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149 Chapter 7 White Rejection of Union Occupation On the morning after the capture of Beaufort in late March 1862, Major George H. Allen of the 4th Rhode Island Regiment recorded: “A few Union people were found here, who, to the great disgust of the rebel element , freely mingled with our boys, shaking them by the hand.” Several residents , however, were hesitant to embrace the Federal forces at first. When Allen tried to use a five-dollar U.S. Treasury note to purchase some items from a store, the proprietor snapped “We don’t take such stuff here,” implying that only Confederate currency was acceptable.Yet after April 26, when Fort Macon had been subdued and the port reopened for trade, bringing northern merchandise and the prospect of profitable commerce to the town, Allen noticed a change in the local population’s attitude. “Theyat last acknowledged that we had wrought a very great and acceptable change in their affairs,” he wrote. With the apparent likelihood of financial gain, previouslyaloof residents “were now quite sociable.” After thewar Allen, whose regiment departed for Virginia on June 30, 1862, fondly remembered: “We can never forget our life in Beaufort, or the pleasant relations sustained with its inhabitants.”1 Not every relation was as pleasant as Allen recalled. In postwar memoirs soldiers could portray their tours affectionately, but in contemporary letters home, they mentioned some recalcitrant individuals and growing hostility to the occupation. By 1863, northern troops had completely changed their tune in regard to the locals. After nearly a year of occupation, one soldier complained: “I doubt very much the union feeling in North Carolina.” Another declared in March, “There is plenty of professed union men who will shote [sic] you out of the window if they get a chance.” Even Treasury agent John Hedrick, who believed he encountered much Unionism in 1862, asserted in August 1863: “The great loyalty, which is said to exist in some parts 150 White Rejection of Union Occupation of this State, I think, exists in the minds of the news writers rather than in reality.” After spending ten months in the region, a disillusioned Massachusetts soldier offered a particularly acerbic appraisal: “A year ago. . . . I supposed we were going to help a poor oppressed people who were forced into the rebellion by a minority—now I have learned that the whole south is united. They can continue the war forever if necessary.” He further bemoaned , “They hate the old flag—they hate free government—they hate every principal of right—they are not worthy to be called Americans—our nation would be stronger and better without them.”2 This shift in tone occurred primarily because white citizens had become increasingly hostile. Many whites became disillusioned with both the tactics of the Union army locally and the larger Federal policies implemented by the occupying force. Residents, seeking to take advantage of new economic opportunities while simultaneously maintaining the social status quo, had wedded themselves to the Union. Yet, just a few months into the honeymoon , many apparent Unionists were rejecting their occupiers, primarily over perceived arbitrary uses of Federal power and serious disagreements over racial policies. In Carteret and Craven counties, local whites demonstrated that racial supremacy was more important than economic interests. Contrary to President Lincoln’s earnest hope, the experience of Union occupation would ultimatelydrive residents more firmly into the Confederate camp than they probably would have been otherwise. During wartime occupation , local whites reacted against what they perceived as proscriptions of their trade, Federal destruction of private property, negligence toward Union supporters, and, most importantly, a far too radical racial policy.3 George Allen noted that when the port of Beaufort reopened in April 1862, “Business of various kinds began to be renewed with cheerfulness and profit.” Many residents in New Bern, Beaufort, and the surrounding countryside found the opportunities for trade too enticing to resist . Farmers and fishermen engaged in a lucrative trade and barter with the Union soldiers and northern merchants. In New Bern, Wednesday was designated as “Trading Day,” when people living outside the picket lines could go to the city market to exchange their farm products for the necessities and luxuries provided by northern merchants—all under the supervision of the provost marshal. Some used this occasion for nefarious reasons. Also in April the soldier-editors of the New Bern Daily Progress warned “all Union men to watch closely the boatmen who come here to market,” many [18.216.34.146...

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