Thursday, July 4, 2013

January 18, 1863---The Shelton Laurel Massacre



JANUARY 18, 1863:           

The Shelton Laurel Massacre.   

A band of Unionists from Tennessee and western North Carolina move into Madison County N.C., and raid a few homes and businesses. In retaliation,  the 64th North Carolina Infantry Regiment arrests several Unionist women and tortures them (using whipping among other methods), and then rounds up 13 men and boys.  The prisoners are lined up and shot, and then dumped in a trench.  North Carolina Governor Zebulon Vance is outraged and has Lieutenant Colonel James Keith, Commander of the 64th arrested, tried, and convicted for war crimes. Keith remains in jail until 1866, when he escapes and vanishes.  


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