Thomasville in Davidson County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

Thomasville City Cemetery

Union of Combatants

Photographed by Bill Coughlin, August 2, 2010

1. Thomasville City Cemetery Marker

Inscription. (Preface):
John W. Thomas, who represented this area in the state legislature in the mid-1800s, laid out the town of Thomasville in 1852 on the proposed route of the North Carolina Railroad. Three years later, the line was completed to the new town, and the first train passed through on January 20, 1856. By 1860, Thomasville was thriving with 308 residents, a female seminary and a shoe factory. After the war, the town became noted for its furniture-making industry, especially chair manufacturing.
===============Thomasville grew during the Civil War at first because of the importance of its shoe factories and later because of the location here of hospitals and convalescent facilities for soldiers. The Union occupation of North Carolina’s coastal region in 1862 caused the first influx of civilian refugees and wounded soldiers. In March 1865, the last major Confederate army, commanded by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, brought its wounded here as it retreated during the campaign against Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s army. The battles of Averasboro and Bentonville (March 13 and March 19-21, 1865) resulted in many Confederate casualties

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and wounded Federal prisoners. Wayside hospitals were established in a tobacco warehouse and in the local Baptist and Methodist churches by Dr. Simon Baruch of South Carolina, later an authority on hygiene and water therapy and the father of renowned early-20th-century financier and presidential advisor Bernard Baruch. The dead from these hospitals, Northern and Southern, were buried in this cemetery together, a practice almost unknown during the war. More information concerning the city’s role in the war and the soldiers interred here is available at the Thomasville Depot, located one-half mile west at the intersection of East Main and Trade Streets.

Erected by North Carolina Civil War Trails.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: War, US Civil. In addition, it is included in the North Carolina Civil War Trails series list. A significant historical month for this entry is January 1865.

Location. 35° 53.221′ N, 80° 4.838′ W. Marker is in Thomasville, North Carolina, in Davidson County. It can be reached from Memorial Park Drive, on the right when traveling west. The marker is located in Thomasville City Cemetery.

Thomasville Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Bill Coughlin, August 2, 2010

2. Thomasville Marker

Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 203 Memorial Park Dr, Thomasville NC 27360, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in North Carolina’s Piedmont

and specifically in Piedmont Triad.

It is also in the American South

and specifically in the Upper South.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Thomasville (approx. ¼ mile away); John W. Thomas (approx. 0.3 miles away); a different marker also named Thomasville (approx. 0.4 miles away); Smith Clinic (approx. 0.4 miles away); Mitchell House (approx. one mile away); a different marker also named John W. Thomas (approx. 3.1 miles away); John H. Mills (approx. 3½ miles away); Jeduthan Harper House (approx. 4.1 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all

Marker in the Thomasville City Cemetery image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Bill Coughlin, August 2, 2010

3. Marker in the Thomasville City Cemetery

The common plot for both Northern and Southern soldiers is seen to the left in this photo.

markers in Thomasville.

Another marker is no longer nearby. John H. Mills (was approx. 3½ miles away but has been reported to have been replaced with another marker now near it).

More about this marker. Three photos, Courtesy Library of Congress, appear at the lower part of the marker. The first is of a battlefield scene and has a caption of “Wounded soldiers often received their initial treatment on the battlefield. Union Surgeon Anson Hurd, 14th Indiana Volunteers, tends wounded Confederates in a field hospital after the Battle of Antietam, Sept. 1862.” The next one depicts “Wounded Union soldiers at the U.S. Sanitary Commission depot, Fredericksburg, Va., May 20, 1864.” The last photo is of the interior of a hospital and has the caption “Temporary hospitals were established in dwellings, churches, barns, warehouses and schools. This is a ward in a permanent facility, Harewood General Hospital, Washington, D.C., photographed during the war, showing mosquito netting for the patients’ beds.”

Photographed by Bill Coughlin, August 2, 2010

4. Thomasville City Cemetery Marker

Thomasville City Cemetery image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Bill Coughlin, August 2, 2010

5. Thomasville City Cemetery

The marker is located inside of Thomasville's City Cemetery seen here.

Credits. This page was last revised on May 13, 2023. It was originally submitted on August 9, 2010, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. This page has been viewed 1,659 times since then and 58 times this year. Last updated on May 8, 2023, by Michael Buckner of Durham, North Carolina. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on August 9, 2010, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. • J. Makali Bruton was the editor who published this page.