Charles Courtenay Tew

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 14 dated events in the chronology →

1. December 18, 1858 Charles Tew buys land west of Hillsborough for a military academy On December 18, 1858, Charles C. Tew of South Carolina bought from Cad Jones a 61 1/4-acre tract lying between the Greensborough road and the North Carolina Railroad, on what is now the west end of Hillsborough, for a military academy modeled on the Citadel. His advertisements, dated September 15, 1858, had already announced that the school would open at Hillsborough in January 1859. People: John Berry, Moses Ashley CurtisSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: The Commandant's House, National Register nomination (OR0006), p. 4 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, November 10, 1858, p. 1; NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey; Open Orange: Hillsborough Military Academy
2. January 1859 Hillsborough Military Academy opens Charles C. Tew, then superintendent of the state military academy at Columbia, South Carolina, opened the Hillsborough Military Academy in January 1859, holding its first classes in the old Hillsborough Academy buildings. His advertisements had set the opening for January 12. In October 1860 the Hillsborough Recorder reported that the academy's barracks, built to house 125 cadets, had been erected at a cost of $30,000. People: Charles Courtenay TewSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: The Commandant's House, National Register nomination (OR0006), p. 4 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, November 10, 1858, p. 1; Hillsborough Recorder, October 24, 1860, p. 3; NCpedia: Tew, Charles Courtenay; Open Orange: Hillsborough Military Academy
3. November 14-15, 1859 The Hillsborough Military Academy holds its first annual examination The academy examined its cadets in arithmetic, algebra, geometry and French over two days at the close of its first annual session. A visitor whose report the editor adopted as his own praised the system and the teachers, and said the school's training and discipline had won him over to military schools. People: Charles Courtenay TewHillsborough Recorder, November 23, 1859, p. 2
4. about 1860 The Hillsborough Military Academy's commandant's house is built The academy's castellated brick superintendent's house, known locally as the Commandant's House, with a turret at each corner and crenellated battlements, was presumably built about the same time as the barracks, which were complete by 1860. It was the home of Charles C. Tew, his wife Elizabeth and their children. John Berry was its builder, to designs by the Columbia architect John A. Kay, and Henry Richards Sr. is credited as its brickmason. People: John BerrySearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: The Commandant's House, National Register nomination (OR0006), p. 4 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, October 24, 1860, p. 3; Open Orange: Hillsborough Military Academy
5. June 4, 1860 Hillsborough Academy trustees seek a new school as Tew's cadets move out The trustees of the Hillsborough Male Academy, John W. Norwood president, announced that Col. Tew was about to move his military school from the academy buildings to his own new establishment, and invited classical teachers to propose schools for the vacant academy by July 10. People: John Wall Norwood, Charles Courtenay TewHillsborough Recorder, June 6, 1860, p. 3
6. June 11, 1860 Hillsborough Military Academy cadets move into Colonel Tew's new barracks The cadets of the Hillsborough Military Academy paraded and marched out to the new barracks that Col. Charles C. Tew had built for them just outside the town limits, putting the whole school in its own buildings under his eye. The editor credited Tew's energy since he had settled in Hillsborough eighteen months before. People: Charles Courtenay TewHillsborough Recorder, June 13, 1860, p. 2
7. August 1860 Walter Clark enters Colonel Tew's military academy in Hillsborough Walter Clark, then fourteen, enrolled at Colonel C. C. Tew's Military Academy in Hillsborough. He left for Confederate service after the war began. People: Charles Courtenay TewSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Walter McKenzie Clark, 1846-1924 (from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, by David Clark and Charles W. Eagles)
8. by September 12, 1860 The Hillsborough Military Academy's register lists 107 cadets from eight states The academy's semi-annual register, just published, counted 107 cadets entered since February, from North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi and Virginia. People: Charles Courtenay TewHillsborough Recorder, September 12, 1860, p. 3
9. October 1 to 2, 1860 The Orange Guards celebrate their fifth anniversary with visiting companies On Monday, October 1, the Orange Guards under Captain Pride Jones marked their fifth anniversary by receiving the Flat River Guards and the Guilford Greys at Hillsborough. With the Salisbury Brass Band the companies paraded, watched the Hillsborough Military Academy cadets drill, where Paul C. Cameron thanked Colonel C. C. Tew for the school, and held a ball at the Masonic Hall before parting on October 2. People: Pride Jones, John W. Graham, Paul C. Cameron, Charles Courtenay TewSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, October 3, 1860, p. 3
10. April 18, 1861 Col. Charles C. Tew leaves the Military Academy to command Fort Macon Col. Charles C. Tew, superintendent of the Hillsborough Military Academy, left Hillsborough on Thursday, April 18, 1861, to take command of Fort Macon. Capt. Lightfoot of the academy followed the next day after the Governor named him to his staff. People: Charles Courtenay TewHillsborough Recorder, April 24, 1861, p. 2
11. by April 3, 1861 The Hillsborough Military Academy counts 131 cadets in its new brick barracks The academy's annual register reported 131 cadets, new and old, entered between February 6 and April 1, in new buildings put up under Superintendent Charles C. Tew: a brick main building 215 feet long and three stories high, and a second long building holding the mess hall, kitchen, hospital, surgeon's office and society hall. Two literary societies had formed among the cadets. People: Charles Courtenay TewHillsborough Recorder, April 3, 1861, p. 3
12. September 17, 1862 Col. Charles C. Tew, founder of the Hillsborough Military Academy, is killed at Sharpsburg Col. Charles C. Tew, who had founded the Hillsborough Military Academy and led the 2nd North Carolina State Troops, was shot in the head while leading his regiment at Sharpsburg. His body was never recovered, and Hillsborough held out hope for weeks that he had been taken prisoner. People: Charles Courtenay TewHillsborough Recorder, October 1, 1862, p. 3