HF Planning North Carolina-Tennessee Story

Historical-Fiction

OldReliable1862

First Sergeant
Joined
Jul 2, 2017
Location
Georgia
Some of you might remember my previous novel planning thread, where I laid out an idea for a story focusing on Hood's Texas Brigade. On further reflection, I've decided that, while there certainly may be new ideas for stories focusing on the Texas Brigade, I'm probably not the one to write them.

One of my family members, and a fellow Civil War buff, is a very proud North Carolinian. Discussions with him about that state's role in the war got me thinking, and I wondered if I could incorporate North Carolinian settlement of Tennessee into a story.

I've wanted to tell some kind of story with separate points of view in both the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of Tennessee, and this seems a good way to do it. It seemed to be a good idea to have the two POVs linked somehow, and a family with branches in both states.

I've been interested in the Southern Whig experience for a while now, and the states I chose once again allowed to include this. By 1860 of course, the Whig Party was gone, but the old Whigs were around in some form or another. I would probably have at least one branch of the family be involved in state politics as a "Whig Without a Cause."

Suggestions welcome, of course.
 
I would think there would be loads of material dealing with East Tennessee & Western NC. They were both bitterly divided. On the Union side Kirk's Raiders, on the Confederate side the Thomas Legion. East Tennesseans served in both units.
I had considered Asheville for the North Carolina branch, and there is certainly material.

I think I might go with the Piedmont region of North Carolina around Salisbury/Statesville - Salisbury prison could provide story material. For the Tennesseans, I believe Davidson or Rutherford counties would be good choices, as so many North Carolinians moved there.
 
I had considered Asheville for the North Carolina branch, and there is certainly material.

I think I might go with the Piedmont region of North Carolina around Salisbury/Statesville - Salisbury prison could provide story material. For the Tennesseans, I believe Davidson or Rutherford counties would be good choices, as so many North Carolinians moved there.
Salisbury prison could provide story material
Salisbury was one of the prisons where the Confederates recruited their "Foreign Legion" from among the prisoners in the war's closing days.
 
It's an odd choice, but I think one of the two POV regiments will be the 20th Tennessee Infantry. Cheatham's division gets a great deal of the focus when you look at Tennesseans in the West, I think the 20th could provide some interesting opportunities.
 
There was a big support in many of those areas for John Bell and the Constitutional Union Party. I would guess most of my kin felt that way. Some would go Confederate and some Union during the war.
 
The Barrow family - for now I'll keep the name from when this was set in Texas - is originally from Ulster, settling in North Carolina at some point in the early 1700s. The family came to prominence when one of their number became an officer in the Rowan County Regiment of militia in the Revolutionary War, and was rewarded with a grant of land for his service.

His children gradually increased their wealth in land and slaves, with one of the brothers moving to Davidson County in Tennessee in the early 1800s. The Barrows, as country elites, are frequently elected to the state legislature, always as Whigs after the 1830s.

By the time Lincoln is elected, they are in support of the Union, like most North Carolinians and Tennesseans. However, once hostilities begin, they will inevitably join their state.

@nc native
 
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Does anyone know of a profession for moderately well-to-do families in the Piedmont in North Carolina? The Western North Carolina is an interesting option.

Politics were very combative in antebellum Davidson County, so the Tennessee Barrows will probably be involved in state-level politics.
 
Does anyone know of a profession for moderately well-to-do families in the Piedmont in North Carolina? The Western North Carolina is an interesting option.

I've been researching certain soldiers from four Piedmont NC regiments. Nearly all of them came from farming families. So far, the father of the most prosperous family was a blacksmith. Probably not well-to-do-enough for your purposes. (But I'm only partway through the list, and have many more to research.)

Roy B.
 
I've been researching certain soldiers from four Piedmont NC regiments. Nearly all of them came from farming families. So far, the father of the most prosperous family was a blacksmith. Probably not well-to-do-enough for your purposes. (But I'm only partway through the list, and have many more to research.)

Roy B.
I'm surprised at how many North Carolina men, even officers, came from fairly humble means. You get used to officers being lawyers or merchants, so it's quite odd when you come across it.
 
Merchants, Ministers,owners of hotels and prosperous taverns, would probably be community leaders, along with doctors, lawyers and court officals in West NC.
 
GEN Joseph E. Johnston
MG James Longstreet
MG D. H. Hill
Col George B. Anderson

GEN Robert E. Lee
MG Thomas J. Jackson
MG D. H. Hill
BG George B. Anderson

GEN Robert E. Lee
MG Thomas J. Jackson
MG D. H. Hill
BG George B. Anderson

GEN Robert E. Lee
LTG Thomas J. Jackson
MG D. H. Hill
Col Bryan Grimes

GEN Robert E. Lee
LTG Thomas J. Jackson
BG Robert E. Rodes
BG Stephen D. Ramseur

GEN Robert E. Lee
LTG Richard S. Ewell
MG Robert E. Rodes
BG Stephen D. Ramseur

GEN Robert E. Lee
MG Jubal A. Early
MG Robert E. Rodes
BG Stephen D. Ramseur

GEN Robert E. Lee
LTG Richard S. Ewell
MG Robert E. Rodes
BG Stephen D. Ramseur

GEN Robert E. Lee
MG Jubal A. Early
MG Robert E. Rodes
Col R. Tyler Bennett

LTG Jubal A. Early
MG Robert E. Rodes
-
BG William R. Cox

LTG Jubal A. Early
MG Robert E. Rodes
BG William R. Cox

LTG Jubal A. Early
MG John C. Breckinridge
MG Robert E. Rodes
BG William R. Cox

LTG Jubal A. Early
MG John C. Breckinridge
MG Stephen D. Ramseur
BG William R. Cox

GEN Robert E. Lee
MG John B. Gordon
MG Bryan Grimes
BG William R. Cox
 
MG George B. Crittenden
BG Felix K. Zollicoffer

GEN Albert Sidney Johnston
BG John C. Breckinridge
Col Winfield S. Statham

MG John C. Breckinridge
BG Charles Clark
Col Thomas B. Smith

GEN Braxton Bragg
LTG William J. Hardee
MG John C. Breckinridge
BG William Preston

GEN Braxton Bragg
LTG Simon B. Buckner
MG Alexander P. Stewart
BG William B. Bate

GEN Braxton Bragg
LTG James Longstreet
LTG Simon B. Buckner
MG Alexander P. Stewart
BG William B. Bate

GEN Braxton Bragg
MG John C. Breckinridge
BG William B. Bate
Col Robert C. Tyler

GEN Joseph E. Johnston
LTG William J. Hardee
MG William B. Bate
BG Thomas B. Smith

GEN John B. Hood
LTG William J. Hardee
MG William B. Bate
BG Thomas B. Smith

LTG William J. Hardee
MG Patrick R. Cleburne
MG John C. Brown
BG Thomas B. Smith

GEN John B. Hood
LTG Benjamin F. Cheatham
MG William B. Bate
BG Thomas B. Smith

GEN Joseph E. Johnston
LTG Alexander P. Stewart
MG William B. Bate
Col D. L. Kenan
Maj William H. Wilkinson

GEN Joseph E. Johnston
LTG William J. Hardee
MG Benjamin F. Cheatham
BG Joseph B. Palmer
 
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