New York Times, 1 September 1868.

Courier Journal (Louisville KY), 8 September 1868.

Zeno Green appears as the head of household #108 in the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County. (He also appears in the 1850 federal slave schedule as a slaveowner in neighboring Pitt County, and he was a Confederate veteran.) David Ruffin, age 37, headed household #102 of Wilson township, which included wife Thebea and children Martha, Catharine, Thomas, Warren and Rachel. The revolutionary Bill Grimes is not listed, but household #34 consisted of 30 year-old Gatsey Grimes (perhaps then a widow) and her children Ross, Silvester, Mary and William.

The Union Leagues of America, also known as Loyal Leagues, were men’s clubs formed during the Civil War to promote loyalty to the United States. During Reconstruction, leagues formed across the South to mobilize freedmen to register to vote and to vote Republican.