On this Veterans Day: 5 pieces of war history you didn’t know about Charlotte
The more I learn about Charlotte’s history the more I’m interested in learning. I asked Levine Museum of the New South’s outgoing staff historian, Tom Hanchett, to tell me something about Charlotte’s war history that many of us don’t know. Here’s what he came up with:
Revolution: An N.C. historic marker on South Tryon Street just off Trade Street heralds British General Lord Cornwallis’s bruising in the 1780 Battle of Charlotte. He is said to have called Charlotte a “hornet’s nest” of rebellion – and we’ve proudly made the hornet’s nest a city symbol: police logo, boy scout badges, our NBA basketball team …
Civil War: A block further down South Tryon, in front of McCormick & Schmick’s, find the sidewalk plaque where Confederate President Jefferson Davis stood when he heard of Lincoln’s assassination. Davis and his cabinet stopped in Charlotte as they fled the fall of Richmond near the War’s end.
World War I: Camp Greene only existed for two years but it hosted some 65,000 World War I soldiers-in-training. Charlotte’s Remount Road got its name from the stables where cavalry officers saddled their horses. Drive by the white clapboard Dowd House, just off Remount at 2216 Monument St., and imagine the days when it was Camp headquarters.
Vietnam War: Under the towering oaks next to red brick St. Mary’s Chapel on Third Street near CPCC is a quiet place of remembrance, the Mecklenburg County Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Vietnam War veterans created the sweeping granite arc that not only holds names of our area’s war dead, but also tells the history of that conflict.
Interested in learning more about Charlotte’s history? Here are some recommended websites:
- The Charlotte Mecklenburg Story
- North Carolina and the Civil War
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission
- North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program
This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 9:07 PM with the headline "On this Veterans Day: 5 pieces of war history you didn’t know about Charlotte."