Asheville Citizen, March 22, 1877. NC Collection, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville, NC

1865-1880
5.4 Judge immediate and long term effects of Reconstruction on the daily lives of people as well as on the politics and economy of the former Confederate states.

Asheville became a garrisoned town with the the march of Stoneman’s Army through Buncombe County. Eventually, a company of Union Black enlisted men were left to hold the area. Research from this project revealed the application used to list the Confederate Armory as a historical marker on the Courthouse Square. The application included the story of the court-martial and execution members of the same Black Union troops on highly questionable evidence.

The Freedman's Bureau was operated by Oscar Eastmond, a North Carolinian from the Piedmont, who went North to join the Union Army. His office was located at the southwest corner of the square in the Thomas Building. Records indicate he was a strong advocate for the rights of newly freed former slaves.

Newspaper articles over the next several years speak to the jockeying throughout the North and South to maintain and increase the power base of the Republican and Democratic parties. At the time, Black property-owning men in Buncombe County were allowed to vote. Most were inclined to vote Republican—“the party of Lincoln.”

Confederate reunions continued for many years and often formed the leadership of a community. A small fraction of slaves participated in the Civil War as Confederate Soldiers. Mostly, they went as body servants to their enslaver and were not allowed to bear arms until late in the war. There were instances when mutual affection was a part of this uneven and dehumanizing friendship.

We passed through an immense crowd of a few citizens, a great many proud and insolent negroes in U.S. uniforms. One of these negroes called out to my father, (Judge John L. Bailey) , ‘How do you like this, old man?’...I have loathed the uniform ever since.”

—Sarah Bailey Cain, “Last Days of the War,” (one of few accounts
that mention the black regiment). The Heart of Confederate Appalachia
by John C. Inscoe and Gordon B. McKinney, page 257, taken from
“Significance of Stoneman’s Last Raid”, Ina Van Noppen, 522-23,
Southern Historical Collection

Soon after the War Between the States ended, Blacks began to exercise their new freedom and voted in Asheville in 1867. Their early participation was not always peaceful. In 1868, a riot broke out over a voting issue. It appears that an old Black man stated that he was voting a Democratic ticket. This was primarily the party of White men. Black supporters of the Republican party tried to persuade him to vote their ticket and he refused. Consequently, a fight broke out because the Whites tried to protect the old Black man. One Black was killed and several others were wounded. Several Blacks were tried for the riot. No one was indicted because the court could not determine who started the melee.

—Testimony taken by the Joint Select Committee
to Inquire Into the Condition of affairs in the late Insurrectionary State—
North Carolina (Washington, D. C., Government Printing Office, 1872), p. 243—
taken from Black Roots in Western North Carolina, page 18

“The Law said he was my slave but often Law makes error. Indeed and in fact he was my devoted and loving friend and companion.”

—From the memoirs of Thomas Walton Patton speaking of Sam Cope

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