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 “Marking the Trail of Our Civil War History, Davidson County”
This research was developed by an author of several local and regional Civil War books, Christopher M. Watford, who maintains the copyright. Covering Davidson County’s role during the latter parts of the Civil War, Watford’s research was used in 2007 in developing the six historical markers in Davidson County that are part of the North Carolina Civil War Trails. http://www.civilwartrails.org/
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THOMASVILLE, N.C. IN THE CIVIL WAR
The town of Thomasville was only nine years old when the American Civil War erupted. In 1852, State Senator John W. Thomas established a depot, and within the next three years, signed on partners to purchase land along the proposed North Carolina Railroad. The village was formally incorporated as a town in 1855, sitting astride the railroad that would prove to be the community's future. Lexington to the southeast served as the county seat and Browntown, a stop on the Winston-Fayetteville Plank Road, and Clemmonsville in the northwestern reaches of the county were already in existence.
Thomas and the city's founders had planned to take full advantage of the economic boom expected from the opening of the North Carolina Railroad 1855. The Confederate capacity for war in 1861-1865 depended on this same resource. Thomasville would prove its mettle by providing two companies of men, industry to support the southern efforts, a route for civilians fleeing from other war-tom regions of the state, and finally, as a wayside hospital in the spring of 1865. Its citizens, including students at the Glen Anna Female Seminary attempted to maintain a normal life as much as possible, and some even voiced open opposition to the war and to the Confederacy during the conflict. Today, the only two visible remnants of Thomasville's Civil War legacy are the Thomasville City Cemetery and the Glen Anna Building, now encased and almost invisible within the former Ragan Knitting Mill.
The North Carolina Railroad provided a major carrier for Confederate forces. During the early months of the war, eager volunteers from Georgia, Alabama, and the counties of western North Carolina passed through Thomasville on their ways to camps or battlefields in Virginia and the Tidewater region of the state. An officer from nearby Camp Fisher described a typical scene: "It is a great sight to see those [Regiments] pass, our men are formed in lines 8 steps of the Road when they pass. In passing they wave their hats and cry "Victory or Death from Georgia!" but are going to defend our native states. Most of our men shed tears at such scenes."1 It was the same railroad that took the Thomasville Rifles into the Civil War, as countless other companies. In addition, the Corps of Lieutenant James Longstreet used the same railroad on its return to the Army of Northern Virginia after a sojourn with the beleaguered Confederate Armies of the West in 1863. The last days of the Confederate Army saw heavy use along the railroad, as Southern officials utilized the tracks as interior lines to meet the possible advances of Union Generals Stoneman and Sherman. Confederate General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, the hero of Fort Sumter, would depend on the railroad to allocate troops throughout the North Carolina piedmont.
Another one of Thomasville's major contributions to the war was its industry. One of the  first instances of this contribution was with leather accoutrements. The Lines Shoe Factory boasted to have "some of the finest leather" in and around the local area. Whether or not the claim can be substantiated, the Lines Factory was one of the largest operations in the county, encompassing a large section of the town, with its nine buildings. In the patriotic rush, many of the Lines Shoe Factory's senior workers volunteered to serve as part of the Thomasville Rifles, including the factory owners themselves. John W. Thomas and Hammet Harris, the Lines' brother-in-law, sought to manufacture sets of leather accoutrements as a contractor for the state of North Carolina, and even sent a sample to Fayetteville in 1861 to be inspected by authorities there. Initial response was very favorable, according to a Captain Booth at the North Carolina Arsenal and Armory in Fayetteville:
The sample of infantry accoutrements reached me since my last note to you. It is desirable that the whole should be ready for issue at the earliest practicable moment and I respectfully request to be informed as to what time that will be. It is also desirable that they be forwarded so soon as each hundred is complete.2
Harris and Thomas had succeeded in gaining approval for their design and quality of manufacture. However, no further information is known about how the Lines Firm was able to meet this contract. Hammet Harris volunteered for Confederate Service in March 1862,3 and no other mention is made about the accoutrements. Thomas, on the other hand, would receive a contract from the North Carolina Railroad for the production of sills, wood and other items for the North Carolina Railroad.
Another Thomasville shoe factory, the Shelly Boot Company, would also provide a major service to the Quartermaster Department. Unlike their competitors from the northern side of town, Shelly's workers had for the most part remained at their jobs after the war began. The Shelly Brothers & Company firm acquired a contract to produce shoes from the state sometime in either June or July 1862. Before the war it claimed, "both buyers and dealers pronounced our shoes superior to any Northern work," and, by all accounts the company was operating well throughout the summer and early fall of 1862.4 With the election of Zebulon B. Vance, as governor in August of 1862, agents were dispatched in September and October of that year to investigate contracts issued under the previous administration, collect information and return it to Vance personally. When states inspector Hal W. Ayer of Wake County arrived in October, he reported that J. Shelley & Son had 24 white male workers, 1 female, no blacks, and 14 conscripts who had delivered 790 pairs of shoes in the preceding 2 months, and by October 25 would deliver 200 more pairs.5
Ayer was impressed with Shelly's quality and production, and assuming the contract was met, the firm would have be able to shoe an entire regiment with its production between August and November of 1862. Conscripts who were not yet assigned to a regiment were detailed to work in such government industries. In many ways, the system was actually favored by those who were conscripted; it offered a way to stay out of the combat aspect of the war, and also more often than not, a chance to remain at home while completing your required duty.
It was this aspect of conscript labor that brought John W. Thomas and his business affairs into question. John W. Thomas, Cyrus P. Mendenhall, and James Dick, the senior business partner, were contracted to furnish wood and other supplies for the North Carolina Railroad, an organization that Dick had previously served as secretary-treasurer before the arrival of Charles Fisher. John Milton Worth, the commander of a regiment of Militia in Randolph County, and state contractor himself, complained that conscripts from Randolph County, especially the northwestern section, were fleeing to Thomasville to avoid being sent to the army or work in other duties in Randolph. He appealed to Governor Vance in early November to enforce a previous arrest order for these conscripts.6
While the financial strain drove some companies out of business, other businesses prospered. Taking advantage of the new innovations in tobacco growing and curing processes, J. K. and Marshall Pinnix's tobacco warehouse did a brisk business. Their warehouse would later be used in March-May 1865 as one of the wayside hospital buildings. The Pinnixes manufactured a high grade of chewing tobacco and sold it to both civilian and soldier during the war. This tobacco was distributed in twists and available for purchase through army sutlers to Confederate troops.7
Another business converted from civilian production to military production. The William Thomas and John Lewis Saw Mill adapted its production in 1863, after Lewis' dismissal from the Confederate Army. Thomas and Lewis petitioned the Confederate and state government for a contract, which they did not receive. However, in the spring of 1864, the mill began manufacturing gunstocks for several of the Deep River area firms such as Mendenhall, Jones & Gardner and the Gilliam Arms Company.8
Unlike many of the embattled towns in Virginia, Georgia, or Tennessee, Thomasville was never part of the front lines of the war. However, this removal from the two major theatres of the war provided for the spread of information both correct and false. Mr. J. B. Jackson did voice a concern that Thomasville in 1864 could have fallen prey to a raid by Unionists from outside the state, or by "outliers" in nearby Randolph and Montgomery Counties.9 The Glen Anna Female Seminary still conducted classes as normal, with only a slight drop in average enrollment. The faculty did suffer, as northern instructors returned home, including Amelia Dart, the "ornamental" instructor who created the embroidered flag of the Thomasville Rifles along with the help of her students in 1861.10 Their places were taken by southerners including Rev. D. R. Bruton, and Professors C.C. and L. C. Andrews.11 During the last year of the war, the name of the institution was changed to the Thomasville Female College. The students would also assist Surgeon Simon Baruch when that officer established the Thomasville "General" Hospital in the spring of 1865.
Another view…..could there be peace?
For the most part, Thomasville's fortunes-those of its soldiers, civilians, industrialists and entrepreneurs rested on the success of the fledgling Confederate States of America. However, prior to the start of the war, Thomasville contained two very large groups that opposed secession-the Whig Party and Quakers. Along with a very conservative sentiment, some individuals sought to retract secession or encourage some type of peace between North Carolina and the Union. The son of a local gunsmith, Preston Lafayette Ledford, took note of such a situation, prior to his conscription into the Confederate army. Ledford described a "Peace Meeting" held at the Kennedy School House, a local common school just north of town:
In 1862 a very decided sentiment in favor of a peace movement was inaugurated and attained to some prominence in the state, especially among the original union men and parties dissatisfied with the existing state of affairs. Announcement of a meeting was made to be held at a place near Thomasville known as Kennedy's School House. Publicity was given to the report that speakers would be present movement. With the exception of a very few of the leaders no one entertained any treasonable intentions. The authorities had been notified of the proposed meeting, and a detail of soldiers was sent to break it up….Without any previous notice the soldiers charged upon the meeting and the crowd dispersed and retreated at the first intimation of their approach. The citizens hit the grit and ran with a speed that would put to shame the exploits of the Yankees and Rebels in the valley of Virginia…..12
Word of the protest reached into the army, and when Surgeon John F. Shaffner of Salem wrote to Caroline Fries, it was reported as an "insurrection" among the Salem men in the 33rd North Carolina.13 Indeed, the individuals who had went to hear what promised to be a rousing debate now became criminals under state law. With such an ominous charge falsely placed upon them, the men who were captured, dealt with the situation the best they could according to Ledford. Many were captured and taken to Camp Holmes, near Raleigh. Most of the young men volunteered and joined the Confederate Army and the old men were finally released.14
Care for the sick, and a refuge for the displaced....
During the war, Thomasville possessed a unique medical situation. It was home to an unofficial hospital and also to one of the only smallpox doctors in the piedmont. Smallpox was fatal during the 1800s. Before the battle of Fredericksburg, the Confederate authorities began a regular inoculation of their army, this preventative measure was accomplished by cutting the skin on the forearm and placing infected tissue in the wound. The method for containing the disease on the home front centered around quarantine and containment. Doctor D. W. Smith from Thomasville was one of the few physicians who dealt with many of the cases of smallpox during the war.
Thomasville became a refuge for those civilians fleeing their homes in other war torn parts of North Carolina. For several the L. L. Thomas Hotel became a temporary home until they could relocate to points elsewhere, or return to their homes. Among the first was W. W. Fife, a resident of New Bern who fled to Thomasville in early 1862, before the fall of that city to the Union. Fife decided to settle permanently in the town, establishing a mercantile on Main Street, and operating his general store throughout the war.15 He even expressed concern as to which home guard command he was to serve in. In a letter from the NC Adjutant General, Fife was assured that "if called you will serve in the county's second class." In addition, Thomasville became a home to Jones County native, T. D. Foy, and his nieces. When the war broke out, Mollie Foscue was a student at Glen Anna Female Seminary, and her uncle, T. D. Foy decided to relocate to the town in August 1863, “… I have been putting a back shed and a piazza to our house which has prevented me [from coming to see you], and there is a camp meeting at the same place and I expect to go Sunday next week. There is an association here of the Baptists.16
Indeed, Foy was anxious to improve his home, and attend to Liberty Baptist Association's meeting at the newly completed Baptist church on Randolph Street. He also told about another group of refugees to the Thomasville area, slaves. Before the Union army occupied parts of eastern North Carolina, planters with well established connections, or even lands, in the Piedmont or Mountains would arrange to have their slaves transported there, to avoid their confiscation, and later, emancipation by the Union army. Foy told his sister, "your Negroes here is all well. Abram has been stealing some of William's meat and he came to see me about it.”17
How many slaves were moved to Thomasville is unknown. One refugee slave owner expressed a great deal of concern to the state home guard about his slaves being impressed into service by the Confederate government on February 19, 1865, but did not receive a satisfactory response from the State officials.18 For eastern North Carolina planters, most apparently relocate their slaves in other adjoining counties; however, Thomasville did offer a safe area for those planters who wished to protect their costly slaves. Caroline Foscue would also relocate to Thomasville, and on March 7, 1864, Henry Rounsaville, as postmaster, officially opened her account.19
Following the battles of Averasborough and Bentonville in March of 1865, a wayside hospital was established in Thomasville. With Johnston's Army of Tennessee and troops from the Department of North Carolina falling back toward Greensboro, a safe place was needed to secure both Confederate wounded and sick as well as Federal prisoners who needed medical attention. Simon Baruch arrived in Thomasville in March after receiving orders to leave his patient at High Point and begin plans to set up larger hospital operations in Thomasville.20
Upon his arrival Baruch immediately set to work, securing buildings that could be used as hospital sites,  creating a bake oven, arranging for light duty men. Thomasville was about to be transformed into a hospital depot. Within a week of his arrival Baruch received word from General Johnston's Chief of Staff to speed up preparations. With this new directive, Dr. Baruch acted accordingly; the Glen Anna was emptied of its draperies, bed linens and it students prepared to work as nurses in the hospital, and assisted in preparing food for the expected wounded. However, the Glen Anna building would not serve as one of Baruch facilities. Instead, the hospitals were established in the Baptist and Methodist Churches, both less than two years old, on Randolph and Main Streets respectively. Both of those facilities were fairly small, and therefore the Pinnix Tobacco Warehouse, and perhaps the Thomas Hotel, became the main buildings for the hospital complex. Baruch described the scene several months after the end of the war:
I received a telegram announcing that 280 wounded from the battle of Averasboro were on the way to Thomasville. I immediately sent out an armed guard to bring all the men and large boys to headquarters, impressed them with the fact that they must assist me in my necessarily hasty preparations ….21
As the last of the wounded arrived, Baruch settled in for a two-hour nap, before resuming his duties overseeing the organized hospital. Upon its completion, Baruch entered one of the buildings and began his work, assisting the two army surgeons in their duties, operating all day and far into the night. After securing the most serious wounded, the surgeons and even civilian doctors and nurses who had come to assist, began to show signs of physical exhaustion. Baruch himself walked into the telegraph office at the Lewis Thomas hotel and wired the Confederate Medical Director for further assistance. Shortly after sending the message, Baruch became physically ill and lapsed into an unconscious state. Upon his recovery, Baruch noted that many soldiers had already begun their trip home after the surrenders of Lee and Johnston.22
At War’s end….
What once served as a major artery carrying volunteers to the seat of war now represented the last leg of a long journey home for veterans of both the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of Tennessee. Soldiers after receiving their parole, would often spend the night in Thomasville, since it was a full day's walk from Greensboro for the foot-sore veterans. One account describes many Confederate soldiers throwing off their uniforms and boiling them in large kettles. Others contend that paroled troops would acquire new clothing and then bum their disease-infested uniforms. Men of the Ninth Tennessee remember making their way through Thomasville, hiding fragments of their regimental flag on their persons to avoid surrendering to the Union at Greensboro.23 Local residents also interacted with troops, including one man north of town who allowed passing men to take from his orchard. While it is clear that the passing waves of men could have taken what they wished, the hospitality of this farmer served as an encouraging act of kindness to the veterans of a defeated army.
The Thomasville "General" Hospital was in operation from March 20-June 1865, and required a large contribution from its citizens who provided much needed services for the wounded. The vast majority of soldiers survived their wounds or illnesses and prepared to return home, or be transferred to a hospital nearer their homes at the close of the General Hospital. The soldiers who did not survive their time in Thomasville were interred in a common plot in the city cemetery, where three soldiers two of which more than likely died in the unofficial Thomasville smallpox hospital, and a soldier who was killed in action along the Potomac. In all, thirty-one identified men and four others were interred in Thomasville. Among them, soldiers from the 6th Georgia Infantry of Colquitt's Georgia Brigade of Hardee's Corps, represent the largest single group; however, both Union and Confederate soldiers from Kentucky, Illinois, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, and North Carolina are represented.24
The casualties of the hospital were buried indiscriminate of rank, state, or allegiance. This was done most likely out of convenience instead of an overt gesture of re-unification as it may be interpreted. Despite the motivation of the volunteer undertakers, it created a unique situation; whereas local officials claim that the small plot could be the only location in southeastern United States where both Union and Confederate soldiers were buried in a common plot between 1861-1865.
With the end of the Civil War and the onset of Reconstruction, Thomasville had indeed proven a capable town, with its various contributions to the war effort. Thomasville's effort involved not only there two companies but countless soldiers and civilians who made sacrifices of their own, in their own ways. In one of the most telling statistics of the war, Thomasville's population in 1860 was 340, while in the next ten years, only 214 residents would be counted among the city's population.25 The town would recover during the next decade, utilizing the same industries and entrepreneurship that had founded and sustained the fledgling town during four of its most trying years. However, the city's physical connection to its Civil War contribution remains mostly in academic resources, letters, diaries and manuscripts. Yet, in no way does that diminish the sacrifice of Thomasville's soldiers and civilians during the American Civil War.
Copyright Christopher M. Watford, 2007
1. W.G. Morris, 12 November 1861, Morris Letters, Southern Historical Collection, UNC.
2. John Booth, letter to John W. Thomas, 28 October 1861, John W. Thomas Papers, SHC
3. Hammet J. Harris later volunteered in March of 1862, and officially mustered into service as a Private in Company A, 10th North Carolina Heavy Artillery Battalion on April 23, 1862. On July II, 1862, Harris was promoted to First Lieutenant, and after the resignation of Captain William Lewis in March 1863, he was promoted to Captain. Harris commanded the company until formally admitted to a Greensboro Hospital on February 20, 1865 with pneumonia. Manarin and Jordan, NC Troops 1861-1865: A Roster, Volume I: 1966,514.
4. Sink and Matthews, Pathfinders Past and Present, 262.
5. H. W. Ayer to Z. B. Vance, 25 October 1862, Johnston, The Papers of Zebulon B. Vance, p278-279.
6. J. M. Worth to Z. B. Vance, 6 November 1862, Johnston, The Papers of Zebulon B. Vance, p310-311.
7. Sink and Matthews, Pathfinders Past and Present, 262-263.
8. Quartermaster Records of North Carolina; Sink and Matthews, Wheels of Faith and Courage, 52-53, 174-75.
9. Adjutant General to J. B. Jackson, 8 August 1864, Bradley, NC Home Guard and Militia Records, Volume 3, 59.
10. Sink and Matthews, Wheels of Faith and Courage, 53.
11. Sink and Matthews, Pathfinders Past and Present, 174-175.
12. Ledford, P. L., My Reminiscences of the Civil War, 1909, 22-24.
13. J. F. Shaffner to Caroline Fries, undated, John F. Shaffner Diary and Letters, Private Manuscripts Collection, NCDAH.
14. Ledford, P. L., My Reminiscences of the Civil War, 1909, 24-25.
15. Sink and Matthews, Wheels of Faith and Courage, 73.
16. T. D. Foy to Caroline Foscue, 14 August 1863, Foscue Family Papers, SHC.
17. T. D. Foy to Caroline Foscue, 14 August 1863, Foscue Family Papers, SHC.
18. Adjutant General to Mr. A. G. Foster, 1 March 1865, Bradley, NC Home Guard and Militia Records, Volume 2, 16.
19. Receipt for "post account", 7 March 1864, Foscue Family Papers, SHC.
20. Baruch, Simon, Reminiscences of a Confederate Surgeon, 1915.
21. Baruch, Reminiscences, 1915.
22. Baruch, Reminiscences, 1915.
23. Fleming, James, The Ninth Tennessee Infantry, xvi.
24. Rich, Dr. William, "Confederate Cemetery at Thomasville, N.C.," Confederate Veteran, Volume 10 (1908): 514.
25. Sink and Matthews, Wheels of Faith and Courage, 118.
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