Raiders in Lenoir

Raiders in Lenoir. St. James Episcopal Church and Prison. The church that stood here in 1865 became a prison for three days when Union Gen. George Stoneman, with two brigades of raiders under Gen. Alvan C. Gillem, occupied Lenoir over Easter weekend, April 15-17, 1865. The prisoners were 900 old men, boys, and Confederate soldiers captured as they recuperated at their homes from wounds or illness. They filled the grounds and sanctuary of St. James Episcopal Church, which served as a hospital as well as a prison., Some looting occurred in Lenoir, but most residents merely suffered a scare. Local resident Joseph C. Norwood wrote, "We are just through with a scene of alarm and very great danger," but added that the cavalrymen "were equipped in the very best manner, and under the severest discipline and were not allowed to plunder to any great extent or commit any acts of violence." Ella Harper, of Lenoir, wrote in her diary on April 15, "At sunset the Yanks rushed in on us. We obtained a guard about our house after they came in, and fared better than some others. Did not undress or sleep all night." The next day, Easter Sunday, was "unlike the Holy Sabbath," she wrote, with "excitement, confusion and hurry all day. Our poor prisoners seemed almost starved.", On the morning of April 17, part of Stoneman's force rode west toward Morganton while Stoneman, the prisoners, and a guard headed northward toward Blowing Rock. Lenoir resident Louisa Norwood wrote her uncle, Walter Lenoir, that Union cavalrymen called Lenoir "the damnedest little rebel town they ever saw.", (captions) , Ella Harper (Mrs. George W. Harper) Caldwell Heritage Museum , Gen. George Stoneman Courtesy Library of Congress , Gen. Alvan C. Gillem Courtesy Library of Congress , St. James Episcopal Church, ca. 1900 Courtesy Caldwell Heritage Museum , Route of Stoneman's Raid in Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina, March-April 1865