Watauga County in the Civil War

My latest book, Watauga County in the Civil War, will be hitting the stands soon - as in next week. This project really means a great deal to me - I took eighteen years to research it. It is jammed with material - some of it old (but hopefully presented in a new light), and some of it is new material that you have probably never seen before. The book covers the War years, 1861-1865, and the events that took place in old Watauga County. Also, there are chapters on the soldiers who marched away, Reconstruction, the Remembrance process (like the veteran reunions), and Unionists.

So, I would like to offer you a chance to order a signed copy of the book. I've set up a page just for that process. Please visit http://www.michaelchardy.com/CWWatauga for instructions on ordering online, or via mail. If you would like the book or books inscribed to someone, please make sure you include that in your note. Books are $17.00 each, plus $3.00 shipping.

Of course, I will be speaking and signing in the Boone area. This includes:

Boone Heritage Festival, October 12, 2013 (all day)

Watauga County Public Library, October 22, 2013 (1:00 - 3:00 pm)

Autumn Leaf Festival, Jefferson, October 26, 2013 (all day)

Gen. James B. Gordon Camp, SCV, N. Wilkesboro, November 7, 2013 (7:00pm)

Black Bear Books, TBA

If you would like me to visit your group, please drop me a line.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed over the years to this project, and I look forward to hearing from you!

On the road....

Folks, I'll have a busy week ahead of me this next week. This includes:

Monday, September 16, Unicoi Historical Society, Erwin, Tennessee.  7:00 PM at the Erwin Tennessee Town Hall.

Tuesday, September 17, Col. John B. Palmer Camp, SCV, Burnsville Town Center, 7:00 pm (North Carolina at Chickamauga)

Thursday, September 19, Jefferson, North Carolina. "On the Same Page" : I'll be presenting my "So You Want to Get Published" workshop. Check out the web site: http://www.onthesamepagefestival.org/

Grandfather Mountain

If you follow me on facebook, you probably know that I have been working on a photo history about Grandfather Mountain for Arcadia Publishing. This will be my fifth book for Arcadia. Previous titles include Avery County; Caldwell County; Mitchell County; and the very popular Remembering North Carolina's Confederates. I signed this contract back last year.

Grandfather Mountain has a little Civil War history to it. It was up on Grandfather that Confederate conscription officers drove Keith and Malinda Blalock, after their brief experience in the 26th NCT. They supposedly hid out in a hog pen. And local tradition has it that the lower slopes of Grandfather were used as part of a local underground railroad, funneling escaped POWs and dissidents out of Salisbury toward Federal lines in east Tennessee.

Of course, there is much more recent history to Grandfather Mountain: events like the annual Singing on the Mountain -- started in 1924-- or the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, or the annual Girl Scout Day. So I am looking for photographs of people visiting the animal habitat, crossing the Swinging Bridge, or hiking the Profile Trail. If you have photographs, please drop me a line. They need to be scanned at a high resolution.

Thanks for reading - and, it is a good day to visit someplace like Grandfather Mountain!

U.S.S. Peterhoff

For the past couple of days, I've been reading Stanley South's autobiography, An Archaeological Evolution. Dr. South played a role in the early days of the Brunswick Town/Ft. Anderson and Ft. Fisher State Historic Sites. While I found much of interest, what really struck me was the story of the U.S.S.  Peterhoff.

   It appears that the Peterhoff was "a 416-ton iron-hulled yacht originally built for the Tsar of Russia" by a company in London. It had 140 hp steam engines and was launched in 1850. At some point, the ship transferred to Britain and was used as a cargo ship.

   On January 27, 1863, the Peterhoff set sail from Cornwall, and on February 20, she was boarded and searched by the crew of the USS Alabama. Papers from John Slidell in England to the Confederate Secretary of State were tossed overboard. Since there were no official means to hold the vessel, it was released. The Peterhoff reached St. Thomas, and then on February 25, set sail again. She was again boarded, and the captain claimed that he was bound for Matamoros in Mexico. But a crewman let slip that the vessel was actually bound for Brownville, Texas. The Peterhoff was seized, sold in a prize court, and after additional legal battles, in 1864, became a part of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. She left Hampton Roads, Virginia, on February 28, 1864, to help with the blockade of Wilmington, North Carolina. Just a few days later, on March 6, 1864, the U.S.S. Peterhoff was rammed by the gunboat U.S.S. Monticello, and the Peterhoff  was sunk. When low tide came on March 7, Federal sailors boarded the Peterhoff and destroyed what they could.  After the war ended, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the owners of the Peterhoff, and the government was forced to compensate her owners.

The wreck lies off Kure Beech. Several cannon have been brought up over the years, including this one at Fort Fisher, and the wreck site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Wrong, wrong, wrong....

My readers might be tired of the ongoing mentions of the Blalocks, but there just appears to be so much bad information out there. Their life story seems as blown out of proportion as say, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's. I found the below article in a book edited by Lisa Tendrich Frank entitled Women in the American Civil War, Volume 1 (2008). So, I'm going to pick the article apart. I promise I will leave this subject alone for a while after this.

Blalock, Malinda [Sam Blalock]

(ca.1840-1901)

   Malina Blalock is thought to be the only woman to fight on both sides of the Civil War, and she is the only woman known to have fought as a man from North Carolina. [I know of two others from North Carolina who fought as men. One was from Yancey County and the other from the eastern part of the state.]

   Born Sarah Malinda Pritchard in about 1840 [her birth date, per tombstone, was March 10, 1839] in Caldwell County, North Carolina, to Alfred and Elizabeth Pritchard, Malinda married William McKesson "Keith" Blalock in April 1861, at a small church near Grandfather Mountain in Watauga County. [They were already married in 1860 when the census taker came around.] The two were Unionists. [Probably not technically- they were dissidents who used the Union army to continue a family feud.]

   Keith decided to join the Confederate army, desert as soon as possible, and join the Union army. Malinda cut her hair short and enlisted with Keith on March 20, 1862 as Sam Blalock in Company F, Twenty-sixth Regiment, North Carolina Troops. Malinda had assumed the name of Keith's half- brother, and she was his brother. [I don't recall Keith ever having any brothers.] The Blalocks shared the same tent and drilled side by side until April 20, 1862, when Keith deceitfully obtained a discharge. Having realized that deserting to join the Union would not be easy, Keith rubbed himself with poison sumac and was subsequently discharged. [This statement always puzzles me - the Union army was what, twenty miles down the road in New Bern? And while the poison was listed on his discharge papers, so was the hernia he also had, probably the real reason he was discharged.] Malinda then disclosed her identity as a woman and she was discharged as well. Keith's deception was soon discovered and he was charged with desertion. [Um, he was discharged, so he could not be charged with desertion. But, once he got better, he was liable for conscription, hence his problems with local authorities.] He lived on Grandfather Mountain with several other deserters before fleeing for a short time to Tennessee, where he became a recruiter for a Michigan regiment.

   Unionists at heart, [if true, why did he wait until mid-1864 to enlist in the Union army?] Malinda and Keith went back to the North Carolina mountains and played an active role in the guerrilla raids and personal vendettas that characterized the war in that part of the state in 1864. The Blalocks joined George W. Krik's partisan unit in North Carolina. [There is no historical documentation that the Blalocks and Kirk ever met.] Keith also served as a guide for Confederate deserters and for Unionists who were trying to make their way through the mountains to Federal lines in Tennessee.

   In 1864, Malinda was wounded in a skirmish, and in another engagement Keith was blinded in one eye. In 1865 Keith shot and killed a man whom he believed had killed his stepfather Austin Coffey. Keith was apprehended, but, before he was brought to trial, he was pardoned by Governor William W. Holden. [I believe that Keith actually surrendered.]

   After the war, the Blalocks became farmers in Mitchell County, North Carolina, and had at least four  children: Columbus, John, Willie, and Samuel. [Columbus was actually born in 1863.] Malinda died on March 9, 1901. She and her husband, who died August 11, 1913, are buried in the Montezuma Cemetery in Avery County, North Carolina.

So perhaps the Blalock story is even more embellished than Chamberlain's. I'm starting to think that only Davy Crockett and Pocahontas have been more distorted, and Disney hasn't even gone after Keith and Malinda....yet.

Fear in North Carolina

Recently, I finished reading Fear in North Carolina: The Civil War Journals and Letters of the Henry Family, edited by Karen Clinard and Richard Russell (2008). It is overall a great read, and fairly uncluttered by editorial remarks, which I really like.

The diary follows the life of William and Cornelia Henry, an upper-class, slave-owning  family living in Buncombe County, North Carolina. Cornelia started keeping her diary on January 1, 1860, and diligently kept pen to paper throughout the war years. The post-war entries are sporadic, and finally come to an end October 18, 1868.

Even though the Henrys were upper class, the diary provides and incredible look at life in the mountains of western North Carolina during the war years. The diary is concerned with everyday life - trying to raise children, managing a household with increasing shortages,  and from mid-1863 on, constant worry about the encroachment of both Yankees from Tennessee and home rogues up to no good. In the final days of the war, William Henry, who had served for a time in the home guard, during the "Laurel Wars," was forced into hiding and the farm was raided several times.  Equally important are the entries right after the war, in the beginning days of Reconstruction, as the family tried to adjust to what would become the new normal.

Overall, Fear is North Carolina is a great addition to the historiography of the War in North Carolina, and especially in the western part of our fair state.  

On the road

Folks, I'll be out and about our fair state the next week or so. If you are in one of these areas, please drop by and say hi!

August 8, 2013 - Little Switzerland Homemakers Club (Mitchell County), 1:00 pm.

August 9, 2013 - Avery County Historical Museum (scanning photos for the Grandfather Mountain project), 10:00 - 3:00 pm.

August 10, 2013 - Zebulon Baird Vance State Historic Site, Weaverville, NC (all day).

August 13, 2013 - SCV Camp, Garner, NC

August 14, 2013 - SCV Camp, Salisbury, NC

August 15, 2013 - Avery County and the Civil War - Avery County-Morrison Public Library, Newland, 6:30 pm.

A cheerful and happy view of history.

   What's wrong with this sentence? "The Blalocks moved into a cabin on Grandfather Mountain and lived happily ever after, cheerfully skirmishing with pro-South neighbors and helping Union soldiers to safety until war's end." This quotation came from a book entitled North Carolina by Sheila Turnage, a guide book published in 2009.

   First of all, the Blalocks weren't living in a cabin. As the story goes, after Keith and Malinda Blalock got back from their very brief stint in the 26th North Carolina Troops, they were forced to leave their home when confront by Confederate sympathizers and forced "still further up Grandfather and lived in a rail pen.  But they were followed even there, and on one occasion, Keith was so hotly pursued that he was shot in the left arm, and had to take refuge with some hogs which had 'bedded up' under the rocks." (Arthur, A History of Watauga County, 161) That certainly does not sound like living "happily ever after..."  Even if Turnage was making an attempt at humor or satire, it falls flat and misleads.

   And hence the problem with these glimpses of history. For three years, the Blalocks lived on the run, never knowing what the breaking of a twig on the forest floor might be. It could be one of those escaped prisoners, looking for a friend and guide over the mountains and into Union lines, or it could be members of the home guard, diligently trying to stem the tide of men passing through the area. Turnage's account, with words like "happily ever after" and "cheerfully skirmishing" make it sound, for lack of a better phrase, that the couple were simply out on holiday. For the Blalocks, the men they guided, the family they skirmished with, and the men who hunted them, it was anything but happy and cheerful.

   As my friend Sharyn McCrumb puts it so eloquently in The Ballad of Frankie Silver: "Happy stories mostly ain't true."

Watauga County in the Civil War editorial proofs

A couple of days ago, I received the editorial proofs for the Watauga County in the Civil War book, being published by the History Press. I've not looked at nor thought much about the manuscript in about a month, since I sent it along on its merry way. So, it was a fresh read for me. Is it a definitive, 150,000-word masterpiece on a poor mountain county and the great American tragedy? No... and yes. No, it's not 150,000 words, but I do believe that it is definitive. And most important (at least to me), readable.

Earlier this year, I picked up Martin Crawford's Ashe County's Civil War to give it a read. It is a book I've owned for several years, and while I have dug around it from time to time, mostly when working on the book on the 58th NCT, I had never read the entire book from cover to cover. I now have. And the first third was so arduous, I almost put it aside. But I stuck it out and finished it. One of the top goals of my writing is to make what I write readable for the general public. I do not want you to pick up one of my books, a read a few pages, and quickly come to the conclusion that I am educated, but a bore. History is not boring, or at least it should not be. The Watauga County book is full of stats and numbers, interspersed with story from period newspapers and passed down through families for generations: stories about how men marched away, raids on the countryside, and the shared experience of battle.

Not long ago, someone wrote a review of the Battle of Hanover Court House book. This person did not like the way I had used quotations to tell write the history of the engagement. He would rather have me summarize the information. I find that intriguing. What would you rather hear: me telling you what I think happened, or the people who witnessed it telling you what happened? I think their stories are more important. That's one of the reasons why I have put two books together for Ten Roads Publishing, both collections of letters, one on Chancellorsville, and the other on Gettysburg. They are the ones that have witnessed the war, and their words are the ones that are important.

The Watauga County project has some of their words. I have managed to eke out 40,000 words about the War and the county, not bad for such limited sources. But then again, I collected material for 18 years on the War and mid-nineteenth century Watauga County.

So in the end, when Watauga County in the Civil War is released, I hope you enjoy. And more importantly, I hope you learn something. I surely learned a lot. And I hope the generations of people who come after me, and pick up a copy of the book, will also be learning something as well. Just remember, it is their story, their shared experience. I'm just a collector and storyteller. 

Meet Renowned Civil War Artist Mort Künstler

Here’s your chance to meet nationally acclaimed artist Mort Künstler. He will sign prints of his new painting “Capitol Farewell,” featuring the North Carolina State Capitol as it appeared on Feb. 5, 1863. The artist will sign two items per person on Saturday, Sept. 14, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Museum Shop at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh. Weekend parking is free.

            The Museum Shop is the first venue to have “Capitol Farewell” prints available for purchase. Call the shop at 919-807-7835 to reserve your print before Sept. 14.

            In addition to the print, the Museum Shop has items related to the painting “Winter Riders,” books, and other Künstler memorabilia. 

 Details About “Capitol Farewell”

            “Capitol Farewell” will be unveiled for the exhibit For Us the Living: The Civil War Art of Mort Künstler, opening Friday, Aug. 23.

            In the painting’s nighttime scene, a streetlamp illuminates a couple preparing to part during wartime. Snow blankets the Capitol grounds in this view from Hillsborough Street.

            In the exhibit text, Künstler describes “Capitol Farewell” in his own words. This excerpt focuses on soldiers leaving home. 

            “In this new painting, a young couple says good-bye, perhaps for the last time. Scenes of this sort took place thousands of times, all over the country, in both the North and the South. I have attempted to capture the drama of those moments and to show the difficulties of the soldier’s life.”

            An iron fence that was on the Capitol grounds at the time appears in “Capitol Farewell.” The fence was moved in 1899 to the Raleigh City Cemetery, where it stands today.

            “Capitol Farewell” is one of two paintings Künstler has created of the North Carolina State Capitol as it appeared on Feb. 5, 1863. The first such painting is “Winter Riders” (1995).

            “It is wonderful that Mr. Künstler has chosen to do a second painting of our beautiful State Capitol Building,” says Museum Shop Manager Lynn Brower. “Those who missed getting a print of ‘Winter Riders’ years ago will have an opportunity to purchase ‘Capitol Farewell.’ Of course, anyone who collects Künstler’s work will welcome the chance to add this new print to their collection.”

            Call the Museum Shop to reserve your “Capitol Farewell” print today!

For more information about the Museum of History, call 919-807-7900 or access ncmuseumofhistory.org or Facebook.

# # #

IMAGE

File Capitol Farewell: The painting “Capitol Farewell” will be unveiled especially for the exhibit For Us the Living: The Civil War Art of Mort Künstler, opening Aug. 23 at the N.C. Museum of History. The North Carolina State Capitol is prominent in this winter scene

About the N.C. Museum of History

The museum is located at 5 E. Edenton Street, across from the State Capitol. Parking is available in the lot across Wilmington Street. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. The Museum of History, within the Division of State History Museums, is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.

On the road

My journey continues this week. Please come on out and let's chat a spell if you are in the area. Everyone is welcomed at any of these events!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013 - Johnson City, TN - SCV Camp - they meet at the Empire China Buffett on Roan Street at 6:00 pm.

Thursday, July 11, 2013 - Morganton, NC - Burke County Museum of History - 6:30 pm. This is a round table discussion.

Saturday, July 12, 2013 - Fayetteville, NC - Museum of the Cape Fear Complex - 1:00 pm. I be talking about Charlotte and Fayetteville, and taking your questions.

Writing about Gettysburg

Well, today's the day... the 150th anniversary of the conclusion of the battle of Gettysburg. I'll be the first to admit it: Gettysburg is not my favorite. Of course, confessing that one likes any site where thousands of men were killed and wounded might sound a little odd. But as battlefields go, Gettysburg is not a very high on my list. It probably has something to do with the air-brushed t-shirts and the ghost tours on every street corner. Just a few short miles down the road is my favorite: Antietam. But that is another post.

Yesterday, I was thinking on my own connections to the battle. No, I do not have any direct ancestors who fought in the battle (just a slew of cousins). My own ancestors (save one who wound up in the 11th Florida) were all in the Army of Tennessee, or the western theater, getting ready to get surrendered tomorrow at Vicksburg. My connections come from writing about the battle. My first published piece was on Col. Collett Leventhorpe, 11th North Carolina Troops, who was wounded on July 1 fighting the Iron brigade. That article appeared in North and South Magazine in 1997.The next time I had a published piece on Gettysburg was the chapter in the book on the 37th North Carolina Troops. That was released in 2003.

The chapter on Gettysburg in the 37th NCT book was the first chapter that I wrote. The publisher wanted to see a sample chapter, and I chose the July 1863 battle for that chapter. I'm not sure I remember why. It might have had something to do with the primary sources I had collected at the time, or maybe something to do with the wealth of secondary sources, but it was the first chapter that I wrote for the book, and it landed me a contract.

I then set out on a set of articles about North Carolina for Gettysburg Magazine. There are still others that I would like to write, I've just not gotten around to them yet.

In 2011, I returned to the battle - adding my own name to the seemingly countless others who have penned a book about the battle. In the course of my research over the past fifteen years, I have collected almost four score articles written by Tar Heel soldiers about the battle. These were lightly edited and put into a volume entitled ­North Carolina Remembers Gettysburg. I greatly enjoy this volume - it is like standing on the battlefield and listening to the soldiers themselves telling me about their time they spent on those rolling Pennsylvania hills.

So what is in store? As I said before, I still have an article or two I would like to write about the battle, and, with the recent contract with Savas-Beatie for a book on the Branch-Lane brigade, I will be returning to visit with some new friends. Who knows? Maybe I will write the Gettysburg chapter first.

 

Going to Gettysburg?

Several people have asked, but no, I'm not going to either of the Gettysburg reenactments. Been there and done that - twice. I was at the 125th event in 1988, and the 135th event in 1998. The 1998 was the largest reenactment ever held - somewhere between 20,000 and 25,000 re-enactors. Since politics has dictated that we have two events this year, I seriously doubt we will eclipse the 1998 event. And, I swore after the Gettysburg event in 1998 that I would never go back for the event - too hot, too many people, too hot, and well, just too hot. To be very honest, the 2001 Manassas event ruined me - the heat index was around 115 degrees, and I've just not cared about any summer event outside the mountains since.

So, what I will I spend the next week doing? Tomorrow, the Hardy family will be volunteering our time at the Zeb Vance Birthplace State Historic Site near Weaverville. We'll be talking about Civil War music and ladies' clothing (particularly undergarments, ever popular). Probably Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, I'll work on finishing up the Watauga County and the Civil War manuscript and getting if off to the publisher. I might be doing a program for the National Park Service next Friday evening at the Linville Falls Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and on Saturday, I'll be talking about the War at the Newland centennial celebration here in Avery County.

Y'all enjoy Gettysburg. I skip the heat, ticks, $20+ bags of ice, traffic jams, and frequent thunderstorms. I'll just live in the past.... After all , there will be hordes of faceless folks at Gettysburg, but the Zeb Vance Birthplace really needs us and our friends to make their event happen. Sometimes, it is better to be where we are needed than at the "big (and did I mention hot?) show."

The photo? It is my registration badge from the 1988 event.

Is Watauga County's coverage the best in the state?

So as I concluded my work on Watauga County and the War, I have come up with one final question: is Watauga County the best-written about county in North Carolina when it comes to the War? The short answer, in my opinion is, yes... probably....  Here is why I think so.

Just about every regiment that had a large number of men to come from the county and serve, has some type of regimental history. On the Union side, we have:

History of the Thirteenth Regiment Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry (1902, 1973) Scott & Angel

Kirk's Raiders: A Notorious Band of Scoundrels and Thieves. (2000) Bumgarner [2nd and 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry]

A History of the Third Mounted Infantry Volunteers, U. S. A. (2008) Killian

On the Confederate side, we have:

Stuart's Tarheels: James B. Gordon and His North Carolina Cavalry in the Civil War. (2011) Hartley

The Thirty-seventh North Carolina Troops: Tar Heels in the Army of Northern Virginia. (2003) Hardy

The Fifty-eighth North Carolina Troops: Tar Heels in the Army of Tennessee. (2011) Hardy

The 5th and 7th Battalions North Carolina Cavalry and the 6th North Carolina Cavalry. (1995) Weaver

Added to all of this is a chapter in John Preston Arthur's A History of Watauga County (1915); two chapters in Shepherd M. Dugger's War Trails of the Blue Ridge (1932); a short chapter in History of Watauga County (1949) by Whitener; several mentions in Altmayer's A Family History of Watauga County  (1994); and two chapters in my own A Short History of Old Watauga County (2005).

You can also add three books on Stoneman's Raid: Van Noppens (1961); Hartley's (2010), and Blackwell and Bostick (2011).

And then there are a host of fictional accounts, like Sharyn McCumb's Ghost Riders  (2004) and Robert Greene's Haversack and Hog Rifle (1992).

Finally, there is my newest book, due out some time later this year, entitled, Watauga County and the Civil War (The History Press).  

So - what do you think? Is Watauga County, Civil War speaking, the best written about County in North Carolina?

Watauga Confederate Veterans Photographs

Friends - these are all Confederate Veterans Reunion photographs from Watauga County. I am looking for better copies. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

On the road

The first two weeks of this month were not that busy. That's going to change starting tomorrow. I look forward to seeing you around!

May 20 - Taylorsville, NC. Rocky Face Rangers Camp, SCV. 7:00 pm

May 23 - Charlotte, NC Central Piedmont Civil War Round Table. 7:00 pm

May 27 - Petersburg, VA  Blandford Church Cemetery, Petersburg, VA 3:00 pm

May 27  - Suffolk, VA Tom Smith Camp, SCV 6:00 pm

May 28 - Roanoke, VA Fincastle Rifles Camp, SCV 6:00 pm.

An Environmental History of Watauga County and the Civil War.

Ok, that is a very lofty title. The idea is based upon a project being developed by a couple of my friends from Appalachian State University. Of course, I am not working on an Environmental History of the War. I am just writing about the Watauga County and the War, and the shared experiences of the people who lived in the area in the 1860s.

But then again, it would be relevant to include more information about how the environment influenced the war within the confines of the county. That, however, is quite a challenge. The closest newspaper to the area would either be the newspapers in Salem or Statesville or Asheville.  If you have ever spent time in the High Country of North Carolina, the weather in Statesville is nothing like the weather in Boone. To go a step further, the weather one county away, say in Lenoir in Caldwell County, is often nothing like what it is on the west side of the Crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Even the weather within a county is different. There are some portions of the county where snow accumulates to greater depth than in other parts. Or, to probably say it a little more scientifically, there are several different microclimates with the confines of one county.

My references are (as of right now) limited to these:

While none of these actually mentions Watauga County, there are several references to a drought to Ashe and Wilkes County in 1862. This was an event that affected at least much of the eastern US/CS - I've seen references to drought conditions as far away as Ohio in 1862.

There was a report of snow in the mountains of western North Carolina on October 25, 1862. (see Weekly Standard 5 November 1862.)

And, John Preston Arthur, in his history of Western North Carolina, writes that "there was frost in every month" in 1863.

So that is all that I have. I do not have a diary from Watauga County discussing daily life with regular notes about weather conditions . I do not have any letters from the home folks to the loved ones back at home.  And no newspaper. Not much to go on, for sure.  

Who is Nelson?

Folks - I've had this article for a very long time, but I do not know just who "Nelson" is. Any clues? This is from the Raleigh Register - August 21, 1861.

The Release of Nelson.

   Tidings have reached this place of a raid on the part of some tories in East Tennessee into Watauga county in this State, and the abduction of several citizens of the county. The object in making this seizure is believed to be to hold persons taken as hostages for the safety of Nelson. As Nelson has been released, we presume the persons abducted will be set at liberty.

Latta Plantation

This past weekend, I had a chance to visit Latta Plantation, in Mecklenburg County, near Huntersville. For whatever reasons, it was my first visit to Latta.

Latta was built ca.1800 by an Irish immigrant, James Latta. During the Civil War years, the property was owned by the Sample family. The house was preserved in the 1970s, was opened to the public in the mid-1970s, and is now a part of the Latta Plantation Nature Preserve.

No, there were no great battles fought on the grounds, nor were there bodies of Confederate generals laid out on the porch. There were several sons of William Sample who joined the 53rd North Carolina Troops. But for the most part, the War passed by Latta Plantation.

But what we do have is a pristine historic site in a fantastic location. According to its web site, "In addition to daily tours, Latta offers 35 special events each year, five themed summer day camps, homeschool programs, workshops, educational field trips, and daily tours year-round. The 12,000 school children that visit the site annually are able to participate in unique interactive historical programming, visit rare and endangered breeds of historic livestock, see the process of growing short-staple cotton first hand, visit our honeybee exhibit, and much more!"

Despite Latta Plantation's importance in both education and tourism, the Mecklenburg County Commissioners are moving to cut funding to the site. In an area already seriously lacking in historically relevant  tourism and educational opportunities, the county wants to cut the one really good site that it has. What's next? Rosedale Plantation? The Mint Museum? The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts and Culture? Surly not, you might argue. But remember, history is apparently no longer important.

Charlotte and Mecklenburg County are rich in history: from the Hezekiah Alexander House at the almost-defunct Charlotte Museum of History to the Confederate Naval Complex to the World War I Camp Greene. Yet no one, especially the elected leaders in Mecklenburg County, seems to care.

The one and only bright spot is the Library Walk, which details a fifteen-stop walking tour connected to the Revolutionary War in downtown Charlotte.

No apologies are going to be made for the amount of time that I have spent lately on encouraging you to contact your elected officials and ask them to preserve our history. The funding for Latta Plantation does not need to be cut. Instead, it should be increased.

Also, please consider signing this petition here.

Folks, we are really being shortchanged reagrding our history here in North Carolina. If you do not stand up and fight for it, who will? 

Some stray Watauga County notes...

In writing about the War in Watauga County, it is my goal to include as many details as possible. In the past couple of weeks, I have "uncovered" several little pieces of stories for which finding more information would be great. Does anyone have any additional information on any of these?

 

The first five of these notes came from a small typed manuscript by Roy Weaver entitled "The Civil War in Watauga County." For sources, all of them are simply family interviews.

1. An old cemetery in the Deep Gap community has the grave of a young man by the last name of Black who was killed by the home guard.

2. In the Aho community a man by the name of Hines was shot by the home guard while begging.

3. In the Bamboo community, a man by the name of Harrison was shot and buried on the top of a high ridge.

4. In the Dutch Creek community, a Shoemaker was killed by the home guard,

5. A man named Price was harassed by the home guard because his sons were not in the army. Price fled to the mountains but was captured when he returned for food. He was placed in the jail in Boone, and the following day, a mob took him out and hanged him (or possibly the sons).

 

This account comes from the Watauga County Heritage Volume II:

6. A Mr. Council was jailer when Stoneman's Raid occurred. Someone told Mr. Council that the soldiers were coming, but he paid no attention. [A] man who had been mistreated by Mr. Council told Mr.Council that he would give him five minutes to pray. Mr. Council threw up his hands and prayed "God be merciful." Then the man shot and killed Mr. Council.

 

 Brian Fannon related that

7. There is a story passed down through his family of a man who died and was buried on the edge of the road in the Beech Creek community. This possibly dates to the War years.

 

Sandy Anderson provided this little bit of information:

8. Jim Hartley killed Abram Baird (58th NCT) during the War.