Terrell T. Garren is an author, historian, researcher, educator and businessman. He is a native of Buncombe County, with many ancestors and relatives from Henderson County.
He was educated at the old St. Genevieve of The Pines, Gibbons Hall School for Boys in Asheville and is a graduate of T.C. Roberson High School in Buncombe County. Garren earned his BS and MA degrees from Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. He is a U.S. Army veteran having served with the 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam.
He taught school in Haywood County from 1973 to 1975 and was assistant principal at A.C. Reynolds Middle School from 1976 to 1982. He was chief aide to former U.S. Representative James McClure Clarke for the 98th, 100th and 101st Congresses of the United States.
He currently resides in Henderson County.
Most of Garren’s books can be found for purchase on the Web. Most are also available at the Joy of Books at 242 Main St. in Hendersonville, Malaprops in Asheville, the Mountain Made Store at the Grove Arcade in Asheville, Charlie’s on the Creek in Hooper’s Creek and the Henderson County Heritage Museum.
Garren has spent years researching the Civil War in Western North Carolina. His facts are documented with excellent primary source documentation.
Books by Terrell T. Garren
“The Secret of War: A Dramatic History of Civil War Crime in WNC” (2004)
This is a historical novel based on the true-life experience of Delia Russell Youngblood, the great-grandmother of the author, during the Civil War in Henderson County.
After hearing his great-grandmother’s story, Garren spent nearly 15 years researching this story and the Civil War history of Western North Carolina in general. The story also follows his great-grandfather, Joseph Youngblood, through the Civil War as a member of Co. H, “Cane Creek Rifles,” 25th N.C. Infantry Regiment to his capture and imprisonment at Camp Morton in Indianapolis. Told with historical accuracy, the names, battles and places in the story are factually true.
“Mountain Myth: Unionism in WNC” (2006)
This non-fiction book challenges previous historical assumptions regarding Unionism in Western North Carolina. Using well-documented facts, the book overturns earlier interpretations of the period.
“The Fifth Skull: A Novel of the Civil War and the American West” (2008)
This historical novel follows 17-year-old recruits – the “Lost Boys of the Confederacy” – from Western North Carolina to training camp and then to a Union prison, detailing the crimes that take place during war. The heroes, Billy Long of Henderson County and John Rattler, a Snowbird Cherokee, join the Union Army in the west in order to avoid execution. There, they encounter murder, atrocity, and injustices against American Indians.
“Slavery, Civil War and Freedom: A Study of Slavery in Buncombe, Henderson and Madison Counties, N.C.” (2009)
This is a non-fiction work using the 1860 Federal Census on slave statistics in these counties.
“Measured in Blood: The Role of Henderson County NC in the American Civil War”
This non-fiction book contains individual Civil War records for men from Henderson County in the Confederate and Union armies, along with regimental histories. The book features a “sacrifice point system” for measuring Civil War losses by individual soldiers and units. Soldiers are awarded points in 10 different categories. One chapter includes an evaluation of the long standing “Unionism Myth” in Henderson County.