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
|
|
The Gilbratar of the South
Stoneman's Raid
Sherman's Invasion of North Carolina
Confederate Surrender
The Confederacy fell with the surrender of its two major armies in April 1865. General Robert E. Lee's forces, beaten down and surrounded in Virginia, surrendered on April 9. General Joseph E. Johnston's demoralized troops in North Carolina surrendered on April 26. North Carolina Cherokee Confederates fought the last skirmish in the state at White Sulphur Springs on May 6 and then surrendered on May 9 in Waynesville, Haywood County.
Last at Appomattox
Blow Gabriel blow! My God, let him blow; I am ready to die!
—Unknown North Carolina Confederate soldier, Appomattox Courthouse, April 9, 1865
News of the General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse devastated the majority of North Carolinians. They saw General Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia as the actual and symbolic strength of the Confederacy, and the surrender of the army eliminated all hope. With Lee's surrender and General William T. Sherman's Union army in North Carolina, the will to continue the fight collapsed.
William R. Cox
William R. Cox, from Edgecombe County, volunteered in 1861 and fought until the end of the war, surviving a total of eleven wounds. He was promoted to brigadier general in May 1864. At Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, General Cox commanded North Carolina troops in an attack on enemy lines. Told to stop fighting and withdraw, Cox ordered his men back. As it left, his brigade fired the last volley by the Army of Northern Virginia prior to the surrender.
David G. Cowand
Colonel David G. Cowand, aged twenty-nine, enlisted in Tyrrell County in May 1861. After four years of heavy fighting in Virginia, he and the 113 other survivors of his regiment surrendered and were paroled at Appomattox Courthouse on April 12, 1865. Colonel Cowand was permitted to keep his sword as part of the surrender terms agreed on by Generals Lee and Grant.
Henry A. London
Chatham County native Henry A. London enlisted at the age of sixteen in January 1865 and was assigned as a courier to Major General Bryan Grimes. On April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Courthouse, Private London delivered the last orders to North Carolina brigadier general William R. Cox to cease firing and withdraw.
|
Surrender at the Bennett Farm
My small force is melting away like the snow before the sun.
—General Joseph E. Johnston, Greensboro, April 13, 1865
Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston faced the harsh realities of defeat following the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army in Virginia. General Johnston believed that his army in North Carolina, worn down with battle losses, outnumbered, and dissolving from desertions, could not win the war. Though advised by Confederate president Jefferson Davis to continue the fight, Johnston on April 26, 1865, surrendered his army to Union general William T. Sherman at James and Nancy Bennett's farm in Orange (now Durham) County. Johnston's demoralized troops, scattered from Greensboro to Charlotte, were paroled and sent home the first week in May.
Charles W. Broadfoot
Eighteen-year-old Charles W. Broadfoot enlisted from Cumberland County in June 1861 as a private in Company H (Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry), First Regiment North Carolina Volunteers. When the regiment disbanded in November, Broadfoot reenlisted in Company D, Forty-third Regiment North Carolina Troops. Promoted to lieutenant, he was assigned to General Theophilus H. Holmes's staff. In 1864 he became lieutenant colonel of the First Regiment North Carolina Junior Reserves (Seventieth Regiment North Carolina Troops), made up of seventeen- and eighteen-year-old boys. The regiment fought at Bentonville and surrendered near High Point on May 1, 1865.
William H. Powell
Captain William H. Powell, a thirty-three-year-old farmer from Edgecombe County, enlisted in April 1862. For the next two years, he served in eastern North Carolina and outside Richmond and Petersburg. Sent back to North Carolina in 1865, Powell's regiment joined in the retreat from Wilmington and fought at Wyse Fork and at Bentonville in March. Captain Powell surrendered on May 1 in Greensboro, and his men were paroled in Randolph County the following day.
Richard W. Askew
Twenty-three-year-old Richard W. Askew enlisted from Hertford County in Company D, Seventeenth Regiment North Carolina Troops (Second Organization) (Seventh Regiment North Carolina Volunteers) in February 1862. For the next two years, he served in eastern North Carolina and outside Richmond and Petersburg. Sent back to North Carolina in 1865, Askew's regiment joined in the retreat from Wilmington and fought at Wyse Fork and at Bentonville in March. Lieutenant Askew surrendered on May 1 in Greensboro.
Thomas F. Toon
Colonel Thomas F. Toon of Columbus County served in Robert E. Lee's army and was wounded in battle seven times. His last injury came on March 25, 1865, in the trenches of Petersburg. Sent to a hospital in Greensboro on April 7, Colonel Toon was present when General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered at the end of April. Toon was paroled in Greensboro in May, nearly a month after his troops had surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse.
|
Continue to the next section: An Uncertain Future >>
|
|
|
Print this