Actually, I heard that the guy did burn some important evidence against him. It's just that he had already gotten himself into so much trouble in Northampton County, too, that it didn't matter. And, of course, he obviously got into trouble for burning the courthouse, too, on top of all of the other stuff. They must've thrown away the key after they put him in jail! It is rather frustrating to have all of that information just gone forever. But I guess it could've been worse. It could've burned even more recently, or been one of the last courthouses to be burned in NC instead of the first one burned. Another anecdote purported to be true according to several people I talked with there: the Union soldiers had first decided to burn Murfreesboro, but when the soldier in charge of the burning got there, he saw the Masonic temple, and being a Mason himself, decided to burn Winton instead. Too bad Winton didn't have a Masonic temple... -Susan At 17:25 08/01/01 EDT, you wrote: >The guy who burned the courthouse in Winton thought the evidence against him >was in the court house. Was he smart or what!? He probably would have been >better off burning the jail! LOL > >My grandfather heard the cannons when Winton was burned by the Union Army. > >Those of us who have ancestors in Hertford County really have a hard time >finding information before 1860's. >