The end of the Civil War in Orange County, 1865

In the chronology

Dated events connected with this event, earliest first. See these 13 dated events in the chronology →

1. 1865 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. People: Paul C. CameronDigitalNC: The News of Orange County, April 28, 1955, p. 3
2. 1865 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. SwainSearch the index · Carolina Story: Wilson Caldwell (1841-1898), Slavery and the University
3. April 14, 1865 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. 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
4. April 14, 1865 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. People: David L. Swain, Charles PhillipsDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 741
5. April 17–May 3, 1865 Union troops occupy Chapel Hill Wheeler's Confederates left Chapel Hill at midday on Easter Sunday, April 16, and a small Federal party rode in at sunset, met President David Lowry Swain and returned to camp. Smith D. Atkins's cavalry took possession about 8 a.m. on Monday, April 17, posting guards from the Ninth Michigan at houses that asked for them and quartering officers and horses in the college buildings. People: David L. Swain, Smith D. AtkinsDocumenting the American South: Cornelia Phillips Spencer, The Last Ninety Days of the War in North-Carolina (1866), pp. 166-179
6. April 18, 1865 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. ShermanSearch the index · NC Historic Sites: Bennett Place, History
7. April 19 to 22, 1865 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. People: David L. Swain, William T. ShermanDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 743
8. April 26, 1865 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. People: Joseph E. Johnston, William T. ShermanNorth Carolina Historic Sites: Bennett Place, History
9. April 30, 1865 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. People: Smith D. AtkinsDocumenting the American South: Letter from Charles P. Mallet to Henry A. London, April 30, 1865
10. April 1865 Confederate leaders gather at Hillsborough Wade Hampton and Joseph E. Johnston used the Dickson farm on the edge of Hillsborough as a temporary headquarters while Johnston negotiated with Sherman, and Confederate officials including Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge came there to work on terms. Johnston and his staff rode from the Dickson place along the old Hillsborough to Durham road to complete the surrender. People: William T. Sherman, Joseph E. Johnston, Wade HamptonAlliance for Historic Hillsborough: The Alexander Dickson House
11. May 1865 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. People: Charles Courtenay TewOpen Orange: Hillsborough Military Academy
12. August 23, 1865 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. People: David L. Swain, Smith D. AtkinsDocumenting the American South: True and Candid Compositions, Erika Lindemann, "Civil War"
13. 1866 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. SwainSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Cornelia Phillips Spencer, The Last Ninety Days of the War in North-Carolina