Iv.
Union sentiment in North Carolina in 1861.
North Carolina was the last to enter the
Confederacy, and her slowness was due, beyond question to the paramount influence exercised by the conservative views of the alumni of the
University.
Willie P. Mangum, who had been the personal friend of the abolition
Senator,
William H. Seward, when the latter first entered the United States Senate, had said in the Senate long before, when the nullification of
South Carolina was the topic of the day: ‘If I could coin my heart into gold, and it were lawful in the sight of Heaven, I would pray God to give me firmness to do it, to save the
Union from the fearful, the dreadful shock which I verily believe impends.’
His feelings were not changed by time, and in 1860 he said to his nephew who had been taught in the school of
Calhoun and
Yancey, and now talked loudly of secession, that if he were an emperor the nephew should be hanged for treason.
The Union sentiments of
Governor Graham,
Governor Morehead, of
Governor Vance, and
General Barringer, were just as pronounced as were those of
Judge Mangum.
All of the old line Whigs opposed the war, while some of the Democrats, like
Bedford Brown, denied the right to secede.
