Watauga County and the Civil War Symposium

I will confess - I've been doing some type of program about the Watauga County area at the library in Boone for over a decade now. I recently came across something that I clipped from the newspaper from 1998.

I know I've written a lot about Watauga County in the past - of all the North Carolina counties, I probably know more about the war in Watauga than in any other county (Avery comes a close second). While my direct line had already passed on to Kentucky by the 1860s, I am related to large portions of the population. My Hardy line and the Council line had already mingled (some say three times) before the Councils came to the area and my Hardys went to Alabama. I'm also related to the Proffits, Hamptons, and Laws families, all early settles in Wilkes County.

Over the years, we've done a variety of different programs - lectures, displays of clothes and weapons, and round table discussions. This year, I thought I would put together other writers whose work has touched on the area. Matt Bumgarner wrote a book a few years ago entitledKirk's Raiders: A Notorious Band of Scoundrels and Thieves.  This book is a history of the 2nd and 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry.  Chris Hartley is the author of not only a biography on Brig. James B. Gordon from Wilkes County, but more recently, a great study of Stoneman's Raid, which passed through Watauga County in March 1865. Of course, I've written histories of the 37th NCT and the 58th NCT (both of which had large amounts of men from Watauga County) and a history of Watauga County itself.

The program starts at 10:00 am, and there will be ample time to ask questions. And I am sure there will be a few books for sale.