"Greensboro is full of mean people."

This image is of Private James W. McCulloch, Company E, (nicknamed DeKalb Light Infantry), 7th Georgia Infantry. He enlisted on May 12, 1862 in Decatur, Georgia. His military service was short. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Second Manassas in August of 1862. He passed in November. This lock of hair could be his or a loved ones'.

Sunday, April 23 1865, Greensboro, North Carolina.

We arrived at this place on Friday last by rail. We could have marched the distance from Danville to here much quicker. We are very anxious to leave this place and that is not just because we desire to go home. We also desire to leave so that we may experience the pure joy of leaving.

Danville treated us poor, paroled veterans of Lee's army rather well. The towns folk did not have much but what they had they shared with us. The government warehouses were thrown open to us. We have not looked this good or have been this well-fed since we entered the Petersburg trenches last summer.

Greensboro has treated us very badly. The towns folk are hostile, rude and mean, downright mean. They want nothing to do with us. They are afraid to show us any mindless lest Sherman discover this and burn their town around their heads. Some of us would like to save Sherman the trouble. There have been some few people who do not treat us like curs but the majority wishes we were gone as soon as possible. Greensboro is full of mean people.

Many of the North Carolinians in the brigade have already parted company for home. We will be here only as long as it takes to rest up and get re-provisioned. Our wagons need some repairs and some of our animals could use being replaced by fresh ones. As far as our rations were concerned, we almost had to fight the local folks for them. There are also parties of soldiers, more outlaws than soldiers who have intimated that they would seize rations from the government warehouses. We have been called upon to provide guards for the warehouses. Many of us Lancaster Hornets, were caught up in the details. I was given a rifle from an ordnance officer in order to perform the guard duty. I do not intend to give it back.


I Send You These Few Lines


The bad treatment received in Greensboro is not made up. It has been documented in such works as, "The Long Surrender," by Burke Davis.

That the mob did not take control over the entire city is thanks to two Confederate officers, Major James R. Cole and Major S.R. Chisman. They stood up to the mob and saved most of the government stores. Chisman broke up a mob by threatening to apply a flaming torch to a barrel of gunpowder and killing everyone.

Chisman was a Virginian who served in the Quartermaster Corps in Greensboro for much of the war. A list bearing his name, dated February, 1865, showed 44 horses and 60 mules, all government property, and a wagon repair shop under his control at Greensboro. He surrendered with Joe Johnston on April 26, 1865, just a few days after this diary entry.

Cole's service record, on file at the National Archives, acknowledges his existence but offers no details.

The going-home Confederates are still following, knowingly or not, the Jefferson Davis party on their flight from Richmond. It was in Greensboro that the party was joined by John Breckenridge, former U.S. Vice-President, later Confederate general and now Secretary of War.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Confederate Secretary of War John Cabell Breckinridge, shown here as a Major General.

Also joining the party at Greensboro was Joseph Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard. It was here that the party learned of Lee's surrender. While in Greensboro, this expanded party discussed the future of the Confederacy. Some few, including Davis, proposed to raise new armies and carry on the fight. The majority, including Johnston and Beauregard, advocated seeking terms. Davis, quite reluctantly, gave Johnston permission to talk to Sherman about surrender terms for Johnston's command.

Confederate general P.G.T. Beauregard in a post-war view.

Confederate general J.E. Johnston, in a post-war image.

These are dangerous times. Deserters, Yankee cavalry, brigands, mobsters and others, operating outside the law, are everywhere. It is only a matter of time before some of them run into each other.