North Carolina votes narrowly not to hold a secession convention

The call for a convention had passed both houses of the North Carolina legislature earlier and this was put to the people.  The results showed the election of eighty-five delegates who ran in favor of the Union and thirty-five for secession.  Moreover, the broader question of whether the convention should be held at all failed by a razor-thing margin, 46,603 to 46,408.  North Carolina ultimately became the last state to secede and join the Confederacy, on May 20, 1861.  (By John Osborne)