Editing Greensboro, North Carolina (section)

===Civil War and last days of the Confederacy===
In the mid-19th century, many of the residents of the Piedmont and western areas of the state were [[Union (American Civil War)|Unionist]], and Guilford County did not vote for [[secession in the United States|secession]]. But once North Carolina joined the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]], some citizens joined the Confederate cause, forming infantry units such as the Guilford Grays to fight in the [[American Civil War]]. From 1861 to March 1865 the city was relatively untouched by the war, although residents had to deal with regional shortages of clothing, medicine, and other items caused by the US naval blockade of the South.

In the war's final weeks, Greensboro played a unique role in the last days of the Confederate government. In April 1865, the commanding officer of the Army of Tennessee, General [[Joseph E. Johnston]], instructed General [[P. G. T. Beauregard]] to prepare to defend the city. During this time, [[President of the Confederate States of America|Confederate President]] [[Jefferson Davis]] and the remaining members of the Confederate cabinet had evacuated the Confederate Capital in [[Richmond, Virginia]], and moved south to [[Danville, Virginia]].

When Union cavalry threatened Danville, Davis and his cabinet managed to escape by train, and reassembled in Greensboro on April 11, 1865. While in the city, Davis and his cabinet decided to try to split up and make their way [[Trans-Mississippi Theater|west of the Mississippi River]] to continue the war effort and avoid capture. Shortly thereafter, the cabinet left Greensboro and separated. Greensboro is notable as the last place where the entire Confederate government met as a group; some consider it the Confederacy's final capital city.<ref name="Robinson, Blackwell P. 1980">{{Cite book| last1=Robinson| first1=Blackwell P.| first2=Alexander R.| last2=Stoesen| title=The History of Guilford County, North Carolina, U.S.A. to 1980, A.D| editor=Sydney M. Cone, Jr.| year=1981}}</ref>{{rp|101}}

At nearly the same time, Governor [[Zebulon Baird Vance|Zebulon B. Vance]] fled [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]], the capital of North Carolina, before the forces of Union General [[William Tecumseh Sherman]] swept the city.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/browse/bios/pn0001702_bio.html |title=Zebulon Baird Vance, 13 May 1830-14 Apr. 1894 |encyclopedia=Dictionary of North Carolina Biography |editor-last=Powell |editor-first=William S. | publisher=University of North Carolina Press| year=1996| access-date=January 9, 2017}}</ref> For a brief period beginning April 16, 1865, he and other officials maintained the state capital in Greensboro.<ref name="Arnett1955"/>{{rp|395}}<ref name=Weatherly>Weatherly, A. Earl. ''The First Hundred Years of Historic Guilford County, 1771–1871''. Greensboro: Greensboro Printing Company, 1972</ref>{{rp|177}} Vance proclaimed the North Carolina Surrender Declaration on April 28, 1865.<ref name=Weatherly/>{{rp|182}} Later, he surrendered to Union officials in the parlor of Blandwood Mansion. Historian Blackwell Robinson wrote, "Greensboro witnessed not only the demise of the Confederacy but also that of the old civil government of the state."<ref name="Robinson, Blackwell P. 1980"/>{{rp|101}}

Once surrender negotiations were completed at [[Bennett Place]] (in present-day [[Durham, North Carolina|Durham]]) between General Johnston and General Sherman on April 26, 1865, Confederate soldiers in Greensboro stacked their arms, received their paroles, and headed home.