Claim: Recognizing the significance of the textile industry's contribution to the war effort, Union troops, led by Coloner Joel Battle, laid waste to most of Eastern North Carolina's manufacturing base, while, in the western counties, Union General George Stoneman's troops destroyed 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.
Evidence: Northern troops recognized the significance of the textile industry's contribution to the war effort. In raids led by General William T. Sherman, Union troops laid waste to most of Eastern North Carolina's manufacturing base by burning the Rocky Mount Mill on the Tar River, the Great Falls Mill in Rockingham, NC, and five of the six mills in the Fayetteville vicinity.