Chronology

Anderson's Confederate cavalry sign their paroles at Paul Cameron's house Highlands

At the end of the Civil War, Confederate troops used Highlands, Paul C. Cameron's house south of the Eno, and the paroles of Anderson's cavalry were signed in the old part of the house.

Part of Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 · 42 events

People: Paul C. Cameron

Subject: Highlands (Paul Cameron house)

Wilson Caldwell walks out with President Swain under a white flag to meet approaching Union troops

When Union troops approached Chapel Hill in 1865, Wilson Caldwell walked out under a white flag with President David L. Swain, Judge W. H. Battle and others to meet the incoming cavalry and seek protection for the town and the university.

People: William Horn Battle · David L. Swain

Wheeler's Confederate cavalry fought Union pursuers at New Hope Creek east of Chapel Hill

Retreating cavalry under Joseph Wheeler destroyed the bridge over the rain-swollen New Hope and the other bridges on the road toward Chapel Hill, then attacked Union cavalry trying to cross on fallen trees and driftwood at the Atkins plantation, about eight miles from the village. Cornelia Phillips Spencer, writing from Chapel Hill, called it the last skirmish and perhaps the last blood of the war and recorded that several men were killed on both sides.

Part of Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 · 42 events

People: Cornelia Phillips Spencer · Smith D. Atkins

Wheeler's cavalry reaches Chapel Hill and posts a guard on the university

Confederate cavalry under General Joseph Wheeler reached Chapel Hill, and at the request of alumnus James P. Coffin, Wheeler detailed Lieutenant McBurney Broyles and fifteen men to report to President Swain and protect the university's books and apparatus. Wheeler's headquarters were opposite the Episcopal church.

Part of Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 · 42 events

People: David L. Swain · Charles Phillips

Johnston accepts Sherman's basis of agreement at the Bennitt farm

At their second meeting at James and Nancy Bennitt's farm on the Hillsborough Road, then in Orange County, Joseph E. Johnston accepted the "basis of agreement" William T. Sherman submitted, which offered an armistice, disbanding of the armies, recognition of state governments and a general amnesty. Jefferson Davis approved the terms, but Washington rejected them.

People: William T. Sherman

Swain asks Sherman to stop the stripping of farms around Chapel Hill

President Swain wrote General Sherman that Wheeler's men and then the Federals had stripped the country of forage and horses, leaving families such as the Rev. George W. Purefoy's fifty people with no food and no work animals. Sherman replied on April 22 that seizures would stop when the war ended.

Part of Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 · 42 events

People: David L. Swain · William T. Sherman

Johnston surrendered to Sherman at the Bennett farm, then in Orange County

After meetings on April 17 and 18 whose terms Washington rejected, Joseph E. Johnston and William T. Sherman met again at the farm of James and Nancy Bennitt and signed a military surrender covering forces in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. North Carolina Historic Sites describes the Bennitt farm as a 325 acre place in Orange County, on the Hillsborough road west of Durham Station.

Part of Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 · 42 events

People: Joseph E. Johnston · William T. Sherman

Charles P. Mallett wrote that federal troops had held Chapel Hill for fourteen days

Writing from Chapel Hill, the merchant Charles P. Mallett reported that Union troops had held the village for fourteen days, that they had behaved tolerably where safeguards were posted but had stripped the surrounding countryside of horses and mules, and that General Judson Kilpatrick had held a review in the village the previous day.

Part of Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 · 42 events

People: Smith D. Atkins

Hillsborough Military Academy sends its cadets home at the end of the Civil War

The academy, reopened in 1862 under Maj. William Gordon after Tew left for the war, dismissed its students in May 1865 after the surrender at Bennett Place. Raleigh Edward Colston reopened the campus in 1866 as the North Carolina Polytechnic and Military Institute.

Part of Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 · 42 events

People: Charles Courtenay Tew

Subject: Hillsborough Military Academy

General Smith D. Atkins married Eleanor Swain, daughter of the university president

The courtship began during the occupation, when Atkins called on President David Lowry Swain, met his daughter Eleanor, had his regimental band serenade her and gave Swain two horses. Atkins was mustered out in June and the two married in Chapel Hill on August 23, 1865; many invited guests stayed away, students tolled the college bell for three hours and hanged Swain and Atkins in effigy.

Part of Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 · 42 events

People: David L. Swain · Smith D. Atkins

Cornelia Phillips Spencer publishes The Last Ninety Days of the War in North-Carolina

Encouraged by her friend, former governor David L. Swain, Spencer published her first book, an account of the war's last months in North Carolina that describes Wheeler's Confederate cavalry passing through Chapel Hill and the town's occupation by Union cavalry in April 1865.

People: David L. Swain