If General Robert E. Lee had surrendered one day later at the close of America's Civil War, Dixie Hall(now the Macon County Courthouse) - and the entire town of Franklin - would have been burned by Federal troops in the early spring of 1865.
In the twilight of the Confederacy, Colonel George W, Kirk marched his Union regiment from Asheville, North Carolina, to Macon County. He was intent on arson because: ”I have heard that Franklin is the hottest hole in Rebeldom.” Kirk planned to make it even hotter.
The day before his mounted infantry reached there, however, a courier brought word of the surrender at Appomattox. According to Lieutenant. Colonel. William W. Stringfield of Thomas’s Legion, this part of North Carolina was the “most inaccessible portion of the Confederacy.” There was no telegraph system here, the mountains formed major impediments to transportation, and the nearest railroad was six miles east of Morganton. The Confederates in the Macon County area were among the last in the east to learn of General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia., on April 9, and Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s surrender at Bennett Farmhouse near Durham North Carolina on April 18 and then finalized surrender terms on April 26, 1865.
Military clashes continued in this area, and parts of Thomas’s Legion and Colonel William C. Bartlett’s 2nd North Carolina Mounted Infantry engaged Federal troops in Waynesville North Carolina on May 6-7. So Colonel George Kirk kept on, bent of making Franklin citizens pay for their sins against humanity.
"Those Secessionists needed a lesson, whether the war was over or not" thought Kirk. Detouring widely, his troops entered Franklin by every road to overawe the citizens. Kirk stomped into the home of Franklin resident Julius T. Siler. But since the war was now officially over Kirk made the decision to just spread some terror and not destroy the entire town.
Julius T. Siler was a prosperous local merchant, slave and landowner in Franklin, North Carolina. Siler joined the Confederate army along with about 3,000 other Macon County men and served as the captain of Company E, 6th North Carolina Cavalry. One of the last formal surrenders of the Confederated forces east of the Mississippi River took place near the house on May 12, 1865.
Siler had built the home he named "Dixie Hall" in 1860 and modeled its architecture after the sea island homes of the South Carolina coast. Because of its unusual design, the home stood out in the small mountain community. The home was a landmark in Franklin, North Carolina for many years and remained in the family until the early 1970s when it was sold and the land used to build a new courthouse for Macon County, North Carolina. When Colonel George Kirk entered the home in the fateful spring of 1865 he announced it was now his headquarters. He met with an icy reception from its mistress, Mrs. Julius T. Siler aka, Mary Isabella Coleman Siler. Even though Mary was in her late forties she was as spry as a 20 year and just as fiesty. But like any good southern lady, she knew when to keep her mouth shut, so as to keep order.
"Dixie Hall" Franklin, North Carolina
Mary Siler's only son had enlisted at 15 with the Confederate Army and was away with the Army of Northern Virginia at the time Kirk and his raiders invaded the Dixie Hall home. Her husband was on sick leave. Likewise, her son-in-law Captain James L. Robinson was ill. Army doctors had sent Robinson home to die. Miraculously he didn't, and survived until 1887. But both Mrs. Siler's husband and son-in-law in their frail sickly state, had taken to the woods an hour earlier to avoid capture by Union troops.
Throughout Macon County the situation was the same: Only old men, small boys and the physically unfit remained. The rest were in the Confederate armies, through some were now being paroled and starting the long journey back. At the door of Dixie Hall, Mrs. Siler had a word for Colonel George Kirk, "if your men pull up all the vegetables and ransack the smoke house you will have nothing to eat." Kirk gave an order and the senseless destruction stopped. Colonel Kirk liked vittles and plenty of them. But Kirk's order did not apply to non-edible booty.
Some of Kirk's command were honest Union soldiers. Others were Union and Confederate deserters and still others a liberal mixture of plain criminals and mischief makers. Their reasons for joining his group were varied, some for a little fighting while others wanted a lot of plunder and theft. They weren't disappointed. When approaching Macon County homesteads their line of questioning to residents would be, "Got any gold or silver?" No, then we'll burn the place down. After piling straw around homes, a Corporal would strike a match, "sure you ain't got no hard money?" And if the answer still came back no, the place was burned to the ground. Generally homeowners broke under this pressure and would reveal what treasures they did possess. But some were vehement in their protests because they really had no money and random persons and families were spared by Kirk and his raiders. Or sometimes, depending upon their current mood, Kirk and his Raiders fancy ran to even greater cruelty.
Fortunately for Mrs. Siler, Kirk did not see the act of defiance from Alice Siler Robinson, the only daughter of the unwilling hostess. Alice was a recent bride, only 17 years old and was bursting at contempt of the ruffians with Kirk who were disgracing the Federal Army. With her hoopskirts rustling, Alice crept up to the second floor of "Dixie Hall" where the Federal Stars and Stripes flag hung from the balcony railing. With great deliberation Alice spat on the flag. Later Alice told her mother of he act, and Mrs. Siler implored her daughter not to tell Kirk of her insult to the invaders. Some backstory on this, Dixie Hall's Matriarch Mary Siler held great contempt for Kirk and no doubt some it revolved around the fact she knew Kirk's men had destroyed her father's house near Asheville. Mrs. Siler's four brothers were all Colonels in the Confederate Army and were away from the Asheville family home when Kirk's men raided it. Kirk and his marauders opened the spigots of the molasses barrels and flooded the cellar. The soldiers then ripped open the feather beds and stirred the molasses into the feathers. Then they flung the mess onto the walls, ceilings and furniture. The question for Mary at the time was, "Would Kirk leave a similar reminder when he left Dixie Hall?" Nightly, Mary Siler prayed against the possibility. And as fate would have it, the prayers of the righteous are sometimes answered. As Colonel Kirk made ready to depart, with a flourish and a bow he told her; "I regret Madam that I am unable to pay for the hospitality you have extended to me and my staff. Unfortunately, in fording one of your swift mountain streams, my purse was swept away." Anxious to get him out of the house at any cost, Mary Siler said nothing, as an orderly clanked past her with the stolen swords of her husband Confederate Captain Julius Siler and son-in-law Captain Joseph Robinson. The garret hiding place with weapons had been discovered but the silver, in a secret trap door under the house, was safe. Colonel George Kirk and his infamous raiders rode away from Dixie Hall and Franklin North Carolina on that late May day to continue plunder and pillage of more homes in Western North Carolina. Even though the Civil War was officially over, the ravages of the war continued well into the reconstruction era of the late 1860s and 1870s. The Macon County mountaineers, whose ancestors' homes Kirk plundered and robbed held onto to their contempt for him and the evil men who assisted him. And the families Kirk tore apart with murder and mayhem were forever changed. It's a sad fact, but atrocities have always happened during and after wartimes. But Franklin North Carolina was saved, because of the timing of General Robert E. Lee's surrender and quite possibly the powerful prayers and quiet generosity of a brave woman who inhabited "Dixie Hall" while the men were away.
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