A Wagon Train Once Camped on the Public Square
June 28, 1910, MONROE JOURNAL (Union County, N.C.)
-A Wagon Train Once Camped on the Public Square –
The fine elms that surround the public square, none of which should ever be cut
down, were planted before the war. In March, 1865, Mr. R.V. HOUSTON says, all the trees were growing and not one was
missing from the line. That month a crowd of Confederate scouts disguised
themselves as Federal soldiers and captured seventy-five wagon loads of
supplies from Sherman’s army which was passing below here. Captain ASHBY in command of the scouts, brought his booty to
Monroe and encamped on the public square. His horses and men broke down or
damaged many of the young trees. Each of the seventy-five wagons had six mules
attached to it, and each wagon was filled with stores of Northern goods. As the
war was closing, the scouts considered their capture as private booty and
proceeded to sell it out and pocket what money they got. The mules were sold
for almost a song and much of the stores were given away as the scouts knew
they must get away at once or be captured by Sherman’s men.
Read
more about the Yankee Invasion of 1865,
and the skirmish at Wilson’s Store, Union Co, NC
Confederate
Reunion in Monroe, 1878
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More
Union County Civil War History!
This page originally created October 5, 2000
By Julie Hampton Ganis
Last modified Tuesday, 30-May-2006 21:51:54 MDT