Let me tell you a story of two stereotypes that have been propagated for the past 135 years. One stereotype would have us believe that every white Southerner lived in a big, colonnaded white house, with at least a half-a-dozen slaves, never lifting a finger to do a day's worth of work, rode a big fine steed, and when the war came, put on a smart gray uniform covered in gold braid, and rode off to become a hero. The other stereotype paints a picture of the Southern Mountaineer as a barefoot, illiterate, uneducated, ignorant savage. Both of these stereotypes have been reinforced by the media and common assumption. And, both of them are equally skewed pictures of reality.

In reality, 90% of the slaves in the south were owned by 6% of the population. There were white slave owners, Native American slave owners, and black slave owners. And the slaves they owned were also white, Indian, and black. There is even a possibility that some of the slaves here in Watauga County were Asian. The only reason that those big fine homes survived was because they were better built than the common farmer’s shanty that was the predominate housing for most residents in the region.

Watauga County was formed in 1849 from the counties of Ashe, Wilkes, Caldwell, and Yancey. There had been settlers here much earlier, as far back as the early 1700's. The Lewises may have been here as early as the 1730s. The Hodges came during the American Revolution, and about the same time, the Hix (Hicks), Norris, and Holtsclaw families came as well. In 1850 Watauga County had a population of 3,400. Of that 3,400, 586 of them were farmers, who owned 422 farms. The average size was about 40 acres of improved farm land, and 288 acres on unimproved farm land. Each farm was valued at $819.00. Besides farmers, there were six carpenters, four merchants, four clergymen, four laborers, three blacksmiths, three students, two millers, two doctors, and one each of shoemakers, millwrights, hammermen, brickmen, saddlers, and teachers. Teaching was a growing profession, for in 1850 there were 12 public schools in the county, which enrolled 544 male and female students. The 1850 census records also record that only one out of eleven men could not read and only 25% of women could not read.

That population had increased to 4,959 by 1860. In 1850, the town of Councill's Store was renamed Boone, property was donated, and a courthouse and jail were built. Boone was quite a place. A reading of Arthur's History of Watauga County lists many buildings, some brick and others frame structures, that existed before the war came. Blowing Rock had become a place for summer residents as early as 1856 when James Harper of Lenior built "Summerville." By 1860, there were 33 schools that had a total enrollment of 902 pupils. There was also the Episcopal Mission in Valle Crucis. Watauga County had also some major road work before the war. The Caldwell and Watauga Turnpike was completed by 1852. This route was a toll road from Lenior, across the Blue Ridge Mountains at Blowing Rock, through Shull's Mill and Valle Crucis and on into Tennessee. In 1855 a passenger stage coach was running from Abington, Virginia to Lincolnton, North Carolina, with stops in Zionville, Sugar Grove, Valle Crucis, Shull's Mill and Blowing Rock. There were other "turnpikes." There was one that came from Holman's Ford to Jefferson, going through Deep Gap and Old Fields, and passing further south through Three Forks, Brushy Fork, Cove Creek, and then west to Meat Camp. There was eventually a turnpike from Boone to Jefferson, and another from Sugar Grove up Beaver Dams over Baker's Gap to Tennessee.

Politics

There were two candidates in 1856, the first recorded presidential vote. Milliard Fillmore, of the American Party, lost to James Buchcanon, of the democratic party. The vote was 148 to 368. There were four candidates on the ballot for the 1860 Presidential election. They were Stephen A. Douglas - Democrat; John C. Brenkinridge - Democrat; John Bell - Constitutional Union; and Abraham Lincoln - Republican. Sixty-nine percent of Watauga County voters voted for Bell, with thirty-one percent voting for Brenkinridge. There were no votes for Douglas or Lincoln. In the 1862 and 1864 Gubernatorial Elections, Wataugans voted overwhelmingly for Vance.

Very little is known about slavery in Watauga County. In 1860, there were 104 slaves in the county, the smallest population in the entire state. Again, we must currently rely upon a few stories in Arthur's history for information regarding slaves here the county. We do know of at least one slave from Watauga County that applied for a Confederate soldier's pension after the war. As true with most slaves (one estimate is as high as 80%), they continued to live on with their former masters after the ending of hostilities. One such slave was "Done," who had belonged to Thomas and Ermine Farthing. Thomas was killed in 1863 and Done continued to live with the family until Ermine's death. He then went and lived with Polly and Young Farthing until he died and was buried in the Beaver Dams area. Another of Watauga County's slave owners was Lewis Banner. Banner had four sons that served in the conflict. Three served on the side of the Union, and one on the side of the Confederacy. Of Banner's slaves, eight continued to stay after being set free at the end of the war. Banner bought a twenty-acre farm and gave it to his slaves, and they continued to live there for the rest of their lives.

98th Battalion North Carolina Militia

There is evidence of a militia organization in Watauga County ( it was not Watauga County then) as early as 1790. The militia in the county that was formed right before the war was a direct result of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry (West) Virginia. Each small community had a Lieutenant or Captain responsible for the men in that area. Many of these men joined regular units as they formed up. The militia was disbanded in 1863 and Major Harvey Bingham's Home Guard was formed.

1861 found Watauga County residents in a precarious situation. Their sister state, South Carolina, had seceded the December before. Most of the trade that the merchants had done in the past had been with South Carolina cities. To not secede would make them foreigners with their sister state. On the other hand, Virginia and Tennessee were still in the Union. To leave the Union would make North Carolina the front line, susceptible to invasion by a corrupt Republican government. In February, North Carolina called for a vote on calling a State Convention. Watauga County voted overwhelmingly against the meeting (536 to 72), and sent J. W. Councill as a Union delegate. They, like most of their sister Western Mountain counties, adopted a wait and see attitude. In April, things would change. On the 12th, South Carolina, after learning Lincoln was planning to smuggle more troops in to Fort Sumter, opened fire, causing the Fort to capitulate. Three days later, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to force the seceded states back into the Union. On the 17th, Virginia seceded. The change from the wait and see attitude to one of support for their sister states was instantaneous. Some Western Mountain politicians, Zebulon Baird Vance included, changed their support from the Union to secession in mid-sentence. Watauga County residents also supported their state's actions almost as quickly.

Just a couple of weeks after Fort Sumter's defeat, and Lincoln's call, Watauga County organized their first war-time company. Fifty-one men volunteered and pledged "Our lives, our Properties, and our Sacred Honors to defend the Right Institutions and Honor of our County, [and] our State…" They signed up for twelve months and promoted William Y. Farthing as Captain. Their uniforms were "Blue mixed Homespun Pants with Black Stripes, and common Mountain Hunting Shirt trimmed with brass buttons, the collar & pockets trimmed with Black, and the Parade Coat to be of the same material…" Within a few short weeks, fifty of them enlisted in other Confederate units, with one, Solomon Younce, enlisting in the Federal Army.

Company D, 9th North Carolina State Troops (1st North Carolina Cavalry)

Within a couple of weeks, Watauga County residents enlisted in the first formal unit from the county. May 11, 1861, was an exciting day for the eager volunteers. Harvey Davis would write in his diary: "After a some-what firey speech by G. N. Folk a brilliant lawyer in the Town of Boone, in which the speaker dwelt at large on the attempt of the North to dominate the South and abrogate her rights under the Constitution, A call was made for volunteers… It seemed as if the whole assembly of citizens soon were in line." Sixty men enlisted in the month of May.. They elected George N. Folk, Captain; Joseph B. Todd, First Lieutenant; James Councill, Second Lieutenant; and Jordan D. Cook, Third Lieutenant. They traveled to Raleigh and were mustered in as Company D, 9th North Carolina State Troops or 1st North Carolina Cavalry. They spent their Confederate service under JEB Stuart and Wade Hampton, in the Army of Northern Virginia.

Companies B and E, 37th North Carolina Troops

The next Watauga boys to enlist in the service of their state were the Watauga Marksmen and the Watauga Minute Men. They enlisted in Boone on September 11, 1861, and in Sugar Grove, August 8, 1861, respectively. In November, both companies were mustered into State service, and along with men from the counties of Ashe, Alexander, Wilkes, Union, Allegheny, Mecklenburg, and Gaston, they became the 37th North Carolina Troops. The first officers of Company B, the Watauga Marksmen, were Jonathan Horton, Captain; Jordan Cook, 1st Lt.; Calvin Carlton, 2nd Lt.; and Andrew J. Critcher, 3rd Lt. In Company E, the Watauga Minute Men, William Y. Farthing was the first Captain; Paul Farthing, 1st Lt.; William F. Shull, 2nd Lt.; and Harvey Bingham, 3rd Lt. This unit served in the Branch-Lane Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia throughout the war and was

involved in many of its major campaigns: Seven Days, 2nd Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Petersburg, and Appomattox.

On the Home Front

On the second Saturday of October of each year, there was a general muster at the muster grounds east of Boone (intersection of present US 321 & 421). The last general muster occurred in October, 1861. Many of the eligible men had already left for the war. As the story goes, the militia had drilled, which was followed by the usual activities: news gathering, games, fun, fighting, and drinking. Joseph B. Todd, who had just returned from the 1st North Carolina Cavalry, was serving as clerk of the court. After the drill, he was forced to stand in front of the courthouse and brandish his sword in an effort to keep the militia from riding their horses into the courthouse itself.

1862

Things were relatively quiet for several months after the last muster of the militia. In 1863, the Confederate Congress passed the Conscription Act. Simply stated, this meant that if a man was between the ages 18 and 35, he had to serve in the Confederate Army. There was a grace period of several months to allow men to volunteer under their own free will. When this time ended, around August 1862, everyone that was eligible that had not volunteered was conscripted.

Companies D, I, and M, 58th North Carolina Troops.

The largest unit to come out of the county was the 58th North Carolina Troops. The first company, known originally as Capt. Drury C. Harmon's Company, North Carolina volunteers, was mustered in on June 27, 1862. Drury C. Harmon was the first Captain, Benjamin F. Baird, 1st Lt., William P. Mast, 2nd Lt., and William M. Howington, 3rd Lt. This company first became a company in Palmer's Legion, and, after the 5th Battalion Partisan Rangers failed to complete its organization, was transferred to the newly created 58th NCT as company D. The second Company, the Watauga Troopers, was organized on July 15, 1862. The first Captain was William Miller, 1st Lt., William M. Hodges, 2nd Lt., Jordan C. McGee, and 3rd Lt., James Horton. This company was transferred to the 58th on July 19, and designated Company I. The final company was organized in Boone on September 26, 1862. The first Captain was Jonathan L. Phillips; George W. Hopkins, 1st Lt.; Thomas Ray, 2nd Lt.; and John R. Norris, 3rd Lt. This group became Company M of the 58th NCT. The men of the 58th NCT spent their service in the Department of East Tennessee and the Army of Tennessee. They were involved around Cumberland Gap, Virginia, and in the battles of Chattanooga, Dalton, Resaca, Atlanta, and Bentonville, to name just a few.

Click here for more information on the 58th NCT.

Things again remained quiet for some time.

1863

The year 1863 saw a change in Watauga County. In 1863, the militia system was phased out and the Home Guard system was instated. Watauga County had two Home Guard Companies, under the command of Major Harvey Bingham, who had resigned from the 37th NCT due to illness. Company A of the Home Guard was commanded by Jordan Cook, also of the former 37th, and Company B was commanded by George McGuire. It has been estimated that at least 250 men served in the Watauga County home guard, Major Bingham's Home Guard Battalion.

The home guard was stationed at Camp Mast, out in the Cove Creek area. One company would be at the camp on duty while the other company was at home. The camp consisted of wooden shacks and some tents, with some fortifications around it. Arthur states that many of the members of the home guard were Confederate soldiers that had been wounded and were at home convalescing. The home guard were poorly equipped. Leah Adams, daughter of Alfred Adams and sister to some of the home guard members, related many tales of her adventures during the war. She recalled collecting arms and delivering them to the soldiers, "running" bullets from pewter plates, peeling bark to dye homemade uniforms and blankets, and preparing meals.

Activities were picking up in the area in late 1863. Keith and Malinda Blalock were some of the early major players. Blalock was a Union sympathizer. He had joined a Confederate unit, the 26th North Carolina Troops, in hopes of getting close enough to desert to the Union lines. His wife also joined, calling herself Sam. They shared a tent and the hardships of camp life together. Keith soon discovered that the possibilities of his getting killed were far better than those of reaching the Union lines. Keith went into the woods and rubbed himself with poison ivy, declaring to the surgeon that he had a incurable disease that recurred every so often and was highly contagious. The surgeon quickly dismissed him from the service. "Sam's" discharge was a little more hard earned. She went before the colonel of the regiment, the soon-to-be governor Zebulon Baird Vance, and told him that she was a she. Vance did not believe her and Malinda was forced to partially disrobe to prove her femininity. She was also quickly discharged. When they returned home, the home guard wanted to know why Keith was not in the service. He produced his discharge and they tried to arrest him and force him to serve. The Blalocks ran further up Grandfather Mountain to try and escape the Confederate authorities. Keith was wounded in the arm in one of the pursuits. Keith then became a guide on Watauga County's "Underground Railroad."

In December of 1861, the Confederate Government had bought a old textile manufacturing plant in Salisbury, North Carolina. They turned this into the largest Federal prison in North Carolina. From time to time, some of the Federal prisoners escaped and made their way west to the Mountains. Hence, the "Underground Railroad" in Watauga County was not for escaped slaves, but Federal prisoners. These Federals were met in the Blowing Rock region by one of three guides: Keith Blalock, Harrison Church, or Jim Hartley. These guides took the escaped Federal prisoners through Blowing Rock by Shull's Mill, Dutch Creek, and Hanging Rock Gap to Banner Elk. From Banner Elk they traveled to Cranberry and to Crab Orchard, now Shell Creek, Tennessee. These trips often led to encounters with the home guard. Sheppard M. Dugger, who wrote War Trails of the Blue Ridge, related one such incident. Someone had come to the door and asked Dugger's mother to prepare breakfast for six. The six were Church and some escaped prisoners that he was conveying through the mountains. The group had run into the home guard and shots were exchanged. One of the Federals had been wounded when a minnie-ball had hit a knife in his pocket, driving the knife against his leg and forcing him to limp.

Encounters were becoming more frequent as 1863 dragged on. One such encounter was at the home of Paul Farthing in the Bethel Community. Local citizens had devised a plan in case they were attacked. While the men were fighting, the women were to go upstairs and blow horns to alert their neighbors. This happened to Paul Farthing. Several of the local citizens heard the warning and came to their rescue. Thomas Farthing was one of the home guard that came to the rescue. He was shot and killed by the bushwhackers.
 
 

1864

1864 and 1865 were the most turbulent of the war period in Watauga County. With Longstreet's withdrawal from the siege around Knoxville in January, the mountain region was left without a large Confederate force to keep the Federal sympathizers, or bushwhackers, without checks. There were numerous skirmishes. One was the Battle of Beech. A group of ten men from Tennessee (perhaps Union troops, or probably bushwhackers) shot Jim Farthing and took six horses. Major Bingham heard of the incident an on a October morning and marched the home guard companies west, all except a few pickets left at Camp Mast. They captured several local people, including Bill Gwynn. They also detained Linda Smith who was leading a horse with leather strips tied on it.

She tried to plead to Bingham to keep the leather for shoes for her children, but Bingham countered, saying her Union friends should not have taken the blankets from the children's beds on Beaver Dams. Also captured was Bill Shull, who was at Lewis Banner's making shoes. Jim Hartley and fifteen men attacked the Home Guard the next day. Casualties included two dead: Eliot Bingham, brother to Major Bingham, and Dick Kilby, both Confederates. The bushwhackers suffered no losses.

Also in 1864, Union Colonel George W. Kirk, in command of the 3rd North Carolina Mountain Infantry (US), made a raid on Camp Vance, located near Morgantown. He returned through the Southern portion of Watauga County, after being wounded in a skirmish near the county line. His men burnt the home of Colonel John Palmer, of the 58th NCT. The house was at Grasslands, now called Altamont, in Avery County.

1865

The first five months of 1865 were a running skirmish between Union bushwhackers and regular Federal troops, and the Confederate Home Guard. There was the capture and killing of Austin Coffey by part of Colonel Avery's Battalion (Confederate); next was the capture of Thomas Wright and Austin and Alex Johnson by the home guard and many other fights and skirmishes between the many different sides.

In February 1865, Camp Mast was captured by Captain James Champion, of Indiana, who had come to Banner Elk to recruit for the Federal Army. He gathered a force of 103, some regular Union soldiers, others Union sympathizers, and marched to Camp Mast on Cove Creek. He arrived at daylight, and dividing his men up, ordered every other man to build a fire. When the Confederates awoke, they found what seemed a large force of Federals all around them on the mountain sides. A demand of surrender was given, which sixty of the seventy-one men voted for. They were marched out of the camp and toward Tennessee. The sixty that had wanted to surrender were paroled and allowed to return home, while the eleven others, minus T. P. Adams, were taken on to prison. Despite what Arthur says about Capt. McGuire, who surrendered that camp, he did return to Watauga County after the war.

A month later, Stoneman began his march through North Carolina. His first stop in Watauga County was in Sugar Grove. The men stopped around 1 p.m. on March 27, in the meadow of Benjamin Councill. They stole food, destroyed property, and murdered Jacob Councill who was out plowing his fields. A little later in the afternoon they moved on toward Boone, through Hodges Gap. The advance guard, a detachment of the 12th Kentucky under Major Keogy, surprised the home guard assembled in Boone (Company A under Jordan Cook). The home guard opened fire, possibly thinking it another ruse by Federal sympathizers. One of the 12th Kentucky was killed by Steel Frazier, a boy of fifteen. Two of the Home Guard were killed: Ephraim Norris and Warren Green. Several others were captured and sent off to prison. Stoneman's men continued their stealing and general destruction, burning several buildings, including the jail, and destroying the records in the court house.

Stoneman left Boone, and on April 16, Kirk arrived. He was charged with the responsibility of guarding the mountain passes for Stoneman's Army and providing him an avenue of escape that he would need when he met defeat in Davidson County. Kirk arrived with the 2nd and 3rd North Carolina Mountain Infantry (US), two Federal units made up of mountain units that had sided with the North. There were only ten Watauga County men in both units. Kirk made his headquarters the home of J. D. Councill. Kirk kept Mrs. Councill a prisoner in her own home and his men further ransacked the town, killing animals, destroying buildings, and so forth. Kirk fortified the courthouse by cutting loopholes, or gun emplacements, in the walls and throwing up defensive works around the premise. In all, there were 5 outposts or Federal defensive sites in the county: the one in downtown Boone; a fort of about an acre in Deep Gap, where the 2nd N. C. M. I. were placed; one on the Meat Camp Road that lead from Taylorsville (now Mountain City); another in Watauga Gap (now Blowing Rock); and the final one in Sampson Gap, between Deep Gap and Watauga Gap. These remained until Stoneman's forces left North Carolina and retreated back into Tennessee.

Post War mid-1865-1900

Watauga County, like other parts of the occupied South, underwent harsh times during reconstruction. There were even some Federal Troops stationed here for part of that time. Things were so bad right at the end of hostilities that the military government of North Carolina authorized the raising of a new home guard to keep law in the area. This force was under the command of Joseph B. Todd. We also know that Lewis Banner, a slave-holding Unionist, served the people in the State Legislature during this time.

In the summer of 1889, the Confederate veterans gathered and formed the Nimrod Triplett United Confederate Veterans Camp. The Watauga Democrat had this to say on July 11, 1889: