LENOIR COUNTY, NC - MISC - Civil War Memories by Mrs. Olivia C. Pope
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COLONIAL RECORDS OF LENOIR COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA ALSO KNOWN AS THE LOVIT
HINES COLLECTION - abstracted from  Microfilm Roll Mf.P.194   by Martha
Mewborn Marble

NOTE:  OLIVIA C. POPE was the daughter of WILLIAM COUNCIL FIELDS and his
wife CHRISTIAN WILLIAMS SMITH, the grandchild of SHADRACK FIELDS and his
wife MARY (POLLY) FARMER and ELIJAH SMITH and his wife OLIVIA CROOM (who
first md WILLIAM BRYAN).  She lived in the Contentnea Neck area. The family
Bible she referred to is today in the possession of William Pope of New Bern.
My mother, who was the great niece of Olivia Fields Pope, told me that the
city home of the Fields family was across from Maplewood Cemetery.  The
family divided their time between Kinston and their farm which was near
Rose of Sharon Church.

Capitalization and punctuation have been added whenever necessary to
facilitate reading, but
spelling and grammar have not been altered.
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MEMORIES OF WAR DAYS by MRS. OLIVIA C. POPE

So many have written of the battles in and around Kinston that I shall not
attempt to add to their testimony but confine myself to the little
unnecessary mean ways in which the Yankee made life so hard for the
citizens of Kinston during the Civil War.
 
My father, William C. Fields, was Sheriff of Lenoir County for years before
the war, but was removed by the Yankees and his place filled by an
abolitionist.  The first time we really realized fully what war was and
what it meant to the citizens was when Scholfield's army invaded Kinston in
'63. Some soldiers drove up to my father's gate and asked "Where is the
Sheriff".  They were told he was in the courthouse.  No doubt thinking they
would frighten the family they said "If he had been at home we had intended
to give him more protection but we know he is one of the strongest
secusionest here, so we are going to burn and destroy everything he has."
And gradually they came very near fulfilling their promises. They fought
the first battle there at this time.  My mother was so sick of fever she
could not be moved and I watched the battle from my home. The Yankees won
and pushed onto Goldsboro raiding and destroying as they went.  They were
in such over whelming numbers our solders were compelled to retreat and the
Yankees returned to New Bern.

While they were camped in what is now the cemetery and around it they took
the gate from my fathers lot away with them. Probably you readers can
imagine better than I can describe our feelings when we knew that they had
taken the tomb or marble slab from my little brothers, DeWitt Fields, grave
and were using it to make their bread. Before leaving Kinston this army
mixed lard, soap, molases and every thing they could not carry with them so
as to make it useless to us.  Our family had not had food or rest in twenty
four hours.  We found a small pack of flower that for some reason they had
over looked in a closet. For the first time in my life I tried to make
biscuits.  They had not left me one piece of cooking utensils, but a kind
neighbor had a small oven that was only cracked.  We could cook three
biscuits in this at a time but I never had but three, as fast as I could
get them baked they were stolen by the camp followers who were always there
to get anything the main army chanced to overlook.

Expecting the army at anytime and fearing we would not be able to get
anything from the farm, we had an abundance of wood brought in.  Only a
part of this was ready for use when the army came; this they burned in
piles in the yard.  I asked one of the officers not to allow this.  He
replied "All your able bodied men are in the army fighting us.  We are
going to have a fire while we stay here and we do not care what makes it."
(I soon saw how true this was as they burned furniture and almost
everything else before they left)  I told him to keep up his fire while he
was there, no doubt there would be one for him some day that he did not
have to make.

My oldest brother, Alex. Fields, voluntured in the 61st NC Regiment but
after one year of exposure was discharged on account of ill health.  He was
not strong enough to go with his company but was not willing to be idle
when his country needed him so was made one of Col. Rodman's staff and
stationed in Raleigh where he remained until near the close of the war.
There he was stricken with fever which had left him so weak he was
discharged from further duty.  He came back to Kinston where when he was
able to did any and everything in his power to help the Southern cause.

My second brother, Elijah Fields, shouldered his gun in the first year of
the war and never even for a day left his company until discharged at the
surrender.  No soldier ever lived more loyal to the Southern flag than he
but his wife has told his story better than I can.
 
One of the most cruel things I ever saw was when the Yankee soldiers cut
the hams from a hog and left it still alive.  It belonged to Mr. Nick
Hunter a neighbor of ours at that time. They also cut open feather beds and
let the feathers out making the air look snow.

It was said if they found anything hidden, they would take or burn
everything they found as they did this anyway.  I tried to help my father
hide his own and the County papers and other valuables.  We buried them in
a little tin trunk under a fig back in our garden.  That night the Yankees
were again camped in Kinston;  (several of the officers using our house as
headquarters leaving only one room for the family).  The moon was a bright
that night as ever shone upon a peaceful scene.  Father and I noticed that
they had tied one horse just where we had buried our treasure.  Soon he
became restless and we could hear the little tin trunk ring as the horse
kicked.  They had been on a hard march and all seemed to be unaware of it.
A guard was on duty in the backyard but he too seemed to be sound asleep.
We knew as soon as day came, it would be discovered so my father and I
slipped out past the sleeping guard and while he kept the horse quiet I
secured the valuables and went back to the house.  There I made pockets and
carried all papers etc of them I could put in my pockets to the end of the
war.  One watch and some of the jewlry of that lot is still in my
possession.  They took all the family silver except one teaspoon marked
WCF.  This they overlooked in a medicine glass.  I am keeping it.  The
soldiers went to the sideboard took china and glassware and would slide it
off piece by piece as to prolong their pleasure in seeing how much annoyed
us and we could not help ourselves. The officers would tell us to report
such things and they would punish the offenders. I called one stationed in
our house and asked him to interfere.  He came and I was so mad I left the
room where I had been busy.  The officer spoke sharply to the man but as I
left saw him nod to the man to go on.  At any rate when I again saw the
room not a piece of anything breakable was left.

One day I went into the hall just in time to see a Yankee soldier going out
with the photographs and autograph albums of the family (so popular in that
day) had all he could carry of the small furnishings from our parlor. The
last piece on top was the Family Bible.  I would not see it go without
protest so I said "That book says Thy shall not steal, would be glad for
you to have it if you would read and profit by it but you cannot burn it".
He said "Everything here is ours now so you will see". As he had such a
load I reached for it.  He held to it with the result that I had the Bible
an he the lids. He dropped these going out.  I took them and after the war
had the lids glued on.  Have the book in my house now.