The Life of RICHARD BENNEHAN HAYWOOD
Dr. Richard B. Haywood opposed North Carolina's secession from the United States during the Civil War, however he served as a surgeon in the Confederate States Army. Union General William Tecumseh Sherman reached Raleigh after the Confederate defeat at Bentonville, the last major battle of the Carolinas Campaign. On April 13, 1865, Raleigh Mayor William H. Harrison asked Dr. Haywood to serve on a committee of emissaries that surrendered Raleigh to Sherman. The occupying Union forces in Raleigh were under the command of Major General Frank P. Blair, a friend of Dr. Haywood during their attendance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Blair chose the Richard B. Haywood House as his headquarters during the occupation of Raleigh. Dr. Haywood and Blair hosted Sherman and General Ulysses S. Grant at the house.