Wilmington North Carolina To 1861

Of America's thirteen original colonies, North Carolina was one of the most rural, its urban population miniscule and its maritime commerce severely limited--except in the town of Wilmington. Prior to the Civil War, the coastal town was North Carolina's largest urban area and principal seaport, with shipping as the mainstay of the local economy. Wilmington indeed was a singular place in colonial and antebellum North Carolina. This book presents the history of Wilmington from its founding and development to the eve of the Civil War. Part I traces Wilmington's history from the incorporation of the town in 1739-40 to 1789, when North Carolina joined the newly formed United States of America. This section focuses on the confused and disputed origins of Wilmington, life in a colonial urban setting, the growing importance of the port, and town governance. Part II expands upon the preceding topics for the years 1789 to 1861. It also examines the economic development of the port, the wide variety of social activities, the growth of the African American population, and Wilmington's role in state and national politics.

In its early years, the Wilmington & Raleigh Rail Road Company survived multiple threats to its existence. Under its new corporate name, the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad Company would soon be put to the ultimate test, the Civil War. From mobilization to the last effort to supply Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, the company would endure the wearing out of its equipment and rails; the capriciousness and bureaucracy of the Confederate government; sabotage attempts; the gruesome death of its president; a yellow fever epidemic; Union raids on its facilities and bridges; runaway inflation in Confederate economy; the fall of Wilmington; its bisection by advancing Union forces; and, finally, the unnecessary destruction of locomotives, cars, track, and bridges by retreating Confederate troops. The railroad, unlike the Confederacy, survived, and would eventually transform itself a powerful regional economic force, adapting to the challenges of the New South.

This history of the 11th North Carolina Infantry in the Civil War— civilian soldiers and their families—follows the regiment from their 1861 mustering-in to their surrender at Appomattox, covering action at Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor and Petersburg. Drawing on letters, journals, memoirs, official reports, personnel records and family histories, this intensely personal account features Tar Heels relating their experiences through over 1,500 quoted passages. Casualty lists give the names of those killed, wounded, captured in action and died of disease. Rosters list regimental officers and staff, enlistees for all 10 companies and the names of the 78 men who stacked arms on April 9, 1865.

Providing coverage of both battles for Fort Fisher, this book includes a detailed examination of the attack and defence of Fort Anderson. It also features accounts of the defence of the Sugar Loaf Line and of the operations of Federal warships on the Cape Fear River.

In their comprehensive and authoritative history of boat and shipbuilding in North Carolina through the early twentieth century, William Still and Richard Stephenson document for the first time a bygone era when maritime industries dotted the Tar Heel coast. The work of shipbuilding craftsmen and entrepreneurs contributed to the colony's and the state's economy from the era of exploration through the age of naval stores to World War I. The study includes an inventory of 3,300 ships and 270 shipwrights.

Using editorials published in 196 newspapers before the outbreak of the Civil War, Donald E. Reynolds shows the evolution of the editors' viewpoints and explains how editors helped influence the traditionally conservative and nationalistic South to revolt and secede.

Located in the western piedmont of North Carolina, Yadkin County was hardly a hotbed of rebellion at the start of the Civil War. Many of the 1,200 men from Yadkin who served in the Confederate Army did so with distinction, but a number deserted. Some of these holed up in the Bond School House, and when the militia attempted to arrest them, four were killed and several others were wounded. This is a comprehensive accounting of how the county responded to the Civil War and the effect it had on Yadkin’s citizens, civilian and military alike.

Continuing from Volume I, Volume II intersperses numerous soldiers’ letters with those from home. The issue of slavery from both the owners and individuals is brought forth. Did colored men really serve as Confederate soldiers? Did free black men? Union soldiers described southern women as defi ant, beautiful, crude, and pitiful. Read of women aboard blockade-runners, the fall of Wilmington, Sherman’s march, Stoneman’s western raiders, and the end of the war. Did any civilians die due to these raids? Did they idly sit by as their lives and homes were destroyed? The war did come to their doorstep during the second half of the confl ict. Both Volume I and II tell something from each of the state’s 87 counties. Perhaps you may fi nd information about your ancestor among these pages. Information from period newspapers, as well as mostly unpublished letters, tell their stories.