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Smith D. Atkins

Smith D. Atkins commanded the Union troops that occupied Chapel Hill in the last days of the Civil War. He courted Eleanor Swain, daughter of university president David L. Swain, with nightly serenades by his regimental band, and the couple married in August 1865 over the objections of Confederate supporters.

Source: Carolina Story: Eleanor Swain Atkins (c. 1843-1881)

Also found in catalogs as Smith D. (Smith Dykins) Atkins.

2 indexed records are connected with this person.

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In the index

Related works found in catalogs and archives across North Carolina. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

Undaunted heart : the true story of a Southern belle & a Yankee general

Barile, Suzy · 2009 · Eno

UNC CH Historical Society

Atkins, Smith Dykins and Ellie Swain: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

1 photograph in the Society's People A-O binder: Matching portraits of couple.

CH Historical Society

In the chronology

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See the whole chronology →

  1. 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… People: Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Smith D. AtkinsDocumenting the American South: Cornelia Phillips Spencer, The Last Ninety Days of the War in North-Carolina (1866), chapter XII
  2. Union troops occupy Chapel Hill Wheeler's Confederates pulled out of Chapel Hill on Easter Sunday and Federal cavalry commanded by Smith D. Atkins rode in the same day. Atkins assured Preside… People: David L. Swain, Smith D. AtkinsDocumenting the American South: True and Candid Compositions, Erika Lindemann, "Civil War"
  3. 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 wh… People: Smith D. AtkinsDocumenting the American South: Letter from Charles P. Mallet to Henry A. London, April 30, 1865
  4. 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 an… People: David L. Swain, Smith D. AtkinsDocumenting the American South: True and Candid Compositions, Erika Lindemann, "Civil War"

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