MONUMENT IN HONOR OF UNION SOLDIERS AND FAMILIES OF
HENDERSON AND TRANSYLVANIA COUNTIES
erected 1985, by James Baskam King (1915 - 2009) and Friends
HENDERSON AND TRANSYLVANIA COUNTIES
erected 1985, by James Baskam King (1915 - 2009) and Friends
A Conversation with Dr. George A. Jones (1920 - 2016)
In March 2014, Dr. George A. Jones, founder of the Henderson County Genealogical & Historical Society, Inc., was asked about the monument in Etowah. What is the story? How did this monument come to be placed here in Etowah? The text of that conversation is below. The stone monument is located on historic Brickyard Road, next to the parking lot of the WCCA building. When the monument was erected In 1985 with private fundraising dollars, the Etowah Library occupied the nearby building which was originally the Etowah Grange #984, a vibrant community center for Etowah's farm families. In that sense, the monument also marks a significant heritage location in the community. Monument text: IN HONOR OF UNION VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR 1861 - 1865 HENDERSON AND TRANSYLVANIA COUNTIES, NORTH CAROLINA WITH GREAT RESPECT FOR THE WOMEN WHO CARRIED ON AT HOME WHILE HUSBANDS AND BROTHERS WERE FIGHTING TO PRESERVE THE UNION. FUNDED AND ERECTED IN 1985 BY THE DESCENDANTS AND FRIENDS OF THE UNION VETERANS |
Civil War - Confederate & Union Veterans
More about the Confederate and Union soldiers who came from Henderson County
at the time of the war and who are buried in Etowah Valley cemeteries.
More about the Confederate and Union soldiers who came from Henderson County
at the time of the war and who are buried in Etowah Valley cemeteries.
A Conversation with Dr. George A. Jones (1920 - 2016)
About the stone monument in Etowah on Brickyard Road, dedicated to the Union soldiers of the Civil War Dr. George Alexander Jones, D. Theology
Founder, Henderson County Genealogical & Historical Society, Inc., 1983 Chairman, Committee for the Restoration of the Henderson County Courthouse (now, Heritage Museum on Main Street) - more about Dr. Jones at the end of the text - Dr. Jones, in his own words:
" There were a large number of people in Henderson County who favored the Union. They did not vote for secession and they did not support secession. But when North Carolina legislature, contrary to the vote of the people, took the state out of the Union these people were left afloat. They had no government really. So, as time went on, and the Union army conquered east Tennessee, it made it convenient for these pro-Union people to cross over the mountain and join the Union army in Tennessee. And many of them did. It was a dangerous thing because had the Confederates caught them going over the mountain, they would have shot and killed them. But they went over the mountain because they believed in the union of the states of the United States. Well, after the war they were privileged, many of them, to draw a pension, and they did. And those records are available today. Many of them here in our office. But as time went on the Confederates and their descendants put up a big monument in the middle of Main Street of Hendersonville. [the obelisk] As automobiles came on, they started wrecking against that stone so they moved it to the courthouse lawn. And when we restored the courthouse [completed in 2005] and made the plaza in front of the courthouse, all the monuments were relocated adjacent to the building. And they’re there now. But when we restored the courthouse many of the veterans of the county, including the Union men, had not been honored with a monument. So we bought three, four, or five new monuments and honored all the veterans of all the wars. But over the years, the Union men were not recognized in any way. And J. B. King (1915 - 2009) [James Baskam King, a Henderson County native] who grew up on Crab Creek, but he lived in Cadillac, Michigan, he got the idea that he wanted a monument put up for the Union soldiers. And J. B. has subsequently died, but he was the ringleader in raising the money and buying the stone. But there were many others [who] contributed money and so on and helped him. And we erected that monument to the numerous men and their families who had fought in the Union Army. The county gave us permission to locate that stone on the library property in Etowah. Now the library has moved, but the monument is still there. [Was there a reason Etowah was chosen?] Well, I don’t know. I think J. B. King took an easy way out there because the county would grant him permission without any question. Had he asked for the courthouse square, which I felt was right and wanted, he just didn’t think that would do, so we didn’t. Now when we restored the courthouse we bought one for the Union soldiers. There’s another one now by the courthouse. [The fact that it’s in Etowah, was just that politically it was the easiest thing to do?] It was the easy thing to do. And then many Union soldiers were from Etowah or that area and, of course, Crab Creek was almost solid with Union soldiers. And at that period when J. B. King led in erecting that monument, I guess more descendants of the Union soldiers lived in that part of the county and it was easily done. [What percentage would you say of the population in Henderson County was pro-Union?] Well, when the vote was taken as to whether or not North Carolina would secede from the Union, the pro-Union people carried this county substantially. But see, the legislature being controlled by slave owners, they had the power, regardless of the people’s vote, to take the State out, and they did. [This county voted not to secede?] That’s exactly right. And many other counties did. There [were] pockets of pro-Union people all over the county, all over the state, and a big pocket near Surrey County, Wilkes County, and over on the coast near Camp Fisher, Fort Fisher it is. But there were many of them, and they thought it was a foolish, irregular, and illogical thing to try to break up the Union. And they were basically anti-slavery. Now anyway you cut the history today, the war was fought primarily over slavery. [For economic reasons] Well, it was slavery and the southerner economy was built on slave labor. Even those big houses in Flat Rock were built by slaves. And the pro-slavery people had money and clout. [What would you like to share with me about the community of Etowah?] Well, it’s been a progressive community, good farmers, primarily on the French Broad River. The river bottoms were fertile and productive. And, of course, you know the county seat Hendersonville was almost located in Horse Shoe. You know, FitzSimons in his book, he was a great storyteller. He developed the whole concept of River - Road. The Buncombe Turnpike, established in 1820, was a thoroughfare, a main highway, comparable today to the interstate road. It passed through what is now the town of Hendersonville. And the people in the Ebenezer community, the Dana community, the Upward community, they were for building the county seat here [Hendersonville]. And after three lawsuits that went all the way to the North Carolina Supreme Court, one of them was lost against my great-great-granddaddy, he wanted the city here, the town here, and he was a leader in that, Captain Robert Jones, and he led in that endeavor. [There was a group fighting for the Horse Shoe area to be the county seat?] Noble Johnson who lived in Horse Shoe, he offered to give a tract of land for the county seat. And the commission that was appointed to do it almost accepted that. Then the Joneses and the Brittains and others said, “No, we want it over here.” So eventually, with the donation of land by James Brittain and John Johnson and Mitchell King to give land for the county seat over here, and with the court decisions and the election decision, it was located here. And it was a blessing because today it would be on the edge up there. [This little community of Etowah, what brought it together?] Well, I would say, it’s never been considered a unit of itself until more recently. People started talking about Etowah as being an entity, when here before it was one of many. Like Horse Shoe, Etowah, Penrose . . . they were just stops on the railroad. And they were not considered individual units. They were “that part of the county.” [How is that part of the county referred to?] Oh, the river people, the French Broad River. The ridge boys were Upward, Dana, Blue Ridge. They were called “ridge boys.” Horse Shoe, Etowah and part of Mills River [were] called the river boys. [Any other tidbits about Etowah that you’d like to share? Any special stories that go along with that community?] I think the history and development of that cemetery on School House Road has a long history. [Oak Forest] And I, frankly, don’t know the complete history of it. But there use to be a building there by the cemetery and I believe the school was originally by the cemetery. And if I have my information correctly, the Etowah Baptist Church started meeting in that building, and maybe the Methodist Church did too. The community probably adhered around the school and the churches. " About Dr. George A. Jones (extract from memorial on findagrave.com)
In Hendersonville, Dr. Jones founded the Henderson County Genealogical and Historical Society, chaired the Henderson County Sesquicentennial Celebration Committee in 1989 and later the Henderson County Committee for the Celebration of the Bicentennial of the US Constitution. In addition, he worked tirelessly to save the Historic Courthouse and chaired the Henderson County Historic Courthouse Board and the Heritage Museum Board. This group oversaw the renovation of the courthouse which now houses the Henderson County museum. He was the first president of the Henderson County Genealogical and Historical Society and editor of volumes I & II of the Henderson County Heritage and the Henderson County Cemeteries. In addition, he co-authored with his daughter Alexia Jones Helsley, A Guide to Historic Henderson County, North Carolina. The Society of North Carolina Historians recognized him as the historian of Western North Carolina in 1989. In October 2017, BOLD LIFE magazine featured an article
about the monument in Etowah. "Small Stones, Big Stories" - by Daniel Walton |