For some reason, most of the
Clingman's Dome sites (including the NPS) either don't mention who is honored by the name or merely say he was a Senator. (I don't include Wiki as a source even though it does give the correct info).
Fortunately, North Carolina is able to use the dirty word "Confederate" without shame
This is what used to cover Clingman's Dome:
Clingman, Thomas Lanier
by H. Thomas Kearney, Jr., 1979
27 July 1812–3 Nov. 1897
Thomas Lanier Clingman, antebellum political leader,
Civil War general, and propagandist for Western North Carolina development, was born at Huntsville in Surry (now
Yadkin) County...... After the war, Clingman was prohibited from returning to politics by the amnesty provisions. Consequently, he turned to a career as a propagandist for Western North Carolina development. He lectured and wrote extensively about the mountain region and continued scientific studies of the area begun before the war. In the 1850s he had engaged in a running dispute with Dr.
Elisha Mitchell of
The University of North Carolina about the location of the highest peak in the Black Mountain range. Ultimately, Mitchell's name was given to the highest mountain in the range and Clingman's was given to another peak on the same ridge. The highest peak in the Great Smoky Mountains was also named for him (
Clingman's Dome).
http://www.visitmysmokies.com/blog/smoky-mountains/mountains-get-names/
http://www.ncpedia.org/biography/clingman-thomas-lanier
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