Named event or history
Enlistment and the home front, the Hillsboro Military Academy, the university through the war, enslaved people’s pursuit of freedom, and the Federal occupation of Chapel Hill in April 1865.
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President David Lowry Swain kept the university in session as students left Chapel Hill at eight to ten a day to enlist in late April 1861. Enrollment fell to 91 by September 1861, Swain won a Confederate draft exemption for some students in 1863, and only four students graduated in 1865.
Part of Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 · 10 events
People: David L. Swain
In the February 28, 1861 vote on calling a state convention, Orange County voted 1,436 against and 458 for, and chose Unionists William A. Graham and John Berry as delegates over secession candidates Henry K. Nash and Pride Jones. The governor's count showed the convention defeated statewide, 46,603 to 46,409, before Davie County reported.
Part of Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 · 10 events
Students left Chapel Hill to enlist from late April 1861, and Hillsborough Military Academy's founder, Charles Tew, left in May to command a Confederate regiment. The university stayed open as enrollment fell to about a dozen. Federal cavalry held Chapel Hill from April 16 to May 3, 1865, as many newly freed people left town or joined the army.
Answering Governor John W. Ellis's call, Capt. R. J. Ashe's Orange Light Infantry was to report at state headquarters on April 27, 1861, with about $1,000 raised by Chapel Hill residents, and was made the first company of the First Regiment of North Carolina Volunteers. The Orange Guards were drilling at Fort Macon by early May.
Part of Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 · 10 events
On May 13, 1861, after Fort Sumter and Lincoln's call for troops, Orange County voters again chose William A. Graham and John Berry as delegates to the state convention, over Paul C. Cameron and Henry K. Nash. The Recorder printed the precinct returns and noted the convention would meet in Raleigh on May 20.
Part of Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 · 10 events
Meeting in Raleigh on May 20, 1861, the state convention, with Orange County's delegates William A. Graham and John Berry among its members, unanimously adopted an ordinance dissolving North Carolina's union with the United States and the same day ratified the provisional Confederate constitution.
Part of Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 · 10 events
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.
Part of The end of the Civil War in Orange County, 1865
People: William T. Sherman · Joseph E. Johnston
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 · 10 events
People: Cornelia Phillips Spencer · Smith D. Atkins
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 President David Lowry Swain that residents would be treated civilly, posted guards from the Ninth Michigan at houses that asked for them, and a Federal guard was set over the university, where officers were quartered in dormitories and horses were stabled in college buildings.
Part of Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 · 10 events
People: David L. Swain · Smith D. Atkins
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 · 10 events
People: Joseph E. Johnston
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 · 10 events
People: Smith D. Atkins
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 · 10 events
People: David L. Swain · Smith D. Atkins
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Held in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection. Selected because their titles or catalog subjects provide wider historical context for this event; they may not discuss the Orange County event directly.
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