A new museum in the works will tell the story of the Civil War from the home front in North Carolina. It’s geared toward students, and recently social studies teachers in eastern North Carolina met for a symposium, led by history professors from Appalachian State University and University of North Carolina - Wilmington.
In Richlands, the professors led discussions on the Civil War in Eastern North Carolina and how best to teach both about the causes of the war and divisions in the United States today.
The Civil War History Center will tell the story of the war’s impact, not on the battlefield but on individual communities and regions across the state – and the people who lived them during the fighting as well as the Reconstruction period that followed.
Educational director, Dr. Michael McElreath said it will operate from a Civil War historic site in Fayetteville. The Museum of the Cape Fear has been there for 50 or 60 years, but he said it’s become outdated and leaders wanted to learn how to draw in more visitors. A consultant determined that taking advantage of the remains of a Civil War era arsenal right outside their doors was the right move.
He said the arsenal, “Was destroyed by Sherman, but it's still got the footprint there and you could use that as a memory peg to tell the story of the whole state in the Civil War, and people are interested in the Civil War.”
The museum then reached out to historians across the state to ask what they thought about the plan, and McElreath said, “It’s really unusual to get historians to agree on anything, but pretty much to a person, they said, ‘It's a really good idea as long as you tell the story of the state, not just in the Civil War, but also during Reconstruction, because that's a really important story as well.’”
The Civil War was not a one-size fits all – in the western part of the state, they tended toward staying in the Union; in Central North Carolina and the Piedmont, it was a mix… including Quakers, abolitionists, poor white farmers and some enslaved people and free people of color. McElreath said eastern North Carolina tended more toward plantations and slavery.
“Most of the battlefield stuff that happened in the state is confined to that last year or so (of the war) with the exception of eastern North Carolina,” he said, “Which, of course was, a good chunk of it was under occupation from 1862 on.”
Previous coverage: NC Civil War History Center Planned For Fayetteville
And in Onslow County, where the most recent symposium was held, he said, “For much of the war, that county was basically a border land, because just north of where we were was under Union occupation for most of the war. And, so, it was a place where there was some skirmishing. It was a place where if you were enslaved and you knew you could get a little bit further north into the next county, you could free yourself essentially by coming under Union control. That was a different experience than if you were in the Piedmont, someplace that was not so close to the occupied territory.”
In North Carolina in recent years, several Confederate statues have been removed from public grounds like county courthouses. Supporters have said it’s not right that Black people have to walk pasts the monuments to witness remnants of repression and slavery to do business with their county government or courts. Opponents of the removals have said the statues are memorials to veterans, are part of state and local history, or are a protected cultural heritage.
In an August post on TRUTH Social, President Donald Trump described the Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums and National Zoo as "out of control" for emphasizing, as he put it, how bad slavery was. Even as the center in Fayetteville is being developed, the Smithsonian’s exhibits are now under review.
Although some share the president’s belief that museums should focus on “brightness and on the future” McElreath said clearly honoring the past is important to many.
“People across the political spectrum do care about the past. They want to emphasize certain stories or de-emphasize others depending on maybe their current wishes or current goals. Our perspective as the North Carolina History Center is just that we want to be honest about that past.,” he said.
McElreath added, “We want to tell factual stories. We want to use a lot of primary sources to be able to tell those stories. And then we want to wrestle with what the legacies of that honest past are.”
The goal is to have North Carolina’s young people not only understand the impact the Civil War had on their community, but how to prevent such deep division in the future. He said, “If we know that this past was what it was, what it contained, we know what changed and what didn't, what worked remains to be done, what can we do to make our present better?”
The symposiums have been held from Asheville to Elizabeth City, Charlotte to New Bern, and in many other areas across the state, and more are planned in coming months. McElreath said any district interested in participating can reach out to him at the history center in Fayetteville.
824 Branson Street
Post Office Box 53865
Fayetteville, NC 28305
910-824-7360
The center is currently being built and is scheduled to open in a little more than two years; right now it’s a public-private partnership, but when construction is finished, it will be a state history museum owned and operated by the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
