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William Gaston was born to Dr. Alexander and Margaret Gaston (née Sharpe) in New Bern North Carolina in 1778. His father’s involvement in the Revolutionary War left Margaret a widow when Gaston was three. His mother, an incredibly devout Catholic…

Throughout Jim McNeil's book he presents many tales of pilots who fearlessly guided in to the port ships bringing in arms and other everyday goods to the south. He gives a detailed description of the river and the challenges it presented to both the…

Quite a number of the Wilmington pilots had been captured by the enemy, and the force available for ships belonging to the Confederate government waiting in Bermuda and Nassau was in consequence greatly reduced. The regular pilot of the Lilian was…

The story of the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction is well known. Most southern states felt repercussions from Klan influence and violence. Lisa Cardyn explores Klan violence on a level that is often overlooked: the sexual nature of Klan violence.…

Many women played a prominent strategic role in the Civil War, and some lost their lives for their cause. Rose O’Neal Greenhow served as a spy and ambassador for the Confederacy. Greenhow was arrested in 1862 for espionage and exiled from…

During the Civil War, the absence of men and scarcity of supplies created tremendous hardship for women and children at home, particularly in the South. Union naval blockades cut off most ports, making food, clothing, and other goods scarce and…

During the Civil War both the North and South often used a system of parole to deal with surrendered opponents, rather than taking prisoners. Captured soldiers were released on parole on their promise not to take up arms again, or not to take up arms…

Thousands of African Americans wanted to fight against the institution of slavery by joining the U.S. military, but were prohibited from doing so by federal law passed in 1792. Only after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on…

Over 10,000 enslaved persons seeking freedom fled to eastern North Carolina, primarily to New Bern and Roanoke Island,after the region was captured by Union troops in 1862. Once behind Union lines these African Americans supported the U.S. war…

This map is of the campaign trails for General Sherman's Carolinas Campaign in 1865. The illustration outlines the routes of both Confederate and Union armies. The image depicts the meeting point for all Union forces in Goldsboro.