North Carolina 60th Infantry Regiment (Civil War)

The North Carolina 60th Infantry Regiment was organized at Greenville, Tennessee, during the summer of 1862 by adding four companies to the 6th North Carolina State Infantry Battalion. The men were recruited in Asheville and the four counties of Madison, Buncombe, and Polk, and a small number were from Tennessee. The The 60th fought at Murfreesboro , served in Mississippi, then participated in the campaigns of the Army of Tennessee from Chickamauga to Bentonville . It lost 3 killed, 65 wounded, and 11 missing at Murfreesboro, and in January, 1863, had 276 men present for duty. The unit reported 8 killed, 36 wounded , and 16 missing of the 150 engaged at Chickamauga, totalled 106 men and 59 arms in December, 1863, and mustered a force of 106 in January, 1865. Few surrendered in April. Assigned to Preston's, Stovall's, Reynolds', Brown's and Reynolds' Consolidated, and Palmer's Brigade. Officers included: Colonels Washington M. Hardy and Joseph A. McDowell; Lieutenant Colonels William H. Deaver, J.M. Ray, and James T. Weaver; and Majors James T. Huff and William W. McDowell.

The 60th was formed by the increasing of the 6th NC Infantry Battalion to a regiment in 1862. The regiment was in the Department of East Tennessee in 62 and the Army of Middle Tennessee. Latter in 62 they were with the Army of Tennessee. Breckingridge’s Division of the Department of the West and Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana and 2nd Corps of the Army of Tennessee in 63. In late 63 they served in Stevenson’s Division, 1 Corps and 2nd Corps of the Army of Tennessee until April of 65. In was in their service with Stevenson’s Division that they were consolidated with the 58th and designated as the 58th Infantry Regiment Consolidated at Smithfield, NC.

Asheville was not always known as peaceful, elegant or especially inviting. This mountain city became a vital Confederate military center during the Civil War. The first company of soldiers west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Buncombe Rifles, carried a flag made from the silk dresses of town belles when it marched on April 18, 1861. Seven of the 10 companies comprising the 60th North Carolina Regiment were Buncombe men.

"The Buncombe Farmers," Company E, 60th Regiment N.C. Troops
"The Buncombe Guards," Company F, 16th Regiment N.C. Troops (6th Regiment N.C. Volunteers)
"The Buncombe Life Guards," Company H, 29th Regiment N.C. Troops
"The Buncombe Light Artillery," Company A, 60th Regiment N.C. Troops
"The Buncombe Rangers," Company G, 9th Regiment N.C. State Troops (1st Regiment N.C. Cavalry)
"The Buncombe Riflemen," Company E, 1st Regiment N.C. Volunteers
"The Buncombe Rifles," Company E, 1st Regiment N.C. Volunteers
"The Buncombe Sharp Shooters," Company F, 16th Regiment N.C. Troops (6th Regiment N.C. Volunteers)

Fort McDowell

EARLY FORT IS DESCRIBED

Dr. J. M. Spainhour's description of Fort McDowell in his writing of the story of Lydia Burchfield, is of interest. Fort McDowell, according the Spainhour, was located on the bottom lands of the Catawba River, a mile and three quarters from where the town of Morganton now stands. He says,

"The fort was a stockade, and had been erected in 1756-57 when the Indians had threatened the white settlers and was constructed of logs 25 feet long; the logs were halved and the edges trimmed to fit the one it joined. A ditch five feet deep was dug in the ground and the timbers standing erected with the flat side, but were securely fastened together by cross pieces, and the lower ends securely packed in the ground.

John Erwin Patton Smith (1834-1921)

John Erwin Patton Smith (1834-1921)

Among the prominent citizens of Ellijay District of Gilmer County, Georgia, was John Erwin Patton Smith. J.E.P. was born 21 April 1834 near Swannanoa, Buncombe County, North Carolina. He was a son of Daniel Smith, Junior (1798-1866) and Margaret Isabella McRee (1801-1885), youngest daughter of the noted Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Dr. James McRee (1752-1840) and Rachel Cruser (1761-1856). J.E.P. was a grandson of Captain Daniel Smith (1757-1824), a well known Indian fighter and North Carolina militia officer during the Revolutionary War, and Mary McConnell Davidson (1762-1842). J.E.P.'s father moved the family to Gilmer County about 1844, settling northeast of Ellijay near Turniptown. Here J.E.P. was a farmer like his father.

All about Dynamic Views for Readers

All about Dynamic Views for Readers

A Souvenir Directory to the Land of the Sky (1898)

A Souvenir Directory to the Land of the Sky, T. M. Barker, Jr. (1898)

To view the book, click on the above link.

Buncombe County: A Brief History

In 1791, David Vance and William Davidson presented to the North Carolina House of Commons a "petition of the inhabitants of that part of Burke County lying west of the Appalachian Mountains praying that a part of said county, and part of Rutherford County, be made into a separate and distinct county." The original bill to create the county gave as its name "Union." The name was changed, however, to Buncombe in honor of Col. Edward Buncombe, a Revolutionary War hero from Tyrell County. The Buncombe bill was ratified on January 14, 1792. The new county included most of Western North Carolina and was so large it was commonly referred to it as the "State of Buncombe." Approximately 1,000 people lived in the county.

North Carolina in the Civil War

The North Carolina Office of Archives and History is sponsoring the first of three Civil War sesquicentennial conferences at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh on May 20, the anniversary of the state’s secession from the Union, entitled “Contested Past: Memories and Legacies of the Civil War.” The agenda features eighteen speakers including the keynote address by David Blight of Yale University. Registration is $25 which includes refreshments, a boxed lunch, and afternoon reception. The program can be found at:

North Carolina in the Civil War
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