Browse Items (9 total)

Elisha Hamilton Miller (known to his family as “Hamp”) lived in Caldwell County, and, on July 1, 1862, enlisted in a cavalry company known as the “Davis Dragoons,” recruited primarily in adjacent Burke County.

The “Dragoons” had organized in…

Thomas Jefferson Coffey (December 1828-June 1901), a native of Caldwell County, resided as a merchant at Butler, Johnson County, Tennessee. The militantly unionist stance taken by most residents of that area forced many of their pro-Confederate…

Drury Dobbins Coffey, newly married and a farmer in the Lenoir District, Caldwell County, enlisted on July 5, 1862, in a volunteer company that was subsequently assigned to the 58th Regiment Troops as Company E. He was promoted to fourth sergeant in…

Company F (the “Hibriten Guards”), 26th Regiment N.C. Troops achieved a terrible fame at the Battle of Gettysburg. During the fight against the Iron Brigade on McPherson’s Ridge on July 1, every member of the company present was shot down:…

John Burton Holloway and his wife Victoria, recently married, farmed in the Patterson District of Caldwell County. On July 15, 1861, Holloway enlisted at Lenoir in the company known as the “Hibriten Guards,” subsequently Company F, 26th Regiment N.C.…

Abner Burgess Hayes (born October 21, 1839) farmed with his parents and eight siblings in the Summers District, Caldwell County. The family was prosperous and owned one slave.

Abner enlisted at Lenoir on July 15, 1861, in the “Hibriten Guards,”…

Pro-secession sentiment was weak in many North Carolina mountain counties, especially Caldwell. In the first secession convention election, February 28, 1861, Caldwell County rejected the proposition by a 78 percent vote, one of the highest margins…

William T. R. Abernathy (born ca. 1839) lived in the John’s River District of Caldwell County, and enlisted at Lenoir on April 30, 1861, in that county’s first company, the “Caldwell Rough and Ready Boys,” subsequently Company A, 22nd Regiment N.C.…

This ambrotype of John Pickens Barlow of Caldwell County was made in the photography studio of Esley Hunt of Raleigh, as attested by the presence of distinct chair finials visible behind Barlow’s shoulders. At some time Barlow (or a family member)…