The Civil War brought many changes to the people of Stanly County, NC. No federal army would invade its borders, the nearest would be Sherman’s path of destruction that would pass through Anson County to the east in 1865 and Gen. Stoneman’s raid from Tennessee that came in Mecklenburg County to our west to tear up and burn railroads and bridges. Stoneman was finally turned back at the trading ford in Rowan County, upstream from Stanly on the Yadkin River. No battle had been fought in Stanly County since the American Revolution when Gen. Davidson, founder of the University of North Carolina, defeated a band of Tories at Colson’s Crossing in 1781.
Death, destruction, and suffering would come in other ways. Death would take Stanly soldiers on the battlefields, in crowded southern hospitals, from the disease of northern prisons at Elmira, NY, Point Lookout, MD and others. The six companies that were raised in Albemarle all served with Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Death was no stranger to these men, it was their business.
Destruction would hit Stanly County in the form of the lack of men, horses, and mules to work the fields. Few, if any, cash crops were produced. The Confederate army would send officers to recruit men for the army. Confederate government would send officers to “recruit” horses and mules for the army’s use. Families would hide animals in the woods from these agents. Soldiers returning home after four years would find their fields turned into sapling growth. It would take years to make them productive again.
Suffering would find a place in every home in Stanly. It would not be easy for a woman with small children to plant crops and run a farm without a husband. She could not depend on relatives for help since they were in the same condition. By 1864, all the able bodied men were in the army. In 1864, the Junior Reserve regiments were formed to conscript all 16 and 17 year old boys. Among these drafted on June 10, 1864 were Adam, Howell, and Dennis Burleson.
Adam was the oldest son of Lee and Betsy Almond Burleson. Lee and his youngest brother Nathan had joined Company H of the 4th NC Regiment of state troops for one year on May 5, 1861, two weeks before North Carolina seceded from the union. Nathan would die in a Richmond hospital on 16 June 1863 and leave his wife Martha Jane Hatley Burleson with two small children. Lee would serve his one year enlistment in the 4th. In 1862, it was redesignated the 14th and released Lee for being to old to reenlist. He would later enlist in the 13th NC Artillery for the war. He died in field hospital at Weldon, NC on 15 Oct 1864. His son Adam was also a patient there at the same time, but Adam did not learn of his father’s presence and death until after the war.
Adam would recover and return to service in the 28th NC and would be present at the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Adam returned to Stanly County at the age of 19, a hardened veteran of two years of fighting, as the head of his late father’s household.
Howell was the fourth son of William (Billie) and Sara Harwood Burleson. He was 17 when conscripted in the 70th Junior Reserves. He spent several months in the Richmond hospital before joining the 20th NC. Howell was the fourth son of Billie to server the southern cause. Absalom, Ebin, Isaac were already in the Confederate Army. They would all survive the war. All fighting till the last day of the Confederacy.
Dennis was the third son of Joseph and Lucy Almond Burleson. Dennis was 17 when conscripted into the 70th Jr. Reserves. He would survive the war, but his two older brothers would not. John, a member of the 14th NC, would die of disease. Brother William, a member of Co C 42nd NC, would die at Elmira prison in NY. After being captured in the battle of Cold Harbor Jun 3, 1864.
By the spring of 1864, the south could not replace her losses with 16 and 17 year old boys, so they began to conscript older men. On 4 Mar 1864, Joseph was drafted at the age of 41. He had lost one son, John, early in the war, son William was in the 42nd since February 1862, and 17 year old Dennis would be drafted in June. Now Joseph entered the 57th NC as part of Jubal Early’s command in the Shenandoah Valley, where Joseph would be wounded in the hip and captured at Winchester, VA. He would spend the rest of the war in Yankee hospitals and prison at Point Lookout, Md. Upon release at the end of the war, he would learn of the death of his oldest son William in the Yankee prison at Elmira, NY.
William (Billie) Burleson was conscripted on 10 April 1864 into the 34th NC, part of Scale’s Brigade. Billie had three sons already in the service: Absalom in the 10th Artillery, Ebin in the 28th NC, and Isaac in the 42nd NC. Howell would follow in June 1864, He was a 51 year old widower with seven children when he was taken prisoner on 6 May 1864 in the opening battles of the Wilderness Campaign. Billie returned home at the end of the war to be united with his four oldest sons, all hardened veterans of the war. He would remarry and raise seven more children.
Now we have covered the first to volunteer, Lee and Nathan, the youngest to serve, Adam, Howell, and Dennis, and the oldest, Joseph and William (Billie), who were older brothers of Lee and Nathan. These last four were the only sons of Isaac Jr. Isaac Jr. and his brother Joseph were the only sons of Isaac Sr. to remain in Stanly County. Brother David would move to Mississippi. Brother Jonathan would move to the Waxhaw area of NC before the War. Joseph and his wife, Jane Rogers Burleson, died by 1850, but left three sons in Stanly at the start of the war. They are David Derrick, John Wesley, Joseph Benjamin. David Derric was conscripted on 8 Aug 1862 into Co F. 5th NC.. He deserted 1 May 1863 to go home, but returned to service. He was captured in the Battle of Stasbury, Va on 17 Oct 1864 and released from Point Lookout prison, Md on 16 Jun 1865 and returned to Stanly Co.
John Wesley enlisted at the age of 22 into Co D 28th Lane’s Brigade on 29 Jul 1861. He was in the hottest action until he was captured at Waterloo, Va on 8 Sept 1863. Joseph Benjamin enlisted into Co C of the 37th NC, known as the “Mecklenburg Wide Awakes”, part of Lane’s Brigade on 16 Sept 1861at the age of 21. He was wounded in July 1862. He returned to duty prior to Feb 1863. He was then reported wounded and missing in action 3 July 1863 at the Pickett/Pettigrew Charge at Gettysburg. He was captured and transferred to Fort Delaware Prison on 15 Oct 1863 and was paroled at Point Lookout, Md 18 Feb 1865.