Shootout in the Snow

On February 12, 1863, a cold, snowy day, an odd fellowship of sixteen men huddled in the little schoolhouse that stood behind Deep Creek Friends Meetinghouse. Several, including brothers Jesse and William Dobbins (the latter a fugitive from jail), were Quakers who opposed slavery and fighting, while others resented being conscripted to serve in the Confederate army. A Confederate deserter joined them, and they all planned to flee west across the mountains.

Suddenly, Confederate Capt. James West arrived with a detachment of the militia, surprising the men. West stood on the big rock doorstep and ordered everyone out, but when the door opened, someone mortally wounded him with a shot to the head. (Mrs. Daniel Vestal, a Quaker, had told West as he marched to the school, "Thee will get thy head shot off thy shoulders.") More shots were exchanged, killing militiaman John Williams and wounding several other. Inside the school, Solomon Hinshaw and Eck Allgood were killed, and Enoch Brown and Benjamin Willard were wounded.

The surviving fugitives escaped through a window in the confusion. Jesse Dobbins led four of them across the mountains to Tennessee, but several others were captured in Yadkin County. Two later served in the Confederate army while two others remained hidden until the war ended. After the war, a Union officer forced the county clerk to drop the charges against the men who had been in the school.

[Inset]:
Jesse Dobbins—Folk Hero or Traitor?

Jesse Virgil Dobbins (1830-1883) stood 5 feet 10 inches tall with dark hair and eyes. He hauled salt from Virginia until he was conscripted into the Confederate army, then hid from January 20 until February 1, 1863, when snow drove him to take refuge in the schoolhouse. After the skirmish here (which he claimed was in self-defense), Dobbins, his brother William, brother-in-law James Caswell Wooten, Thomas Adams, and Robert E. Hutchens fled to Kentucky. Jesse Dobbins enlisted in the 4th Ohio Battery, and then transferred to the 1st Tennessee Battery. In his post-war account of the affair, he wrote: "The rebs say that I am a traitor to my country ... because I am for a majority a-ruling and for keeping the power in the people." After the war, Dobbins built a large home and was a successful businessman, but he lived the remainder of his life under a cloud of suspicion regarding his role in the death of Capt. James West.

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Show me all markers in:  Yadkinville, NC  |  Yadkin County  |  27055  |  North Carolina  |  United States of America

Bond School House
Deep Creek Friends Meeting
Second Yadkin County Jail
Yadkinville
Richmond Pearson
Rockford
Richmond Hill
Richmond Hill
Thomas L. Clingman
Reeves Homeplace

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