A.B. West’s Last Day, the Third Battle of Winchester

Entrance to the Battlefield

Little did Alex West know when the bugle sounded the wake-up call on September 19, 1864, that this would be his last day on Earth. The day was likely a warm summer day in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia near the city of Winchester.  Company K of Bryan Grimes’ Brigade of Maj. Gen. Robert E. Rodes’ Division was camped somewhere in the outskirts of the city of Winchester.

The Third Batty of Winchester is known as the Battle of Opequon.  Opequon is an unincorporated community along Opequon Creek in Frederick County, Virginia.  It is located on Cedar Creek Grade (VA 622) at Miller Road (VA 620) and is also known as Kernstown, Virginia.

The battle, which was fought on September 19, 1864, was the bloodiest battle ever fought in the Shenandoah Valley.  Union Gen. Sheridan lost 12 percent of his army with about 5,000 of his 39,000 soldiers killed, wounded, and missing.  Confederate Gen. Early suffered approximately 3,600 casualties casualties which represented 25 percent of his army.

Company K of the 53^rd North Carolina Regiment, known as “the Wilkes boys,” was part of Lee’s Army of Virginia, which was part of Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early’s Army of the Valley.  Early’s Army of the Valley consisted of many seasoned veterans from Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, and Virginia.  Company K of the 53^rd North Carolina Infantry Regiment (the Wilkes Boys) was also part part of Maj. Gen. Robert E. Rodes’ Division and part of Brigadier Gen. Bryan Grimes’ Brigade (formerly the deceased Brigadier Gen. Junius Daniel’s Brigade). 

Confederate officer, Lt. Gen. Early, had an estimated 12,000 soldiers.  His counterpart, Union officer, Maj. Gen. Phillip Sheridan, had about 40,000.  Both armies had sufficient ammunition, but the Union forces had more cannons, more horses, and more artillerymen.

Red Bud Run

On that fateful morning of September 19, reveille sounded in the Confederate Army camp at 1 a.m.  By 4:30 a.m., Sheridan’s forces were advancing.  At daybreak the first shot was fired when General Ramseur’s North Carolinians fired on Captain Hull’s New York Cavalry.

Heavy fighting took place that day in areas known as the West Woods, the First Woods, the Second Woods, the Middle Field, and Red Bud Run.  A Union soldier commented that the battle at Middle Field “was perfectly terrible but the forces in our front gave way.”  The battle ended at sundown when the divisions of Ramseur, Rodes, and Gordon fell back to positions near Winchester.  Maj. Gen. Rodes was killed that day.  By nightfall the Union Army had taken the city of Winchester.  

Many who died on this historic this day were buried where they fell in battle.  Such was likely the fate of my second great grandfather, Alexander Balus West.

In October 2104, my sister, brother-in-law, husband, and I spent a day on the battleground of the Third Battle of Winchester.  Unlike Gettysburg, the battlefield is not resplendent with monuments and statues.  It is peaceful, serene, and non-commercial in nature.  It has a rustic, natural beauty with an appropriate number of signs to mark locations.  Many of the paths are unpaved, and cars not are allowed on the battlefield.



Vicinity of the West Woods

Like our visit to Gettysburg, this visit was also moving.  I’ve always wanted to see where my 2^nd great grandfather died.  As I walked over the hallowed grounds, I tried to imagine where he might have fallen, mortally wounded.  I know that he was part of Rodes’ Division, Grimes’ Brigade, the 2^nd Battalion, and the 53^rd Regiment (North Carolina Infantry).   Maps of the Battle of Winchester that may be found on the Internet indicate that Grimes’ Brigade in Rodes’ Division was on the southern flank near what is now US Interstate 81.  Most of the heavy fighting occurred that day in the Middle Field, the Second Woods, West Woods, and Red Bud Run.  His brigade was apparently located in that southern part of the battlefield labeled West Woods.  In retreat they moved westward toward Winchester.  I can only assume that he was killed on that southern-most part of the battlefield and possibly during the retreat to Winchester.  In fact the location of his death and burial may presently be located under what is now Interstate 81.  

Much of the battlefield at Winchester has been significantly degraded or destroyed by expanding urban development in and around Winchester.  I found it quite sad that the likely area in which my second great grandfather died and was buried may now be covered by that urban sprawl and the interstate highway.  

Preservation Marker

Residential and business development and highway construction continue to pose threats to the preservation of the original battlefield.  The Civil War Trust has preserved 222 acres of the 567-acre battlefield.  In 2009, the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation along with the Civil War Trust and the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation, and the Shenandoah Valley Civil War Foundation purchased 209 acres of additional land.  The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation worked toward the restoration of the battlefield for the 150^th Anniversary of the battle in September 2014.

Since I was able to be there and walk the battlefield, I left the battlefield with some degree of satisfaction. However, I am still left with a desire to know where he was buried, but I am certain that desire will remain unfulfilled.   

 

THIRD BATTLE OF WINCHESTER

SEPTEMBER 19, 1864

 

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1920&bih=908&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=alLvVIKkIoKfggTD5YO4DA&ved= 0CCwQsAQ&dpr=1&q=maps+of+Third+Battle+of+Winchester

                                      Red:                      Confederate Lines

                                      Brown:                 Confederate Retreat Lines

                                      Blue:                     Union Lines

                                                      Clip on the maps to enlarge them.

THE THIRD BATTLE OF WINCHESTER

SEPTEMBER 19, 1864

 

       http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/thirdwinchester/maps/cwpt-third-winchester.html

Grimes Brigade as part of Rodes’ Division retreated to the west and then southwest toward what is now US Interstate 81 and Winchester.  The brigade may have been in any of the areas marked with the red lines.

Sources:

·        Adelman, Garry. The Third Battle of Winchester. http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/thirdwinchester/third-winchester-history-articles/winchesteradelman.html

·        Battle of Third Winchester Summary & Facts (See featured articles.): www.civilwar.org/battlefields/third-winchester.html

·        Civil War Trust, Saving America’s Civil War Battlefields, “The Battle of Third Winchester,”  http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/thirdwinchester/third-winchester-history-articles/the-battle-of-third.html

·        Grimes Biography from the Dictionary of North Carolina: http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/grimes/bio.html

·        Maps of Third Winchester, Virginia (1864), CWPT Third Winchester Battlefield Tour Map, http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/thirdwinchester/maps/cwpt-third-winchester.html

·        Third Battle of Winchester: https://www.google.com/search?biw=1920&bih=908&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=alLvVIKkIoKfggTD5YO4DA&ved=0CCwQsAQ&dpr=1&q=maps+of+Third+Battle+of+Winchester

·        Third Battle of Winchester – Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Opequon

Gettysburg—A Sobering Experience



Battle of Gettysburg
Courtesy of Jen Goellnitz
http://www.drawthesword.goellnitz.org

In the fall of 2013 my sister Sandy, brother-in-law Pat, husband Doug, and I spent two days touring the museum and the battlefield at the Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  My husband and I first visited the museum and battlefield in 2008, but that visit was quite short and inadequate.  I, particularly, wanted to revisit the site since my 2nd great grandfather, Alexander Balus West, was wounded on July 3, 1863, during the battle of the third day. 



Eternal Light of Peace

We found our experience to be profoundly sad, sobering, and humbling.   Even though it has been almost a year since our visit, I want to share with my readers some information about the battle and some photographs regarding this experience.  I think that I, being perplexed and intimidated by the enormity and complexity of such a narrative, have postponed writing about the visit until now.

Our first day at Gettysburg was spent touring the museum with all of its photos, artifacts, exhibits, and video—so much to absorb and comprehend.  On the second day of our visit we toured the battlefield using a self-guided, auto tour.  The information that I am sharing in this blog is taken from our tour book, park museum brochures, and additional information from the Internet. In addition, I have included some of the beautiful photographs from Jen Goellnitz’s website, Draw the Sword, and have complied with her protocol for their use as described in her website.

THE ARMIES

 Virginia Memorial
Gen. Robert E. Lee
Representatives of Typical Soldiers

Gen. George G. Meade
Courtesy of Jen Goellnitz
http://www.drawthesword.goellnitz.org

The Union army was formerly known as the Army of the Potomac with George Gordon Meade as the Commanding General. It was later referred to as the United States Army (USA).  He had 95,000 troops and 356 cannons.  The Confederate army was first known as the Army of Northern Virginia and later called the Confederate States Army (CSA).  Robert Edward Lee was the Commanding General with 75,000 troops and 275 cannons.

THE BATTLE, DAY 1:  July 1, 1863

McPherson Farm
Courtesy of Jen Goellnitz
http://www.drawthesword.goellnitz.org

The Battle at Gettysburg, the largest battle of the Civil War, began when the first shot was fired by the Confederates at 7:30 a.m. on July 1 at McPherson Ridge near the McPherson barn with Union cavalry confronting Confederate infantry.  As more forces from both sides arrived, heavy fighting ensued along this ridge.  About 1 p.m., Confederate forces under Major General Robert E. Rhodes attacked threatening Union forces that were on McPherson Ridge and Oak Ridge.  Union forces were able to hold Oak Ridge until about 4:00 p.m. when they retreated through the town of Gettysburg to Cemetery Hill.  At the end of this first day of battle, the Confederate Army appeared to have the upper hand.  General Lee decided to continue the offensive the next day with his 70,000 men against General Meade’s 93,000 men. 

 

By evening the Union troops were entrenched on Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill on the south side of the town of Gettysburg. Union General George Greene, known as “Pop” Greene and the oldest general fighting at Gettysburg, ordered his men to build entrenchments on Culp’s Hill.  These entrenchments, made of earth, wood, and rock, contributed to the successful defense of the Union’s right flank on Culp’s Hill.  General George “Pop” Greene survived the war returning to work as an engineer and helped build the Central Park Reservoir in New York City.  A boulder from Culp’s Hill marks his grave in Rhode Island.

THE BATTLE, DAY 2:  July 2, 1863

Cemetery Ridge

Seminary Ridge (Wooded Area)

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the morning of July 2, battle lines were drawn about one mile apart on parallel ridges, Cemetery Ridge and Seminary Ridge.  Most of the Confederate troops were on Seminary Ridge with most of the Union troops on Cemetery Ridge. The Confederate troops were also stationed through the town of Gettysburg and north of Cemetery Hill and Culp’s Hill.  At that time, Union forces also occupied Culp’s Hill and south along Cemetery Ridge to the Round Tops. 

The Confederate soldiers were repulsed at Little Round Top by the Union forces.  Fighting continued throughout the day.  It was on Cemetery Hill that Colonel Isaac Avery of North Carolina, as he lay dying, penned a message to his father, “Major, Tell my father I died with my face to the enemy.”

Gen. James Longstreet

The Wheatfield
Courtesy of Jen Goellnitz
http://www.drawthesword.goellnitz.org

About 4:30 in the afternoon, Confederate General James Longstreet, placing his First Corps of Confederate soldiers along Warfield Ridge, began his assault directing his forces against Union soldiers who were ensconced in areas known as Devils Den, the Wheatfield, and the Peach Orchard and against Meade’s undefended flank at the Round Tops.  By 6:30 p.m. Confederate forces occupied the Wheatfield with deaths in the Wheatfield numbering over 4,000 dead and wounded from both sides.  Battles raged at  the Peach Orchard and Plum Run.  Confederate forces secured the Peach Orchard as Union forces retreated to Cemetery Ridge.  Meade’s troops were alerted about the threat to Little Round Top and brought in reinforcements to shore up the forces there. 
 

Between 7:30 and 10:30 p.m., Confederate General Richard S. Ewell’s Second Corps attacked the Union troops at Culp’s Hill and East Cemetery Hill.   They were able to occupy the lower slopes of Culp’s Hill. 

Another interesting story is one about Wesley Culp who moved from his family farm at Gettysburg

Henry Culp Farm
Courtesy of Jen Goellnitz
http://www.drawthesword.goellnitz.org

 to Virginia.  However, when the war broke out he joined the Confederate Army in the Stonewall Brigade and returned to Gettysburg in July 1863.  He was killed on Culp’s Hill near his family’s farm.

The fighting at Devil’s Den, the Wheatfield, and the Peach Orchard was among the fiercest and bloodiest battles at Gettysburg.  During the humid, moonlight night after the the battle in the Wheatfield, it is said that the wounded who lay on the field were moaning, praying, and singing.  Confederate survivor, George Hillyer, wrote, “One of our soldiers began to sing.  Hundreds of wounded lay within easy hearing of the singer, whose fine voice echoed down the valley.”  Later, officer George Hillyer became a politician in Georgia and the mayor of Atlanta.

 

Devil's Den



The Peach Orchard
Courtesy of Jen Goellnitz
http://www.drawthesword.goellnitz.org

At dusk, the Union forces repelled a Confederate assault that reached the top of East Cemetery Hill.

 THE BATTLE, DAY 3:  July 3, 1863

The Confederate soldiers controlled the lower portion of Culp’s Hill but were repelled at its summit on the evening of July 2.  However, between 4:30 and 11:30 a.m. on July 3, they again tried to gain control of the summit.  After seven hours of fighting, much of which was fierce hand-to-hand, the Union forces drove the Confederates back and held the position.

Daniel's Brigade
Courtesy of Jen Goellnitz
http://www.drawthesword.goellnitz.org
 

It was at Culp’s Hill on July 3 that my 2nd great grandfather, Alexander Balus West, was wounded.  He didn’t die at Gettysburg but was killed a year later at the Third Battle of Winchester.  During July and August of 1863, he was a patient in the Wayside Hospital (General Hospital No. 9) in Richmond, Virginia. He, also, may have spent part of those two months on sick leave recuperating at home from the injuries he received at Gettysburg. According to the information that I have obtained about him and the marker that is on the battlefield, he was in the Army of Northern Virginia, Ewell’s Corps, Rodes’ Division, Daniel’s Brigade, the 53^rd North Carolina Infantry Regiment, and Company K.  Company K was from Wilkes, North Carolina.  A 3rd great uncle, Thomas C. Land, and the brother-in-law of Alexander Balus West, was a lieutenant in Company K.  Cousin Glenn Land says that the brigade of which the 53^rd regiment was attached “actually fought on the opposite end of the line from where Pickett's Charge took place. They were some of the first Confederates that arrived on the field July 1st. They spent the entire first two days trying to secure the high ground known as Culp's Hill. By the 3rd day they were fought to a “frazzle.”

A couple of other events occurred on Day 3:  an artillery bombardment between 1 and 3 p.m. and a cavalry battle on East Cavalry Field between 1 and 4 p.m.

The Copse of Trees
Cemetery Ridge

However, the culminating battle occurred about 3 p.m. on July 3, 1863, when General Robert E. Lee ordered 13,000 Rebel soldiers to charge from their location on Seminary Ridge across a mile-wide open field and attack the Union center on Cemetery Ridge.  After a two-hour “cannonade,” 7,000 Union soldiers, who were situated near a clump of trees, known today as “the Copse of Trees,” repulsed a 12,000 to 13,000-man Confederate charge known as Pickett’s Charge.  Even though it has been given the name “Pickett’s Charge,” the divisions of Pickett, Pettigrew, and Trimble composed the group.  This event, called the High Water Mark, was the climactic moment of the battle.  It marked the beginning-of-the-end of the Battle of Gettysburg with General Lee and his army in retreat.  

Field of Pickett's Charge
Courtesy of Jen Goellnitz
http://www.drawthesword.goellnitz.org

I assume that Confederate General James Longstreet was addressing General Robert E. Lee prior to the defeat of the Confederate troops at Cemetery Ridge on July 3 when General Longstreet made this statement, “General, I have been a soldier all my life…It is my opinion that no 15,000 men ever arrayed for battle can take that position.

North Carolina Memorial
Seminary Ridge

 

Robert E. Lee offered to resign his post as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia after Gettysburg, but Jefferson Davis refused to accept it.  George Meade was eventually relieved of his position by President Lincoln who appointed Ulysses Grant as commander.  However, Meade remained in the Union army.  The day after the surrender at Appomattox, Meade rode through the Confederate lines to meet Lee.  He saluted his former adversary, and Lee asked, “What are you doing with all that gray in your beard?”  Meade responded, “That you have a great deal to do with!"



North Carolina Soldiers
Seminary Ridge

 

Sources               

·      “Battle of Gettysburg,” http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-gettysburg

·        Boritt, Gabor, Stephen Lang, and Jake Boritt.  The Gettysburg Story, Battlefield Auto Tour. Right to Rise, Boritt Films, LLC, 2010.

·       “Gettysburg and Touring the Battlefield,” National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania, 2013.

·       Goellnitz, Jen.  http://www.drawthesword.goellnitz.org

 

Small Pieces of the Puzzle Contribute to the Whole—Alexander West (c1730)

Some information that I recently found in a document sent to me by my 5^th cousin, Howard Douglas “Doug” Land, Jr., was of great interest to me.  The article, entitled “A History of Alexander County, North Carolina,” was written by William E. White.  It was copied from a scrapbook owned by Mrs. Bynum D. Deal of Davidson, North Carolina.  Mr. White published the document in the Taylorsville Times in 1926.  As I read the document, my interest was immediately stirred by my paternal West family surnames of West and Carlton and by my maternal Hughes family surnames of Hughes and Honeycutt.

As I read further, I discovered notations about Alexander West, who, I assume, was my 5^th great grandfather, Alexander West (born about 1730), and his son, Alexander West (born in 1751).  Before I address the information found in the article, I would like to revisit the historical and political events that were occurring during those turbulent years of the 1760s and 1770s.

Western North Carolina was experiencing corruption, tyrannical power, and excessive taxation at the hand of the Colonial government, namely that of provincial governor, William Tryon.  The events leading up to the rebellion began as early as 1765. Those living in the back country of Western North Carolina were “freeholders peacefully living in a frontier paradise.”  In 1766 due to the political unrest developing in the back county, the Sandy Creek Association, the first Regulator group, was organized. Political instability in the backcountry came to a head when Governor Tryon decided to build “his palace” in New Bern, for which large sums of money were appropriated by the colonial government.  To the Regulators, this proposed building represented the corruption of government that they believed existed.  Likewise, the Regulators were suspicious that the government was conspiring to take away their liberties, threaten their property, and restrict their rights as Englishmen.  As a result, additional Regulator organizations were established in Western North Carolina.  In 1768, Governor Tryon ordered them to disband, and militia units from coastal counties were sent to Orange County.

On May 16, 1771, the Regulators respectfully petitioned Governor Tryon to hear their grievances.  Tryon rejected their request, ordered them to lay down their arms, and gave them only one hour to meet his demands.  The Regulators were enraged, dared the governor to “fire and be damned,” and the battle of Alamance on Great Alamance Creek near Hillsborough, then known as the “capitol of the backwoods,” began.  The numbers of militia who were killed and wounded are debatable.  However, the Regulators sustained heavy causalities including several others who were hanged.  In 1775 with the Revolution underway, Governor Martin, with the King’s permission, granted full pardons to all of the Regulators with the exception of Herman Husband, the organizer of the first group.  This was done with hopes of enlisting support for the British cause.  The pardon, however, did not rally great support for the British cause.

The Regulator movement was centered in the counties of Anson, Dobbs, Halifax, Rowan, and Orange. Western North Carolinians wanted a new political system.  Even though it was squelched, the Regulator movement was a rehearsal for revolution and was clearly a forecast of the revolutionary events to come. 

My fifth great grandfather, Reverend George McNeil (1720-1805), was affiliated with the Sandy Creek Baptist Association.  In my blog post of August 30, 2012, I stated the following about Reverend George McNeil:

He was affiliated with the famous Sandy Creek Baptist Association which Shubal Stearns started with six local Baptist churches.  This organization was likely the same as the Sandy Creek Association, a precursor of the Regulator Movement that protested government oppression and abuse of funds.   After the battle between the Regulators and the English militia in 1771 in the outskirts of Hillsborough at Alamance Creek, Governor William Tryon assumed that the Baptists were Regulators and concentrated over 3,000 soldiers in their areas to harass and terrorize them.   In the letter of May 28, 1898, G. W. McNeil, Sr. states that “he [George McNiel] joined the Regulators and after the battle of Alamance and fled for safety into Virginia where he lived for a time in Grayson County.”

And now to my West ancestors…

As I have lamented so many times, I have reached a “brick wall” in my search for my fifth great grandfather, Alexander West, who was born about 1730.  Research indicates that he was associated with individuals who lived in Orange, Surry, and Wilkes Counties.   In Orange County I have found him connected with John West, Sr. and with John West, Jr., in 1752-1768 and in 1754 with William Mills and William Mills, Jr.  He is found in an early North Carolina census in 1755 in Orange County.   In Surry-Wilkes County in 1771-1777, he was mentioned with his son, Alexander West.   In 1778 in Wilkes County he or his son, Alexander West (1751-1834) was noted in association with William Triplett on the Yadkin River and James Tugman on Glady Branch, with John Ferguson, William Brown, and Daniel Johnson in 1779, with Isaac West and Bray Crisp on Glady Fork in 1782, and with Daniel Sutherlin on Glady Fork in 1784.

In the article, “A History of Alexander County, North Carolina,” the following statement was made about Alexander West who, I presume, was the Alexander West born about 1730:

“Also there is documentary evidence that Alexander West assisted in building houses in Hillsboro after it was laid off on the lands of the great surveyor, William Churton.”

In another section of the document, Alexander West,  who, again, I presume to be the Alexander West who was born about 1730, is described as “a refugee,” implying that he was one of the many who left the Hillsborough area of Orange County sometime prior to 1771 due to the tyranny of Governor Tryon.  This section is quoted below as follows:

“Alexander West was another refugee; a large muscular man, of prodigious strength and physical powers and at the same time a man of excellent judg­ment and undoubted integrity. Nelson A. Powell, the historian of Caldwell County, leaves the record that Alexander West assisted in building the first houses in the town of Hillsboro. He first settled on lands between Barrett's Mountain and Lower Little River, but after the Revolutionary War, sold out there, and moved to lands on Upper Little River, in what is now Caldwell County. His descendants still live in Caldwell. It is told of him that he would not use dogs in the capture of game, but depended upon his complete knowledge of the habits of the wild animals and was entirely successful.”

A third reference to Alexander West concerned the establishment of an iron works by Andrew Baird sometime after 1788.  Baird was given a grant for 18,000 acres in Whittenburt Township of Alexander County.  Some tracks of land belonging to other individuals within those 18,000 acres were excepted from the grant.  However, a prior land grant to Alex West, which lay within Baird’s grant, was not “excepted.”  The reference to this Alexander West may have been the son of Alexander West born about 1732.

Other West relatives…

In addition to the Alexander Wests, two distant cousins were mentioned in the article.  Brothers, J. [James] Harvey West and Hiram West, who were my 2^nd cousins 4 times removed, served at the Bethlehem Church in 1871.  Hiram West was the pastor from 1872 to August 1878.  H. [Hiram] West was listed as the pastor at Dover Baptist Church in what was then Burke County on April 9, 1864. J. H. [James Harvey] West served at Center Church from December 3, 1865 to the “5^th Saturday” in January 1876.

Another relative…

Henry Carlton “of the Yadkin settlers from Virginia entered and located at the Hickory Knob in the pioneer days.  The Knob in its primeval condition was an ideal mountain home, but Henry drifted back to his old settlement and finally emigrated to the west.”  I assume that this Henry Carlton was the son of Thomas Carlton and Mary Land, my 4^th great grandparents.

Even though these are “tidbits” of information, those small pieces add to the completion of the larger puzzle.  Thanks, Doug, for sharing this article and for all of the materials that you so graciously share.

Sources:

• McNeil, George W., Sr. Personal Letter Describing His Grandfather, Reverend George McNiel, for a Memorial Booklet, May 28, 1898.
• Mobley, Joe A., ed. The Way We Lived in North Carolina. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2003.
• Ready, Milton. The Tar Hill State, A History of North Carolina. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina, 2005.
• White, William E., “A History of Alexander County, North Carolina,” Taylorsville Times, 1926.

A Newly-Discovered McNeil Cousin!

One never knows whom he will meet during a simple, holiday outing! 

On Friday evening, December 7, 2012, my husband, Doug, and I, accompanied by a few members of my genealogy club, participated in the guided Christmas tour of the Carter Mansion in Elizabethton, Tennessee. 

To set the stage for this account, I would like to provide some historical information about this site.



An Evening at the Carter Mansion
Elizabethton, Carter County, Tennessee



The Carter Mansion on the Watauga River in Carter County, Tennessee, is the oldest mansion in Tennessee.  John Carter of Virginia purchased 640 acres of land in the area, which was known as the “Watauga Old Fields,” where he erected his home between 1775 and 1781.  This western frontier was decreed “off-limits” to settlers by King George III in his 1763 Proclamation.  However, as we recall, little did the adventuresome pioneers heed this degree.  John Carter was a prominent leader in the Watauga Association.  This association is recognized as “the first democratic association of free American-born men west of the Appalachians.”   After his death of smallpox in 1781, his son, Landon Carter, assumed a leading role in the Watauga Settlement.   Carter County was named for Landon Carter, and the town of Elizabethton was named for his wife, Elizabeth MacLin Carter. 

The Carter Mansion is part of the Sycamore Shoals State Historical Museum under the Tennessee State Parks.  Sycamore Shoals was the site where the Overmountain Men mustered and departed as they marched to Kings Mountain, the site of that epic Revolutionary War battle.



Wassail by the Bonfire



As we were touring the mansion and talking with the re-enactors, to my surprise, my discussion with the docent playing the role of Mrs. John Carter revealed that she and I descend from the same McNeil family of Wilkes County, North Carolina.  Immediately, we exchanged our contact information so that we could follow up this brief encounter.

Through our e-mail communications and our Ancestry.com trees, we have determined that we are 6^th cousins with our most recent common ancestors (MRCAs) being our 5^th great grandparents, Rev. George McNeil and Mary Coats.  My newly-found cousin, Linda, descends through George and Mary McNeil’s daughter, Elizabeth who married Robert Bingham, and I descend from George and Mary McNeil’s son, Joseph McNeil and his wife Hanna Wilson. 

What a small world!  Yet, how exciting!

_________________________________________________________________

Source:  "The Carter Mansion, Wilderness Elegance on the Watauga River," Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee State Parks, 2006.

The Wilderness Trail and the Role of Wilkes County Frontiersmen

Not only is Daniel Boone a national hero, but he was also a Wilkes Countian.  Boone’s parents, Squire and Sarah Boone, migrated from peaceful Oley, Pennsylvania, to the lesser civilized area of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.  When they left Pennsylvania about 1750, they likely took the Great Wagon Road to where they settled in Linnville Creek, Virginia.  In the fall of 1751, the Boone family moved to a 640 acre claim on Grants Creek near the Yadkin River.  At that time in history, the Yadkin River Valley in Wilkes County was one of the least civilized areas on the western frontier and has been dubbed “the wild west!”

In 1755 Daniel Boone assembled a group of hardy men, predominately from North Carolina, to help him blaze a trail through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky.  Some of these men were friends and neighbors of the Boone family living in the Yadkin River Valley of Wilkes County, North Carolina.  Among this group of axmen, as they are called, were Squire Boone (Daniel’s brother), Benjamin Cutbirth who was the husband of Daniel’s niece, Elizabeth Wilcoxson (my husband’s 4^th great grandparents), Michael Stoner, David Gass, Colonel Richard Callaway and his female Negro servant, William Bush, Edmund Jennings, John Kennedy, John Vardemen, James Hall, William Hayes and his wife Susannah Boone (Daniel’s daughter), and several others from Rutherford County, North Carolina.

Much controversy surrounds the route of the Wilderness Trail cut by Boone and his axmen.  Many confuse the Great Wagon Road with the Wilderness Trail.  The Great Wagon Road, known by various names such as the Great Road and the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road, began in Philadelphia and followed the Great Appalachian Valley between the Blue Ridge range and the Allegheny and Cumberland ranges of the Appalachian Mountains.  The road eventually extended into South Carolina.  Today Interstate 81 approximates the route of this great road as it meanders from Philadelphia through the Virginia countryside.

Various authors disagree on where the Wilderness Trail began.  However, most sources agree that the rendezvous point for Daniel Boone and his axmen was at Fort Robinson, which later became the site of Fort Patrick Henry.  For protection from Indian attacks, Fort Robinson was constructed near the famous Indian ceremonial land, known as the Long Island of the Holston.  Long Island of the Holston is located in present-day Kingsport, Tennessee.  From this site Daniel and his axmen traveled to Moccasin Gap in present-day Scott County, Virginia, and began their trail.  The trail, covering a distance of 120 miles, was completed on what is now the Kentucky side of Cumberland Gap.

View from Cumberland Gap's Pinnacle Point

The trail was no more than 2 or 3 feet wide, wide enough to permit only riders and packhorses to pass through the dense woods and rough countryside.  More than twenty years passed before wagons could be brought through the Cumberland Gap.  Originally, the trail was called Boone’s Trace, Boone’s Road, or Road to the Old Settlements.  The name, Wilderness Road, was first used about 1796.  Today, US25 approximates the route of the trail.

Why was this road important?  The answer lies simply in the fact that it became a door to the land west of the Appalachian Mountains—a door to the new frontier, that of Kentucky and the lands beyond—which had previously been extremely inaccessible to settlers seeking better land and greater opportunities.

 

Sources:

·         Kegley, Mary B. Finding Their Way from the Great Road to the Wilderness Road, 1745-1796. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Sheridan Books, Inc. for Kegley Books, 2009.

·         Morgan, Robert. Boone, A Biography. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Books, 2008.

·         Rouse, Parke, Jr. The Great Wagon Road: from Philadelphia to the South. Richmond, Virginia: The Dietz Press, 2001.