Brother against Brother

On October 17, 1863, Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside reported from Knoxville, Tennessee, that "a regiment of North Carolina troops we are now organizing here yesterday captured Warm Springs, N.C., and now hold Paint Rock Gap." This regiment, the 2nd North Carolina Mounted Infantry, included Confederate army deserters and more than 70 men recruited at Shelton Laurel, a community northeast of here. At Shelton Laurel the previous January, Confederate troops executed prisoners "suspected of Unionism" and of raiding the town of Marshall. The 2nd North Carolina was the first of two Union regiments raised nearby in the mountains of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. In capturing Warm Springs, the regiment overran a detachment of the 25th North Carolina Infantry (C.S.A.) on October 16 and then established its headquarters here on the grounds of the Warm Springs Hotel.

Within a few days, part of Confederate Maj. John W. Woodfin's Cavalry Battalion advanced down the road along the French Broad River from Marshall to attack the Federals. Woodfin was shot from his horse and killed just across the river from here, and cavalryman Jake Davis was wounded and later died. Gen. Robert B. Vance, brother of Gov. Zebulon B. Vance, led further attacks on the Union troops here in several engagements, October 20-26, 1863. Each side suffered casualties, and by November 1, the 2nd North Carolina Mounted Infantry was back in East Tennessee recruiting.

The engagements at Warm Springs were unusual because local Southern Unionists and local Southern Confederates, both serving in regularly enlisted units, fought each other on their home soil, brother against brother.

(Left Sidebar):
Pvt. John C. Pickens, Co. B, 2nd North Carolina Mounted Infantry, and his older brother, Sidney Vance Pickens, Adjutant, 14th North Carolina Battalion, fought on opposite sides in the war. John took part in the Warm Springs engagements, while Sidney had earlier served under Woodfin and published a history of Woodfin's Battalion in 1901.

(Right Sidebar):
The Warm Springs Hotel, established in the 1830s, became a nationally well-known and popular resort because of its curative waters. Thirteen massive columns and the portico of the hotel faced the river. Zebulon B. Vance, North Carolina's Civil War governor, was clerk in the hotel while a young man and read law under John W. Woodfin of Asheville. This building burned in 1884, but others replaced it. The springs are still utilized today.

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Show me all markers in:  Hot Springs, NC  |  Madison County  |  28743  |  North Carolina  |  United States of America

Hot Springs
Paint Rock
Dorland - Bell Institute
Balladry
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee, a War Memorial
Tennessee / North Carolina
" Shelton Laurel Massacre "
Frances Goodrich
Grace Moore

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