Hodges, John D.
Davie County Public Library debuts local Confederate Veteran
Uniform
“From Davie County, every family gave a son, brother, or father to the Confederate
Army,” says Jane McAllister, Director of the Davie County Public Library.
One of those sons was John D. Hodges who was scarcely eighteen years old when
he enlisted into Capt. W.A. Boone’s Co. H. 5th North Carolina Cavalry at Mocksville,
N.C. April 15th, 1863.
The Davie County Public Library is displaying some John D. Hodges Confederate
Veteran artifacts through October on loan from Dennis C. Schurr, Civil War
Historian and Collector from Manteo, NC.
Schurr had pursued the uniform for years from another collector residing in Georgia
and was able to acquire it two years ago in Gettysburg after finding this image on
the Davie County Public Library’s “Digital Davie” database hosted by the NC Digital
Heritage Center, confirming that the uniform definitely belonged to Col. Hodges.
This photograph, taken after a reunion dinner given by the Davie County chapter of the United Daughters of the
Confederacy at the March House in 1932, shows seven veterans: from left to right, (first row) Col. John D. Hodges,
Jesse Lee Clement, and Simeon Goins; (second row) J.L. Glascock, W.P. Ray, William Henderson Clement, and Leo
A. Sheek.
Schurr then made a phone call to the library and discovered that they also held
other materials of John D. Hodges including one of his scrapbooks.
In the scrapbook he discovered a wealth of information related to this lifelong Davie
County resident. “The stars and the moon were lined up,” said Schurr. “It is not
often that you can locate as much information from one source that answers most
of your questions. In this case I was interested in John’s war time experiences,
what he did after the war, and how involved was he as a member of the United
Confederate Veterans.”
The following is some of the information that Schurr uncovered thanks to the local
history room collection in the Davie County Public Library.
John D. Hodges participated in two of the most influential and epic battles of the
American Civil War that was remembered this year during America’s 150th
Anniversary of the War Between the States.
John’s first battle was on June 9th, 1863 at Brandy Station, VA where 20,000 troops
engaged in the greatest cavalry action of the war. Within less than a month he
would be at Gettysburg again with Gen. Stewart.
1913 photograph taken at the 50th reunion of the Battle of Gettysburg. From left, John Burton Foard,
Professor John D. Hodges and W. Henry Hobson.
John was never sick a moment and was in all the major battles in VA. as well as
many minor ones. He had two horses mortally wounded under him, was captured
while on the retreat of Gettysburg and then again during the Richmond Campaign.
He saw Gen. Stewart fall from his horse mortally wounded at the Battle of Yellow
Tavern and then rode with Gen. Hampton until the end.
After the war John D. Hodges was the first Confederate soldier to graduate from
Trinity College (now Duke University) and Yale University.
Now, Professor Hodges would spend his life career as an educator and would always
have a special interest in educating the children of the South both in and out of the
class room. Professor John Hodges erected the Hodges Business College in 1894
and operated his school until 1911 when he became Superintendent of county
schools. It is now a private residence listed on the National Historic Register.
Picture taken right after the College was built in 1894.
Throughout Hodges’ life he openly and actively talked about the War Between the
States. Known as Col. Hodges around Mocksville he was an active member of the
United Confederate Veterans organization both locally and state wide. He was
instrumental in organizing the Mocksville UDC Chapter Davie County Grays and
served under N.C. Commander General W.A. Smith.
So the last remaining question Schurr had was how did this uniform survive?
“The answer is at the Davie County Public Library” says Jane McAllister. “We invite
the public to come view our display and find the correct answer that took 75 years
to uncover”.
Location & Hours are 371 N. Main St. Mocksville, NC 27028. Ph: (336)753-6030.
Hours are Monday – Thursday 9:00 am-8:30 pm. Friday 9:00 am - 5:30 pm.
Saturday 9:00 am - 3:00 pm and Sunday 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm. or go to
www.daviecountync.gov.