Mary E. C. Gilliam
Updated March 17, 2016
Overview:
Mary E. C. Gilliam, the daughter of Col. Joseph Goodwyn and Mary Coleman, his wife, married Col. John W. Gilliam, Sr., of Brunswick County on 24 April 1832. John and Mary made their home at Burnt Quarter. They were the parents of John Gilliam who did not marry, Joseph Peterson Gilliam who did not marry, Mary Eliza Gilliam who married Robert Neblett, Susanna Gilliam who married Edmund Fitzgerald, Bena Gilliam who married J. A. Johnson, and Samuel Y. Gilliam who married Martha Page Cox.
During the War between the States Burnt Quarter furnished the armies of the South needed supplies, ranging from plantation-tanned hides for soldiers' shoes to grain for their horses. John W. Gilliam, Sr., died in 1853, leaving two daughters and three sons. Of the boys, John W., Jr. was a lieutenant in the army, Dr. Joseph P. served in the Medical Corps, and 12 year-old Samuel Yates bemoaned the fate of extreme youth that kept him out of the army.
The battle of Five Forks, April 1, 1865, was largely fought on Burnt Quarter's fields. Federal General Merritt used the "big house" as his headquarters and as a military hospital. With Confederates in the peach orchard back of the house and Federals in the field at the front, the dwelling was in the line of fire during part of the battle, as is testified by bullet holes still plainly visible in the walls of several rooms. A cannon ball nearly demolished the great chimney at the end of the drawing room. On the walls of this room hang family portraits that were slashed by Union soldiers, the cut pieces having been pasted back in place.
Updated March 17, 2016
Overview:
Mary E. C. Gilliam, the daughter of Col. Joseph Goodwyn and Mary Coleman, his wife, married Col. John W. Gilliam, Sr., of Brunswick County on 24 April 1832. John and Mary made their home at Burnt Quarter. They were the parents of John Gilliam who did not marry, Joseph Peterson Gilliam who did not marry, Mary Eliza Gilliam who married Robert Neblett, Susanna Gilliam who married Edmund Fitzgerald, Bena Gilliam who married J. A. Johnson, and Samuel Y. Gilliam who married Martha Page Cox.
During the War between the States Burnt Quarter furnished the armies of the South needed supplies, ranging from plantation-tanned hides for soldiers' shoes to grain for their horses. John W. Gilliam, Sr., died in 1853, leaving two daughters and three sons. Of the boys, John W., Jr. was a lieutenant in the army, Dr. Joseph P. served in the Medical Corps, and 12 year-old Samuel Yates bemoaned the fate of extreme youth that kept him out of the army.
The battle of Five Forks, April 1, 1865, was largely fought on Burnt Quarter's fields. Federal General Merritt used the "big house" as his headquarters and as a military hospital. With Confederates in the peach orchard back of the house and Federals in the field at the front, the dwelling was in the line of fire during part of the battle, as is testified by bullet holes still plainly visible in the walls of several rooms. A cannon ball nearly demolished the great chimney at the end of the drawing room. On the walls of this room hang family portraits that were slashed by Union soldiers, the cut pieces having been pasted back in place.