As we promised yesterday, we want to share with you the story of “W.J. Waggoner”—the only Union soldier buried in the vicinity of Louisburg, North Carolina (to the best of our knowledge, anyway). Private William J. Waggoner was born in Jefferson County, Ohio on November 14, 1845, and would join the Union Army (along with two of his friends) in search of adventure and a calling to do his duty in service to his country. Private Waggoner was assigned to Company A of the 5th Ohio Calvary and would serve under General William T. Sherman during his Southern campaign, the “March to the Sea”, and then north into the Carolinas.

Upon marching into North Carolina, Gen. Sherman received news of General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House; this caused Sherman to move the Army to the Raleigh area where he accepted the surrender of the Army of Tennessee from Confederate General Joseph E. Johnson. After this, Gen. Sherman began the return march to Washington D.C. South of Louisburg, the Army was split into three groups, with one of the groups to stop in Louisburg at the request of town leaders in order to keep the peace and protect the town from disgruntled Confederates and bandits. Private Waggoner was a member of this group of 12,000-15,000 troops.

Upon entering Louisburg, Private Waggoner became extremely ill. A local woman, Ann Strother—whose husband was away, serving in the Confederate Army—felt sorry for the young man and took him into her house in an attempt to nurse Waggoner back to health. Ann shared what food and medicine she had but, unfortunately, on July 22, 1865, Waggoner passed away from typhoid fever and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, just outside of town.

Throughout the years after the war, locals from Louisburg cared for Private Waggoner’s grave, keeping it clean, preventing it from becoming overgrown, decorating it with flowers, and planting a U.S. flag on his grave every year on “Confederate Memorial Day” when the graves of Confederate soldiers would be marked with the State flag of North Carolina (as you can see from the photos, a small U.S. flag is kept on Waggoner’s grave year-round—numerous Confederate graves remain continuously decorated with North Carolina flags, as well). They took such good care of Private Waggoner’s grave that when his brother, J.J. Waggoner, visited his grave in 1911 with the intention of returning his remains to the family cemetery in Ohio, he decided to leave Private Waggoner in Louisburg due to the obvious love and respect he and his final resting place had been shown.

Today, Private Waggoner’s grave is maintained along with all the other graves in Oakwood Cemetery; as mentioned before, a small U.S. flag is continuously flown on his grave and this flag is replaced on a regular basis, as they become faded. In addition to the numerous civilians buried alongside Private Waggoner, there are hundreds of his brothers and sisters in arms, representing each of the military branches and service in every conflict in which the United States has been involved. He also shares this hallowed ground with several dozen former foes from the Confederate States of America.

“Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.” –Franklin D. Roosevelt

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