Alamance County Donates Quilts to the Cause 1862

Union Hospital

Much of the information about women and quilts for Civil War soldiers is about the Union states, due to the extremely organized Sanitary Commission, which recorded so much about donations.

Detail of a flag of the 6th Infantry, North Carolina

I found a Southern reference from the Raleigh, NC Semi-Weekly Standard in December, 1862, which listed "Donations to Company K 6th Reg't, N.C. State Troops by Pleasant Grove District, Alamance, collected and carried to Virginia by Lieutenant Levi Whitted."

This may be the Levi Whitted who delivered the donations

to the soldiers in Virginia.

"Mrs R S Barnwell, 1 quilt [This is probably Mary Barnwell 1833-1878]
L W Simpson, 1 quilt
Smith Rasco, 1 quilt
Mrs W A Walker, 1 quilt
Egbert Corn (free Negro), 1 quilt
Ned Corn (free Negro) 2 quilts
Dixon Corn " 2 blankets
Mrs. K Tate, 1 quilt
Mrs. A Harvey, 1 quilt"

Now of course we want to know more about those people, particularly that Corn family. Fortunately, Lisa Y. Henderson has done some genealogical work:

In the 1860 census, Alamance County:

Egbert Corn, mulatto, no age given, farmer, shared a household with 

Lem Jeffries, mulatto. 

Also, in adjacent households: 

Ned Corn, 60, and children 

Martha, 28, 

Ebra, 27, 

Thos., 24, and 

L. Corn, 22, 

C. Anderson, 23;

Dixon Corn, 64, 

Wife Tempy, 65, 

A.J., 27, 

Giles, 24, 

Frank, 18, 

J. Mc. Corn, 5,

 Bill, 15, 

Haywood, 12, J

John, 18, 

Jackson Heath, 26.

https://ncfpc.net/2012/12/23/donations-to-the-cause/

You know Dixon did not really donate those two blankets. It was wife Tempy. And Ned did not make the two quilts. Perhaps daughters Martha and Ebra did the sewing.

Women workers at the Alamance County Cotton Mill

Alamance County was home to one of the largest Southern cotton weaving mills. Edwin Holt's Alamance County Cotton Mill was established in 1837. They specialized in plaid and striped woven fabrics. Perhaps the donated quilts contained fabric from the local mill.

Late 19th-century quilt of Alamance plaids from

the collection of Colonial Williamsburg:

http://emuseum.history.org/view/objects/asitem/classification@55/39/displayDate-desc?t:state:flow=a18eba96-0ba3-4724-a4e1-5e521a9d5d3e

Much more about the Jeffries/Corn family

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/stories/139.html

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045450/1862-12-09/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1836&index=0&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Garrison+quilt&proxdistance=5&date2=1922&ortext=&proxtext=quilt+garrison&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1