From Atlantic coastal sites at Forts Fisher and Macon to Union cavalry operations in the western mountains, North Carolina offers a collection of Civil War sites as varied as its landscapes. Blockade running in Wilmington. Ironclads at Kinston and Plymouth. Sherman vs. Johnston battles in 1865. A surrender more than two weeks after Appomattox. “Lee’s Lifeline” on a crucial railroad.
Just about anywhere you go in North Carolina, you will bump into a Civil War story — one you may not find anywhere else.
Civil War Trails Map
Updated June 2007, the North Carolina Civil War Trails Map features numerous sites in addition to the sites identified on the original Carolinas Campaign Trail map, a driving tour of the 1865 Carolinas Campaign following many of the roads the soldiers used. Pick up a copy at a North Carolina Welcome Center, click here to request a copy by mail, or download a PDF copy.
Rockingham County
(North of Greensboro, southwest of Danville, Va.)
The following are marked with North Carolina Civil War Trails interpretive signs:
Wentworth in the Civil War, Trails sign at corner of Route 65 and Tyre Dodson Road – Tour of this antebellum courthouse village includes homes, churches and a tavern building.
Wentworth Cemetery, Trails sign on Route 65 at the Wentworth Methodist Church – Graves of local residents killed in the war and other Confederate veterans buried in this churchyard. The church itself was built in 1859. Free blacks and slaves also buried here.
Scales Law Office, Trails sign at Academy (Route 311) and Franklin streets in Madison – Office of Alfred M. Scales, who raised a company of soldiers here. He participated in most of the major battles in the East including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and the Wilderness. He was wounded several times.
Leaksville Cotton Mill, Trails sign at Morgan and Meadow streets, west of the traffic circle in Eden – Story of the Leaksville cotton mill that produced cloth for Confederate uniforms and tents early in the war. Labor shortages caused by able-bodied men entering the Confederate armies created problems for the operation.
Piedmont Railroad, Trails sign at Chamber of Commerce building, Lawsonville and South Market streets – Important rail link, completed in 1864, sending supplies from Greensboro via Danville to Lee’s army in the field. The train carrying Confederate Pres. Jefferson Davis and many of his cabinet used this line, passing through here on the way south April 11, 1865, two days after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.
Annie Eliza Johns, Trails sign located in churchyard, Henry and Moncure streets, Leaksville – Johns gained fame as a nurse and advocate for both Union and Confederate soldiers in Civil War hospitals Danville, Va. She is buried here.
Dan River, Trails sign located in Eden at the Leaksville Landing parking area, next to the bridge where Route 87 crosses the Dan River – This river port became an important link in the Confederate lifeline connecting this rich farming and raw materials area with Danville. Goods gathered here eventually were shipped to Richmond and other points north by rail.