Inventory of the Catherine E. Hanes Papers, 1861-1873

Collection Number 4045-z

unc seal
Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
block Descriptive Summary
block Administrative Information
block Online Catalog Headings
block Biographical Note
block Collection Overview
plus Detailed Description of the Collection
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/
Processed by
Ellen Neal
Date Processed
December 1978
Encoded by
Linda Sellars
Date Encoded
November 2003
Back to Top

Descriptive Summary

Repository
Southern Historical Collection
Creator
Hanes, Catherine E., fl. 1861-1873.
Title
Catherine E. Hanes Papers, 1861-1873
Call Number
4045-z
Extent
68 items (0.0 linear feet)
Abstract
Catherine E. Hanes of Davie County, N.C., was the daughter of Alexander Martin Hanes and Jane M. Hanes. The collection includes personal letters to Catherine E. Hanes from her brother, Jacob H. Hanes, with the 4th North Carolina Regiment, 1861-1864, and a cousin, Ben Chaffin, with Confederate troops in Georgia and South Carolina, 1861, about mutual friends and military activities; a letter about the execution of a deserter, 1863; letters, 1863-1872, from her sister, Mary Hanes Davis, in Davie County, N.C., concerning family and community affairs, especially clothes being made and purchased and the effect of General W. T. Sherman's troops on the area; family letters, 1860s-1870s, from Lizzie March, a cousin in Lincoln County, Tenn.; and letters, 1869-1870, from Catherine's brother, John Wesley Hanes, about life at Trinity College, Randolph County, N.C., where he was a student.
Back to Top

Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions.
Alternate Form of Material
Microfilm copy (filmed October 2003) available.
Reel 1: Folders 1-5
Provenance
Received from Frank Borden Hanes of Winston-Salem, N.C., in December 1978.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Catherine E. Hanes Papers #4045-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.
Back to Top

Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Chaffin, Ben.
Clothing and dress--History--19th century.
College students--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 4th.
Davie County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
Davis, Mary Hanes.
Desertion, Military--United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Georgia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Hanes, Catherine E., fl. 1861-1873.
Hanes, Jacob H.
Hanes, John Wesley, fl. 1869-1870.
Lincoln County (Tenn.)--Social life and customs.
March, Lizzie.
Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Correspondence.
South Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Trinity College (Randolph County, N.C.)--Students--History--19th century.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Desertions.
Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
Back to Top

Biographical Note

Catherine E. Hanes was the daughter of Alexander Martin Hanes (who appears to have died before 1861) and Jane M. Hanes of Fulton, Davie County, N.C. She attended Statesville Female Academy in 1863 and Salem Academy in 1864 and 1865. After 1865, she appears to have returned to the family home in Fulton and to have taught school nearby.

Catherine Hanes's siblings included Jacob H. Hanes, who served in the 4th North Carolina Regiment in the Confederate Army and was killed in May 1864; George Hanes, who enlisted in the 42nd N.C. Regiment in April 1864 and was killed in June 1864; Spencer Hanes, who was severely wounded in 1864 and returned home for the duration of the war; Mary Hanes, also called Mollie; and John Wesley Hanes, who was a student at Trinity College, Randolph County, N.C., in 1869-1870. Catherine Hanes was also addressed as Kate, Katie, or Sissie.

Back to Top

Collection Overview

Personal letters to Catherine E. Hanes in Davie County, N.C., from her brother, Jacob H. Hanes, with the 4th North Carolina Regiment, 1861-1864, and a cousin, Ben Chaffin, with Confederate States of America troops in Georgia and South Carolina, 1861, about mutual friends and military activities; a letter about the execution of a deserter, 1863; letters, 1863-1872, from her sister, Mary Hanes Davis, in Davie County, N.C., concerning family and community affairs, especially clothes being made and purchased and the effect of General W. T. Sherman's troops on the area; family letters, 1860s-1870s, from Lizzie March, a cousin in Lincoln County, Tenn.; and letters, 1869-1870, from Catherine's brother, John Wesley Hanes, about life at Trinity College, Randolph County, N.C., where he was a student.

Back to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

Papers, 1861-1873 and undated.
68 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Letters to Catherine Hanes from her brother, Jacob H. Hanes, with the 4th North Carolina Regiment in Garysburg, N.C., and Manassas Junction, Gordonsville, Rapidan River, and Brandy Station, Va., give news of friends, daily life and work in the regiment, including work apprehending blockade runners in January 1862. In a letter, September 1863, from J. H. Hanes to an unidentified brother, Hanes described an execution for desertion and attacked W. W. Holden and the Raleigh Standard.
In five letters, May-November 1864, Kate Hanes's cousin, Ben Chaffin, who was with the Confederate army at Dallas, Marietta, and Palmetto, Ga., and Tuscumbia, S.C., described encounters with federal forces and expressed the hope that the war would soon end so that he might return home.
Beginning in 1863, there are letters to Kate Hanes from her sister Mary and after 1864, this correspondence predominates. Mary Hanes's letters give news of daily life, relatives, mutual friends, neighborhood events and entertainments, plantation and church affairs, and her brother Spencer's convalescence; describe the effect of Confederate deserters on the neighborhood; give detailed, extensive descriptions of clothes being made or purchased; comment on Kate's education; express her longing for an end to the war; and describe the arrival of Sherman's soldiers in Davie County and their effect on the family and community.
After the end of the war and Mary Hanes's marriage, letters to Catherine from Mary discuss current fashions and clothes; daily life, especially her husband and children; relatives and mutual friends; neighborhood events in and around Smith Grove, Davie County, N.C.; entertainment; local politics; her husband's general store; and books and magazines. A detailed letter, December 1872, describes discharging a housekeeper and hiring a new one, with a description of the new housekeeper, her duties, and her wages.
Letters to Catherine Hanes from Lizzie March in Fayetteville, Tenn., give news of relatives and local life, with occasional comments on her teaching career.
Six letters, 1869-1870, to Catherine from her brother, John Wesley Hanes, a student at Trinity College, describe college life, including his classes, debating society, boarding house, and fellow students.
   Folder 1
1861-1863
   Folder 2
1864-1865
   Folder 3
1866-1871
   Folder 4
1872-1873
   Folder 5
Undated

Back to Top