Jason Shaffer of the Civil War Trails program levels the
new marker during its installation.

In December 2013, the national Civil War Trails program installed on the Louisburg College campus a marker commemorating the encampment of Union troops following the Civil War. The marker was funded from the budget of the Tar River Center for History and Culture.

A part of General William T. Sherman's Army of the Tennessee, the soldiers arrived on May 1, 1865, and pitched tents in the groves of Louisburg Female College and Franklin Male Academy. Some soldiers remained until July 27.

The marker is one of more than 1,000 erected by the program in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The Louisburg site has been incorporated into online and printed maps published by the program. Civil War-related travel is a key component of North Carolina's tourism industry. "President Mark La Branche and I are confident that the marker will be an educational asset and that it will attract tourists to Louisburg who might otherwise not have visited," said Maury York, director of the Tar River Center for History and Culture."

Photo courtesy of The Franklin Times.