Confederate soldier’s pipe from Surrender Camp, Greensboro, NC - the largest surrender of the War

This is another unique piece being offered, it is a Confederate soldier’s pipe. It measures approximately 2” x 1 ½” and is made of clay with a brass stem holder. This pipe was found by the late Warren Vestal in a Greensboro NC Confederate surrender camp.                          

In April 1865, two battle-weary adversaries, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, and Union General William T. Sherman, met under a flag of truce to discuss a peaceful solution to the tragic Civil War.

The military leaders and their escorts got together midway between their lines on the Hillsborough Road, seven miles from Durham Station. Johnston suggested they sit down together at a simple farmhouse a short distance away. Tobacco and coffee were the two most important items that Civil War soldiers desired. In my book "The Civil War Soldier - His Personal Items", I go into more detail on the importance of tobacco, both North and South (see pictures).

On three separate occasions the Union and Confederate generals struggled to come to mutually agreeable surrender terms at the home of James and Nancy Bennitt.  Finally, on April 26, the Bennitt home became the site of the largest troop surrender of the Civil War. It comes in the glass top display case pictured.