Resources
The primary sources I consulted were southern claims of various residents living in Watauga County, North Carolina during the Civil War. I found these items though Fold3.com, but they are also available in the historical archives. I had to decipher the handwriting of each one and read through all the interrogations of the claimants and their witnesses. One of the claimants listed Lewis B. Banner as one of the prominent Unionist in Watauga County. I could not find much information on him, but I did find the website for the Banner House Museum. I emailed them for more information, and the Vice President of the Great Banner Elk Heritage Foundation was kind enough to send me some photos of the information posted throughout the museum. Without that information, I would have never learned about the Banner family story. The other source I relied upon for a lot of the background information about North Carolina was a William A. Link’s North Carolina: Change and Tradition in a Southern State. His book gave a good overview of the inequalities within the state and the role of the state constitutions.
Primary Resources
David Norris, “Witness for John Horton,” Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims, 1871- 1880, July 29, 1876, 1-4.
John Horton, Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims, 1871- 1880, April 1876.
Rittenhouse Baird, Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims, 1871- 1880, February 14, 1878, 1-11.
“Political: The 8th Congressional District,” The Greensboro Patriot, June 28, 1851. http://uncgdigital.blogspot.com/ (accessed on April 24, 2012).
North Carolina Constitution, 1776, http://www.nhinet.org/ccs/docs/nc-1776.htm (accessed on April 14, 2012).
Secondary Resources
Charles B. Dew, Apostles of Disunion:Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2001).
Great Banner Elk Heritage Foundation, Banner House Museum, e-mail to author from Vice President Ciny Brown on April 2, 2012.
Lloyd Johnson, “Naval Stores,” North Carolina History Project, http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/commentary/103/entry (accessed on April 13, 2012).
The North Carolina Civil War Experience, “Edward Stanly (1810-1872),” North Carolina Historic Sites, http://civilwarexperience.ncdcr.gov/biographies/stanly.htm (accessed on April 24, 2012).
William A. Link, “Part Three: The Civil War Crisis,” North Carolina: Change and Tradition in a Southern State (Wheeling, Illinois: Harlan Davidson inc., 2009).