This was forwarded from the Greene County mail list. Threshhold of Freedom presents life on the eastern front of NCs Civil War I just finished Cliff Tyndalls new book, Threshold of Freedom: Lenoir County, NC, During the Civil War. This book will rivet the attention of anyone who has an interest in either the history of Lenoir County or the history of this nations greatest cataclysm. The books foundation was the thesis Tyndall wrote for his Master of Arts degree in 1981 while he was a graduate student at East Carolina. Since that time, he has updated his research, added illustrations, and included a roster of Lenoir County men who fought during the Civil War. More than 550 men from Lenoir County fought; 112 died. Tyndall begins Threshold with facts about Lenoir County from the 1860 census. For those of you who may have forgotten, the Civil War was waged from 1861 through 1865. Tyndall uses the 1860 information to sketch Lenoir County before war ripped our state and nation. For instance, in 1860, Lenoir Countys population was around 10,000. Of that number, 4,900 were white, 5,100 were black slaves, and 178 were free blacks. Kinston proper had 1,340 black and white residents. The 1860 census also recorded 20 merchants and four physicians in Kinston, both high numbers for such a small town. Cotton was Lenoir Countys cash crop at that time, and nearly all Lenoir County farmers also kept sheep for wool. In 1860, Lenoir County had about 600 farms. Some were small, like James Tindals farm of 70 acres, which had only 20 acres cleared for cultivation. On the other end was Council Wooten, who owned 3,000 acres of cleared land and 10,000 acres of wooded land. Wootens farm was valued at $65,000. Tindals was worth $300. The 1860 census shows that Lenoir County had 26 schools. One was the Lenoir Collegiate Institution, also called the Institute, founded in 1855. This college preparatory school had four teachers and 60 students in 1860. Seventeen of the 26 schools were common schools, public schools that provided basic education. Each of these seventeen schools had one teacher. These common schools had a combined enrollment of 523. During the war, the educational landscape of Lenoir County was as devastated as the battlefields. By 1864, Lenoir County had only three teachers, each serving one common school  with combined enrollment of 72. Yet, school age population in 1864 was 866 boys and 791 girls. Just over 4 percent of children attended school that year. Tyndall explains part of the reason in Chapter II  A Social and Economic Description of Lenoir County: 1861-1865. Chapter III treats the First Battle of Kinston, also known as Fosters Raid. Chapter IV describes the shifting loyalties in Lenoir County and the restrictions on civil liberties that arose during the war. This chapter includes the story of how Gen. George Pickett ordered the hanging of 22 men. Chapter V details the Second Battle of Kinston, also known as the Battle of Wyse Fork, in 1865. Chapter VI describes Kinston as a Union base during April and May of 1865, and Chapter VII discusses how the death throes of the Confederacy affected Lenoir County. Tyndall stops short of Reconstruction and its impact our city and county. Tyndall also provides a detail bibliography that includes all of the primary sources he used, such as diaries, papers and letters from soldiers and officials who lived through the Civil War. He provides information about government documents, memoirs, regimental histories, and information from newspapers and magazines of the period. This book, available at The Book Depot ($14.00 plus tax) and from the Lenoir County Historical Association ($15.00, tax included), should be in the home of every resident of Kinston and Lenoir County interested in their heritage and history. Mike Parker is a columnist for The Free Press. He can be reached at mparker16@cox.net or in care of this newspaper. ==============================