The people of Alamance county saw little of the war itself, until the last ninty days, when North Carolina was invaded by the "Yankees" and refugees began to cross theis section ahead of the advancing enemy. Conditions of the times were recorded in a school notebooks on 1863: "Last year at this time, no conscripts had been called into service. However, a great many had volunteered and gone into it. Others had been drafted, the most of whom put in subsitutes, or went into it during the war.But since then there has been a great change. The conscripts between the ages of 18 and 40 have been called into Confederate service. Hence the laboring class of men is scarce, and the farms, in a great measure, have to be cultivated by woman and children." (Quoted from FERGUSON, Clyde V., Educational Growth in Alamance County, UNC Thesis 1933.) Army patrols occasionally rode through Alamance in search of deserters, and guards were posted at the important bridges to keep the vital lines of communication open. "Desertion in the Confederate Army becomes alarming and the Militia are ordered to guard all the crossing places on Haw River . . ." (FERGUSON, Clyde V., Educational Growth in Alamance County, UNC Thesis 1933) The women of this county, like those throughout the South, endured the hardships of the war years with quiet courage. They formed soldiers' aid societies to knit socks and to sew for the men at the front and to feed and care for the wounded and weary veterans who passed throught the county aboard troop trains. A group of these women often met trains at the depot with food and clothing which they distributed to the grateful soldiers. Sacrifices had to be made at home. Carpets, heavy curtains, and draperies wereunravelled and woven into blankets for the army. Table and bed linen was sent to Confederate hospitals for bqandages. The home folk were crude homespun or patched clothing, and did without many former luxuries and necessities. Food soon grew scarce; Sorghum replaced sugar, and rye or wheat was ground up and roated to take the place of coffee. Conditions at home in Alamance and at the front during the war years are well described in the following letter: "North Carolina, June 24, 1862 Alamance County Deare son I write you a few lines to let you know how we are getting a long we are all well but you mother and Daniel they are not well but they are on the mend. . . I receive letter dated the 6 of June and glad to receive it for we wass all out of harte for fear that we never should get a letter from you but thank be to God that you are in the land of the living . . . you heard that I expect Daniel home from Danville from Mr. MOSER he told me that you wanted some money and I will sen you ten Dollars . . .we are just done Cutting our Wwheate and the oates is ripe now we got them to cut and . . . the corn to plow so we got no time to reste at all . . . cropes . . . have been very good . . . whiskey is . . . a very good price now . . . is woth too dollars & fifty cents per gallon. . . I got over too hundred dollars. . . I have sold ten barles of flour at eight dollars & fifty cents per barrel . . . I got all the horses yet . . . Eli SHARP" Conditions at the front were typical of those which Mr. SHARP's son describes in the letters which he wrote home. "H'd Q'r 15" N.C.R. COOKE's Brigade Fredericksburg, VA., Dec 6" 62 "Dear Father . . . I found my Regiment about four miles from Fredericksburg. . . wee have some tents and have plenty wood and good water. We had snow last night 2 inches deep . . . "Fredericksburg Dec the 17 1862 " . . . Wee have had a fight and I came out safe I got hit on my rite shoulder whith a spent ball but did not hurt much . . . I think wee gaind a grate victory . . . "April 19 1863 "Wee have been looking for a big fight but it has not come . . . wee have verry good fare hear now. . . we get plenty of corn meal and one pound of beef is aloud to each man per day . . . wee get plenty of salt and sometimes wee draw rice and sugar . . . wee have preaching every Sabbath and prayer on Wensday night . . . I heard that the women had been preparing thread and cloth in Alamance from all the factorys . . . "July 10 1863 "I have not heard from Daniel since I rote to you before . . . I hope that he is alive yet and that he well get back again . . . I saw Uncle Greens John and Henry . . . "Your afectionate Son "M.H. SHARP" While many businesses collapsed, the cotton mills and the railroads boomed. The Saxapahaw Mill, E. M. HOLT's factory at Alamance and Ben TROLLINGER's mill on Haw River produced hundreds of yards of cotton cloth which were sent to Raleigh to be made into Confederate uniforms. Near the close of the war, though, cotton became extremely scarce and expensive in the South. One humorous story is told about the occasion when E.M. HOLT "borrowed" several thousand bales of staple cotton from teh Union Army. The cotton had been seized by General SHERMAN's men in South Carolina and shipped north through Alamance County. Because the train had difficulty getting through Confederate territory, the cotton was undoaded near company Shops and the train headed back to South Carolina. Late at night, Mr. HOLT gathered his friends and neighbors and stole the abandoned cotton, and, with this aid from the "Yankees," was able to operate his mill for several months. Paul C. CAMERON took over Colonel Charles FISHER's place at the head of the North Carolina Railroad at the beginning of the war and offered every facility of thee company to transport Confederate troops and supplies. The Army also took charge of the telegraph service at Company Shops. ==== NCORANGE Mailing List ==== Larry Noah - lrnoah@bigfoot.com - Listowner - NCORANGE mailing list Orange Co, NC USGenWeb site is at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncorange USGenWeb Orange Co, NC Archives site is at http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/nc/orangnc.htm