Truckin' on the Western Branch

April 19 was clear and warm, and Wise had five slaves planting corn and five carting manure. In the next week, Norfolk was put under martial law, and local militias began breastworks along the banks of the Elizabeth River. Wise writes, “Most of the Jersey Men, truckers on the branch, left their crops and have gone to the North.” By the 21st, the Gosport Navy Yard was evacuated and set on fire.

On April 22, Wise’s son Billy with two hands (slaves) joined 150 others at Craney Island to build batteries for the defense of Norfolk and Portsmouth. Nearly all work on local farms had stopped and all hands were pressed to work on the batteries. Mr. Wise’s lighters (truck boats) were stopped and his source for ready money cut off.

April 27 “Warm and sunny. Planted snaps and cucumbers. Transplanted 250 cabbage and tomatoes.”

April 30, 1861—“A volunteer company was organized this evening at the school house. Dr. J.T. Kilby elected captain, Julius Crocker, William S. Wright and Wm. F. Wise, lieutenants. A home guard was also organized. J.S. Wise elected Capt. Dr. Mackan, Jos. Deans, E.G. Williamson, A.J. Wise, Jas. Carney and Josiah D. Miars, lieutenants.

At the end of May, Captain Grimes and his artillery company camped in Poplar Hill’s side yard. All hands from the farm were at work on Craney Island. Another artillery company from Petersburg arrived on its way to Craney Island. On May 28, Wise counted at least 1,200 soldiers passing by the farm gate and camping nearby. Wise began selling beef to the troops.

Confederate troops from Louisiana and Georgia encamped on Wise’s Hatton Point and Streeter Creek farms using up all of his corn and fodder stored there. Sycamore Hill churches and school were taken over by a cavalry company on June 18 and used to quarter soldiers.

As the summer progressed, Wise kept working as many fields as he could with his farmhands and his sons. Billy, his oldest son, joined General Wise’s Brigade of the Confederate forces in the Blue Ridge campaign. His other sons, John and Frank, drove wagons and carts to the camps to help transport soldiers and sell firewood. Wise was able to collect just enough rents and payments from his tenant farms to pay taxes. Slaves were beginning to leave farms on the Nansemond and going over to the “other side.” Wise did not flee his farms when the evacuation of Confederate forces to Petersburg occurred on May 10, 1862, one month after the battle of the Monitor and Merrimack . He made the decision to “obey the powers that be” when the area fell under Martial Rule of the Union Army. He advised his neighbors to remain at home and be careful of both “their actions and their talk.” Eventually, Federal soldiers confiscated all the deserted farms. His writings in December 1862 are about the scarcity of supplies but more so about the impending emancipation of the slaves on January 1, 1863. The women are collecting their children to move they know not where, and they know not what to do. They all seem to believe they are not free until they leave their old masters; hence most will leave even those who could get fair wages at comfortable homes. I feel deeply for these poor ignorant people, the extraordinary manner by which they are liberated will cause great trouble and suffering hereafter: it is hard to tell who will be the greater sufferer, the masters or the slaves. By the end of January all of the former slaves had left Wise’s properties but for three—York, Daniel, and Alfred, whom he paid one dollar a week to stay on. I will give them one-fourth of what they can make on the farm and realize from the fruit. His family pitched in and helped. Wise noted in his diary that he hired a girl, Rogelia, from Mr. Michael Dennis for $2 a month. April 13, 1863, Union gunboats shelled the western shore of the Nansemond River. Soldiers, Union and Confederate, and freed slaves raided local farms. Hiding provisions to keep families alive was an everyday job. The citizens along the Western Branch were at the mercy of Federal law. They were not free to do anything without permission . . . no traveling. Wise even had to get written permission to cut lumber on his own property.

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