Rivalry: North Carolina vs. Virginia???

JerseyBart

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Member PeterT, an active member of my Monday video discussions, has a question following our last discussion video and the video for this Monday's discussion. What was the level of the rivalry, postwar dramatics etc. between North Carolina and Virginia over Gettysburg and Pickett's Charge? How much, if any, of that rivalry exists today? How did/does it manifest itself? Any information, discussion, links etc would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
Well I know that UVA/UNC are big college rivals and have the "oldest football rivalry in the south".

I think a true rivalry between the states has dissipated through the generations since the war.

However i did grow up with a fair amount of NC transplants in VA where I lived, and still very loyal to NC
 
Perhaps the rivalry isn't as bad as the rivalry between Rob Roy McGregor and Archibald Cunningham in the movie Rob Roy as stated by the Dukes:

Argyll: “I think these men hate the other.”
Montrose: “Aye. They are none too fond.”
 
Well I know that UVA/UNC are big college rivals and have the "oldest football rivalry in the south".

I think a true rivalry between the states has dissipated through the generations since the war.

However i did grow up with a fair amount of NC transplants in VA where I lived, and still very loyal to NC

I agree the rivalry must have dissipated through the generations. I've lived in NC 45 years, and never heard more than a mention of it.

Tarheels will always be Tarheels and its no surprise those NC transplants were and are still very loyal to NC. I've grown up around many VA transplants living in NC, and can't say they share the same loyalty, in my experience. Many of my family members are from Northern VA, and I've never heard them mention a word about this rivalry.
 
Much of the history writer accounts of the events of the war tend to be the sources of proper recognition or credit/blame given rather than between the respective states themselves... Did North Carolinians take part in what has become popularly known as Picketts Charge.. yes they did... Have they received due recognition and credit as being part of that fateful charge in generic popular stories of the war... They say no... and feel slighted.. by calling it Picketts Charge... implies and gives many the impression that only the Virginias of Picketts Division took part in it... which is not true...

It seems just about any state in the country has its favorite pick-on rivalry state.... Virginians tend to joke at West Virginia.... North Carolina used to spat with South Caroline, etc...Mostly in a humorous forte rather than a genuine aggressiveness posture... Can find the same/similar habits displayed between different regions within the same state... between colleges.. even community and neighborhoods... Americans by general nature tend to embrace items that can identify themselves as a people... and from a given region/community thereof...

In Virginia, there tends to be more regional flexing these days than v/s another state... Eastern/Tidewater area of Virginia has had a great deal of cultural transformation due to the military presence... and beach seekers.... Southwest Virginia being a mountainous coal country Appalachian region.. has more in common with similar culture in like counties of nearby states... Central and Southside Virginia having a bit less dilution from transient transplants... typically have a more identity to the state than most others usually have.... Northern Virginia has its own individual culture unlike any of the rest of the state... Majority of population there are typically non-native to the state... came to being as part of the Washington DC beltway spillover influence of Federal workers and Govt related vocations and industry etc... The huge dense cluster of population there as compared to anywhere else in the entire state... Folks would call that area "Independent Grand Domain of Lord Fairfax".... Since they commonly didn't work or play well with others in the state... It was all and only about themselves.... State wide traffic laws have been altered to address issues that are only a problem there... Many have long joked that the Northern border to the State of Virginia ends at the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg... rather than the one the map indicates as the Potomac River.... Further emulated by the oddity that the "Welcome to Virginia Visitors Center" when heading South on I-95.. is located on the southside of Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg.... not in Arlington or Alexandria when you cross into the state across the Potomac... hence people will point that out as proof....lol

Half my family is native of Virginia... other half was from North Carolina in the previous two generations (originally from SC)... They would occasionally poke fun at each other about different things that are culturally different from the other... foods, or how one pronounces certain words... but nothing vicious...

Most folks in past generations had a degree of inherited loyalty to ones native home state... These days people are much more transient than in the past... Not uncommon to find people that have lived in several different states over time... So much less resident loyalty seen. In many states the native birth population still residing is found to be quite less than it was 50 or so years. ago... On one street I lived on out of about 60 respective homes/family's.. I soon discovered that I was one only one there native to the county or even the state...
 
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Much of the history writer accounts of the events of the war tend to be the sources of proper recognition or credit/blame given rather than between the respective states themselves... Did North Carolinians take part in what has become popularly known as Picketts Charge.. yes they did... Have they received due recognition and credit as being part of that fateful charge in generic popular stories of the war... They say no... and feel slighted.. by calling it Picketts Charge... implies and gives many the impression that only the Virginias of Picketts Division took part in it... which is not true...

It seems just about any state in the country has its favorite pick-on rivalry state.... Virginians tend to joke at West Virginia.... North Carolina used to spat with South Caroline, etc...Mostly in a humorous forte rather than a genuine aggressiveness posture... Can find the same/similar habits displayed between different regions within the same state... between colleges.. even community and neighborhoods... Americans by general nature tend to embrace items that can identify themselves as a people... and from a given region/community thereof...

In Virginia, there tends to be more regional flexing these days than v/s another state... Eastern/Tidewater area of Virginia has had a great deal of cultural transformation due to the military presence... and beach seekers.... Southwest Virginia being a mountainous coal country Appalachian region.. has more in common with similar culture in like counties of nearby states... Central and Southside Virginia having a bit less dilution from transient transplants... typically have a more identity to the state than most others usually have.... Northern Virginia has its own individual culture unlike any of the rest of the state... Majority of population there are typically non-native to the state... came to being as part of the Washington DC beltway spillover influence of Federal workers and Govt related vocations and industry etc... The huge dense cluster of population there as compared to anywhere else in the entire state... Folks would call that area "Independent Grand Domain of Lord Fairfax".... Since they commonly didn't work or play well with others in the state... It was all and only about themselves.... State wide traffic laws have been altered to address issues that are only a problem there... Many have long joked that the Northern border to the State of Virginia ends at the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg... rather than the one the map indicates as the Potomac River.... Further emulated by the oddity that the "Welcome of Virginia Visitors Center" when heading South on I-95.. is located on the southside of Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg.... not in Arlington or Alexandria when you cross into the state across the Potomac... hence people will point that out as proof....lol

Half my family is native of Virginia... other half was from North Carolina in the previous two generations (originally from SC)... They would occasionally poke fun at each other about different things that are culturally different from the other... foods, or how one pronounces certain words... but nothing vicious...

Most folks in past generations had a degree of inherited loyalty to ones native home state... These days people are much more transient than in the past... Not uncommon to find people that have lived in several different states over time... So much less loyalty seen. In many states the native birth population commonly is found to be quite less than it was 50 or so years ago...

Well put Mark!! That is excellent ... and that's part of what makes it a fascinating country.

I lived and worked in Pittsburgh for 2 years in the early 1980s (loved it and love going back there). Even today when folks over there say that "they love my accent", my response is "and I love yours". The response from a lot of people (more the younger brigade) is .... " You think we have an accent?" :D
 
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