Larkin S. Kendrick Papers, PC.1921
Abstract
Larkin Stanhope Kenrick was a farmer living in the neighborhood of Capernaum Baptist Church in eastern Cleveland County, N.C. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in the North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 34th, Company F. Eventually, in 1871, Kenrick went to Tennessee and never returned home. Of the 35 letters in the collection, those from the Civil War period are written by Kenrick and various persons in his family, including his wife. Kenrick's departure to Tennessee and his subsequent letters coincide with the appearance of a U.S. commissioner in Cleveland County to arrest members of the Ku-Klux Klan for violations of the federal Enforcement Acts. The 23 miscellaneous materials in the collection include a few receipts, promissory notes, a crop lien, a certificate of military exemption, and a subscription list to pay a minister's salary at the Capernaum Baptist Church. The dates of the collection range primarily from 1861-1874.
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Larkin S. Kendrick Papers
- Call Number
- PC.1921
- Creator
- Kendrick, Larkin S.
- Date
- 1858 - 1890; 1861 - 1874
- Language
- English
- Repository
- State Archives of North Carolina
Restrictions on Access & Use
Access Restrictions
Available for research.
Use Restrictions
Copyright is retained by the authors of these materials, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law (Title 17 US Code). Individual researchers are responsible for using these materials in conformance with copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], PC.1921, Larkin S. Kendrick Papers, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Collection Overview
The Civil War letters in the collection are written for the most part by Larkin S.
Kendrick and by various persons related to him by blood or connected to him by marriage-all
of them from the community near Capernaum Baptist Church. They Include: Kendrick's
wife Mary Catherine; his mother; his brother Thomas L. Kendrick (Co. H, 37th N.C.
Regiment); his sister Elizabeth Ann; his brother-in-law John L. Putnam (Co. C, 15th
N.C. Regiment); and another brother-in-law, Arthur Putnam (Co. C, 15th N.C. Regiment).
The letters between husband and wife are written to reassure one another. His letters
have a consistent thread of deep religious belief. His very first letter (October
15, 1861) Speaks of his pleasure at having just heard a sermon and of how thankful
he is that there are praying people in camp. His second letter (October 30, 1861)
expresses his motive for leaving his wife and children in order to enlist in the army:
duty to country and defense of liberty. His letter of March 16, 1862, expresses similar
sentiments. With regard to military interest, the letters written by Thomas L. Kendrick
and Arthur Putnam in September 1864 during the seige of Petersburg have substantive
content.
Because of the wound to his right elbow, Kendrick's handwriting degenerated considerably.
For that reason typed versions of the letters written between 1868 and 1874 have been
added to the originals. Even so, it remains difficult to understand the import of
the letters. In a letter written from Tennessee on May 18, 1872, Kendrick tells his
wife that he means to "come home and stand my hand with the rest of the boys." Since
he plans to go to Raleigh from his present location in Tennessee, he says, he doesn't
expect to return home until after court. A month later on June 19, 1872, he says that
he plans to take the train to France and leave the United States, for he is unable
to bear the thought of being brought to court and compelled to do what he swore he
would not do. After that, all trace of him was lost by his family. The timing of the
departure to Tennessee at the end of 1871 and his subsequent letters coincide with
the appearance of U.S. Commissioner Nathan Scoggins in Cleveland County to arrest
members of the Ku Klux Klan for violations of the federal Enforcement Acts. This may
be no more than coincidence, but one is left with the fact that in his brief note
to Kendrick written by J. G. Hill, youngest son of Elder Wade W. Hill, on June 28,
1868, he tells Kendrick that though the radicals keep up their night meetings, still
"the Ku Klux Klan has done more good than anything else that ever happened."
The miscellaneous materials in the collection include a few receipts dating from 1861
to 1867, promissory notes from 1859 to 1870, an 1862 subscription list to pay the
salary of Elder Wade W. Hill as minister at Capernaum Baptist Church, an 1865 certificate
exempting Kendrick from military duty outside Cleveland County, an 1878 crop lien
in favor of Mary Catherine Kendrick, and an 1883 one made by her in favor of the Navassa
Guano Company of Wilmington, N.C.
Biographical Note
Larkin Stanhope Kendrick, son of John and Elizabeth (Cherry) Kendrick, was born in Cleveland County, N.C., on April 28, 1837. He married Mary Catherine Putnam on August 2, 1855. Like his father and his father-in-law, Larkin Kendrick was a small farmer living in the neighborhood of Capernaum Baptist Church in eastern Cleveland County near the town of Waco. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Kendrick enlisted in Company F, 34th North Carolina Infantry Regiment in September 1861. Though captured, released, returned to his regiment, then wounded in 1862, Kendrick continued in service with his regiment until March 1864 when he was discharged on account of his disability. For reasons that are not at all clear, Kendrick left his family in Cleveland County at the close of 1871 while he went to Tennessee, ostensibly on his way either to France or to Texas. He never returned home.
Contents of the Collection
Subject Headings
Acquisitions Information
Gift, J. Douglas Ruff, Esq., Chevy Chase, Md., 2002.