{"id":2250,"date":"2010-06-20T04:57:18","date_gmt":"2010-06-20T10:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ncgenweb.us\/nash\/?page_id=2250"},"modified":"2010-06-20T04:58:20","modified_gmt":"2010-06-20T10:58:20","slug":"war-comes-to-nash-county-20-july-1863","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ncgenweb.us\/nash\/historic-days\/war-comes-to-nash-county-20-july-1863\/","title":{"rendered":"War Comes to Nash County: 20 July 1863"},"content":{"rendered":"

AND WAR COMES TO NASH COUNTY, 20 July 1863
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\u201cOn July 20, 1863, Tarborough, Edgecombe County, Rocky Mount, and Nash County were raided by a regiment of Federal cavalry.\u00a0 Coming from New Bern, they burned Greenville the day before.<\/p>\n

The following account of the raid was taken from articles in the May 14, 1967, and July 17, 1949, editions of THE ROCKY MOUNT SUNDAY TELEGRAM:<\/p>\n

The Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, which ran directly through Rocky Mount, was still being used in supplying Lee\u2019s Army of Northern Virginia.\u00a0 The main instruction to the invaders was to destroy \u201c. . .the bridge over the Tar River, at Rocky Mount, a station on the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad between Goldsborough and Weldon.\u00a0 .\u00a0 .\u201d<\/p>\n

July 20, 1863 at 3 A. M., the Federal Major Jacobs was detached from Tarborough.\u00a0 His command consisted of Companies A, E, G, L, D and I of the Third New York Cavalry.\u00a0 They moved towards Rocky Mount.\u00a0 It was dark, but the sound of horses\u2019 hooves and the clanking of canteens struck fear into every person within earshot.\u00a0 This was their darkest hour, an invasion.\u00a0 Friendly soldiers of the Confederacy had been absent from the area for some time.\u00a0 They had been busy in other parts of the State in the battle areas.<\/p>\n

Just before arriving at Rocky Mount near daybreak, they intercepted a train leaving for Tarboro.\u00a0 The enemy, in the person of Private White, dashed off after the locomotive, catching it and\u00a0 jumped aboard, placed a gun at the engineer\u2019s head, and order him to reverse the engine and return to Rocky Mount.<\/p>\n

On the train were Confederate soliders \u2014 5 officers, viz. 1 Captain, 1 Second Lieutenants and 10 Privates, who were taken prisoners.\u00a0 At the station in Rocky Mount, the Yankees began their nefarious destruction.\u00a0 First, they destroyed the train of cars and then burned the depot and telegraph offices.<\/p>\n

They then proceeded to their primary objective, the railroad bridge.\u00a0 They also blew up another bridge and all the trestle work of the railroad bridge.<\/p>\n

After carrying out their main order, they proceeded to burn and destroy anything and everything which seemed of value to the Confederacy.\u00a0 Going west, they came upon a cotton mill built of stone and 6 stories high.\u00a0 It was Rocky Mount Mills.\u00a0 They had the good graces to evacuate employees, 150 white girls.\u00a0 Then they burned the mill and its contents.\u00a0 This mill was indeed a prize for the enemy; for not only was the cotton valuable for making the much needed bolts of cloth, but cotton was also used in the manufacture of ammunition.\u00a0 The storerooms full of staple cotton and manufactured goods were burned.\u00a0 The office would have been destroyed but for the superintendent\u2019s pleading that it be left standing.\u00a0 It was not harmed.<\/p>\n

The troops moved back towards the still burning depot on their way back.\u00a0 They set fire to one flour mill destroying 1,000 barrels of flour and large quantities of grain, a great loss to the Confederate Army.\u00a0 From there they proceeded to a machine shop filled with war munitions; it too, met the torch.\u00a0 One can only imagine the sound and fury of it all.<\/p>\n

The Federal troops by now are becoming fatigued, it is said; but this only spurred them on to more destruction.\u00a0 Government wagons loaded with all manner of stores and supplies for the CSA \u201ccame next into their possession.\u201d\u00a0 Several southern soliders were captured here and taken prisoners.\u00a0 Thirty-five wagons were collected and burned.<\/p>\n

By now it was afternoon and the march back to Tarborough began.\u00a0 They stopped here and there to burn and loot.\u00a0 At least one house on the way back was saved from the torch by the bravery and thoughtfulness of the three young daughters of Frederick Proctor.\u00a0 The house was on Tarborough road.\u00a0 All the men of the family were away serving in the Confederate cause.\u00a0 The mother, who was sick in bed upstairs, and the the girls were the only family at home.\u00a0 When the troopers announced that they planned to burn the house, barns, and cotton gin, the girls pleaded with them and told them if they would not burn the plantation, they would fill every canteen with brandy.\u00a0 The Yankees agreed.\u00a0 They did take some supplies from the farm; but sparing the building, they rode off with their canteens clanking.<\/p>\n

No one living at the time in the Nash-Edgecombe area ever forgot the terror of that horrible day of destruction [20 July 1863].\u00a0 However, the people rallied and continued bravely to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

from:\u00a0 \u201c1863 Union Raid on Nash and Edgecombe,\u201d in BY FAITH AND HERITAGE ARE WE JOINED: A COMPILATION OF NASH COUNTY HISTORICAL NOTES; A BECENTENNIAL TRIBUTE, edited by T. E. Ricks, compiled and published by The Nash County Bicentennial Commission. 1976, pages 96 \u2013 97.\u00a0 This article was edited and supplemented by T. E. Ricks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AND WAR COMES TO NASH COUNTY, 20 July 1863 \u201cOn July 20, 1863, Tarborough, Edgecombe County, Rocky Mount, and Nash County were raided by a regiment of Federal cavalry.\u00a0 Coming from New Bern, they burned Greenville the day before. The…<\/p>\n

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