1860 – Census Population: 8,981 whites (approximately half were children); 1,382 slaves; 85 free blacks. Note that this total includes approximately two-thirds of today’s Transylvania County.
1860 Nov – Abraham Lincoln wins presidential election
1860 Dec. 5 to 1861 Feb. 1 – Seven Southern states secede (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas)
1861 – Transylvania County formed from Henderson County
1861 April 12-14 – South Carolina troops seize Fort Sumter (no “battle” deaths)
1861 April 15 – Lincoln calls for 75,000 troops to be raised by state militias to “end the insurrection”
1861 April 17 to May 7 – Virginia, New Mexico Territory, Arizona Territory, Arkansas, Tennessee secede
1861 May 1-4 – Men from Henderson County voluntarily enlist in the 9th Regiment N.C. Troops (1st Regiment N.C. Cavalry), Company G, in Buncombe County
1861 May 5 – Confederate rally held in Hendersonville. Men from Henderson County voluntarily enlist in 16th N.C. Infantry Regiment (6th Regiment N.C. Volunteers), Company I, Henderson Guards
1861 May 13 – U.S. troops enter Maryland and prevent secession vote. As a result, Delaware cancels secession vote.
1861, May 15 – Confederate rally held in Edneyville. Men from Henderson County voluntarily enlist in 25th N.C. Infantry Regiment, Company A, Edney’s Greys
1861 May 20 – North Carolina secedes and joins the Confederate States of America
1861 June – Oklahoma Indian Territory (Five Civilized Tribes) joins Confederacy
1861 – Kentucky and Missouri have two state governments (Confederate and Union) and fight a “civil war” within each state
1861 – C.G. Memminger, who had a summer home at his Rock Hill Estate (Connemara), is named Secretary of the Treasury for the Confederate States of America.
1861, July 15 – Confederate rally held in Fletcher. Men from Henderson County voluntarily enlist in 25th N.C. Infantry Regiment, Company H, Cane Creek Rifles
1861 July – Some men from Henderson County go to Asheville and enlist in 39th N.C. Infantry Regiment, Company D
1861 October – Men from Henderson County voluntarily enlist in 35th N.C. Infantry Regiment, Company G, Henderson Rifles
1862 April – Men from Henderson County voluntarily enlist in 56th N.C. Infantry Regiment, Company G, Henderson Blues (before Confederate Conscription Act enforced)
1862, April 16 – Confederacy passed its first conscription act (ages 18-35) with exemptions for paying for substitutes or pay to be exempted. September 1862 age was raised to 45. Exemptions repealed December 1863.
1862 July – Men from Henderson County are drafted and voluntarily enlist in the 60th N.C. Infantry Regiment, Co. D, Henderson Rangers.
1862 July – A few men from Henderson County voluntarily enlist in the 62nd N.C. Infantry Regiment, Co. E, organized in Waynesville.
1862 July – Men from Henderson County are drafted and some voluntarily enlist in the 64th N.C. Infantry Regiment, Co. B, raised in Henderson County.
1862, July 15 – Men from Henderson County are drafted and a few voluntarily enlist in the 6th Regiment N.C. Cavalry (65th Regiment N.C. Troops), Companies C and D, formed in Transylvania County.
1863, March 3 – Congress enacts the first draft in American history, requiring every man to serve in the army unless he can furnish a substitute or pay the government $300.
1863, April 5 – Susannah Sophronia Clark Barnwell was brutally raped and murdered in the Hooper’s Creek community by most likely deserters from the Union or Confederate armies. Her infant baby died shortly after her death.
1863, June 20 – A group of Unionists in the western part of Virginia organize the new state of West Virginia.
1863, July 13-16 – Riots break out in New York and other northern cities in reaction to the U.S. draft law. In New York, 120 men, women and children – mostly black – are killed before Union troops restore order.
1863 September – Union begins offering bounties (pay) for men living in the South to join the Union Army.
1863 October – The 2nd N.C. Mounted Infantry (Union) is organized at Knoxville, Tenn. The officers are regular Union Army. Almost all enlistees from Henderson County formerly served in Confederate regiments. The majority of men from Henderson County who joined the Union served in this unit.
1864 January – A few men from Henderson County are drafted or voluntarily enlist in the Confederate 69th Regiment N.C. Troops, 7th Regiment N.C. Cavalry, Co. G. This unit remained in WNC for the remainder of the war.
1864 February – A new Confederate Conscription Act called all men between the ages of 17 and 50.
1864 February – Youth from Henderson County who are 17 are drafted and some voluntarily enlist in the 1st Regiment N.C. Junior Reserves (70th Regiment), Co. C. Men from Henderson County between the ages of 45 and 50 are drafted and some voluntarily enlist in the Senior Reserves (names and number not currently known).
1864 June – The 3rd N.C. Mounted Infantry (Union) is organized at Knoxville, Tenn. Almost all men from Henderson County who joined formerly served in Confederate regiments.
1864, June 10 – While the 3rd N.C. Mounted was recruiting in Henderson County, Andrew Johnstone was murdered at his home (Beaumont) in Flat Rock.
1864, July – The 64th N.C. Infantry, Company E, (this company was primarily Polk County men and a few men from Henderson County who had escaped capture at Cumberland Gap) was sent to Flat Rock to protect the Charlestonian families living in Flat Rock and to also protect their property. The company camped on the front lawn of the Farmer Hotel (today’s Woodfield Inn).
1865, January-April – Confederates build a road to the top of Posey Mountain (also called Ward Mountain or Cleveland Mountain) in the Green River community at the state line to defend the gap from South to North Carolina against Union troops marching north from Georgia. The top was fortified with artillery. Still seen are breast works, trenches, and pits for gun emplacements.
1865, April 9 – Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. At least 42 men from Henderson County were at Appomattox at the surrender. It is possible that more were there based on the regiments in which they served.
1865, April 21 – Baylis (Balis, Baylus, Baylous) M. Edney, a long-time leader in local, regional and state government, and a close friend of Gov. Zebulon Vance, was killed at his home in the Edneyville community of Henderson County.
1865, April 22 – Robert Thomas, the county’s first sheriff and a leader in local government since the late 1830s, was killed at his home in the Etowah community of Henderson County.
1865, April 23-24 – The 2nd and 3rd Brigades of Union Maj. Gen. George W. Stoneman’s troops enter Henderson County through Howard Gap. Stoneman himself never entered Henderson County. The Henderson County Home Guard met them on Howard Gap Road (The Home Guard was composed of men too old and too young to serve in the Confederate Army). The Home Guard abandoned their position. Later in the day, some of the Union soldiers were camped at Judson College in Hendersonville and others in a field on Howard Gap Road in the Tracy Grove community. On the morning of April 24, they dispersed throughout the county in small units to forage hay, horses and food from the population. There are documented some acts of violence.
1865, April 25 – The Union troops were granted passage through Asheville under a flag of truce.
1865-1866 – Presidential Reconstruction. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated April 14, 1865. Vice President Andrew Johnson became president and generally attempted to fulfill Lincoln’s desires to speedily re-unite the nation. He pardoned many Confederates, allowed them to vote and maintain control of state and local governments. But, elected representatives from Southern states were not seated by Congress. Congress then brought impeachment proceedings against President Johnson.
1865-1870 – There is a substantial migration of the county’s black population to Northern states. All records of newly freed slaves no longer exist for Henderson County. Most of the county’s in the state have searchable records, but not Henderson County.
1865-66 – Shaw’s Creek AME Zion Church forms in Horse Shoe. This is the first church in the county organized by newly freed slaves.
1866-1872 – Radical Republican Reconstruction. Only men who swore an oath of loyalty that they had never opposed the Union should be allowed the rights of full citizenship. A coalition of former slaves, carpetbaggers (Northerners who came south for political and economic gain) and “scalawags” (Unionist Southern whites) controlled most of the southern states. Rights were withheld from Confederate soldiers based on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution: any citizen who engages in insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution shall not be allowed the right to hold office (and vote).
1866-1870 – Second black church in the county forms, St. John’s Baptist in Fletcher.
1867-68 – Group of newly freed slaves from Mississippi arrive in county. They built cabins and grew crops on land owned by the Davis family of the Oaklands estate in the Green River community between Tuxedo and Mountain Page. Leader: Robert Montgomery. They called themselves the Kingdom of the Happy Land. They later bought 180 acres from the Davis family. Most members of this group later move to Hendersonville.
1867 – The Reconstruction Act of 1867 divided the South into five military districts, placing all southern states under military rule, and dissolved the civil governments in all southern states except Tennessee.
1868 – North Carolina ratified the Fourteenth Amendment and wrote a new state constitution. North Carolina was officially re-admitted to the Union.
1870 – Population Census: 7,743. A study has not yet been conducted to show the breakdown of race or age. Since Transylvania County was no longer a part of Henderson County, the statements written in earlier history texts must be in error when they state that there was a 26 percent loss in the population of Henderson County.
1870s – Newly freed black slaves from Flat Rock summer estates remain in the county, settling in today’s East Flat Rock community.
1872 – President Grant signed the Amnesty Act of 1872. This act provided amnesty to soldiers of the Confederate Army and returned the vote. All but 500 top Confederate leaders were pardoned. This began what is called the “Redemption, 1873-77,” white Southerners defeated the Republicans and took control of each southern state, marking the end of Radical Reconstruction. This period began in North Carolina by 1870. The Radical Republicans lost the majority of state offices in North Carolina in 1870. They lost the election primarily because of huge corruption within the Radical Republican government within the state.
1873 – Star of Bethel Baptist Church is the first black church formed by newly freed slaves in the town of Hendersonville.
1875 – Amendments to the state constitution establish separate public schools for black and white children. Jim Crow laws begin long history of segregation.
1877 – Republican President candidate Rutherford Hayes was named the winner of the Presidential election by the U.S. House of Representatives in exchange for a promise to withdraw all federal troops from the South. The U.S. military enforcing martial law left the South in April 1877.
1880s – Black churches form throughout the county: Mud Creek Missionary Baptist in East Flat Rock, Stanford Chapel AME Zion in Clear Creek, Blue Ridge Baptist in Edneyville, Mount Zion Baptist in Clear Creek and a church no longer in existence, Green Mountain Baptist in Fruitland. This cemetery is now a grassy lot with no markers noting the number of people buried there. Another church was located in Mills River off McDowell Road, with only evidence of a cemetery remaining.
1900 Democrats regain control of the governorship and the General Assembly through a harsh white supremacy campaign. The “Suffrage Amendment” to the state constitution institutes a literacy requirement for voting. It includes a “grandfather clause” that allows illiterate white men to vote but effectively disfranchises men of color.