Duplin County, NC - Confederate Days in Eastern Carolina Related

                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Source: Anna Pierce Stafford Collection
P.C. 1521.1
Faison-Hicks Family Folder

Miss Georgia Hicks (affectionatly know as Cousin Georgia, by the large 
circle of kin) was born on a plantation, west of Faison, North Carolina 
on January 14, 1849. She was the daughter of Dr. James Henry Hicks and 
Sarah Miller Hicks. Her father was a graduate of the University of 
Pennsylvania Medical School and a planter. He was the son of Thomas and 
Mary Hicks. 

She spent her younger years in the Faison neighborhood but after the 
death of her niece, Mrs. Mary Hill Robinson, in Fayetteville, she went 
to Fayetteville to live in the home of Mr. Henry Robinson where she 
reared her two grandnieces, Mrs. R.O. Everett and Mrs. David Fort.

She was very active in community affairs in Fayetteville and 
especially, in the U.D.C. She was the first President of the Civic 
Association, now known as the Woman's Club of Fayetteville. 

She was a staunch member of the First Presbyterian Church of 
Fayetteville and taught Sunday School there for many years. She died in 
Durham, North Carolina on September 17, 1925.

The following paper was written by Miss Georgia Hicks in August 1925.

                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Faison, NC, in the sixties, was a little station on what was at that 
time called the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, now the Atlantic Coast 
Line. Beside the freight depot, which included a ticket office, there 
was one store in which, in addition to various goods, there was kept a 
Post-Office. This store was a general meeting place for the men of the 
community, who met there to hear the news of the day and to discuss it 
from their various standpoints.

There were several residences located on the farms adjoining. These 
farms belonged to the Faison family, and were land grants from George 
II, signed by Henry E. McCulloh, who was the agent for the King, and 
formed part of the original grant of 72,000 acres to Henry McCulloh. 
This King's grant is still in the possession of the family. 

Adjoining these farms were other plantations owned by the Hicks and 
Hill families. These three families were all related and more like one 
big family. All had nice large dwellings, fruit orchards, and all the 
comforts of that time, and in addition, owned a large number of 
negroes, who lived in comfortable quarters and were well taken care of 
by their owners.

These families entertained in the lavish style peculiar to the South at 
that time. While Faison is in Duplin County, it is so near the Sampson 
County and Wayne County lines that the people living nearby in those 
counties affiliated with the Faison people and formed one large 
community.

I was a little girl at the beginning of the War Between the States, but 
well remember how anxious we were for North Carolina to secede and how 
delighted we were when she left the Union. All thought that war would 
last so short a time, that if one didn't join the army at once, he 
wouldn't have any of the glory, and besides, would be disgraced as a 
coward.

My brother, John Miller Hicks, was a member of the senior class at 
Chapel Hill when the war began, and rushed home to join the military 
company which had just been formed, and then returned to Chapel Hill to 
get his diploma. 

This company selected as their leader, Captain Denson, who had taught 
military tactics in the Franklin School near Mt. Olive, NC - James, 
First Lieutenant and Louis T. Hicks, Second Lieutenant.

The day the company left Faison, they were given a big farewell dinner. 
A long table was spread with every imaginable good thing to eat, that 
the ladies could prepare. 

After the dinner the soldiers stood in line and Miss Rachel McIver 
presented the Company with a handsome silk Confederate flag she made 
the Flag Bearer until he was mortally wounded in the Battle of Cold 
Harbor.

The Company was sent to Fort Johnson, NC, now called Southport. About a 
year later when this Company was sent from Fort Johnson to Virginia, 
Louis T. Hicks, of Faison was made Captain & A.D. Hicks, First 
Lieutenant. This company was known as Company "E" and formed part of 
the Twentieth (20th) North Carolina Regiment, and served with 
distinction in the battles in Virginia. They were a brave set of men, 
true to the Confederate cause, of whom we are to this day proud.

As soon as this Company was formed, the women of Faison community went 
to work, and worked as women for a cause dear to their hearts. The 
Franklin school had been practically closed, and as that was a 
convenient meeting place for the women of the community, they decided 
to hold their meetings there. They would go early and stay late, 
cutting out and making garments for their boys and other Confederate 
soldiers, and at night knitted socks at home.

Their one thought was, "We are working for our boys; they need clothes 
and shall have them," and day after day they met and worked for their 
cause.

Time went on and more work still was accomplished. Women worked and 
women prayed for their boys and for their cause as only women can.

As the war progressed, all luxuries were abandoned, and substitutes 
were used for coffee and sugar. In the country on large farms, plenty 
of food was raised - not anything fancy, but good enough.

Our home, on the Goldsboro Wilmington Road, soon became the highway for 
the passage of Confederate troops to and fro, especially after Sherman 
began his march through Georgia and South Carolina. My mother, Mrs. 
Eliza Hicks, wife of Dr. James H. Hicks, was an ardent Confederate, and 
always had quantities of good food prepared ready for their soldiers, 
and would send it to the road gate for the soldiers passing.

The officers would come to the house. Our home was made one of the 
stations for couriers, who were stationed every ten miles to carry 
messages day and night. One room in the house was reserved for them.

There was much anxious waiting and dread of the coming of the Yankees, 
either from New Bern or with Sherman's army from Georgia and South 
Carolina.

It was in March 1865, that the armies of Terry and Sherman came to 
Duplin County. Both armies were on their way to Raleigh, in which 
vicinity Johnson's army was thought to be. General Terry's army arrived 
in the county first, coming from Fort Fisher, which had been captured a 
short time before. His army came by way of the old stage-coach road 
from Wilmington to Raleigh, and went into camp near Faison, on the farm 
of Col. C.D. Hill. 

Sherman's army arrived a week or two later, coming from South Carolina, 
where it had burned, destroyed or carried off nearly everything in the 
country. It came by way of the old stage-coach road from Fayetteville 
to Raleigh, and went into camp near a stream called "Panther," about 
one and a half mile from Faison.

Terry's army, said to number about 60,000 remained in the county nearly 
a month. Sherman's army, said to number equally as many men, was some 
time in getting in and out of the county, sending foraging parties in 
every direction, and committing every imaginable crime, worthy of 
demons and of the Germans in the World War in France and Belgium, was 
there a shorter time.

Terry's headquarters were at Col. A.D. Hill's. His own tent was on the 
edge of the grove, and was used for conferences with his officers, but 
he and his staff occupied rooms in Col. Hill's dwellings. 

The army was encamped in a large field back of the house and in the 
grove around the house. Between the dwelling and the camp were the 
slave quarters. A large and exceptionally well equipped hospital tent 
was erected near the camp. The camp was artistically laid off, being in 
blocks and squares like a city, and having broad thorough-fares, which 
were lined with green pines that were brought from the woods nearby and 
planted by the soldiers.

In front of the Hill dwelling the United States flag was planted, and 
near this the band played every afternoon.

General Terry, I have heard the Hill family say, was always a 
gentleman, kind and thoughtful. So were the members of his staff. With 
his staff was a young surgeon, Dr. Lewis A. Stimson, who was very ill 
with typhoid fever, and they were so sure he would die that his coffin 
had been ordered and was there ready.

My sister, Mrs. Hill, who was always most kind and considerate of 
everyone, and ready to render any service towards the suffering, helped 
to nurse him. Realizing how desperately ill he was, and knowing what a 
skilled physician her own father was, she asked her father when he came 
to see her to go in and see what he could do for the sick man in her 
house. 

Dr. Hicks, while an ardent Confederate, and one who had helped the 
cause in every way he could, was then an old man and was given a pass 
by Gen. Terry to visit his daughter.

As soon as Dr. Hicks went into the room, he realized Dr. Stimson's 
condition, and gave him various medicines, including a dose of calomel. 
The prescriptions and the good nursing soon began to show their effect, 
and the young man recovered.

Many years later, Mrs. C.D. Hill received a message from Faison that 
Mr. Fuller, of New York, and a friend of his, were coming over to see 
her. They came shortly after, and the friend proved to be Dr. Lewis A. 
Stimson, a noted surgeon and author of New York City. 

Mr. Fuller said that he was coming to North Carolina and invited Dr. 
Stimson to come with him. Dr. Stimson said that he would be glad to 
come provided Mr. Fuller would take him to a place called Faison.

He stated he had always desired to come back and see the room in which 
he had been so ill. At his request, Mrs. Hill and I took him to see 
this room. "Yes," he said, "This is the room. I remember it so well. 

The same high-post old mahogony bed-stead; the same bureau, ward-robe, 
and washstand, but the small table is in a different place." He seemed 
so grateful to Mrs. Hill for what she and her father had done for him, 
and upon his return to New York, sent her a lovely shawl, with the 
request that she would wear it for his sake. A few years later, in 
1917, Dr. Stimson died. (His son was later Secretary of State of the 
U.S.)

Dr. James H. Hicks and wife, Mrs. Hill's father and mother, lived about 
four miles from the Hills. Naturally Mrs. Hill, (my sister) and her 
cousin, Miss Rachel McIver, who had been brought up from a baby as one 
of the Hicks family and was the niece of Mrs. Hicks, were both anxious 
to go to the Hicks home and see how they were. Miss McIver was visiting 
Mrs. Hill at the time.

At their request General Terry gave them and Col. Hill passes, and to 
be especially kink, sent them in his private ambulance, where he kept 
his field glasses, which were usually fine.

Upon their arrival at Dr. Hicks, they saw the Yankee guard that General 
Terry had provided the family for protection, sitting at the door, 
passed him and went into my mother's room. In a little while several 
soldiers in Yankee uniforms came in, looked searching around, passed 
through the house, and walked out.

After remaining a while, the Hill family decided to go home. On 
reaching the door where they had seen the guard, they looked around and 
the guard was no where to be seen. The ambulance was gone also. What to 
do they could not tell, but decided to start out and walk home.

On reaching Panther, where there was a large camp of Sherman's 
soldiers, they told the officer in charge what had happened and showed 
them Terry's passes, but stated they could not explain what had become 
of the ambulance and the guard.

He said at once that the soldiers who had passed through the house were 
Wheeler's scouts disguised as Yankee soldiers, and we knew that they 
had taken the guard and the ambulance. The broken-up ambulance was 
found later, but the guard was killed. 

The officer in charge of the Panther camp, seeing Terry's passes, sent 
them home, but they went in fear and trembling, knowing that Gen. Terry 
would be enraged at his loss, and might have the home burnt. They 
feared the worst.

General Terry was furious especially that his fine field glasses were 
lost, and at first believed that it was merely a plan of the Hill 
family to capture the telescope, ambulance and soldiers. He examined 
each person privately, and finding it was no fault of the Hill family, 
said nothing more.

Fortunately, for them, shortly afterwards, Gen. Terry's officers heard 
of the fall of Richmond, and the whole staff got drunk on champagne, 
but there was no rejoicing with the Hill family over the fall of 
Richmond. They knew the Confederacy was doomed, and the cause so dear 
to their hearts lost.

I was not at home when the Northern army came to Faison (I was at St. 
Mary's School in Raleigh) but well remember the feeling of the girls 
when the last of Johnson's army passed by St. Marys. The girls were 
permitted to go out and see our soldiers, and to take them the food we 
had and water. They were a sad looking crowd, may without shoes and 
hats, and all looked to be without hope.

The girls were called back to the building and told to be very quiet. 
Immediately after, Kilpatrick's Cavalry, leading the Northern Army, 
entered Raleigh in rapid pursuit, soon the grove was filled with Yankee 
troops. 

The teachers were instructed to see that there was no noise of any kind 
in the school, that it might be misconstrued and were then told to tell 
each girl in a whisper, that they had heard that President Lincoln had 
been killed. Any noise might be considered as rejoicing over his death, 
and if construed as such, the building might be burned. 

Gen. Howard's Brigade encamped the grove for many weeks. He was very 
kind and through Dr. Smedes, frequently offered to present the school 
with coffee, and some other luxuries we had not been accustomed to for 
several years.

My mother said that while Wheeler's scouts were useful in some ways, 
yet it was a great mistake to kill a guard that had been given to 
protect the family. The guard furnished her by Gen. Terry had been very 
kind. All the negroes had been driven away, and the guard would help 
her in may ways besides being a great protection.

The night my father's cotton gin was burned with twenty bales of 
cotton, Yankee soldiers ran around the dwelling and tried to set it on 
fire. This guard would watch and put out the fire. This was while the 
cotton gin was in a bright blaze.

In the meantime, the dwelling was filled with Sherman's bummers, 
running to and fro, and probing the ground with their bayonets in 
search of buried treasures. 

Wheeler's scouts were always on the watch to kill Yankee soldiers, 
especially foraging parties in the country. The people of Faison said 
there was the greatest difference between Terry's and Sherman's armies. 
Terry's were native Americans and Sherman's principally Germans and 
foreigners from other countries living in the east.

Miss McIver, my mother's niece, who lived with her, said he couldn't 
tell why, but she was fearless with these vandals. One came downstairs 
with his arms full of her silk dresses, which she ordered him to put 
down, he laughed, jumped on his horse and with the dresses and galloped 
off. 

Feather beds were cut open and searched and molasses poured in them. 
the piano was taken away and given to a woman in the neighboring 
village. Every fowl, horse, and cow was killed or taken away. The food 
that the families has concealed was taken out at night.

This sketch of the behavior of the Northern army in the community of 
Faison, is but a repetition of their treatment of the people in 
Sherman's march through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

When the war closed April 9, 1865, all that was left of the Company 
that had served so faithfully in one of the worst wars of the period, 
returned to the old community of Faison. 

They were war worn and battered looking from imprisonment and various 
war experiences. June 22nd, 1865... 

[some text missing] 

...McIver. It was so shortly after the close of the war and departure 
of the Yankee army, that it required all the resources of the family to 
get together sufficient materials to make lemonade and cake for the 
guests at the wedding.

While the Southern States suffered greatly, yet the cause for which 
they fought, "States Rights" was not lost. There were never truer 
patriots and braver men and women than those of our beloved Southland, 
and none of this day truer to the United States. Is it not our country?

___________________________________________________________________

Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm

This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by
Grace Williamson Turner
___________________________________________________________________