1850 to 1900
   
(1860-1870) The Civil War Years
And Development Adjoining the Railroad
The railroad did, indeed, reach the Stanley
Creek area in 1860; the newspapers posted a schedule
on 6 December 1860 stating that trains would be running as far as Brevard's.
Construction of the Wilmington , Charlotte
and Rutherford Railroad was done in two phases.
Work was started at Wilmington to connect to Charlotte. At the same time work began at Charlotte to
connect to Rutherfordton. The portion of the railroad
that entered the Brevard property began in Charlotte
and was not yet connected to Wilmington.
In the Stanley Creek area a railroad depot was
built and named Brevard's Station in recognition of the
Brevard family who owned a large portion of the surrounding land. Brevard Station was designated as Depot No. 13, according to Robert Cope's transcript on
the History of Gaston County. W. H. Abernathy was
agent at Brevard's Depot on 14 December 1864.
On 1 June 1861 the Post Office was moved
from Valentine Derr's home on Stanley Creek to Brevard's Station. Valentine Derr continued as Postmaster until 24 July 1866 at which time Alexander Rankin
Rutledge became the Postmaster.
For several months construction of the railroad was halted making the end of the line Brevard's
Station. At this temporary end of the line a wye had
been constructed for a train turn around.
During the months that construction of the
railroad was delayed hacks or horse drawn carriages
were provided for travelers to Lincolnton or surrounding areas. The railroad was completed to Lincolnton
the next April (1861).
The early settlers of land along the Railroad in
the area of Brevard's Station were: Robeson L.and
Adeline Summerow McLurd, who ran a Mercantile
Store and at one time the Post Office; Richard Horton,
who later sold and moved to Garibaldi Station; August and
Jeanette Nantz Farley, Jacob Carpenter, Reese M. and Juetta Morris Broome,
(he was a blacksmith), Adolphus Hovis; Hugh T. Rhyne; John Buck and Mary Smith,
(he was a farmer); Charles J.l Peterson, a blacksmith; William Richards,
a merchant, miner and distiller; Israel R. Stroup, farmer; and Solomon Stroup, a farmer.
War
By the beginning of the Civil War the State of
North Carolina had 13 different railroads on which
approximately 147 locomotives operated. Seven of these
locomotives, reaching breathtaking speeds of from 8 to 12 miles per hour, were assigned to the Wilmington
Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad.
The Wilmington to Charlotte stretch of the
railroad was stopped in 1861 after reaching Rockingham.
The beginning of the Civil War brought a halt to
further construction of the railroad, with exception of
a stretch of road leading from Lincolnton to Cherryville
which was completed in November 1862.
Previously there had been talk of secession of
the Southern States from the
Union. In 1860 an election
for President of the United
States was held and no one
in Gaston County, Stanley
Creek included, voted for
Abraham Lincoln.
After Lincoln's
win, talk of secession became serious and eventually
North Carolina seceded
from the union.
The Civil War began and many men from North Carolina went away to war.
The first volunteers for the Confederacy from Gaston County, around 60
in number, began enlisting at the Dallas Court House on 1 May 1861,
three weeks before the 20 May 1861 vote for North Carolina's secession
from the Union. These men were enlisted in Company M. 6th Regular
Volunteers under the leadership of Captain B. F. Briggs. A large cheering
crowd surrounded Brevard's Station to see the volunteers off to war.
After reaching Raleigh, NC on 17 June 1861 they joined other North
Carolina Volunteers and became part of the 16th N.C. Regiment.
Stanley Creek men were included in that number. The country was engaged
in war from 13 April, 1861 to 9 April, 1865.
During the Civil War years the Brevard's Station was a rallying point for
all area men who were leaving for the war. After being sworn into service at
the courthouse in Dallas, newly enlisted men would travel by foot
to Brevard's Station and await the train
to take them to "Instruction Camps." It has been
reported that the station was used as a commissary for
the mustering soldiers. They would camp around the
station and artifacts found indicate that some maneuvers
took place around the 1799 Rhyne home and the
William Rankin home. It is
believed that they also mustered and possibly camped
at the Methodist Episcopal
Campground. They would go on to Charlotte and then
Raleigh before traveling to the battle lines. It is said
that a crowd of noisy people gathered around the station to see the first troops depart.
In the first years of the war cost of merchandise was very high in the price
standards of pre-war 1861. Coffee was selling at 50
cents per pound, sugar was 25 cents per pound. Shoes
cost $2.50 per pair. Calico for making clothes was 25
cents per yard. By 1863 prices had risen still higher.
Flour worth $15 per 100 pounds, salt worth $35 per 50
pounds, wheat $6 a bushel and corn $3 a bushel. Cotton yarn
was selling for $20 for five pounds and shirt
material $2 per yard. Groceries and merchandise had risen to such
an exorbitant price that purchase was out of the question.
By 1864 all able bodied men up to 45 years of age were requested to
join the Confederacy as prospects for an end to war could not be foreseen.
Provisions were scarce. All purchases were made with Confederate money
as the value of gold and silver had leaped to such high levels that they
were no longer used as currency. Cotton cards were worth $50 a pair,
cotton cloth $5 per yard and woolen jeans about $12 a yard. Wheat was
worth $12 a bushel and pork $1.75 per pound. Charges for a night's lodging
was $10 - $15. Spun yarn sold at $40 per 5 pounds. As well as being scarce,
provisions had to be run past blockades and ran the risk of being confiscated by the enemy.
The "Stonewall Jackson" Connection
Over on the Plank Road, just past the Gaston
County line into Lincoln County was the Rev. Robert
Hall Morrison plantation called Cottage Home. Rev.
Morrison, the first President of Davidson College,
was married to Mary Graham, daughter of General
Joseph Graham. The couple had four sons and six
daughters. Their oldest child was a daughter,
Isabella S., who was married to the military Major
Daniel Hill. The five other daughters were Harriett
Abigail who married "James P. lrwin and lived in
Charlotte; Eugenia E., who married General Rufus
Barringer; Susan W. who married Alphonso C.
Avery on 27 February 1861; Laura P. who married
James Edmunds Brown; and the other named Mary
Anna.
The sons of Robert Hall and Mary Graham
Morrison were William W. Morrison; Joseph
Graham Morrison, who married Jennie Davis, was
named for his maternal grandfather, and inherited the
family home place, Cottage Home; Robert Hall
Morrison, Jr. who married Lucy Reid; and Alfred
James Morrison who married Portia Atkinson.
Once when Anna was visiting her older sister,
Isabella Hill, in Lexington, Virginia, she met a
military man named Thomas Jonathon Jackson. Mr.
Jackson was quite taken with Miss Morrison.
However, Anna returned to Cottage Home and Mr.
Jackson later married Miss Elinor Junkin.
Several years later, after Mr. Jackson's wife,
Ellie had died, he began to remember Anna
Morrison whom he had met years before. They then began corresponding and during the Christmas
holidays of 1856, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
traveled to Cottage Home in Lincoln County and
asked for the hand of Anna Morrison in marriage.
At that time Major Jackson was a professor at
Virginia Military Institute in Lexington.
Mary Anna Morrison and Thomas
"Stonewall" Jackson were married at Cottage Home
on 16 July 1857. They made their home in
Lexington, VA. and on 28 February 1858 Anna
gave birth to a daughter named Mary Graham
Jackson. This child lived only until the following
May.
Another daughter was born to Anna and
Stonewall Jackson on 23 November 1861. She was
named Julia. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was
wounded, inadvertently by his own men, at the
Battle of Chancellorsville and died on 10 May 1863.
Mary Anna Morrison Jackson and her
daughter Julia moved back to Cottage Home to live
with her parents. Several years later Julia, married
Willie Christian and had two children, a daughter,
Julia, and a son Jackson. Anna's daughter, Julia,
died when only a young mother, leaving Anna to
raise the grandchildren, Julia and Jackson Christian.
The granddaughter of Stonewall and Anna
Jackson, Julia Christian married E. R. Preston ,
lived to be 104 years of age, and died in 1991.
Anna Morrison Jackson moved to Charlotte
after the death of her father, but continued to visit
Cottage Home and the Stanley area.
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