Historic Sites Commemorate 140th Anniversary of
Court Declares the Bill of Rights Belongs to North Carolina
Ending a legal battle that lasted longer than the Civil War, Judge Henry W. Hight Jr.
of Wake County Superior Court awarded ownership of North Carolina’s original copy
of the Bill of Rights to the State on March 24. After considering the State’s motion for
summary judgment, the pleadings, depositions, interrogatories, memoranda, and oral
Carolina
Comments
Published Quarterly by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History
Its ownership secure, North Carolina’s copy of the Bill of Rights in its gold gilded frame will remain
stored in the vault of the North Carolina State Archives. All images by the Office of Archives and
History unless otherwise indicated.
arguments, the court concluded “that there is no genuine disputed issue as to any material
fact,” and that the State was entitled to judgment. Judge Hight declared that the contested
document was “a public record of the State of North Carolina, that the State never has
abandoned, conveyed, or in any way relinquished its ownership of the Bill of Rights, and
that the State alone holds all legal and equitable right, title, and interest in the Bill of
Rights to the exclusion of all other persons.”
The legal contest for the Bill of Rights was joined in March 2003 when the invaluable
document, which had been removed from the State Capitol by a Union soldier in the
waning days of the Civil War, was seized in Philadelphia by the Federal Bureau of Investi-gation
when an agent for Wayne Pratt Inc. attempted to sell it to the National
Constitutional Center. After several suits and countersuits in various state and federal
courts, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina awarded posses-sion
of the Bill of Rights to the State in August 2005 but declined to rule on the question
of legal ownership. Judge Hight’s decision finally laid the contentious matter to rest.
7 8 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
For the Record
After five long years of litigation, North Carolina’s
copy of the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution legally
belongs to the people of North Carolina. On March 24,
2008, Wake County Superior Court judge Henry W.
Hight Jr. issued an order declaring that North Carolina
owns its copy of the Bill of Rights to the exclusion of all
other claimants.
The decision ended a dispute that had wended its way
through both federal and state courts since 2003. Attorney
General Roy Cooper worked closely with Gov. Mike Easley,
Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, the Federal Bureau of Inves-tigation,
and U.S. Attorneys in Raleigh and Philadelphia to recover
the document when it was offered for sale to the National Constitutional Center in
Philadelphia in 2003. In the years that followed, the Attorney General’s Office
represented the state’s interests with great skill and dogged determination.
Past issues of this newsletter have recounted the document’s peripatetic history
after a Union soldier took it from the State Capitol in April 1865. The decision in
Wake County Superior Court culminated literally thousands of hours of assiduous
research and hard work by staff members of the Office of Archives and History and
the Attorney General’s Office. Without their high sense of professionalism, public
service, and purpose, the Bill of Rights would not now reside in the vaults of the
State Archives.
At nearly the same time that the Bill of Rights case reached its conclusion, the
Office of Archives and History sought recovery of a Confederate flag once carried by
the Eighteenth Regiment of North Carolina Troops. Pvt. Frank Fesq of the Fortieth
New Jersey Volunteers captured the flag on April 2, 1865, in Confederate trenches at
Petersburg, Virginia. The flag passed into the custody of the U.S. War Department.
In June 1887 the War Department informed Gov. Alfred Scales, a Confederate
veteran, that President Grover Cleveland had ordered the return of “all the flags in
the custody of the War Department . . . to the authorities of the respective States
in which the regiments which bore them” had been organized. In March 1905
Gov. Robert Glenn received the Fesq flag and thirty-one others. He gave custody of
Ray Beck Retires at State Capitol
Raymond L. Beck, historian and site manager of the State Capitol, whose meticulous
research informed the current furnishing plan of the historic building, retired on June 1
after more than thirty years of service. After graduation from Elon College with a bache-lor’s
degree in history and from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a
master’s degree in history, Beck began work as a building guide at the Capitol on Septem-ber
1, 1977. He was promoted on May 1, 1979; his new classification was history museum
specialist I, but in actuality his position for the next twenty-six years was historical
researcher for the State Capitol. A catalog of his many accomplishments must include
coordination of the re-creation of the rooms of the State Library and the state geologist in
the Capitol; acquisition and conservation of an 1823 desk chair from the senate chamber
and an 1840 table from a joint committee room; restoration of the chair of the speaker of
the senate and the portrait of George Washington by Thomas Sully; supervision of all
archaeological investigations on Union Square; selection of appropriate window hangings
and carpets for the governor’s suite of offices; research and design of all exhibits in the
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 7 9
For the Record (continued)
the flag to Col. Fred A. Olds of the state’s Hall of History. In 1914 the Hall of
History came under the aegis of the North Carolina Historical Commission.
The Fesq flag remained in the collections of the Hall of History through the mid-dle
of the twentieth century. The Raleigh News and Observer published a picture of it
in 1953. In 1965 the State Archives made microfilm copies of all of the museum’s
accession cards, including those of the Fesq flag, as a security measure. Then, some-time
in the late 1960s, the Fesq flag—and the flag’s accession cards—disappeared.
Subsequent curators of the North Carolina Museum of History knew of the flag’s
existence in the possession of a collector but initially did not realize that the flag had
once belonged to the museum. In 2005 the Attorney General’s Office went into Wil-son
County Superior Court and demanded restoration of the flag to the collections of
the North Carolina Museum of History. The flag was returned to the museum for
safekeeping until its disposition could be resolved. Three years of litigation followed.
In 2006 the State won a summary judgment in Wilson County Superior Court for
return of the flag, but the defendant appealed the decision to the North Carolina
Court of Appeals. On March 10, 2008, the Court of Appeals by a 3-0 vote affirmed
the lower court’s decision. The Fesq flag belongs to the people of North Carolina
once again and takes its honored place among the thirty-two flags returned to the
State in 1905.
Acting on a tip from an astute and conscientious citizen, the Office of Archives
and History initiated discussions with an auction house in Texas about a 1777 docu-ment
that it was offering for sale. The document clearly had great significance in
North Carolina’s Revolutionary history. In the state’s first General Assembly to con-vene
after the colony’s separation from Great Britain, the House sent the Senate a
letter offering recommendations for major executive positions in state government.
Among those named was Richard Caswell, who became the state’s first governor. A
transcription of the letter appeared in the Senate Journal, proving that the letter once
had been part of the state’s documentary record. Like the missing Confederate flag,
the 1777 document made whole again the evidentiary links once absent.
The return of these three public records shows that replevin has served the people
of North Carolina well in preserving the state’s patrimony.
Jeffrey J. Crow
Capitol; and research and development of the audiovisual program, Tales of Union Square,
and the 1990 commemorative program, “Last Signal Message of the War.” On Novem-ber
1, 2005, Beck was promoted to historic sites specialist II and administrator of the State
Capitol. He performed the dual roles of site manager and historian until his retirement.
Ray Beck was an active member of the State Capitol Motion Picture Committee and
an adviser to the Capital Area Visitor Center. In addition, he served on the governing
boards of the Raleigh City Museum, the Wake County Historical Society, and the
Leonidas Polk House Foundation. In 2006, he was recognized as Elon University’s Alum-nus
of the Year. He has also received the National Medal for Historic Preservation from
the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
A retirement ceremony in honor of Ray Beck was held at the State Capitol on the
evening of June 2. Approximately 125 guests attended the program in the House chamber
and a reception in the second floor rotunda. Special guests included Betty Ray McCain,
former secretary of the Department of Cultural Resources; Samuel P. Townsend, long-time
administrator of the Capitol; Edward T. Davis and Barbara H. Boney, current and
past presidents, respectively, of the State Capitol Foundation; G. Earl Danielly, president
emeritus of Elon University; and Jeffrey J. Crow, deputy secretary of the Office of
Archives and History, who presented Beck the Order of the Longleaf Pine. Robert
Boyette, assistant director for operations in the Division of State Historic Sites and
Properties, and Keith Hardison, director of the division, presented Beck the state certifi-cate
of retirement. President Davis also spoke, remarking that Ray Beck’s “devotion to
the Capitol and his impressive knowledge of the history of the building, state government,
and the city of Raleigh cannot be replaced. It is, indeed, hard to think of the Capitol and
not think of Raymond.”
New Highway Historical Markers Approved
At meetings on December 17, 2007, and May 20, 2008, the members of the North
Carolina Highway Historical Marker Advisory Committee approved the following new
markers: J. SPENCER LOVE, Alamance County; JOHN H. SMALL, Beaufort County;
STEDE BONNET, Brunswick County; ERVIN T. ROUSE, Craven County; ROYAL
ICE CREAM SIT-IN, Durham County; WACHOVIA TRACT, Forsyth County; N.C.
LEAGUE OF MUNICIPALITIES, STEELE CREEK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH,
and X-RAY EXPERIMENTS, Mecklenburg County; WOMEN MARINES, Onslow
County; BILLY STRAYHORN and JOURNEY OF RECONCILIATION, Orange
County; LAURINBURG-MAXTON ARMY AIR BASE, Scotland County; and
HARRIET-HENDERSON STRIKE, Vance County.
8 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Ray Beck (right) shares a laugh
with Betty Ray McCain (left),
former secretary of the
Department of Cultural
Resources, and Earl Danielly,
president emeritus of Elon
University (center), at a reception
at the State Capitol on June 2 to
honor Beck’s retirement.
During the past twelve months, marker dedication and unveiling programs have been
held in Asheville, Cooleemee, Durham, Fort Barnwell, Greensboro, Henderson,
Hillsborough, North Wilkesboro, Oak Island, Pittsboro, Tillery, Wilkesboro, and
Wilmington. Lisbeth C. Evans, secretary of the Department of Cultural Resources, has
appointed Dr. Olen Cole Jr. of North Carolina A & T State University and Dr. Dan
Fountain of Meredith College to five-year terms on the Marker Advisory Committee.
Civil War Preservation Trust Seeks Purchase of Land at Bentonville
The Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) announced plans for a fund-raising
campaign to save an additional 173 acres of the battlefield at Bentonville. The desired land
is comprised of six tracts, ranging from 1.6 to 52 acres. The total cost of the acreage is
$772,500, but the CWPT has secured a number of matching grants through the federal
Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program, leaving only 13 percent of the purchase price
to be raised by the trust and the State of North Carolina. Since 1990 the CWPT has
worked closely with Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site and the Bentonville Battle-ground
Historical Association to acquire and protect acreage at the site of the March 1865
battle. As an incentive to subscribers to its current campaign, the CWPT is offering copies
of Moore’s Historical Guide to the Battle of Bentonville, by Mark A. Moore of the Research
Branch of the Office of Archives and History. Moore’s article, “Bentonville: A Bold and
Unexpected Attack,” published in Hallowed Ground (fall 2003), the quarterly magazine of
the CWPT, and maps of the battle that he prepared for the North Carolina Civil War 150
Web site are also being used to promote the fund-raising efforts.
Rare Photographs of Wright Brothers Presented at Museum of History
Most North Carolinians are probably familiar with the famous photograph of the
Wright brothers’ first flight at Kill Devil Hills on December 17, 1903. The image by local
lifesaver and Wright crewmember John T. Daniels recorded a prone Orville clinging to
the lower wing of the aircraft while Wilbur ran alongside. The picture has inspired postage
stamps and license plates and is indelibly imprinted upon the public consciousness. How-ever,
Daniels’s photo was not the first visual record of man in flight to be published. That
honor belongs to an image taken more than four years later on the same windswept coast.
Dr. Larry Tise, the Orville and Wilbur Wright Distinguished Professor of History at
East Carolina University and former director of the Division of Archives and History,
located the original photograph in the collection of James H. Hare at the Harry Ransom
Center for the Humanities at the University of Texas. One of the first professional photo-journalists
in the United States, Hare represented Collier’s Weekly magazine and the New
York press in the cadre of determined reporters that followed the Wright brothers on their
return to the Outer Banks in 1908. Because the Wrights were anxious to avoid publicity,
Hare’s shot was taken at a distance, in the manner of modern paparazzi but without bene-fit
of a telephoto lens, so the aircraft in flight is a mere speck above the dark sand. Taken
on May 14, 1908, it appeared six days later in the New York Herald and a week thereafter
in Collier’s. The image rapidly spanned the globe, creating an international sensation.
Daniels’s more renowned photograph appeared in print that September.
The photograph was one of thirty-one small glass slides concerning the Wrights’ 1908
return trip to the Outer Banks that Tise discovered in the Hare collection. Hare used these
lantern slides, which include several images of buildings and streets in Manteo, in a travel-ing
lecture series. Tise displayed the photographs and discussed their historical significance
in a presentation at the North Carolina Museum of History on May 12.
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 8 1
North Caroliniana Society Awards Fellowships for 2008-2009
The North Caroliniana Society has awarded Archie K. Davis Fellowships to fourteen
scholars for the 2008-2009 cycle of grants. The recipients, their institutions, and topics of
research are as follows:
Kevin L. Crowder, University of North Carolina at Greensboro: biography of Robert W.
Scott
John P. Ellis, Purdue University: Methodist youth in North Carolina, 1790-1844
Andrew W. Kahrl, Indiana University: segregated parks in North Carolina
Daniel Menestres, University of Alabama: North Carolina politics since 1945
Melissa L. Milewski, New York University: poor African Americans as litigants
Kelly Morrow, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: sexual liberation in
universities
Steven E. Nash, University of Georgia: Reconstruction in western North Carolina
Christopher Arris Oakley, East Carolina University: Cherokee self-sufficiency
Angela P. Robbins, University of North Carolina at Greensboro: North Carolina
women during Reconstruction
Samuel L. Schaffer, Yale University: New South men, 1855-1920
Rachel A. Shapiro, University of Virginia: North Carolina politicians in Washington,
D.C., in the 1850s
Kathryn M. Silva, University of South Carolina: female African American textile workers,
1880-1920
Cory Joe Stewart, University of North Carolina at Greensboro: Rowan and Surry coun-ties
during the Revolution
Cynthia Wu, State University of New York at Buffalo: Chang and Eng Bunker
Since the inception of the program in 1987, the North Caroliniana Society has granted
more than 280 Archie K. Davis Fellowships. Designed to encourage research in North
Carolina history and culture, the program awards stipends to cover a portion of travel and
subsistence expenses while fellows conduct research. The annual deadline for proposals is
March 1. For further information, visit the society’s Web site, www.ncsociety.org, or
contact H. G. Jones, secretary of the society, at UNC Campus Box 3930, Chapel Hill,
NC, 27514-8890.
News from Historical Resources
Archives and Records Section
Tar Heel Family, an early and important work of renowned documentary filmmaker
George Stoney, was screened at the Orphan Film Symposium at New York University
(NYU) on March 28. Stoney was on hand to introduce the film. An item in the North
Carolina State Archives Non-textual Materials Collection (MPF.32), the Archives’ print is
the only known surviving copy of the film. Kim Cumber, non-textual materials archivist,
8 2 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
represented the State Archives at the symposium. Essential conservation work and preser-vation
duplication of the rare film were made possible through the generosity of the State
Archives’ support group, the Friends of the Archives.
In a career that has spanned more than sixty-five years, George Stoney has been an
advocate for and creator of socially committed media. Born in Winston-Salem, Stoney has
directed more than fifty films, including the award-winning All My Babies (1953), How the
Myth Was Made (1978), Southern Voices (1985), How One Painter Sees (1988), Images of the
Great Depression (1990), and The Uprising of ’34 (1995). His pioneering work has had an
enormous impact on the shape of documentary filmmaking, and his dedication to public
media helped convince the Federal Communications Commission of the importance of
national requirements for public access television. He currently teaches in the Department
of Film and Television at NYU.
Tar Heel Family (1949) is an early and significant number in the Stoney filmography. It
is a testament to Stoney’s lifelong interest in generating media for the betterment of soci-ety,
and it is increasingly of interest to documentary film scholars and to individuals inter-ested
in the media history of North Carolina. Tar Heel Family makes, even by
contemporary standards, a radical call for environmental, social, and moral responsibility.
The first half of the film illustrates the myriad riches of North Carolina, while the second
half emphasizes their fragility and the importance of good stewardship.
The Archives and Records Section is participating in the Council of State Archivists
Intergovernmental Preparedness for Essential Records (IPER) program. The goal of the
three-year project is to develop and provide training to state and local governments con-cerning
protection of records before, during, and after disasters. State Archivist Dick
Lankford and Sarah Koonts, the section’s preservation officer, serve on the review panel
for the project. A summit meeting to help plan IPER initiatives will be held in Atlanta on
July 21-22, 2008. This meeting will involve representatives from state archives, emergency
management programs, and chief information officers, and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
Several section staff members, especially those in the Government Records Branch,
worked diligently to provide requested information to the governor’s E-mail Records
Review Panel. A training module will be placed on the Web to provide information for
state employees concerning the management of e-mail and other public records. Recom-mendations
may also be forthcoming for the Department of Cultural Resources (DCR) to
work in cooperation with ITS, the state’s information technology agency, to provide for
the effective management of government e-mail and for the development of an archival
system for the preservation of electronic messages of enduring value.
Five Archives and Records staff members attended the Southeastern Archives and
Records Conference meeting held May 7-9, in Montgomery, Alabama. This annual gath-ering
rotates among the southeastern states and is an excellent opportunity to meet with
peers from state archival programs in the region and exchange information concerning best
practices in archives and records management.
In the initial data entry phase of the World War I Roster Project, information from
more than 88,000 service cards on file in the State Archives has been digitized by Family
Search for transfer to a searchable electronic template being developed by the DCR Office
of Information Technology. The template will feature multiple preloaded drop boxes to
facilitate data entry. Public access to the various fields will be controlled in compliance
with federal privacy laws.
The project will require a tremendous amount of research and data entry, for which
volunteer help is essential. Several volunteers have already been secured, and as soon as the
template is finalized and adequate computer hardware is available, the project will be initi-ated.
The target date for completion of the roster is yet to be determined but will likely be
either August 2014, to coincide with the centennial of the beginning of World War I, or
April 2017, recognizing the one-hundredth anniversary of the entry of the United States
into the conflict.
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 8 3
In order to complete the initial batch of card entries, approximately fifty-two cards
must be entered each day to finish by 2014, or approximately forty per day to accomplish
the task by 2017. These estimates, however, do not include several thousand additional
entries for North Carolina service members who either enlisted or were inducted while
outside the state. For example, there are service records for more than three thousand Tar
Heels among Ohio’s service cards, as well as large numbers in the records of South
Carolina, Maryland, and Florida. Out-of-state records will be added after the entry of all
in-state records. Research of records pertaining to these “expatriate” North Carolinians is
ongoing but will require even more effort as the project progresses.
In hopes of making North Carolina’s roster the most comprehensive in the nation, the
final phase will involve the addition of multiple electronic links to individual service
records for which other resources are available. For example, in addition to the informa-tion
found on a soldier’s service card, a link could be provided to the North Carolina
Museum of History, which has an image of his uniform and helmet, or to the North
Carolina State Archives for a description of the documents in his private collection or for
pictures of him in uniform. Synopses of unit or ship histories and descriptions of battles
and campaigns could be linked to each service member’s electronic record. The State
Library of North Carolina might offer a link to pertinent resources for further research
within its holdings.
Anyone who has North Carolina-related World War I photographs, documents, or
other archival records and wishes to donate them, or would like to take an active role in
North Carolina’s effort to honor the men and
women who helped win the Great War, should
contact the military collection archivist, LTC (Ret.)
Sion H. Harrington III, by e-mail at sion.harring-ton@
ncmail.net, or by phone at (919) 807-7314.
Donors of artifacts should consult the North
Carolina Museum of History at (919) 807-7900.
Office of State Archaeology
The Office of State Archaeology, in association with the Department of Anthropology
at East Carolina University (ECU) and the Southern Coastal Heritage Program, will host a
symposium titled, “Twenty-five Years and Counting: Current Archaeological Research in
the North Carolina Coastal Plain,” on October 11, 2008. The symposium at Willis Hall
on the campus of ECU will bring together archaeologists from across the state to discuss
current research issues related to the Coastal Plain. A reception on the evening of Octo-ber
10 will feature Dr. Stanley South, who will discuss several of his recent inquiries into
the archaeological record of North and South Carolina.
8 4 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Pvt. Carlie A. Cobb (seated, left) and Pvt. Monroe Surles
(seated, right) were lifelong friends from Harnett County
who served together in Company D of the 119th
Infantry. When Cobb fell mortally wounded at
Bellicourt, France, on September 29, 1918, Surles was by
his side to catch him. Also pictured are (standing, left to
right) Joe Keene, Pvt. Oker Keene, and Henry Surles, all
of Coats. This image is one of thousands in the North
Carolina State Archives depicting Tar Heel soldiers who
served during World War I.
As North Carolina enters the twenty-first century, many questions relating to the
settlement of its Coastal Plain remain unanswered. A boom in the region’s commercial
development increases the urgency of discovering, studying, and protecting the rich
cultural heritage of the Coastal Plain. Taking place twenty-five years after the publication
of The Prehistory of North Carolina: An Archaeological Symposium, a synopsis of a similar
conference held in Raleigh in March 1980, the 2008 symposium will address topics such
as prehistoric and historic settlement, coastal resource utilization, and ceramic and lithic
studies. As noted by H. Trawick Ward and R. P. Stephen Davis Jr. in Time before
History: The Archaeology of North Carolina, the Coastal Plain remains the least understood of
the physiographic regions of the state. This symposium will present the state of current
research and provide suggestions for future studies concerning this threatened and fragile
region.
Attendance is free, but prior registration is required and limited to two hundred
participants. For additional information, contact John J. Mintz (John.Mintz@ncmail.net)
or Lawrence Abbott (Lawrence.Abbott@ncmail.net) of the Office of State Archaeology,
or Charles R. Ewen (ewenc@ecu.edu) of the Department of Anthropology at ECU.
Historical Publications Section
In conjunction with the Department of Cultural Resources’ 2008 theme, “Telling
Our Stories,” the Historical Publications Section of the Office of Archives and History has
published Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina: Three Views of His Character and Creed, by
William S. Price Jr. Nathaniel Macon (1758–1837), a Warren County native, entered
public service in 1781 when he was elected to the North Carolina Senate. He later repre-sented
the state in the U.S. House of Representatives (1791–1815) and Senate (1815–
1828). During this period, Macon held numerous important positions in Congress and was
highly respected by his peers. Thomas Jefferson hailed Macon as “the last of the Romans”
for his Republican ideals. The three essays in this volume illuminate Nathaniel Macon’s
character, motivations, and values as demonstrated in his life and career—above all, his
steadfast devotion to what he believed to be the legacy of the American Revolution.
William S. Price Jr. earned a B.A. in history from Duke University and a Ph.D. in
history from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Beginning in 1971, he held various
positions in the Division of Archives and History,
including editor of the Colonial Records Project
(1971–1975), assistant director (1975–1981), and
director (1981–1995). After retiring from state ser-vice,
he taught at Meredith College until retiring
again in 2006.
Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina: Three Views of
His Character and Creed is an imprint of the North
Caroliniana Society. The society was founded in
1975 to promote increased knowledge and appreci-ation
of the state’s heritage. Anne Miller, editor of
the North Carolina Historical Review, edited the
manuscript, selected the illustrations, and ushered
the volume through the publication process.
Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina: Three Views of His
Character and Creed (paperbound, 87 pages, illus-trated,
index) retails for $21.81, which includes tax
and shipping charges.
The section also published volume 16 of North
Carolina Troops, 1861–1865: A Roster, edited by Matthew M. Brown and Michael W.
Coffey. This volume is devoted solely to Thomas’s Legion, an intriguing North Carolina
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 8 5
Confederate unit. The legion was a creation of William Holland Thomas, an influential
businessman and state legislator with strong ties to the Cherokee Indians of western North
Carolina. He raised a small battalion of Cherokees in April 1862 and gradually expanded
his command with companies of white soldiers raised in western North Carolina, eastern
Tennessee, and southwestern Virginia. By the end of 1862, Thomas’s Legion comprised
an infantry regiment and a battalion of infantry and cavalry; an artillery battery was added
in April 1863. The legion was originally stationed in eastern Tennessee. However, in
September 1863, Thomas and two companies departed for the mountains of North
Carolina and organized a new battalion. The remainder of the legion saw action in
eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, and the Shenandoah Valley before rejoining
Thomas in early 1865 for the final military operations in western North Carolina.
Volume 16 begins with an authoritative 246-page history of Thomas’s Legion, followed
by a complete roster and service records of field officers, staff, and more than one thousand
soldiers that served in the unit during the war. A thorough index completes the volume.
North Carolina Troops, 1861–1865: A Roster volume 16 (hardbound, pp. xvi, 537, index)
costs $66.88 ($58.04 for libraries), which includes tax and shipping.
Matthew M. Brown received a B.A. degree in history from the University of Virginia
and a J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Michael W. Coffey
earned an A.B. degree in history from
Lenoir-Rhyne College, a master’s degree in history
from the University of North Carolina at Greens-boro,
and a doctorate in history from the University
of Southern Mississippi.
The section has also reprinted four popular
titles—A History of African Americans in North
Carolina (second printing of the 2002 edition); The
Lost Colonists: Their Fortune and Probable Fate (tenth
printing); North Carolina Headrights: A List of Names,
1663–1744 (second printing); and the Blackbeard
poster (sixth printing). Each of these titles may be
ordered from the Historical Publications Section
(CC), Office of Archives and History, 4622 Mail
Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-4622. For
credit card orders, call (919) 733-7442, ext. 0.
These volumes and many others can also be pur-chased
through the section’s secure online store at
http://nc-historical-publications.stores.yahoo.net/
or through Amazon.com.
Marketing specialist Bill Owens exhibited the
section’s books at the North Carolina Genealogical
Society’s Speakers’ Forum on April 12, which generated more than $600 in receipts. He
also designed a flyer that was distributed at the National Genealogical Society’s annual
Conference in the States and Family History Fair, held in Kansas City, Mo., May 14–17.
8 6 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
News from State Historic Sites and Properties
East Historic Sites Region
At Historic Bath, minor plaster repairs in the Van Der Veer and Palmer-Marsh houses
and trim painting in the Bonner House were completed, creating the perfect opportunity
for intensive spring cleaning of the buildings and their artifacts. After having its doors
closed for nearly a year, the Bonner House unveiled its new look to hundreds of people at
Bath Fest, a town-wide arts and crafts festival,
on May 10. The icy and teal blue paint
colors were based on the findings of a 1993 his-toric
finishes analysis. Future plans include the
faux graining of the parlor to achieve the high-est
level of authenticity.
Preliminary work on the new Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA) trail and a recon-structed
gun emplacement at Brunswick
Town/Fort Anderson has begun. The site was
visited by a U.S. Marine Corps Explosives Ord-nance
Disposal team from Camp Lejeune on
May 19 for the purpose of scanning the pro-posed
trail area and gun emplacement site for
unexploded ordnance left over from the Civil
War. The area was shelled by Union naval ves-sels
during the February 1865 operations against
Fort Anderson, and it is believed that much of
the unexpended Confederate ordnance
remained in the old magazines after the capture
of the fort. Four marines spent the day scanning
the ground and happily reported that they had
located no unexploded ordnance in the pro-posed
trail area. But they did find fragments
from at least five different exploded artillery
shells, numerous nails dating from the
eighteenth century, parts of wood stoves,
carriage pins, and what appears to be an auger
bit. The marines returned on June 9 to concen-trate
on the fort itself, specifically the parade
ground, magazines, and exterior walls and ditch.
On Saturday, June 21, Fort Fisher State Historic Site held its annual summer artillery
program, featuring both field guns and heavy seacoast artillery demonstrations. Members
of the public were delighted by the frequent firings of the fort’s twelve-pound bronze
Napoleon fieldpiece, Adams’s Battery’s ten-pound Parrott rifle, and the thirty-two-pound
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 8 7
Staff Sgt. Dan Frawley, one of four marines
from Camp Lejeune who scanned a
proposed trail area near Fort Anderson for
buried unexploded ordnance, recovered a
fragment from an 1865 artillery shell.
rifled and banded cannon atop Shepherd’s Battery. Interpreters explained the use of artil-lery
at the fort and the roles that specific pieces played in the Second Battle of Fort Fisher.
Visitors also enjoyed tours of the fort led by the Mary Holloway Summer Interpreter.
Fort Fisher held its first Toys, Games, and More! program in June, featuring a variety
of activities geared towards younger visitors. With help from graduate students in the pub-lic
history masters program at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, site staff
members and volunteers led children of all ages in rounds of townball, hoops races, and
games of graces. Reproductions of Civil War-era toys were provided by the site, and visi-tors
were encouraged to learn about children of the period while they played. The pro-gram
will be repeated in July and August.
After more than fifty years in the making, the fully restored 1838 Jail at Historic Hali-fax
opened with a festive ribbon-cutting ceremony during the annual Halifax Day celebra-tion
on April 12. Officials from the Division of State Historic Sites and Properties and the
Historical Halifax Restoration Association were on hand to dedicate and officially open
the jail’s newly restored interior and several new exhibits. The ribbon cutting followed a
formal program on the grounds of the jail to commemorate the anniversary of the Halifax
Resolves, the first official call for independence by the elected leaders of a British colony.
Retired East Carolina University English professor and Halifax County native Dr. Ralph
Hardee Rives delivered the keynote address. Dr. Rives spoke about the significance of the
jail to the people of the area and discussed
the many pioneers of Historic Halifax.
Saving the jail from neglect and possible
destruction was one of the first projects
undertaken by the residents of Halifax
County in the mid-twentieth century. An
estimated two hundred guests attended the
ceremony.
8 8 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Rep. Angela R. Bryant (left) of Rocky
Mount and Wrenn Phillips (right), town crier
at Historic Halifax, unveil a wayside exhibit
that interprets the newly restored 1838 Jail
during the annual Halifax Day celebration
on April 12.
The thirty-two-pound rifled and banded cannon mounted at Shepherd’s Battery was one of several
large guns fired during the summer artillery program at Fort Fisher on June 21.
Museum and Visitor Services Section
On June 9-11, the Division of State Historic Sites and Properties conducted a historic
weapons training course at Vance Birthplace in Weaverville. This year’s program focused
on historic small arms, with particular emphasis on firearms safety, the proper storage and
handling of black powder, and demonstration and interpretation of historic weapons. State
Historic Weapons Program Coordinator Andrew Duppstadt organized and conducted the
course with the assistance of six other instructors: Morris Bass and Guy Smith (CSS Neuse),
Fred Burgess (Bentonville Battlefield), Bryan Dalton (Alamance Battleground), Royal
Windley (Craft Services), and Jeff Bockert (Eastern Civil War Office of the Department of
Cultural Resources). Personnel from many sites participated in the course, as well as staff
members from the Division of State History Museums, the North Carolina Division of
Parks and Recreation, and the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and
Tourism. Certification earned through successful completion of the course by permanent
state employees is valid for four years. The historic weapons training has been an integral
part of sites programming for more than twenty years and is modeled after a National Park
Service program. Four of the seven instructors involved in this year’s course have received
training from the National Park Service. The next course, to be held in the fall of 2009,
will focus on historic artillery.
On May 14, West Craven Middle School of New Bern won the 2008 North Carolina
History Bowl championship, defeating McDougle Middle School of Chapel Hill in the
finals at the North Carolina Museum of History. In addition to trophies, West Craven
received a $200 cash award and McDougle $100 in prize money from the Museum of
History, which joined in sponsorship of the competition this year. David Latham,
Museum and Visitor Services Section supervisor, and Ruthann Bond, president of the
North Carolina Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a longtime pro-gram
sponsor, presented the awards. Members of the West Craven team, coached by
David Rackley, are Xavier Collins, Aspyn Fulcher, Sara Neilson, and Sarah Richardson.
Throughout the school year,
teams of eighth graders have been
studying North Carolina history
and competing in regional bowls
sponsored by individual sites of
the Division of State Historic Sites
and Properties. Schools competed
against one another in paired
matches featuring teams of four
students (with one alternate)
answering questions from a
moderator. West Craven Middle
School was sponsored in the tour-nament
by the Aycock Birthplace
and CSS Neuse state historic sites.
McDougle Middle School’s spon-sors
were the Charlotte Hawkins
Brown Museum and Alamance
Battleground State Historic Site.
Other finalists in this year’s com-petition
were from Camden County Middle School, Kannapolis Middle School, Magellan
Charter School of Raleigh, Grover C. Fields Middle School of New Bern, and Reid Ross
Classical School of Fayetteville.
On May 26, the State Capitol hosted an estimated fifteen hundred visitors at its annual
Memorial Day event. Veterans groups and reenactors representing three centuries of
American military marked the day with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Veterans’
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 8 9
The winning team of the 2008 North Carolina History
Bowl from West Craven Middle School was composed of
(left to right) Sarah Richardson, Coach David Rackley,
Xavier Collins, Sara Neilson, and Aspyn Fulcher. Rackley
has led the school to five History Bowl championships.
Monument, patriotic music, displays, and demonstrations. The program also included a
scavenger hunt to encourage visitors to look more closely at the fourteen statues and mon-uments
on Union Square.
North Carolina Transportation Museum
The popular #6133 locomotive and volunteers from the museum helped Greensboro
celebrate its two-hundredth birthday at the city’s depot on April 12-13. The locomotive
was situated at the edge of the depot parking lot, and the museum’s display was located in
the main concourse. More than two hundred people visited the locomotive for cab rides
and the exhibit for handouts each day.
Steam power returned to Spencer for Rail Days weekend, April 26-27. Three trains
operated and compiled about 150 passenger miles. The visitation was excellent with about
1,449 guests on Saturday and 608 on Sunday, for a weekend total of 2,057, the most since
2004. Last year there were 1,264 visitors.
On Saturday, May 3, the museum cohosted the annual American Truck Historical
Society show. This is one of the museum’s largest annual vehicle shows, with 85 to 150
participating units visiting and viewing vintage trucks, including World War II trucks, spe-cial
delivery vehicles, and large over-the-road units. Owners from Georgia, Kentucky,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia attended the event.
Piedmont Historic Sites Region
At Bennett Place, the surrender anniversary commemoration was held on April 26-27.
Reenactors portraying generals Sherman and Johnston presented those roles each day in
the Bennett House, while Union and Confederate camps were available for public
viewing. Candlelight tours were offered on the evening of April 26, and a wreath-laying
ceremony was held the following day.
The Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum at
Historic Palmer Memorial Institute hosted its
third Celebration of Remembrance luncheon on
Monday, June 9, in honor of Dr. Charlotte
Hawkins Brown’s birthday. During the annual
program, the museum recognizes individuals who
have made outstanding contributions to their
communities with the presentation of the Dr.
Charlotte Hawkins Brown Living Legacy Award.
This year’s recipient was Maria Hawkins Cole, a
niece of Dr. Brown and the widow of famed
singer Nat “King” Cole. Mrs. Cole, a 1938
graduate of Palmer Memorial Institute, is credited
with the idea of establishing a historic site on the
former campus. The luncheon was attended by
Palmer alumni, community friends, and represen-tatives
of the Department of Cultural Resources,
the Division of State Historic Sites and Properties,
the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Historical Founda-tion,
and the Palmer Memorial Institute National
Alumni Association.
Andrena Coleman, site manager at the Char-lotte
Hawkins Brown Museum, historical inter-preter
Marian Inabinett, and Carol Ferguson and
Cathy Roberson, two museum volunteers,
attended the biannual Palmer Memorial Institute
Alumni Association Reunion in Charleston, S.C.,
9 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Maria Hawkins Cole pauses by the
gravesite of her aunt, Dr. Charlotte
Hawkins Brown. Mrs. Cole visited the
Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum in
Sedalia on June 9 to receive an award
named in honor of her aunt.
on May 26-29. More than
150 alumni from across the
nation attended, representing
classes from the 1940s, 1950s,
1960s, and 1970. The staff
members were particularly
pleased to meet and talk with
Hermena Hickson Swinton,
who attended the junior col-lege
at Palmer and now lives
in Florence, S.C. An interna-tionally
acclaimed Gullah and
blues group, the Hallelujah
Singers, provided entertain-ment
at the closing banquet.
Coleman presented an update
on the museum’s activities
and strategic planning process
at the business meeting. The
association voted to hold the next reunion in Greensboro in the late fall of 2010.
On Sunday, April 20, costumed staff members and volunteers at Duke Homestead
State Historic Site in Durham interpreted a nineteenth-century church revival on the steps
of the original 1852 farmhouse of tobacco farmer and businessman Washington Duke.
After a service featuring a circuit-riding preacher on horseback, a traditional southern
Sunday dinner was served to visitors who made a small donation of their choice. Local
musicians performed live music during the program.
During the early-to-mid-nineteenth century, organized churches were not yet preva-lent
in the rural Piedmont of North Carolina, so preachers would ride “circuits” or routes
on horseback, spreading the Gospel to those who would listen. Known mostly for his
business acumen, Washington Duke was a devout Methodist who was raised around cir-cuit
riding. His eldest brother, William J. Duke, also known as “Uncle Billy,” was a
well-known circuit-riding preacher. “The Church not only provided the spiritual focus
for Washington Duke’s early life but also served as the principal center for socializing,”
according to historian Robert F. Durden in The Dukes of Durham: 1865-1929. “Civic and
reform activities were apt to be church-based, too.” Washington Duke’s later life included
several philanthropic ventures inspired by his association with the Methodist Church,
including funding Trinity College (now
Duke University) and St. Joseph’s, an
African American church (now Hayti
Heritage Center).
Duke Homestead also premiered a
temporary exhibit of smoking stands.
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 9 1
Craftsman Jerome Bias (right) explains the
uses of a nineteenth-century woodworking
tool to a young visitor at the Forever Free
celebration at Historic Stagville.
Volunteer reenactor Liz Bramble sits sidesaddle upon her horse,
Bandit, while visitors enjoy refreshments in the Duke Homestead
picnic area following the church revival program on April 20.
A local Eagle Scout candidate, Jake Bobroff, led his troop in building a wooden fence
around the kitchen garden on April 26.
The House in the Horseshoe hosted its annual spring militia muster on April 26, and
many favorable comments were heard from both attendees and reenactors. Cannon and
small-arms demonstrations were held throughout the day, and Whigs and Tories debated
the relative merits of rebellion and loyalty to the King. Other demonstrations included
blacksmithing, chair weaving, cooking, pewter casting, animal hide processing, weaving,
and hat making. There was also a surgeon on hand to demonstrate eighteenth-century
medical practices.
Town Creek Indian Mound staff members Jon Bowlby and Karen Knight participated
in the Carolina Heritage Festival at Reed Gold Mine on April 29-30, demonstrating
native tools, clothing, food, and hunting weapons. Knight presented a similar program in
Locust earlier in the month at Running Creek Elementary School’s Heritage Day. The
site staff hosted an Astronomy Night program on April 5.
Historic Stagville’s annual Forever Free celebration was presented on June 14. The
Jonkonnu troupe from Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens led the crowd in song and
dance, and storyteller Rhonda Royal-Hatton entertained young and old alike. Guests
heard the melodic voices of a local choir and the jazz band, Generations, while younger
visitors were inspired by a positive hip-hop/neo-soul performance by Pierce Freelon and
Language Arts. Children stayed busy with craft activities, weaving baskets with raffia and
designing cowry shell and bead necklaces. New to this year’s program was a pottery
exhibit in the Holman Home at Horton Grove featuring pre-Civil War vessels, some of
which were attributed to enslaved people. While none of the items were original to
Stagville, they were representative of the types of pottery used at the site. The visitor
center was the site of an art installation by Maya Freelon Asante, an award-winning visual
artist whose primary medium is tissue paper in various hues, the foundation for visually
arresting compositions. Visitors commented that her work resembled a delicately crafted
quilt. During the Forever Free program, guests also learned about the history of Horton
Grove and the enslaved community at Stagville, while celebrating freedom and
commemorating the achievements of African Americans.
Roanoke Island Festival Park
The redoubtable British actress Barbara Hird presented three faces of Queen Elizabeth
I on consecutive days during three weeks in June. Elizabeth R and Company, a
professional theater company in residence at Roanoke Island Festival Park (RIFP), pro-duced
the performances, two of which will return for a second run in August.
The first production, Elizabeth R, is an enormously popular one-woman tour de force
now in its sixteenth season on the Outer Banks. Set in a secret alcove in the queen’s
favorite palace, the play is an hour-long soliloquy in which Miss Hird sings, laughs, cries,
rages, boasts, and reveals many truths about the queen’s near-mythical life and loves. It
was presented at the park on three consecutive Tuesdays, beginning on June 3.
For the twelfth season, Bloody Mary and the Virgin Queen returned to RIFP on June 4
and the following two Wednesdays. The outrageous musical comedy develops the bitter
relationship between Elizabeth and her half-sister, Mary Tudor. The play is set in the pres-ent
in the royal tombs of Westminster Abbey, as the two queens continue their feuding
beyond the grave. Marsha Warren again portrays Queen Mary to Miss Hird’s Elizabeth in
the one-hour performance, which will be reprised on consecutive Wednesdays in August.
The third installment in Miss Hird’s dramatic portrayal of Elizabeth I is a relative
newcomer to the Outer Banks. Shepherd of the Ocean premiered at the International Sir
Walter Raleigh Festival in Ireland in 2006 and debuted to rave reviews at RIFP last sum-mer.
The whimsical comedy focuses upon the relationship between the queen and her
favorite courtier, Sir Walter Raleigh. As he awaits execution for treason, Raleigh is
9 2 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
transported to another realm, to which he
has been summoned by his long-dead
queen. From their humorous verbal joust-ing,
the audience learns of the joys and
conflicts that passed between the two.
Chris Chappell of Fuquay-Varina portrays
Sir Walter in the hour-long play that
opened on Thursday, June 5. Shepherd of
the Ocean will return to the park later in
the summer for a second three-week run
beginning on August 7.
Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens
Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens has again achieved accreditation from the
American Association of Museums (AAM), the highest national recognition for a museum.
Accreditation signifies excellence to the museum community, governments, funders, out-side
agencies, and the public. AAM accreditation earns a museum national distinction for
its commitment to excellence, accountability, high professional standards, and continued
institutional improvement. Developed and sustained by museum professionals for
thirty-five years, the AAM accreditation program is the field’s primary vehicle for quality
assurance, self-regulation, and public accountability. It strengthens the museum profession
by promoting practices that enable leaders to make informed decisions, to allocate
resources wisely, and to remain financially and ethically accountable in order to provide
the best possible service. Tryon Palace was initially accredited in 1989. All museums must
undergo a reaccreditation review at least every ten years to maintain accredited status.
At its spring meeting on May 15, the North Carolina Historical Commission approved
the acquisition by Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens of fifty-one acres that were once
part of Clermont Plantation, located at the mouth of Brice Creek on the south bank of the
Trent River, approximately two miles from the palace. At one time, the plantation occu-pied
lands extending to the south bank of the Neuse River. The land was first patented in
1707, and by 1735, Col. William Wilson owned the plantation and operated a sawmill and
gristmill there. He built a two-and-a-half-story brick home, one of only two brick planta-tion
houses in Craven County during the eighteenth century. When Wilson died, his
widow married one of the richest men in the colony, “King” Roger Moore. The road
running alongside the property, “Madame Moore’s Lane,” bears her nickname, acquired
from an ostentatious lifestyle that included riding a barge into New Bern powered by
enslaved boatmen dressed in fine livery.
After Mrs. Moore’s death, the plantation became the property of Elizabeth, her daugh-ter
by Colonel Wilson. In 1756, Elizabeth married Richard Spaight, personal secretary to
royal governor Arthur Dobbs. Richard and Elizabeth’s first son, Richard Dobbs Spaight
(1758-1802), became the first North Carolina governor born in the colony. He also served
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 9 3
Barbara Hird (left) and Chris Chappell (right)
give dramatic interpretations of Queen
Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh in a series
of performances of Shepherd of the Ocean at
Roanoke Island Festival Park.
in the state legislature, the Confederation Congress, the 1787 federal Constitutional Con-vention,
and the U.S. House of Representatives. The duel with another local politician,
John Stanly, in which Spaight died, led the state to pass an anti-dueling law. Spaight’s son,
Richard Jr. (1796-1850), also served in the state legislature and as governor. Father and
son are both buried in a family sepulcher on the property. Clermont remained the prop-erty
of the Spaight family until just before the Civil War. During the Federal occupation
of New Bern, Clermont was the site of Camp Amory, one of the largest Union encamp-ments
in the state. Union soldiers either burned or dismantled the colonial house. Between
fifteen hundred and three thousand freedmen and women settled on part of the plantation
and called it the “Trent River Camp.” It eventually became known as James City.
In 1925, Sallie R. MacDonald purchased parts of the plantation. Earlier this year,
MacDonald’s daughter, Hughrena, who had inherited the property from her mother, died
and bequeathed the remaining fifty-one acres to the Tryon Palace Council of Friends. The
Friends have since determined to turn the tract over to the state, and the Historical
Commission has approved that transaction. Recent assessments of the property indicate
not only its historical significance, but also its archaeological and environmental impor-tance.
Peter Sandbeck, deputy state historic preservation officer, believes that the property
will offer a “rare opportunity to investigate the history of European settlement in Craven
County,” including the potential for underwater archaeology, as wharves may have
existed to facilitate the plantation’s commerce. Dr. Patricia Samford, former site manager
at Historic Bath, stated that the property could provide “a rare opportunity to examine
the span of human occupation in the area—from the Native Americans who settled along
the shores of the rivers and creeks to the Europeans who followed.�� Sandbeck also indi-cated
that, because of the amount of development along the waterways surrounding the
property, Clermont could play “a critical role” in preserving the environment of the
region and enabling Tryon Palace “to better interpret the natural history of Eastern North
Carolina.”
The Tryon Palace Fife and Drum Corps was honored with an invitation to participate
in Colonial Williamsburg’s Drummer’s Call program on May 16-18. This annual event
showcases various regimental field music units and demonstrates the uses of fifes and drums
in the military. The Tryon Palace Fife and Drum Corps marched in an afternoon parade
down Duke of Gloucester Street in Williamsburg, performed in the grand review concert,
and ended the weekend by participating in a torch-lit parade. Historically, musicians’ calls
were used in many ways in the military. Fifes and drums played from sunrise to sunset and
served as a primary mode of communication from commander to troops during battle.
Music also served more mundane functions in daily camp life by signaling time for meals,
drills, and inspections.
9 4 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
The Trent River shoreline
of Clermont Plantation
near New Bern, a recent
acquisition of Tryon Palace
Historic Sites & Gardens.
West Historic Sites Region
Heritage Day at Horne Creek Living Historical Farm was very popular with the more
than six hundred guests in attendance on May 3. Activities included beekeeping, basket
making, cooking, music, square dancing, children’s games, and washing clothes. A training
workshop concerning the grafting of apple trees was also held. Horne Creek was chosen
to represent Surry County in the Northwest North Carolina/Southwest Virginia Regional
Tourism Initiative. Site staff members participated in National Tourism Day activities at
the Legislative Building.
Visitation to Fort Dobbs
increased after the placement of
directional signs on I-40 and I-77.
These signs have brought many
travelers the short distance from
the interstates to learn about the
French and Indian War. The
historic site continues to impress
visitors with the quality of its
historical interpretation and dili-gence
to accurately portray mate-rial
culture based upon supporting
documentation. The War for
Empire event was held April 18-
20. More than six hundred
students enjoyed the Friday
program, and approximately
twenty-five hundred visitors came
on the weekend. Garrison week-ends
will continue through the
summer.
The strategic plan for Fort Dobbs has been completed. After six months of meetings,
the community-based strategic planning committee presented its results to the Division of
State Historic Sites and Properties for review. This document was opened for public
inspection at two meetings on May 19. Comments were solicited, and the committee
examined the results. The strategic plan outlines the steps to be taken to develop the site,
including reconstruction of the fort and the construction of modern support structures.
On April 10, President James K. Polk State Historic Site hosted author Walter
Borneman, who discussed his new book, Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and
America, published by Random House. In a brief talk to an enthusiastic crowd, Borneman
explained why be believes that Polk was not just a “dark horse candidate” who stumbled
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 9 5
During the War for Empire School Day at Fort Dobbs,
reenactor Wynn Eden explains to a group of Iredell County
schoolchildren the skills necessary to survive in the
wilderness of the colonial frontier.
Site manager Scott Warren (left)
and Jim Reece (right), president
of the site’s support group,
welcome author Walter
Borneman (center) to the
President James K. Polk State
Historic Site.
into the presidency, but an astute politician who actively directed his own destiny as well
as that of the nation. Jim Reece, secretary of the Polk Support Fund and a descendant of
Polk, played an important role in securing Borneman’s appearance at the site.
Polk site staff members met with representatives from Historic Rosedale, Historic Latta
Plantation, the Charlotte Museum of History, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
concerning the requisite annual field trip for third graders. All 102 elementary schools in
the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools system are required to send their third-grade students
to one of the four sites in Mecklenburg County. It is difficult for the two full-time staff
members at Polk to host that many classes each year. The staff participated in the
“Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence” celebration at the Charlotte Museum of
History on May 17.
Staff members at Reed Gold Mine have been on the road this spring with off-site
presentations at the North Carolina Department of Labor mine safety conference, three
elementary schools, Vulcan Materials’ family day, the Cabarrus CVB Tourism Day, and
the North Carolina Gold Festival at Marion. The two-day Carolina Heritage Festival
hosted more than two thousand fourth-grade students from the region. More than thirty
different craft-related demonstrations were available for the schoolchildren to experience.
Several other state historic sites assisted in the program this year. The North Carolina
Department of Transportation Division 10 bridge maintenance crew reworked the pedes-trian
bridge across Little Meadow Creek by replacing decking, some of the supports, and
all of the railing structures. The retooled bridge will be much safer for visitors and staff.
The second annual North American First Gold Festival was held June 13-14 with gold
panning and mucking contests.
Vance Birthplace has begun working on plans to redo the original 1960s exhibit area, a
long-term project to be done mainly by division staff members. Living History Saturdays,
during which various crafts and mountain chores were demonstrated by skilled artisans,
premiered in April and continued through June. The Dance Frolic in the picnic shelter on
the night of May 17 was a great success with more than one hundred participants. The
guardrail along the site entrance has been replaced by the North Carolina Department of
Transportation.
The Thomas Wolfe Memorial site staff has been busy presenting off-site programs at
the University of North Carolina at Asheville and various elder hostels. The Asheville
Historical Commission approved the relocation of several air conditioning units from the
side of the visitor center to the rear yard, as requested by an adjacent property owner.
The property on the north side of the house and visitor center is being developed into a
nine-story condominium project. Work continues with the Department of Cultural
Resources on the creation of podcast tours of the Wolfe site. On June 21-22, the Old
Kentucky Home hosted “In the Good Ole’ Summertime, 1916,” a living history
experience that carried visitors back to the Asheville of ninety-two years ago.
9 6 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
News from State History Museums
Mountain Gateway Museum and Heritage Center
This summer the museum is presenting a series of six Saturday programs that offer craft
demonstrations and hands-on activities in the afternoon and free concerts of traditional
mountain music in the evening. The series, Blue Ridge Traditions, opened on June 14
with a performance by Grammy Award-winner David Holt and his band, the Lightning
Bolts. Sheila Kay Adams and Balsam Range took center stage on June 21, followed by the
Welch Family, fiddler Bobby Hicks, and storyteller Freeman Owle on June 28. After a
hiatus during the weekend of Independence Day, Blue Ridge Traditions will resume on
July 12 with concerts by George Shuffler and Family, Denise O’Sullivan, and the New
North Carolina Ramblers. The Griggs, Paul Brown, and the Toast String Stretchers are
scheduled to perform on July 19, and the summer concert series will conclude the follow-ing
Saturday with appearances by Clarence Greene and Wayne Martin, and the Krüger
Brothers.
Like the music, the crafts demonstrations and hands-on activities vary each week. For
instance, spinning, weaving, knitting, and crocheting were the focus of the Sheep to
Sweater program on June 28. A mountain dance workshop, directed by Phil Jamison and
Loretta and Lynsey Freeman, is scheduled for July 19. The afternoon programs are from
2:00 to 6:00 P.M., followed by the free concerts in the museum’s outdoor amphitheater at
7:00 P.M. Complete weekly schedules are posted on the Web site of the North Carolina
Arts Council, ncarts.org/freeconcerts.
Blue Ridge Traditions is sponsored by Mountain Gateway Museum and Heritage
Center, the North Carolina Arts Council, the Department of Cultural Resources, and the
North Carolina Folklife Institute. Additional support is provided by the McDowell
County Tourism Authority and radio station WNCW-FM.
Museum of the Albemarle
The rich and varied history of the Albemarle region is the focus of a recently opened
exhibit in the Madrin Gallery, the museum’s main display space. Our Story encompasses
6,200 square feet and contains more than 750 artifacts. The history and culture of the
area’s watermen, farmers, soldiers, and lifesavers unfold against the backdrop of a con-stantly
changing historical landscape. Artifacts in the exhibit include a cannon recovered
from the wreckage of the purported Queen Anne’s Revenge; a miniature replica of the
James Adams’s Floating Theater, once a familiar site on Albemarle waterways and the
inspiration for Edna Ferber’s novel, Show Boat; a horse-drawn “steam-pumper” fire engine
that was used in Elizabeth City in the 1920s; and a miniature portrait brooch of Joseph
Hewes of Edenton, one of North Carolina’s signers of the Declaration of Independence,
by Charles Willson Peale. The reconstructed ca. 1755 Jackson House and an 1840 smoke-house,
both original to the area, vividly illustrate the daily lives of farming families in times
past. Our Story was made possible through the museum’s capital campaign, which raised
more than $1.5 million in private funds.
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 9 7
Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex
The museum celebrated its twen-tieth
anniversary with the opening of
a new exhibit, Looking Back and Mov-ing
Forward. The mixed media collec-tion
of art, photographs, newspaper
clippings, and memorabilia recalls the
museum’s early years and illuminates
current dreams for future expansion.
An interactive section invites visitors
to share their own memories,
memorabilia, and photographs. The
museum has received a grant of
$2,000 from the Cumberland
Community Foundation to fund its
popular children’s camp, Summer
Kids Excellent Adventure.
North Carolina Maritime Museum at Beaufort
The museum’s thirty-fourth annual Wooden Boat Show was the most popular in the
history of the weeklong event, drawing an estimated seven thousand visitors to Beaufort.
During the week leading up to the showing of boats and the juried competition on
May 3, guests enjoyed opportunities to go sailing on Taylors Creek in traditional wooden
craft from the museum’s collection. A number of skilled artisans, including John Coffman
(woodworking), Jim Goodwin (ships in bottles), Don Hoss (blacksmithing), Nick
Policastro (wood carving), and Nicholas Zahradka (knotting and splicing), demonstrated
traditional nautical skills.
On the day of the show, an exciting variety of demonstrations, exhibits, and activities
was offered, both at the museum on the Beaufort waterfront and at the expansion site at
Gallants Channel. The two sites were connected for the day by free transportation, cour-tesy
of the Outer Banks Ferry Service and CCATS of Carteret County. At Gallants
Channel, guests visited encampments of War of 1812 and Civil War naval reenactors,
enjoyed boat rides with members of the Beaufort Oars Rowing Club, inspected the
9 8 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Among the attendees at a reception for the North Carolina Historical Commission at the Museum
of the Albemarle on May 14 were (left to right) David Stick, William S. Powell, Millie Barbee, and
Bill Harris, a retired superintendent with the National Park Service. Image courtesy of Bill Harris.
shipwreck exhibit at the artifact repository, and gawked at several large sailing vessels
docked at the Tall Ships Wharf. In the museum, there were exhibits of sailors’ crafts and
model boats. A new event this year was the Atlantic Veneer Beaufort National
Boatbuilding Challenge, in which ten teams competed to build a skiff and then sail it. An
acoustic folk-fusion band, Molasses Creek, provided musical entertainment during the
morning, and the Second Marine Aircraft Wing Band from Cherry Point performed
patriotic tunes in the afternoon.
The main event, of course, was the display and judging of nearly seventy boats in the
water, at the museum, and at Gallants Channel. Awards were presented in a number of
juried competitions, and the winners included Ed Edelen for best powerboat; Bill Conley
for best sailboat; Duke Edwards for best rowboat; and Marty Ruffin for best paddleboat.
Skip and Kathleen Joest were recognized for having the oldest boat in the show. Ian
Ablett won the Best of Show Award, while Wayne Poole earned the People’s Choice
Award. Brent Creelman and Mark Stevens finished first in the spritsail race, and Graham
Brynes took the prize in the all-comers race. Jim Moores, owner of Moores Marine Yacht
Center, was the featured speaker at the boat show dinner on Saturday night and also
served on the panel of judges.
North Carolina Museum of History
A Thousand Words: Photographs by Vietnam Veterans, the powerful traveling exhibit now
on display at the museum, began life as a class photography project. In November 2003,
professional photographer and U.S. Navy veteran Martin Tucker was teaching a class at
the Sawtooth School for Visual Art in Winston-Salem. He wanted his students to consider
subject matter beyond the everyday material of picture taking, so he decided to expose
them to something significantly more meaningful than flowers and dogs. He posted flyers
around the Triad, soliciting from Vietnam veterans the loan of negatives of pictures they
had taken while in service in Southeast Asia. The response was overwhelming: within five
months, more than twenty-six hundred prints and slides had been received from veterans
or their families.
Tucker soon realized that he had the makings of something far greater than a class
project—an exhibit of photographs by and for Vietnam veterans. With the assistance of a
team of volunteers, he selected sixty of the most compelling and representative images,
the number dictated by space constraints at the local gallery that would provide the initial
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 9 9
This dramatic image, titled
“Carrying a wounded buddy
to the helicopter,” is one
of sixty extraordinary
photographs of the Vietnam
conflict taken by American
servicemen currently on
display at the North Carolina
Museum of History. Image
courtesy of Robert Karraker,
U.S. Army, 1969.
venue for the display. Veterans who had snapped the chosen images were invited to give
oral interviews describing the photographs and the circumstances in which they were
taken. Excerpts from their remarks were appended as captions to the images in the exhibit.
The experience proved cathartic to many veterans. Through the photographs, they were
able to express to Tucker, who served in the navy stateside during the Vietnam conflict,
memories and feelings long suppressed. Tucker was presented the Distinguished Service
Award by the Military Order of the Purple Heart Association in appreciation for his role
in creating and curating the exhibit.
In November 2004, A Thousand Words: Photographs by Vietnam Veterans premiered at
the Milton Rhodes Gallery in Winston-Salem, the first stop on a national tour. The
exhibit opened at the North Carolina Museum of History on May 1 and will run through
November 17. Martin Tucker led a curator’s tour of the exhibit on May 17 and discussed
the history of its creation during a segment of the museum’s long-running lunchtime
lecture series, History à la Carte, on June 11.
Another new exhibit at the museum unites for the first time a collection of pottery that
represents all three federally recognized Cherokee tribal entities. Cherokee Pottery: People of
One Fire includes more than eighty pieces thrown by members of the Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians of North Carolina, the United Keetowah Band of Cherokee Indians in
Oklahoma, and the Cherokee Nation. The objects illustrate centuries of continuity and
change in form, design, and technique, and reveal the common cultural heritage shared by
the three tribes. The traveling exhibit, which opened on April 11 and will run through
July 27, is located in the museum’s permanent gallery, Pleasing to the Eye: The Decorative
Arts of North Carolina.
Cherokee Pottery: People of One Fire is a collaborative effort involving the Cherokee
Heritage Center of Tahlequah, Okla.; the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee,
N.C.; the Cherokee Potters Guild; the Research Laboratories of Archaeology at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Western Carolina University. The
Cherokee Preservation Foundation provided funding for the exhibit.
A crowd of approximately 740 visitors braved
the intense heat on Saturday, June 7, to enjoy a
Family Day program at the Museum of History that
celebrated the culture and heritage of the North
Carolina coast. The event featured live entertain-ment,
crafts demonstrations, food tasting, exhibits,
lectures, games, and hands-on activities. The
twenty-six presenters included singer and storyteller
Connie Mason, former collections manager and his-torian
at the North Carolina Maritime Museum at
Beaufort; Dr. David Cecelski, author of A Histo-rian’s
Coast: Adventures into the Tidewater Past; Bett
Padgett, who discussed the work of the Outer
Banks Lighthouse Society; fisherman Walter Daven-port,
who demonstrated the art of net making; Nick
Sapone and Walter ��Brother” Gaskill, wildlife and
decoy carvers; Phoebe Briley of Great Marsh
Boatworks, who built a child-size skiff in front of
the museum; Capt. Ernie Foster, Karen Willis
Amspacher, and Rudy Austin, who shared stories
from Hatteras Island, Harkers Island, and Ocracoke;
and staff members from the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station, who reenacted a ship
rescue. Representatives from the North Carolina Coastal Federation, the Ocracoke Work-ing
Waterman’s Association, the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum, and the Graveyard of
the Atlantic Museum (a recent addition to the Division of State History Museums) were
on hand to discuss the activities of their organizations.
1 0 0 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Ninth generation potter Joel Queen, a
member of the Eastern Band of the
Cherokee Indians, created this tradi-tional
cooking pot, one of more than
eighty pieces on display in the exhibit,
Cherokee Pottery: People of One Fire.
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Upcoming Events
August 4 President James K. Polk State Historic Site: War with Mexico Soldier
Camp. One-day camp for children ages eight to twelve allows participants
to drill, train, and eat like a mid-nineteenth-century enlisted soldier. Pre-registration
required; call (704) 889-7145 for details. 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.
Roanoke Island Festival Park: Rob Snyder: Paintings of Pier, Surf, and Sea
Life. Opening of exhibit of acrylic works with coastal themes by painter
and sculptor Rob Snyder of Kill Devil Hills. The exhibit in the park’s art
gallery will run through August 28.
August 6 Roanoke Island Festival Park: Bloody Mary and the Virgin Queen. Return
engagement of the popular musical farce, now in its twelfth season at the
park, which examines the uncomfortable relationship between Queen
Elizabeth I and her half-sister, Mary Tudor. Reprised on August 13 and 20.
3:00 P.M.
August 7 Roanoke Island Festival Park: Shepherd of the Ocean. Whimsical comedy
production by Elizabeth R and Company that focuses on the last minutes
of Sir Walter Raleigh, who is visited by the long-dead Queen Elizabeth I
as he awaits execution. Reprised on August 14 and 21. 3:00 P.M.
August 9 North Carolina Maritime Museum at Beaufort: Knights of the Black Flag.
Opening of exhibit that explores the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean
and along the eastern coast of the Americas. Exhibit will run through
October 26.
State Capitol: An Afternoon at the Capitol: Artisans and
Architecture. Learn how the magnificent 1840 Capitol, one of the finest
and best-preserved examples of a government building in the Greek
Revival style, was designed and built. 1:00 to 4:00 P.M.
August 10 North Carolina Museum of History: Summer Performance Series:
Beverly Botsford. Using an assortment of gourds as musical instruments,
Botsford blends stirring rhythms with folklore, history, art, science, and
humor. 3:00 P.M.
August 13 North Carolina Museum of History: History à la Carte: Go for the
Gold! Sports historian Jim Sumner, a former curator at the museum,
discusses athletes and coaches from North Carolina, such as Michael
Jordan, Leroy Walker, Kay Yow, and Walt Bellamy, who have made
history at the Olympic Games. 12:10 P.M.
August 14-15 Museum of the Albemarle: Photography Workshop: “Images: Our
Link to the Past.” Students ages twelve through eighteen will study
photographs of Elizabeth City in the museum's collection, then take their
cameras around the town and document their observations of local
architecture, businesses, and people. Fee; registration required. Call
(252) 335-1453 for further information. 1:00 to 4:00 P.M.
August 28 Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex: Arsenal Roundtable:
Arsenal Archaeology. Archaeologist Ken Robinson of Wake Forest
University shares some of his discoveries from recent investigations of the
North Carolina Arsenal. 7:00 P.M.
September 1 Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens: Stanly-Spaight Duel
Reenactment. Annual re-creation of the 1802 duel between political
rivals John Stanly and Richard Dobbs Spaight includes tours of New Bern
Academy and a concert by the Tryon Palace Fife and Drum Corps. 4:00 P.M.
1 0 2 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Upcoming Events
September 4 Museum of the Albemarle: Historic Albemarle Roundtable: “Why
We are Called Tar Heels: North Carolina Naval Stores.” Harry
Warren, director of the North Carolina Museum of Forestry, explores the
development and economic importance of the naval stores industry in
North Carolina. 7:00 P.M.
September 6 Duke Homestead: Tobacco Harvest and Hornworm Festival.
Costumed interpreters demonstrate the harvesting, stringing, curing, and
auctioning of tobacco during this annual event. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
Fort Fisher: End of Summer Artillery Program. Volunteers and
historic interpreters in Civil War uniforms demonstrate the firing of the
fort’s cannons. 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
September 8 Roanoke Island Festival Park: Five Women: Studio Gallery of Elizabeth
City. Opening of exhibition of watercolors, acrylics, and other media that
showcases the talents of Mary Crutchfield, Margie Sawyer, Peggy West,
Patricia Sterritt, and Ricky Thornton—collectively, the Studio Gallery of
Elizabeth City. The exhibit will run through September 29.
September 10 North Carolina Museum of History: History à la Carte: Horse Sense.
Carmen Prioli, director of English graduate programs at North Carolina
State University, examines the possible origins, cultural significance, and
complex relations with humans of the wild horses of Shackleford Banks.
12:10 P.M.
September
17-23
Historic Edenton: Constitution Week. The 221st anniversary of the
signing of the U.S. Constitution is commemorated with special exhibits
and tours that emphasize the roles of Edentonians in the ratification. Fees
for tours. Call (252) 482-2637 for further information.
September 18 Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens: African American Lecture
Series: “Community Day.” Presenters discuss various cultures, and
vendors provide samples of French, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and
American dishes. 7:00 P.M.
September 18-
19
Town Creek Indian Mound: Pow-WOW! Two-day event designed for
groups to learn about Native American culture through singing, dancing,
and drumming. $3.00 per person. To schedule a group, call (910) 439-6802.
10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.
September 20 Town Creek Indian Mound: Heritage Festival. The celebration of
American Indian culture continues for the general public with a third day
of dance, drums, songs, and craft and food vendors. $4.00 for adults; $1.00
for children ages four to twelve; free for children ages three and under.
12:00 to 5:00 P.M.
September 21 North Carolina Museum of History: Summer Performance Series:
Alan Hoal. The noted storyteller shares legendary Jack tales of the Blue
Ridge Mountains. 3:00 P.M.
September 26-
28
North Carolina Transportation Museum: Day Out with Thomas™.
The popular Thomas the Tank Engine™, a real steam locomotive, returns
to the museum to provide twenty-five-minute train rides. A magic show,
bounce castles, model train layouts, and live railroad music complete the
program. Reprised October 3-5. Call (704) 636-2889 for ticket
information.
October 4 Bentonville Battlefield: Fall Civilian Living History Program.
Interpreters in period costume demonstrate open-hearth cooking, sewing,
natural dyeing, spinning, knitting, and other domestic chores, while
discussing the hardships faced by Southern women as they tried to provide
for their families during the Civil War. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 1 0 3
Upcoming Events
October 4-5 Fort Dobbs: Eighteenth-Century Trade Faire. The civilians on the
Carolina frontier whose lives were disrupted by the French and Indian War
are the focus of this annual fall program. Reenactors portray tradesmen,
farmers, militiamen, and Native Americans, and an April 1760 Indian raid
is re-created. A $5.00 donation is suggested. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
Roanoke Island Festival Park: Elizabethan Tymes: A Country Faire.
Visitors can experience the Renaissance through various demonstrations,
including falconry, black powder artillery firing, pike drills, and a knighting
ceremony, and by exploring re-creations of sixteenth-century taverns and
tailor shops. A highlight of the program is the mock battle between the
Elizabeth II and the Silver Chalice. 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
October 7-10 Town Creek Indian Mound: Eastern Woodlands Program. Members
of registered groups can learn about life in North Carolina during the
Woodland Period (1000 B.C. to 1200 A.D.) by observing demonstrations of
open-hearth cooking, flint knapping, arrow manufacturing, pottery, and
cord waning. $3.00 per person. To schedule a group, call (910) 439-6802.
9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
October 10-12 Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens: Mum’s the Word. In conjunction
with New Bern’s annual MUMfest weekend, the palace offers free tours of
its many gardens. On Friday and Saturday, a heritage plant sale provides
visitors the opportunity to purchase rare historic plants and to consult with
master gardeners. Friday and Saturday, 9:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M., Sunday,
11:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.
October 11 Town Creek Indian Mound: Eastern Woodlands Day. The final day of
the weeklong commemoration of the Woodland Period in North Carolina
is open to the general public. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
October 11-12 Bennett Place: Soldiers and Civilians: Life in the Carolinas during
the Civil War. Costumed civilians perform such domestic chores as
cooking, gardening, and sewing, while soldiers share stories of their
enlistment and life in the Confederate armies. 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
October 13-17 Alamance Battleground: Colonial Living Week. Annual weeklong
celebration of colonial life is designed for schoolchildren and the general
public. Groups should preregister by calling (336) 227-4785. 9:00 A.M. to
2:00 P.M.
October 14 Historic Stagville: Earlie E. Thorpe Lecture: “A Person with a Price:
Enslaved Sales in the Upper and Lower South, 1790-1865.” The
lecture by author Diana Berry, associate professor at Michigan State
University, will be followed by a book signing and live jazz music provided
by Quintessence. 2:00 to 4:00 P.M.
October 18 Duke Homestead: An Evening at the Homestead. The Duke
Homestead Junior Interpreters present an afternoon program of traditional
music, wagon rides, and nineteenth-century games. Visitors are encouraged
to bring a picnic for dinner on the grounds. 2:00 to 6:00 P.M.
Horne Creek Living Historical Farm: Annual Cornshucking Frolic.
The yearly rural festival features cider making, quilting, cooking,
woodworking, wagon rides, traditional music, and the harvesting,
shucking, shelling, and grinding of corn. 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
October 25 Historic Bath: Lecture: “Graveyard Language: The Art of Reading
Tombstones.” Historic interpreter Bea Latham of the site staff explores
the language and symbolism of tombstones, and how they reflect different
time periods and beliefs. 7:00 P.M.
Staff Notes
In the Archives and Records Section of the Division of Historical Resources, Andrea
Gabriel resigned as head of the Resource Management Branch to accept a leadership posi-tion
with NC ECHO. Christine Dumoulin resigned as archivist I at the Outer Banks His-tory
Center. Glenda Montague, administrative secretary in the section’s Administrative
Unit, transferred to the Information Technology Branch. Lee Todd resigned as an office
assistant V in the same branch. Kristen Lipetzky, a temporary employee under the auspices
of an NC ECHO grant, began work in the branch, digitizing and cataloging maps as part
of a collaborative project with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In the
Public Services Branch, Kathryn Martin Standish resigned as a processing assistant IV in
the Search Room. Vann Evans was transferred into the position, effective June 1. In the
Government Records Branch, Rebecca Paden was promoted to records management
analyst II, and Velisa Graham was hired as an office assistant III. William H. Brown was
reassigned from the Historical Publications Section to the Government Records Branch.
In the Division of State Historic Sites and Properties, Vivian B. Price retired as historic
interpreter II at Historic Halifax on May 31. Dorothy Redford, site manager at Somerset
Place, was appointed to the Fort Monroe Preservation Advisory Group by Gov. Timothy
M. Kaine of Virginia. Jim McKee (historic interpreter III) and Megan Phillips (historic
interpreter II) joined the staff at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson in May. McKee came to
the site from the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport, where he was the histo-rian
II and also served as the educator for the museum. T. Grant Ambrose resigned from
Somerset Place to enroll in Episcopalian seminary. Christy Hyman began work at
Somerset as a historic interpreter I. Historic Bath received the assistance of a state Youth
Advocacy Involvement Office intern for the summer. Kim Howell will undertake the
archival preservation of the Edmund Harding Collection. Kerri Clavette joined the
Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum staff on April 1 as a historic interpreter II. The North
Carolina Transportation Museum welcomed carpenter Mike Stoker on April 15 and
communication specialist I Mark Brown on June 2. At Historic Stagville, volunteers Clare
Estes and Tracey Dryden were hired as part-time temporary employees. Jason Bowen
began work at Horne Creek Living Historical Farm as the horticultural technician. Djuana
Patterson was hired at Vance Birthplace as a building and environmental technician.
Deanna Kerrigan, former outreach program supervisor at the North Carolina Museum of
History, was named historic site manager at the State Capitol.
In the Division of State History Museums, Tricia Blakistone was named distance-learning
specialist, and Kelley McCall resigned as special events coordinator at the North
Carolina Museum of History. Richard “Dusty” Wescott, an artifact handler and special
collections project coordinator in the Collections Management Section of the museum,
received the Professional Service Award, the highest honor bestowed by the North
Carolina Museums Council, at the annual meeting of the council on March 6. Before
joining the museum staff in 2007, Wescott worked at the North Carolina Museum of
Natural Sciences and the Raleigh City Museum. The North Carolina Museum of History
Associates appointed Walker Mabe of Raleigh executive director, effective June 23.
Obituaries
Betty McKee Baker, 64, who managed the welcome center of the Capital Area Visitor
Center for thirteen years, died on April 3. A native of Maryland but a longtime resident of
Raleigh, she graduated from Broughton High School and North Carolina Women’s
College. She taught English at the high school and collegiate levels for several years before
joining the Division of Archives and History on Valentine’s Day 1990 as a building guide
in the Executive Mansion. Baker edited newsletters for the visitor center, the Executive
Mansion, and for docents who volunteered at the mansion. She coauthored a chapter, a
room-by-room tour of the governor’s house, in William Bushong’s North Carolina’s
1 0 4 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Executive Mansion: The First Hundred Years (1992). She was serving as tour coordinator at
the mansion when promoted to manage the welcome center on April 1, 1993, a position
she maintained until her retirement on the last day of May 2006.
Betty Baker is survived by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Paul McKee of Raleigh; her
brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Paul McKee Jr. of Spartanburg, S.C.; daughters
Elizabeth Lane of Pennsylvania and Susan Miller of Texas; and five grandchildren.
* * *
Holley Mack Bell II, 86, of Windsor, a lifelong advocate for historic preservation in
northeastern North Carolina, died on May 11. A native of Bertie County and a graduate
of Windsor High School, Bell earned degrees from the University of North Carolina
School of Journalism, the Graduate Institute of International Studies at the University of
Geneva, and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He served in
the U.S. Army during World War II and afterwards as a War Department historian in
Germany. He returned to North Carolina to pursue a career in journalism, first as a
reporter for the Charlotte News, then back home as editor and manager of the Bertie Ledger-
Advance, and finally as associate editor of the Greensboro Daily News. He then worked for
the U.S. Information Agency as a press attaché in the American embassies in Chile and
Colombia, and as a public affairs officer in Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.
Bell was an active member of several historic preservation organizations, including the
Historic Hope Foundation and Preservation North Carolina. He was appointed by Gov.
James B. Hunt to the North Carolina Cultural Task Force and the Historic Murfreesboro
Commission. He was also involved in the Carolina Charter Corporation, the North
Caroliniana Society, the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, and the
Museum of the Albemarle Inc. An active Episcopalian, he served as historiographer of the
Diocese of East Carolina from 1991 to 2007. In November 2004, he and his wife, Clara
Bond Bell, received the Christopher Crittenden Memorial Award in recognition of their
decades of work to preserve the history of the northeastern section of the state. The fol-lowing
April, the couple were honored by the Eastern Office of the State Historic Preser-vation
Office with the presentation of the LaRue Mooring Evans Award for their years of
leadership in the field of historic preservation, particularly for their efforts toward the
restoration of Hope Plantation.
Holley Mack Bell is survived by his wife, Clara Bond Bell; daughters Lisa Bell-
Loncella (and husband, Jim) of Johnstown, Pa., and C. B. Guess (and husband, Keith) of
Summerville, S.C.; son Holley Mack Bell III of Raleigh; two granddaughters; and a
grandson.
* * *
John Body Hicks, 70, who worked in the State Records Center for twenty-three
years, died on June 13. A native of Vance County, Hicks attended Kittrell College before
joining the State Records Branch of the Archives and Records Section as a records clerk
on July 1, 1973. He was promoted to records management analyst on May 1, 1983, and
served in that capacity until his retirement on October 18, 1996. Hicks is survived by two
daughters, Sheree Angela Smith (and husband, Marcus) and Felicia Dawn Gaston (and
husband, Tracy); two sons, Mark Reginald Hicks and Jonathan Derek Hicks (and wife,
Wanda); a sister, Margaret Hicks Edgerton; and one grandson.
* * *
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 1 0 5
Patricia Riddle Johnson, 61, an employee of the Historical Publications Section for
nearly ten years, died on May 10 after a lengthy illness. A native of Garner, Pat attended
Appalachian State University and graduated from North Carolina State University. She
started work with Historical Publications as a transcribing typist on the first day of 1978
and had risen to the position of historical editor I before she separated from the section on
May 31, 1987. She is survived by her husband of forty years, Mickeal L. Johnson, who
works in the Department of Cultural Resources Office of Information Technology; her
parents, Thomas P. and Lucille E. Riddle of Garner; daughters Karen Johnson and Laura
McGuinn of Raleigh; son Eric Johnson of Raleigh; sisters Susan Evans, Debbie Wilser,
and Kim McWain of Raleigh; brothers Tommy Riddle of Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Don
Riddle of Troutman; and four grandchildren.
* * *
Lonnie Lee Kuhn, 57, who began work in 2007 as a historic interpreter I at Historic
Edenton, died at his home in Hertford on May 27. A U.S. Navy veteran, he worked at
the Rock and Soul Museum in Memphis before moving to North Carolina. He is sur-vived
by his wife of twenty-seven years, Carol Kuhn; his parents, Gene and Margaret
Kuhn of Point Harbor; a daughter, Lori Wright, and her husband, Dan, of Fayetteville;
a brother, Michael Kuhn and wife, Diane, of Collierville, Tenn.; a sister, Joan Wood, and
her husband, Donnie, of Virginia Beach, Va.; two nieces; and a nephew.
* * *
John Harold Talton, 79, of New Bern, chairman of the Tryon Palace Commission
from 1993 to 2004 and the driving force in the acquisition of land for the North Carolina
History Education Center, died on May 23. Talton was born in Smithfield and educated
at Wake Forest College, where he received a degree in business administration in 1951.
Upon graduation, he entered into what was to be a forty-three-year career with First Citi-zens
Bank, interrupted only by a two-year stint with the U.S. Army in Germany during
the mid-fifties. Talton was transferred to New Bern in 1969 to serve as the bank’s city
executive, and he adopted the historic town as his home. When he retired in 1994, he was
senior regional vice-president for eastern North Carolina. After leaving the banking busi-ness,
he bought and operated Mitchell Hardware, a vintage hardware store in downtown
New Bern that first opened in 1898.
Talton was a leader of many local, regional, and statewide civic and professional orga-nizations,
including the New Bern Area Chamber of Commerce and the North Carolina
Community College Foundation. He was also active in a number of organizations con-cerned
with the preservation of historic New Bern and environs. Besides his seventeen
years as a member of the Tryon Palace Commission (he continued as an emeritus member
of the commission after stepping down in 2004), Talton served as a trustee of the
Kellenberger Historical Foundation; director and treasurer of the New Bern Historical
Society Foundation; president of the New Bern Preservation Foundation; and director of
the Craven Arts Council and Gallery. In 1983, he received the Gertrude S. Carraway
Award of Merit from the Historical Preservation Society of North Carolina and in 2004
was awarded the Order of the Longleaf Pine by Gov. Michael F. Easley.
Harold Talton is survived by his wife of fifty-four years, Patricia Smith Talton; daugh-ter
Rebecca Talton Bump of Virginia Beach, Va.; sons John Talton Jr. (and wife, Kathryn)
of Pinehurst, and David Smith Talton (and wife, Sara) of Tupelo, Miss.; brothers William
Talton and Kenneth Talton; sisters Joyce Talton Gibson and Elizabeth Talton Sambleson;
and five grandchildren.
1 0 6 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
State, County, and Local Groups
Lower Cape Fear Historical Society
At its annual meeting on May 4, the society presented awards in recognition of out-standing
contributions to the organization and regional historical publications. The Society
Cup, which salutes meritorious service to the goals of the historical society or advance-ment
of the understanding of regional history, was awarded to Dr. John Haley, retired
professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW). In
2007, Dr. Haley served on the Wilmington Race Riot Commission and the Gullah/
Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission. Two volunteers were acknowledged
for contributing the most hours to the work of the society during a six-month period:
Tom Wessels for the first half of 2007 and Helen Romeo for the second. The Cashman
Award, sponsored by the society and selected by the faculty of the history department at
UNCW, recognizes the most deserving graduate thesis in the department. Ron Odom Jr.
received the award for his paper, “Continuity and Change in the United States’ Soviet
Policy during the Carter and Reagan Administrations.” Finally, first prize in the short his-torical
fiction contest, sponsored by Encore Publishing, was presented to Edith Edwards
for her story, “Beautiful Betrayal.”
Pitt County Historical Society
On a wooded lot in what used to be “way out in the country” near Greenville sits a
white frame building with two doors and two stoops. Although they are not labeled as
such, these were the separate entrances for men and women to Red Banks Primitive Bap-tist
Church. Inside are wide-plank flooring and a cool dark interior with pot-bellied
cast-iron stoves for heating. It has been several years since the building has heard the
Bible-thumping sermons and shape-note singing that once signaled Sunday services. The
congregation, never large, dwindled to two or three families who struggled to maintain
their house of worship. Rather than see the church continue to deteriorate, the families
decided to donate the building and acreage to the Pitt County Historical Society. In May
2000, the society accepted the property and invested some of its resources in additional
land, paint, cleanup, and man-hours of labor.
Constructed of native heart pine in 1893, the building is now available for meetings,
weddings, and family reunions. The historical society uses the property for an annual din-ner
on the grounds. Brushstrokes, a Greenville art guild, hosts a clothesline show of their
work each year at the church. Once a year, an “Antique Show and Tell” is held there
with local dealers examining items brought to share. An outbuilding has been constructed
to hold artifacts, photos, and old Primitive Baptist hymnals and books with the order of
service.
There is hope that someday a new building on the property will house a county
museum. Donations of historic artifacts have already begun to accumulate and need a
home. Tax deductible donations, contributions, and bequests for the restoration, renova-tion,
and maintenance of Red Banks Primitive Baptist Church may be made to Pitt
County Historical Society, Inc., P. O. Box 1554, Greenville, NC 27835-1554.
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 1 0 7
The Life of the Late James Johnson:
An American Slave Narrative from Oldham, England
By David S. Cecelski and Alex Christopher Meekins
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. David S. Cecelski is the author, most recently, of The Waterman’s Song:
Slavery and Freedom in Maritime North Carolina. Chris Meekins is the correspondence archivist at the
North Carolina State Archives and is pursuing a doctorate in history at the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro. A native North Carolinian, he is the author of Elizabeth City and the Civil
War: A History of Battle and Occupation.
An exhibit at the Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council (MBC) Archives in Oldham,
England, concerning local connections to slavery has brought to light an American slave
narrative previously unknown in the United States. Titled The Life of the Late James Johnson
(Colored Evangelist), an Escaped Slave from the Southern States of America, the pamphlet chron-icles
Johnson’s youth in Brunswick County, North Carolina; his escape to a Union vessel
during the Civil War; his passage to Liverpool as a sailor; and a sobering, if picaresque,
journey through England and Wales. Johnson settled in Oldham in 1866 and died there in
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New Leaves
1914, which is how the only known copies of his autobiography came to be preserved in
the Oldham MBC Archives.
Roger Ivens, a local studies officer at the Oldham Local Studies and Archive, which
administers the Oldham MBC Archives, first brought news of the narrative’s existence to
this side of the Atlantic earlier this year. On March 19, Ivens contacted the North
Carolina State Archives in order to introduce the archivists there to Johnson’s narrative
and to inquire if they might provide him with additional information on Johnson or the
other individuals, places, and events referenced in his narrative. Ivens supplied the archi-vists
with a brief summary of the narrative. He later sent a complete copy of the pamphlet
to the State Archives, as well as one to Dr. David Cecelski.
Ivens had turned his attention to The Life of the Late James Johnson as an especially vivid
part of the Oldham MBC Archives exhibit, Slavery—What’s it got to do with us? Other parts
of the exhibit featured Juba Thomas Royton, an eighteenth-century enslaved servant of
Thomas Percival of Royston Hall, Oldham, as well as newspaper coverage of two land-mark
moments in Oldham’s history: the debates over slavery in the Oldham parliamentary
election of 1832, and the local outlook on the American Civil War and slavery during the
“Cotton Famine,” that period of the war when the Union blockade of Southern shipping
severely reduced cotton imports and compelled Oldham’s textile mills to curtail their out-put
drastically. At that time, Oldham was the leading cotton-spinning town on either side
of the Atlantic, boasting roughly a tenth of the world’s spindles. The reliance of the city’s
textile industry on American cotton was its most trenchant connection with slavery and is
a central part of the Oldham MBC Archives exhibit.
At the North Carolina State Archives, staff archivists immediately recognized the
importance and rarity of Johnson’s dense, fifteen-page slave narrative from the American
perspective. It is the only known firsthand account of slavery in Brunswick County and is
one of approximately a dozen known narratives written by former slaves from any part of
North Carolina. One of those narratives, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet
Jacobs, is now considered a classic of American literature. Most, however, derive their
enduring significance from the insights that they give into American history at a more
localized level. Originating outside of the United States, James Johnson’s narrative may
almost be considered part of a subgenre of the classic slave narrative, having been written
in circumstances far removed from the historical forces that shaped the literary perspectives
of slave narrators within the United States.
According to The Life of the Late James Johnson, Johnson was born on March 20, 1847,
in Smithville (later Southport), the county seat of Brunswick County, North Carolina.1
He indicated that when he was a small child, his owner was a boatbuilder named Uriah
Moss.2 Because of financial difficulties, Moss sold him to a planter named Jesse Drew,
“who lived at Orton,” a prominent plantation on the Cape Fear River between
Wilmington and Smithville.3 Prior to Moss’s selling him, Johnson also was temporarily in
the household of a local storekeeper, William Galloway, apparently in payment for Moss’s
debts to Galloway.4 He described his work life while owned by Drew thusly:
It was my Sunday task to go into the fields and scare the birds from the Indian corn and rice.
During the winter I had to up-root and gather the sweet potatoes or yams, and rake straw. In
the summer, to plough the ground for the reception of Indian corn, cotton, peas, and sugar-cane.
During the autumn season, to strip fodder for the horses and cattle from the Indian corn
stalks.5
He remembered life with Drew as “comparatively pleasant,” and he made no mention of
Drew ever whipping him, unlike his first owner, the boatbuilder Uriah Moss.
Drew sold Johnson after approximately two years. His next owner was a George
Washington.6 Johnson indicated that Washington employed him as a coachman and hos-tler.
When not doing either of those jobs, he was sent to labor on one of Washington’s
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 1 0 9
two plantations, one at Green Swamp and the other five miles away at “Five Points.”7
That was a period in which Johnson suffered a great deal of abuse. He referred specifically
to one incident, probably sometime in 1859 or 1860, when he was tied to a tree trunk:
He flogged me until the blood streamed down my back, and then ordered some of the other
negroes to wash me in salt and water, in order to cure my lacerated back as soon as possible, not
that he cared what I suffered, but I could not work so soon if this was not done; but the
suffering endured by such a proceeding can only be felt, it cannot be described.8
Approximately a year later, the Civil War broke out, his owner’s son joined the Con-federate
army, and Johnson was made a house servant.9 Much of his reminiscence of that
period of his life focuses on the struggle of local slaves to find adequate food. Perhaps they
were experiencing the consequences of the Union naval blockade of the Cape Fear River
and of the other wartime disruptions to the local economy. Be that as it may, Johnson’s
account of efforts to satiate his hunger by pilfering his owner’s livestock and the bounty of
his smokehouse are among the pamphlet’s lengthiest passages.
Those incidents often involved other slaves, but Johnson mentioned only one of them
by name, a cook called Rebecca. She was flogged and, according to Johnson, escaped but
was run down by bloodhounds in Shallotte. He indicated that she was then “beat again,
put in irons, kept in a barn for a week, and fed on bread and water.” Though he had not
always had a friendly relationship with Rebecca, Johnson attempted to nurse her back to
health. That lengthy period of Rebecca’s debilitation was his darkest moment:
I became so down-hearted at what I had endured myself, and saw poor Rebecca suffer, that I
tried to put an end to my miserable existence by eating the leaves of a poisonous plant, but the
doctor was brought and the stomach-pump applied, but I was ill for a long time afterwards. I
went nearly mad, and ate clay to destroy myself, upon which my master got spirits of turpentine
and clay mixed together, and forced it down my throat, in order that I might be sickened of it,
and sick and heart-sore I was.10
Almost immediately upon the outbreak of hostilities between North and South, the
Lincoln administration instigated a blockade of Southern shipping. After Brig. Gen. Ambrose
Burnside captured New Bern and Beaufort early in 1862, those ports became bases for a
Union blockading fleet that patrolled the waters off Confederate ports and rivers to the
south. In the summer of 1862, Johnson and three companions succeeded in stealing a boat
from their owner and rendezvousing with a Union naval vessel, the USS Stars and Stripes,
a 407-ton screw steamer that was engaged in blockading duty off the Cape Fear River
throughout the summer of 1862.11 Johnson recorded that he served on that vessel for six
weeks, until the Stars and Stripes sailed to Philadelphia for overhaul and repairs, which
other sources indicate occurred on or about August 26, 1862.12
James Johnson left the Stars and Stripes in Philadelphia, bummed his way to New York
City and, having been duped by an unscrupulous shipping agent, signed on as a
crewmember on the Blenheim, an English ship bound for Liverpool.13 “ ‘Darkie’ got
kicked about a good deal all the way to Brunswick Dock, Liverpool,” he recalled. He
arrived in Liverpool penniless and friendless. “Now I know of the dear friend in heaven—
the Lord Jesus—but I didn’t then, so I was sad and downcast,” he wrote. He first lived on
the city’s streets, begging for bread or scrounging in ash pits for food scraps and sleeping in
“out-houses, water closets, timber-yards, etc.” He repeatedly fell victim to thieves and scam
artists, until he was left to face the English winter with scarcely any clothes on his back.
Eventually, Johnson left Liverpool and began to tramp through the English and Welsh
countryside. He visited Ormskirk, St. Helens, Warrington, Manchester, Wigan,
Huddersfield, Leeds, York, Beverley, Hull, Sheffield, Swansea, Whitehaven, and West
Hartlepool, among other locales. He was on the road for nearly four years. Twice, he
indicated, he went to sea again but returned and “spent my money in drinking, etc.”
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At times, he begged; other times, he “took to singing, dancing, and rattlebones” in front
of taverns in order to earn his bread. He probably reached his low point at Sheffield, in
South Yorkshire. There he joined Chuckie Harris’s Boxing Tent, a traveling show of a
kind renowned for its sordid lifestyle, gambling, and vicious, bare-knuckled fighting.
There, he said, he met the legendary Nottingham boxer, Bendigo, the stage name for
William Abednego Thompson (1811-1880). Evidently, Johnson’s role in the show was
that of “sparring man” for the professional boxers, a job not likely to elicit much envy.
Johnson arrived in Oldham, in the northwest of England, in September 1866. The
town was recovering from the “Cotton Famine” and again offered opportunity for
employment in its spinning mills and foundries. Johnson found work first at a foundry and
then at Platt Brothers and Company, a leading maker of textile machinery, as well as oper-ator
of a foundry and colliery. In Oldham he experienced a spiritual awakening that began
with an invitation from a coworker to hear the touring Sheffield Hallelujah Band. He
eventually began to attend “the Oldham church” and “the Town Hall services,” as well as
occasional meetings of the Hallelujah Band at the town’s Cooperative Hall. At the Town
Hall services, Johnson wrote, “light began to dawn more fully into my soul.”
One night, in the aftermeeting, I heard them singing, “Oh, the Lamb, the bleeding Lamb,”
when I realized that “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s son, cleansed ‘me’ from all sin.” Oh
gladsome day, when I was able to say, Free from the slavery of the master in America—the
master of my body. But what a still more glorious one when I realized I was free from the
soul-master—the devil! Now I am free, body and soul.14
The Life of the Late James Johnson is as fundamentally a tale of a religious journey as it is a
slave narrative. The climax of Johnson’s account is that moment when he was spiritually
redeemed at the Town Hall services. The date of his religious awakening is vague but
seems to have been in 1867 or 1868.
After that point in the narrative, Johnson said very little about his life. He indicated
that he married Sarah Preston in 1869, and he credited her with teaching him how to read
and write.15 He also briefly outlined a time frame for gaining the confidence to speak about
his faith in public, a chronology that allows us to estimate the date of the authorship of
The Life of the Late James Johnson as 1877 or 1878. He said that he did not preach publicly
for six years after his religious conversion, and at the time of the pamphlet’s writing, he
attested, he had been preaching “the old, old story of Jesus and His love” in public for
four years.
Though The Life of the Late James Johnson fits in some ways into the traditional form,
voice, and style of the classic American slave narrative, Johnson’s testimony departs from
conventions in other ways. One notices immediately, for instance, that the pamphlet offers
its readers only a title page and Johnson’s own words, without an introduction or preface
by a respected political leader or minister, as is the case in so many slave narratives. Unlike
most American narratives, the pamphlet contains no front or back matter vouching for its
authenticity or testifying to the author’s good character and sound citizenship. In addition,
the way that Johnson begins the narrative at the point when he was twelve years old and
ends his story with his spiritual conversion at approximately the age of twenty, rather than
with his escape from slavery or his acceptance as a productive member of society, is
unusual. That choice and the rather lengthy sections concerning his trials in the British
Isles confirm the author’s intention of telling a story that is both a slave’s journey and a
Christian’s journey.
Only the title page offers much in the way of clues as to the pamphlet’s provenance
and the circumstances of its publication. It does not indicate a year of publication, only a
printer: W. Galley, 78 Lees Road, Oldham. The book’s title refers to the “Late James
Johnson,” so we know that it was published after his death in 1914. The title page also
indicates that the pamphlet’s copyright was held by Miss Alice Johnson, James and
V O L U M E 5 6 , N U M B E R 3 , J U L Y 2 0 0 8 1 1 1
Sarah Johnson’s daughter, and it gives her address as 5 Greenacres Road, Oldham. She was
selling the pamphlet for a penny.
The Life of the Late James Johnson offers students of history much to examine in more
depth. The pamphlet is bound to reward scholars with a greater understanding of race and
slavery in both the United States and the British Isles. We on this side of the Atlantic owe an
immense debt to Roger Ivens and the Oldham MBC Archives for bringing the slave narra-tive
to our attention and for highlighting the often overlooked connections that slavery built
between our two countries.
The appearance of James Johnson’s narrative at the Oldham MBC Archives also sug-gests
what we believe will be a trend in coming years. Before, during, and after the Amer-ican
Civil War, thousands of former slaves emigrated to Canada, Great Britain, continental
Europe, Africa, and the West Indies. We may presume that some small percentage of those
ex-slaves, like James Johnson, later recorded their experiences as slaves in the American
South. Many of those narratives would have been circulated only on a local level and
remained undiscovered beyond the immediate vicinity. As more towns and cities around
the world examine their own historical relationships with American slavery, and as the
Internet grows and more local and provincial research centers build online databases of
their collections, we are likely to see more testimonies to our slave past come to light. If
that turns out to be the case, we will no doubt gain an important new appreciation for what
those distant exiles have to teach us about their former home.
* * *
Notes
1. Johnson indicated that he was born in “Smithfield.” Other details in the narrative make clear that
he was referring to Smithville.
2. This is a reference to Uriah Morse, age fifty-six, a boatbuilder listed in the 1850 Brunswick
County census and other local records. No Moss is listed in local census records. In 1850, Morse
owned three slaves, including one male listed as being six years old, the closest in age to Johnson at
that time. Seventh Census of the United States: Brunswick County, N.C. (1850), Population and
Slave Schedules, National Archives (microfilm).
3. On October 15, 1852, Uriah Morse sold an eight-year-old slave boy named Alfred (James Johnson’s
middle name and the name by which he went as a slave) to Jesse G. Drew. Drew was one of the
county’s leading citizens. He was Brunswick County register of deeds in 1856 and clerk of the
county court from 1857 to at least 1862. He did not own Orton Plantation, but did possess land, a
residence, and slaves adjacent to Orton and bordering the Cape Fear River. According to the federal
census of 1860, one of his twelve slaves was a male twelve years old, roughly Johnson’s age at the
time. Brunswick County Deeds (microfilm), Book P:555-556, Book Q:616, Book R:99, 360, Book
S:191, 309-310, 382, North Carolina State Archives. See also Eighth Census of the United States:
Brunswick County, N.C. (1860), Population and Slave Schedules, National Archives (microfilm),
and English census records, 1901, Ancestry library edition database (http://www.ancestrylibrary.com).
4. No William Galloway appears in county census records or deeds, but Galloway and Gallaway
were common surnames in antebellum Brunswick County.
5. James Johnson, The Life of the Late James Johnson (Colored Evangelist), an Escaped Slave from the
Southern States of America (Oldham, England: W. Galley, n.d.), 3-4, Oldham Metropolitan Borough
Council Archives, Oldham, England.
6. This is a reference to George Washington Swain, a wealthy Brunswick County planter. Eighth
Census of the United States: Brunswick County, N.C. (1860), Population and Slave Schedules,
National Archives (microfilm).
7. George W. Swain’s “Green Swamp” plantation was located on Davis Creek, which flows into
Lockwoods Folly River. “Five Points” apparently refers to his plantation and residence on Dutchman
Creek, northwest of Smithville. A working hypothesis, put forward by Beverly Tetterton of the
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New Hanover County Public Library, is that the name “Five Points” refers to the short stretch of
Dutchman Creek on Swain’s plantation where that creek, Jump and Run Creek, and three smaller
creeks converge. Brunswick County Deeds, Book S:284 (December 21, 1859), North Carolina State
Archives; Swain Family File, Bill Reeves Collection, New Hanover County Public Library, Wil-mington,
N.C.; Seventh and Eighth Federal Censuses of the United States, Brunswick County, N.C.
(1850 and 1860), Population Schedule, National Archives (microfilm); Wilmington Weekly Star,
February 5, 1875.
8. Johnson, Life of the Late James Johnson, 5.
9. Benjamin Franklin Swain joined the Thirtieth Regiment North Carolina Troops in July 1861.
Louis H. Manarin et al., comps., North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster, 16 vols. to date
(Raleigh: Division of Archives and History, Department of Cultural Resources, 1966-), 8:350.
10. Johnson, Life of the Late James Johnson, 8-9.
11. Report of Commander Glisson, in Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War
of the Rebellion, 30 vols. (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1894-1922), ser. 1, 7:602.
Johnson indicated that he escaped with three friends, “William, Fernie and Pleasant.” Glisson
reported that the Stars and Stripes picked up four “contrabands”—Alfred Gauss, William J.
McRithie, Ferny Rimuky, and James P. Henderson—off Lockwoods Folly Inlet on July 29, 1862.
He says that three of the four belonged to George Swain, “a Secessionist.” How Johnson came to
have the surname Gauss while he was a slave is as yet unclear, though Gause was a prominent family
name in Brunswick County. The surname that Johnson adopted after he was free was that of his
father, Tom Johnson, a slave. Marriage registration, December quarter, 1891, vol. 8d:942, Oldham
Registrar Office, Oldham, England.
12. Report of James F. Armstrong, USS State of Georgia, Official Records of the Union and Confederate
Navies, ser. 1, 7:694.
13. The Blenheim arrived in Liverpool on January 24, 1863. “Ship News,” The Times (London),
January 26, 1863, The Times Digital Archive, 1795-1985, Issue 24465, via Info Trac.
14. Johnson, Life of the Late James Johnson, 14-15.
15. English records shed light on Johnson’s later life. He married Sarah Ellen Preston, a spinster, on
June 6, 1869. The couple had one child, Alice. After Sarah’s death, Johnson married a widow, Mary
Ann Cook, at the parish church of St. Stephen’s, on December 13, 1891. During his residence in
Oldham, local records listed his occupation as “iron worker,” blacksmith, and “iron striker.” He
died on February 24, 1914, at age sixty-six, of “chronic Bright’s Disease and Uraemia.” He is
apparently buried in an unmarked grave in the city’s Royton Cemetery. Marriage and death
registrations, June quarter, 1869, vol. 8d:963; December quarter, 1891, vol. 8d:942; March quarter,
1914, vol. 8d:810, Oldham Registrar Office, Oldham, England. See also English census records,
1871, 1881, 1901 (Oldham/Greater Manchester/Lancashire Area), Ancestry library edition database
(http://www.ancestrylibrary.com).
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1 1 4 C A R O L I N A C O M M E N T S
Additions to the National Register of Historic Places
(Administered by the State Historic Preservation Office)
The unadorned austerity of Shiloh
Primitive Baptist Church near
Brogden in central Johnston County
typifies rural African American
churches of that denomination built
around the turn of the twentieth
century. Constructed ca. 1920 and
used for religious services until
ca. 1960, the church also served the
community as a one-room
schoolhouse during the twenties and
thirties.
Carver’s Creek Methodist Church
near Council in Bladen County is a
well-preserved survivor of the Greek
Revival temple form that prevailed in
the Cape Fear region in the mid-nineteenth
century. In continuous
use since its dedication in 1859, the
church is bordered on two sides by a
cemetery that holds the earthly
remains of eight generations of
communicants.
The Romanesque Revival style of
the 1922 Hedrick’s Grove Reformed
Church in rural Davidson County,
built around the same time as Shiloh
Church, offers a striking contrast to
the stark Primitive Baptist
architecture. The exterior of the
large brick sanctuary is dominated by
the two corner towers of unequal
height, while the interior is laid out
in auditorium fashion, with sloping
floor, curving rows of seats, and
aisles radiating fanlike from the
pulpit.
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Additions to the National Register of Historic Places
(Administered by the State Historic Preservation Office)
Another Late Gothic Revival-style
church recently added to the
National Register is Grace Episcopal
Church (left), built in Lexington in
1901-1902. The façade of the one-story
brick sanctuary is dominated by
a central bell tower, and the focal
point of the interior is a three-part
stained-glass window produced by
Tiffany Studios of New York in
1918. The structure now serves as the
chapel for the newer Grace Episcopal
Church (right), consecrated in 1987.
Mount Shiloh Missionary Baptist
Church in James City is an excellent
example of a Late Gothic Revival-style
brick church. The building was
constructed ca. 1924 by Samuel
Chapman Elliott, a local house
carpenter and contractor and a
deacon of the church. The African
American congregation was
established by the Reverend Harley
Grimes in occupied New Bern in
1863.