Sunday, February 03, 2008

Greensboro in the final days of the Civil War

There's a very fascinating article in today's News & Record about what Greensboro went through in April 1865, as the American Civil War drew to a close. Upon reading the story, one would easily get the impression that the spring of that year was the moment that forever defined Greensboro, as a relatively small town became a crossroads of military and political activity. Greensboro is where Jefferson Davis and his remaining cabinet fled to after abandoning the last officially recognized Confederate capital in Danville, and it was here that Davis received word that Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse. Thousands of soldiers filled makeshift hospitals throughout the town (including First Presbyterian Church, shown in the photo). The town also suffered an immense amount of looting and rioting as resources became scarce. Well worth reading if you're into Civil War or local history.

1 comment:

  1. Another example of how the ruthless Lincoln destroyed thousand of lives and ruined millions of dollars in wealth to justify his twisting of the constitution.

    We would never have had the rape of the American West, or the American Empire of the 20th century had Lincoln not succeeded.

    Slavery was going away around the world and would have ended peaceably here as it did in Great Britain had we had a leader and not a tyrant running this country.

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