Description
George Augustus Mears was born on December 20, 1838 to James Barnes Mears and Margaret Elvira Penland Mears in North Carolina. George married Nancy M. Roberts Mears (1844-1916) and had 7 children, including Samuel Parley Mears.
Mears enlisted in Company F of the 16th North Carolina Infantry on May 7, 1861 as a private. Records have him as “Gustus” A. Mears, which is obviously a nickname from his middle name of Augustus. He is listed as 3rd sergeant in the Roster of North Carolina Troops, but apparently did not remain at that rank for the duration of the war, as he is listed as a private at war’s end. He is listed as a POW at Falling Waters, MD on July 14, 1863. He was confined at Point Lookout, MD, paroled and transferred to City Point, VA on March 6, 1864 for exchange. He is listed as AWOL from June 27, 1864 to October 31, 1864.
The 16th North Carolina had a significant fighting record with the Army of Northern Virginia. They were in Dorsey Pender’s Brigade of A. P. Hill’s famed Light Division. Key engagements included Seven Pines, Mechanicsville, Gaines’ Mill, 2nd Manassas, Ox Hill, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, North Anna and Petersburg. At Gettysburg, the 16th North Carolina was in Scales’ Brigade of Pender’s Division (Hill’s Corps). They were heavily engaged in the attack on Seminary Ridge on July 1, 1863 and were a part of Pickett’s Charge on July 3, 1863 (under the command of Isaac R. Trimble). As Mears was captured at Falling Waters on July 14, 1863 during the retreat from Gettysburg, he would have participated in the fighting at Seminary Ridge and in Pickett’s charge. There is no record of him having been wounded at Gettysburg.
After the Civil War, Mears was an Asheville, North Carolina merchant who was in business between 1870 and 1910 on South Main Street, principally with his Mears Daylight Store, which burned in the 1920s (the building was so named because of its large expanses of glass). In 1885 he constructed the George A. Mears House located at 137 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, a two and a half story brick Queen Anne style building which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 26, 1979. Mears passed away on January 21, 1913, at age 74 and was buried at the Riverside Cemetery, in Asheville. Samuel Parley Mears is also buried at the Riverside Cemetery.
This image would be the center piece of any fine Confederate image collection. The content is superior, including what looks like a model 1842 musket with bayonet upside down, North Carolina sack coat, cap box and Enfield style cartridge box on the belt. The provenance is impeccable, including a period paper identifying the subject, the subject’s initials and date of 1857 on the edge of the 6th plate case, and two pictures of the subject’s son (not pictured here). The condition is excellent, and the history is superb (Pickett’s Charge!).
