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| From Mecklenburg to Moore: Four North Carolina Families |
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Stories from the
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Smith enlisted in the Confederate Army in March 1863, in Company F of the 5th Regiment of North Carolina Cavalry, also called the 63rd Regiment of N. C. Troops. His brothers James Wallace and William N. belonged to the same company. They participated in the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1-3, 1863, as part of the Army of Northern Virginia, under General Robert E. Lee. The Cavalry Division was led by Major General J. E. B. Stuart and Company F was in Robertson's Brigade, whose duty during the battle was mainly security and communications, which could confirm part of the story about Smith being a courier. Robertson's Brigade was present during the earlier Battle of Brandy Station (June 9, 1863), but though exposed to fire, not "actively engaged," according to General Robertson. They saw action on June 17 in Middleburg and on June 21 in Upperville, as the Confederates approached Gettysburg. At Gettysburg, the Confederates, numbering about 75,000, fought the Army of the Potomac, under Union general George Gordon Meade, (about 85,000 soldiers). It was a decisive and bloody battle in which the Confederates were turned back and began their retreat toward the flooded Potomac River on July 4. Robertson's Brigade continued to protect the flanks of the army as they crossed the river on July 13-14 and afterward. On August 3, 1863, James Wallace Alexander died in Charlottesville, Virginia of typhoid fever. As many as 80% of soldiers' deaths during the war were from sickness rather than wounds. Smith's name appears on a hospital register in Richmond in September of 1863. William N. was wounded in June 1864, hospitalized in Charlotte with typhoid the following November, and returned to duty in January 1865.6 Paul B. Means of Concord, a Private in Company F and later a Colonel, wrote a story in October of 1901 about a private in his company named Ham. S. Alexander. He said the man was a brother of S. B. (Sydenham) Alexander, who was a cousin a few times removed from Smith and his brothers. According to Means, Ham, (probably Hamilton Alexander, an attorney from Mecklenburg County) was involved in heavy action during the Bristoe Campaign, around October 11, 1863. He turned his horse around too quickly and the horse fell, trapping Ham underneath. The Confederate aimed his rifle at a dismounted Yankee, took him prisoner and made him get the horse off him.7 |
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After the war, Smith and his wife, Maggie (Margaret) Stilwell, established a farm in the Matthews area, where they grew cotton. Smith was not prosperous, but he was a Presbyterian church elder and a community leader. They named their first child Julia, possibly after the only child of Stonewall Jackson and his wife Anna, and buried her at Sharon Presbyterian Church. They raised five more children, three boys and two girls. Maggie was younger than Smith by twenty years. Smith Alexander was a man of strong principles, and he was also described as a "hard-headed old Scotchman." He was a strict disciplinarian, both at home and in the church. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, the Presbyterian churches held disciplinary sessions for members accused of behavior such as drinking too much alcohol, sexual relationships outside of marriage, quarreling with neighbors, and fighting. Offenders would be summoned to appear before a group of elders who would decide on their punishment, based upon their appearance of remorse. Church members could receive a scolding, temporarily lose the right to take communion, or they could be expelled from the church. As the nineteenth century drew toward its end, these disciplinary actions seem to have become less popular.8 Around 1896, a young woman in Smith's congregation became pregnant by a man to whom she was not married, who perhaps was married to someone else. The father of the baby promised to support the child, and the mother, to take proper care of it, and so the community was satisfied that the best had been made of a bad situation. Smith was not satisfied, however, and insisted upon a church trial. Perhaps the offending parties were not expressing what he considered true regret at having violated the teachings of the church. The custom of sessions was based upon such scriptural admonitions as First Timothy, chapter five, verse twenty: "Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear." Verse twenty-one underlines this responsibility heavily: "I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things...doing nothing by partiality." In addition to Smith's religious beliefs, he may have been acting upon his values as a Master Mason. The Mason's organization did not take precedence over a man's religion, but reinforced it. Masons believed that the development of
humanity was the great purpose of human existence, and that human progress depended upon the upholding of moral standards by ordinary men. (Women were not admitted to the organization.) They also had a custom of censure by members of the lodge, when they disapproved of the moral behavior of an individual.9
Stonewall Jackson was also a possible influence on Smith's rigid attitude. Jackson was a deeply religious man, a Presbyterian and a Mason like Smith. He was also a strict military leader, who had men executed for desertion when they tried to go home without leave to see to their families' welfare.10 Neighbors came to Smith and begged him not to proceed with the session, but he was determined to exercise his responsibilities. He insisted upon holding a trial to expel the couple from the church. However, community sentiment ran against him. The trial was held, but the couple were not expelled. Smith's neighbors would not speak to him or to his wife and children. They were denied credit at the store, which for a farmer would have been a severe hardship. At the age of 70, Smith moved his family to a farm three counties away. His children, mostly in their teenage years at that time, were separated from their friends and cousins. Maggie left her family, including her twin sister, behind in Mecklenburg. Smith's twin, Washington, had already passed away in 1891. Smith bought part of Governor Benjamin Williams' estate on Deep River in Moore County, near Glendon. Another part of the estate contained the Alston House, known as the "House in the Horseshoe," now a Revolutionary War historical site. The family packed their possessions in wagons and walked the distance over several days, with livestock. They spent the first night at Locust Level, now called Locust. On the second day, they crossed the Pee Dee River. At some point on the trip, a woman with whom they lodged for the night complained that their son Oswald appeared to be drunk. Taking a closer look at him, she discovered he was feverish and declared that he had measles. When the family continued their journey, he had to be wrapped in blankets and carried in one of the wagons.11 Oswald, Frank, Lelia, and Belle were sent to school in Sampson County, at Salemburg Academy.12 Around that time, a student's cost was about $6 per month and the students could work to pay for their tuition, lodging, board, and laundry.13 Oswald paid his way by coaching and managing the baseball team. Belle fell in love with a boy she met there and was brought home by her parents and not allowed to return with her brothers the following year. She then was schooled at Elise Academy nearby, in what is now the town of Robbins. After her graduation, she taught at Elise for a time,14 and later taught in a one-room schoolhouse on the Deep River. The boys ended their schooling when their father had a stroke and they returned home to help run the farm. The sons all had good voices, and Belle would play the piano while they sang at family gatherings. Belle also played piano at Euphronia Church. Oswald sang bass, and later on he and Frank both led group singing at their churches in Carthage and Vass.15
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The family's house on Deep River was described as lovely by their grand-daughter, Willie Alexander Carr. The front door was double, with glass windows full-length on either side. A center hall divided a living room on the left from Maggie's bed and sitting room on the right. Lelia and Belle had a bedroom behind Maggie's. The kitchen was at the back of the house and had a stone fireplace large enough to stand upright in. At the back door were steep steps where the property sloped downward toward the river, and there was a cellar under the house.16 The Alexanders attended Euphronia Presbyterian Church nearby.17 However, Smith was in his seventies at the time of the move, and he died several years later, in 1904. Maggie stayed on with her daughters until her death in 1931. Another granddaughter described her as a small, bossy woman who wore a long apron and kept Brown Mule chewing tobacco in the pocket. She rarely left her home. Semi-invalid, she spent most of her time sitting in her room, giving orders to her daughters, who did all the housekeeping and cooking. When she wanted something, such as a glass of water, she would call out "Lelia-Belle!" and one of them would see to whatever she wanted. Her sons lived with her until their marriages, but neither daughter married. Her niece said she enjoyed her aunts' cooking when the family visited, and the children were seated at the table on fragrant wooden boxes that had contained chewing tobacco. Belle and Lelia sold the homeplace after Maggie's death in 1931.18 The Neighbors See a Ghost
Maggie was born in the Sardis district in southeastern Mecklenburg County, and she had a twin sister named Frances. As an adult, Frances lived in the city of Charlotte. Quite some time after her move to Moore County, Maggie received word that her sister had died. She took the train from Glendon to attend the funeral. She arrived at the train station in Charlotte after dark and then took a streetcar to her sister's house. When she entered the front door, her sister's body was lying in a coffin in front of the fireplace, and all the neighbors were gathered for the wake. Frances' neighbors didn't know she had an identical twin, and when they saw her walk into the room, the story is that a couple of them went out the windows.19
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More information about Maggie and Frances' family can be found by clicking here. |
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Lelia was tall and stout. She was opinionated, and was the family story-teller. One of her nephews recalls that she would preach at the children about their behavior. Belle is described as more outgoing and fun-loving than her sister. She had red hair and had lost the sight of one eye from an injury. When the two of them moved to Kannapolis around 1942, Lelia stayed home and did the housekeeping while Belle went out to work. They lived mostly on the rental of properties they owned in Kannapolis, but Belle also took a job as a sweeper at Corrier textile mill. She was then in her fifties. She bought a car to drive to work, but frequently drove off the right side of the road, due to her eyesight. Apparently this influenced her decision to move back to Carthage after Lelia's death.20 |
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From Mecklenburg to Moore: Four North Carolina Families /Stories from the Smith and Maggie Alexander Family |
