General
- The Civil war has often been referred to as a rich mans war and a poor mans battle. If a man had enough money (usually $300), he could buy his way out of the draft in both the Union and Confederate armies.
- 20 slave rule - if a man had 20 slaves or more, he could purchase a replacement or substitute - this was done because of a fear of slave rebellion.
- The secession was prompted by the election of Abraham Lincoln.
- Lincoln was not on the ballad in Southern states but got elected anyway.
- Lincoln was Republican which was Free Soil Party
- Free Soil meant that future states would not have slavery.
- Lincoln would not budge on this issue
- The Civil war was about the expansion of slavery and not about abolition. Cotton depleted the soil quickly and needed more land to expand on
- Lincoln supported a constitutional amendment to legalize slavery in the states that already were slave states.
- There were 2 secessions - Names of Confederate States in order of secession:
- The first occurred from December 1860 - February 1861 with 7 states leaving the Union - South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida and Texas.
- NC seceded in the 2nd secession with Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas.
- 4 slave states did not secede - Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware.
- The combination of the improvement of weapons and no changes in battlefield strategies to accommodate the change was the main reason for the extreme high death rates in battle. But, many more soldiers died from disease and exposure.
- Rifled musket was the standard weapon. It had a spiral grove which put a spin on the bullet increasing its accuracy and distance to 400 yards. It was also faster to load.
- Artillery range improved
- Mass troops still charged into the direct line of fire - no change in military tactics to adjust to weapon improvements.
North Carolina
- North Carolina was the most reluctant Southern state to join the secession - NC was the last to break with the Union
- Most residents were not slave holders
- NC seceded because Lincoln sent 75.000 troops to South Carolina which was seen as an invasion.
- North Carolina had the largest enlistment of any confederate state, and it also had the largest deserter rate
- More North Carolinians died than soldiers from any other Confederate state. 40,000 North Carolinians gave their lives to the Southern cause either in battle or from disease.
- NC sent more troops than any other state in the Confederacy to fight in the War. 1/6 of the Confederate army were North Carolinians
- Men deserted in both armies because the death tolls from battles were staggering. ex. Gettysburg 1 day, 50,000 casualties.
- Zebulon Vance was the Governor of NC during the Civil War and is known as the War Governor. See Vance Birthplace.
- Kept many people supporting the war
- Exempt some job positions from the draft
- Created special funds to help woman left by themselves
- Unionists strong throughout state
- Many choose not to fight in war instead they formed small bands of outliers or Bushwhackers - those outside the law - raiding houses and businesses and shooting at the Confederate army. Deserters joined these bands too. It was due to survival cause those that were not in the army could be rounded up and shot.
- NC had shifting loyalties
- All forts along the coast except Fort Fisher which guarded the port of Wilmington, seized by Union before North Carolina seceded.
- Many slaves ran away to coastal area to join Union army and to escape slavery
- There were not a lot of battles in the state.
- General Johnson was the commander of the Confederate army in North Carolina.
- The battle of Bentonville was fought in 1865 to keep Sherman from Goldsboro and consequently from Raleigh as long as possible. The Confederates kept Sherman's advancing troops at bay for 3 hours with very little to fight with. However, when General Johnson heard that Goldsboro had fell to the Union, the battle was over. General Johnson's troops abandoned Bentonville on March 15. On April 14, 1865, General Johnson surrendered Confederate troops to General Sherman at Hillsborough NC. It occurred shortly after Lee surrendered at Appomattox.
- Fighting continued in the western mountains after the surrender. The Confederacy made their last stand. On April 25, 1865 Col. George Kirk took Asheville, the last remaining Confederate Stronghold in WNC. Then fought a few skirmishes against William Thomas's Legion of Cherokee Indians. NC was the last to join the Confederacy and the last to stop fighting the war.
- see North Carolina Civil War Battlefields & Museums for more details.
- Conscription Act of 1862 caused many North Carolinians to turn against the war.
Western North Carolina
- Asheville Area
- Battle of Asheville occurred in April 1865 right before the end of the war. It was not much of a battle. The confederate troops were positioned at Pritchard Park (modern day downtown Asheville ) and the Union troops were position near modern day UNCA. They fired a few rounds of cannon at one another. No casualties and that was the extent of it.
- Last Confederate Stronghold
- Asheville had an armory that supplied munitions to the Confederate army known as the Asheville Armory.
- There is a worn monument next to the Buncombe county courthouse that is dedicated to Confederate soldiers that fought in a nearby battle.
- Buncombe Riflemen was a Volunteer Confederate Outfit.
- Stoneman's Raid came through Western North Carolina
- Raided area through Tennessee, Boone, Salisbury through Morganton (along present day I-40).
- The Blake House was used as a Confederate field hospital. The Confederate soldiers were cared for in the bedrooms upstairs. Some of the nurses took pity on the injured Union soldiers and cared for them in the tunnel system under the Inn.
- Calvary Episcopal church Fletcher North Carolina was used as another Confederate field hospital.
- There were pockets in WNC that continued to fight after the surrender. The last battle fought in NC was around Waynesville Balsam Gap. William Thomas of the Cherokee Legion fought Kirk's Union troops. Thomas Legion surrendered.
- Cold Mountain Movie Review - Civil War in Haywood county, information on the war.
- Shelton Laurel Massacre - often referred to as Bloody Madison
- Western North Carolina had a large number of Union supporters. This was due to the lack of substantial slave holders in the area. Many were abolitionists.
- Prior to the Civil War, many North Carolinians opposed slavery, and helped many slaves escape slavery via the Underground Railway.
- The Appalachian trail was on the Underground railway. Many runaway slaves stopped to rest in the Linville caverns.
Cherokee Indians
See Cherokee Indians Facts for more details on Cherokee Native Americans.
North Carolina Civil War Battlefields & Museums
Suggested Reading: Books
Many of the Books featured in this section on the Civil War have a slew of information in the review section and many offer a "look inside."
The Heart of Confederate Appalachia: Western North Carolina in the Civil War
Ashe County's Civil War: Community and Society in the Appalachian South
Mountain Partisans: Guerrilla Warfare in the Southern Appalachians 1861-1865 - This is the story of a civil war within the Civil War. Many mountain whites in Southern Appalachia opposed the Confederacy, especially when the South's conscription and impressment policies began to cause severe hardships. Deserters from the Rebel army hid in the mountains and formed guerrilla bands that terrorized unprotected Confederate homesteads.
The Civil War and Yadkin County, North Carolina
Bushwhackers
Clingman's Brigade in the Confederacy 1862-1865 - Clingman settled near Clingman's Dome NC after the war. The Mountain top is named for General Clingman.
Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of North Carolina in the Civil War
Lee's Tar Heels: The Pettigrew-Kirkland-McRae Brigade
More Terrible Than Victory: North Carolina's Bloody Bethel Regiment,1861-1865
State troops and volunteers : a photographic record of North Carolina's Civil War soldiers
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