Zebulon Baird Vance

Childhood

Zebulon Vance was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina, near present-day Weaverville, the third of eight children. His family owned 18 slaves. His uncle was Congressman Robert Brank Vance, for whom his elder brother, Robert B. Vance, was named. At age twelve he was sent to study at Washington College in Tennessee, now known as Washington College Academy. The death of his father forced Vance to withdraw and return home at the age of fourteen. It was during this time that he began to court Harriette Espy by letter.

To improve his standing, Vance determined to go to law school. At the age of twenty-one, he wrote to the President of the University of North Carolina, where he was a member of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, former Governor David L. Swain, and asked for a loan so that he could attend law school. Governor Swain arranged for a $300 loan from the university, and Vance performed admirably. By 1852 Vance had begun practicing law in Asheville, and was soon elected county solicitor (prosecuting attorney). By 1853, he married Harriette Espy at Quaker Meadows, and they would subsequently have five sons, four of whom survived to adulthood.

Civil War

By the time the ordinance of secession had passed in May 1861, Vance was a captain stationed in Raleigh, commanding a company known as the "Rough and Ready Guards", part of the Fourteenth North Carolina Regiment. That August, Vance was elected Colonel of the Twenty-sixth North Carolina. The Twenty-sixth engaged in battle in New Bern in March 1862, where Vance conducted an orderly retreat. Vance also led the Twenty-sixth at Richmond. The Twenty-sixth was ultimately destroyed at the Battle of Gettysburg, losing more than 700 of its original 800 members, though Vance at that time was no longer in military service.

In September 1862, Vance won the gubernatorial election. In the Confederacy Vance was a major proponent of individual rights and local self-government, often putting him at odds with the Confederate government of Jefferson Davis. For example, North Carolina was the only state to observe the right of habeas corpus and keep its courts fully functional during the war. Vance opposed harsh Confederate conscription practices; postwar, he would even testify in the hearing investigating George Pickett's execution of 22 alleged Confederate deserters in the aftermath of the Battle of New Bern (1864). Vance testified that the North Carolinians were "troops raised for local defense" and that "the Confederate government did not keep faith with these local troops," who were "transfer[red] to the regular service" in "violation of their enlistment agreement." This testimony questioned the legality of Pickett's decision to hang as deserters the North Carolinians found fighting for the Union troops, and put Pickett at risk of prosecution for war crimes. Vance also refused to allow supplies smuggled into North Carolina by blockade runners to be given to other states until North Carolinians had their share. Vance's work for the aid and morale of the people inspired the nickname "War Governor of the South". Vance was re-elected in 1864. On May 29, 1865, William Woods Holden was appointed governor by President Andrew Johnson. Some have said that when Vance left Raleigh when it was captured by Sherman at the end of the Civil War, that the house where he temporarily lived in Statesville was a "temporary state capitol," but it is more accurately argued that there is no evidence that he conducted official business in Statesville, and that Gov. Holden believed that once Vance left Raleigh, he relinquished the office of governor.

Post-war career

Governor Vance was arrested by Federal forces on his birthday in May 1865 and spent time in prison in Washington, D.C. Per US President Andrew Johnson's amnesty program, he filed an application for pardon on June 3, and was paroled on July 6. After his parole, he began practicing law in Charlotte, North Carolina. Among his clients was accused murderer Tom Dula, the subject of the folk song "Tom Dooley." Governor Vance was formally pardoned on March 11, 1867, though no formal charges had ever been filed against him before his arrest, during his imprisonment, nor during the period of his parole.

In 1870, the state legislature elected him to the United States Senate, but due to the restrictions placed on ex-Confederates by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, he was not allowed to serve. In 1876, Vance was elected Governor once again (during which time he focused on education), and in 1879 the legislature again elected him to the United States Senate. This time he was seated, and he served in the Senate until his death in 1894. After a funeral in the U.S. Capitol, Vance was buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Asheville.

Starting in about 1870, Vance gave a speech hundreds of times he called "The Scattered Nation," which praised the Jews and called for religious tolerance and freedom amongst all Americans. In 1880, Vance married Florence Steele Martin of Kentucky.

About Vance

"He was the Mount Mitchell of all our great men, and in the affections and love of the people, he towered above them all. As ages to come will not be able to mar the grandeur and greatness of Mount Mitchell, so they will not be able to efface from the hearts and minds of the people the name of their beloved Vance."

– T. J. Jarvis, Governor from 1879 to 1885

"There never lived such a stump speaker as [Zeb Vance]."

– George Edmund Badger, US Senator (NC) 1846 to 1855

"As war governor, Vance endeared himself forever to his people. He mitigated the horrors of war by insisting on the precedence of civil law, and stoutly protected the state from the uncomfortable militarism of the Confederate government."

– Selig Adler, historian

By Vance

"The purpose of war is to explore each other."

Unconfirmed

"A vale of humility between two mountains of conceit."

Supposedly said by Vance about North Carolina. The two mountains of conceit are Virginia and South Carolina. This is also attributed to Alexander Hamilton, but probably predates both Hamilton and Vance.

Legacy

There are several monuments dedicated to Vance:

Several locations and schools in North Carolina bear Vance's name:

In World War II, the United States liberty ship SS Zebulon B. Vance was named in his honor.