Zeb Vance: North Carolina's Civil War Governor and Gilded Age Political Leader

496 Pages·2004·3.501 MB·English

by  Gordon B. McKinney

i
Zeb Vance
This page intentionally left blank
Zeb Vance
NORTH CAROLINA’S
CIVIL WAR GOVERNOR
AND GILDED AGE
POLITICAL LEADER
i
Gordon B. McKinney
TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress
ChapelHillandLondon
©2004TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress
Allrightsreserved
SetinRuzickaandMonotypeClarendon
byTsengInformationSystems
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Publicationofthisbookwasmadepossibleinpartbya
generousgiftfromBenM.JonesIII.
PortionsofChapter20werepreviouslypublishedas‘‘ZebulonVance
andHisReconstructionoftheCivilWarinNorthCarolina,’’NorthCarolina
HistoricalReview75(January1998):69–85.
PortionsofChapter21werepreviouslypublishedas‘‘ZebVanceandthe
ConstructionoftheWesternNorthCarolinaRailroad,’’AppalachianJournal29,
nos.1–2(Fall2001–Winter2002):58–67;©2002byAppalachianJournaland
AppalachianStateUniversity;usedwithpermission.
Thepaperinthisbookmeetstheguidelinesforpermanenceanddurability
oftheCommitteeonProductionGuidelinesforBookLongevityoftheCouncil
onLibraryResources.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
McKinney,GordonB.,1943–
ZebVance:NorthCarolina’sCivilWargovernorandGildedAgepoliticalleader/
GordonB.McKinney.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn0-8078-2865-3(cloth:alk.paper)
1.Vance,ZebulonBaird,1830–1894. 2.Legislators—UnitedStates—Biography.
3.UnitedStates.Congress.Senate—Biography. 4.Governors—North
Carolina—Biography. 5.NorthCarolina—History—CivilWar,1861–1865.
6.NorthCarolina—Politicsandgovernment—1861–1865. 7.NorthCarolina—
Politicsandgovernment—1865–1950. I.Title.
e664.v2m34 2004
975.6'03—dc22
2003027749
08 07 06 05 04 5 4 3 2 1
i
CONTENTS
Preface vii (cid:1)(cid:3) Challengestothe
Acknowledgments xiii Compromise 185
(cid:1) WhatMannerofMan? 1 (cid:1)(cid:4) CampaignforReelection 200
(cid:2) AMountainBoyhood 5 (cid:1)(cid:5) ReturnedtoOffice 217
(cid:3) ScholarandSuitor 16 (cid:1)(cid:6) DefeatwithHonor 231
(cid:4) LawyerandApprentice (cid:1)(cid:7) Prisoner 248
Politician 31 (cid:1)(cid:8) ThePoliticsofReconstruction 264
(cid:5) Congressman 49 (cid:1)(cid:9) FrustratedPolitician 283
(cid:6) SecessionCrisis 65 (cid:2)(cid:10) TheBattleofGiants 302
(cid:7) ColoneloftheTwenty-sixth (cid:2)(cid:1) GovernorAgain 324
Regiment 78 (cid:2)(cid:2) UnitedStatesSenator 345
(cid:8) CampaignforGovernor 97 (cid:2)(cid:3) PartyLeader 366
(cid:9) BuildingaStrongNorth (cid:2)(cid:4) Farmers’AllianceandReelection 384
Carolina 110 (cid:2)(cid:5) Decline 397
(cid:1)(cid:10) RelationswiththeConfederate (cid:2)(cid:6) MonumentsandtheMan 406
Government 130 Notes 417
(cid:1)(cid:1) GrowingChallenges 152 Index 467
(cid:1)(cid:2) Protest 168
i
ILLUSTRATIONS
Vance’sbirthplace,ReemsCreek,BuncombeCounty 9
QuakerMeadows,BurkeCounty 19
DavidLowrySwain,ca.(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:5)(cid:10) 21
HarriettNewellEspy,ca.(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:6)(cid:2) 28
Asheville,NorthCarolina,in(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:5)(cid:1) 32
RobertBrankVance,ca.(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:6)(cid:3) 39
ThomasLanierClingman,ca.(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:6)(cid:3) 51
Vancein(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:5)(cid:8) 57
HenryKingBurgwynJr.,ca.(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:6)(cid:1) 83
Vancein(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:6)(cid:2) 113
WilliamWoodsHolden,ca.(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:6)(cid:5) 205
Vancein(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:6)(cid:6) 267
AugustusSummerfieldMerrimon,ca.(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:7)(cid:9) 291
ThomasSettleJr.,ca.(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:7)(cid:10) 307
Vancein(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:7)(cid:6) 327
TheSwannanoaTunnelunderconstruction,(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:7)(cid:8)–(cid:7)(cid:9) 336
FlorenceSteeleMartin,ca.(cid:1)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:10) 351
VancemonumentinPackSquare,Asheville,ca.(cid:1)(cid:9)(cid:3)(cid:10) 407
StatueofVanceintheU.S.Capitol 410
i
PREFACE
When I first started working on Zeb Vance as a research topic, I had an
opportunitytosharesomeofmyideaswithagroupofseniorcitizensata
meetinginBlackMountain,NorthCarolina.Duringthediscussionperiod
that followed my presentation, one woman made several very insightful
comments. After the end of the formal program, she came forward and
introducedherselfasMrs.GlennTucker,thewifeofthebestscholarlybiog-
rapherofVance.Shesharedwithmesomeofthechallengesthatsheand
her husband had faced in working on Zeb Vance: Champion of Personal
Freedom,aworkthathasstoodasthefineststudyofVance’slifefornearly
1
fourdecades.
Unfortunately,thechallengesthattheTuckersfacedforcedthemtone-
glecttheperiodaftertheCivilWar.SincethepublicationofZebVance,the
amount of scholarship on the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Gilded
Age has expanded enormously. Making use of newanalytical approaches
and ideas, including gender analysis and modernization theory, scholars
havedevelopedmuchdifferentperceptionsoftopicssuchastherolethat
raceplayedinshapingtheUnitedStatesduringthelatterpartofthenine-
teenthcentury.TheresultistheneedforanewbiographyofZebulonVance
thatplaceshiminthecontextofhistorians’rapidlychangingperceptions
oftheAmericanSouth.Manyoftheinterpretationsinthisstudythatdiffer
fromthoseofferedbytheTuckerswerefirstpresentedbyotherscholarsin
articles and monographs. I have sought to convey the breadth and depth
ofthisexcitingnewworkasaccuratelyaspossible.WhereIdisagreewith
somescholarsonapoint,Ihavetriedtoexplainwhyinsomedetail,using
primarysourcestosupportmyassertions.
TheTuckerbiographywasnotthefirstscholarlyattempttounderstand
Vance’shistoricalreputation.Asearlyas1914,J.G.DeRoulhacHamilton
discussed important parts of Vance’s career in his highly partisan Recon-
structioninNorthCarolina.Inthisdetailedaccountofeventsbetween1861
and 1876, Hamilton wrote approvingly of virtually everything that Vance
did during the period, and he used quotations fromVance letters to sup-
port his analysis.Unfortunately, Hamilton’s determination to attack Afri-
can Americans and Republicans—especially William Woods Holden—at
everypointlimitedthevalueofhisstudy.In1925,FrankOwsleytookthe
opposite stand on thevalue of Vance’s contribution during the Civil War.
Inhismonograph,StateRightsintheConfederacy,OwsleyaccusedVance
and Georgia governor Joseph E. Brown of undermining the Confederate
wareffort.OwsleywasparticularlycriticalofVance’sunwillingnesstoshare
2
stateresourceswiththeSoutherngovernment.
The Civil War centennial in the 1960s encouraged many writers and
publisherstoproducestudiesoftopicsthathadbeenneglectedfordecades.
Likemanyotherworksfromthisperiod,JohnG.Barrett’sTheCivilWarin
NorthCarolina,publishedin1963,concentratedonbattlesandthemove-
mentsofarmies.Barrett’sbook,however,wasthefirstofthesecentennial
monographstoalsoexaminethecontributionsthatVancemadeduringthe
war.The picture of Vance that emerges from his study is one of a skilled
3
administratorwhokeptNorthCarolina’stroopswellsupplied.
Startinginthe1970s,however,scholarsbegantoexamineVance’scareer
inamuchmoredetailedmanner.Theresultoftheirinvestigationswasa
considerablymorenuanceddepictionofhislife.Forexample,WilliamT.
Auman challenged the picture of Vance as a champion of constitutional
rights.Inseveralstudies,AumanarguedthatVancesanctionedharshtac-
tics, including torture, against opponents of the Confederate war effort.
Paul D. Escott confirmed Auman’s assertions and went on to point out
thatVanceemployedasubtlestrategyofalternatingleniencyandfirmness
toward peace advocates. Escott also analyzed the controversies between
VanceandJeffersonDavisthathadpromptedOwsleytoclaimthatVance
undercut the Confederacy. Escott recognized that Vance was actually at-
temptingtoensurethatNorthCarolina’sfragileConfederatenationalism
wasnurturedandsustained.Finally,analyzingtheoppositiontoVanceby
RepublicansinwesternNorthCarolina,IdemonstratedthatVance’spost-
warcareerwasasfullofcontroversyandpartisancompetitionaswasthe
4
caseduringthewar.
In the last thirty years, a great many new studies have been pub-
lishedthatprovidefullerinformationaboutseveralofthemenwithwhom
Vance interacted. Max Williams continued the massive task of publish-
ing the manuscripts of William A.Graham, one of Vance’s mentors dur-
ing the war. In a biography of Henry K. Burgwyn Jr., Archie K. Davis
gave a much needed corrective to our understanding of Vance as a sol-
dier.WilliamC.HarrisprovidedadefinitivebiographyofVance’spolitical
nemesisWilliamWoodsHolden,andHoraceRaperandThorntonMitchell
publishedthesurvivingHoldenmanuscriptsthrough1868.E.StanlyGod-
boldandMattieU.RussellwroteavaluablebiographyofWilliamHolland
Thomas,apersistentVanceopponentinwesternNorthCarolina.JeffCrow
composed a sympathetic sketch of Vance’s 1876 gubernatorial opponent
Thomas Settle Jr. that uncovered some previously unrecognized features
i
viii preface
ofthatcontest.Finally,ThomasE.Jeffreyproducedanoutstandingstudy
ofThomasLanierClingman,themajorroadblocktoVance’spoliticalad-
5
vancementasayoungman. Alloftheseworkstakentogethermadeitobvi-
ousthatVancewasnotaloneactoratanytimeinhiscareer,andthatany
Vancebiographerneededtobeawareoftheactionsofmanyotherhistorical
figures.
OtherscholarssoughttoplaceVanceinthecontextofhisnativemoun-
tainregioninwesternNorthCarolina.PhillipS.PaludandescribedVance’s
angryattempttogainameasureofjusticeforthevictimsofanatrocityin
MadisonCounty.JohnC.Inscoeprovidedthefirstconvincingdescription
ofthemountainslaveowningclass;Vancewasaself-consciousmemberof
thisgroup.JohnandIchronicledVance’seffortsasgovernortorelievethe
suffering of the civilian population in the Appalachian counties.We also
relatedhowVancetried,withfarlesssuccess,tocounterthegrowingwar-
wearinessintheregion.KennethW.NoeandShannonH.Wilsonediteda
seriesofessaysthatexploredtheimpactoftheentirewaronthemountain
South;theseessayshelpedtoplaceVance’seffortsinabroaderperspective.
MartinCrawford,inhisstudyofAsheCounty,allowedscholarstoconsider
6
theimpactofthewaronsmallmountaincommunities.
Another group of historians evaluated Vance through the lens of their
more complex understanding of the Confederate experience. Richard E.
Beringer, Herman Hattaway, Archer Jones, and William Still Jr. tried to
explain why the Confederacy failed. In the process, they absolved Vance
ofanyblamefortheresultandcitedhisimaginativesupplypoliciesasan
example of his positive contributions.George C. Rable examined the re-
voltagainstpartisanpoliticswithintheConfederacyandcitedVanceasthe
prime example of a successful state leader. Rable’s portrait of Vance as a
masterpoliticalcraftsmanwhosoughttoaidtheConfederacybymaintain-
ingatenuouspoliticaltruceinNorthCarolinaisespeciallyconvincing.My
7
owninterpretationofVance’swargovernorshipcloselyfollowsRable’s.
Otherscholarsinvestigatedtherolesplayedbylargerforcesincreating
the world in which Vance lived. Paul D. Escott drew a very convincing
pictureoftheNorthCarolinapoliticalandeconomiceliteduringthelast
halfofthenineteenthcentury.EscottfeaturedVanceasoneoftheleaders
of this group and showed how the war governor became a major archi-
tect of the postwar political system that limited the underclass’s access
to power. On a broader scale, Laurence Shore described the ideological
consistencyof Southern capitalists. His studyalso placed Vancewithin a
muchbroaderperspectivethanhadpreviousstudies.AnneC.Rosemade
asimilarpointwhensheusedVanceasanexampleofeliteadjustmentto
VictorianAmerica.Inherinsightfulstudy,RoseexaminedVance’sdomes-
I
preface ix