John Wright Stanly House

John Wright Stanly House. Military Headquarters, Catholic Convent. Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside briefly lived here, but he was not the most noteworthy resident. For seven month, nine Roman Catholic Sisters of Mercy lived in the Stanly House. They worked in adjacent hospitals caring for sick and wounded Union soldiers. A visitor described the dwelling: "One parlor was...to receive the world's people; the other was their chapel....All the rest of the rooms were simply furnished. Everything so neat and clean!" The sisters remain in New Bern until 1863., Anti-Catholic and anti-Irish sentiments were strong in the 19th century United States. The sisters faced prejudice and suspicion because of their religion and several for their Irish ethnicity. But they won over detractors with their excellent care and kindness. Their service took a toll: of the nine women who initially came to NOrth Carolina, four returned to New York City because of illness and several never recovered their full health. In 1918, Congress approved the Nuns of the Battlefield monument in Washington, DC. It recognizes the service of Catholic women religious in the Civil War., (sidebar) , A House Divided , John Wright Stanly built this house in the 1780s at the southwest corner of New and Middle Streets (current side of the U.S. Federal Courthouse and parking lot). It has been moved twice, in 1932 and 1966. I was the home of Edward Stanly and his nephew, Confederate General Lewis Addison Armistead. Stanly, born here in 1810, accepted the post of military governor from President Abraham Lincoln in May 1862. Stanly hoped to lead his hometown and state back into the Union. Unsuccessful, he resigned in March 1863. Armistead was born here in 1817. He fell at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, during Gen. James Longstreet's attack on the Federal position atop Cemetery Ridge ("Pickett's Charge"), and died two days later., (captions) , Sister Mary Ignatius Grant (1835-1925) Courtesy Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, John Wright Stanly House, 1862 - Courtesy Tryon Palace Collection