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Fear in North Carolina Reminiscing Books “They were Kirk’s men and said . . . they intended to kill you. These yankees are at the Murray place on the watch for you. Try to get out of the country tonight. I will not be easy till I know you are gone. May God protect you and watch over you in this trying hour. Stay away from the road. Go way off. I will come to you at Pa’s if the yankees stay. Disguise yourself and pass under a fictitious name. Oh yes, leave and try to get out!” Cornelia Henry’s three journals, written between 1861 and 1868, provide an excellent source of information on western North Carolina prior to, during, and following the Civil War, and present us with an intimate and personal glimpse into the lives of a struggling Confederate family. Throughout her writings, Cornelia reveals her innermost thoughts and fears as she describes her daily routines, rumors and news of war, raids by Union soldiers, occupation of Asheville by Union troops, activities of newly freed slaves, and finally, troublesome times after the war. “The war has broken us up. I can’t see how we are to pay our debts & still retain a home. Mr. Henry worries about it a good deal. He is prematurely ten years older in the last eight months . . . I try to cheer him but he is gloomy nearly all the time. I feel so sorry for him. He loves his old homestead so dearly. May God in his love, spare us the trial of giving it up and may we be more prosperous.” Fear in North Carolina combines Cornelia Henry’s journals into a single volume, which is supplemented with additional family letters, documents, and photos. In addition, newspaper advertisements and period photos have been inserted to augment the reader’s experience, and to provide historical perspective.
Reviews " . . . [A] distinctive voice and perspective on the trials and traumas of the wartime home front and its aftermath . . . a remarkable chronicle of the war . . . which deserves the much wider readership it is now likely to reach.”
Links Also compiled by Karen L. Clinard and Richard Russell:
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