Saturday, April 20, 2013

The Life of Angus Chavers, a Confederate POW


         
Angus Chavers and his wife Melissa
The Life of Angus Chavers, a Confederate POW

Dr. Dean Chavers
March 12, 2013
Most of the Lumbees who fought in the Civil War were in the Confederate Army. A second smaller group of them enlisted and fought in the Union Army, which meant they could possibly face their own brothers in battle. A third group was shanghaied or hijacked to work on the batteries and breastworks (temporary fortifications) around Fort Fisher near Wilmington; they were largely treated as slaves, and were assigned to do the rough work of construction. Many of them died at Fort Fisher from diseases caused by bad water and mosquitos.
A fourth group were local boys and men who refused to be conscripted to work on the breastworks, doing the work of slaves to build barriers to keep the Union soldiers out. Henry Berry Lowrie and some of his brothers refused to be enlisted; they knew they would be in the mud, dirt, and mosquitoes building breastworks; since they refused to work on the breastworks, they were cast out and labeled as outlaws by the Robeson County, North Carolina authorities.

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/03/12/life-angus-chavers-confederate-pow-147909

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