Primary Source Material for Western North Carolina
You will discover a variety of primary source materials specifically curated for the Western North Carolina region. These resources may include historical documents, letters, photographs, political cartoons, and other items.
Primary Sources
Pre-War Sources from Western NC Newspapers:
June 29, 1830 – From The Journal (Salisbury)
Oct 1, 1832 – From The Journal (Salisbury)
Dec 16, 1833 – From The Journal (Salisbury)
Dec 16, 1833 – From The Journal (Salisbury) ad 2
Dec 16, 1833 – From The Journal (Salisbury) ad 3
Nov 29, 1849 – From The Highland Messenger (Asheville)
Nov 29, 1849 – From The Highland Messenger (Asheville) ad 2
From John A Sloan, North Carolina in the War Between the States (1883):
October 19, 1860 – Governor Ellis to SC Governor Gist, Part 1, Part 2
Nov 19, 1860 – Governor Ellis to the NC General Assembly
April 17, 1861 – Governor Ellis – Proclamation
Zebulon Vance – Proclamation on Deserters (May 11, 1863)
Zebulon Vance Papers at UNC-CH WIlson Library (Finding Aid)
Sarah Gudger, freedwoman from Buncombe County, interviewed by Marjorie Jones of the Federal Writers’ Project in May, 1937 (see pp. 35-358, HERE)
Facing History & Ourselves, “Letter from Jourdon Anderson: A Freedman Writes His Former Master”, last updated March 14, 2016. (Source: Excerpted from William E. Gienapp, ed., The Civil War and Reconstruction: A Documentary Collection (New York: W. W. Norton, 2001), 380.)
“The Life Story of a Negro Peon”, ch. 11 from The Life Stories of Undistinguished Americans As Told By Themselves, ed. Hamilton Holt (NY: James Pott, 1906), pp. 183-99. The story of hardships faced by some laborers after the abolition of slavery. https://ia801400.us.archive.org/34/items/lifestoriesundis00holtrich/lifestoriesundis00holtrich.pdf
Caleb Ridley thru primary source documents – Caleb Ridley of Macon County was the Imperial Chaplain of the KKK in the 1920s.
Excerpt from an 1886 speech by Zebulon Vance:
For myself, I will say that I was canvassing for the Union with all my strength; I was addressing a large and excited crowd, large numbers of whom were armed, and literally had my arm extended upward in pleading for peace and the Union of our Fathers, when the telegraphic news was announced of the firing on Sumter and the President’s call for seventy-five thousand volunteers. When my hand came down from that impassioned gesticulation, it fell slowly and sadly by the side of a Secessionist.”
Context: Vance was speaking to Union veterans, so he might have played up his reluctance a little. (source)
Southern “Volunteers” Political Cartoon (Link)
- Context: This political cartoon, likely created by the Union during the American Civil War, depicts Southern reactions to the implementation of conscription. It can be analyzed alongside primary sources to examine the motivations of different groups for or against joining the war, and to explore the use of bias and propaganda during the conflict.
- Location: NCPedia.org and Library of Congress
North Carolinians Debate Secession (Link)
- Context: This is a collection of excerpts from journals and letters, revealing the divergent views held by North Carolinians on the question of secession. By exploring these firsthand accounts, students can gain a deeper understanding of the state’s internal struggles during the Civil War era.
- Location: NCPedia.org
Other Resources and Links
Reynolds’s Political Map of the United States, Designed to Exhibit the Comparative Area of the Free and Slave States, and the Territory Open to Slavery or Freedom by the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise, with a Comparison of the Principal Statistics of the Free and Slave States, from the Census of 1850. https://www.loc.gov/item/2003627003/
Map Showing the Distribution of the Slave Population of the Southern States of the United States, Compiled from the Census of 1860. (Washington, September 1861). Also see an enlargement from the map, as well as the NC portion of the map, printed separately. “Sold for the benefit of the Sick and Wounded Soldiers of the U.S. Army.” https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3861e.cw0013200/
Editorial from The Semi-Weekly Standard, Raleigh, NC, July 11, 1860. (For information on this newspaper and its leadership, see https://www.digitalnc.org/newspapers/semi-weekly-standard-raleigh-n-c/.)
“Mass Meeting in Hillsborough.” The Hillsborough Recorder, Jan 2, 1861. https://basic.newspapers.com/image/466147867
“Runaway Caught.” The Hillsborough Recorder, May 14, 1862. https://basic.newspapers.com/image/64874826
Letter from Zebulon B. Vance to Jefferson Davis, Dec 30, 1863. https://cwnc.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/items/show/2778
Excerpt from John B. Gordon, Reminiscences of the Civil War (New York: Scribner’s, 1904), pp. 13-15. [Gordon was a native of Georgia, and served as a General in the Confederate army. https://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/gordon/gordon.html
Letter from John S. Mosby to Samuel Chapman, June 4, 1907. Mosby, a native Virginian, had fought for the Confederacy, though he was personally antislavery. He writes long after the war, aged 73. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/ready.03921%2021_FPS.pdf
Letters from Guilford County native and US Congressman John A. Gilmer to William Henry Seward, incoming US Secretary of State, March & April, 1861. Reprinted in the appendix of Frederic Bancroft, The Life of William H. Seward. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/The_life_of_William_H._Seward_%28IA_lifeofwilliamhse01banc%29.p
Excerpts from Lenoir Family documents regarding the enslaved and slavery in Caldwell County. Lenoir Family’s enslaved and slavery
Civil War in Eastern NC – Presentation by Dr. Judkin Browning, Appalachian State University
Excerpt from the book The Free Negro in NC, 1790-1860 (UNC Press, 1943) by Dr. John Hope Franklin, pp. 211-21
Reconstruction in Eastern NC – Presentation by Dr. Angie Zombek, UNC Wilmington