James Johnston Pettigrew

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 2 dated events in the chronology →

1. from 1836 James Johnston Pettigrew begins his schooling in Hillsborough Pettigrew was sent from New Bern to Orange County and attended Hillsborough schools from 1836, studying under Mr. Bingham for about four years before he entered the university. At fourteen he lived in the family of a Hillsborough physician and read in his medical books. People: James Johnston Pettigrew, William James Bingham Place: HillsboroughCornelia Phillips Spencer, The Last Ninety Days of the War in North-Carolina (1866), scan p. 287
2. June 1847 Pettigrew graduates first in his class and is offered a post at the Naval Observatory Pettigrew finished at the head of the class of 1847, sharing first distinction with Matt W. Ransom. Struck by his graduating oration, President Polk, Navy Secretary Mason and Lieutenant Maury invited him to become an assistant at the observatory in Washington, where he worked for six or eight months. People: Matt W. Ransom, James K. Polk Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · Cornelia Phillips Spencer, The Last Ninety Days of the War in North-Carolina (1866), scan p. 288 · Also: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I