February 24, 1864 (Thursday): Discontent in North Carolina

Davidson County Courthouse, Lexington NC

SPECIAL ORDERS, ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE, Numbers 45.
Richmond, Va., February 24, 1864.
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XIII. Major General G. E. Pickett will immediately dispatch to Lexington, N. C., a sufficient force to repress the mob and to protect the public property at that place.
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By command of the Secretary of War:



JNO. WITHERS,
 Assistant Adjutant-General. 

Official Records, Series I., Vol. 33, Part 1, Page 1196.

Riots and public protests in the South usually revolved around the lack of food or enforcement of conscription.  Opposition to the war was strong in western North Carolina, Lexington being at the edge of that region.  There had been protests in nearby Asheboro over the arrest of draft dodgers and it is likely the incidents described here were a continuation of those events.