NC Vietnam War Veterans Memorial

With nothing much happening right now, I thought to myself;"Where could I go and do some shooting one afternoon, late in November?

  My camera was packed and I was already driving off in my truck,it comes to me at once:The Vietnam Memorial.

Tucked away along side a rest stop off Interstate 85 in Davidson County the NC Vietnam Veterans Memorial  site is almost invisible from view. Only road signs alert you that is here , and you do not see it from the highway, or the rest stop.

The Memorial is surrounded by earthen works that remind you of military earthworks from the many forts of battles from ages past. This one however houses the names of those who have fought their last battle,

Dedicated to the 216,000 from North Carolina that went to Vietnam, and to the more than 1600 who never returned, either killed in action, or MIA. Gone but not forgotten.

This plaque stands at the entrance to the memorial site.

The memorial was an effort to remember those that not only went, and did not come back, but also for all Vets from the Vietnam War.

The vets of Vietnam were never welcomed home from the War, as other vets from other wars were. This was due to the enormous opposition to the war in the mid-late 1960s, and early 1970s.

The Memorial Wall has bricks with the names of all servicemen who served from North Carolina.

The backside of the memorial contains a brick walkway, and is decorated with shrubs, trees and brick benches.

The design of the memorial is simple, and yet one can feel reverence while at the site. Looking at the rows of names on the wall.

As a subject to photograph, the memorial is not much to look at, or even be creative with, so no photographer would probably take much time to shoot photos here...

That is not the reason I came here, the reason I came was to capture the story that it tells.

The story it tells is of those who sacrificed, and continue to sacrifice even now for some, they can never return home, not completely.

As you can see, there were still names being added under the "Addenda" Brick at the far end of the wall.

How many ways can you shoot a brick wall?

These were the most creative shots that I could come up with. It was after all a War Memorial, and war memorials are not supposed to be seen in an artful, creative way.

A War Memorial is supposed to give honor and remembrance to those to gave of themselves.

This memorial is no different, it does give honor and remembrance to those who gave from North Carolina.

The Photo Shoot, and this blog was my part of giving thanks during Thanksgiving, for those Vets, who have never been properly thanked before.

Should you happen to read this at some point in the future,please remember those who have served our nation. If you happen to know a vet from the Vietnam war, go to them and say a simple "thank you". You will be surprised at how much it will mean to them.

"I Am On God's Time"

Today's date is November 6th, 2011, and it is the day when the time changes from Daylight Savings Time to in my case Eastern Standard Time. When I awoke this morning, as is almost always the case my clocks are off by exactly one hour.

I never ever seem to have the foresight to "spring forward", or to "fall back", when the time changes. Now why is that? Perhaps I am just lazy, perhaps it just matters little what time the clock says it is when on a Sunday morning, things are so laid back at my home that I just do not worry about what the time is. The one thing I did know was that it was time to brew a pot of my freshly ground coffee!

Now while sipping on the morning brew, I checked the weather report on the TV, and as I had suspected it was a delightful, but somewhat cool  morning in the heart of North Carolina. As soon as I had finished my coffee I quickly dressed, and pulled my Nikon D7000 Camera body, and attached a wide angle lens, and put my camera strap on it. All prepared, I went out into the early morning light to capture the show.

Cool and brisk, the sun cast its warm glow down on me, and the brightly colored leaves on the trees. The thought came to me that it was a gloriously beautiful morning, and it felt great to not only be alive, but to be witness to the beauty that was about me. It seemed to me to be a real sin to have 5 or more cameras, (if I do not count those that I do not even use, or cell phone cameras), and to not make good use of one of them on this morning.

As I began to snap away at the scene that was before me, I remembered the words of my deceased father-in-law had once told me perhaps twenty-five or more years ago.  You see, I once had asked him about daylight savings time, and I asked him if DST really helped him as he was a farmer.

The words that he said were simple, and elegant "I am on God's time!" 

You see he had been a farmer most all his life, and as such, under normal circumstances he would arise early, before daylight, and as soon as the sun started to rise, he would already be at his job. He had animals to feed, he called them his "dumb brutes". After the feeding of the cattle, and the hogs, and chickens, he had hay to cut, and rake, or bail, corn to plant, or soybeans, or wheat to plant. He had farm equipment to repair, or to maintain. 

He always kept to the same schedule, up before dawn, and work until it was too dark to see anymore. This schedule he kept seven days a week, 365 days a year. The fact that Congress enacted a law that sprang forward the clock by an hour in the spring, and fall back an hour in the autumn, was without meaning to him, for he worked from daybreak, till dark.

Those words rang out in my head on this morning, as I too no longer care what time it is. I do not punch a time clock anymore, and as I will soon be 61, it dawned on me on this morning that I too, was on God's time.

New Book

Gary Strader/A Portfolio by Gary Strader | Make Your Own Book

Newest Project:2012 Wall Calendar

Last Year we were published as the illustrator for Connie Arnold's newest book,"ABUNDANT COMFORT AND GRACE". This year I am pleased to report that Connie and I teamed up to produce a most beautiful calendar called "Glimpses of Grace". This calendar is in my opinion just beautiful, and well thought out.

I hope that you would consider purchase one for your homes, and several for friends.

Back Cover: 

Here is a link to the Calendar on Amazon, in case you wanted to order a copy.

To Order Your Copy Go Here:

Who Was Martha Bell?

In order to understand Martha Bell, and for that matter the people of northern Randolph County one must get a feeling for what they did in their daily lives.

Martha McFarland was born in 1735 in Alamance County, North Carolina. In 1759, Martha married Colonel John McGee, a  farmer and trader who came to North Carolina in 1750. John McGee ran a Trading Post called McGee's Ordinary in the Southeastern Corner of Guilford County near what is known as Climax North Carolina. John McGee and Martha had five children: Jane (1760-1835), Susannah (1761-1843), John (1763-1836), William (1768-1817) and Andrew McGee (d. 1819). 

John McGee died in 1773, but left his family well provided for. Martha carried on his business and farming, just as he had been doing.

When he wanted a supply of goods he took his produce to Petersburg in wagons; and with a little money in addition, he obtained his supplies. After loading his own wagons, he rode along with them on horseback, keeping with the wagons through the day, and lodging in some house at night.

Having learned from him the route and the names of all his lodging places on the road, Martha set off on her first trading expedition and found no difficulty either on her way or in making her purchases. But after leaving Petersburg, it began snowing early in the day, and and she decided to leave the wagons and get out of the snow as soon as possible.

For a whole day's journey, there was not a house of any description, and the only growth of timber was pine. The snow was whirling about in every direction, driving in her face and blinding her until she became completely lost. But having learned that the largest limbs of the pine tree grow on the south side, she used that as her guide, and arrived at her destination, where she rested for the night.

On May 6, 1779, Martha McGee married William Bell, who was also quite wealthy, and moved to his home on Deep River, in Randolph County, North Carolina, where he operated a mill and store. Bell was the first sheriff of Randolph County. There were no children from this marriage.

Martha was characterized as a "woman of strong mind, ardent temperament, and remarkably firm resolution." Martha was also a midwife, and often traveled about the countryside to attend the births of children and to care the sick. She was known to set out in the middle of the night at imes to go to a neighbors home to help with a birth dressed in her husbands' Militia Uniform coat, and armed with two pistols and a knife. 

Portions of the old Mill Dam Wall lay scattered in Deep River, and some are still intact behind the brige supports that crossed the river.

Close up view of the remains of the Mill Dam of Bells Mill.

She was a devoted Presbyterian Christian and an ardent Patriot during the Revolutionary War.

The area where the Bells lived was divided between Patriots and Tories (American colonists loyal to the British), and there was a great deal of violence on and off the battlefield. William Bell, was a Capitan in the North Carolina Militia, and the Quartermaster for General Greene's Army.

He was  a well-known business and political figure, had taken so active a part against the Tories.  that he knew if he fell into their hands they would take his life. Capt Bell was also the first officer of the new Rebel County of Randolph, the Sheriff, who's duty it was to keep the peace, and to preside over the Court. In fact that for the first few years Court was held at Capt. Bell's Home until a courthouse could be built in the first county seat of Johnstonville which was only three miles west of the Bell Plantation.

So, for those reasons it was too dangerous for Capt Bell to even sleep at home, he spent most nights encamped away from home, lest he be found by the Tories that carried on nightly raids to homes all over the county. 

After The Battle of Guilford Courthouse, Chapter Two

So Then Cornwallis having made his way south down into the newly formed county of Randolph, having sent his baggage wagons ahead, arrives at Bell's Mill. 

Taken from: Revolutionary incidents and sketches of

character chiefly in the "Old North State" : volumes 1 and

2  Stmnt.Resp.:  by E. W. Caruthers ; typed and indexed

by Ruth F. Thompson.  Authors:  Caruthers, Eli W ,

1799-1865 (Main Author)  Thompson, Ruth F (Added

Author)

General Gray, of the NC Militia writs in a letter to Caruthers about most of what was known of the Whigs of Randolph County, and of the Bells, and most of the information in which I am giving you. He was quite old at the time that he wrote the letter, but he was personally acquainted  with the Bells, and with the Whigs of Randolph having fought along side of them in the war.

General Gray writes: 

“I removed to

Randolph Court House in the Spring of 1792, in the

immediate vicinity of which Mrs. Bell, and the most of the

Whigs of that county who had taken part in the war,

resided; and from them I re­ceived all the information I

am able to give you. Those who lived in the south and

eastern parts of the county were mostly Tories, under the

control of Colonel Fanning, or remained neutral from fear

of him. Mr. Bell and his lady were both true friends to the

cause of their country, and treated those who were

en­gaged in its defense with the greatest kindness,

friendship and hospitality."

So then, you get a sense of the divisions of the people who lived here at the time of the battle. You had the Whigs, who were for Independence from England, patriots all who fought as citizen soldiers. You had religious groups who were opposed to war, like the Quakers, among others. You had the Tories, (loyalists), who were as opposed to Independence, as the Whigs were to British rule.

After the Guilford battle, when the British army was on its

way to Wilmington, it encamped, for about two days, at

and near her house. Her house stood on the north side of

the river, and the van of the army arrived there, it is said,

about the middle of the afternoon, the main body remaining

at John Clarke’s, who lived on the adjoining plantation

above.

Lord Cornwallis, according to his custom, took

possession of her house, but he had been well informed in

regard to her character, and treated her with much

respect.

During this time, as might be expected, a number

of little incidents occurred, which are perhaps worth

re­cording; and we cannot do otherwise than feel some

curiosity to know how his lordship would treat a lady of her

standing, of whose house he had taken possession, without

leave or license, and whose courage and firmness were at

least equal to his own; but only a few items, of a reliable

kind, have been preserved.

Here we will take General

Gray’s account of the manner in which Cornwallis introduced

himself; and for this purpose, we give from the letter

already quoted, the following extract, which accords

substantially with the statements of others in that

neighborhood.

The remains of this historic area is now under the waters of the Randleman Dam. This was the road that passed by the old mill, and the home of Martha and Capt William Bell.

“A few days after the battle of Guilford Court House, Cornwallis and his army arrived at Bell’s mill, where his lordship called upon the old lady, and inquired of her where her husband was, to which she re­plied, ‘In Greene's camp.’“‘Is he an officer or a soldier in the army?’“

‘He is not; but thought it better to go to his friends, than to stay and fall into the hands of his enemies.’

“‘Madam, I must make your house my headquarters, and have the use of your mill for a few days, to grind for my army while I remain here.

“Sir, you posses the power, and, of course, will do as you please without my consent; but, after using our mill, do you intend to burn it before you leave?"

‘Madam, why do you ask that question?

“‘Sir, answer my question first, and then I will answer yours in a short time.’

‘His lordship then assured her that the mill should not be burnt or injured; but that he must use it to prepare provisions for his army, and further added, “that by making her house his head-quarters, he would be a protection to herself, her house, and every thing that was in or about it; for,’ said he, ‘no soldier of mine will dare to plunder, or commit depredations near my quarters.’

“To which she replied: ‘Now, sir, you have done me a favor by giving me a satisfactory answer to my question, and I will answer yours. Had your lordship said that you intended to burn our mill, I had in­tended to save you the trouble by burning it myself before you derived much benefit from it; but as you as­sure me that the mill shall not be burned, and that you will be a protection to me, and to the property about the house, I will make no further objections to your using our mill, and making my house your head­quarters while you stay, which, I think you said, would be only for a few days.’’

These preliminaries being settled and strictly adhered to, by both parties, occasioned his lordship and Mrs. Bell to part on better terms than they met.

Lord Cornwallis could not be more zealous in the service of King George and his monarchical government, than Mrs. Bell was in the cause of freedom and Independence; nor could he remain there for two days, with his army, without occasioning a number of sad or amusing incidents. 

A few years ago, two or three aged men, who still recollected the scenes of the revolution, and who, from having lived all the time in her neighbor­hood, had been well acquainted with Mrs. Bell from the time she took that name until her death, related to me several additional facts, all of which were about as illustrative of her character as the above,and some of which were, on other accounts, even more interesting and important to the patriot or the historian.

Soon after entering the house, he told Mrs. Bell that he had annihilated Greene’s army, and he could never do him any more harm, but this was mere bravado, as he virtually admitted in the course of a few min­utes. It was about the vernal equinox, and the day being cold and blustering, the back or north door, which opened on the road leading from Martinsville to Fayetteville, was kept shut on account of the wind.

His lordship soon opened the back door and stood in it for some minutes, looking up the road, and then re­turned to his seat leaving it open. She went and shut it, but, after a few minutes, he opened it again and did as before.

He was evidently in trouble and restless, for he could not remain, for five minutes at a time, in the same position;for he was sometimes sitting, sometimes walking across the floor, and appeared to be in a deep study. 

After shutting the door again he told her that he wanted that door to stand open, and, when she asked him for the reason, he said he didn’t know but General Greene might be coming down the road. Why, sir,’ said she, “I thought you told me a little while ago that you had annihilated his army, and that he could do you no more harm.’

On this, his lordship heaved a sigh and replied: “Well, madam, to tell you the truth, I never saw such fighting since God made me, and another such victory would annihilate me.” If a few hundred Whigs, at that juncture, had promptly and resolutely offered their services to Gener­al Greene, as would be done now in a similar case, so that he could have attacked the enemy again with suf­ficient numbers, there can be no doubt that the whole army would have surrendered with very little resist­ance, and an almost bloodless victory would have been gained.For it is well known, or has been all along believed, that their ammunition was becoming scarce,that their money chest was getting low, and they were encumbered with a great many wounded officers and men.

It was very annoying to Mrs. Bell to have such haughty and profane men in her house and such a rude soldiery round about it; but the presence of Lord Cornwallis protected her from any gross insult, and, in fact, none of them seemed disposed to treat her with as much rudeness even as they had treated Mrs. Caldwell and some others only a week before; for they were much mortified by the results of the last conflict and were more occupied with thoughts about their own safety than any thing else.

They took her grain,cat­tle, provisions, and whatever else they wanted, so far as I have learned, without compensation, and without any care for the distress it might occasion her family.

Cornwallis treated her with courtesy and, no doubt, tried to prevent any unnecessary depredations on her property; but he could not be everywhere, and soldiers are not apt to inform on each other. She could sometimes hear the soldiers and subaltern officers at a distance cursing her for a rebel and uttering their denunciations; but all this she could bear in view of the certain and glorious triumph which she anticipa­ted. 

Confident of ultimate success, she could neither be bribed nor frightened into an abandonment of her principles; and if her life had been at stake, she would have maintained her dignity and her firmness to the last.

As one of the men was riding, at a rapid gait by the door in which she was standing for the purpose of watering his horse in the river, he uttered some profane or insulting language; and she said she did wish the horse would throw him and break his neck. In two or three minutes she had her wish, for as he was reck­lessly dashing down the hill to the river, the horse stumbled and fell, which threw the rider over his neck, head foremost on some rocks, and he was killed on the spot.

The pipe protrudes from what was the root cellar of the plantation home of Martha and Capt. Bell.

This is the rock outcropping where the British Redcoat fell to his death from his horse, right below the front of the Bell house that faced Muddy Creek.

Having been duly apprised of their coming, and being well aware of their rapacity and recklessness, she had taken what measures she could to secure such articles as she deemed of most value and could not remove to any great distance, particularly her cash and her bacon. 

The latter of which articles she had taken over the river and hid among some rocks where it was supposed no body would ever think of looking, or could find it without a guide. The money she hid under a large rock about the house. 

This was all in specie—mostly In guineas and half Jos, and this being of more value than any thing else that they would be likely to get, was the object of her greatest solicitude. This she had hid under a large rock which formed the bottom step to the door. 

The rock was so large that she could just pry up one side of it; and, having made a small hole in the ground in which she deposited her treasure, she let the rock down again in its former position. Then she did not expect that the army or any portion of it would be so near to the house; but to her great sur­prise they were all the time passing over it.

It had been for some time a common expedient with the people over the country, especially with the Whigs, to hide their treasure under rocks or to bury it in the ground, and, as she was well aware the British had not only learned this fact from the Tories, but how to search for it. By some means or other, accident or design,the rock would probably be removed; and then all her cash, the earnings of a laborious practice for years, would not only be lost to her, but would go to feed and clothe her mortal enemies.

By a woman of her spirit, this could not be borne with patience; and she was resolved that it should not be lost without an effort to place it out of danger. For this purpose, she went deliberately into the camp, under the pretext of making some request, or of lodging a complaint for misdemeanors on the part of the soldiers; and, having transacted that matter, whatever it was, she walked about in a careless manner, as if to gratify an idle curiosity, in looking at the tents, until they all became engaged in some other way, and their attention was turned to something else. Then, going up to the place, she raised a side of the rock, took out her money, and returned into the house, without attracting their notice, or exciting the least suspicion.

The above was from General Gray's letter describing in detail the visit of Cornwallis to Bell's Mill, and about the manner and character of Martha Mcfarlane McGee Bell. General Gray had much more to say about the Bells, and about events of the Revolution as it applied on a local level. These will be discussed in the next Blog entry. For now, I think I should mention that reading of this account only made mr hungry for more about this event.

I found it curious that such an important encounter should be marked somewhere on the landscape. There should be a state historic marker, or something marking where this happened. To my surprise there was no such marker, or nothing really around that showed the location where it happened. I spent over ten years talking to old timers and inquiring if they knew where this might have happened, and where was Bells Mill. I got at best only very sketchy possible locations, but usually they would say, only that it happened down on the river.

It was later in my research that I read some old pension statements from soldiers from the war that gave very detailed accounts of their actions in the war to collect their pension. Often in the accounts they gave names of who they were with and where they were, and what they did. One such account gave me a location. 

I should go there and search, about a mile from what was the first county seat. That place was called Johnstonville, and it was a town that was  no longer a real town, but just a empty pasture, with a TV station tower located on the property of WGHP Television. I went there and followed the modern road right by the location. I was in luck for that road must have been only a paved over wagon road from Revolutionary war times. The distance given in the account led me right to where Bells Mill, and Plantation was.

I had been on this road many times, and I always has my suspicions that it was indeed the place. I found an odd old white country store building so old in fact it was fallen in. In those earlier days it sit right on top of the road, only perhaps a foot or two off the roadway proper. I thought it strange that a building would be allowed to be so close to the road. It turns out that it was an old store that at one time was actually a part of the operation of the mill, and set on part of the old foundation of the mill.

Many years went by from the first time that I happened to suspect that this was the location of Bells Mill. I never investigated the location because the land was clearly marked "Posted" "No Trespassing"  signs abound everywhere. I waited until the Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority  began to clear the land for the lake that would one day be here.

There it was, just off the road, just as I suspected, the remains of Bells Mill.

North Wall of Bells Mill.

 

 

So What Happened after Guilford Courthouse?

 So What Happened after Guilford Courthouse?

This is the part that most historians have let go by the wayside. Yet I think it is the part that best describes the sacrifice and determination of the patriot cause.

Right after the battle was fought, Greene retreated in order to preserve his army, and the losses. He went northward toward Virginia, encamping at Ninety-Six where he rearmed, and re supplied, then moved north to Virginia.

Cornwallis did go to Virginia as well, but it took him some time to get there. He first went to the Quaker Settlement known then as New Garden, just down the road from the battlefield, he left the most direly wounded in the care of the Quakers to care for them, and made his way down south following The Deep River. It was said that the injured that were able to travel straggled along behind making their way as best they were able, but that some of them did not make it to the next encampment in Randolph County at Bell's Mill. There were dead, and dying strewn all along the way.Lord Cornwallis actually had planned to encamp here even before the battle was fought, and had sent the baggage wagons carrying his personal effects, and those effects of his officers ahead with an armed detachment.

I need to state here that this information I gleaned from a lot of sources.  Most is taken from: Revolutionary incidents and sketches of character chiefly in the "Old North State" : volumes 1 and 2  Statement.Resp.:  by E. W. Caruthers ; typed and indexed
by Ruth F. Thompson.  Authors:  Caruthers, Eli W  Caruthers 1799-1865 (Main Author)  Thompson, Ruth F (Added Author)

Other sources came from Rev War Pension Records Statements from those who had served, or from their survivors. Additional material gathered from The Randolph Room of the Asheboro Public Library, and from the Book of Jennifer Welborn," Martha  McFarlane McGee Bell, The Case for Caruthers. Her book was her mission statement to cement the honor and place in history for Matha Mc Farlane McGee Bell, of whom Jennifer is a direct descendant.

I had several interviews with Jennifer about Martha, and together we applied for Registry for the grave yard containing Martha McGee Bell, and the remains of her husband in an unmarked grave, along with those of Thomas Dougan, Rev War Soldier, and his parents, and children. Though we were unsuccessful in doing so, we feel that we generated enough interest in the graveyards preservation that it will remain undisturbed at least for a long while we hope.

It is here that I will begin to transition from the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, and cover not only what happened in the days after the battle, but I will endeavor to introduce you to the main characters  those people who fought in the Battle, and were true heroes of the Revolution in every way. People who went on to develop their homeland, and make it the great nation that it would eventually become. I hold these people as my true life heroes, I have the utmost respect for them. I have walked in the dirt where they walked, and I have wiped the dirt off their tombstones. I even stood by them and made a promise that I would do all that I could possibly do to preserve their memory, and tell their story so that their efforts would not be forgotten.