Finally Finished

I finally finished that Avery County history that I’ve been working on for the past couple of months. I’ve written 28,000 words since January 1.

Why do I write county histories? There is a need. A few years ago, I sat down (I was working at Caldwell Community College at the time), and went through scores of counties in the Southern states. Many counties had never had a formal, organized history. (Those black heritage volumes do not count! While there can be good information in these, they are haphazard in coverage, and often contain little more than long lines of genealogy.) And for the counties that did have histories, most of them were at least 40 years old. Watauga County was one of those. Their first history was written in 1915. There was a small volume done in 1949, but nothing else. Avery County’s last history was done in 1964. Caldwell County’s were in 1930 and 1956. Yancey County has never had a history. If I remember correctly, neither has Alleghany County or Mitchell County. And those are just a few of North Carolina’s 100 counties.

My first venture into writing county histories was the tome on Watauga County. It was, more or less, a chronological history, with two chapters about the Civil War. Next came two pictorial histories, one on Avery and the second on Caldwell. The latter was released in November and is currently sold out and re-printing. This last project was a collection of essays on different local history. The time span for the essays runs from the 1770s (Overmountain Men) to the 1980s (Blue Ridge Parkway - Viaduct). There are two just essays about the War: one on Col. John B. Palmer (58th NCT) and the other on the Blalocks (26th NCT). The last option is to do a history topically, i.e., chapters on education, religion, military, etc. I have a county in Alabama I am thinking about writing a history for and this would be the layout if I ever get to write it.

Why all this talk about county histories? The War Between the States had an effect on each of these places. Boys marched away, often to never return. And in many cases, the war was brought home by deserters, bushwackers, or whole armies. A few counties in North Carolina even have War-time histories (Yadkin, Carteret, and Davidson come to mind). Three cheers for those historians that have undertaken these ventures. The War happened almost 150 years ago and the opportunity to write about those dreadful events is quickly passing. The folks who remembered those events are gone and the folks who remember hearing those stories are quickly passing on. With today’s generations of people who just don’t read (and are largely indifferent), well, that history will soon be gone.

My advice? Get out and collect at least the history of your community, and get copies of it into your local library. Maybe someday somebody like me will come along and need to use it.

And, don’t forget to document where you get that information!

A few thoughts on Mrs. “Stonewall” Jackson

A couple of days ago, the 183rd birthday of Stonewall Jackson came and went. Some folks are aware that the General’s second wife, Mary Anna Morrison, was born in North Carolina in 1831. She met Jackson in Virginia, not long before the war began, and they were married. Once the war began, she returned to Charlotte and continued to make the Queen city her home after his death.

After the war, Mrs. Stonewall Jackson was a very prominent member of the community that sought to commemorate the war. In 1898, Mrs. Jackson organized and became the first president of Stonewall Jackson Chapter #220 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Charlotte. She was elected president for life. As her health permitted, she was always at Confederate Veteran reunions, and the old soldiers always enjoyed seeing her, the wife of their beloved commander.

Mrs. Jackson died in 1915 and is buried beside her husband in Lexington, Virginia. In 1938, the U. D. C. marked the birthplace of Mrs. Stonewall Jackson on Derita Road in Charlotte with a large memorial arch and a bronze plaque. I have an old photograph of the arch, but have been unable to find out if it still exists. I do not wander the streets of Charlotte very often.

What got me thinking on this? I’ve been reading the book Miracle In The Hills, about the Sloops and Crossnore School here in Avery County. Mrs. Sloop was Miss Mary T. Martin, daughter of Col. William J. Martin, 11th North Carolina (Bethel Regiment). He was also a college professor. His daughter, the famous Mrs. Dr. Sloop, was born in Davidson. She wrote in her autobiography: “I was born in Davidson, just across the street from the president’s house... The old house, in which the present president of Davidson College, Dr. John R. Cunningham, and his family live, is the house in which Mrs. Stonewall Jackson was born when her father, Dr. Morrison, was president of Davidson. As you go into the front door, the room in which she was born is on the left side of the hallway. Don’t forget to look.”

Maybe it’s time to head to Mecklenburg County and look for that memorial.

Happy 200th Birthday, Robert E. Lee

This is an article that I wrote on R. E. Lee last week that appeared in a couple of local newspapers.

At the mention of "great Americans," a relatively small list of people comes to mind; George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry, Paul Revere, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Franklin D. Roosevelt are just a few.

January 19 marks the 200th birthday of another individual whom many of us consider a great American. Robert Edward Lee was born in Virginia on January 19, 1807. While born into an old Virginia family, he was not born into wealth. His mother was charged with raising the family after his father, "Light Horse Harry" Lee, died in 1818.

Robert’s older brother Smith had joined the Navy. Robert sought and obtained a appointment to the United States Army Military Academy at West Point. He graduated in 1829, second in his class, with no marks against his record. The summer after he graduated, his mother died.
Lee went on to serve in the prestigious Engineer Corps, designing and building coastal fortifications. Lee was in North Carolina, touring Forts Macon and Caswell, in 1840. Lee married Mary Ann Custis in 1831, and they went on to have seven children. All of his sons would become soldiers.

At the death of his father-in-law, Lee’s wife Mary inherited the family home at Arlington outside Washington, D. C. They also inherited the slaves from the plantation. Lee spent the next five years working toward fulfilling the requests of his father-in-law’s will, including the emancipation of the inherited slaves.

In 1860, Lee found himself in Texas, serving with the Second United States Cavalry. His country was falling apart around him. Lee did not believe in secession, and he believed that the election of a man as president from a radical party did not warrant revolution. "But I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than a dissolution of the Union." Lee wrote in January 1861. To another friend he wrote "God alone can save us from our folly, selfishness and short sightedness... we have barely escaped anarchy to be plunged into civil war." Yet, he would not take up arms against his home state.

Lee resigned from the army in April 1861 and was immediately commissioned a brigadier general in the state of Virginia. His commission in the newly formed Confederate army soon followed.

For four years, Lee led one of the greatest armies in history. His victories over armies at times twice as large as his own are studied and taught throughout the world. When mentioning great generals of history, like Napoleon, Alexander the Great, and McArthur, Lee’s name is always included.

Many local men from the Toe River Valley served under Lee in his Army of Northern Virginia. Some of those men survived the war; others were killed on the fields of Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and the Wilderness. Others died of disease in hospitals and prison camps.

The Confederate States of America failed to gain its independence, and in April 1865, Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Lee declined several lucrative job offers after the war, only to become an educator at Washington College. He again visited North Carolina, in March 1870, spending time at the grave of his daughter Agnes, near Warrenton. Lee died in October 1870, in Lexington, Virginia, and is buried in the chapel of what is now known as Washington and Lee University.

Robert E. Lee deserves to be remembered. His character, his Christian faith, his military tactics--- his entire life is an example that should be emulated. In a day and age when we need heroes, when we need people to look up to, Lee should be one of those men who command our attention.

Fall of Fort Fisher

Today marks the anniversary of the start of the second battle of Fort Fisher. The first assault took place on December 24, 1864, and the fort withstood the attack. The second attack began today, and after 2 ½ days of bombardment, the fort fell to a land assault. The fort capitulated, and the last remaining harbor of the Confederacy was closed.

According to the park web site, only 10 percent of the original Fort Fisher remains.
I was in Wilmington this past May. I had a book signing for one of the local SCV camps. I took the family and we got to spend a few days at the beach. Fort Fisher was one of those places that we visited. I have now been to all three of the major fortifications that guarded the Cape Fear River area during the war.

Fort Caswell is a third system brick masonry fort on Oak Island. It is named for Governor Caswell. I’ve been to Caswell three times; once in 1995 when I was on a ramble, once a couple of year later, with a youth group. I got to spend a week at the fort and even slept in the WWII barracks. The last time was about four years ago for a conference.

Fort Anderson is an earthen fort on the site of old Brunswick town, north of Oak Island and Fort Caswell.. I visited this site during my last trip to Caswell. The earthworks at this fort are massive. Fort Anderson held out for several days after the fall of Fort Fisher.

Fort Fisher is another earthen fort, this one across the Cape Fear River and below the city of Wilmington. Very little of Fort Fisher remains today, but the site is marked with a monument. I like the area around Fort Fisher a lot. All park, no hotels. That is the way I like my beaches, clean.

For more information on events at Fort Fisher, please check their web site

The last of the Blalocks?

Why so much writing about the Blalocks? I’ll tell you why. I spend a fair number of days working (volunteering) at the Avery County History Museum in Newland. The one thing that I get asked the most about is the Blalocks. People have heard of them, they’ve read about them, they’ve read Stevens’s book about them. Maybe someone is telling folks - "Michael’s at the museum today, go ask him about the Blalocks." Or, maybe people see me and say, "I bet he’s a Civil War buff" (I think I passed the "Buff" stage about twenty years ago!) Regardless, I spend a great deal of time talking about the Blalocks, explaining how to get to their graves, or refuting what is in Rebels in Blue.

We need to have a good book written about their lives. Unfortunately, it would not be as exciting as Steven’s Rebels in Blue. The only primary sources are found in Blalock’s pension record. His family and friends all claim that he was insane and almost an invalid (he received a pension for $72 a month at one time!). So, we have the words of an insane man. Is that good enough to base a book upon?

Oh, and - when an inspector for the pension board showed up to check on Keith Blalock, the "insane man" was not there. He was in Caldwell County trout fishing, by himself.

More on the Blalocks

Some of you are aware of a book entitled Rebels in Blue: The Story of Keith and Malinda Blalock. Story is a good word, for this book is highly fictionalized. I’ll give two examples. One, the author cites letters written by the Blalocks to John Preston Arthur. He cites these letters as being at the William Eury Collection at Appalachian State University. These papers do not exist. Arthur died (1915, I think), and all of the papers in his hotel room in Boone (where he was living) were burned.

Second example - the author writes: "Keith came face-to-face with [Harvey] Bingham’s company in late August 1862, when early in the morning, the Home Guard finally caught up with Keith. A dozen or more riders burst up to the Blalock’s cabin, the thud of hooves, the jangle of spurs, and shouts pealing across the clearing, Keith and Malinda stepped onto the porch and strait into the leveled barrels of Enfield muskets, cavalry carbines, and rifle-guns."

There is quite a bit wrong with this one paragraph, found on page 53.
1. The home guard did not exist yet - created in the summer of 1863.
2. Harvey Bingham was a lieutenant in the 37th North Carolina Troops, and was wounded in the head on August 27, 1862, at the battle of Second Manassas, so he wasn’t there.
3. It most likely would have been the militia from Caldwell County chasing Blalock.
4. Arms were scarce in the Confederacy in 1862, and most of the militias and home guardsmen were lucky to have shotguns.
5. An Enfield is not a musket. Muskets are always smooth-bore, an Enfield would have been considered a "rifled-musketed," so why use the term "rifled-gun?"-- ignorance of the time period, maybe?

I got to spend considerable time one day last week going over the pension applications of Keith Blalock and I have come up with a few observations.

1. There was no record in the records of the 10 Michigan Cavalry, in which Blalock later served, of his being wounded. (Twice, once in 1864 and the second time in January 1865)
2. He was alone when he was wounded in August 1864. He claimed to be scouting.
3. When he was wounded in January 1865, there was some rumor of his being a deserter.
4. He claimed to have never been properly enrolled as a soldier in the 26th North Carolina. Furthermore, he also claimed that neither he nor Malinda were given discharges. They were given passes back home.
5. In all of the pension application materials, there is no mention of Malinda ever serving with Keith in western North Carolina. Back a couple of years ago when I was helping Sharyn McCrumb with Ghost Riders, it was an idea we batted around about just what Malinda did after her son was born in 1863. Was she physically able to ride with Keith and was she emotionally strong enough to leave her soon with distant family members in east Tennessee, where, the war was worse than it was in western North Carolina?

I hope most of you are familiar with the Blolock story. Keith was an unwilling volunteer in the 26th North Carolina. His wife Malinda, joined with him under the name of Little Sammy Blalock. There was a Samuel Blalock in the 16th North Carolina. They served for several weeks until Keith rolled around in a poison patch and got a medical discharge for the nasty rash. Malinda came clean about being a woman, and she was also discharged. They made their way back to western North Carolina, where they served as guides on an underground railway funneling escaped prisoners and dissidents out of the Piedmont and into east Tennessee. In June 1864, Keith joined the 10th Michigan Cavalry as a private, and spent the rest of the war "scouting." He got into a wee bit of trouble for shooting a man after the war, and went to Texas for a while, but returned to Mitchell (present day Avery) County to spend the rest of his life. He, and Malinda, are interred in the Montezuma Community Cemetery.

2006-2007

Three days into the new year... The family is all gone, and the decorations are all coming down and going back into their boxes.

It has been a banner year. I had four books published: two about the war, and two about local history, which included material about the war. And, I had two articles in national publications.
One of those articles just came out: "McClellan’s Missed Opportunity" is in the new issue of America’s Civil War.

Two of my books won awards: The Battle of Hanover Court House and A Short History of Old Watauga County both won the Willie Parker Peace History Book Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians.

I was not the only member of the Hardy household published this year. My darling wife Elizabeth’s first book, Milton, Spenser and the Chronicles of Narnia: Literary Sources for the C. S. Lewis Novels, was released about three weeks ago.

Best of all was the birth of our daughter, Isabella Laine Hardy, on December 20, 2006.
So what is in store for 2007? Another local history project, Remembering Avery County is just about finished. This is a collection of essays about local history, and will include some war materials, like essays on the Blalocks and on Grasslands, the home of Col. John B. Palmer (58th NCT). Then there is that history of the 58th North Carolina that I have been working on for several years. I have several articles accepted and awaiting publication, and have several more on the list to write.

Plus, we (me, Elizabeth, Nathaniel, and Isabella) all have a lot of adjusting to do. It will take time to figure out what the new normal will be.

I hope you too are looking forward to a great 2007.

Michael

Distorted history

It amazes me sometimes the way we can distort history. Today, I went up to the Montezuma Community Cemetery here in Avery County, to take a picture of the grave of William M. "Keith" Blalock for a local history project that I am trying to wrap up. I am sure I have pictures of his gravestone here someplace, but it was easier to go by the cemetery when I took off my trash. Blalock’s stone reads "L. M. Blalock.... PVT Co. F 26 REG. NC VOLS CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY" I have no idea who put up the marker.

First, his name was not "L. M." but William McKeeson. It is true that he served as a private in Company F, 26th North Carolina Troops. And, he was honorably discharged, after having rolled around naked in every type of poisonous plant that he could find. After Blalock returned back to the mountains of western North Carolina, he started guiding escaped prisoners from Salisbury and other dissidents over the mountains and into east Tennessee where they met with Dan Ellis who continued the trip to Kentucky. He also used the war as an excuse to exact revenge on family members and other local citizens. Finally, he did join the Union Army near the end of the war (10th Michigan Cavalry). One thing is for certain, he had total disdain for the Confederacy. Yet at some point, someone chose to put a military marker on his grave, commemorating his two or three months in Confederate service.

His wife, Malinda, is interred beside him. She also served as a private, under the name of Sam, in Company F, 26th North Carolina. I wonder why no one chose to honor her service? She served just as long as Keith did.

Christmas Bell

Elizabeth and I are happy to announce the birth of our daughter, Isabella Laine Hardy. She was born on December 20, at 8:27 pm. She is a beautiful little lady who has made our Christmas very special. Everyone is doing fine and everyone is at home.

Needless to say, I’ve not had much of a chance to write about the war (or anything else for that matter) and it will be a few days before we all adjust and get back to some type of normal.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Lost facts

Being an avid reader and book collector, I tend to go through a lot of books. It doesn’t help any that I write book reviews for two different publications. Every once in a while, I have problems finding things that I need that I’m sure that I’ve read somewhere.

For the past three days, I’ve been on the hunt for something I am being to think that I’ve made up. I’ve been trying to wrap up a local history project about Avery County - the youngest county in North Carolina. There is a community in Avery called Linville - a famous resort community. I thought I had read that some member of the Wedgewood company (yes the pottery Wedgewood Company) came to Linville and mined kaolin (clay) for use in their pottery. But now, I can’t seem to find that reference. I know that kaolin was mined in Linville, and I know that Wedgewood used clay from other parts of western North Carolina, but I can’t seem to get the two linked up.

This is not the first time that this has happened. Often, you will read something, and decide that you don’t need it, only to really need it later on in the manuscript. Then the hunt is on to find it again.

Oh well, back to the hunt....

Regimental Histories

Congratulations to Eric Wittenburg on the publication of his book on the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry - I am looking forward to getting a copy soon.

Speaking of regimental histories, the topic of my last post, which regiments (North or South) would you like to see get their own histories? No, I’m not fishing for more projects. I’ve got a list of regiments that I would like to write about that will take many years (if ever) to complete. It took me seven years to research and write my history of the 37th NCT, and I’ve been collecting information on the 58th NCT for just as long, so putting together good regimental histories is not something that can be done in a matter of months. I’m just intrigued to know which areas of scholarship have the greatest interest.

So, which regiments would you like to see histories of?

Books, books, books

This past Friday, I was doing a book signing at Books-a-Million in Asheville, and had the pleasure of meeting Fred L. Ray, author of Shock Troops of the Confederacy. We talked for quite a while, and I am really excited about his work in this neglected area.

Speaking of neglected areas, I often lament the lack of modern regimental histories in the former Confederacy, and in North Carolina particularly. Excluding the works written by the veterans themselves, very few authors have taken up the task of chronicling the story of the regiments that served from the Tar Heel state. I did a little research and here is what I found.

I guess the first modern treatment of a North Carolina regiment was The Bloody Sixth: the Sixth North Carolina Regiment, Confederate States of America by Richard W. Iobst and Louis H. Manarin, published in 1965.

It would be thirty years before another regimental was written: Jeff Weaver's The 5th and 7th Battalion North Carolina Cavalry and the 6th North Carolina Cavalry, published in 1995.

We had two come along in 1998: More Terrible than Victory: North Carolina's Bloody Bethel Regiment, 1861-1865 by Craig S. Chapman and To Drive the Enemy from Southern Soil: The Letters of Col. Francis Marion and the History of the 30th North Carolina Troops, by Michael W. Taylor.

Two regimentals were published in 2000 that deal with North Carolina's sons who fought for the Union. A History of the Third North Carolina Mounted Infantry Volunteers, USA, March 1864-August 1865 by Ron V. Killian and Kirk's Raiders: A Notorious Band of Scoundrels and Thieves by Matt Bumgarner. The latter deals with the 2nd and 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry (US).

In 2003, histories of the 37th North Carolina Troops (by yours truly) and the 4th North Carolina Cavalry, by Neil Hunter Raiford, were released.

Two more followed in 2004 - The Randolph Hornets in the Civil War, a history of Company M, 22nd North Carolina, by Wallace Jarvell, and a history of the 2nd North Carolina Cavalry by Roger H. Harrell.

And finally, this past year we saw the release of a history of the 55th North Carolina by Jeffrey M. Girvan.

That's it. Yes, I know about Covered with Glory by Ron Craig, but that is a history of the 26th North Carolina at Gettysburg, rather than an overall reginental. (Have I forgotten any?) Out of seventy some odd regiments, home guard battalions, coast guards, prison guards, partisan rangers, Federals troops etc., we have ten modern histories.

I must say that things are looking a little better. I know of histories in the works on the 4th NCST, 33rd NCT, and 58th NCT (once again, the latter by yours truly). Would it not be a nice legacy to leave competent histories on all of our regiments?

Remembering North Carolina's Confederates

I am happy to report that Remembering North Carolina's Confederates is back in print. This book was released in September, sold out in four weeks, and the second printing was released a couple of days ago. Remembering North Carolina's Confederates is full of images of veterans reunions, monuments, monument dedications, veterans, and tombstones. If you are interested in acquiring a signed copy, please visit my store.

A special word of thanks to everyone who contributed photographs and information for this book.

Will there be a volume two? Maybe.....

The things Confederate officers carried.

Last Wednesday I got to spend several hours at the Bennett Place in Durham doing a bit of research for an upcoming book. While talking to Kent McCoury, he mentioned that he had Maj. George W. F. Harper’s rifle, the rifle that Harper carried during the battle of Bentonville. The rifle was an Enfield, (model 1853, made in 1862), and was donated by Harper to the state museum in 1912. Isn't that odd:an officer carrying a rifle during a battle.

This led me to think of other strange things that officers carried during a battle. Officers traditionally carried swords and pistols, weapons more of self defense rather than offensive weaponry. The thought behind this is that officers needed to be more concerned in commanding their troops rather than on the firing line. The sword was almost purely a decoration, or a sign of rank, rather than a weapon, even though there are instances of men being slashed with swords (usually cavalry). The pistol, with its short range, was clearly a last attempt at survival weapon.

So what other odd things did officers carry into battle? We have Harper with his rifle. Then there is the case of James G. Harris of the 7th North Carolina State Troops, who went into battle at Deep Bottom armed with a frying pan.

Anyone else have any tales of unusually armed Confederate officers?

1862 Goldsboro Battlefield being preserved

It is great to see another battlefield being preserved. The Goldsboro Bridge Battlefield is joining the ranks of Bentonville, Averysboro, the Bennett Place, Fort Fisher, Fort Macon, Fort Branch, and a few other sites across the state.

You can read the article from today’s Goldsboro News-Argus. I was in the area recently, and I find the events exciting. The original battle was fought on December 17, 1862, and pitted Brig. Gen. John G. Foster (US) against Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Clingman. Foster set out to destroy the Goldsboro bridge and hamper Confederate supply logistics. While the Confederates were able to delay Foster, the bridge was eventually destroyed. Casualties are estimated at 220.

On the road again.....

At times, "On the Road Again" seems to be my theme. I’ll be speaking tonight at the Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp in Greenville, NC. On Friday evening I’ll be with the Hanover Historical Society in Hanover, Virginia, and on Saturday, from 12-4, I’ll be at the Appalachian Authors’ Festival at the Carson House in Marion, NC. If you get a chance, stop by and say hi!

I’m really looking forward to the Friday trip. I’m planning on stopping at the new museum in Richmond at Tredegar.

A Friday in Lenoir

This past Friday, I had a chance to spend a couple of hours with J. Timothy Cole and Bradley R. Foley, authors of a new book on Brig. Gen. Collett Leventhorpe. I’ve spent a lot of time studying Leventhorpe over the past few years, and have written a couple of articles about him and his service.

Leventhorpe was a remarkable man, born in England, well educated, and had a decade plus of service in the British Army as a captain of the 14th Regiment of Foot before coming to the United States. Once in the states, he obtained a medical degree, mined for gold, and married into a prominent family.

Once the war began, he quickly obtained the rank of colonel of the 34th North Carolina, then the 11th North Carolina (Bethel Regiment). While he held brigade level commands at various times, he was never promoted to brigadier general until the last days of the war. I feel that his backwater commands, and his wounding at Gettysburg, kept him from moving up in the ranks.

I am really looking forward to reading Cole’s and Foley’s book on Leventhorpe.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from the Hardys.

I’ll be doing two book signings this weekend. The first is tomorrow from 10 until 2 at the Caldwell Heritage Museum in Lenoir. The second is on Saturday at the Avery County Historical Museum in Newland, from 11 until 3.

Drop by if you get a chance.

A three hour tour...

I got to spend this past Saturday afternoon taking a small group to some local Civil War sites. We started off at the Pisgah Church Cemetery - not anyone really famous here, but one of the largest cemeteries in Avery County. From Pisgah, we went to Linville Falls. Lead was mined here during the war and shipped off the mountain. After Linville Falls, we traveled to the Bark House. It was here, or just a little south of the Bark House, depending on which historian you read, that Col. George Kirk fought his second battle on his way back from his Camp Vance raid. This was in June 1864.

Next on our adventure was the Montezuma Community Cemetery. William McKeeson "Keith" Blalock, and his wife, Sarah Malinda Pritchard "Sam" Blalock are buried here. Keith and Sam both served in the 26th North Carolina. There are other Civil War vets buried here as well - six total.

Our last stop for the afternoon was the property known as Grasslands - the home of Col. John B. Palmer during the war. Palmer moved here in 1858, and in 1864, on his way back from his Camp Vance raid, Kirk ordered, or at least sanctioned, the burning of Palmer’s house.

We talked about a couple of other sites as well - the Cranberry mines, which produced iron ore during the war. The iron ore was shipped off the mountain by wagon loads to the railroad just west of Morganton. We also discussed the underground railroad that the Blalocks helped run: an underground railroad that helped funnel escaped prisoners from Salisbury to east Tennessee. The Blalocks ran the Blowing Rock-Shull’s Mill-Banner Elk portions (then all in Watauga County) of the line.

Overall it was a great afternoon - the weather was good - a little cool, but sunny. Very unlike today, when it is snowing here in the high country.

You know, if we can put together a tour of Civil War sites here in little old Avery County that covers an entire afternoon, imagine what kind of tour we could do in a place that has a lot more Civil War history...

CW Sites in Western NC, part 3

Civil War sites in western North Carolina, part 3

Part 1 of this topic looked at sites along the Blue Ridge, part 2 along the I-26 corridor, and this final part will look at sites west of Asheville.

While there were a number of small actions in far-western North Carolina, there are not many sites. Anyone in this area should visit the Museum of Cherokee Indians in Cherokee, on the North Carolina side of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. There is information here (an exhibit) on Thomas’s Legion, along with the Legion’s original battle flag. There is also a Confederate monument in Cherokee dedicated "in Honor of those brave Cherokee Indians Loyal to the Confederacy... Commanded by Wm. H. Thomas."

While on the subject of Thomas, his grave is in the Green Hill Cemetery in Waynesville. There are quite a few other Confederate graves in this cemetery. Waynesville is hailed as the site of the "last skirmish of the War Between States." There is a monument near old White Sulphur Springs that reads "Near this spot was fired the last shot of the War Between the States, under the command of Lt. Robert T. Conley, of the Confederate Army, May 6, 1865." The monument was erected by the UDC.

There are other sites in the area, like the Old Mother Cemetery in Robbinsville, where Brig. Gen. John W. McElroy is buried. There is also a Confederate monument in Franklin.

A piece of advice - call some of these place before you visit. Many museums here in western North Carolina close in the winter time, or operate on a limited schedule.