On May 1, 1865, five days after Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Union Gen. William T. Sherman near Durham Station, approximately 12,000 to 15,000 troops of Sherman’s Army of the Tennessee, commanded by Gens. John A. Logan and Oliver O. Howard, camped in Louisburg en route to Washington, D.C. Their tents filled the groves of Louisburg Female College, founded in 1857, and Louisburg Male Academy, founded in 1805, across Main Street. The college occupied the four-story structure known today as Main Building, and the male academy building was later moved to a site northeast of the performing arts center, where it remains. The troops stored so much corn in the academy that the floor collapsed. Some local residents hid in their homes, but former slaves expressed jubilation, and a band played stirring national airs. Anna Fuller, who lived on Main Street, kept a detailed diary during the encampment and wrote on May 1, “I am bewildered, and my heart is sick. The town is full of Yankee Soldiers riding and walking up and down every street, and coming into our yards and kitchens. …The reality is upon us, that we are a subjugated people.” On May 3, a regiment arrived to maintain order and to ensure that slaves had been freed, and the troops finally departed on July 27 after causing little disruption.