In 1860, leading citizens of Greensboro emotionally beseeched all residents to remain citizens of the United States during the turbulent days preceding the War between the States. Peace efforts failed after Pres. Abraham Lincoln wired Gov. John Willis Ellis of North Carolina to send troops to contain the rebellion in Charleston, South Carolina. After Lincoln's request for troops, the State of North Carolina officially severed relations with the United States on May 20, 1861. The citizens of Greensboro immediately went to work providing for their sons, brothers, and husbands serving in the army of the Confederate States of America. In 1865, Federal and Confederate troops converged on Greensboro. Images of America: Greensboro's Confederate Soldiers tells the story of the men wearing the gray uniform of the Confederate States of America. Additionally, the little-known stories of mothers, wives, and children left at home to fend for themselves while praying for, providing for, and maintaining the home front are told for the first time.

Drawing upon more than 200 eyewitness accounts, this work chronicles the largest troop surrender of the Civil War, at Greensboro--one of the most confusing, frustrating and tension-filled events of the war. Long overshadowed by Appomattox, this event was equally important in ending the war, and is much more representative of how most Americans in 1865 experienced the conflict's end. The book includes a timeline, organizational charts, an order of battle, maps, and illustrations. It also uses many unpublished accounts and provides information on Confederate campsites that have been lost to development and neglect.

Guilford County residents felt the brutal impact of the Civil War on both the homefront and the battlefield. From the plight of antislavery Quakers to the strength of women, the county was awash in political turmoil. Intriguing abolitionists, fire-breathing secessionists, peacemakers, valiant soldiers and carpetbaggers are some of the figures who contributed to the chaotic time. General Joseph E. Johnston's parole of the Army of Tennessee at Greensboro, as well as the birth of a free black community following the Confederate defeat, brought amazing changes. Local author and historian Carol Moore traces the romantic days in the lead-up to war, the horrors of war itself and the decades of aftermath that followed. Book jacket.

Historian G. Ward Hubbs first encountered the Confederate soldiers known as the Greensboro Guards through their Civil War diaries and letters. Later he discovered that the Guards had formed some forty years before the war, soon after the founding of the Alabama town that was their namesake. Guarding Greensboro examines how the yearning for community played itself out across decades of peace and war, prosperity and want. Greensboro sprang up as a wide-open frontier town in Alabama's Black Belt, an exceptionally fertile part of the Deep South where people who dreamed of making it rich as cotton planters flocked. Although prewar Greensboro had its share of overlapping communities--ranging from Masons to school-improvement societies--it was the Guards who brought together the town's highly individualistic citizenry. A typical prewar militia unit, the Guards mustered irregularly and marched in their finest regalia on patriotic holidays. Most significantly, they patrolled for hostile Indians and rebellious slaves. In protecting the entire white population against common foes, Hubbs argues, the Guards did what Greensboro's other voluntary associations could not: move citizens beyond self-interest. As Hubbs follows the Guards through their Civil War campaigns, he keeps an eye on the home front: on how Greensborians shared a sense of purpose and sacrifice while they dealt with fears of a restive slave populace. Finally, Hubbs discusses the postwar readjustments of Greensboro's veterans as he examines the political and social upheaval in their town and throughout the South. Ultimately, Hubbs argues, the Civil War created the South of legend and its distinctive communities.

“This study goes beyond the military aspects to examine the psychological and emotional impacts on the participants, both military and civilian.” —Charles R. Knight, author of From Arlington to Appomattox One day after General Robert E. Lee’s surrender on April 9, 1865, more than 120,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were still in the field bringing war with them as they moved across North Carolina’s verdant heartland. Thousands of paroled Rebels, desperate, distraught, and destitute, added to the chaos by streaming into the state from Virginia. Grief-stricken civilians, struggling to survive in a collapsing world, were caught in the middle. The collision of these groups formed a perfect storm long ignored by those wielding pens. Hearts Torn Asunder explores the psychological experience of these soldiers and civilians during the chaotic closing weeks of the war. Their letters, diaries, and accounts reveal just how deeply the killing, suffering, and loss had hurt and impacted these people by the spring of 1865. Dollar deftly recounts the experiences of men, women, and children who endured intense emotional, physical, and moral stress during the war’s dramatic climax. Their emotional, irrational, and often uncontrollable reactions mirror symptoms associated with trauma victims today, all of which combined to shape memory of the war’s end. Once the armies left North Carolina after the surrender, their stories faded with each passing year. Neither side looked back and believed there was much that was honorable to celebrate. Hearts Torn Asunder recounts at a very personal level what happened during those closing days that made a memory so painful that few wanted to celebrate, but none could forget.

Civil War scholar Michael Hardy delves into the story of North Carolina's Confederate past, from civilians to soldiers, as these Tar Heels proved they were a force to be reckoned with. "First at Bethel, farthest at Gettysburg and Chickamauga and last at Appomattox" is a phrase that is often used to encapsulate the role of North Carolina's Confederate soldiers. Tar Heels witnessed the pitched battles of New Bern, Averysboro and Bentonville, as well as incursions like Sherman's March and Stoneman's Raid. The state was one of the last to leave the Union but contributed more men and sustained more dead than any other Southern state. This inclusive history of the Old North State is a must-read for any Civil War buff!