On-site Activities

  1. A guided Civil War-themed tour of the Capitol is available upon request. Teachers should make this request when making your reservation.
  2. Special Civil War-themed interactive programming for school groups will be available each Friday during the month of October When making reservations with the Capitol Area Visitor Services, please ask for details on the scheduled activities.
  3. The State Capitol will rotate special exhibits throughout the sesquicentennial as well as rarely displayed documents from the State Archives pertaining to the Civil War. Upcoming exhibits for 2011-2012 are:
  • Crisis at the Capitol: North Carolina on the Eve of War (located in the Rotunda, thru 5/19/11) This exhibit explains North Carolina's secession crisis from the viewpoints of eleven North Carolinians and one president.
  • Capitol: 1861 (located on panels throughout the building, 5/20/11-1/9/12) This exhibit explores what was going on at the Capitol and in the state during 1861.
  • Voices of Secession (located in both the House and Senate Chambers, 5/20/11-2/13/12) This interactive exhibit explores secession and the beginning of the Civil War through voice recordings of actual contemporaneous documents.
  • Treasures of the State Archives (located in the Documents Case, West Hall) Each of these documents will be on display for a limited period of time. Please call for dates.

Lincoln's Request for Troops and Ellis's Response 
The Ordinance of Secession 
Henry Toole Clark's Inaugural Address 
Letters from the Field: Larkin S. Kendrick to Mary C. Kendrick, Jan 21, 1862