Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Robert F. Hoke Papers #1121, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Van Wyck Hoke of Yanceyville, N.C., in June 1946; from Mrs. William D. Pollock of Wilson, N.C., in September 1954 and April 1958; and from Mrs. Michael Hoke of Highlands, N.C., in June 1955.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Anna Brooke Allan, July 1962

Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, October 2005

Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the encoding of this finding aid.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Agriculture--Georgia--History--19th century.
• Agriculture--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Agriculture--South Carolina--History--19th century.
• Confederate States of America--Officers--Biography.
• Health resorts--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Hoke, Robert F. (Robert Frederick)
• Industries--Georgia--History--19th century.
• Industries--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Industries--South Carolina--History--19th century.
• Lithia Springs (N.C.)--History.
• Manufactures--Georgia--History--19th century.
• Manufactures--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Manufactures--South Carolina--History--19th century.
• Mineral industries--Georgia--History--19th century.
• Mineral industries--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Mineral industries--South Carolina--History--19th century.
• Mineral water industry--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Railroads--Georgia--History--19th century.
• Railroads--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Railroads--South Carolina--History--19th century.

Robert Frederick Hoke (27 May 1837-3 July 1912) of Lincolnton, N.C., was the son of Michael and Frances Burton Hoke. He attended school in Lincolnton and was graduated from the Kentucky Military Institute in 1854. Upon completing his education, Hoke returned home to manage various family business interests, including a cotton mill and iron works, for his widowed mother.

Hoke entered the Confederate Army as a second lieutenant in the 1st North Carolina Volunteers and later served with the 23rd, 33rd, and 21st regiments of North Carolina troops. He fought in battles and aided defenses at Big Bethel, Va.; New Bern, N.C.; Hanover Court House, Richmond, second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, Va., where he was severely wounded; Plymouth, N.C.; Drewry's Bluff, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg, Va.; and Fort Fisher, Wilmington, Kinston, and Bentonville, N.C. Hoke had attained the rank of major general by the time he participated in the surrender of Confederate forces to General William T. Sherman at Bennett's Farm House near Durham, N.C.

After the war, Hoke was engaged in various business enterprises, including gold and iron mining, farming, insurance, and railroads. He served as director of the North Carolina Railroad Company for many years. Hoke was an Episcopalian and a Democrat.

Hoke was married to Lydia Van Wyck and with her had six children.

Adapted from an entry for Robert Frederick Hoke by John G. Barrett in Dictionary of North Carolina Biography (UNC Press, 1988), edited by William S. Powell.

The collection consists of business correspondence of and papers about the military career of North Carolina industrialist and Confederate officer Robert F. Hoke. Volumes are letterpress copy books, 1870-1875 and 1888-1898, of letters written from Raleigh, N.C., and Lincolnton, N.C., Atlanta, Ga., and Athens, Ga., and Chester, S.C., concerning railroad, manufacturing, mining, and farming interests, and Hoke's resort and bottled water company at Lithia Springs, Lincoln County, N.C. There are no Civil War-era manuscripts. The papers other than volumes are chiefly postwar business letters received by Hoke, and manuscripts and clippings of speeches and articles by others, all dealing with Hoke's military career.