The 14th Annual Salisbury Confederate Prison Symposium, sponsored by the Robert F. Hoke Chapter No. 78 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, will be held April 8-10. Every year in April, descendants, historians, and interested individuals gather in Salisbury to learn about the history of North Carolinaís only War Between the States prison and to exchange information. This yearís event takes place during the first of the five-year nationwide Sesquicentennial observance of the war. The Salisbury Confederate Prison received its first prisoners 150 years ago in December 1861.
The speaker at Friday eveningís Friendship Banquet will be historian and POW descendant Ron Nichols of Wisconsin. Nichols is retired from the VA Medical Center in Madison, Wis., and is a long-time student of Union soldiers from his area of the state. His talk, titled ěCaptives from the Coulee Region,î will focus on a number of Wisconsin soldiers who were captured and sent to Salisbury as prisoners.
Dr. Gary Freeze, professor of American history at Catawba College, will, as traditional, present the first of six lectures on Saturday in the Tom Smith Auditorium at the College. Dr. Freeze will provide an introductory history of the Prison. Descendant Larry Brown of Greensboro will speak about his ancestor, who was a member of the 57th Regiment NC Troops, which was established by Capt. Archibald C. Godwin while he was commandant of the prison. Gwen G. Erickson, Guilford College librarian and archivist, will discuss North Carolina Quakers who were imprisoned in Salisbury for refusing to take up arms. Author Martin Husk of the Raleigh area will talk about his new book on the 111th NY Volunteer Infantry, some members of which were sent to Salisbury. Drs. Emory W. and Lynn Veach Sadler of Sanford, authors and retired college administrators, will present information about the little known use of Salisbury prisoners at a bayonet factory on Deep River. Descendant Gwen Trivett of Georgia will address the subject of civilian prisoners from Tennessee, who included her ancestor from the eastern part of that state.
Sunday activities will feature memorial services, open to the public, for Confederate soldiers, including guards, at the Old Lutheran Cemetery at 10 a.m. and for Union soldiers at the National Cemetery at 11 a.m. Re-enactors of the Blue and Gray will participate and will fire three-volley salutes in memory of the deceased soldiers of the War Between the States.
Cost of the symposium is $75 per person. Checks should be made payable to Robert F. Hoke Chapter No. 78 and mailed to P.O. Box 5093, Salisbury, NC 28147-0088. For more information, contact Sue Curtis at 704-637-6411 or southpaws@salisbury.net.