Melinda (Sam) Blalock

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Melinda (Sam) was born in 1842 and at age 20, she and her husband, Keith, would embark on a remarkable adventure. Both "Sam" and Keith were from that part of Caldwell County which is now incorporated into Avery County. They both had strong Union leanings, and it is speculated that they determined to join the 26th N.C., then in Eastern N.C., in order to have the opportunity of deserting to the Federal army. At any rate, they both enlisted on March 20, 1862, with Mrs. Blalock disguising herself as a man. Asst. Surgeon Underwood of the 26th N.C. wrote, "Her disguise was never penetrated. She drilled and did the duties of a soldier as any other member of the Company, and was very adept at learning the manual and drill."

By the time they had reached the 26th Regiment, the battle of New Bern had been fought, and now the Confederate and Union forces were separated by a considerable distance. Finding their plans of easy desertion frustrated, Keith determined he could not serve in the Confederate Army and designed a scheme by which to secure his discharge. He rolled around in a patch of poison sumac (ivy) which produced running boils all over his body. Presenting himself to the Surgeon with this unsavory affliction, along with the added complaint of a hernia, Keith secured his discharge.

Naturally, "Sam" desired to depart with her husband. Therefore she approached Col. Zebulon Vance and informed him that she was in fact a woman. Vance, naturally being skeptical, is reported to have responded by calling the Surgeon with the comment, "Oh Surgeon, have I a case for you!" Much to everyone's surprise the dumbfounded Surgeon confirmed "Sam's" assertion, and she was promptly discharged and sent home along with Keith on April 10, 1862.

For the balance of the war, the Blalocks satisfied their Unionist leanings by becoming the terror of the Northwest N.C. mountains. Raising a band of marauders, they raided the farms of loyal Confederate families in the area. In one wild melee late in 1863 at the Moore family farm in the Globe section of Caldwell County, the Blalocks and their band got into a shoot out with the Moores, a member of which, ironically, was James Daniel Moore of Co. F of the 26th N.C. who was home at the time recuperating from a wound received at Gettysburg. With additional irony, Moore had been the person responsible for originally recruiting the Blalocks into the 26th N.C. The upshot was that Malinda was wounded twice in this affair. In a later second raid on the Moore farm, Keith had an eye shot out by the Moore boys. Afterwards, the Blalocks took their revenge out on easier pickings and participated with Union forces led by Col. Kirk, and later by Gen. George Stoneman in their various incursions into western N.C. during the last year and a half of the war.

Amazingly, considering all the bad blood the Blalocks had stirred up, they returned to their former home after the war. They both dabbled in Republican politics, with Keith running unsuccessfully for Congress on the Republican ticket in the 1870's. "Sam" died in 1901. Keith died on August 11, 1913 at the age of 77, and was in good health. Interestingly, he did not die by an enemy's hand. He was pumping a handcar on a stretch of mountain railroad when he overshot a steep curve and plunged to his death off the side of the mountain.

"Sam" and Keith are buried side by side in the Montezuma community cemetery in Avery County.

Side Note:

Keith joined Union Forces in TN after medical discharge from CSA Army. Keith and his men were infamous in Watauga County, NC. His band of men reportedly raided and murdered and drove fear into the citizens of this area during the Civil War. His wife Malinda was by his side just as she was in the CSA Army. Keith's own stepfather Austin Coffey was murdered, along with Austin's brother William Coffey. Austin's other brothers were marked men but survived.