Carried Into War
A Soldier's Life
Realities of War
The Home Front
Facing the Grim Reaper
Breaking the Blockade
The Last Campaigns
An Uncertain Future
Acknowledgments
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Hardships of War
Supporting the War Effort
Divided Loyalties
Despite the state's allegiance to the Confederacy, some North Carolinians supported the United States actively by enlisting to fight for the Union. Other citizens deserted from or evaded conscription into the Confederate army and questioned North Carolina's sacrifices as a Confederate state.
Neighbor against Neighbor
Swarms of men liable to conscription are gone to the tories or to the Yankees.
—Brigadier General J. W. McElroy, First Brigade North Carolina Home Guard, April 12, 1864
Not all North Carolinians favored becoming part of the Confederacy. Strongholds of unionism existed across the state. This was especially true in the western, Mountain region, where many people felt they had little in common with the eastern slaveholding planters who dominated much of state government. Hidden in isolated Mountain pockets lived Confederate conscript evaders and deserters from both armies. Vicious clashes between these groups and Confederate authorities attracted both state and national attention.
Shelton Laurel
The remote section of Shelton Laurel, in mountainous Madison County, provided a secluded refuge for both Union sympathizers and Confederate deserters. In January 1863, Confederate forces rounded up a number of suspected unionists and executed thirteen of them by firing squad without trial. Disturbed by reports of the massacre, Governor Zebulon B. Vance ordered an investigation. Despite an official inquiry, Madison County remained the scene of violence until the end of the war, with additional atrocities committed by both Union and Confederate sympathizers.
Charles McKinney Roberts
Born in Buncombe County, in the Mountains of North Carolina, Charles McKinney Roberts initially supported the Union strongly and spoke out against secession. Like many former unionists, Roberts cast his fate with his native state when North Carolina left the United States. During counterguerrilla operations in Madison County, Roberts was mortally wounded by a Union sympathizer on September 27, 1864, and died the next day.
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Bond Schoolhouse
Yadkin County, in North Carolina's western Piedmont, had strong enclaves of unionists who resisted the Confederate draft. On the evening of February 11, 1863, a number of local men facing conscription met at Bond Schoolhouse to plan fleeing to Union lines. Learning of the gathering, local militia surrounded the schoolhouse, and gunfire erupted the next morning. Two men from each side were killed, and bitterness between local families continued for generations.
Jesse Virgil Dobbins
Jesse Virgil Dobbins did not join the Confederate army when the war broke out in 1861. Nor did he enlist after the draft went into effect in August 1862. Dobbins's Quaker religious beliefs and political feelings did not allow him to support the Confederate war effort. Some people considered Jesse a ringleader of unionist activities in Yadkin County. Fearing arrest by Confederate authorities, Jesse Dobbins, his brother William, and several others decided to leave and join the Union army. They met at the Bond Schoolhouse in February 1863 and engaged in a shoot-out with the Home Guard that left four men dead. Jesse and William fled to Tennessee, where they enlisted in the Federal army. William died of illness in 1864, but Jesse survived and served the remainder of the war in a blue uniform.
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The Lowry Band
Robeson County had many residents of mixed ancestry. Led by William Lowry for much of the war, the Lowry Band became legendary folk heroes who defended local Lumbee Indians, African Americans, poor whites, and mulattoes from injustices committed by the Confederate Home Guard. The band seemed to move and strike at will, because of support from the local populace. When Union general William T. Sherman and his men entered North Carolina in March 1865, the Lowry Band served as guides for the Federal forces.
Loyalty to the United States
[T]he people of Guilford, Randolph and other adjoining counties are unshaken in their devotion to the Stars and Stripes.
—Jesse Wheeler, unionist from Greensboro, May 16, 1861
Jesse Wheeler's devotion to the United States reflected the feelings of most North Carolinians at one point during the 1861 secession crisis. But unlike the majority of the state's citizens, Wheeler never accepted the Confederate cause once the state left the Union. Like some other North Carolina unionists, he moved to Indiana during the war. Many North Carolina unionists lived in the Piedmont "Quaker Belt," and others resided along the coast or in the Mountains. Some who remained in North Carolina offered only passive support to the Confederacy, and others campaigned openly for the peace movement. Some unionists actively resisted service in the Confederate army, deserted from the army when drafted, joined Union forces, or assisted escaped Northern prisoners and slaves.
The Quaker Belt
North Carolina's "Quaker Belt" centered in Guilford, Randolph, Forsyth, and Davidson Counties but included pockets in Alamance, Chatham, Davie, Yadkin, Surry, and Wilkes Counties. Not all Quakers were unionists. Many were, however, and they opposed slavery and resisted service in the Confederate army. Some Quakers may have done alternate service work at state-operated saltworks or as nurses.
Bartlett Yancy Clark
The Confederate army conscripted Bartlett Yancy Clark into service in Company H (Stanly Marksmen), Fourteenth Regiment North Carolina Troops on October 1, 1863. As a Quaker, Clark opposed the war and deserted after only a few days. He was reported absent without leave on October 20, 1863, and had been arrested by October 30. Clark was court-martialed on or about January 8, 1864, and subsequently confined at Salisbury Prison. According to family tradition, he served out his sentence as an orderly in the prison hospital, where he became known as a man who showed great compassion to his guards and all prisoners, Confederates and Federals alike.
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Wearing the Blue Uniform
I was willing to join the United States army for the purpose of fighting for the liberties of my dear country that is more precious than gold.
—Jesse Virgil Dobbins of Yadkin County, private in Battery B, First Battalion Tennessee Light Artillery (United States)
Jesse Dobbins, like many other white North Carolina unionists, left home to join the United States Army, to fight against his own state, family, and neighbors. From the Piedmont and west, men escaped across the mountains to enlist in Federal units from other states. Unionists living along the state's coast entered Federal lines to form North Carolina regiments in the Union army. Whites who had deserted from North Carolina Confederate regiments and joined Union regiments faced death if captured. Many African American freedmen and slaves also escaped to Union lines and joined the United States Army. If caught by Confederate forces, they faced possible execution-or a return to slavery. North Carolinians who wore the blue uniform did so at great risk.
White Unionist Soldiers
As many as 10,000 or more white North Carolinians served the United States during the war. In Union-held New Bern, the First Regiment North Carolina Union Volunteers organized in June 1862, followed by the Second Regiment in 1863. The Second and Third North Carolina Mounted Infantry (United States) formed in Tennessee in 1863 and 1864. In February 1864, twenty-two captured soldiers of the Second Regiment North Carolina Union Volunteers were hanged in Kinston for deserting the Confederate army to join the opposing forces. Others who were captured went to prison, where many of them died.
John Quincy Adams Bryan
John Quincy Adams Bryan was a captain of the Wilkes County militia but resigned when the United States Army began to recruit troops for the war. In 1863 the thirty-year-old Bryan joined Company H, Tenth Tennessee Cavalry Regiment (United States) and was soon promoted to captain. He was wounded once, recovered, and fought until the end of the war in 1865.
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African American Union Soldiers
More than 5,000 North Carolina African Americans joined the Union army during the war. These free blacks and escaped slaves served in segregated regiments led by white officers, because the United States War Department did not believe that blacks could be capable leaders in combat. Some of the white officers were abolitionists who believed in the equality of men, but other whites volunteered solely to receive commissions. By 1864 one North Carolina artillery regiment and three infantry regiments had organized. The First Regiment North Carolina Colored Volunteers (Thirty-fifth Regiment United States Colored Troops) fought in Florida and South Carolina; the Second Regiment (Thirty-sixth United States Colored Troops) fought in Virginia; and the Third Regiment (Thirty-seventh United States Colored Troops) and the First North Carolina Colored Heavy Artillery (Fourteenth United States Colored Heavy Artillery) served in eastern North Carolina. African American women supported blacks who served in the Union army by making flags for their regiments and sending food into their camps.
"We, the colored women of Newbern, North Carolina, desire to give to the world our object, plans, constitution, and our officers, for the purpose of ameliorating the miseries of our colored soldiers in their struggle for freedom, whatever may be the occasion against oppression."
—Signed by the officers of the Colored Women's Union Relief Association of Newbern, North Carolina. Mrs. Mary Ann Starkey, President, Mrs. Hannah Snell, Vice-President, Mrs. Sarah Ann White, Secretary, Mrs. G. Richardson, Assistant Secretary, Mrs. Phillis Henderson, Treasurer, and Mrs. L. Newton, President of the Committee
"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters 'US,' let him get an eagle upon his button and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pockets and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States."
—Frederick Douglass
Parker D. Robbins
Like many other North Carolina African American men, Parker D. Robbins enlisted in the Union army to help end slavery and win equal rights for his kinsmen. In 1863 he went to Norfolk, Virginia, and enlisted in the Second United States Colored Cavalry. Apparently a natural leader, Robbins reached the rank of sergeant major. Little else is known about his military career. Robbins was discharged from service in 1866 because of illness.
Eugene J. Courtney
Eugene J. Courtney, an eighteen-year-old native of Ireland and resident of Boston, initially enlisted in the Forty-eighth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia in 1862. He resigned in September 1863 and joined the Second North Carolina Colored Volunteers (Thirty-sixth United States Colored Troops) as a white officer. Promoted to second lieutenant in 1864 and to first lieutenant in 1865, he served with the regiment until October 1865.
John B. Reed
John B. Reed, a tailor from Worcester, Massachusetts, enlisted in the Twenty-fifth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in 1861. He fought at Roanoke Island and New Bern in 1862. Reed joined Company B, Second North Carolina Colored Volunteers (Thirty-sixth United States Colored Troops) as a white officer in October 1863. After February 1865, he served in the First North Carolina Colored Volunteers (Thirty-fifth United States Colored Troops).
William Crombie Jr.
William Crombie Jr., a sculptor from Lowell, Massachusetts, enlisted in the Twenty-sixth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in 1861 and served a year. In 1862 he joined the Second Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Heavy Artillery and served another year. Then in September 1864 he joined the First North Carolina Colored Heavy Artillery (Fourteenth United States Colored Heavy Artillery) as second lieutenant. Crombie was promoted to first lieutenant in February 1865 and served until the end of the war.
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