Mountain Rebels, Western North Carolina in the Civil War
Appalachian Confederate soldiers, particularly in Western North Carolina, were complex in terms of their allegiance and opinions on the institution of slavery. These complexities are the result of the region in which they lived and worked. Ashe County, North Carolina is a region often discussed by historical scholars, and it serves as fair representation of the social and economic climate of western North Carolina in the 1860s. Kenneth W. Noe, in his review of Ashe County’s Civil War: Community and Society in the Appalachian South, notes that very few counties were physically more remote than Ashe, high in the mountains along the Tennessee border. Ashe consisted of small farming communities tied by kin, and a two-party system “fueled by local rivalries” flourished in the county. As for agriculture, tied directly to slave ownership, western counties produced fewer cash crops than counties in the Piedmont or Coastal Plains. The mountain climate and terrain prevented the construction and development of large plantations. Slaves in western counties instead supported diverse economic activities. Despite these characteristics, slavery was a vital part of the mountain economy. Slaves were employed alongside small tenant farmers, in mines, and in livestock endeavors.
The following image provides a physical mapping of the plantation economy in the southeast. Take note of the darker areas in which farm value was highest. Values are typically lower in the mountain counties because plantations were almost nonexistent:
In terms of slavery in the region, slaves were few and far-between in the mountain counties; however, the issue of slavery mattered to the people. They feared slave uprisings and felt very much betrayed by the north’s betrayal of previous sectional agreements in the 1850s. For these reasons, they were mostly supportive of secession and the southern cause.
Demographic maps show that slavery was less common in in the mountains of North Carolina. This is because much of the population did not own or require slaves; however, everyone was connected to the practice in some way.
Note the distinction between the three regions of the state:
In mountain counties, a quarter of the population or less were enslaved. This is tied to the economic climate of mountains. Note the significant difference between mountain counties and counties in the Piedmont and Coastal Plains:
This is not to say that Unionism did not exist, because it certainly did. Noe mentions that Unionists in the mountain areas were typically non-slave holding tenant farmers, but most of the other residents fitting this description supported the Confederacy. This tells me that the professions of soldiers did not wholly determine their allegiances. Unionism incited guerrilla war in the region, but this sort of violence was more or less a rarity. It was more common within the mountains of Tennessee to the west. According to Wilma A. Dunaway in her article, Civil War in the Mountain South, by 1863 “the mix of deserters, Unionist guerrillas, outlaws, and homeguards proved incendiary”. Western North Carolina had developed into a complex guerrilla war zone involving a host of different groups.
The Making of a Confederate by William L. Barney documents the life of Walter Lenoir, a Confederate soldier from the mountains of North Carolina. The book does a great job providing readers with a glimpse of the variety of people that lived in North Carolina. Walter Lenoir detests the institution of slavery, and never enjoyed seeing the way slaves were treated at his father’s estate, and in his community. He intends to separate himself from all the slaves he inherited. Prior to the war Lenoir planned to leave North Carolina and move to Minnesota to escape slave society. When war broke out, Lenoir could not follow through with his plan and felt obligated to fight for the southern cause, mainly to protect his home and his assets. My sources, on the subject of slavery in Appalachia, are all similar in that they describe attitudes toward slavery as a dynamic construct. Just as there were Unionists and supporters of the Confederacy, there were some that did not like slavery, and some who favored the practice. Lenoir went on to fight several battles for the Confederacy, and his devotion to the southern cause never wavered. Whether Appalachian soldiers liked slavery or not, many of them still supported the south simply because they identified as southerners and felt that the north had infringed upon their rights as citizens.
Studies on Confederate nationalism and views on secession in Western North Carolina help to shed light on the motivations of Appalachian soldiers and partisan fighters. Gordon B. Mckinney in his journal, Layers of Loyalty, writes that there are many pieces of written documentation on Confederate nationalism in which he had not had access to previously. These documents caused him to come to new conclusions on the subject. Some historians believe that Confederate nationalism in western North Carolina remained strong until 1864, while others believe that popular support for the Confederacy “was never robust” in the region, and even waned as military defeats mounted around Richmond.
All in all, two conclusions can be drawn concerning the economic and social backgrounds of Confederates in Western North Carolina. They lived in communities quite different from planter society. Western North Carolina was comprised of tenant farmers, hunters, minors, woodcutters, etc. Their society was complex, and slavery was significantly less abundant. Many who did not own slaves felt inclined to side with the Union because they had no reasons to fight for slavery. The presence of Unionists incited guerrilla warfare and violent raids throughout the region, and devotion to the southern war effort was inconsistent considering higher rates of desertion in the mountains. I’ve concluded that Western North Carolina was not fully devoted to the southern cause but was a complex construct of different communities with varying interests and ideologies in times of war, making it a particularly interesting subject to delve into.
References
Barney, William L. The Making of a Confederate: Walter Lenoir’s Civil War. Oxford University Press, 2009.
Mckinney, Gordon B. “Layers of Loyalty: Confederate Nationalism and Amnesty Letters from Western
North Carolina.” Civil War History, vol. 51, no. 1, 22 May 2005, pp. 5–
22.,doi:10.1353/cwh.2005.0013.
Noe, Kenneth W. “Ashe County’s Civil War: Community and Society in the Appalachian South
(Review).” Civil War History, vol. 48, no. 3, 2002, pp. 272–273., doi:10.1353/cwh.2002.0040.
“North Carolina Historic Sites.” The North Carolina Civil War Experience — The Road to Secession,
civilwarexperience.ncdcr.gov/narrative/narrative-1.htm.
Wilma A. Dunaway. “Slavery and Emancipation in the Mountain South: Sources, Evidence and Methods,
“Virginia Tech, Online Archives, Table 3.1.
