THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 4, 1997 TAG: 9701040299
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 90 lines
Gerald W. Thomas was researching his family tree when he hit a snag. He knew his great-grandfather in Bertie County had fought in the Civil War, but the man's name was missing from Confederate military service records.
So Thomas asked an elderly aunt about the apparent oversight. He was rocked by her response: ``Old Pap fought with the Yankees.''
Astonished, bewildered and - even more so - intrigued, Thomas spent the next 15 years poring over records and discovered that Great-Granddaddy Thomas had a lot of company.
Of the 1,425 Bertie County men who took up arms during the War Between the States, 557 of them served in the Union military forces. Another 63 fought for both sides.
The story of the ``war-torn'' community is now being told in the just-released ``Divided Allegiances: Bertie County during the Civil War,'' a 206-page soft cover book soon to be on sale at local bookstores.
``I've come up with a pretty surprising history, I think, of what went on in my hometown during the Civil War,'' said Thomas, who was born and raised in Windsor before enlisting in the Army and later graduating from East Carolina University in 1976. He has been an auditor for the federal government for the past 20 years.
Thomas will sign copies of his book from 1 to 3 p.m. today at Port O' Plymouth Museum in Plymouth.
Many people have been surprised that their ancestors fought for the North. Others, despite the documentation, refuse to believe it.
But it's true, Thomas said Thursday during a telephone interview from his office in the Washington, D.C., area.
``Most Southern states, except South Carolina, furnished white troops to the Union military forces,'' the 44-year-old said.
The practice was especially popular in the coastal communities of northeastern North Carolina, where Union troops controlled waterways and enticed enlistees with the promise of serving close to home.
``What you see happening in Bertie also happened elsewhere,'' Thomas said. ``I just chose to focus on my hometown.''
Although Thomas is not a professional historian, he is a skilled writer and researcher - he has to be for his job with the U.S. General Accounting Office.
``In writing reports for Congress, the last thing you want to do is write a report with errors in it,'' he said.
An earlier published article on the Battle of Plymouth, which he co-authored with Weymouth T. Jordan Jr., was praised by Civil War scholars.
Thomas became a bit of a history buff back in 1979, when he took up genealogy and started rummaging through local and national archives in his spare time. That's how he stumbled upon his findings.
When the war was just beginning, young, naive boys in Bertie County quickly joined the Southern cause, Thomas said.
But by 1863 - the midpoint in the war - more white men were joining the Union army than Confederate counterparts.
``The people of Bertie, for the most part, staunchly supported the Union and were adamantly against North Carolina's succession until Fort Sumter was attacked and President Abraham Lincoln called for troops to suppress the rebellion in the lower South,'' according to a news release on the book from the state Department of Cultural Resources.
``Even so, a substantial number of Bertie citizens simply refused to fight for the Confederacy,'' the release said.
Among them were African Americans, who comprised 56 percent of the population and also served as a source of manpower for the Federal army and navy.
``Anywhere that the Union forces occupied, slaves started running to them immediately,'' Thomas said. ``They were liberators to the slaves, and the blacks flocked to them.''
Eventually, the Confederacy gained more Bertie County soldiers by drafting blacks and recruiting whites eager to serve near family.
The growing dichotomy tore up families and town relations, and people began to suffer regardless of which side they supported.
Thomas said he had more than enough material for the book, which is why he's currently working on another volume.
``Divided Allegiances'' may turn Thomas into a local celebrity, but it isn't likely to make him rich.
Thomas donated his manuscript to the state Division of Archives and History, which published the book and will receive any proceeds from the $11 per copy sales.
``They gave me 15 copies,'' said the author, who lives with his wife, Debbie, in Laurel, Md. Son Michael, 22, is in the Army.
``Now I have to buy my copies like everyone else,'' Thomas said, adding with a light chuckle, ``but I do get a discount.''
Copies of ``Divided Allegiances'' should be on sale soon at Bracy Books and Museum of The Albemarle in Elizabeth City and Manteo Booksellers on Roanoke Island, said Frances Kunstling with the state division's Historical Publications Section. ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO COURTESY OUTER BANKS HISTORY CENTER
Etching from Leslie's Illustrated Weekly of Nov. 2, 1861, showing
Hatteras Islanders fleeing the Confederates.