Individual Details
Aaron FURR
(4 Jan 1846 - 26 Apr 1920)
The following sketch was written by G.P. Furr, his son, while visiting his father in 1920.
Aaron Furr was born at his father's place near Bear Creek about 10 miles west of Albemarle, North Carolina on January 4, 1846, the 10th child of Paul S. and Sarah Harwood Furr. He was reared on a farm and had only a common school education, which the country afforded at that time. He walked 4 miles to get to school which had slabs for benches with holes bored in to place the legs to hold them up. They had no back and no desk in front. He was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic to the tune of a hickory stick. He never attended school but a few days after he was 18, although he did teach for a few years.
He entered the Civil War February 10, 1984 and was wounded May 12, 1864 at Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia. He was sent home, having taken gangrene in the flesh wound in his thigh (no modern surgery then), and was given a furlough to return when able. On September 13, 1864 he returned and remained in the army until surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, April 9. 1865.
Living in North Carolina, he was forced to fight on the Confederate side, although his sympathy was with the North, as his father did not believe in slavery. He had plenty of boys to carry on their farm work and had no slaves. After returning home, he married Sarah Leticia Hatley on November 23, 1865. She was born January 18, 1847 in Stanly County, the daughter of Green and Margaret Burris (Burroughs) Hatley. He lived at Daniel Bowers' place until 1880. Here his siblings Cenia, Good, Andrew, Jane, Rosa L., and Green Paul were born. They then moved to Bloomington on Ramsey's Branch.
About 1877, he was appointed Justice of the Peace and held that position at intervals for 25 years. He was Postmaster at Bloomington, North Carolina, from 1884 to 1901. He moved from Ramsey's Branch to the Mill Place in 1889, where he had a corn mill, cotton gin, and sawmill. He resided there until his death April 23, 1920. He is buried in the Bear Creek Baptist Church Cemetery, Stanly County, North Carolina. Eight children were born in Bloomington, near Albemarle, Stanly County, North Carolina.
Aaron Furr's son Green Paul ("GP" or "Dean") wrote the following after interviewing his father:
"I was really writing to tell some of the things my father taught me about the Civil War. The South wanted to succeed from the Union but the North didn’t want them to. Lincoln said that they should stay together – ‘divided we can’t stand,’ he said. Pretty soon the South started a conflict.
My father Aaron Furr was the son of a mother who had 16 children. We had 7 brothers and 8 sisters. My grandfather Paul S. Furr had enough boys to carry on the farm work without having slaves so he did not believe in succeeding from the Union. He had to fight against Abraham Lincoln but wanted to fight for him.
In 1863 the Confederate States called all able bodied men from 17 to 50 years of age. Father was [18] and volunteered so he could get in the company with his brothers who were already in. They were all wounded in Virginia. They all carried their scars to their graves. My dad’s war buddies would come by house. I would stay up late listening to their stories. They would stay up all night.
My dad used to sing some war songs. He taught me one which I sang and played on my autoharp on Sunday, September 16, 1956 at Priesthood. I first told them about my father’s war history; then told them that on December 25, 1832, Joseph Smith prophesied that a war would be fought between the North and the South, and result in the death and misery of many souls. He said it would start in South Carolina and most any schoolboy knows that the first gun was fired at Ft. Sumter. Then I told them after a hard battle in Tennessee, many soldiers were dying and many dead. I told them the words over the mic, the words – before trying to sing it, so that they would understand. These are the words:
O Brother Green, come here to me,
For I am shot and a bleeding:
Some Southerin’ foe, has laid me low
On this cold ground to suffer.
Here I lie in Tennessee,
My wife in Illinois,
And I shall die and see her no more
Or hear her cheerful voice.
My two little babes that I love so well,
If I once more could see them!
I’d bid them both a sad farewell
Until we meet in heaven."
(End of Dean's writings)
Aaron Furr enlisted in the same unit as his brothers Faranton and Crittenton, the 28th N. Carolina Infantry Regiment K, on 10 February 1864. He signed up at Liberty Mills, Virginia, which was located near where his unit (and brother Crittenton) was serving. He was in Colonel James H. Lane’s Brigade, Pender’s-Wilcox’s 3rd Corps Army of Northern Virginia.
For the next fourteen months, Aaron saw heavy action and was at the center of the fray, as the war fiercely culminated to an end.
Aaron fought in the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5-6 1864), the NC 28th being located at Tapp’s Farm and around the area of the crucial intersection of Brock Road and Orange Plank Road.
Following the Battle of the Wilderness, the blue and gray hurriedly marched on through heavy, murky rain and mud to contend in the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse (May 8-21, 1864).
By May 12, the Confederates had established a long line of earthwork fences, which included a huge half-mile bulge in the Confederate line called the Muleshoe Salient. Mistakenly believing Grant was preparing to withdraw, General Robert E. Lee removed his artillery from the salient. Thus, when Hancock's men advanced on the morning of May 12, they broke through the Confederate line that was without artillery. After the initial breakthrough, however, Lee shifted reinforcements into the salient just as Grant hurled more troops at the Confederate works. Fighting turned into a point-blank slugfest in the middle of a torrential downpour—which lasted for 22 hours and claimed roughly 17,000 lives. This horrendous battle is now called “The Bloody Triangle”.
Aaron Furr was wounded in this battle 12 May 1864, and Crittenton was captured and taken prisoner the same day.
Dean's writings continue: ”He was sent home after taking gangrene in the flesh wound on his [inner[ thigh – no surgery then, and was given a furlough to return when able. On September 13, 1864, he returned.”
By the time Aaron returned to his unit, the NC 28th found themselves embarking on another major challenge, the long and final siege at Petersburg, Virginia. On 30 September, 1864, they fought at the Squirrel Level Road. That very day, Aaron was admitted into the military’s Winder General Hospital in Richmond Virginia – cause unknown.
Upon Aaron’s return to Petersburg, the 28th NC Infantry fought in Hatcher’s Run (Feb 5-7, 1865), and Jones Farm (March 25, 1865)
The Petersburg Campaign, the longest of the war, came to a violent end when a pre-dawn assault by the Federal Sixth Corps breeched the Confederate lines on April 2, 1865. Rebel brigades, stretched thin, fought with bravery and tenacity, but were overwhelmed by Union forces attacking their fortifications. Aaron was captured and sent as a prisoner of war to Point Lookout, Maryland, known for its cruel and horrible conditions.
The Sixth Corps attack doomed Petersburg, Richmond and the Confederacy and General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia were forced to surrender at Appomattox Court House one week later. The gallantry of soldiers on both sides during the fierce fighting in the Breakthrough and its immediate aftermath was equal to that exhibited in any other major battle of the War Between the States.
The remaining soldiers from the NC 28th were present to witness the Confederate Surrender at Appomatox Courthouse, Virginia 9 April 1965. The war was over.
Aaron was released from Point Lookout 2 ½ months later on June 26, 1865 upon taking the Oath of Allegiance to the United States.
Aaron Furr was born at his father's place near Bear Creek about 10 miles west of Albemarle, North Carolina on January 4, 1846, the 10th child of Paul S. and Sarah Harwood Furr. He was reared on a farm and had only a common school education, which the country afforded at that time. He walked 4 miles to get to school which had slabs for benches with holes bored in to place the legs to hold them up. They had no back and no desk in front. He was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic to the tune of a hickory stick. He never attended school but a few days after he was 18, although he did teach for a few years.
He entered the Civil War February 10, 1984 and was wounded May 12, 1864 at Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia. He was sent home, having taken gangrene in the flesh wound in his thigh (no modern surgery then), and was given a furlough to return when able. On September 13, 1864 he returned and remained in the army until surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, April 9. 1865.
Living in North Carolina, he was forced to fight on the Confederate side, although his sympathy was with the North, as his father did not believe in slavery. He had plenty of boys to carry on their farm work and had no slaves. After returning home, he married Sarah Leticia Hatley on November 23, 1865. She was born January 18, 1847 in Stanly County, the daughter of Green and Margaret Burris (Burroughs) Hatley. He lived at Daniel Bowers' place until 1880. Here his siblings Cenia, Good, Andrew, Jane, Rosa L., and Green Paul were born. They then moved to Bloomington on Ramsey's Branch.
About 1877, he was appointed Justice of the Peace and held that position at intervals for 25 years. He was Postmaster at Bloomington, North Carolina, from 1884 to 1901. He moved from Ramsey's Branch to the Mill Place in 1889, where he had a corn mill, cotton gin, and sawmill. He resided there until his death April 23, 1920. He is buried in the Bear Creek Baptist Church Cemetery, Stanly County, North Carolina. Eight children were born in Bloomington, near Albemarle, Stanly County, North Carolina.
Aaron Furr's son Green Paul ("GP" or "Dean") wrote the following after interviewing his father:
"I was really writing to tell some of the things my father taught me about the Civil War. The South wanted to succeed from the Union but the North didn’t want them to. Lincoln said that they should stay together – ‘divided we can’t stand,’ he said. Pretty soon the South started a conflict.
My father Aaron Furr was the son of a mother who had 16 children. We had 7 brothers and 8 sisters. My grandfather Paul S. Furr had enough boys to carry on the farm work without having slaves so he did not believe in succeeding from the Union. He had to fight against Abraham Lincoln but wanted to fight for him.
In 1863 the Confederate States called all able bodied men from 17 to 50 years of age. Father was [18] and volunteered so he could get in the company with his brothers who were already in. They were all wounded in Virginia. They all carried their scars to their graves. My dad’s war buddies would come by house. I would stay up late listening to their stories. They would stay up all night.
My dad used to sing some war songs. He taught me one which I sang and played on my autoharp on Sunday, September 16, 1956 at Priesthood. I first told them about my father’s war history; then told them that on December 25, 1832, Joseph Smith prophesied that a war would be fought between the North and the South, and result in the death and misery of many souls. He said it would start in South Carolina and most any schoolboy knows that the first gun was fired at Ft. Sumter. Then I told them after a hard battle in Tennessee, many soldiers were dying and many dead. I told them the words over the mic, the words – before trying to sing it, so that they would understand. These are the words:
O Brother Green, come here to me,
For I am shot and a bleeding:
Some Southerin’ foe, has laid me low
On this cold ground to suffer.
Here I lie in Tennessee,
My wife in Illinois,
And I shall die and see her no more
Or hear her cheerful voice.
My two little babes that I love so well,
If I once more could see them!
I’d bid them both a sad farewell
Until we meet in heaven."
(End of Dean's writings)
Aaron Furr enlisted in the same unit as his brothers Faranton and Crittenton, the 28th N. Carolina Infantry Regiment K, on 10 February 1864. He signed up at Liberty Mills, Virginia, which was located near where his unit (and brother Crittenton) was serving. He was in Colonel James H. Lane’s Brigade, Pender’s-Wilcox’s 3rd Corps Army of Northern Virginia.
For the next fourteen months, Aaron saw heavy action and was at the center of the fray, as the war fiercely culminated to an end.
Aaron fought in the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5-6 1864), the NC 28th being located at Tapp’s Farm and around the area of the crucial intersection of Brock Road and Orange Plank Road.
Following the Battle of the Wilderness, the blue and gray hurriedly marched on through heavy, murky rain and mud to contend in the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse (May 8-21, 1864).
By May 12, the Confederates had established a long line of earthwork fences, which included a huge half-mile bulge in the Confederate line called the Muleshoe Salient. Mistakenly believing Grant was preparing to withdraw, General Robert E. Lee removed his artillery from the salient. Thus, when Hancock's men advanced on the morning of May 12, they broke through the Confederate line that was without artillery. After the initial breakthrough, however, Lee shifted reinforcements into the salient just as Grant hurled more troops at the Confederate works. Fighting turned into a point-blank slugfest in the middle of a torrential downpour—which lasted for 22 hours and claimed roughly 17,000 lives. This horrendous battle is now called “The Bloody Triangle”.
Aaron Furr was wounded in this battle 12 May 1864, and Crittenton was captured and taken prisoner the same day.
Dean's writings continue: ”He was sent home after taking gangrene in the flesh wound on his [inner[ thigh – no surgery then, and was given a furlough to return when able. On September 13, 1864, he returned.”
By the time Aaron returned to his unit, the NC 28th found themselves embarking on another major challenge, the long and final siege at Petersburg, Virginia. On 30 September, 1864, they fought at the Squirrel Level Road. That very day, Aaron was admitted into the military’s Winder General Hospital in Richmond Virginia – cause unknown.
Upon Aaron’s return to Petersburg, the 28th NC Infantry fought in Hatcher’s Run (Feb 5-7, 1865), and Jones Farm (March 25, 1865)
The Petersburg Campaign, the longest of the war, came to a violent end when a pre-dawn assault by the Federal Sixth Corps breeched the Confederate lines on April 2, 1865. Rebel brigades, stretched thin, fought with bravery and tenacity, but were overwhelmed by Union forces attacking their fortifications. Aaron was captured and sent as a prisoner of war to Point Lookout, Maryland, known for its cruel and horrible conditions.
The Sixth Corps attack doomed Petersburg, Richmond and the Confederacy and General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia were forced to surrender at Appomattox Court House one week later. The gallantry of soldiers on both sides during the fierce fighting in the Breakthrough and its immediate aftermath was equal to that exhibited in any other major battle of the War Between the States.
The remaining soldiers from the NC 28th were present to witness the Confederate Surrender at Appomatox Courthouse, Virginia 9 April 1965. The war was over.
Aaron was released from Point Lookout 2 ½ months later on June 26, 1865 upon taking the Oath of Allegiance to the United States.
Events
| Birth | 4 Jan 1846 | Bloomington, Stanly County, NC | |||
| Marriage | 21 Nov 1865 | Stanly County, NC - Sarah Leticia "Sally" HATLEY |  | ||
| Occupation | 1900 | farmer - Stanly County, NC | |||
| Death | 26 Apr 1920 | Bloomington, Stanly County, NC | |||
| Burial | Bear Creek Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, Albemarle, Stanly County, NC | | |||
| Military | the Civil War |  |
Families
| Spouse | Sarah Leticia "Sally" HATLEY (1847 - 1933) |
| Child | Marcenia Hettabelle FURR (1867 - 1937) |
| Child | Goodin Caphus FURR (1869 - 1937) |
| Child | Andrew Jenkins "Andy" FURR (1872 - 1951) |
| Child | Malinda Jane FURR (1875 - 1961) |
| Child | Rosa Lillian Ann "Mollie" FURR (1877 - 1958) |
| Child | Green Paul "Dean" FURR (1879 - 1966) |
| Child | Margaret Ellen "Maggie" FURR (1882 - 1972) |
| Child | Grover Cleveland FURR (1885 - 1921) |
| Father | Paul S. FURR (1809 - 1864) |
| Mother | Sarah Mae "Sally" HARWOOD (1813 - 1898) |
| Sibling | Lovina FURR (1832 - 1858) |
| Sibling | Israel J. FURR (1833 - 1863) |
| Sibling | Faranton FURR (1835 - 1916) |
| Sibling | Malinda Catherine FURR (1836 - 1871) |
| Sibling | Calvin FURR (1838 - 1839) |
| Sibling | Crittenton FURR (1839 - 1923) |
| Sibling | Rhoda FURR (1841 - 1899) |
| Sibling | Mary Ann FURR (1843 - 1877) |
| Sibling | Sarah M. FURR (1844 - 1884) |
| Sibling | Frances "Frankie" FURR (1847 - 1903) |
| Sibling | John Henry FURR (1848 - 1914) |
| Sibling | Martha Ann FURR (1850 - 1937) |
| Sibling | Daniel Monroe FURR (1852 - 1919) |
| Sibling | Surrilla FURR (1855 - 1894) |
| Sibling | Culpepper FURR (1859 - 1859) |
Notes
Military
Private, Company K, 28th North Carolina Infantry; enlisted Liberty Mills, VA, February 10, 1864; wounded in the thigh Spotsylvania Courthouse, May 12, 1864; gangrene developed and he was sent home to recuperate; returned to duty September 12, 1864; captured Petersburg, VA, April 2, 1865; confined Point Lookout, MD; paroled June 26, 1865.Endnotes
1. Helen L. Garner, transcriber, Stanly County North Carolina Marriages, Book I: 1851-1867, Book II: -1904: (Albemarle, NC: Stanly County Genealogical Society, 1987).
2. Tombstone Records Stanly County North Carolina, Volume I, David Kirk Shaver, Jr. and B. W. Cruse, Albemarle, NC, 1968.