Browse Items (916 total)

In May of 1861, delegates from North Carolina voted to secede from the United States of America and join the Confederacy. But, a closer examination of antebellum North Carolina reveals a more complex story. For the decade leading up to the Civil War,…

This map depicts the extensive system of locks, dams, and canals built on the Deep River and Cape Fear River. This existing infrastructure was one of the things which attracted the Confederate government to the Deep River Valley who were trying to…

Thomas Clingman is often overlooked in the history of the Civil War yet he played an extremely crucial role in the political realm in the years prior to 1861. Clingman was Southern through and through yet secession was not on his agenda. He…

Thomas Lanier Clingman was a unique man. Born and raised in western North Carolina, Clingman studied law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He later settled in the Ashville area where he bace a prominent politician. He strongly…

Ruffin's speech

Thomas C. Ruffin (1787-1870) was the elected judge of the Supreme Court of North Carolina from 1829 through 1852 and once again from 1858 through 1859. From 1833 until 1853, Thomas Ruffin served the Court as Chief Justice. Ruffin attended Princeton…

Thomas Ruffin was born in Virginia in November of 1787, and moved to North Carolina early in his life. He attended Princeton University and later studied law in Rockingham County and eventually passed the bar in 1808. After practicing law for a few…

During and after the Civil War, Ruffin's championed the southern constitutional position. Believing strongly that the Constitution sanctioned slaveholders' rights as property holders, Ruffin turned away from support for the Union after the failure of…

A book on abolition by Peter Hinks

RALEIGH, N. C., JULY 13, 1864. JOHN D. HYMAN, EDITOR. FOR GOVERNOR : Z. B. VANCE OF BUNCOMBE The Conservative Ticket for Wake County ! FOR THE SENATE : Hon. SION H. ROGERS. FOR THE HOUSE OF COMMONS :WILLIAM LAWS, THOMAS J. UTLEY,DANIEL G.…