Willis B. Sanderlin
(Camden County)
Featured Character – Divided Allegiances
A
Guerilla
Courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress
Born in 1832, Willis Burgess Sanderlin owned extensive
property in Camden
County before the Civil
War. The 1860 Census estimated his net
worth at $7,450. Unlike fellow members of
his social class, Sandelin apparently did not rush to enlist in the Confederate
Army. However, after the Union
occupation of eastern North Carolina,
Sanderlin firmly sided with Confederacy.
By December 1863, Sanderlin led a band of Confederate guerrillas that
operated close to their homes in Camden
County. Sanderlin’s partisans attacked Union raiding parties and harassed local Unionists. Union commanders sent a major force into
northeastern North Carolina
with the aim of crushing rebel resistance.
General Edward A. Wild’s Raid failed to destroy the Confederate
guerrillas, but his foray severely impacted civilian support for the
rebels. In early 1864, residents from
the Albemarle
region asked Governor Zebulon Vance to pull all Confederate guerrillas out of
the area. He complied. On January 20, 1864, Sanderlin’s men became
Company B, 68th North Carolina Infantry. Confederate officials dispatched the new
regiment to western North Carolina. Ironically, they fought against Unionist
guerrillas near Morganton. After the war,
Sanderlin returned to Bear Garden, his Camden County
farm. Although the 1870 Census indicates
an increase in his income from 1860, to $9,500, Sanderlin decided to leave North Carolina. By 1880, he owned a farm in Princess Anne
County, Virginia. Willis Burgess Sanderlin died
there in 1900.