The HOA’s mission was comprehensive: they sought to protect members from Confederate authorities, encourage desertion in the Confederate army, provide military intelligence to Federal forces, and maintain an underground railroad for fugitives. Furthermore, the organization held a radical social vision, promising the poor a postwar redistribution of the wealth of the planter class, a goal designed to dismantle the socioeconomic hierarchy of the South.   

Rituals, Symbols, and the Red Thread of Rahab

The nomenclature of the “Red Strings” was rooted in biblical allegory, specifically the story of Rahab from the Book of Joshua. Rahab, who assisted Israelite spies in Jericho, was instructed to hang a scarlet line in her window as a sign of her faith and a signal for the invading army to spare her household. For the Unionists of the Piedmont, the red string became a powerful symbol of recognition and a profession of their faith in the Union. Members would sew a red string into their lapels or hang a red cord on their doorjambs or windowsills to mark their homes as safe havens for fellow Unionists and refugees.   

The rituals of the HOA were designed to forge an unbreakable bond among members. Candidates were initiated into the first of three degrees through an oath of loyalty “unto death,” which they finalized by kissing the Bible. The penalties for betrayal were severe, often described in terms of having one’s “head shot through”. To facilitate secret communication and identification in a landscape of “neighbor against neighbor,” the HOA employed a complex system of signs, passwords, and handshakes.   

The use of these Masonic-style rituals served a dual purpose: it ensured the security of the underground railroad and provided a psychological sense of order and community to those who were socially ostracized for their Unionist beliefs. In a state where secessionists frequently used vigilante violence to silence dissent, the HOA’s secret system allowed Unionists to “hear the secret news from the South in favor of the United States Government” and organize their resistance in the shadows.   

Franklinville and the Industrial Center of Resistance

Franklinville, North Carolina, situated on the banks of the Deep River in Randolph County, emerged as a critical node for the Red String movement. The town’s identity as a manufacturing village began in the 1760s, driven by the hydraulic power of the river, but its sociopolitical character was defined by the Quaker and abolitionist entrepreneurs who established its textile industry in the early nineteenth century.   

The first cotton factory in Franklinville was started in 1838 by Elisha Coffin, a cousin of Levi Coffin, the “President of the Underground Railroad”. Elisha Coffin’s house, located at the crest of the hill overlooking the river and mills, served as a center for the village’s community of “dependencies,” including mill houses and public institutions. The original stockholders of the Franklinville Manufacturing Company were almost entirely Quakers or known anti-slavery advocates, which established a village culture deeply aligned with Unionist and abolitionist values. This alignment was reflected in the political behavior of the residents; the majority of Franklinville’s inhabitants famously voted against joining the Confederacy.

The geographic isolation of the Deep River and landmarks like Faith Rock provided tactical advantages for the Red Strings. Faith Rock, rising several hundred feet above the river, was the site of a legendary Revolutionary War escape by Whig Andrew Hunter, a narrative that resonated with the Civil War-era Unionists who sought to evade Confederate patrols. Around Franklinville, the “President” of the local HOA branch was likely Reuben F. Trogdon, a cooper. Under his and others’ leadership, Unionists in the area were so closely monitored by secessionists that many did not dare sleep in their own homes for years, choosing instead to camp in the woods or the underground hide-outs of Purgatory Mountain.   

The Wartime Underground Railroad and the Shelter of Deserters

The Red Strings utilized the existing networks of the Underground Railroad, which had been established by Quakers in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to smuggle enslaved persons to free states, and expanded them to meet the needs of the Civil War. This wartime network focused on aiding draft dodgers, Confederate deserters, and escaped Union prisoners of war.   

For Southern Unionists, the Confederate draft, instituted in April 1862, was the most “hated and visible instrument of Confederate power”. Conscription not only decimated families—with some households losing multiple brothers and sons to the “rebel army”—but also forced Unionists to commit what they viewed as treason against the United States. Consequently, draft evasion and desertion became acts of political resistance. In Randolph County, which had the third-lowest volunteer rate in North Carolina (14.2% compared to the state average of 23.8%), desertion was rampant. At least 320 out of nearly 2,000 men from the county deserted their regiments, frequently assisted by the Red Strings.   

The Underground Railroad in the Piedmont utilized the “Kanawha Road,” a primary route leading from central North Carolina to the mountains and eventually to Union-held territories in Indiana and Ohio. Key figures like Isaac Stanley and Andrew Murrow were known to use false-bottomed wagons to transport fugitives. The network also relied on specific “stationmasters” and safe havens:   

1. New Garden Boarding School: Located in Greensboro (now Guilford College), the school remained open during the war and served as a haven for “bushwhackers” and deserters. Quakers there would leave food in caves for fugitives to collect, maintaining their pacifist neutrality while aiding the resistance.   
2. Purgatory Mountain: This rugged terrain in Randolph County was “honeycombed” with underground hide-outs for those “hiding out of the army”.   
3. The Deep River Crossings: Locations such as the Island Ford crossing, used since the eighteenth century, provided strategic points for moving fugitives across the river and away from conscription patrols.   

The scale of this activity was such that the Confederacy was forced to divert significant military resources from the front lines in Virginia to put down “mini-rebellions” in the Quaker Belt. In late 1864, the network famously guided Private William S. Burson and other Federal escapees from the Florence stockade through the Quaker Belt to safety.   

The Guerrilla War and the Home Guard Repression

The presence of thousands of “outliers” and deserters in the Piedmont led to a state of near-constant guerrilla warfare between the Red Strings and the Confederate Home Guard. The Home Guard, tasked with enforcing conscription and rounding up “disloyal” men, employed brutal tactics against Unionist families. Women from pro-Union families often tangled with Confederate authorities over the status of their husbands and sons, and in many cases, were subjected to abuse when they refused to reveal the locations of fugitives.   

One of the most notorious figures in this internal conflict was Bill Owens, a Unionist guerrilla leader operating in the border regions of Randolph, Montgomery, and Moore counties. Owens’ anti-Confederate activities were a focal point of the research by historian William T. Auman, who meticulously tracked Owens’ violent career and his eventual death at the hands of a lynch mob in 1865. Owens and his “deserter gang” were emblematic of the militant wing of the Red String movement, which did not merely hide from the Confederacy but actively fought its agents.

The repression of Unionists was often severe. Joseph Hendrix testified that supporters of the peace movement were threatened with being handcuffed and sent to the army. In Sampson County, Daniel Horn reported that voting for the peace candidate created such excitement that he feared for his life. Such was the “fury of the fire-eaters” that Union men in counties like Duplin were compelled to keep their mouths shut for their own safety. Despite this, the Red Strings continued to operate, with estimates suggesting that by the war’s end, as many as 10,000 people belonged to the organization.   

Political Resistance: The Peace Movement and Holden’s Campaign

The Red Strings were inextricably linked to the peace movement in North Carolina, which gained momentum in 1863 under the leadership of William W. Holden. Holden, as the editor of the North Carolina Standard, used his platform to advocate for an end to the war and a restoration of the Union. His paper became the focal point for Unionist sentiment, leading to its destruction by Confederate troops in September 1863.   

In 1864, Holden ran for governor against incumbent Zebulon B. Vance. This election was a critical moment for the HOA, as Holden’s supporters were predominantly members of the secret order. However, the campaign was marked by intense intimidation. Vance and his supporters publicly accused Holden of being a leader of the “disloyal” HOA, framing the peace movement as a treasonous conspiracy. Fearing reprisals and military conscription, many of Holden’s supporters did not show up to vote, and Vance won the election by a landslide. 

The defeat of Holden in 1864 temporarily sidelined the HOA from formal state politics, but the organization’s influence persisted in the “Quaker Belt” counties. By the winter of 1864, Red Strings and Confederate-disloyal officials effectively controlled much of southwestern Virginia and the North Carolina Piedmont, further destabilizing the Confederate war effort during its final months.

The Reconstruction Era and the Birth of the Republican Party

With the end of the Civil War in 1865, the Red Strings underwent a fundamental transformation. No longer an underground resistance, the movement became the nucleus of the new Republican Party in North Carolina. The HOA protected its members—including many Union army veterans—from the hostility of ex-Confederates who resented their wartime “disloyalty”.   

During the gubernatorial campaign of 1868, the HOA aligned itself with the “scalawag” wing of the Republican Party. This wing was composed of Southern whites who, despite their geographic origins, had opposed the Confederacy and now supported the Reconstruction policies of the Federal government. With the support of the HOA and the newly enfranchised Black voters, William W. Holden was elected governor, ushering in a period of Republican dominance.   

However, this period was also characterized by “radical misrule” according to conservative critics, and deep social disorder. Adjutant-general A.W. Fisher, a “carpet-bagger” from the North, secretly borrowed a thousand rifles from the state of Vermont to arm the state militia, an act that further inflamed tensions with the conservative white population. The Republican administration was viewed with contempt by the former planter class, who were disenfranchised and saw the rise of the “Other South” as an existential threat to their social order.   

The Conflict with White Supremacist Organizations

The rise of Republican power during Reconstruction triggered a violent reaction from conservative white men, who organized into several secret, white supremacist paramilitary groups to restore the pre-war racial and political hierarchy. These groups targeted Republicans, Black citizens, and members of the Union League and HOA.   

The KKK, White Brotherhood, and C.U.G.

The opposition to the Red Strings and their allies was fragmented into several regional organizations that historians now typically group under the umbrella of the Ku Klux Klan. In North Carolina, these groups were often distinct but kindred, sharing members and methods of terror. 

The violence committed by these groups was specifically aimed at “violating the racial behavior” that defined the new hierarchy and “prefiguring the system of racial oppression” that would become Jim Crow. In Alamance County, Klansmen attacked Republican and Loyal League member Donaldson Worth, dragging him from his house and using psychological terror to force him to renounce his political affiliations. The Klan frequently used sexualized violence and physical brutalization to weaken the fraternal political bonds of the Republican community.   

The Kirk-Holden War and Holden’s Impeachment

The escalation of Klan violence in counties like Alamance and Caswell forced Governor Holden to take drastic measures. In June 1870, Holden declared a state of insurrection in these counties and organized a new militia under the command of Colonel George W. Kirk, a Union veteran. Having suspended the writ of habeas corpus, Holden authorized Kirk to make arrests and try Klan members in military courts, a campaign popularly known as the “Kirk-Holden War”.   

This military operation resulted in the arrest of several prominent citizens, but it also provided the impetus for Holden’s political downfall. U.S. District Judge George W. Brooks eventually sided with the “Ku Klux lawyers,” ruling that Holden’s suspension of the writ was a violation of due process. Following the Democratic sweep of the General Assembly in late 1870, Holden was impeached and removed from office, primarily due to his handling of the militia campaign. This marked the end of the “Radical” regime and the return of the Democratic Party to power, effectively silencing the political voice of the Red Strings in Raleigh.   

The Red Shirts and the Restoration of White Supremacy

While the early KKK operated in secrecy, the late nineteenth century saw the rise of the “Red Shirts,” a paramilitary wing of the Democratic Party that operated openly to restore “total power” and eliminate the Black and Republican vote. The name “Red Shirts” was a tragic irony in relation to the “Red Strings.” While the Red Strings of the 1860s used the color to symbolize peace and Unionism, the Red Shirts of 1898 and 1900 used it to mock the Republican practice of “waving the bloody shirt”—invoking the blood of Northern soldiers to justify Reconstruction policies.   

The Red Shirts were particularly active in the southeastern part of North Carolina but exerted their influence across the state. They paraded in the streets, broke up political meetings, and directly assaulted candidates. During the 1898 election, which led to the Wilmington Race Riot and Coup, the Red Shirts prevented non-Democrats from reaching the polls and mobbed the train of Republican governor Daniel L. Russell Jr.. Their violence was planned by Democratic officials, who used the ” muscle of white supremacy” to ensure that the “evil” of Black political participation was suppressed.   

Historical Memory and the Research of William T. Auman

The history of the Red Strings was largely forgotten for much of the twentieth century, as the “Dunning School” of historiography and the romanticization of the Confederacy obscured the stories of Southern Unionists. The obscurity of the group was also a product of their own secrecy; even after the war, it was often unsafe for members to admit their affiliations. By the 1930s, many descendants of Red Strings in Randolph County erroneously believed their ancestors had fought for the South.   

The recovery of this history is heavily indebted to the work of William T. “Bill” Auman, a native of Randolph County and a descendant of Unionist families like the Swaims and Aumans. Auman’s research, spanning from his 1978 M.A. thesis to his definitive book Civil War in the North Carolina Quaker Belt, provided a meticulously documented account of the “Other South”. His work on figures like the guerrilla Bill Owens and the Wesleyan Methodist Unionists revealed that North Carolina manifested the “sharpest internal opposition to the Confederacy” of all the Southern states. 

The study of the Red Strings challenges the monolithic view of the nineteenth-century South and demonstrates that the “Quaker Belt” was a region of profound ideological complexity. The existence of these Unionist heroes—both white and Black—serves as a reminder that the struggle for democratic values and human rights has always had deep roots in the rural South, even when those stories were driven underground by the forces of white supremacy. The restoration of their narrative is not merely an academic exercise but a critical step in understanding the true, pluralistic identity of the Old North State.  

Unionism, Dissent & the Civil War in North Carolina

• Our State: A Separate Peace
• INDY Week: Resistance – Heroes of America
• NCGenWeb: The War Within the Confederacy
• NCpedia: Heroes of America
• Forgotten Union Men of Davidson & Forsyth Counties
• Civil War in the North Carolina Quaker Belt
• History of North Carolina, Vol. III, Chapter 7

Secret Societies, Codes & Symbolism

• Wikipedia: Red Strings
• Wikipedia: Freemasonry
• The English Language: A Colour Word Compendium
• Internet Archive (Primary Sources)

Local History: Randolph County, Franklinville & the Piedmont

• Town of Franklinville: Our Town
• Town of Franklinville: History Archives
• Randolph Heritage: Photographic History
• Underground Railroad in Randolph County
• Randolph County Government History
• Toomes Family History
• Notes on the History of Randolph County (Archive)

Reconstruction, Ku Klux Klan Violence & Legal Response

• KKK Violence in the Carolinas During Reconstruction (UNC)
• Federal Judicial Center: KKK Trials of 1871–1872
• Duke Law: The Murder of Wyatt Outlaw
• Sexual Violence and Manhood in North Carolina, 1868–1871
• The Great North Carolina KKK Trials
• Political Economy of Reconstruction in the Carolinas

Red Shirts, Political Terror & Memory

• Wikipedia: Red Shirts (United States)
• NCpedia: Red Shirts
• Charleston Museum: “Waving the Bloody Shirt”
• The Riotous Presence in American Literature & Culture
• Equal Justice Initiative: Dishonoring American Heroes

Family Papers, Records & Archival Sources

North Carolina Historical Review, Volume 97 (2020)

Andrew Auman Family History Primer

Auman Family Papers, 1787–2014 (UNC)