Durham's Station

Durham's Station (HM9J3)

Location: Durham, NC 27701 Durham County
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Country: United States of America
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N 35° 59.565', W 78° 54.259'

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Prelude To Peace

— Carolinas Campaign —

(Preface):The Carolinas Campaign began on February 1, 1865, when Union Gen. William T. Sherman led his army north from Savannah, Georgia, after the "March to the Sea." Sherman's objective was to join Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia to crush Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Scattered Confederate forces consolidated in North Carolina, the Confederacy's logistical lifeline, where Sherman defeated Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's last-ditch attack at Bentonville. After Sherman was reinforced at Goldsboro late in March, Johnston saw the futility of further resistance and surrendered on April 26, essentially ending the Civil War.

On April 17, 1865, Union Gen. William T. Sherman arrived by train at Durham's Station (two blocks northeast of here) at the culmination of his Carolinas Campaign to discuss terms of peace at the request of Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, headquartered in nearby Hillsborough. Carrying a telegram in his pocket that announced the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Sherman spoke with his cavalry commander, Gen. H. Judson Kilpatrick, near here at the Durham home of Dr. Richard Blacknall. Then Sherman rode three miles west to meet Johnston at James and Nancy Bennett's farmhouse to open negotiations for the Confederate surrender.

Since the 1820s, the U.S. Post Office Department had assigned this community various names. It was officially named Durham in 1853, after Dr. Bartlett Durham donated four acres of land for a North Carolina Railroad station and the Durham's Station post office was established. About 100 people called the hamlet home in 1865, and the community grew rapidly around the station. After the Civil War, Durham developed rapidly as a tobacco and textile manufacturing center. Durham County was established in 1881, and by 1900 its population was more than 26,000 (a century later, the metropolitan area totaled more than 450,000).

(Sidebar): Durham residents comprised the Flat River Guards (Co. B, 6th North Carolina Infantry) and saw heavy action at the First Battle of Manassas in July 1861. The Durham Light Infantry (Co. C) participated in "Pickett's Charge" against the center of the Union line during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.
Details
HM NumberHM9J3
Series This marker is part of the North Carolina Civil War Trails series
Tags
Placed ByNorth Carolina Civil War Trails
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Sunday, September 14th, 2014 at 3:23am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)17S E 688909 N 3985175
Decimal Degrees35.99275000, -78.90431667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 35° 59.565', W 78° 54.259'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds35° 59' 33.90" N, 78° 54' 15.54" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)919
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 401-425 Blackwell St, Durham NC 27701, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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