Civil War Charlotte

Book excerpt: Though always an important North Carolina city, Charlotte truly helped to make history during the Civil War. The city's factories produced gunpowder, percussion caps, and medicine for the Confederate cause. Perhaps most importantly, Charlotte housed the Confederate Naval Ordnance Depot and Naval Works, manufacturing iron for ironclad vessels and artillery projectiles, and providing valuable ammunition for the South. Charlotte also sent over 2,500 men into the Confederate army, and played home to a military hospital, a Ladies Aid Society, a prison and even the mysterious Confederate gold. When Richmond fell, Jefferson Davis set up his headquarters in Charlotte, making it the unofficial capital. Join historian Michael C. Hardy as he recounts the triumphs and struggles of Queen City civilians and soldiers in the Civil War.