Hebrew history played an important role in the formation of Western Civilization, mainly because of them being one of the first monotheistic peoples. In the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, as well as parts of the Torah, it tells the story of the ancient Hebrews. Abraham, who had great faith in God, is known as the Father of the Jewish Religion or the Father of all Jews. In fact, Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac and obeyed, but ultimately didn’t have to, as God was testing him.
At this time, the Hebrews lived in and around Canaan but were not strong enough to defeat the Canaanites. Issac had a son named Jacob, who had 12 sons which would go on to represent the 12 Tribes of Israel and Judah.
One of the sons, Joseph, was sold into slavery and sent to Egypt by his jealous brothers, but later became a trusted servant of the Pharaoh. After a false accusation, Joseph was put into prison, where he learned to decipher dreams. Such as a dream of the Pharaoh which warned of a great famine. Consequently, the Egyptians are able to stock up food and avoid the famine. Due to the famine, Joseph compassionately forgave his brothers for what they did to him. Many Hebrews sought refuge in Egypt from the famine, and had a somewhat cordial relationship with the Egyptians.
However, that changed when a new Pharaoh was concerned that the Hebrews were growing too large in number, so he ordered the execution of every newborn Hebrew baby. One of these boys was Moses, who was providentially adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter. Although he lived in the palace, Moses was kicked out of Egypt for murdering an Egyptian overseer that abused the slaves. After receiving a stunning revelation from God, Moses returned to Egypt to free the Hebrews from slavery. Due to his favor with the Lord, Moses brought 7 plagues and pestilences to Egypt. Ironically, the last plague killed all Egyptian newborn boys and the Hebrew households were spared. This is known as the Feast of the Passover. The Hebrews later escaped Egypt when Moses parted the Red Sea from the power of God. Moses led the Hebrews who were sometimes ungrateful, and started worshiping other Gods. God presented the 10 Commandments to Moses who scolded the people. Although ancient Hebrew history isn’t as influential as ancient Greek or Roman history, it is important to learn about because of its relevance to both the Christian and Jewish religions.
Judaism and the Hebrew nation started at the beginning of the Old Testament, after man was dispelled from the Garden of Eden. Eventually, man became wicked and God decided to destroy the earth with a flood, except for his servant Noah, his family, and two of every animal. Noah built an ark to survive the flood. After it, God promised to never destroy the earth again.
Noah’s descendant Abraham left where he was living in the Mesopotamian city of Ur and was sent by God to start a great nation in the land of Canaan. Abraham’s son Isaac and his wife Rebekah continued the nation. When Isaac had grown old, his son Jacob tricked his brother Esau into giving him his father’s blessing. This caused Esau to grow angry and attempt to kill Jacob.
Jacob and his brother soon reconciled, and Jacob married Rachel and moved to Bethlehem. His favorite son Joseph was sold to Egyptian slave traders by his brothers because of their jealousy. Despite being a slave, Joseph gained favor with the Pharaoh by interpreting dreams. The Egyptians were able to stock up food since Joseph had predicted a devastating famine, which caused many Hebrews to move to Egypt in search of food. Fearing a revolt because of their large numbers, the Egyptians enslaved the Hebrews.
One of the Hebrew children Moses was adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter and raised in the palace. God, in the form of a Burning Bush, told Moses to deliver the Hebrews from the Egyptians. After demanding the Pharaoh let his people go to no avail, Moses prayed to God to bring pestilences to Egypt. The final plague caused Pharaoh to accept, but he changed his mind as the Hebrews were leaving Egypt. Moses parted the Red Sea and escaped the Egyptians’ wrath.
The Ten commandments were given to the people and they wandered through the desert for 40 years before they forcefully subdued the Canaanites who were living in their old land. The Hebrew people now had King Saul as their leader and fought the Philistines for control of Canaan. King David and his son Samuel started building a temple for the Ark of the Covenant and constructed fortifications for their capital city Jerusalem. Shortly after this, the Hebrews split into two kingdoms, Israel in the north, and Judah in the south.
In 722 BC, Israel was conquered by the Assyrians, and in 586, Judah met the same fate to the Babylonian forces, and the temple was destroyed. Three years later, the Persians defeated the Babylonians, who allowed the Jews to go back to Jerusalem. In 198 BC, Israel was conquered again by the Syrians, who forced them to adopt Greek customs. This caused a successful revolt led by Judas Maccabeus.
The Sack of Jerusalem by Roman Forces in 70 A.D.
Unfortunately, 60 years later they were occupied by the Roman Empire. After the time of Jesus, the Romans put Jerusalem under direct control, which caused a Jewish revolt. This time, however, they were unsuccessful and the rebellion was put down harshly. Jerusalem and the temple were burned, and many Jews were massacred or sold into slavery. During the Medieval Ages, the Jewish people were scattered across Europe and wouldn’t start returning to their original land until the 19th century.
Stoneman’s Raid was one of the last large campaigns of the Civil War, and was also one of the largest cavalry raids of the war. It lasted from late March to early May of 1865. After the capture of Atlanta Georgia by Union forces, Union General George Stoneman proposed a cavalry raid into Southwest Virginia to destroy the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad and the saltworks in Saltville, Virginia. After he successfully carried out this raid, another raid was proposed to move south through North Carolina and capture Columbia, and met up with General William Sherman’s forces. Before the raid, General Ulysses S. Grant ordered Stoneman to “destroy but not fight battles.”
In late March of 1865 6,000 men of Stoneman’s Cavalry advanced to Knoxville, Tennessee, but before they crossed into North Carolina, they were informed that Columbia had already fallen to Union forces, so they instead were going to advance towards Christiansburg, Virginia to cut off Lee’s army if they tried to retreat. On March 28, the raiders entered North Carolina and encountered some Confederate Home Guard, near Boone. They killed 9 of the Confederates, burned the local jail, and pillaged Boone.
Stoneman’s forces were ordered to “dismantle the country” as they advanced east towards Wilkesboro, taking food and stealing horses from farms as they went. The Union Cavalry captured Wilkesboro and supplies in the Yadkin Valley, before splitting his forces on April 9, one half would advance towards Greensboro, and the other into Virginia. On their way to Virginia, Stoneman’s men burned the town of Abingdon, North Carolina, before crossing into Virginia, where they destroyed much of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad in Wytheville and Christiansburg, with some of his men going as far as Lynchburg. On April 9, they encountered Confederate Cavalry in Henry Courthouse (present day Martinsville, Virginia). They suffered 5 dead and 4 wounded there.
Stoneman’s Cavalry crossing the Yadkin River.
Meanwhile, the other half of his army had made it to Danbury, North Carolina, where his forces reunited. He sent one brigade to destroy the bridges between Danville and Greensboro, and the rest of his force to destroy depots along the Yadkin River, and advance towards the railroad hub of Salisbury. While the bulk of his command advanced towards Salisbury, the smaller force occupied Salem (now Winston-Salem).
Multiple detachments of Stoneman’s forces ravaged the countryside near Jamestown and High Point. One of these detachments ran into superior Confederate forces near Lexington, and were forced to withdraw. On April 11, the smalled of the two forces burned and looted the town of Huntsville, then reunited and continued the march towards Salisbury, which was an important railroad town. The federals then encountered Home Guardsmen near Shallow Ford, but dispatched them easily.
A view of Salisbury and the prison in 1864.
Union forces arrived in Salisbury on April 12, which was defended by Confederate General William M. Gardner. There was also a Confederate Prison there for Union Prisoners of War. They took Salisbury by that Afternoon, but lost about 20 killed and some more wounded. After they captured Salisbury, they burnt the prison, railroad houses, and piled up clothing, ammunition, and civilian food in the street and burned it. Much of the property in the city was burned.
Stoneman’s Cavalry then split his force again on April 13, one marching towards Statesville and the other marching south to the Catawba River. When they occupied Statesville, they burned a newspaper building, the government buildings and a railroad station. Continuing west, the raiders plundered the towns of Lincolnton and Taylorsville. Meanwhile to the south, Union forces captured many bridges and skirmishes with local forces before again meeting up with the main force.
Stoneman’s forces marching through North Carolina on April 14.
When their force reached the town of Lenoir, some of Stoneman’s officers wished to destroy the “rebellious hell hole”, but Stoneman prevented the troops from doing that. Since he had heard rumors about General Robert E. Lee’s surrender, Stoneman decided to complete his mission by marching west back into Tennessee. He split his command again, with the main force marching into Tennessee with over 1,000 prisoners, and the other force, commanded by General Alvan C. Gillem, to attack Asheville.
Gillem’s forces encountered rebel forces guarding a bridge over the Catawba River just east of Morganton. They quickly took the bridge, which was only defended by some Home Guard and local citizens. Morganton was captured later that day. Planning to defend Asheville, Confederate artillery and 500 men were placed in Swannanoa Gap on the road to Asheville. Gillem’s men were not able to go through the gap, and went through Howard’s Gap to the south.
On April 23, Gillem encountered Confederates, but they were asking to surrender, having heard of Joseph E. Johnston’s surrender to William T. Sherman’s forces in Durham. Confederate General James G. Martin agreed to cease resistance to the Union forces if they were given the terms that Sherman had given to Johnston. At this point, most of the Stoneman’s army had already advanced back into Tennessee, but the rest of the force still wanted to capture Asheville.
Even though all Confederate forces had surrendered, the Union forces sacked the town of Asheville on April 26, 1865. They burned down mill houses, robbed many women of their belongings, and pillaged everything of value. Gillem’s army eventually made its way into Tennessee, but a smaller force under Colonel William J. Palmer was sent south to try to capture fleeing Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Palmer’s men advanced south into South Carolina then into Georgia, not succeeding in capturing Davis, but they did capture Confederate General Braxton Bragg and Joseph Wheeler on May 17.
Historical marker in Asheville, North Carolina.
The raid ended after the capture of Asheville, and Stoneman’s forces had advanced into Tennessee. Much of the countryside of Western North Carolina was pillaged by Stoneman’s forces, and many Confederate prisoners were captured. Miles of railroad were destroyed in North Carolina and Virginia, and although not many lives were lost, it had an impact on the end of the Civil War.
