MORGANTON
★ ★ ★
Burke County Courthouse
STONEMAN’S RAID
On March 24. 1865, Union Gen. Geage Staianan led 6,000 ankjmai from Tennessee into souttmestem Urgnia
and Heston Noth Cadwa to disnipt the Confedoate supply fate by destroying sections of the \irgna and
Tennessee Rairoad, the North Cardna Railroad. and the Pierknont Radroad. He strati at Boone on Modi 28, headed
into Virginia on Apr! 2, and returned to Nath Carofina a week lata. Staianan s Raid aided at Ashetie ai April 26,
the day that Caifederate Got. Joseph t Johnston surendaed to Union Gen. WBam t Sherman near Duhan, N.C.
During the Civil War, Confederate recruits mus¬
tered here on the grounds of the old Burke Coun¬
ty Courthouse. The first unit — the Burke Rifles
(Co. G, 1st North Carolina Infantry) — was
enrolled for active duty on April 18, 1861, and
mustered into state service in Raleigh on May 13.
Gen. Alvan C. Gillem
Courtesy Library of Congress
While many of the
young Burke County men
went off to war early, the
conflict did not come to the
county until April 1865,
when Stoneman’s raiders
passed through. Union
Gen. Alvan C. Gillem led two
cavalry brigades to Asheville
through Burke County and
Morganton while Gen. George Stoneman escorted
most of his command
to Tennessee from
Lenoir, North Carolina.
On April 17, Gillem
encountered the Home
Guard under Gen. John
R McCown at Rocky
Ford on the Catawba
River nearby. After a
brisk engagement, the
Confederates withdrew,
In 1837, builder James Binnie completed this stone
courthouse to replace the first Burke County Court¬
house, a wooden structure. From 1847 to 1862, this
was the only courthouse outside Raleigh in which the
North Carolina Supreme Court convened, to escape
the summer heat. The exterior was stuccoed in 1885,
and in 1903 architect Frank Milbum raised the porti¬
coes and replaced the simple cupola depicted here
with one in the Baroque style. In 1976, the county
completed a new courthouse and moved from this
building. The Old Burke Comity Courthouse was list¬
ed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
Burke County Courthouse, ca. 1885 - Courtesy Picture
Burke, North Carolina Room, Burke County Library
and Gillem entered Morganton, where “large sup¬
plies of corn and bacon were found,” he reported.
Some of Gillem ’s troopers destroyed court¬
house records, while others plundered private
property. Slaves assisted the cavalrymen, num¬
bers of whom were “home Yankees” (native
Unionists) who exacted revenge against Confed¬
erate sympathizers. Almost as quickly as they
appeared, however, Gillem and his men vanished,
riding west on April 19, ultimately to Asheville.
To Hillsville, Wythcville. Christiansburg.
and Martinsville, Va. I April 2101
Morristown
I March 231
Boone^
{March 28}
Rockford
{April 1-2| '
H.mhl Wilkesboro
J"T» (March 29}
Asheville
(April 26}
★
Lenoir)
I March 30 and,
ouse April 15} '
{April 19}
'4r ★«-—"Sou Are Here
a • Swannanoa (April 17}
♦ \pap ,Apiil 201
I ★ Hickory Nut Gorge {April 26}
\ . ^
ф
Ruthcrfordton
a (April 21}
Taylorsville
(April 14}
Hickory
(April 15}
Statesville
{April 13}
I Siloam
1 {April 1-2}
Salem
{April 10}
N
Lincolnton
. {April 16}
Salisbury
{April 12}
-4r Civil War
Trails Site
Hendersonville gap
<April23)
|Дрп|
22}
Route of Stoneman s Raid in
Tfennessee. Virginia, and North
Carolina, March-April 1865
