ELON COLLEGE – Carole Troxler says she knew she would find some startling information in researching a new book about Alamance County’s history.
The book, “Shuttle & Plow: A History of Alamance County” was released in November and coincided with the county’s sesquicentennial. The book was co-authored by Bill Vincent, executive director of the Alamance County Historical Museum.
The 544-page book follows the county from its agrarian roots to present-day development. Troxler, a history professor at Elon and president of the Historical Society of North Carolina, wrote of county’s earliest history to 1865.
The book’s title relates to the county’s strong traditions of farming and textile mills, Troxler says. A shuttle is part of a loom uses in homes and in textile mills and a plow is a basic farm implement with a blade that is used to break up soil.
Through her research, Troxler was able to find out more about Wyatt Outlaw, an African-American who played an important during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods in Alamance County. She and Vincent believe that class divisions before, during and after the Civil War contributed to the upheaval that was marked by Ku Klux Klan violence and Outlaw’s murder.
Outlaw was a political organizer for Gov. William Holden and had an active role in the Union League, which organized white and African-American Republican voters, Troxler says. Because of his activities he was targeted by the local Ku Klux Klan and lynched near the Graham courthouse. Holden declared a state of insurrection in Alamance County and federal troops moved into the area. This action along with others led to Holden’s impeachment in 1871.
Troxler also discovered that the first courthouse for Orange County was in Alamance County near the present day town of Haw River. The courthouse operated between 1752 and 1754.
“Alamance County’s overall history is very complex and rich,” she says.
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