The Civil War began 150 years ago. As part of a four year commemoration, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill is opening an exhibit today at Wilson Library. The display includes about one-hundred-sixty items that help tell the story of what happened in and around Chapel Hill and the University during the conflict. Susan Ballinger helped organize the collection. She says there are some very interesting documents to read:
"After Lincoln's election, there's a December 1860 letter from a local woman about a secessionist rally in Chapel Hill. We have three eyewitness accounts of the end of the war in Chapel Hill when the town was actually occupied by federal troops."
Ballingers says the display comes from the University's archives and its Southern Historical Collection. An online component will document what happened each day of the Civil War beginning in April.