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Zebulon Baird Vance

Zebulon Baird Vance
Zebulon Baird Vance - Brady-Handy.jpg
United States Senator
from North Carolina
In office
March 4, 1879 – April 14, 1894
Preceded by Augustus S. Merrimon
Succeeded by Thomas J. Jarvis
37th and 43rd Governor of North Carolina
In office
January 1, 1877 – February 5, 1879
Lieutenant Thomas J. Jarvis
Preceded by Curtis H. Brogden
Succeeded by Thomas J. Jarvis
In office
September 8, 1862 – May 29, 1865
Preceded by Henry T. Clark
Succeeded by William W. Holden
Member of the North Carolina House of Representatives
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from North Carolina's 8th district
In office
December 7, 1858 – March 3, 1861
Preceded by Thomas L. Clingman
Succeeded by Robert B. Vance
Personal details
Born (1830-05-13)May 13, 1830
Weaverville, North Carolina
Died April 14, 1894(1894-04-14) (aged 63)
Washington, D.C.
Political party Whig/American (pre-Civil War)
Conservative Party of NC (c. 1862–1872)
Democratic (1872–1894)
Spouse(s) Harriette Vance
Children 4
Education Washington College Academy
University of North Carolina
Profession lawyer, colonel, politician

Zebulon Baird Vance (May 13, 1830 – April 14, 1894) was a Confederate military officer in the American Civil War, the 37th and 43rd Governor of North Carolina, and U.S. Senator. A prodigious writer, Vance became one of the most influential Southern leaders of the Civil War and postbellum periods.

Zebulon Vance was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina, near present-day Weaverville, the third of eight children. His family owned 18 slaves. His uncle was Congressman Robert Brank Vance, for whom his elder brother, Robert B. Vance, was named. At age twelve he was sent to study at Washington College in Tennessee, now known as Washington College Academy. The death of his father forced Vance to withdraw and return home at the age of fourteen. It was during this time that he began to court Harriette Espy by letter.

To improve his standing, Vance determined to go to law school. At the age of twenty-one, he wrote to the President of the University of North Carolina, where he was a member of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, former Governor David L. Swain, and asked for a loan so that he could attend law school. Governor Swain arranged for a $300 loan from the university, and Vance performed admirably. By 1852 Vance had begun practicing law in Asheville, and was soon elected county solicitor (prosecuting attorney). By 1853, he married Harriette Espy at Quaker Meadows, and they would subsequently have five sons, four of whom survived to adulthood.


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