By: Landon Benfield, January 19, 2026 Zebulon B. Vance Zebulon Baird Vance was a 30-year-old U.S. Representative with a bright political future ahead of him when he reluctantly decided to become a Confederate soldier in 1861. Vance, a native of Buncombe County, had served in Congress since 1858 after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill six years earlier. A conditional unionist, Vance initially advised against secession writing that “[w]e have ever

By: Ethan Tomlinson, January 1, 2025 [Some additional materials and assistance provided by Judkin Browning] Declarations of war often...

By Judkin Browning, August 17, 2024 The 26th North Carolina, a legendary regiment in the Army of Northern Virginia, claims the...

By: Judkin Browning, April 23, 2024 William Pleasant Craig (1840-1874) was a 20-year old shoemaker in Asheville when he enlisted in the “Rough and Ready Guards,” a company of infantry formed in his home town on May 3, 1861. His father having died in 1858, William lived with his seamstress mother and younger sister. The 5'10, fair-skinned young man, known in the neighborhood as a boisterous lad who was too fond bottle and prone to get into scraps, likely talked with

By: Judkin Browning, January 15, 2024 Goodwyn Harris [1] never had any serious intention of enlisting in the Confederate army. He...