Caught between Blue and Gray

Maj. Gen George E. Pickett’s attack on New Bern in January 1863 results in a fiasco. Having failed utterly to take the city after seven hours of fighting, the 13,000 troops retreat back to Kinston. On the way, they overwhelm a small outpost battery and capture ninety-seven men of the 2nd North Carolina Union Volunteers. Pickett labels a number of them Confederate deserters-a dubious claim-and, following cursory trials, he hangs twenty-two North Carolinians. The atrocity shocks even his own troops and provokes outrage in the U.S. War Department, which pursues Pickett as a war criminal, forcing him to flee to Canada in disguise.

The Afterlives of the Dead

Many of the dead in both armies are buried in shallow graves on or near the field of battle. Some are retrieved by family or friends and carried home for burial in “body baskets,” preserved in a mixture of salt, alum, and saltpeter. Embalming is rare among fallen Confederates. As death becomes wholesale, elaborate pre-war customs for mourning and grief give way to practical sharing of mourning crepe among widows, the shortening of mourning periods, and memorial rituals that must substitute for the actual burial of a body that may never be recovered. Sentimental songs like the “The Vacant Chair” honor the courage of fallen husbands and sons, and survivors cherish the stories and letters of the lost ones.

The Iron Lifeline

Col. William Shepperd Ashe, President of the Wilmington and Weldon railroad, is called on by Jefferson Davis to create a unified rail system for the Confederacy-as the Union states have done. He tries but fails-a confederation built on disdain for central authority defeats his effort. When he learns that his son has ben captured in battle, fate unknown, he hurries home from Wilmington to Rocky Point-a distance of twenty miles-on a handcar propelled by two employees. But he never makes it-an oncoming train, running ahead of schedule and with no headlight, smashes into the handcar, mortally injuring him. His captured son, Samuel A’Court Ashe, is exchanged and returns to duty as second in command of the Fayetteville Arsenal.

Ministering Angel

Rev. Alexander Davis Betts, a minister from Smithville, on the Cape Fear, honors a request by his friend Lorenzo Cain to become chaplain in the 30th North Carolina. Partially lame from a childhood accident, he is torn between strenuous duty in the field and the comforts of a safe village and a loving family. He leaves behind a young wife and four small children. He serves through the worst battles for nearly the entire duration of the war-ministering not just to souls but to the wounded, traveling so relentlessly that once he falls off his horse, unconscious, and awakens in a field. He consoles the dying of both armies, including friends like Lorenzo Cain, endures multiple bouts of illness and exhaustion, but somehow always comes back to where he is needed most. After the war, he preaches far and wide, meeting many survivors from his old regiment, attended always by a company of ghosts.

Atrocity at Shelton Laurel

In January 1863, a gang of Unionists in mountainous Madison County raids Marshall for its store of salt-which has been denied hem by the Confederate commissioners. They extend their looting to the home of Col. Lawrence Allen, the commander of the 64th North Carolina who has been temporarily relieved of duty. He nonetheless joins a punitive expedition led by his cousin, Lt. Col. James Keith. They kill a number of Unionists, torture the wives and mothers of other suspects, and capture thirteen men and boys. On the pretext of marching them to Tennessee for trial, they take them in to the woods of Shelton Laurel and shoot them all down in cold blood. The women of Shelton Laurel discover the atrocity and recover the bodies, launching a manhunt and investigations that will eventually be taken up in the U.S. Congress.

The Battle of the Bands

Wanting neither to kill or be killed, Julius Leinbach of Salem enlists with his fellow Moravian musicians as a “Band Boy” for the 26th North Carolina. The small brass ensemble quickly gains fame as the most stirring band in the army and performs not just for parade and marching but also concerts-including for Gov. Vance’s inaugural. Like other bandsmen in both armies, they not only play music but also help carry off the battlefield wounded and assist the surgeons as orderlies. Music is a crucial aid to morale and order. Leinbach is captured but survives, the last of his bandmates to be liberated at war’s end. He brings home the band’s coveted, original, sheet music arrangements-the only band in the Confederate Army to do so.

River Runaways

William B. Gould, a skilled artisan who worked on the Bellamy mansion as a hired-out slave, makes his daring midnight escape by boat with seven companions down the Cape Fear River past the river forts and the slave catcher patrols. He is one of 331,000 slaves in the state-many of whom carry on an invisible and subversive life out of sight of the white plantation owners. Gould’s band makes it to freedom, and he joins the U.S. Navy to hunt down blockade runners.

Unflinching Leader

Zebulon Baird Vance, a staunch Unionist and U.S. Congressman, reluctantly embraces secession. Soon he commands the 26th North Carolina Regiment and proves himself a brave and fierce leader in battle at New Bern and Malvern Hill, Va.-he becomes a war hero. A public clamor led by newspaper editor William Woods Holden results in his election as governor-without making a single campaign speech.

The Pageant and the Glory

A white handkerchief waved from a capitol window signals secession-and all over North Carolina the news is greeted with celebration and a rush to enlistment-though other voices are raised in dire warning of the destruction and death to come. The population of just under a million is almost evenly divided: one-third Unionists, one-third Secessionists, one-third enslaved and free blacks. The volunteer companies bear bellicose names: the Rough and Readies, the Lexington Wildcats, the Rockingham Invincibles. The Guilford Greys receive a silk flag from the local female seminary; 180 march to war and only 13 return home unscathed.

Johnston’s Last Stand

Joseph E. Johnston was formerly the highest ranking officer in the Confederacy-forced by wounds and politics from the main theatre of war. Now Robert E. Lee calls upon him to take command of all forces rallying to oppose Sherman’s march. While he is assembling all his troops, his subordinate, Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee, fights a holding action at Averasboro. Confident he is engaging only one wing of Sherman’s forces, Johnston then makes his stand at a road junction called Bentonville. For three days battle rages across 6,000 acres of farmland, leaving 4,000 soldiers killed, wounded, or missing in action. Despite initial success, Johnston’s army is doomed by a wave of reinforcements and battlefield blunders. Sherman’s army drives the Confederates from the field, west toward Raleigh. He reaches Goldsboro, where he links up with the forces under Generals Schofield and Terry. Now he commands 90,000 men. Victory seems certain.