By Lynn Rumley
For the Salisbury Post
COOLEEMEE ó A book-signing and reception will be held Sunday, April 19, from 2-4 p.m. at the historic Zachary House in honor of Mary Alice Hasty and Hazel Miller Winfree, authors of the recently released book, “The Civil War Roster of Davie County.”
Once upon a time the Miller sisters were living on Main Street right next door to Park Hill in Cooleemee. Their father, George Miller, had moved at a young age from Rowan to Davie County to work in the cotton mill, along with his twin brother, Bill, after their parents died.
Both of the Miller girls grew up loving history but not knowing all that much about their own. Their personal search into their Miller ancestors unexpectedly turned into a book.
They knew that their grandfather, John Wesley, came from Davidson County. “One afternoon I was in the History Room at the library in Mocksville. I was having no luck finding anything about his father, Michael Miller. Doris Frye handed me a green colored book and said, ‘maybe this will help’,” says Hasty.
“Within three minutes I found out that Nicholas Miller had nine sons, including Michael, and that seven had died in the Civil War.”
The book was a roster of Confederate troops from Davidson County. Then, the Miller sisters discovered an amazing set of family war-era letters in Lexington.
Soon after, Hasty called Winfree and said, “Get up here, we’re going to write a book.” Five years of labor later, “The Civil War Roster of Davie County” has been released by McFarland & Co., a publisher based in Jefferson.
Copes, Gobbles, Taylors, Daywalts, Wagners, Andersons, Fosters, Smiths, Ijames ó are a few of the Davie County family names among the 1,147 Civil War soldiers listed.
They decided to go beyond simply listing the military records of each soldier identified. They composed a short biography that includes parents’ names, the outcomes of the soldier’s military service, what happened to them if they returned, including marriages and occupations. It even includes where they are buried.
Hasty is a retired school teacher and administrator and lived much of her life in Erwin. She now lives in Mocksville. Winfree worked in the mill’s lab and then became an ad compositor and proofreader for the Salisbury Post. Both have the patience required for hours, days and months of research. And, both loved the detective work necessary to uncovering tens of thousands of facts.
Davie County was not a hotbed of secession sentiment and voted more than two to one against the state holding a convention on the matter. But after Lincoln called for 75,000 troops to quell South Carolina and the other Confederate states, Davie sentiments changed.
Out of a population of 6,000, Davie sent more than 1,200 of its men to fight ó more than two-thirds volunteered. The book has a list of those who died in the war, some of which are not listed on the county monument.
This book leaves a written record of their lives and their service for future generations. “Every county should be so fortunate to have a book like this one,” says Jim Rumley, who wrote “Cooleemee: The Life & Times of a Mill Town.” He wrote a foreword for the new book.
Hasty and Winfree will have plenty of books for sale and will inscribe them for purchasers. Refreshments will be served.