George Washington Duke, Sailor for the Confederacy.

Will Carry

First Sergeant
Joined
Jun 1, 2015
Location
The Tar Heel State.
I have been reading some about Washington Duke. He did own at least one slave whom was leased out to other farmers in Orange County NC. At 40 years of age he was too old for the first draft of the CSA but the second time they drafted men up to 45. He sold all of his slaves and joined the Confederate navy, was captured and spent the rest of the war in New Bern NC in a Yankee POW camp. After the war he walked 130 miles back to the farm, which was in disarray, his wife was dead and his 4 children were hungry. He had 50 cents in his pocket and some old tobacco in the barn. The Union soldiers developed a taste for that good ole Bright Leaf tobacco. Some times they would pay for it and sometimes they would steal it but Washington Duke had a plan. "Those Yankees will get home and want more of that Bright Leaf." The rest is history. He became perhaps the wealthiest man in North Carolina, retired from tobacco and became a philanthropist. Donating money to churches and hospitals. He gave Trinity College in Durham $100,000 in 1890 on the condition they admit women students. His daughter donated 30 acres to North Carolina Central University and the American Tobacco Company soon became a boon to Durham. He paid good wages and hired black and white people. This built a strong black middle class which yielded the "Black Wall Street" in Durham. They changed the name of Trinity College to Duke University after "Pappy Duke" died.
In business he was a tiger, a scoundrel, a back stabber....according to some. Yet he donated much of .his money to help the working people of Durham both black and white. Getting a job at American Tobacco or Liggett Myers meant you would be able to buy a house, maybe some land, send your children to college and get a nice pension when you retire. If they couldn't sent their kids to college, they would sent them to NC State! :cat:
If you are ever in Durham, go to the Duke Homestead, the Bennet Place and walk through the quad to Duke Chapel. Then drive over to Bullock's Barbecue. I went to high school with Mr Bullock's daughter and they have served fine NC Barbecue sine the 1960s. Their wall of famous people include Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Buddy Hackett and many others. You won't see Elvis's photo. He was in Durham for the Rice Diet and wasn't supposed to be their.

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