LENOIR COUNTY, NC - MISC - Civil War Memories by Mrs. Olivia C. Pope ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Martha Marble mmarble@erols.com ==================================================================== COLONIAL RECORDS OF LENOIR COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA ALSO KNOWN AS THE LOVIT HINES COLLECTION - abstracted from Microfilm Roll Mf.P.194 by Martha Mewborn Marble NOTE: OLIVIA C. POPE was the daughter of WILLIAM COUNCIL FIELDS and his wife CHRISTIAN WILLIAMS SMITH, the grandchild of SHADRACK FIELDS and his wife MARY (POLLY) FARMER and ELIJAH SMITH and his wife OLIVIA CROOM (who first md WILLIAM BRYAN). She lived in the Contentnea Neck area. The family Bible she referred to is today in the possession of William Pope of New Bern. My mother, who was the great niece of Olivia Fields Pope, told me that the city home of the Fields family was across from Maplewood Cemetery. The family divided their time between Kinston and their farm which was near Rose of Sharon Church. Capitalization and punctuation have been added whenever necessary to facilitate reading, but spelling and grammar have not been altered. ========================================== MEMORIES OF WAR DAYS by MRS. OLIVIA C. POPE So many have written of the battles in and around Kinston that I shall not attempt to add to their testimony but confine myself to the little unnecessary mean ways in which the Yankee made life so hard for the citizens of Kinston during the Civil War. My father, William C. Fields, was Sheriff of Lenoir County for years before the war, but was removed by the Yankees and his place filled by an abolitionist. The first time we really realized fully what war was and what it meant to the citizens was when Scholfield's army invaded Kinston in '63. Some soldiers drove up to my father's gate and asked "Where is the Sheriff". They were told he was in the courthouse. No doubt thinking they would frighten the family they said "If he had been at home we had intended to give him more protection but we know he is one of the strongest secusionest here, so we are going to burn and destroy everything he has." And gradually they came very near fulfilling their promises. They fought the first battle there at this time. My mother was so sick of fever she could not be moved and I watched the battle from my home. The Yankees won and pushed onto Goldsboro raiding and destroying as they went. They were in such over whelming numbers our solders were compelled to retreat and the Yankees returned to New Bern. While they were camped in what is now the cemetery and around it they took the gate from my fathers lot away with them. Probably you readers can imagine better than I can describe our feelings when we knew that they had taken the tomb or marble slab from my little brothers, DeWitt Fields, grave and were using it to make their bread. Before leaving Kinston this army mixed lard, soap, molases and every thing they could not carry with them so as to make it useless to us. Our family had not had food or rest in twenty four hours. We found a small pack of flower that for some reason they had over looked in a closet. For the first time in my life I tried to make biscuits. They had not left me one piece of cooking utensils, but a kind neighbor had a small oven that was only cracked. We could cook three biscuits in this at a time but I never had but three, as fast as I could get them baked they were stolen by the camp followers who were always there to get anything the main army chanced to overlook. Expecting the army at anytime and fearing we would not be able to get anything from the farm, we had an abundance of wood brought in. Only a part of this was ready for use when the army came; this they burned in piles in the yard. I asked one of the officers not to allow this. He replied "All your able bodied men are in the army fighting us. We are going to have a fire while we stay here and we do not care what makes it." (I soon saw how true this was as they burned furniture and almost everything else before they left) I told him to keep up his fire while he was there, no doubt there would be one for him some day that he did not have to make. My oldest brother, Alex. Fields, voluntured in the 61st NC Regiment but after one year of exposure was discharged on account of ill health. He was not strong enough to go with his company but was not willing to be idle when his country needed him so was made one of Col. Rodman's staff and stationed in Raleigh where he remained until near the close of the war. There he was stricken with fever which had left him so weak he was discharged from further duty. He came back to Kinston where when he was able to did any and everything in his power to help the Southern cause. My second brother, Elijah Fields, shouldered his gun in the first year of the war and never even for a day left his company until discharged at the surrender. No soldier ever lived more loyal to the Southern flag than he but his wife has told his story better than I can. One of the most cruel things I ever saw was when the Yankee soldiers cut the hams from a hog and left it still alive. It belonged to Mr. Nick Hunter a neighbor of ours at that time. They also cut open feather beds and let the feathers out making the air look snow. It was said if they found anything hidden, they would take or burn everything they found as they did this anyway. I tried to help my father hide his own and the County papers and other valuables. We buried them in a little tin trunk under a fig back in our garden. That night the Yankees were again camped in Kinston; (several of the officers using our house as headquarters leaving only one room for the family). The moon was a bright that night as ever shone upon a peaceful scene. Father and I noticed that they had tied one horse just where we had buried our treasure. Soon he became restless and we could hear the little tin trunk ring as the horse kicked. They had been on a hard march and all seemed to be unaware of it. A guard was on duty in the backyard but he too seemed to be sound asleep. We knew as soon as day came, it would be discovered so my father and I slipped out past the sleeping guard and while he kept the horse quiet I secured the valuables and went back to the house. There I made pockets and carried all papers etc of them I could put in my pockets to the end of the war. One watch and some of the jewlry of that lot is still in my possession. They took all the family silver except one teaspoon marked WCF. This they overlooked in a medicine glass. I am keeping it. The soldiers went to the sideboard took china and glassware and would slide it off piece by piece as to prolong their pleasure in seeing how much annoyed us and we could not help ourselves. The officers would tell us to report such things and they would punish the offenders. I called one stationed in our house and asked him to interfere. He came and I was so mad I left the room where I had been busy. The officer spoke sharply to the man but as I left saw him nod to the man to go on. At any rate when I again saw the room not a piece of anything breakable was left. One day I went into the hall just in time to see a Yankee soldier going out with the photographs and autograph albums of the family (so popular in that day) had all he could carry of the small furnishings from our parlor. The last piece on top was the Family Bible. I would not see it go without protest so I said "That book says Thy shall not steal, would be glad for you to have it if you would read and profit by it but you cannot burn it". He said "Everything here is ours now so you will see". As he had such a load I reached for it. He held to it with the result that I had the Bible an he the lids. He dropped these going out. I took them and after the war had the lids glued on. Have the book in my house now.