Moyock

Moyock. Shingle Landing. Currituck Sound and the surrounding area were under Union control by 1863. Local farmers and merchants sought permission from Federal authorities to sell their produce in Norfolk. They followed this route to the city. Union Gen. Henry M. Naglee, commander of the military district, was willing to accommodate them, but he also wanted to eliminate “guerilla” activity in the area and prevent the smuggling of contraband supplies to the Confederates. He issued orders in July and August 1863 permitting county residents to travel through the military district to Norfolk and return if they obtained passes from the Federal provost marshal. He also demanded their assurances that they would do all they could to put a stop to smuggling and partisan attacks., On August 10, thirteen Currituck residents, including several from Moyock, and one Camden County resident responded to Naglee’s communication. They agreed with Naglee’s goal of ending irregular warfare and smuggling in the district but wrote that they “positively declare and confirm that the citizens are not responsible for it, and can exercise no control whatever over those who are thus engaged.” They concluded by affirming “this candid statement of facts; hoping and believing that with a knowledge of them you will no longer hold us responsible for what we cannot possibly control.” Partisan warfare and smuggling continued, as neither the military nor the civilians could make it stop. Trade with Norfolk likewise continued., This community near Shingle Landing Creek was a gateway to Norfolk. Since colonial times, it was also called Moyock; the name became official in 1857 when the post office was established. Shingle Landing was named for the shingles made from Dismal Swamp cypress., “Saturday 13 [August 1864]. , Fair and breezy. Edgar Murray came in this evening from Carolina and reported that the Yankees were fired into last evening, or yesterday and two of them killed, in consequence of which the Yankees had burnt all the houses at Shingle Landing where it took place.” , Elizabeth Curtis Wallace diary, Norfolk Co., Va., “Robert Poyner [of Moyock] … was accosted in his front yard by two Yankee soldiers who asked for a drink of water. ... They started back to camp. ... Two shots rang out and the Army officers fell dead. ... Because of that, they (men from the camp) set the village of Moyock on fire. They (the people) asked them to please not burn their cattle or their chickens or their pigs, but they burned everything. ... They said for a month and a half or more, you could smell the flesh of the animals that had been burned there.” , Alice Stephen, Currituck Co.