Inventory of the John Wesley Halliburton Papers, 1861
Collection Number 4414-z
Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Contact Information:
- Manuscripts Department
- CB#3926, Wilson Library
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
- Phone: 919/962-1345
- Fax: 919/962-3594
- Email: mss@email.unc.edu
- URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
Back to Top
Descriptive Summary
- Repository
- Southern Historical Collection
- Creator
- Halliburton, John Wesley, b. 1840.
- Title
- John Wesley Halliburton Papers, 1861
- Call Number
- 4414-z
- Language of Materials
- Materials in English
- Extent
-
- Items: 38
Back to Top
Administrative Information
- Acquisitions Information
- Received from Juliet Halliburton Davis, Meadows of Dan, Virginia, in March 1985.
- Processing Information
- Processed by: Laura K. O'Keefe, August 1985
- Encoded by: Peter Hymas, September 2004
- Funding from the State Library of North Carolina supported the encoding of this finding aid.
- Preferred Citation
- [Identification of item], in the John Wesley Halliburton Papers #4414-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- Copyright Notice
- Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Online Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--History.
- University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students--Social life and customs.
- Courtship.
- Secession.
- Halliburton, John, b. 1840.
Biographical Note
Biographical information on John Wesley Halliburton is incomplete. He was born in Woodville, Tenn., in 1840. Before his graduation from the University of North Carolina in 1861, he became engaged to his second cousin, Juliet Halliburton of Little Rock, Ark.
Although he opposed secession from the Union, Halliburton enlisted in the Confederate Army with his home county regiment, the Haywood County (Tennessee) Grays, soon after he left Chapel Hill. While Halliburton was visiting Juliet in Arkansas in the spring of 1862, Memphis fell to the Union, and he was unable to rejoin the Haywood County troops. Instead, he enlisted with an Arkansas regiment, and at one point was captured and imprisoned.
Eventually, Halliburton and Juliet were married. They had two sons, Wesley and John Holloway Halliburton.
Back to TopCollection Overview
This collection consists entirely of letters from John Wesley Halliburton to his fiancee, written during the five months before his graduation from the University of North Carolina in 1861. Although these items are best described as love letters, they also depict student life in Chapel Hill, N.C., just before the Civil War. Among his classmates, Halliburton was apparently alone in his stance against secession. On 6 March, he wrote to his future wife, Juliet Halliburton: "I verily believe I am the only union man in College....Daily am I engaged in a wordy war with some two or three...." In his letter of 22 April, he described making a pro Union speech at a secessionist rally, after which "I was taken up by some boys and rode around on their shoulders they carried me to the ladies who gave me a Boquett [sic] but it was a secession boquett and could not sail under the 'Star Spangled Banner' pinned to my heart." Juliet was also in favor of secession, and Halliburton's letters of January and February in particular contain many explanations to her of his pro-Union position.
Back to Top
Detailed Description of the Collection
 |
Digital version: Letter from John W. Halliburton to Juliet Halliburton, 6 March [1861] |
Back to Top