IV\R HEEL JUNIOR HISTORIAN THE STATE HISTORY JOURNAL FOR INQUIRING STUDENTS ^ Spring 1992 Volume 31, Number 2 TAR HEEL JUNIOR HISTORIAN THE STATE HISTORY JOURNAL FOR INQUIRING STUDENTS Spring 1992 Volume 31, Number 2 CONTENTS State of North Carolina James G. Martin, Governor Department of Cultural Resources 1 Introduction: Who Is Detective T. H. History? Patric Dorsey, Secretary Division of Archives and History 2 Primary Sources Solve a Case William S. Price, Jr., Director Lawrence G. Misenheimer, Assistant Director Donna K. Flowers Museum of History 7 Maps Lead to Rewards John D. Ellington, Administrator Wesley S: Creel. Assistant Administrator Michael O. Hartley Education and Interpretation Branch Janice C. Williams, Curator Tar Heel Junior Historian Association 12 Photographs Re-create the Scene Doris McLean Bates, Executive Secretary Tar Heel Junior Historian Staff Steven E. Massengill John Lee Bumgarner, Editor, Designer Stephen Evans and Anna Grantham, Editorial Assistants 17 Museum Detectives Use Solid Evidence Susan Fender, Illustrator Wesley S. Creel Tar Heel Junior Historian Association Advisory Board Doris McLean Bates, John Lee Bumgarner, 22 Oral Historians Listen to Witnesses Faye L. Freeman, Carolyn Grubbs, Terry Holt, Anne FI. Phillips Lynn Lye, R. Jackson Marshall III, Nancy Mills, Terry Shive, Janice Williams 25 Folklorists Use Solid Evidence and Informants Thomas McGowan THE PURPOSE of the Tar Heel Junior Historian magazine (ISSN 0496-8913) is to present the history of North Carolina for this state’s young 30 Genealogists Search for Missing Persons people through a well-balanced selection of Helen F. M. Leary scholarly articles, photographs, and illustrations. It is published two times per year by the Tar Heel Junior Historian Association, North Carolina 34 Underwater Archaeologists Dig Up Clues Museum of History, 109 East Jones Street, Raleigh, North Carolina 27601-2807. Copies are Mark WHde-Ramsing provided free to association members, along with the association newsletter. Crossroads. Individual and library subscriptions may be purchased at the 39 Preservationists Preserve the Scene rate of $4.00 per year. © Copyright 1992, North Jim L. Sumner Carolina Division of Archives and History. EDITORIAL POLICY: The Tar Heel Junior Historian solicits manuscripts from expert scholars for each issue. Articles are selected for publication by the editor in consultation with the managing editors and other experts. The editor reserves the right to make changes in articles Acknowledgments Photograph, illustration, and map credits: Division of Archives and History, 2. 8: accepted for publication but will consult the author courtesy of State Historic Preservation Office. 41 right. Photographs by Eric Blevins, should substantive questions arise. Published Collections Management and Design branches, N.C. Museum of History, 6. 16. 18, articles do not necessarily represent the views of 19, 20. 21, 33. Courtesy of New Bern Chamber of Commerce, New Bern. 9. the N.C. Museum of History, the Division of Sanborn Mapping and Geographic Information Service. Pelham, New York, 10, 11, Archives and History, the Department of Cultural 14, 36. Cape Fear Museum, Wilmington, 37 top/left. Courtesy of Donna K. Flowers, Resources, or of any other state agency. Student 3, 4. 5. Courtesy of Steven E. Massengill. 12. 13, 15, 16. Courtesy of Nevada Jane articles are welcomed. Guidelines for student Hall, 23, 24. Courtesy of Anne R. Phillips. 25. Courtesy of Thomas McGowan. 26, 27, 28, 29. Courtesy of Helen F. M. Leary, 30. Courtesy of Mark Wilde-Ramsing. articles are listed in the “Advisers' Supplement.” photograph by Julep Gillman-Bryan. 34, 35. 37 left/bottom. Courtesy of Mark Wilde- THE TEXT of this journal is available on magnetic Ramsing. 37 top/right. Susan Fender, front cover, 31,32, 39, 40. Special thanks: A recording tape from the Library for the Blind and special thanks to R. Jackson Marshall, who spent many hours at the beginning stages Physically Handicapped. For information call on guiding this issue and who edited the introduction: thanks to Janice Williams, Doris 1-800-662-7726. EIGHT THOUSAND five McLean Bates, Wesley S. Creel, and John D. Ellington for their valuable comments; hundred copies were produced at an approximate thanks to Lisa Bailey. Historical Publications, for doing a superb proofing job, catching cost of $7975.00 or $.94 per copy my logical errors as well: and Stephen Evans for handling the photographs. PRINTED WITH SOY INK Introduction: who is Detective T. H. History? N.C. DOCUMENTS CLEARINGHOUSE MAY 27 1992 N.C. STATE LIBRARY RALEIGH 1 ave you ever misplaced any- and like “Jake and the Fat Man,” like old letters, diaries, and news¬ I—| thing in your room or your Jessica Fletcher in “Murder papers. Some, like oral historians I house or at school? A book? She Wrote,” Frank Gannon and and folklorists, talk to people and A ball? A hat? How did your find it? Joe Friday in “Dragnet,” Inspector gather information. Others, like Have you been lost in a new place Clouseau in the “Pink Panther,” museum curators, archaeologists, like a big mall, a strange city, in the “Inspector Gadget,” and “Danger and historic preservationists study woods near your house? How did Mouse" on TV. solid evidence like artifacts. you find your way? There is another kind of detective The first three articles will explain Have you had a new family move who uncovers clues, too. This person how history detectives use primary near you with children your age? is Detective T. H. History—a historian sources like diaries, letters, news¬ How did you find out about them? of North Carolina history. What?, you papers, photographs, and maps as When you misplaced your book ask. A historian is a detective! How?, detective tools. The rest of the or hat, you looked for it. Didn’t you? you ask again. Well, the same steps articles will show the steps historians When you were lost, you retraced you take to find misplaced things and like museum curators, oral historians, your steps to a store, a building, or the same clues that detectives in folklorists, genealogists, archae¬ a tree that you knew. Right? When books or on television use are the ologists, and historic preservationists the new kids moved into your same ones any historian in this state use to find clues, witnesses, and neighborhood, you looked at their vs/ill use, to find out about North evidence to solve history mysteries. parent’s car, its license plate, their Carolina’s history. Now, before you turn the page, it furniture, their clothes—all to figure In this issue of Tar Heel Junior is your turn to be a detective, again. out who they were and where they Historian, you are going to find out What do you think the “T. H.” in came from. more about how historians are Detective T. H. History means? I'll All that you did is detective work- detectives. Sure, some historians give you a clue: What is this state’s like Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, use magnifying glasses, but most, nickname? The answer is upside the Dana sisters, Agatha Christie, like genealogists and archivists, do down, at the bottom of one page in and Sherlock Holmes in books, research using other kinds of tools this issue. Good luck! □ i Primary sources solve a case By Donna K. Flowers T his year is Raleigh’s bicenten¬ nial, so a lot of research is being conducted on the city's history. Because of my interest in the Civil War (1861-1865), I decided to research the capital city during that period. I became particularly inter¬ ested in how Raleigh's citizens reacted in 1865 to the approaching enemy—Union troops led by General William T. Sherman. To start my investigation, I had to ask myself a question. Where would I find information about how people in Raleigh reacted to news of Sherman's approach? I know that the best way to find out how people feel about something is to ask them. But because all those people who lived in 1865 are dead, I could not ask them how they felt. So I had to rely on what people had written on paper. Paper documents such as news¬ papers, letters, and diaries are called primary sources. They are usually handwritten, but they may also be printed. Primary sources were recorded at the time an event took place, or just afterwards by someone who saw it occur. The information given is a firsthand or eyewitness account of what happened. It is more reliable than a secondary source. A secondary source is written at a later date using secondhand information. County histories and biographies are examples of secondary sources. A history researcher is like a detective solving a case. Information, or clues, must be gathered to tell the story, to solve a case. Secondary sources outline the basic facts, and primary sources fill in the rest. Some clues may not be used if they do not fit or if they do not add new informa¬ tion. At the end of the Civil War (1861-1865). General William T. Sherman led the Union army through Like a good detective, I began my the Confederacy, striking fear in the hearts of southerners. People wrote of their reactions in research by consulting secondary letters and diaries. How does a history detective use these sources? 2 sources. I found a history of Raleigh these secondary sources gave me sources are usually located in and a history of the Civil War in North leads to primary sources that I could archives. But many are also found in Carolina at the library. I read them to examine. library manuscript collections or get background information. I also I now knew details about Sherman’s among family papers. Since I work at found out the names of people who approach and who might have wit¬ the State Archives in Raleigh, it was were living in Raleigh at the time of nessed it. Next, I needed to find out more convenient for me to use the Sherman’s approach. In addition, the where the letters and diaries of these records there. 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A/vr. -_ t//f — ■ rJY/. 1/ /n./ / j, ty /-ij Y/y/ Asf'i Pr r i j / * v. f - A ' i ' i From this diary entry by Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston, can you tell how she felt about the Union army coming to Raleigh during the Civil War? What does she say? Where does this information fit into the clues you already know? dult ) TS - - i §CHL 5 oar cuiiim'ri,: Lot f*ir* J^rn.li,* tn’ b0t *• U.iBkTjT^*40^!*fd#t tho *»£«£f8** • ),J b>'tter fr0 t r**oh R*|ej . ®#r,B? f» no Wm :t, * onc« Tbel^Lf^ lbtt they Ur '«Mt. ' ' r -r,*>P*rtor* c /( 4 :,::*- ct.* *»• ••»?? 4 ' " Wl'f do-all tu . , Pr**ttnje n QS' U 0 mu.t w.; ' ‘ ‘ "ki,J ««d bramf *“• Joba* c»o .'' ,b# ™»«e of * 7^ •ffeoe. - • • - M ettaf, „ ?U S/nce there was no television or radio during the Civil War, people had to rely on other ways to get news. They relied on newspapers such as the Raleigh Daily Progress (Above) to provide information about the location of Sherman's Union army. What can you tell from this Daily Progress newspaper article? (This copy appears grainy and streaked because it is from a microfilm used many times.) city would be preserved at this When I had a list of collections to primary sources. location. examine, I began reading through One primary source I used was a To make my research easier, I them. I wanted to start piecing published transcription of an original checked another kind of secondary together clues—clues that might document. It was the published diary source. Called research guides, reveal how people felt about of Catherine Ann Devereux these sources assist the researcher Sherman’s advance on Raleigh. Edmondston. An entry on March 15. in getting to records. The guide I Most of the collections I used were 1865, showed that people were tense used was for manuscript collections those of important citizens in Raleigh. and nervous, “A great battle is in the State Archives. It listed all of During the 1800s, they were usually thought to be imminent somewhere the collections by title and gave a the only people who could read and between Raleigh and Fayetteville, but description of each one. I used it to write. So they left most of the no one knows Sherman's position. In select several collections of primary records. Because few records of consequence our suspense is cruel.” source material. ordinary folk exist, I read additional Newspapers are another kind of 4 £ • l'f~L<yi- ^ ^ a— ^ y* *? ^ ^ - <^~7 yy"7^ AT. s/s X-^~ PZ'ZfJztc *~—rA * _ ' S^SSlUy f> / SZ-&-, *—’A "■" * ^ <XTX ^^ZZZdZZ^ StsO ^ y ^ O. C ^ y_<*-/ Zss^ &stzs&z 1/lsi^- *■. &JZCL Z(P' Zaj / L- T 'dcs^ />s 1 - X, ^ 7 ^ - * 'xTT ^ ^ s’ - . Ss^LsIL^SLsi _*_ 6 ?— U cJXL ^ ^ Without telephones in the 1800s. people used letters to keep up with friends and relatives. As the Union army approached Raleigh at the end of the Civil War, North Carolinians often wrote in letters about the approaching enemy. What does A. M. McPheeters say to Rufus L. Patterson (Above)? As a history detective, how can you use this information? excellent primary resource 1 used. I had to leave. The records showed a give us here the ‘go by.’ ” In other hoped that they would describe the feeling of fear among the city’s resi¬ words, he hoped Sherman would mood of the city and provide facts dents. The Daily Progress gave a pass by Raleigh. regarding Sherman’s troop move¬ warning on March 24, 1865, “We Those residents who did not leave ments. They did. For example, on think it is our duty to say to those who prepared for Sherman’s advance. January 21, 1865, Raleigh’s Daily intend leaving if the enemy reach Most primary records refer to people Progress encouraged its citizens to Raleigh, that they had better go at burying valuables in the woods or remain strong, “If Sherman come[s] once.” That same day a Raleigh hiding them in secret places in their they will make the best they can of a businessman wrote to his banker houses. Several individuals wrote in condition of things they could not friend in Winston-Salem. A. M. their letters about successfully hiding help.” McPheeters wrote to Rufus L. valuables. Mrs. W. H. Montgomery, As the Union army moved toward Patterson about his uneasiness, “I widow of a Raleigh judge, told about Raleigh, it became clear that people sincerely hope that he [Sherman] will her father burying the family silver. In 5 another account, Kemp P. Battle, a pipe and drove it completely into the They are often more interesting and Raleigh lawyer, wrote that he hid ground.” These were some of the more accurate than those found in a most of his valuables in a mud hole. desperate actions of the people in history book. My research in these Willis G. Briggs, owner of Briggs Raleigh as they prepared for primary documents helped me to Hardware Store in Raleigh, wrote of Sherman’s army. understand how people in Raleigh felt his grandfather's ingenuity. ‘ He put As you can see, the words in the as they waited for Sherman's army to what gold he possessed into an iron primary sources speak rather loudly. reach the city. □ Definitions A bicentennial is a 200th birthday. documents, business records, or manuscript collections. A manuscript collection contains Something firsthand is received from the original organized bodies of personal and family papers, source. Something secondhand comes from a including family records, letters, diaries, and source other than the original. A source is thought to photographs. Collections of personal or family be reliable if the information in it is true and accurate. papers make up a manuscript collection. Footnotes are located at the bottom of a page in a A transcription is a copy of a document that includes book. They describe where facts or quotes from every word, punctuation mark, capitalization, and primary or secondary sources can be found in the misspelling of the original. These sources, even sources and in which archive or manuscript collection though printed, are considered to be primary sources. primary sources are located. Bibliographies are lists Someone who does this transcribes a document. of primary or secondary sources about a particular subject or person. When something is imminent, it is about to occur. Archives are places to store and care for an Ingenuity is cleverness. organized body of records, like government 6 Maps lead to rewards By Michael O. Hartley W hen the old pirate, Billy can be small, such as your hometown rivers, mountains, swamps, and Bones, died at the Admiral or your school. shorelines. A map that shows sym¬ Benbow Inn, a map was There are some characteristics bols for the height of hills, ridges, found in his sea chest showing where about maps that help us to read valleys, and mountains may be called Captain Flint’s pirate treasure was them. North is usually (but not a topographic map. buried. And so Robert Louis always) at the top of the map. East is Using direction, distance, and loca¬ Stevenson began his famous book of to the right, south at the bottom, and tion, and knowing symbols, we can adventure, Treasure Island, with mys¬ west to the left. It is important to begin to learn how big an area is and terious buccaneers trying to steal the know these rules because we learn see its towns, roads, and natural fea¬ map, and an expedition to the direction from maps. tures. We begin to get a good idea Caribbean island to find the “pieces Another characteristic is distance. about the place we are looking at, of eight.” Maps usually have scales that show without even having to go there. This is a familiar idea about us how to change inch measure¬ Now that you understand maps a maps—an idea that old maps will ments on the maps to actual dis¬ little better, we can talk about trea¬ show the way to treasures. In a way, tances, such as feet or miles. For sure again. As we said, maps can that idea is true, for some people instance, one inch on some maps help us find treasures other than have searched for and found gold might equal one mile on the actual gold—the history of a place. For using old maps as guides. But most landscape. In this way, maps can be example, if you are thinking about treasure found is almost never a pictures of large areas on small entering a Tar Heel Junior Historian buried chest of pirate gold. This dif¬ pieces of paper. literary, art, or media project next ferent kind of treasure is information A map will also show where places year, you might want to learn about a about the places where we live. are in relation to one another. It town. How about one just before the First, before we go on, think about might show the distance and direction the American Revolution? Say, what a map is. It is usually made of one town or one building is from Newbern (now spelled New Bern) in paper and drawn so that it can be another. We call this relationship Craven County, in the mid-1700s? used on a table or hung on a wall. location. To begin, you search for maps of A map is really a picture of a place, Another characteristic of maps is New Bern in archives, museums, and very carefully and accurately drawn. the use of symbols for man-made libraries, and while you are there, you The place can be large, such as the features like towns, roads, and build¬ read map lists and look up New Bern. United States or North Carolina, or it ings and natural features such as There is a map of that town, drawn in 7 / V PLAN of the Town of NEWBERN in Craven County 2 *• Noivm Carolina ir. d“ij i_I *jrr I Reference a 4-jdd Jjipu A.C'huti Ji.ft.Courf Home. ('.Governorit Palace L),(Ioai. Fj,School House. F,Tann Yard. C».>'<iII House. H,Flii^’g’ jS'toiT. l,"wliaid. k • * ** ■* _ ■*» *- * Siivi-v'd A’ D»Hkcn m Way 1769 By 0J.5ou(liter. V* ■k *4 m „. r *: ft •» •V A. * * * I_I_I 1—1 Close-up, C. J. Sauthier map 1769 by C. J. Sauthier (this page). research, you know that New Bern from land into the Trent River. The When you look at the Sauthier map, was the capital of the North Carolina symbols on Sauthier's map give you you see symbols. Water is symbol¬ colony. You also know that it was a picture of the seaport at the end of ized by wavy lines. The straight lines one of the three major seaports, the 1760s. are streets, forming blocks of land. along with Wilmington and Edenton. This map tells us much about New The dark squares and rectangles are When you look at Sauthier's map. Bern at that time. But where are all symbols for buildings, gardens, you see many buildings located along the buildings and wharves now? orchards, and lawns. From your the shoreline and wharves extending Where is the real treasure—the real