author
John Wetmore Hinsdale
1843–1921
A North Carolina lawyer, Civil War veteran, and local historian, he left behind a vivid record of his state's 19th-century past. He is especially remembered for writing about the 72nd North Carolina Regiment and for his long public career in Raleigh.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Buffalo, New York, on February 4, 1843, he moved to Raleigh as an infant and grew up in North Carolina. During the Civil War, he served in the Confederate army and later became known as an attorney, businessman, and a leader in the state's legal community.
After the war, he built a prominent law career in Raleigh and served as president of the North Carolina Bar Association. He also remained deeply interested in history and memory, preserving documents and writing about the conflict and the people around him.
As an author, he is best known for History of the Seventy-Second Regiment of the North Carolina Troops, a work that helped record the experience of a North Carolina regiment for later generations. He died on September 15, 1921, leaving a legacy tied to both the law and the historical record of his state.