Ima Mewborn's Page
Wars Our Family Served In
PARROTT MEWBORN II SONS IN CIVIL WAR - 619
by: Ima Eula Mewborn
In a letter dated Feb'y 18th, 1864 by Parrott Mewborn II, I quote the following:
'. . . I have delayed longer than I ought to have done, all my sons are gone into the army and one, Drewry Aldridge, was taken prisoner. I saw him last winter in Virginia, in the coldest spell of weather that we had during that winter, and he had not time to smoke his hands over the fire, while weighing out the rations, and it was distressing to hear the poor soldiers coughing and groaning through the long cold nights, and there were about twenty new cases of the sic, the morning I left and my son among them in the 47th Regiment. I have one son in the 30th Regiment in Northern Virginia, and all the first of the fall and winter without a blanket or tent; until he got sick and had to go the hospital, and there the kind Doctors let him come home a short time and get some clothing. It is hard times in Northern Virginia for the soldiers. We have two more sons, on at Brandy Water Ferry near Black Water, Virginia, in the 61st Regiment. They were at Charleston, South Carolina, about 150 days, where it has been thundering and lightning and hailing iron for more than 200 days and an earthquake; and a plague of lice, fleas, sandflies, and mosquitoes, but like the Primitive Baptist never make war or cause there to be war, but always have to fight their Country's battles.'
In 1765, President Andrew Johnson issued general amnesty to Civil War rebels who were willing to take the oath of allegiance to the Republic. Joshua, Parrott III, Drewry Aldridge, and Levi Jesse Hardy went to New Bern to take their oath.
They returned home from the war to find all the team, stock, and chickens gone. It was like a scene from Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. I want to copy a short letter here that will show what the returning soldiers had to cope with.
Headquarters, 85th NY, Vols., Moseley Hall, North Carolina
June 5, 1865
Mr. C. A. Rouse,
It having been satisfactorily proven that the 'Mule' now in your possession is the rightful property of Parrott Mewborn, I hereby order that you deliver the same to him without delay
'By Order' James A Brown, Captain, Comdg. Post
M. Link 1st Lieut., 85th NYV, Ah. Post Adjt.
Their first year at home they helped tend a crop of corn and got the old water mill repaired. The old Mewborn mill pond can still be seen on Tyson's Marsh on the old farm. The old Mewborn mill pond can still be seen on Tyson's Marsh on the old farm. The old house burned in 1975; it was 150 years old. While the slaves were now free men, those on the Mewborn farm remained. Everyone worked, women along side of their men, former slave along side of their former owner. In the old deed regarding the mill is the following: '. . . It is agreed to put up the mill for the use of ourselves and families for grinding, ginning, bathing, and fishing, and neither is to grind down the water so low as to destroy the fish or allow anyone putting canoes or spreading nets therein.' Reconstruction in North Carolina was a time of hard work and changing sociological and economical conditions.
Parrott Mewborn II had worried about the neighborhood of his new home on Tyson's Marsh; however, three of his sons were Primitive Baptist Ministers. George died before he was ordained. Parrott III and Drewry Aldridge were both ordained and served the churches many years. Joshua was a deacon for 42 years; it is on his grave stone in the old Mewborn Cemetery in Greene County. He was called 'The Fireside Preacher.' Levi Jesse Hardy the youngest, served in the Legislature in 1913 and 1924, he was a Justice of the Peace for twenty years, also a magistrate for several years. I believe the neighborhood was good for this family.
