Wentworth and the War

Wentworth and the War. Confederate Infantry Companies Form. , When the Civil War began in 1861, the courthouse village of Wentworth contained a few hundred people as well as county buildings, law offices, several stores, two churches, two hotels, a school, a Masonic Hall, a tavern, a carriage factory, and two tobacco factories. Several of these buildings still stand. They include the law office constructed about 1856 for three attorneys – Thomas Settle, Jr., Thomas Ruffin, Jr., and John H. Dillard – each of whom served as Confederate army officers and later as justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Postmaster Thomas A. Ratliffe’s store, built about 1859, served as a Confederate post office throughout the war. Wright Tavern was the site of a riot in 1864 when Gov. Zebulon D. Vance and Thomas Settle, Jr., a former Unionist, attempted to give speeches. Wentworth Methodist Church was organized in 1836, and the present sanctuary was constructed in 1859. Also in 1859, Confederate Gen. Alfred M. Scales helped organize the congregation of Wentworth Presbyterian Church. The church was erected in 1860, after Scales moved here in 1859. The Reynolds-Gunn House, built about 1858 by Col. James Irvin (69th Regiment State Militia), was later Scales’ home. He moved to Greensboro in 1873 and served as governor from 1884 to 1889. The present courthouse was built in 1907 to replace the 1824 structure that burned in 1906. Secession meetings had been held in the old courthouse, and there several Confederate infantry companies were formed.