Union troops, led by General William T. Sherman, laid waste to most of Eastern North Carolina's manufacturing base, while, in the western counties, Union General George Stoneman's troops confiscated nearly 1,700 bales of cotton the Fries Woolen and Cotton Mill had stored in High Point, NC., and also set fire to Patterson's Mill in Caldwell County, a woolen mill in Guilford County, and a cotton mill in Salisbury, NC that had served as a Confederate prison during the war.
Union troops, led by General William T. Sherman, laid waste to most of Eastern North Carolina's manufacturing base, while, in the western counties, Union General George Stoneman's troops confiscated nearly 1,700 bales of cotton the Fries Woolen and Cotton Mill had stored in High Point, NC., and also set fire to Patterson's Mill in Caldwell County, a woolen mill in Guilford County, and a cotton mill in Salisbury, NC that had served as a Confederate prison during the war.