As Harrison replied, "The scandal involved Ella Swain, daughter of UNC President David Swain, and Union Army General Smith Atkins. The latter came with a brigade of General William Sherman's army the day after Easter 1865, and paid a visit to the President's house to inform him that Chapel Hill was now under Union occupation. (Nowadays, one would best tell the Town Manager). Atkins met Ella Swain on that occasion, and they ended up being married. Given the profound philosophical differences between the slave-owning Swain family and the abolitionist Atkins family, those alone would be enough to generate a scandal in some minds, and evidently did so."
According to a September article in the Herald, Suzy Barile has written of the "shocking Civil War social pairing in her book 'Undaunted Heart: The True Story of a Southern Belle & A Yankee General.'"
Barile, great-great granddaughter of Swain and Atkins, "tells their story, separating facts from the elaborate embellishments the famous courtship and marriage have taken on over the generations. Interwoven throughout are excerpts from Ella's never-before-published letters that reveal the difficult challenges of post Civil War life and a loving marriage that transcended outrage and scandal."
Holden Thorp, UNC chancellor, called the book "... a revealing glimpse into a critical period of university history, bringing to life names that can still be found on our campus. But it is more than just local history. Anyone who wonders how ordinary people built new lives after the Civil War will want to read this family's story."
A pair of tickets to the Lumina Theaters is on the way to Harrison.
Now it's time to reveal next week's Challenge. Here's how it works. Every week we'll pose a trivia question that has something to do with our community or North Carolina. The question might be about something that happened 20 years ago or someone who made the news just yesterday.
If you think you know the answer, send e-mail to chquiz@aol.com, or mail it on a postcard to Chapel Hill Challenge, The Chapel Hill Herald, 2828 Pickett Road, Durham, NC 27705. You also can send us a fax at (919) 419-6889. Make sure you include your name, address and phone number. Answers must be received by Thursday of the same week. Employees of the Durham Herald Co. are not eligible for the Challenge.
Each week there will be a drawing from all the correct answers. The winner will receive a pair of movie passes donated by the Lumina Theater in Southern Village. (Note: Passes may not be valid for certain shows.)
Ready to give it a try? Throw flower petals instead of rice while pondering the following: "Which famous Chapel Hill resident attended the Swain-Atkins wedding, and would later ring the campus bell on 15 Sept. 1875 when the University re-opened, after having been closed in 1871 following the end of the Civil War in 1865?"
Good luck!
