, and the couple would have six children together. Thomas McBryde served as Robeson County Commissioner from 1888 to 1892, and chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee from 1894 to 1896. In 1903, McBryde was elected as a State Senator to the North Carolina State Senate. After moving to Hoke County, N.C., McBryde was elected as a Representative to the North Carolina General Assembly in 1913. Thomas K. McBryde died on March 5, 1918, in Blue Springs Township in Hoke County, N.C., at the age of 75. He was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Scotland County, N.C.

Scope and Content:

The collection is composed of one original pocket U.S. Civil War diary, a newspaper clipping, and a photocopy of a handwritten transcription of the diary, kept by Thomas K. McBryde, who served in Company G, 24th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry (Confederate), during the Civil War. The diary was written between March 1861 and September 1862, and includes lists of the men in McBryde's company. It covers military actions such as the Battle of Hampton Roads and the Battle of Antietam, both of which McBryde was involved in or witnessed.

Much of McBryde's diary consists of short daily entries for the period of 1861-1862. Some of the pages have been torn out, and some periods of inactivity resulted in McBryde not writing anything down. He did have a habit of listing the names of all of the men in his company, along with commanding officers at various periods.

By December 1861, McBryde's regiment was transferred under the command of General Robert E. Lee, of whom McBryde observed in his diary: "then we were put under the command of General Lee-the great general who have all confidence in as a man inferior to no one. The Yankees feared him greatly as a leader and retreated soon after we were put under his command . . . ." McBryde also made poignant observations about the loss of men who served in his regiment: "Attended John Little's funeral. Poor fellow. he was good and a noble man. he had his faults but who has not." While witnessing the Battle of Hampton Roads, he describes hearing the ironclad ship CSS Virginia during its battle with the USS Congress, noting of hearing the Congress "blew up with a terrible explosion."

This wonderful diary is a rare insight into the early period of the Civil War, and is an invaluable documentary source of the experience of a North Carolina officer in Virginia and eastern North Carolina during the war. The end of McBryde's diary was written in 1918 by a family member after the death of Thomas McBryde on March 5, 1918. It includes McBryde's service history in the Civil War, and a list of the men in his unit. There is also a newspaper clipping from around 1911 containing a published list of the members of Company G, 24th North Carolina Regiment.

The collection also includes one photocopy of a 49-page, handwritten transcription of the McBryde diary, created by McBryde's granddaughter Margaret McBryde Patterson in a notebook around the 1970s or 1980s.

CW 2

Stanley Bell Materials, April-May 1865, undated

Restrictions on Access:

There are no restrictions on accessing this collection.

Processing Information:

The collection was received from the Friends of the Archives in December 2016, after being shipped by the seller of the items. The seller had storied the items in thick, non-archival plastic sleeves and document covers. These were removed, and replaced with acid-free archival plastic photograph sleeves. The letter was original stored folded open, but was returned in storage to its original folded state within an archival file folder. The broadside, which is extremely thin and fragile, was stored in an archival plastic 8.5" x 10" photograph sleeve which was cut-off to create an open-edged sleeve. This will allow for easy and safe removal from the sleeve (instead of a closed top-edge sleeve) for duplication or handling by researchers.

The photograph in the collection has been individually stored in an acid-free, archival plastic sleeve to allow for researchers to handle the original image without causing damage to the image's surface, and to improve preservation during long-term storage. The photograph has been numbered with a soft HB No. 2 pencil on the back, according to the collection number, folder number, and an individual image number. For example, the number "CW 3.F3.1" should be interpreted as "Civil War Collection 3 collection, Folder 3, Photograph 1."

Biographical Note:

Stanley Bell was born in 1843 in Ohio to Henry and Mary Bell. By 1860, the Bell family was living in Oxford, Ohio. After the precipitation of the U.S. Civil War in 1861, Stanley's father would not give him consent to join the Union Army. Stanley Bell was in Ashley, Ohio, one day in 1862, to see some soldiers depart for the front, when he jumped on the troop train while his father's back was turned. Bell enlisted for three months service in Company C, 85th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI) (Union), as a Private in June 1862. He would muster out of service on September 23, 1862, at Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio.

At the end of his service period, Bell returned home for a period. He would re-enlist on August 5, 1864, in the Union Army in Company H, 174th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served until the end of the war. It appears he began in the field and staff of Company H, reaching the rank of Sergeant by May 1865. Bell was serving in North Carolina with the 174th OVI when Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Union Army Gen. William T. Sherman in North Carolina in April 1865. He would be in Greensboro, N.C., during the first part of May 1865 under occupation duty in the state with the Union Army. Bell was promoted to a full Sergeant Major on June 1, 1865. Stanley Bell was mustered out on June 28, 1865, at Charlotte, N.C.

After the war, Stanley Bell married Harriet Waters on April 5, 1868, in Delaware County, Ohio. By 1870, the Bell family was living in Oxford, Ohio, and Stanley worked as a farmer. He remained working as a farmer in Oxford through 1920, when he was 77 years old. Stanley Bell died in Ashley, Ohio, on October 21, 1921, and was buried in Gavitt Cemetery in the same community.

Scope and Content:

The collection is composed of a newspaper broadside, letter, and copy print portrait, documenting the U.S. Civil War service of Sgt. Stanley Bell of the Company H, 174th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, from 1865 during his time stationed in North Carolina. Bell was stationed on occupation duty in North Carolina between April and June 1865. The collection includes one later copy print of a small oval studio portrait of Stanley Bell, wearing his Union Army uniform and leaning against a rifle.

There is also an original four-page letter written by Bell to his father from Greensboro, N.C., on May 9, 1865. In the letter, he discusses his march from Raleigh, N.C., to Greensboro; his trip from Charlotte to Wadesboro and back; and his unit's future march to Charlotte, N.C. (where he was discharged). Bell describes life as a Union soldier in occupying North Carolina, the state of Union men in military hospitals in the state, and what food he is eating. He also discusses being sent to Charlotte earlier to ensure the Confederate soldiers took the Union's Oath of Allegiance. The letter is a great overview of life in North Carolina from a Union soldier's perspective immediate after the Confederate Army's surrender in Durham, N.C.

The most important item in the collection is one original Civil War broadside, printed on Thursday, April 27, 1865, by the Raleigh Progress newspaper, entitled "Progress Extra. Glorious News." Owned by Stanley Bell, the broadside reports the surrender of Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's forces at Bennett Place near Durham Station, N.C., the day before. It also announces regulations for North Carolina citizens as the Union Army marched throughout the state after the surrender. These regulations were issued from the Headquarters of the Army of the Tennessee from Raleigh, N.C., by Union Gen. Oliver Otis Howard. This broadside is one of only a few known to exist, and provides a real historical connection to the spreading of news in North Carolina upon the surrender of the Confederate forces.

CW 3

Seven Months A Prisoner Book, 1868 TO 1868

Restrictions on Access:

Due to the fragile nature of the book, it is restricted from regular access without the presence of the Military Collection Archivist or the Head of Special Collections present to handle the book for a researcher. Free digital versions of the book are available online, and researchers are encouraged to consult those for informational content first to determine whether they need to use the original book. The folder is marked with a red dot to denote its restriction.

Processing Information:

The book was received by the Western Office of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources in 2003, and forwarded to the Military Collection at the State Archives of North Carolina. The book has parts of the back and front cover missing, with office cellophane tape holding the remaining thin book cover pieces together. Part of the back cover has cracked off the rest of the cover, and is stored with the book in its enclosure. The book is also missing its spine. However, all of the 180 pages of the original 1868 edition are present. The book's pages have significant foxing, and are somewhat warped from the way the book has been stored since the 1860s by its previous owners.

In order to stabilize the book while it is in long-term storage, an adjustable acid-free book box was used to house it. The book box has four flaps that interlock, and are fastened with Velcro buttons.

Biographical Note:

John Vestal Hadley was born on October 31, 1839, on a farm in Hendricks County, Indiana, as one of seven children of Jonathan and Ara Carter Hadley. His father Jonathan Hadley died suddenly in 1842. John Hadley would attend a Quaker academy in nearby Plainfield, Indiana, for schooling after his father's passing. In 1859, he attended college at North Western Christian University [present-day Butler University]. To defray college expenses, Hadley utilized school vacations to ride horseback through the country and sell books. He was a serious and capable student, but was excited about the possibility of serving in the military with the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War.

On August 30, 1861, John V. Hadley enlisted in a Hendricks County infantry unit then in the process of its organization for the war. At the time, he was 5-feet, 10-inches in height, and weighed about 150 pounds. Hadley received an appointment as a Corporal during the short training period at Camp Morton, which had been established recently on the state fairgrounds near Indianapolis, Indiana. Nine other infantry companies soon joined the Hendricks County contingent. They entered federal service in the Union Army on September 13, 1861, as the 7th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The colonel commanding the 1,046 men was Mexican War veteran named Ebenezer Dumont. Hadley's unit was officially known as Company B.

John Hadley passed his twenty-second birthday while the regiment campaigned in the mountains of western Virginia. On April 10, 1862, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. Following participation in the Valley campaign, Hadley was shot in the leg at the Battle of Second Manassas fought between August 30-31, 1862. He momentarily fell into the hands of the Confederates, but managed to escape amid the confusion of battle. He was then commissioned with the officer's rank of Lieutenant shortly after being released from the hospital. In the fall of 1863, Hadley joined the staff of Union Army Brigadier General James C. Rice. Hadley would serve as an aide to General Rice through 1864.

John Hadley was wounded and taken prisoner during the Wilderness campaign in central Virginia from May to June 1864. He was transferred to four Confederate prisons, before eventually being confined in the notorious "Camp Sorghum" at Columbia, S.C. On the night of November 4, 1864, Hadley escaped from the prison. Moving largely by night, and aided during his travels by sympathetic black and white individuals, he made his way across South and North Carolina, over the Blue Ridge Mountains, and to Knoxville, Tennessee, for safety. Hadley received his Union Army discharge on January 21, 1865, and returned to Hendricks County, Indiana.

After the war, John Hadley married Mary Jane Hill in the farm home of her father Samuel Hill on March 15, 1865. The Hadleys moved to Indianapolis, where John began to study law. In June 1866, he was admitted to the Indiana state bar. Hadley moved to Danville, Indiana, and opened a law firm that was successful from the start. Many of his clients were members of his large extended family in Hendricks County. From 1869 to 1873, Hadley served as an Indiana state senator from Hendricks and Putnam Counties. In 1884, he received great pressure to run for the U.S. Congress on the Republican ticket, but declined. Two years later, Hadley was elected as a judge for Indiana's 19th Judicial District, and was re-elected to a second term in 1894.

It was during his second term that Hadley presided over the Hinshaw case, one of the most celebrated of 19th-century murder trials in Indiana. His judicious handling of this highly-publicized trial led to Hadley's election in 1898 to the Indiana Supreme Court, where he served for 12 years. Throughout this period, he maintained an active interest in the Civil War. In addition to his writing and publishing in 1868 of his book Seven Months a Prisoner, Hadley lectured to assemblies of Union veterans about his experiences as a prisoner and escapee.

Due to old age and his physical condition, John Hadley had to relinquish both his seat on the state Supreme Court and the major part of his law practice. In his retirement, he completed writing in 1914 the History of Hendricks County, Indiana: Her People, Industries and Institutions. A common cold struck him in the late fall of 1915. On November 17, 1915, John V. Hadley died at his Danville, Indiana, home, and was buried in his family's plot in the Maple Hill Cemetery in Plainfield, Indiana.

[Biography taken from James I. Robertson Jr. and Jane Hadley Comer, "An Indiana Soldier in Love and War: The Civil War Letters of John V. Hadley," Indiana Magazine of History (Vol. 59, No. 3), September 1963), pp. 189-288].

Scope and Content:

The collection is composed of one damaged, original 1868 first-edition printing of Seven Months A Prisoner, or, Thirty-Six Days in the Woods, a 180-page book written by Indianan John V. Hadley, documenting his time as a Confederate prisoner and his subsequent escape to Union territory while he was serving in the Union Army as a Lieutenant in Company B, 7th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The book contains his narrative from his 36 days of escaping his South Carolina prisoner and traveling through North Carolina towards Tennessee. It was a popular post-Civil War personal narrative of a Union war prisoner when it was published in 1868 by J. M. and F. J. Meikel and; Co., Printers, of Indianapolis, Indiana. The book discusses both white and black individuals who assisted Hadley on his travels. It especially discusses his time in western North Carolina crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains.

CW 4

Pickney H. Warlick 1863 Letter, October 4, 1863

Restrictions on Access:

There are no restrictions on accessing this collection.

Processing Information:

The letter was originally folded, but was stored flat in storage due to the fragility of the paper. There are several tears in the letter on the edges, and several small holes from wear and folding along the crease lines of the letter. It was stored flat in an acid-free archival file folder.

Biographical Note:

Pickney (or Pinckney) Henderson Warlick was born on November 6, 1831, in North Carolina. By 1850, Warlick was living on his family's farm in Gaston County, N.C., on the border with Cleveland County, N.C. He would live in both counties over the years, including in Cleveland County at the time of his entrance into military service. Pickney Warlick married Margaret Eaker on October 16, 1856, in Gaston County. After the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War, Pickney Warlick enlisted on April 15, 1863, in Cleveland County, as a Private in Company F, 34th North Carolina Regiment, Confederate Army. Little detail is known about his entire service period.

Known as the "Floyd Rifles," Company F had been formed in Cleveland County in October 1861, and assigned to the 34th North Carolina Regiment. The regiment would serve mostly in Virginia, though they were at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. They also participated in the Wilderness Campaign in 1864. Warlick's unit was assigned to serve in Scales' Brigade, Wilcox's Brigade, Confederate Army. It is unknown when Warlick was discharged from Confederate service.

After the war, Pickney Warlick was living in the town of Cherryville in Gaston County, N.C., by 1870, working as a farmer. By 1880, the Warlick family was living in Cleveland County in the historical area called Warlick Township-named for his family. Pickney H. Warlick died on July 17, 1901, and was buried in Saint Marks Lutheran Church Cemetery in Cherryville, N.C.

Scope and Content:

The collection is composed of one 4-page letter written by Pickney H. Warlick of to his wife from Liberty Mills, Virginia, on October 4, 1864, during the U.S. Civil War. Warlick was serving in Company F, 34th North Carolina Regiment, in Scales' Brigade, Wilcox's Brigade, Confederate Army. At the time of the letter, Warlick was camped six miles from Orange, Virginia, along the Rapidan River at Liberty Mills, Virginia [present-day Liberty Mills Farm, Virginia]. He talks in the letter about the state of his family-including his child who was sick-and the situation of preparing for and fighting the Union Army forces. Warlick mentions cutting rifle pits, and rumors floating about the Yankee forces at home and in Virginia. He also wonders if a Home Guard is being formed to capture Confederate forces' deserters. The letter was written a few weeks after battles between the Union and Confederate forces at White's Ford and Liberty Mills, Virginia.

CW 5

CSS Shenandoah Log Books, October 20, 1864-November 5, 1865

Restrictions on Access:

The original Shenandoah log books have been removed from circulation by the State Archives, and are inaccessible for use by the public due to their condition and fragility. High-quality digital reproductions of both log books are currently housed online in the State Archives' North Carolina Digital Collections (NCDC), listed under the digital Civil War Collection. Researchers are encouraged to use the digital surrogates. If a special need to access the originals is required, the requesting patron should submit a request to the State Archives' Registrar and Military Collection Archivist, who will determine in consultation with the State Archivist whether to approve the request or not.

Processing Information:

Log Book 1 underwent conservation treatment with a new spine added and pages treated to stabilize them by the State Archives' conservator in 2013. As Log Book 2 was originally not a very sturdy binding or a hardback book, the log book began to suffer from damage of being handled by the public. This occurred to the point that the original log book had to be rebound in a new, hardback library binding sometime prior to the 1990s by the State Archives. All of the pages of Log Book 2 were laminated using an old archival practice of cellulose acetate lamination, and are currently stable. The edges of the whole Log Book 2 beginning from the start of the book are missing, having been torn or crumbled into pieces over time after suffering water damage and silverfish damage. Some of the ship's information on this log book's notes are missing.

Historical Note:

This is an edited version of a history of the CSS Shenandoah entitled "Shenandoah, 1864-1865," written by Paul J. Marcello, August 2015, for the Confederate Ships section of the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command's Ship Histories webpage.

Laid down on the River Clyde, Scotland, as a British troop transport and launched as the Sea King on August 17,1863, the ship that became the Shenandoah was an iron-framed, teak-planked, full-rigged vessel with auxiliary steam power. The Confederate Government purchased her in 1864 for use as an armed cruiser.

On October 8, 1864, the Sea King sailed from London for Bombay, India, on a trading voyage. There, the ship rendezvoused at Funchal on the archipelago of Madeira, Portugal, with the steamer Laurel, which bore officers and the nucleus of a crew for the Sea King--along with naval guns, ammunition, and stores. The ship anchored at Las Desertas, a few miles south of Madeira.

40 year old Lt. James Iredell Waddell of the Confederate States Navy, supervised her conversion to a warship in nearby waters. Waddell was born on July 13, 1824, in Pittsboro, N.C., and joined the U.S. Navy in September 1841 with the rank of Midshipman. He walked with a permanent limp that he acquired from a duel that he fought with a fellow midshipman; but he stayed in the Navy and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1855. Stationed in the Far East when the Civil War broke out, Waddell resigned his commission from the U.S. Navy on November 20, 1861. He made his way home only to find that he was stricken from the Union rolls, and wouldn't receive the last three months of his pay. Appointed a Lieutenant in the Confederate States Navy in March 1862, Waddell served as a shore battery officer in Richmond, Virginia, and Charleston, S.C., until he was assigned to England in March 1863. There, he waited until the opportunity for a seagoing posting commanding the new CSS Shenandoah reached him in October 1864.

After being outfitted with guns, Waddell needed to recruit a crew from the men who manned both the Laurel and Sea King. His offers of two months extra pay to enlist in the Confederate Navy convinced only a cabin boy and a fireman. Waddell then lured the men with gold; however, only two more sailors were convined. In the end, he could only coax another five men to join, so he had in total 19 crewmen and 23 officers making up his crew of 43 to man his new ship. He needed at the very minimum 150 to sail and fight the Confederate raider. Upon council with his officers, Waddell decided to go to sea and try to recruit a sufficient amount of sailors from trophies yet to be taken.

The new armored cruiser was commissioned on October 19, 1864, and her name changed to the CSS Shenandoah. Lt. Waddell read his articles commissioning her and took his ship to sea with a difficult task. The ship was essentially a merchant ship, with the decks were crowded with stores. There were no gun ports cut, and batteries needed to be mounted. The conversion to a man-of-war was usually performed in a naval yard--not at sea with an inexperienced and very limited crew. When trying to mount the guns, it was found that no tackle had been supplied. Without them, if the guns were fired, the recoil would carry them to the other side of the ship with devastating effect. Although the guns appeared through newly cut gun ports threating any ship that approached, it was a threat in sight only--since they could not be fired in anger. Waddell in reality had only two 12-pounder guns that could be fired. He needed to find both new crew members and heavy tackle with which to secure his main armament.

On October 28, 1864, after an already difficult period at sea, a ship was sighted that turned out to be the Mogul, a vessel built in the United States but registered in London--so it was released by the Shenandoah. Two days later, a recently constructed ship--the 574-ton Alina of Searsport, Maine--was spotted steaming for Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a load of railway iron. The Shenandoah captured the Alina, and appropriated their tackle for the guns and provisions. Also, a large quantity of cotton canvas for sails was found aboard the ship. Then the Alina was scuttled south of the Azores and west of Dakar, Senegal.

In accordance with the operational concepts created by the Confederate Navy Department and refined by its agents in Europe, the Shenandoah was assigned to destroy Union commerce in areas as yet undisturbed. The ship's mission was the pursuit of merchantmen on the Cape of Good Hope and Australia sailing route, and within the Pacific whaling fleet. As it sailed, the Shenandoah captured six prizes in quick succession. On November 6, 1864, the cargo schooner Charter Oak of Boston, Massachusetts, was captured and burned in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. Two days later, the cargo bark [a type of sailing ship] D. Godfrey of Boston was sunk southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. On November 10, the cargo brig Susan of Boston was scuttled southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. It was followed two days later by the neutral cargo ship Kate Prince of Portsmouth, New Hampshire (that was bonded for $40,000), and the bark Adelaide (that was ransomed for $24,000) filled with Shenandoah's prisoners, and released to Bahia, Brazil. The Confederate commerce raider closed a very active month on November 13, 1864, when the cargo schooner Lizzie M. Stacey of Boston was scuttled and fired near the Equator.

Successful operations continued the following month when the whaling bark Edward was burned off the group of islands Tristan de Cunha in the south Atlantic Ocean on December 4. Three days later, Alina's crew was put ashore on a local island, and Waddell set course towards Cape Town, South Africa. But Shenandoah's propeller shaft was making curious sounds and showed problems that could not be fixed while they were underway. At the Cape, the chance of capture by a waiting Union warship was too great; therefore, Waddell decided to run 6,000 miles under sail for Melbourne, Australia. It was believed that no Union ship would attempt to sail as far as Australia. While it was enroute on December 29, 1864, the Shenandoah sighted the 750-ton bark Delphine of Bangor, Maine, sailing without cargo for Akyab [modern-day Sittwe, Myanmar] to take on a load of rice. Its captain pleaded that his wife was onboard and ill, and that removing her could result in her death. In response, Waddell sent his doctor, Assistant Surgeon Charles Lining, to examine the woman in question, and he returned to report that she was 26 years of age and in perfect health. The Delphine was then quickly fired in the Indian Ocean, 960 miles south southwest of India. When the ship's prisoners were brought aboard, six of the Delphine's crew was persuaded to join the Shenandoah's crew as it continued to sail east.

Waddell was still short-handed even though his crew had been increased by forced enlistments from prizes when the Shenandoah arrived at Hobson's Bay in Melbourne, Australia, on January 25, 1865. While at anchor there, the Shenandoah filled its complement, storerooms, and repaired the ailing propeller shaft. The ship also took on 42 crewmembers who were stowaways from Melbourne. However, they were not enlisted until the ship was outside the legal limits of Australian waters. The men took their oaths on the day of Shenandoah's departure from Melbourne on February 18, 1865. Although the ship's crew was newly augmented, 19 men deserted while in port, and some gave statements of their service to the United States Consul there.

Once again underway by her own steam, Shenandoah continued on its assigned mission to destroy Union commerce. During this time, news that yet another Confederate raider was on the prowl broke in both the United States and in Britain. U.S. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, who had been overjoyed at finally being rid of the accursed CSS Alabama, was now faced with a new threat in the Shenandoah. However, he had no idea of the Shenandoah whereabouts or destination. Shenandoah then began sailing freely into the Pacific without any signs of Union warships to impede its progress. Waddell decided to sail north towards the Sea of Okhotsk, off the eastern coast of Siberia--where the American whaling fleet was known to operate. By the time that it arrived, ice was forming in patches and unlike the sturdy construction of the whalers. The Shenandoah was not constructed to act as an ice breaker. Over the next four weeks, there was no sign of a prize until just short of the Equator. Whalers often refreshed their water supplies there, so the Shenandoah crew was optimistic they would find their prey. A few days later, Waddell learned from the Hawaiian schooner Pelin that five whalers had recently been seen at Ponape, Micronesia. Shenandoah hurried to the area hoping to catch that fleet before it sailed north.

On April 3, 1865, the whaling bark Pearl of New London was run down, captured, and put to the torch at Lohd Pah Harbor in Pohnpei Island, Micronesia. The following day, the Shenandoah came upon the whaling ships Hector of New Bedford and the 274-ton Edward Carey of San Francisco. The Confederate boarding party having reported that Edward Carey carried a vast supply of very useful stores, it took nearly two days to remove all of the plunder, including two boats to replace Shenandoah's tired ones. Charts showing the courses taken by whalers were also found among the ships; therefore, Waddell no longer had to search blindly for whaling ships. Having been cleared of all useable goods, the Edward and Hector were set aflame and left to founder in the harbor. On April 10, the whaling bark Harvest was also fired in the harbor.

Three days afterward, the Shenandoah departed Lohd Pah Harbor, and Capt. Waddell set course for the Bering Sea. Unbeknownst to him, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Courthouse, Virgina. Three Confederate Armies were still in the field, but hostilities were nearing an end. Four days afterwards, the Shenandoah disembarked all of its prisoners except for seven, who joined its crew.

On May 28, 1865, on the edge of an ice field, Waddell hoisted Russian colors, and at 500 yards fired a salvo across the bark Abigail's bow. When boarding parties arrived, the acting master's mate professed to Southern sympathies, and 14 of the crew of 35 changed their allegiance and became crewmembers of the Shenandoah. Afterwards, the New Bedford whaling bark was put to the torch 620 miles north of the Kurile Islands off of the coast of Russia. As the ice was closing in and no further whalers were to be found, the Shenandoah turned southwards on June 6, 1865, and steamed for the Bering Sea.

The skies cleared on June 21, 1865, and the Shenandoah reached the Bering Sea. The following morning, several ships were reported by lookouts and boarding parties were readied for a very lucrative day. Waddell was intent on capturing them all simultaneously. The 495-ton William Thompson was hampered by having a whale lashed to her side, and the 364-ton Euphrates wasn't bothered by the approaching steamer with the Russian ensign flying. Upon finding out the true nature of the mysterious vessel, the William Thompson's master Capt. Francis Smith insisted to Waddell that the war was over. Waddell, taking that intelligence as a stratagem of Smith's to save his ship, had both ships set ablaze northeast of Cape Narrows.

The next targets in Shenandoah's sights that day were the whaling barks Jirah Swift and Sophia Thornton of New Bedford, and the Brigantine Susan and Abigail of San Francisco. All three vessels were quickly overtaken, captured, and summarily burned in the Bering Sea. Finally, the whaling ship Milo was bonded for $46,000, and released with the large number of prisoners that had been acquired during the day.

The rich whaling grounds in the Bering Sea between Siberia and Alaska were a safe haven for Union whalers during the war. This prosperous whaling ended in the spring and summer of 1865, when the Shenandoah arrived and captured 20 of the 58 whalers employed there. These ships were destroyed more than a month after Confederate President Jefferson Davis was imprisoned on May 19, 1865. But, Waddell was still unable to secure absolute evidence that all of the Confederate Armies in the field had surrendered, and that President Davis was captured. He certainly didn't want to believe it. Waddell was well aware that if the war was over, that he ran the risk of a subsequent charge of piracy by the United States.

On June 26, 1865, the Shenandoah began an accelerated pace of trophy collection. During that afternoon the 419-ton William C. Nye of New Bedford was captured and set ablaze near St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. The 384-ton Catherine came next followed by the 340 ton Nimrod. As a result, the Shenandoah was brimming with 252 prisoners. Many of them were placed into 12 whale boats that were towed behind her. A further two vessels--the 315-ton Isabella and the 360-ton Gipsey--were taken during that busy day. When General Pike was captured, it was bonded for $30,000, and the ever increasing throng of prisoners was placed aboard for San Francisco.

Two days later, Shenandoah continued its path of destruction in earnest. The whaler Brunswick was burned near the Bering Straits Narrows; the whaling bark Congress of New Bedford was fired near the Bering Strait; the whaling bark Covington of Warren, Rhode Island, was put to the torch in East Cape Bay near Bering Strait Narrows; the whaling ships Favorite of New Haven, Connecticut; and the ships Hillman, Isaac Howland, Martha and Nassau of New Bedford were all burned in East Cape Bay in the Bering Sea. The whaling bark Waverly of New Bedford was fired next in the Bering Sea, near the Diomede Islands; and the whaling ship James Maury of New Bedford was bonded for $37,600 in East Cape Bay, and retained for transporting prisoners to the United States. Finally, on Shenandoah's last and most lucrative day of captures, the whaling bark Nile of New Bedford was bonded for $41,000 in the Bering Strait, loaded with 222 prisoners, and sent off to San Francisco.

On June 29, 1865, Capt. James Waddell took the Shenandoah through Bering Strait. On his port side was Siberia, and Alaska was in sight to starboard as he sailed into the Arctic Ocean. He had heard a story that only ten days earlier 60 vessels had voyaged this way, and he was looking for them; but an impassable ice field blocked the way. He was afraid of being locked into the Arctic Ocean, and decided to retrace his steps. Three ships he had released were on their way to California and they would report his activities. Waddell saw the need to leave the region before any United States vessels could attack the Shenandoah.

Waddell finally learned of the war's end from the bark Barracouta on August 2, 1865--over three months from the actual occurrence. The Barracouta was steaming for her home port of Liverpool from San Francisco; the Shenandoah was steaming to San Francisco in order to attack the harbor in the city, as Waddell believed that it was poorly defended. While it was there, the Barracouta received news of the surrender of Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army on April 26, Gen. Kirby Smith's army on May 26, and the capture of President Davis and a part of his cabinet on May 10. Capt. Waddell now had his proof that the U.S. Civil War was really over.

Upon receiving this information, it was recorded in the Shenandoah's log that "Having received . . .the sad intelligence of the overthrow of the Confederate Government, all attempts to destroy shipping or property of the United States will cease from this date, in accordance with the first lieutenant C. Whittle, Jr.; received the order from the commander to strike below the battery and disarm the ship and crew."

Capt. James Waddell and the crew knew returning to a United States port would mean facing a Union court with a Northern perspective of the Civil War. They also correctly predicted the risk of being tried and hanged as pirates. Commerce raiders were not included in the reconciliation and amnesty that Confederate soldiers were given by the United States at the end of the war. Capt. Raphael Semmes of the CSS Alabama escaped charges of piracy by surrendering May 1, 1865, as an Army general under Joseph E. Johnston. Semmes' former sailors surrendered as artillerymen.

Waddell decided to surrender his ship at her unofficial home port of Liverpool, England. He then lowered his Confederate ensign, and the Shenandoah underwent a physical alteration. Its guns were dismounted and stored below deck, and its hull was painted to look like an ordinary merchant vessel.

The Shenandoah sailed from off the west coast of Mexico by way of the Cape Horn of South America to Liverpool--a voyage of three months and over 9,000 miles. It was being pursued by Union vessels during the entire voyage. The ship anchored at the Mersey Bar in England at the mouth of the estuary, and waited for a pilot to take the ship up the river and into the enclosed docks. The Shenandoah was not flying any flag; therefore, the pilot refused to take the ship into Liverpool unless the crew raised one. The Confederate ensign was again unfurled and flown, then the Shenandoah sailed up the River Mersey with the Confederate flag flying. Once there, the captain of HMS Donegal received the last surrender of the U.S. Civil War on November 6, 1865.

The Shenandoah had remained at sea for 12 months and 17 days, had sailed 58,000 miles, and had sunk or captured 38 ships. Most of these ships were whalers, and two-thirds of them were after the close of hostilities for the Civil War. James Waddell took close to a thousand prisoners without a single casualty among his crew. Two men died of disease. The ship was never involved in a battle against a Union Navy vessel, as was the CSS Alabama; but instead took unarmed United States merchant vessels. It was an attempt to influence the Union by eliminating a very lucrative source of income which could be used to further advance the cause of the Union Army. Also, it was hoped that these actions would help to disillusion Northerners from continuing to pursue their war upon the South. In the end, the Shenandoah became the only Confederate warship to circumnavigate the globe.

In 1866, the United States took possession of the Shenandoah, and sold it to the first Sultan of Zanzibar. He renamed the ship after himself (El Majidi). On April 15, 1872, a hurricane hit Zanzibar and the Shenandoah--one of six ships owned by Seyed Burgash. It was blown upon the shore and damaged beyond repair.

Scope and Content:

The collection is composed of two original ship's log books for the Confederate States of America Navy armed cruiser CSS Shenandoah during the U.S. Civil War. Composed of 386 pages combined, the log books cover the sailing history of the ship from October 20, 1864, to November 5, 1865. The Shenandoah was the last Confederate ship to surrender during the war, and the last Confederate unit or ship to surrender during the war. The Shenandoah became the only Confederate warship to circumnavigate the globe.

The two log books were kept for the Shenandoah by Acting Master Irvine S. Bullock, and 1st Lt. S. Smith Lee. Several officers also did fill in the daily notes entries in the log books under the supervision of Bullock and Lee. The notes section of the log books include comments on the ship's course by latitude and longitude, distance covered, speed (in knots) and depth of water (labeled as "F," meaning the depth of the water in "fathoms"), and bearing. They also includes orders received, orders issued by the ship's commanding officer, information on when and what type of artillery the ship mounted for anticipated enemy engagement (such as 8-inch guns), and weather encountered by the ship. The log books including separate, attached financial estimates for the cargos of captured ships during the year-long operation of the Shenandoah. The two log books were simply meant as a factual recording of the ship's movements during their travels.

CW 6

Porter-Boatwright Papers, 1861, 1863-1864, ca. 1860s, undated

Restrictions on Access:

There are no restrictions on accessing this collection.

Processing Information:

The collection had no original order when it was received by the State Archives of North Carolina. The Central Rappahannock Heritage Center had assigned individual accession numbers to each document, and stored each document in a type of polyester plastic sleeve. Envelopes had already been separated from some of the letters when received by the Center from the donor. As the materials came from a local collector, the provenance for and order of the letters from 1865 to the 2000s is unknown. Many of the letters written by Charles Porter used iron-gall ink that has significantly faded in areas, making the writing hard to read. Also, Porter alternated his handwriting size from larger letters to very compact lettering.

Three of Porter's letters had tears, holes, or areas of weakness along the folded crease lines. These letters were deemed to be unstable to be handled by researchers, without having conservation treatment conducted on the letters. In the spring of 2021, the State Archives' conservation laboratory repaired the three letters, making them stable to be handled by researchers and stored safely long-term in archival folders. The poem is unattributed and undated. It may or may not have been written by a member of the Porter or Boatwright family around the Civil War, but it was retained with these families' Civil War-era letters by the donor.

Biographical/Historical:

Charles Eugene Porter was born on August 10, 1842, in Dover, Delaware, to Zachariah and Nancy Stafford Nichols Porter. Little is known about the family before or after the U.S. Civil War. It seems that before 1861, Charles Porter may have moved to Cumberland County, Virginia. With the beginning of the Civil War, Porter would enlist in the Confederate Navy at Aquia Creek Landing, Virginia, on May 4, 1861, holding the rank of acting gunner. He resigned from the Navy in February 1862 in order to recruit members for the Maryland Confederate Cavalry. On October 14, 1862, Porter enlisted as a private in Captain Massie's Company (Fluvanna Artillery, Army of Northern Virginia), serving in the 2nd Fluvanna Battery. Porter was present at the Battle of Fredericksburg as a part of Nelson's Reserve Artillery Battalion. It is thought he may have served at the Battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in 1863.

On August 26, 1863, Charles Porter transferred back to the Confederate Navy as a seaman aboard the CSS Arctic, which was stationed at Richmond, Virginia, on the James River. The Arctic had been converted from the USS Arctic in Wilmington, NC, in 1863. He was later appointed with the rank of master's mate. While aboard the Arctic in Wilmington, NC, in October 1863, Porter transferred to the CSS Neuse, which was at the time being outfitted at Kinston, NC, on the Neuse River. Porter supervised the installation of the ship's guns, remaining there through the spring of 1863. He was later commissioned as the ship's full gunner on December 27, 1863.

Charles Porter would be stationed aboard the Neuse until early February 1865. At that time, he had been transferred to the CSS Richmond in the Confederate Navy's North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Porter was serving at Richmond, Virginia, when the city fell in April 1865 to Union forces. Porter escaped with Confederate Admiral Raphael Semmes and others by train to Danville, Virginia. Next, he moved on to North Carolina, where he was paroled in Greensboro, NC, on April 26, 1865, by the Union Army.

After the Civil War, Charles Porter apparently returned to Cumberland County, Virginia. He would marry Virgilia Adelaide Boatwright (who went by "Gillie") on August 14, 1866, in Cumberland County. By 1870, the Porter family was living in the small community of Hamilton in Cumberland County, and Charles was working as a school teacher. Virgilia Porter died on August 4, 1899, in Lynchburg, Virginia. By 1900, Charles Porter was living in Lynchburg, working as a casler for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Porter remarried to Blanche E. Johnson on November 18, 1901, in Manchester, Virginia, Charles E. Porter died on March 3, 1908, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

[Much of this biography was posted online by James Porter, Charles E. Porter's descendant, on Charles Porter's memorial page on findagrave.com].

Scope and Content:

The collection is composed of 24 pieces whole or partial pieces of correspondence and a poem, mostly written by or to Charles E. Porter of Virginia during the U.S. Civil War. 21 pieces of correspondence was written by Porter while he served as a full gunner aboard the Confederate Navy gunboat CSS Neuse from October 1863 to July 1864, particularly while it was stationed on the Neuse River in Kinston, NC. All of Porter's letters were written to his sweetheart and future wife Virgilia Adelaide Boatwright (who went by "Gillie") in Cumberland County, Virginia. Porter's letters cover the time that the Neuse was being outfitted at Kinston, NC, and his role supervising the installation of the ship's guns.

Porter's letters to Gillie Boatwright discussed his feelings for her, how much he missed her, and news of friends and family from back home. The letters also discuss life aboard the Neuse and in the town of Kinston from late 1863 to early 1864. Porter also discusses a cat he nicknames Miss Cathy Couber Grubble, that lived with him on the Neuse for a period in 1864 before it disappeared in June 1864. Porter jokes about he and the cat getting married, saying in one letter "I have become engaged to a little Tar Heel girl. She is about 3 foot, 8 inches high, with beautiful red hair, and the most magnificent eyes you ever saw. They are fine gray eyes, about such eyes as Fannie's cat has got." Porter treated the cat as a friend on board the ship, having it as his personal cat rather than a ship's cat. The collection includes 5 empty and unattributed envelopes used to mail letters by Porter to the Boatwright Family of Cumberland County, Virginia, during the Civil War.

The collection also contains materials written by members of the Boatwright family of Cumberland County, Virginia. There is one undated letter written by Gillie Boatwright back to Charles Porter during the war. There is one original letter written by James A. Boatwright [listed in other records as James L. Boatwright], Gillie Boatwright's younger brother, to a woman named Louisa, written from Kinston, NC, in January 1864. James Boatwright was serving in the Confederate Army at the time, and may have met with Charles Porter in the same town. There is also a poem [possibly an acrostic] titled "Aeerstie," written by an unidentified individual who may have been a member of the Porter or Boatwright families. The collection contains one of the only-known complete sets of correspondence from a non-officer serving aboard the CSS Neuse during the Civil War.

CW 7

Jonas A. Warner Papers, 1863-1864, 1860s-1870s, 1887, 1907, undated

Restrictions on Access:

There are no restrictions on accessing this collection.

Processing Information:

The collection was collected from an unidentified source by the donor, a North Carolina military ephemera collector and military veteran himself, which he used as part of his study of North Carolina military postage and postmarks for the North Carolina Postal History Society. The donor took the letters out of the envelopes, flattened all the letters, transcribed the letters, and stored in the letters with the transcripts in double-sided PVC-based plastic three-ring binder collector sleeves. All the other materials were also stored in different sided plastic three-ring binder sleeves, with these and the letters all stored in a single three-ring binder. After the donor used the collection for their research, the materials were donated eventually to the Military Collection.

The donor had sorted the collection by format of materials and date of materials already. Largely, this organization was maintained, but the format organization was altered to fit within the Military Collection's processing manual for long-term archival storage. The transcriptions, which had been created on the donor's own computer and printed on standard inkjet printer paper, were photocopied onto new paper for long-term storage. Correspondence is arranged within folders chronologically based on the dates written on the letters. Almost all of the correspondence had exact dates written by the author.

The envelopes that survived and had letters in them had been kept by the donor with the letters in the binder sleeves. The processing archivist wrote the dates of the corresponding letters on the back edges of the envelopes in No. 2 pencil, to keep the provenance of the envelopes with the specific letters. The envelopes were stored flat in an archival folder separate from the letters, to ensure any adhesive residue, ink, or other material on the envelopes does not cause contact damage to the letters in long-term storage. A small number of these envelopes contain rare printed scenes, songs, and poems on them from the Civil War era, specifically related to Southern racist attitudes and wartime causes. As these types of envelopes are rare historical items, it was determined to retain all of the surviving envelopes directly connected with letters in the collection. Two envelopes that were not connected with letters were removed from the collection in keeping with State Archives' processing policies.

The photograph in the collection has been individually stored in an acid-free, archival plastic sleeve to allow for researchers to handle the original image without causing damage to the image's surface, and to improve preservation during long-term storage. The photograph has been numbered with a HB No. 2 pencil on the back, according to the collection number, folder number, and an individual image number. For example, the number "CW 8.F8.1" should be interpreted as "Civil War Collection 8 collection, Folder 8, Photograph 1."

The two calling cards were stored in archival plastic photo sleeves, in order to stabilize them and keep them from sliding out of the archival folder during long-term storage.

Biographical Note:

Jonas Arthur Warner was born on January 28, 1838, in Stokes County, NC. Little is known about his family prior to the mid-1850s. Warner married Martha Louisa Jones on March 10, 1856, in Davidson County, NC. The Warners were living in Forsyth County, NC, in the 1850s, and Jonas was working as a farmer. After North Carolina's entrance into the U.S. Civil War, Jonas Warner enlisted in the Confederate Army in July 1862 in Mocksville, NC, for a period of three years or the duration of the war. At the time, he was described as being 29 years old, having dark hair, grey eyes, and was 5 feet 6 inches tall. Warner was assigned as a Private in Company G, 7th Confederate Cavalry (also known as the Claiborne's Partisan Rangers).

Little detail is known about Warner's service, particularly after September 1864 when he is last listed as in service in his Confederate Army service records. Most of his service in the years 1863 and 1864 were in eastern North Carolina and eastern Virginia. Warner's unit would be stationed in the following locations and counties from April 1863 to May 1864 (listed in chronological order of place location): Snow Hill, NC; Camp Burnet[t] (somewhere southeast of Greenville, NC); along Pitt County and Lenoir County, NC, borders; Camp Corner in Kinston, NC; Kinston, NC; Ward A at the Goldsboro Female College in Goldsboro, NC; Ivor Station, Virginia; City Point, Virginia; Blackwater Bridge near Zuni, Virginia; Murfee (or Murfers or Murfee's) Station, Virginia. In the first part of August 1863, Warner was injured or taken ill, and kept in the Confederate hospital set up in the Goldsboro Female College in Goldsboro, NC.

When the 7th Confederate Cavalry was broken up into different unit, Jonas Warner was transferred to Company G, 16th Battalion, North Carolina Cavalry. This unit was formed in July 1864 by consolidating the five North Carolina companies of the 7th Confederate Cavalry Regiment, the three North Carolina companies of the 62nd Georgia Cavalry Regiment, and Company C of the 12th North Carolina Cavalry Battalion. It is unknown for sure when Warner left military service in the Confederate Army, as he frequently discussed in his letters home that if he had the chance to run away from his unit and return home he would. Nothing is known of Warner from 1865 to 1880.

By 1880, Jonas and Martha Warner were living in the city of Winston, NC (present-day Winston-Salem), and he was working as a carpenter. By 1900, Jonas Warner was working as a pump maker. In 1906 at the age of 73, he applied for a Confederate pension, in which he states he was seventy-five percent disabled. Not lasting much longer in this physical condition, Jonas A. Warner died on November 8, 1909, and was buried in Salem Cemetery in Winston-Salem, NC.

Scope and Content:

The collection is composed of correspondence, envelopes, a cut-out family portrait, family death mourning cards, and calling cards, documenting the life and service of Pvt. Jonas A. Warner of Forsyth County, NC, in the Confederate Army during the U.S. Civil War. Warner served in Company G, Claiborne's Partisan Rangers (later Company G, 7th Confederate Cavalry), Confederate States of America, from July 1862 to July 1864. The bulk of the collection is composed of 31 original letters (with some envelopes) written Pvt. Jonas Warner to his wife Martha Louisa Warner, while stationed in eastern North Carolina and eastern Virginia from April 1863 to May 1864. The collection's donor created typed transcriptions for all of the letters. The letters give the detailed account of a North Carolina soldier tired of the war, tired of bad pay and no food, and discussing the daily worries of life in the Confederate Army. The letters cover Warner's missing home, news from friends and family, updates on his unit's military movements, his views of the war, social issues, and updates on his physical condition.

The correspondence was written from the following locations during this period (in chronological order) Snow Hill, NC; Camp Burnet[t] (somewhere southeast of Greenville, NC); along Pitt County and Lenoir County, NC, borders; Camp Corner in Kinston, NC; Kinston, NC; Ward A at the Goldsboro Female College in Goldsboro, NC; Ivor Station, Virginia; City Point, Virginia; Blackwater Bridge near Zuni, Virginia; Murfee (or Murfers or Murfee's) Station, Virginia. Some of the envelopes survived with letters stored in them. A small number of these envelopes contain rare printed scenes, songs, and poems on them from the Civil War era, specifically related to Southern racist attitudes and wartime causes. The envelopes were stored separate from the letters in their own folder, with the dates of the letters they contained noted in pencil on the envelopes.

There is an original board mounted, cut-out oval portrait of an unidentified woman and a baby, which is believed to be Mary L. Warner and a child (possibly her son Wiley), from after the Civil War. There are two original calling cards of Wiley C. Warner, Jonas Warner's son, which were kept with Jonas' letters over the years. The collection also includes two death mourning cards for Jonas Warner's daughter Isabella Warner from October 1887, and one death mourning card for J. A. Warner [attributed to Jonas A. Warner] from November 1907. An interesting thing about the mourning card for who is supposed to be Jonas Warner is it gives his death year as 1907, while his gravestone lists 1909.

CW 8

Henry Malaby Papers

Access Restrictions:

There are no restrictions on accessing this collection.

Processing:

The small document had several tears along the fold lines from when the document had been folded over the years. In order to keep the certificate stable and from sliding too much or falling out of the folder during handling, the certificate was stored in a archival plastic photograph storage sleeve for long-term storage.

Scope and Contents note:

The collection is composed of one original small certificate of exemption from military service for Henry Malaby of Wayne County, NC, in the Confederate military during the American Civil War. The certificate was signed by John W. Davis, surgeon for the 40th Regiment of the North Carolina Militia on September 26, 1861. Malaby is listed as being deaf on the certificate, though little biographical or health information is known regarding him before or after the date of this certificate.

CW 9

James F. and Cornelia H. Beall Materials, 1861, 1864, 1866, 1860s, 1900, 1909-1910, 1920, undated

Restrictions on Access:

There are no restrictions on accessing this collection.

Processing Information:

The collection had originally been stored by the James Beall family in a family closet, containing family papers and a large book collection, in the historic Beallmont house near Linwood, NC. The floor boards of the room broke, and the materials in the closet fell through to the ground beneath. As a result, the materials in the collection have residue damage from dirt and pests, and some exposure to water over the years. Some of the paper items are dirty and have a residue that was not able to be cleaned off due to the length of time of exposure the materials received. A lot of the paper, much of which is highly acidic and cheap newsprint or notebook paper, is in fragile condition. One of the letters was so fragile that it was placed in an acid-free archival photograph sleeve, so keep the paper stabilized and together in long-term storage and allow it to be safely handled by researchers.

Carrie Beall (later Calvert) had kept a scrapbook revolving around her father's Civil War service, containing newspaper clippings and his unit histories. The scrapbook lost most of its pages and its binding over the years, with several pages and the scrapbook covers remaining. The carte de visites were part of a Civil War-era collectors' set common to the period, but its photographer is unidentified. These photographs of Confederate leaders were distributed as collectors' pieces during and after the war, and some were reproduced from the originals produced by other photographers. The photographs were originally stored in a period photo album, but had been removed by the time they came to the Military Collection.

The photographs have been individually stored in acid-free, archival plastic sleeves to allow researchers to handle the original images without causing damage to the image's surface and to improve preservation during long-term storage. The photographs have been numbered with a HB No.2 pencil on the back, according to the collection number, box and folder number, and the individual image number. For example, the number "CW 10.B1.F8.1" should be interpreted as "Civil War Collection collection 10, Box 1, Folder 8, Photograph 1."

Biographical Note:

James F. Beall

James Franklin Beall was born on September 1, 1837, in North Carolina to Dr. Burgess Lamar and Ellen Moore Beall. Burgess Beall was a medical doctor who also represented Davidson County in the North Carolina legislature in the 1838 and 1840. Ellen Beall died on November 11, 1841. Dr. Beall would remarry to Elizabeth J. Low in December 1848. By 1850, Beall became one of the four wealthiest farmers in Davidson County. Dr. Beall died in 1853. James F. Beall would follow in his father's footsteps, going on to attend medical school at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC. He later attended the University of Virginia by 1858. He was still a medical student by 1860 when the Civil War broke out. By 1860, James Beall was living with his brother Dr. Robert L. Beall's family in Davison County, and studying medicine under his brother's medical practice.

James Beall would enlist for service with the Confederate States Army on May 8, 1861, with the rank of Sergeant in the 11th North Carolina Volunteers. The regiment was nicknamed the "Davidson Guards," as it was composed of people from Davidson County. This unit would become Company A, 21st North Carolina Infantry Regiment, receiving its unit number in Danville, Virginia, later on in the Confederate Army hierarchy. North Carolina seceded from the United States of America less than two weeks later on May 20, 1861. Beall was elected to be a 2nd Lieutenant on July 8, 1861. Information on the military campaigns of the 21st North Carolina Infantry can be explored in the North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster-Volume VI.

James Beall would be promoted to the rank of 1st Lieutenant on April 27, 1862. He was again promoted to Captain on May 25, 1862. Beall suffered a number of significant battle wounds between 1862 and 1865. These included being wounded in the shoulder at Winchester, Virginia, on May 25, 1862; at Ox Hill, Virginia, on September 1, 1862; and wounded in the head at the Battle of Chancellorsville sometime between May 1-4, 1863. He was promoted to the rank of Major, and reassigned to the field and staff of the 21st North Carolina Infantry on October 19, 1864. Beall would again be wounded at or near Fort Stedman, Virginia, during the Battle of Fort Stedman around March 25, 1865--just prior to Robert E. Lee's surrender to the Union Army at Appomattox Court House in April 1865. It is unclear when he either swore a loyalty oath to the United States or was discharged by service under the terms of the Confederate Army's surrender in April 1865. Nothing is known about Beall's life in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War.

After the war, James Beall continued his interrupted medical studies by attending the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia for one year. He returned to Davidson County, opening up a medical practice in Cotton Grove Township that he operated for ten years. Beall would marry Margaret Cornelia Harper on December 29, 1869, in Caldwell County, NC. In 1880, Beall purchased his father's historic family house that came to be known as Beallmont, located in Boone Township near Linwood in Davidson County, in 1880 at public auction after his brother lost it due to financial difficulties. James and Cornelia would raise their family at Beallmont. Beall ended up operating several businesses while living at Beallmont, working as a farmer, tanner, and merchant in additional to his medical work. James F. Beall died on December 7, 1907, in Linwood, NC, and was buried in Jersey Baptist Church Cemetery in Lexington, NC.

Samuel Finley Harper

Samuel Finley Harper was born on July 10, 1843, in the city of Lenoir in Caldwell County, NC, to James and Caroline Ellen Harper. He was the older brother of Margaret Cornelia Harper (who later married James F. Beall). During the Civil War, Samuel Harper enlisted for service in the Confederate Army with the rank of Private on April 30, 1861, in Caldwell County when he was 17 years old. He would be assigned at some point between 1861 and March 1862 to Company A, 22nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment. After spending a few months with Company K of the 22nd North Carolina Infantry, from March 31 to July 1862, Harper returned to service with Company A for the rest of the Civil War in July 1862. He was wounded at Seven Pines, Virginia, around or on May 31, 1862, with an unspecified wound. James Harper served with Company A, 22nd North Carolina Infantry, until he was paroled after surrendering to the Union Army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9, 1865. Samuel F. Harper died on January 17, 1929, and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte, NC.

Scope and Content:

The collection is composed of original materials from the James F. and Cornelia H. Beall family of Davidson County, NC, connected with the military service and/or history of the Beall and Harper family members during the American Civil War. The collection is composed of handwritten unit histories, collectible carte de visites, printed photograph panels, correspondence, newspaper clippings, a partial scrapbook, and post-war Lost Cause myth published materials. The materials largely document the Civil War service of James F. Beall of Davidson County, NC, in Company A, 21st North Carolina Infantry Regiment, and his brother-in-law James F. Harper of Caldwell County, NC, in the 22nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment. The collection is arranged in the following three series: Series I: James F. Beall Papers; Series II: Harper Family Materials; and Series III: Miscellaneous Civil War Materials.

CW 10 Box 1

Company G, 38th North Carolina Regiment, Payroll, February 29, 1864

Restrictions on Access:

There are no restrictions on accessing this collection.

Processing Information:

When the payroll was received from the donor, it had been stored folded up in a rectangular shape, stored between two panes of glass to keep the document stable and flat. The payroll had been kept folded and maintained that way by the family since 1865. There was significant damage to the payroll due to age and poor storage over the years, primarily along the fold lines and in areas where sections had been ripped out [either by accidents, pests, or other causes]. There was also staining from water damage. The document was split almost in half vertically along the right side. In January 2015, the payroll began conservation treatment by the State Archives conservator, with treatments made to the paper and for the acidic iron gall ink with which it was written. The missing sections were mended to fill in the gaps and stabilize the payroll. Preservation digital images were made of the pre-treatment and post-treatment condition. The payroll was incapsulated in archival polyester film to offer support and protection from handling by researchers.

Historical Note:

[This historical note documents Company G, 38th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, from the date of the payroll that composes this collection, through the unit's surrender at Appomattox Court House, to explain the history of the men listed on the roll. This piece was written by Military Collection Archivist Matthew M. Peek for a Civil War 150th Anniversary blog post for the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources on April 9, 2015].

Company G of the 38th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, was raised in Alexander County, N.C., on November 2, 1861. It went into state service at Camp Mangum on December 31, 1861, near present-day Raleigh. Known as the "Rocky Face Rangers," the great majority of its members were farmers, mechanics, and teachers. The 38th North Carolina Infantry and Company G served with distinction at some of the Civil War's most important battles prior to February 1864, including the Seven Days Battles, Second Battle of Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. By the date of this collection's payroll in February 1864, Company G had suffered significantly from wounds, deaths, captures, and desertions to the enemy. 1864 would prove to be a turning point for the unit-as it had for so many other North Carolina regiments, worn down by the grueling fighting as the tide seemingly began to turn in the Union Army's favor.

By February 1864, Company G had 46 men listed in its ranks, with many of these men having family connections to each other, such as the Murdock [listed in this collection's payroll as Murdah] brothers and the Lackey family. By the time of April 9, 1865, Company G had suffered tremendously from the course of war, with the following fates coming to the men of its ranks as listed on the February 1864 company payroll: 7 soldiers were captured during battle, and released after they took the United States' Oath of Allegiance; 5 soldiers deserted to the Union Army side; 13 soldiers surrendered at Appomattox Court House with the 38th North Carolina Infantry Regiment; 5 soldiers were transferred or retired to the Invalid Corps due to injury; 1 soldier left the company and returned home, believed to be due to injury; 6 soldiers were killed in combat or died of disease before the surrender at Appomattox; 7 soldiers are unaccounted for due to unknown circumstance by the time of Appomattox; and 2 soldiers were discharged before the end of war.

The company's commanding officer, Captain Richard M. Sharpe, had just been promoted to captain and was assigned as the company's commanding officer on February 16, 1864. Richard Sharpe served in the same company with his four brothers and one cousin, George W. (also a company officer), John C. (also a company officer), James F., Thomas J., and Christopher T. (cousin). Of all his relations in the company, only Richard survived through the Civil War to the surrender at Appomattox Court House. Richard Sharpe would lead Company G in the fierce combat at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, where he was wounded in the right shoulder on May 13, 1864. Sharpe would be unable to return to full service until sometime in July or August 1864, regaining command of Company G. Sharpe oversaw his company's surrender to the Union forces at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

Alfred A. Hines was promoted to First Lieutenant of Company G on February 16, 1864. Having been a teacher before the Civil War, Hines served in the company with his two brothers and a family relative. Hines appears to have suffered greatly from illness, having been absent from the company before his 1864 promotion, and absent again due to illness for most of the year until October 1864. During this period of illness, Alfred learned of the death of his brother Benjamin at Petersburg, Virginia, on June 24, 1864. Finally unable to continue in full service, Alfred retired to the Invalid Corps, and would surrender with Company G and his sole living brother Samuel.

Not all of those who surrendered at Appomattox had a clear path to the end of the war. Private Henry M. Poplin entered service with Company G at the advanced fighting age of 38 in March 1863. Before 1864, Poplin was captured by the Union forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, on May 3, 1863, and confined at Washington, D.C. He would be involved in a prisoner-of-war exchange with the Confederacy around May 13, 1863; and returned to duty with Company G within the next few months. Poplin would face the Union forces as victors again on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox.

Private Robert Clementus Lackey is one of the most unique soldiers in Company G to have made it to Appomattox. Lackey was one of thirteen members of the Lackey family of Alexander County who served in Company G, along with his first cousin Thomas Fielding Murdock (also Murdah). The Lackey, Murdock, and Sharpe families, represented by 22 members in Company G during the Civil War, are all related through marriage. The Lackey family at the start of the Civil War was one of the largest families in Alexander County. Robert worked as a farmer before the war, and enlisted in November 1861. Lackey was wounded about June 26, 1862, at Mechanicsburg, Virginia; he appears to have been bothered by the wound throughout the remainder of the war. He rejoined Company G by September 1862 and served until about March 1864, when he was promoted to be a Musician (again, likely due to his injuries). Robert Lackey retired to the Invalid Corps on December 7, 1864, remaining in a non-combat capacity with Company G until Appomattox.

One of the most unusual stories from the members of Company G by February 1864 was that of Private Cyrus Drum. At age 38 when he enlisted in March 1863, Drum was wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, during May 1-4, 1863. After his absence from his company due to injury, Drum would be listed on August 13, 1863, as a deserter, having not returned to his company after more than three months' absence. Drum returned to duty sometime in November or December 1863, after which he was court-martialed for desertion and sentenced to death by the Confederate Army. However, likely due to the shortage of Confederate soldiers by 1864, his death sentence was remitted. Drum would remain with Company G, only to end up surrendering to the Union Army at Appomattox.

Finally, we come to Thomas Fielding Murdock (listed as Murdah). Thomas Murdock was a 19-year old farmer when he enlisted in Company G; Thomas' younger brother Robert would enlist at some point in the same company. Thomas became the 3rd Lieutenant of Company G on May 11, 1863; and served in this capacity throughout the rest of the Civil War. Thomas surrendered on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House. During the surrender, Thomas appears to have retained an original February 1864 payroll, along with a diary he kept throughout the war, and took the payroll back with him-folded up-to Alexander County.

The surrender of Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, and later of Johnston's Confederate Army of Tennessee on April 26, 1865, did not spark the end of fighting for the Confederate veterans of Company G. They would return home to farms and communities in Alexander County, requiring the veterans to pitch in to fill the void of those men county men lost in war. The returning soldiers had to learn to deal with the horrors of war as they re-learned to live at home and reunite with their families. The men also had to learn how to deal with the residual injuries of the war, even as their pre-war Southern culture would be shocked with changes following the end of the Civil War and beginning of Reconstruction by the ending of slavery. Each member of Company G found their own way at war's end.

Richard M. Sharpe returned to Alexander County, and married Barbra E. Mehaffey on April 4, 1867. Alfred A. Hines would eventually settle in Iredell County, and raised a family with his wife Rebecca C. Hines. Despite his various infirmaries, Alfred lived until May 15, 1926, getting to see a son and daughter into adulthood. Henry M. Poplin returned to Alexander County and his family, including his wife Mary and their four children-one of whom, Catherine, had been born at the start of the Civil War. In a double ceremony with his cousin Thomas F. Murdock, Robert C. Lackey married a Civil War soldier's widow, Panthy Susan Beckham, on November 22, 1865. The Lackeys went on to have a large family and built their own house.

Cyrus Drum returned home to his wife Nancy in Alexander County. It is not known what, if any, effect Drum's desertion had on his reputation in the county. Drum died on August 23, 1904 at the age of 78. Drum did not die before seeking a Confederate veteran's pension in 1902-without mentioning anything about his court-martial or desertion in his official application. After the war, Thomas Murdock married Elizabeth H. Beckham on November 22, 1865. He and his wife had a large family, and Thomas became a local public official. Later, he became a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives.

Scope and Content:

The collection is composed of one original payroll for Company G, 38th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, dated February 29, 1864. This particular payroll was owned by Thomas Fielding Murdock (listed as Murdah) of Alexander County, NC. Thomas Murdock was a 19-year old farmer when he enlisted in Company G; Thomas' younger brother Robert would enlist at some point in the same company. Thomas became the 3rd Lieutenant of Company G on May 11, 1863, and served in this capacity throughout the rest of the Civil War. Thomas surrendered on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House. During the surrender, Thomas appears to have retained an original February 1864 payroll, along with a diary he kept throughout the war, and took the payroll back with him-folded up-to Alexander County. The payroll had been retained by the Thomas Murdock family since April 1865 before being donated to the State Archives of North Carolina

The document is dated two weeks after their new commanding officer Captain Richard M. Sharpe, who remained the commanding officer until the surrender at Appomattox Court House, was assigned that position. By February 1864, Company G had 46 men listed in its ranks, with many of these men having family connections to each other from Alexander County, such as the Murdock [listed in this collection's payroll as Murdah] brothers and the Lackey family.

CW 11

1863 Confederate Bond Sheets, January 1, 1863

Restrictions on Access:

There are no restrictions on accessing this collection.

Processing Information:

When the two separate bond sheets were received, one was stored in a large picture frame and the other was folded loose. The framed bond had discolored due to exposure to light, and has a yellow color now. The loose bond is mostly white in color. Both sheets are complete with slight wear and tear damage from over the years. In late 2014, both sheets began conservation treatment by the State Archives conservator, with treatments made to the paper. Both sheets underwent deacidification treatments, were mended, and encapsulated in archival polyester film to offer support and protection from handling by researchers.

Scope and Content:

The collection is composed of two original North Carolina-issued Confederate States of America $1,000 bond sheets, issued by the North Carolina Treasury to help fund the state's financing of their involvement in the American Civil War. The bond sheets were issued on January 1, 1863, and both are signed by North Carolina Governor Zebulon B. Vance and State Treasurer Jonathan Worth. The bond sheets are numbered as issue numbers 3659 and 3699, respectively. Both sheets have all their individual coupons still attached. Each individual coupon on both sheets is signed by William H. Dodd of Raleigh, NC, a state official working in the Treasury Department. Both sheets measure 17.5 inches by 21.5 inches.

CW 12

Thomas L. Kendrick Papers, 1861-1865

CW 13

Robert W. Bidgood Letters, 1863

CW 14

Henry Brantingham and W.H.S. Burgwyn Diary, 1862-1864

Processing:

This collection was formerly identified as PC.698 in the Private Collections unit. It was transferred to the Military Collection and given the identifier CW 15 in August 2025.

Scope and Content:

Diary used first (Aug. 29-Dec. 12, 1862) by Sergeant Brantingham, New Jersey Volunteers, noting expenses, company rations drawn, rosters, and daily schedule; and describing Ft. Vredenburgh at Freehold, N.J., religious services, marching to Virginia, and the Battle of Fredericksburg.
The diary was then found and used by Lieutenant Burgwyn, 35th Regt. NCT, who made daily entries from Mar. 3, 1863, to Jan. 20, 1864, referring to camp life, skirmishing along Neuse River, scouting near Petersburg, fortifications at Weldon, social occasions, visits to family plantation in Northampton Co., Gen. Matt W. Ransom, Robert Bruce Peebles, and the Henry K. Burgwyns, Sr. and Jr.

1 Container, 1 Folder

Henry H. Bowen Correspondence, 1864-1865

Scope and Content:

Letters from Pvt. Henry Hunter Bowen (Confederate States Marine Corps) to his wife Ann L. Bowen, and from Ann L. Bowen to her husband Pvt. Henry Hunter Bowen, October 1864-January 1865

CW 16

Sidney A. Hinton Diary, 1861-1865

Biographical/Historical:

Sidney Albert Hinton was born on March 8, 1834, in Chatham County, NC to Albert G. Hinton and Candace Hackney. Sidney was the eldest of six children.

During the Civil War, Sidney Hinton joined the Confederate Army. He served in Company I, 6th Regiment N.C. State Troops (also known as the "Cedar Fork Rifles") before moving to Company H, 47th Regiment (also known as the North Carolina Tigers). He was elected 2nd Lieutenant of Company H, 47th Regiment in March 1862, and was then promoted to 1st Lieutenant on June 12, 1862. Hinton resigned on July 14, 1862, due to poor health.

After the war's end, Sidney Hinton married Laura A. Mitchell on October 4, 1855, and the two had five children: Albert, Sarah, Mary, Bettie and Leroy. The Hintons were farmers in southern Wake County, NC.

Sidney Hinton died on November 3, 1866, in Chatham County, NC.

Scope and Content:

The collection consists of one diary written by Sidney A. Hinton from 1861-1863, during and after his service in the Confederate Army. In it, Hinton describes leaving Raleigh, NC in 1861 and mentions daily life and members of his unit that died. Hinton also includes prices of everyday items, as a way to record daily life.

CW 17

William S. Wade Papers, 1815 - 1888

Access Restrictions:

There are no restrictions on accessing this collection.

Biographical/Historical:

William S. Wade was a hospital steward with the New Jersey 9th Volunteer Infantry, Company M. He was mustered in on September 17, 1861, at Camp Olden near Trenton, New Jersey. The 9th New Jersey Infantry Regiment participated in the North Carolina Expedition (also called the Burnside Expedition) along coastal North Carolina and the Outer Banks. In 1862, the New Jersey 9th Volunteer Infantry conducted a series of raids in eastern NC, including in Deep Creek, Kinston, and White Hall, and they occupied part of Goldsboro, NC including the hospital. The regiment eventually moved South Carolina before moving north again towards the end of the war. William Wade was mustered out in Greensboro, North Carolina on July 12, 1865.

Scope and Content:

Ledger books from Confederate hospitals; William S. Wade correspondence, personnel records, and hospital service records (January 1864; October 1864; June-July 1865; January 1873); 1 letter to Judge Asa Biggs, a member of the secession convention of North Carolina in 1861, from D.W. Bagley of Williamston, NC, dated June 9, 1861 discussing the secession convention, slavery, personal matters, and events of the day; 2 pieces of correspondence from the Confederate States of America Surgeon General Samuel P. Moore to surgeons at the Confederate Hospital No. 3 in Goldsboro, NC; 13 special orders, circulars, correspondence from Confederate commanding officers, and North Carolina state military and medical officials, to Confederate Hospital No. 3 in Goldsboro, NC; 4 pieces of correspondence Confederate and state medical leaders, and Confederate commanding officers, to William A. Holt, surgeon and medical director at the Confederate Hospital No. 3 in Goldsboro, NC; 4 Capt. James Wilson Papers (New Jersey Volunteers) documents and certificates; 1 miscellaneous medical and soldier furlough records (July 1864); 19 miscellaneous records, circulars; newspaper clippings

1 Box, 4 Folders

Jeffrey Harper Leighton Papers, 1860s

Scope and Content:

1 original pocket diary kept by Union soldier Pvt. Frederick Holmes, who served in Company D, 2nd Massachusetts Volunteer Heavy Artillery Regiment. Diary kept for the full year of 1865, begun while Holmes' unit was stationed in Plymouth, NC. Diary covers period that Holmes was in Plymouth, Williamston, and New Bern, NC, between January and June 1865. Also includes entries while stationed in southern Virginia. Diary contains very short entries noting movements of regiment, work responsibilities, and military actions. Diary contains messages regarding Robert E. Lee's surrender in April 1865. Diary also covers Holmes' life upon returning to live in the Boston, Massachusetts area through the end of 1865.1 original carte de visite of a half-length portrait of Union General Ulysses Simpson Grant. Photographed by Jeremiah Gurney and Son of New York. Handwritten identification written over image on top left front of photograph reads "Col. Grant." Photograph is unique version of a common image of Grant made by the photographer [1860s]1 original 2-page letter written by Confederate soldier G. N. Brann [or "Brown" or "Braun"] to his cousin John Black, dated April 16, 1863. The letter was written from Camp Valentine in Hertford County, NC. Letter discusses seeing gunboats on the river and being relieved by a force of 500 cavalry troops [letter has piece of cellulose tape stuck holding a torn portion on].1 original 3-page letter written by Henry V. Hopkins to his family from Carolina City, NC, dated April 26, 1862. Hopkins was serving as a private in Company I, 4th Rhode Island Infantry Regiment. The letter discusses the two-day bombardment by the Union forces under Gen. John G. Parke on the Confederate Fort Macon, NC, from April 25-26, 1862. The letter provides a detailed account of Hopkins' service and the military actions on April 25 and 26 during the attack on Fort Macon [letter has a large piece of cellulose tape stuck over a long tear in the letter].1 original 4-page letter written by Union soldier George Greenwood to his parents from Fort Davis in Washington, D.C., dated January 21, 1865. Greenwood's military unit is unknown. The letter discusses life as a soldier, and receiving packages and letters from home. The letter also discusses the fall of Fort Fisher, NC, during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher, and Greenwood's views on it. The letter ends with his view about the length of the war being good for ending the division that caused the war by exhausting the enemy.

James M. Isbell Collection, 1861, 1862, undated

Access Restrictions:

There are no restrictions on accessing this collection.

Processing:

This collection was formerly in the Private Collections unit. It was transferred to the Military Collection and given the identifier CW 20 in May 2025.

Biographical/Historical:

James Martin Isbell was born to Thomas Isbell Jr. and Lucinda Petty in July of 1837 in North Carolina (likely Caldwell County). He had two siblings, a brother and a sister. Col. James M. Isbell was a second cousin of Col. Thomas Charles Land (1828-1912), who wrote the Ballad of Tom Dula (also known as "Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley"), and his brother Linville Land who made the coffins of both Laura Foster and Tom Dula.Like his family, James was a farmer, both before and after the Civil War. He married Sarah Louise Horton on March 1, 1857, and throughout their lives, the couple had eight children.James was commissioned as an officer in the Confederate Army in April 1861 at age 23. He was elected Second Lieutenant in Company A, North Carolina 22nd Infantry Regiment and held this position until he resigned on July 15, 1861 (reason not reported).He reenlisted in Company A, North Carolina 22nd Infantry on August 9, 1861, with the rank of private. He was elected First Lieutenant on May 1, 1862, and was promoted to Captain on May 31, 1862. He was bruised by shell at the Second Battle of Bull Run (August 28-30, 1862) and mustered out on October 13, 1862.James Isbell dies on April 14, 1913, in Calwell County, NC and is buried in the Grandin Baptist Church Cemetery, Lenoir, Caldwell County, NC.

Scope and Content:

The collection contains two records from James Isbell's military service: the Resignation of Captain James M. Isbell (October 28, 1862) and the Muster roll of the First Volunteers for Caldwell County (1861). It also contains 2 laminated sheets of newspaper articles about the life of James M. Isbell compiled by an unknown source.

1 Folder, 4 Items

John B. Brown Papers, 1861-1865

Processing:

This collection was transferred from the Private Collections unit in May 2025. Its former identifier is PC.54.

Scope and Content:

Military papers of Captain John Badger Brown, Co. B., 3rd Regt. NCST, including muster rolls, company reports, orders, leave requests, disability and death certificates, and records of quartermaster supplies, clothing, ordnance, pay, and recruiting funds. Also included are a daily schedule, lists of absentees and paroled prisoners, and letter to mother of soldier who died in hospital at Lynchburg. Brown's papers as assistant inspector general of Stewart's brigade (Mar., 1864) include ordnance and clothing requests. Court minutes, transcripts of testimony, and letters relate to general courts-martial in Raleigh, May-June, 1865, and apparently were the papers of 1st Lt. D. A. Nevin, 142nd New York Volunteers, judge advocate. Defendants were Union soldiers charged with robbery, rape, desertion, and neglect of duty in various counties in North Carolina. Also copies of Sherman's order (Apr. 12, 1865) to respect and protect officials in Raleigh and order (Apr. 19) for suspension of hostilities.

CW 21

Thomas A. Clark Diary, January-October 1864

Access Restrictions:

The diary is currently in the Conservation Lab for treatment. Please contact the Military Collections Archvist if you wish to view this collection.

Biographical/Historical:

Thomas A. Clark was born in Orange County, North Carolina in 1839, to John Clark and Barsheba Dowdy. Before the war, Thomas was a blacksmith, like his father. He married Nancy Jane Pickard on Aug 3, 1861, and the couple had one child, Thomas Alexander Clark (1864).

Clark enlisted in the Confederate Army at 23 years old, on March 3, 1862, in Oaks, Orange County, NC. He mustered in as private on April 3, 1862, at Camp Mangum in Raleigh and was assigned to the 44th Infantry Regiment, Company G. Shortly after, he was appointed a musician on May 22, 1862, but was reduced to ranks in late 1863. In January or February 1864, he was promoted to Corporal but was reduced to ranks again in late 1864. Thomas Clark was shot at or near Petersburg, Virginia and died on October 2, 1864.

Scope and Content:

The Thomas A. Clark Diary consists of a diary kept by Private Thomas A. Clark of Orange County, North Carolina from January through September 1864. In the diary, Clark lists some troop movements and weather on specific dates, as well as some more personal information, such as when he was sick and/or hospitalized and on which duty he served.In much of the diary, the dates appear to be irrelevant, and the diary functions much like a notebook. On the first few pages, Clark wrote a list of fellow members of the C.S.A.'s 44th Infantry Regiment, Company G. He also writes prayers and short letters to his wife and sister throughout.The diary ends on October 2, 1864, with a letter from an unknown writer to Clark's wife, Nancy, informing her of his death at Petersburg.

Diary

Bowen, Ann L.

Bowen, Henry Hunter

Daniels, Selby A.

Erwin, J. R.

Fisher, Charles F.

Graham, William A.

Green, Wharton J. (Wharton Jackson), 1831-1910

Hadley, John Vestal

Hampton, Wade, 1818-1902

Hill, Chester A.

Hill, D. H. (Daniel Harvey), 1821-1889

Hogg, Thomas D.

Hoke, John F.

Holden, William Woods, 1818-1892

Jackson, Stonewall, 1824-1863

Johnston, Joseph E. (Joseph Eggleston), 1807-1891

Klutts, Moses

Knapp, Nannie Ellis

Knapp, Theodore Judson

Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1807-1870

Marschall, Nicola

Miller, William Love

Myers, Frederick A.

Sappe, Susan J.

Schiller, Herbert M.

Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891

Smith, Jessica Randolph

Smith, Orren Randolph, 1827-1913

Springs, John M.

Tyler, John, 1790-1862

Vance, Zebulon Baird, 1830-1894

Wilson, Warren

Worth, Jonathan, 1802-1869

Confederate Museum (Richmond, Va.)

United Daughters of the Confederacy

American history

American women

Army

Artificial limbs

Artillery

Battlefields

Battles

Cavalry

Cemeteries

Chancellorsville, Battle of, Chancellorsville, Va., 1863

Civil War, U. S., 1861-1865

Confederacy

Confederate flag

Confederate States of America

Disabled veterans

Enlistment

Forts

Fredericksburg, Battle of, Fredericksburg, Va., 1862

Freed slaves

Freedmen

Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysburg, Pa., 1863

Hospitals

Infantry

Insignia

Marines

Military campaigns of the Civil War

Military camps

Military history

Military officers

Military personnel

Military service

Military uniforms

Militias

Muster rolls

Navy

Newspaper clippings

Newspapers

Payrolls

Pensions

Petitions

Prisoners of war

Prisons

Quartermasters

Regiments

Reminiscences

Reunions

Shiloh, Battle of, Tenn., 1862

Slave narratives

Slavery

Soldiers

Stars and Bars

Surrenders

Uniforms

Veterans

War pensions

Warfare

Wars

Women's history

Yankees

Alamance County (N.C.)

Alexander County (N.C.)

Alleghany County (N.C.)

Anson County (N.C.)

Ashe County (N.C.)

Asheville (N.C.)

Beaufort (N.C.)

Beaufort County (N.C.)

Bertie County (N.C.)

Bladen County (N.C.)

Brandy Station (Va.)

Brunswick County (N.C.)

Buncombe County (N.C.)

Burke County (N.C.)

Cabarrus County (N.C.)

Caldwell County (N.C.)

Camden County (N.C.)

Carteret County (N.C.)

Caswell County (N.C.)

Catawba County (N.C.)

Chancellorsville (Va.)

Charlotte (N.C.)

Chatham County (N.C.)

Cherokee County (N.C.)

Chowan County (N.C.)

Cleveland County (N.C.)

Columbus County (N.C.)

Craven County (N.C.)

Cumberland County (N.C.)

Currituck County (N.C.)

Davidson County (N.C.)

Davie County (N.C.)

Drewrys Bluff (Va.)

Duplin County (N.C.)

Edgecombe County (N.C.)

Fayetteville (N.C.)

Forsyth County (N.C.)

Fort Caswell (N.C.)

Fort Holmes (N.C.)

Fort Macon (N.C.)

Fort Sumter (Charleston, S.C.)

Franklin (Va.)

Franklin County (N.C.)

Fredericksburg (Va.)

Garysburg (N.C.)

Gaston County (N.C.)

Gates County (N.C.)

Gettysburg (Pa.)

Goldsboro (N.C.)

Granville County (N.C.)

Greene County (N.C.)

Guilford County (N.C.)

Halifax County (N.C.)

Harnett County (N.C.)

Haywood County (N.C.)

Henderson County (N.C.)

Hertford County (N.C.)

Hyde County (N.C.)

Iredell County (N.C.)

Jackson County (N.C.)

Johnston County (N.C.)

Jones County (N.C.)

Kelly's Ford (Va.)

Kinston (N.C.)

Lenoir County (N.C.)

Lincoln County (N.C.)

Long Island (S.C.)

Macon County (N.C.)

Madison County (N.C.)

Martin County (N.C.)

McDowell County (N.C.)

Mecklenburg County (N.C.)

Mitchell County (N.C.)

Montgomery County (N.C.)

Moore County (N.C.)

Morris Island (S.C.)

Nash County (N.C.)

New Bern (N.C.)

New Hanover County (N.C.)

North Carolina

Northampton County (N.C.)

Onslow County (N.C.)

Orange County (N.C.)

Pasquotank County (N.C.)

Pennsylvania

Perquimans County (N.C.)

Person County (N.C.)

Petersburg (Va.)

Pitt County (N.C.)

Polk County (N.C.)

Raleigh (N.C.)

Randolph County (N.C.)

Richmond County (N.C.)

Robeson County (N.C.)

Rockingham County (N.C.)

Rowan County (N.C.)

Rutherford County (N.C.)

Sampson County (N.C.)

South Carolina

Stanly County (N.C.)

Stokes County (N.C.)

Surry County (N.C.)

Transylvania County (N.C.)

Tyrrell County (N.C.)

Union County (N.C.)

Virginia

Wake County (N.C.)

Warren County (N.C.)

Washington County (N.C.)

Watauga County (N.C.)

Wayne County (N.C.)

Weldon (N.C.)

Wilkes County (N.C.)

Williamston (N.C.)

Wilmington (N.C.)

Wilson County (N.C.)

Winchester (Va.)

Winston (N.C.)

Yadkin County (N.C.)

Yancey County (N.C.)

Correspondence

Diaries

Letters

Maps

Scrapbooks

Sheet music

Almost from the beginning of the North Carolina Historical Commission, there appears to have been an effort to collect and group together records relating to the various military conflicts in which North Carolinians have participated. Unfortunately, the provenance of many of the records so collected and grouped together has been lost or, at best, obscured. Acquisition of records relating to the Civil War is noted in each Biennial Report of the N. C. Historical Commission (or its successor, the State Department of Archives and History) since 1910. Some of these notices include complete description and provenance of the records acquired. Others are very vague and incomplete. The following is a resume of most of the information contained in the Biennial Reports from 1910 to 1934; 1910-1912, 8 muster rolls; 1912-1914, manuscript report of sick and wounded Confederate soldiers at General Hospital No. 8, Raleigh, 1864; muster roll, Co. K, 54th Regiment, N.C.T., January 1-February 28, 1864; 1914-1916, 17 muster rolls, 3 muster rolls (described), 1 enlistment paper, and payrolls of 4th Regiment, N.C.S.T.; 1916-1918, 25 muster rolls (described) and descriptive book of Co. G, 3rd Regiment, N C.S.T.; 1918-1920, 1 muster roll (described); 1920-1922, 2,500 "pieces," 500 telegrams, 26th Regimental Quartermaster records, 26th Regimental muster rolls, and roster of Pitt County soldiers; 1924-1926, 112 C.S.N. records, 4 "pieces" of Quartermaster Department records, roster of 2 companies, 16 "pieces" relating to Silver Hill Mining Company, and 32 Civil War pamphlets; 1926-1928, a letter, volume of telegrams, 26th Regimental muster rolls, payrolls, and diary, 1,358 "pieces" of Quartermaster Department records, 187 "pieces" relating to artificial limbs, etc.; 1928-1930, muster roll of 58th Regiment, N.C.T., and 7 vouchers; 1930-1932, pay, clothing, and descriptive book of Co. F, 55th Regiment, N.C.T., and a "large miscellany" of Civil War papers; and 1932-1934 j 177 special requisitions of Quartermaster Department. After 1934, more complete accessions records are available in the Search Room and are not included here.

Processed by C.F.W. Coker, 1960s;

Encoded by Aaron Cusick, July 2009; updated March 2014