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Forest Park in Raleigh in Wake County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)
 

Saint Mary’s School

Union Camp and Confederate Refuge

— Carolinas Campaign —

 
 
Saint Mary’s School Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, February 8, 2013
1. Saint Mary’s School Marker
Inscription.
Here in this oak grove on the front campus of Saint Mary’s School for girls, Union Gen. Oliver O. Howard, commanding Gen. William T. Sherman’s Right Wing, encamped in April 1865. The Federals coexisted with students and faculty for several weeks, as the school remained open. Although the Union presence created great excitement, the teachers and the rector, the Rev. Aldert Smedes, saw to it that life went on as usual. Howard, for his part, assured Smedes that “nothing was to be feared from his troops,” and all remained orderly in the grove.

Late in April, Sherman toured the school’s main building with Smedes and was “charmed with the polite reception” he received from the teachers and the girls. “So charmed,” Mary Bayard Clarke reported, that “after saying adieu he turned at the bottom of the steps for a parting bow,” and caught the girls making ugly faces at him; some were shaking their fists. This so amused Sherman that he later told the story himself.

( Sidebar : )
The Rev. Aldert Smedes, an Episcopal priest, founded Saint Mary’s School in 1842. During the Civil War, Confederate President Jefferson Davis sent his wife, Varina, and their children here in 1862, when Union Gen. George B. McClellan threatened Richmond; they returned to the capital after
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danger passed. The students here included Mildred Childe Lee, daughter of Gen. Robert E. Lee, and Nancy Haywood Branch, daughter of Confederate Gen. Lawrence O’Bryan Branch. Today, Saint Mary’s School is an independent, Episcopal, college-preparatory boarding and day school for young women in grades 9-12. The front campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
 
Erected by North Carolina Civil War Trails.
 
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: EducationWar, US CivilWomen. In addition, it is included in the North Carolina Civil War Trails series list. A significant historical month for this entry is April 1865.
 
Location. 35° 46.911′ N, 78° 39.193′ W. Marker is in Raleigh, North Carolina, in Wake County. It is in Forest Park. Marker is on Hillsborough Street west of St. Mary’s Street, on the right when traveling west. Marker is located on the left, inside the front gate of St. Mary’s School. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 900 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh NC 27603, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Saint Mary’s (a few steps from this marker); Joel Lane House (approx. 0.2 miles away); The Governor Morehead School (approx. 0.2 miles away); “Elmwood” (approx. ¼ mile away); Bloomsbury or Wake Court House
Saint Mary’s School Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, February 8, 2013
2. Saint Mary’s School Marker
(approx. ¼ mile away); First Courthouse for Wake County (approx. 0.3 miles away); Camp Bryan Grimes (approx. 0.4 miles away); Raleigh Electric Company (approx. 0.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Raleigh.
 
More about this marker. The center of the marker features a 19th century engraving of “Saint Mary’s School, Raleigh, N.C.,” courtesy of Saint Mary’s School. The left side of the marker contains portraits of Gen. Sherman and Gen. Howard, courtesy of Library of Congress, and an 1860s photograph of a “Picnic in the Grove,” courtesy of Saint Mary’s School. The sidebar on the right features a portrait of The Rev. Aldert Smedes, Courtesy of Saint Mary’s School.
 
Saint Mary’s School Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, February 8, 2013
3. Saint Mary’s School Marker
Marker at Saint Mary’s School image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, February 8, 2013
4. Marker at Saint Mary’s School
Saint Mary’s School image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, February 8, 2013
5. Saint Mary’s School
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on February 16, 2023. It was originally submitted on February 9, 2013, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. This page has been viewed 688 times since then and 13 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on February 9, 2013, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey.

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Mar. 18, 2024