Editing Hillsborough, North Carolina (section)

===Antebellum period and American Civil War===
Robert and Margaret Anna (née Robertson) Burwell ran a girl's academy called the [[Burwell School]] from 1837 to 1857 in their home on Churton Street.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

When the Civil War began, Hillsborough residents were reluctant to support secession{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}, but many men went off to fight for the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]. In March 1865, Confederate General [[Joseph E. Johnston]] and his troops wintered just outside Hillsborough at the Alexander Dickson home. In 1982 this house was moved downtown in order to preserve it from commercial development; it now serves as the Hillsborough Welcome Center.

After sweeping through the South on his [[Sherman's March to the Sea|March to the Sea]], Union General [[William T. Sherman]] camped in [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]]. He offered an armistice to Johnston, who agreed to meet to discuss terms of surrender. Johnston, traveling east from Hillsborough, and Sherman, traveling west from Raleigh along the Hillsborough-Raleigh Road, met approximately halfway near present-day Durham (then Durham Station) at the home of James and Nancy Bennett. This farmhouse is now known as [[Bennett Place]]. The two generals met three times on April 17, 18, and finally on April 26, when they agreed on the final terms of surrender. Johnston surrendered 89,270 Southern troops who were still active in North Carolina, [[South Carolina]], Georgia, and [[Florida]]. This was the largest surrender of troops during the war, and effectively ended the conflict.<ref name="chahillnews">{{cite news|title=Minding the museum |url=http://www.chapelhillnews.com/weekend/story/8656.html |newspaper=Chapel Hill News |date=July 25, 2007 |access-date=July 30, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929040755/http://www.chapelhillnews.com/weekend/story/8656.html |archive-date=September 29, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>