Carried Into War
A Soldier's Life
Realities of War
The Home Front
Facing the Grim Reaper
Breaking the Blockade
The Last Campaigns
An Uncertain Future
Acknowledgments
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Who Were the People?
The Crisis of Secession
The Initial Response
Economic differences, disagreements over slavery, and other issues slowly eroded relations between the North and South. The slavery issue even split religious denominations such as the Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians into Northern and Southern factions. Tensions between the North and the South increased dramatically with the John Brown raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 and the presidential election of November 1860. Most North Carolinians viewed the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln as insufficient cause to leave the Union. But events eventually led Southern states to secede from the United States and form the Confederacy. North Carolina joined them on May 20, 1861.
John Brown and Harpers Ferry
The importance of having a well drilled militia, since the outbreak at Harpers Ferry, is very essential.
—Major General Duncan McDonald, First Division North Carolina Militia, November 17, 1859
An attack by abolitionist John Brown and his followers late in the evening of October 16, 1859, on the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, heightened sectional tensions between the North and the South. Foiled in his attempt to incite a slave insurrection, Brown was captured and executed on December 2, 1859. Abolitionists in the North hailed Brown as a hero. Most white Southerners considered him a dangerous fanatic who advocated the wholesale slaughter of whites in the South as a means to end slavery. North Carolinians feared a similar raid on the United States Arsenal at Fayetteville, which held thousands of weapons. Fayetteville mayor Archibald McLean requested and received a garrison of Federal troops to protect the arms in case of slave insurrections.
John Anthony Copeland Jr.
John Anthony Copeland Jr. was one of two free African Americans from North Carolina who took part in the John Brown raid. A native of Raleigh, Copeland had moved north, studied at Oberlin College in Ohio, and gotten involved in antislavery activities. For his part in the Harpers Ferry incident, Copeland was sentenced to death by hanging. Before his execution, Copeland told a reporter, "If I am dying for freedom, I could not die for a better cause. I had rather die than be a slave."
Lewis Sheridan Leary
Born in Fayetteville, Lewis Sheridan Leary left North Carolina, possibly after an altercation with a white man who was whipping a slave. Like many other African American activists, Leary eventually journeyed to the abolitionist community at Oberlin, Ohio. There he met and became close friends with John Anthony Copeland Jr. United States troops killed Leary during the capture of John Brown's forces at Harpers Ferry.
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The Election of 1860
Two persons have been elected, respectively, to the offices of President and Vice-President, exclusively by the people of one section of the country, upon a principle hostile to the institutions and domestic policy of the other.
—Governor John W. Ellis, November 20, 1860
The presidential election of 1860 clearly revealed the split caused by sectional issues. Four candidates vied for the nation's highest office. The Democratic Party divided into Northern and Southern wings over the issue of slavery. The Northern Democrats chose Stephen Douglas of Illinois as their candidate, and the Southern Democrats rallied around John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. The newly formed Constitutional Union Party, composed largely of former Whigs, nominated Tennessean John Bell as its candidate. Abraham Lincoln, also from Illinois, ran on the Republican ticket, which opposed the expansion of slavery into the territories. In North Carolina, the election amounted to a contest between Breckinridge and Bell, since Douglas had few supporters and the Republican Party did not exist in the state. Lincoln's name did not even appear on the North Carolina ballot. Breckinridge carried the state by a small majority in the November election.
How do you think North Carolinians voted in the election of 1860?
Breakup of the Union
There is only one evil greater than disunion, and that is the loss of honor and constitutional right. That evil the people of the South will never submit to.
—Raleigh North Carolina Standard, December 5, 1860
South Carolina reacted quickly after the election of Lincoln and left the Union on December 20, 1860. A convention of representatives from the lower Southern states of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana met in Montgomery, Alabama, on February 4, 1861, and formed a provisional government of the Confederate States of America. Texas soon joined as the seventh state of the new Confederacy. After the firing on Fort Sumter in the Charleston, South Carolina, harbor and the Federal call for troops from the remaining Southern states, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina cast their lots with the Confederacy. These states refused to supply troops to help force Southern states back into the Union. North Carolina was the last state to sign a secession ordinance.
Dates of Ordinances of Secession by State
| South Carolina |
December 20, 1860 |
| Mississippi |
January 9, 1861 |
| Florida |
January 10, 1861 |
| Alabama |
January 11, 1861 |
| Georgia |
January 19, 1861 |
| Louisiana |
January 26, 1861 |
| Texas |
February 1, 1861 |
| Virginia |
April 17, 1861 |
| Arkansas |
May 6, 1861 |
| Tennessee |
May 7, 1861* |
| North Carolina |
May 20, 1861 |
*On May 7, 1861, the Tennessee legislature ratified an agreement to enter into a military league with the Confederate States of America. Voters approved the agreement on June 8, 1861.
North Carolina Leaves the Union
The great body of our people would far prefer a Union with the North upon honorable terms.
—United States senator Thomas L. Clingman, February 4, 1861
Most white North Carolinians remained pro-Union even after the election of antislavery candidate Abraham Lincoln. Their mood reflected a "wait-and-see" attitude about what Lincoln would do when he took office on March 4, 1861. On February 28, North Carolina voters rejected a call for a convention to discuss the state's relationship with the Federal government. However, support for the Union eroded rapidly in April with the firing on Fort Sumter and with Lincoln's demand that North Carolina and the other states furnish troops to force the seceded states back into the Union. The announcement of a Federal blockade of the Southern coastline followed shortly. Under these circumstances, the majority of white North Carolinians felt they had little recourse but to align themselves with the newly formed Confederacy. Governor John W. Ellis, who favored secession, summoned a special session of the legislature, which authorized a state convention to meet in Raleigh. On May 20, 1861, the convention dissolved North Carolina's association with the United States.
John W. Ellis
Born in Rowan County on November 23, 1820, John Willis Ellis became a successful lawyer, judge, and politician. He was elected governor on August 5, 1858, and reelected on August 2, 1860. A strong believer in states' rights, Ellis died in office on July 7, 1861.
Basil C. Manly
Basil C. Manly lived in Wake County when he enlisted in the state forces in May 1861 at the age of twenty-one. He was initially appointed a first lieutenant by Governor John W. Ellis, and then he became a captain. Manly served as the unit commander for Company A, Tenth Regiment North Carolina State Troops (First Regiment North Carolina Artillery) until his promotion to major on March 1, 1865.
Bryan Grimes
Born in Pitt County on November 2, 1828, Bryan Grimes became a wealthy planter and slaveholder. He supported secession and was elected to the state convention that passed the secession ordinance. During the war, Grimes gained a reputation as one of North Carolina's most fearless soldiers
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