North Carolina

Boundaries and Extent. — North Carolina is bounded north by the State of Virginia, east and south-east by the Atlantic Ocean, south by South Carolina and Georgia, and west by the State of Tennessee. It extends from latitude 33° 50' to 36° 30' north, and lies between 75° 45' and 84° west longitude; is 430 miles in length, and varies in breadth from 20 to 180 miles, and contains about 45,000 square miles. (Gazetteer of the United States of America, 1854)
Place Unit Type
State or Province
Containing Unit
Date Type
Commercial vessel bound for New York sinks off Cape Hatteras Crime/Disasters
Confederate privateer encounters the loaded Boston schooner "Enchantress" and takes her as a prize Battles/Soldiers
Earthquake shakes Virginia, North Carolina, and Ohio Crime/Disasters
Former Whig congressman Edward Stanly appointed military governor of eastern North Carolina Lawmaking/Litigating
Forty passengers and crew drown when a steamer wrecks off the coast of North Carolina Crime/Disasters
In North Carolina, Confederate sailors and marines capture a Union gunboat in a night attack Battles/Soldiers
New Cape Lookout Lighthouse lit for the first time on North Carolina coast Science/Technology
North Carolina ratifies the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery Lawmaking/Litigating
North Carolina votes narrowly not to hold a secession convention Campaigns/Elections
Passenger steamer bound for Havana disabled off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina Crime/Disasters
S.S. Central America sinks in a hurricane off the coast of North Carolina Crime/Disasters
Stephen A. Douglas marries Martha Martin in North Carolina Personal
The New York steamship burns off Cape Hatteras and eleven aboard are killed. Crime/Disasters
U.S. Navy prize caught running the Charleston blockade sinks off North Carolina on its way to Boston Crime/Disasters
U.S. Navy recaptures the Boston schooner "Enchantress" taken as a Confederate prize two weeks before Battles/Soldiers
- U.S. Navy transport with new Department of the South commander aboard wrecked in North Carolina Crime/Disasters
Name Type
Alamance County, NC County
Alexander County, NC County
Alleghany County, NC County
Anson County, NC County
Ashe County, NC County
Beaufort County, NC County
Bertie County, NC County
Bladen County, NC County
Brunswick County, NC County
Buncombe County, NC County
Burke County, NC County
Cabarrus County, NC County
Caldwell County, NC County
Camden County, NC County
Carteret County, NC County
Caswell County, NC County
Catawba County, NC County
Chatham County, NC County
Cherokee County, NC County
Chowan County, NC County
Clay County, NC County
Cleveland County, NC County
Columbus County, NC County
Craven County, NC County
Cumberland County, NC County
Currituck County, NC County
Dare County, NC County
Davidson County, NC County
Davie County, NC County
Duplin County, NC County
Durham County, NC County
Edgecombe County, NC County
Forsyth County, NC County
Franklin County, NC County
Gaston County, NC County
Gates County, NC County
Graham County, NC County
Granville County, NC County
Greene County, NC County
Guilford County, NC County
Halifax County, NC County
Harnett County, NC County
Haywood County, NC County
Henderson County, NC County
Hertford County, NC County
Hyde County, NC County
Iredell County, NC County
Jackson County, NC County
Johnson County, NC County
Jones County, NC County
Lenoir County, NC County
Lincoln County, NC County
Macon County, NC County
Madison County, NC County
Martin County, NC County
McDowell County, NC County
Mecklenburg County, NC County
Mitchell County, NC County
Montgomery County, NC County
Moore County, NC County
Nash County, NC County
New Hanover County, NC County
Northampton County, NC County
Onslow County, NC County
Orange County, NC County
Pamlico County, NC County
Pasquotank County, NC County
Pender County, NC County
Perquimans County, NC County
Person County, NC County
Pitt County, NC County
Polk County, NC County
Randolph County, NC County
Richmond County, NC County
Robeson County, NC County
Rockingham County, NC County
Rowan County, NC County
Rutherford County, NC County
Sampson County, NC County
Stanly County, NC County
Stokes County, NC County
Surry County, NC County
Swain County, NC County
Transylvania County, NC County
Tyrrell County, NC County
Union County, NC County
Vance County, NC County
Wake County, NC County
Warren County, NC County
Washington County, NC County
Watauga County, NC County
Wayne County, NC County
Wilkes County, NC County
Wilson County, NC County
Yadkin County, NC County
Yancey County, NC County
Date Title
John Henry Hill to William Still, January 7, 1855
Richmond (VA) Dispatch, "The Underground Railroad," December 6, 1855
Thomas Garrett to William Still, December 19, 1855
Thomas Garrett to William Still, July 19, 1856
John Thompson to William Still, January 6, 1857
New York Times, “Important from the South,” June 23, 1857
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Revival of the Whig Party,” November 8, 1858
Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, “Who are the Agitators?,” December 16, 1858
New York Herald, “The Presidential Question,” January 24, 1859
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “What is thought at the North of the New Ultimatum,” August 15, 1859
Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “New Danger To Douglas,” September 29, 1859
Greensboro (NC) Patriot, "Secession of the Medical Students," January 6, 1860
Boston (MA) Herald, “A Fugitive,” June 7, 1857
Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “An Explanation,” June 28, 1860
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Disunion,” July 30, 1860
New York Herald, “The Election in North Carolina,” August 4, 1860
Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “A Word For Douglasites,” August 6, 1860
New York Times, "Politics at the South," August 10, 1860
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "The Disunion Movement," September 13, 1860
Raleigh (NC) Register, "Look Out, Douglas Men," November 6, 1860
Raleigh (NC) Standard, "Untitled," November 14, 1860
New York Herald, “The Disunion Question,” November 19, 1860
New York Times, “A Sensible Proceeding,” December 20, 1860
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "Another Strong Blow for the Union," February 14, 1861
Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Bad For Virginia,” February 20, 1861
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Hon. John A. Gilmer,” March 7, 1861
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “North Carolina and Secession,” April 4, 1861
Richmond (VA) Dispatch, “Retaliation,” April 15, 1861
Cleveland (OH) Herald, “Union Feeling in North Carolina,” August 27, 1861
Marble Nash Taylor, Proclamation to the People of North Carolina, November 20, 1861
Cleveland (OH) Herald, “North Carolina Dissatisfied,” November 21, 1861
Marble Nash Taylor, Proclamation to the People of North Carolina calling Elections, January 22, 1862
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “An Urgent Appeal,” September 29, 1862
Edwin M. Stanton to Major General William T. Sherman, April 15, 1865
Henry W. Halleck to William T. Sherman, April 15, 1865
"The Consequence," Chicago Tribune, April 17, 1865
Andrew Johnson, Proclamation of Reconstruction of North Carolina, Washington, D.C.
How to Cite This Page: "North Carolina," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/8985.