64th North Carolina Infantry

Have you seen the movie 'Cold Mountain' or read the book? Remember the scene where the Home Guard tortured Sally to make her give up her sons who were deserters? Or the scene where the Yankee soldiers tied Sara up and exposed her baby?

Both these things actually happened in the mountains of North Carolina during the Civil War, but they were perpetrated by the men and officers of the 64th North Carolina Infantry, CSA, during what is known as the Shelton Laurel Massacre.

East Tennessee and West Virginia were not alone in being bastions of Union sentiment in Southern states - all up and down the Appalachian chain, mountaineers sided with the Union, and the Confederates fought back. Union sympathizers took to the woods and hollows, some passing through the lines and joining the Union Army, some staying close to home and becoming 'bushwhackers' or guerrillas. They stole arms or provisions, but were no real threat to military operations - their primary threat to the Confederacy was ideological rather than military.

In Madison County, the Confederate officials withheld salt from the Union sympathizers in Shelton Laurel. Now, in the days before refrigeration, salt was a  necessity, without which people could not survive the harsh mountain winter. A band of around 50 men then raided the store and liberated the salt. Many of these men were deserters from the 64th North Carolina Infantry, and they made the mistake of also attacking the home of its Colonel, Lawrence M. Allen. Col. Allen was not home, only his wife and three children, who were ill with scarlet fever.

Rumors of large bands of bushwhackers ran rampant, and the governor of North Carolina asked the 64th to investigate and round up the band who had stolen the salt. Col. Allen was not in command of the regiment at that time, having been relieved of duty for drunkenness and incompetence. In command was Lt. Col. James A. Keith, Allen's first cousin. Keith had a grudge against the inhabitants of Shelton Laurel - they had aided in the escape of the killer of a friend of his, said killer then crossing the lines and joining the Union Army. He used this opportunity to get even, with a vengeance.

Women were tortured for information - including one woman tied to a tree and made to watch her baby die. Old women were hanged and flogged. The few men in the settlement were rounded up, some as old as sixty, some boys as young as thirteen. Told they were being taken to Knoxville for trial, they were instead taken out into the woods and made to kneel down and summarily executed by the soldiers of the 64th. When some of the soldiers protested this proceeding, Keith threatened that they'd be executed in the same way themselves if they did not comply.

The men and boys were buried in a trench too shallow to contain them all, and left for their families to find.

When news of this leaked out, the governor of North Carolina called for an investigation, sending A.S. Merrimon, of the Attorney General's office. Merrimon was appalled by his findings and recommended that Keith and several others be charged with murder. Keith and a sergeant, NDB Jay, were forced to resign. Keith then turned guerrilla himself, leading a band of marauders in the North Carolina mountains until the end of the War.

Keith was finally arrested on charges of murder, arson and robbery in 1867, but he managed to escape from jail and was never tried. He was pardoned under President Johnson's amnesty in 1868.

The 64th had operated primarily in East Tennessee, which may account for the large number of East Tennesseans in its ranks. It also had an extremely high desertion rate - when captured at Cumberland Gap, it had less than 300 men out of more than 1,000 once active. Many more 'took the Oath' after capture and joined Union regiments. The remnant was sent to Camp Douglas until the end of the war.

More information on the Shelton Laurel massacre can be found here. Official documents and newspaper accounts can be found here. An extremely whitewashed regimental history, written by BT Morris, Captain of Company E, can be found here.