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Collection: STRINGFIELD , WILLIAM WILLIAMS, PAPERS
Western North Carolina
East Tennessee
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
1860-1914
Physical Description: 37. items: Notebook, diaries, correspondence,
envelopes, newspaper clippings, manuscript.
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Acquisition: From Biennial “Reports: 1918-1920 . diary (1864), manuscript,
"History of Thomas’ Legion," and sketch of 69th Regiment N.C.T., no donor
listed [Transferred from Civil War Collection, June, 1963 3 ; 1930-1932.
diary (1864b and 20 letters (1860-1890), presented by W. W. Stringfield,
Waynesville, N. C.
Description: William Williams Stringfield, bom 1837, Nashville, Term.,
son of Thomas Stringfield, a Methodist minister; reared and educated at
Strawberry Plains, Term. Confederate service: 1861, private, 1st
Tennessee Cavalry . under General Zollicofer; 1862-1865, major and colonel,
Thomas’ Legion (69th Regiment, N.C.T.) in East Tennessee, Shenandoah
Valley, and Western North Carolina. Postwar: settled in Waynesville,
Haywood County, N. C.; farmer, merchant, hotel keeper (White Sulpher
Springs Hotel), and legislator (1883, 190i, 1903). In 1871 married Maria
M. Love, daughter of James R. Love of Haywood County and sister-in-law of
William H. Thomas. 1
The collection consist's of a ledger, dated 1899, used to record
223 pages of reminiscences and genealogy; entries copied from war diaries
(January, 186l-August, 1864); and an article on Cherokee Indians (later
published in the North Carolina Booklet. Ill, June, 1903). Outstanding
are the reminiscences about his father, who fought with Andrew Jackson;
references to William G. Brownlow, editor and governor of Tennessee;
William H. Thomas, Indian agent and commander of Thomas’ Legion; and
Andrew Johnson; and comments on secession, immigration, conscription,
slavery, East Tennessee sentiment, mountaineers and Indians of Western
North Carolina, and the postwar Methodist Church.
The original war diary of January-August, 1864, and fragments of
two other diaries (August-Qctober, 1864, and October-November, 1864)
are in the papers. These ‘describe, the activities of the 69th Regiment
and the observations of the diarist in upper Tennessee and the Shenandoah
Valley. ‘
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