Press Releases

Life experiences during the Civil War will be shared in a "Music and Literature of the Civil War" program May 16, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Somerset Place State Historic Site. Based on original letters and business records, visitors will get a glimpse of the wartime experience from Somerset residents and will encounter the characters on a walking tour.

After victories at Fort Fisher and Bentonville, Union Gen. William T. Sherman occupied Raleigh with 75,000 troops camped at the State Capitol. The State Capitol will commemorate that tenuous Civil War period of 150 years ago with a free encampment program and tours featuring character actors at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and hourly 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling (919) 733-4994.

Soldiers from across North Carolina were returning home in May 1865, exhausted at the end of the Civil War. It was a brother's war that divided families and communities, and now healing the nation would begin. "A Soldier's Walk Home" May 11 to 23 recaptures such a journey.