Blood and War at My Doorstep

"e;Between these pages the reader will learn that North Carolina citizens did not idly standby as their soldiers marched off to war. The women worked themselves into "e;patrioticexhaustion"e; through Aid Societies. Civilians with different means of support from thelower class to the plantation mistress wrote the governor complaining of hoarding,speculation, the tithe, bushwhackers, unionism, conscription, and exemptions.Never before had so many died due to guerilla warfare. Unknown before starvingwomen with weapons stormed the merchant or warehouses in search for food. Othersturned to smuggling, spying, or nature's oldest profession.Information from period newspapers, as well as mostly unpublished letters, tell their stories."e;