I established a character, James, as Flora's father in my current writing project, a private in the Confederacy. Specifically, he was in the North Carolina 26th Regiment, Company K, known as the Pee Dee Wildcats, based on an actual company in Anson County, North Carolina.
James did not seem eager to enlist in 1861; the plantation owners' war was not his battle nor that of other yeoman farmers like him. Because of the Conscription Act, James had to enlist. In May 1862, more farmers joined its ranks with their clothes on their backs, personal rifles, and leather shoes they sewed themselves. These Anson County farmers became part of the North Carolina 26th Regiment, Company K, the Pee Dee Wildcats.
I hope to understand what the Civil War experience was like for James, who found himself miles from home. I am no scholar of military history; the sheer number of soldiers who died in skirmishes and battles has been daunting. However, I’m tracking the Pee Dee Wildcats' movements so I can accurately portray James experience; knowing where he was is only a part of the story.
For example, in his letters home to his wife, Zilphia, when asking for socks and dried apples, how would he describe his surroundings? What would he have eaten? How would the weather affect their bivouac? Whom did he meet? Would other farmers like himself share his feelings of homesickness? He must have worried about his family and their apple orchard, and about never seeing them again. They were ordered to Petersburg, Virginia, and boarded railroad cars for Richmond. The Pee Dee Wildcats participated in the final battle of the Seven Day Campaign. After skirmishes, battles, and marching 75 miles only to turn around, the men were tired and homesick.
In early June 1863, Lee began his campaign toward Gettysburg; the Pee Dee Wildcats marched along the Rappahannock River, then, by the third week in June, crossed the Potomac River and eventually entered Pennsylvania. James was further from home than he could have dreamed, and the landscape was foreign to him and his comrades.
Family separation and hardships fell on the women and children left behind to farm their land and maintain their livelihood in shops and trades. Understanding the impact of the Civil War on children, like Flora, I need to research the dramatic outcome of James’s short military life and ultimate death in Gettysburg, July 3rd, 1863.
According to James Martin, author of The Children’s Civil War (1998, University of North Carolina Press), children suffered the same hardships as their parents; like Zilphia, mothers raised their children and farmed alone. Fathers at war were lonely; their letters professed their homesickness, love, and worry for their families. Fathers feared being forgotten by their young children they left behind. Seven-year-old sons were given adult responsibilities, while young daughters did more housework because their mothers were in the fields.
James and Zilpha’s children, two sons and a daughter, were a part of this history that uprooted their lives. As a farmer turned Confederate soldier, James death during the Civil War shaped Flora’s life, leading to hardship, displacement, and struggles; historical research reveals her identity, which profoundly affected generations to come.
Do you have any family history stories about the Civil War? I would love to hear them. Please feel free to leave your comments below.
Photo Credit: Muriel’s personal photo taken at Bennet Farm historical site, 2025.
