11
Chapel Hill, Orange County, N.C.
April 26, 1865
On April 26, 1865, the 9th Michigan Cavalry Regiment was noted as being in Chapel Hill, Orange County (Turner 3-4). Depending on the route taken, the distance between Chapel Hill and the regiment’s last noted movement in Morrisville is 17+ miles (Google Maps).
"The regiment met the enemy at many points as it moved through the states of South Carolina and North Carolina, and was at Chapel Hill, N C., when the news of General Lee's surrender was received. In a skirmish with the confederate General Johnson's forces just before the news of General Lee's surrender and the order came to "cease firing" it is asserted that the Ninth fired the last hostile shot of the war east of the Mississippi. The regiment was at Chapel Hill, N. C., when General Johnson surrendered to General Sherman."
- Assistant Adjutant General, Col.George H. Turner
Envelope, University of North Carolina. [1882] Postcard. Retrieved from the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
References
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Google Maps, Google, www.google.com/maps/.
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Turner, Assistant Adjutant General, Col.George H., editor. “Ninth Cavalry.” Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers in the Civil War (1861-1865), vol. 39, Senate and House of Representatives of the Michigan Legislature, https://michiganology.org/uncategorized/IO_e7cddf59-87fb-4fd7-bf14-aa02dcb254e7.