Asheville woman pens 'Civil War Sites on AT'

ASHEVILLE - As a thru-hiker, Leanna Joyner knows the 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail up and down, inside and out.

She knows firsthand the trail’s leaf-rustling calm, and soul nourishment, and stark beauty. And she knew the history of the trail from guidebooks. But Joyner, 38, of Asheville, also knew deep down that there was more to the trail than romantic notions of wilderness wanderings.

After all, the footpath that runs from Georgia to Maine across the spine of the Appalachians was also the heart of some of the bloodiest, most hellish moments in the country’s history – the Civil War.

So Joyner, trail resources manager with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s Asheville office, set out to put history a little more straight on the undulating trail, resulting in her first book, “Hiking through History: Civil War Sites on the Appalachian Trail.”

Published by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the Harper's Ferry, West Virginia-based nonprofit that protects and maintains the mighty footpath, “Hiking Through History” includes maps and descriptions of 25 short hikes to Underground Railroad and battle sites in small towns near or on the trail and ridges above the valleys. Summaries of the key battles include photographs and maps from the time and photographs of scenes today.

“I was interested in the history of the trail, but on a very surface level,” said Joyner, who completed a six-month, solo AT thru-hike in 2003. “I think history in my mind has always been in books, ‘the way it was,’ and what I started to understand is there are a lot of different perspectives to history, and usually only one part of the story gets told. For me, it was exciting to tell the entirety of the story of a place.”

Beginning in 2010, Joyner, who grew up in Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina, and earned a journalism degree from the University of South Carolina, began research on the book, which became a multiyear, multilayered process.

She started with what was already written and consulted experts, such as Dan Slagle with the Madison County Genealogical Society, to dig deeper into the stories of the graves that dot the trail and the families who lived there, and the battles fought on all sides.

One story that fascinated Joyner was the Shelton Laurel Massacre and the Shelton Family, which she details in the book.

“The Appalachian Trail Conservancy has always published the story of the Shelton Family. The folks whose gravesites on the mountain are perceived as heroes by their family,” Joyner said.

But her research led Joyner to bigger questions.

The Shelton Laurel area of Madison County had been a Unionist stronghold. To “persuade” men to sign up for the Rebel army, Confederates began withholding salt in late 1862 from the Shelton Laurel community. Some 50 people traveled to the county seat of Marshall in January 1863 to retrieve the necessary mineral in what is known as “the salt raid on Marshall.”

In retaliation, the 64th North Carolina Regiment under Col. Lawrence Allen and Lt. Col. James A. Keith, raided the Shelton Laurel community, killing old men and young children and whipped and tortured women.

What was interesting to Joyner were deaths that occurred after the Shelton Laurel Massacre. David Shelton, his nephew William Shelton and a 13-year-old named Millard Haire are buried on Cold Spring Mountain, also known as Butt Mountain, on the Appalachian Trail.

History says they were Union soldiers who had left their posts and returned to Madison County to recruit for the Union Army. They were killed near their homes on July 19, 1864, by Rebel soldiers.

“In my research and looking at pension claims from the wives of the men who were killed, there’s a big question as to whether they didn’t desert the Union cause and came home and hide out,” Joyner said. “I don’t think the history we’ve been telling in the past is as accurate as we want it to be. I left it for reader to decide.”

Slagle worked with Joyner as a consultant for years, sharing his research on Butt Mountain and Cold Spring Mountain during the Civil War.

“I think it’s a good book that I’m not sure anybody else has done much research and written about,” Slagle said. “I hope the book will resonate with local folks. Not everybody has an interest in hiking the Western North Carolina mountains, but I’m sure Civil War history buffs, once they know this book is out there, they will want to see it.”

The book covers the entire Appalachian Trail – the southernmost Civil War action took place from Hot Springs up north through Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.

“So much of that area was a constant battlefield and in struggle,” Joyner said.

She also delves into another fascinating piece of Civil War history in New England, including sites on the Underground Railroad. She traveled to Cincinnati to visit the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and the history of the “railroad” that led many slaves to freedom.

“Of course it’s shrouded in mystery. It was intended to be,” she said.

"Nothing like this has been written for the whole trail, and the book is the first one that brings in the Underground Railroad. You can’t talk about the Civil War without talking about slavery," said Brian King, Appalachian Trail Conservancy publisher.

“I think it’s a nice combination of history, hikes and views of what’s really out there. Too many people think the trail is just for long distance hiking, and bam, bam, bam, getting from Point A to Point B. There’s so much history out there that people may miss. This is a way to collect the history all in one place. For parents want to take kids out, the history is out there, but it’s scattered. This is a way to give them an education and a day hike at the same time. And of course, the Civil War aficionados will want to visit every site.”

In 2015, the ATC reported a record number of thru-hikers, with 1,385 northbound thru-hikers, those walking the AT from Georgia to Maine, an increase of 9 percent from 2014. A estimated 2-3 million people take day hikes on the Appalachian Trail

Joyner found herself becoming immersed in the characters of the past as she hiked and researched.

Two future presidents fought together in battles near the trail. One of those Union officers was assassinated 39 years to the day after a pre-Antietam battle at Fox Gap in Maryland. Hundreds died on these lands, and hundreds more were wounded or sickened.

In the decades before the war, the route clearly was one path north toward freedom for escaped slaves – and a route south toward their destiny at Harpers Ferry for John Brown’s band of 1859 revolutionaries. In the decades that followed the Civil War, some of those emancipated slaves took over the lands of their former owners and developed their own, free communities adjacent to what became the AT by 1937.

“I really enjoyed getting to know Rutherford B. Hayes, our 19th president. He held the town of Pearisburg in Virginia, he may have contributed to what we know of Minie Ball Hill in Virginia – named for the ‘Minie balls’ made from lead bullets all over mountain,” Joyner said.

“He was injured during battle of South Mountains. He wrote a lovely letter to his wife during the war that really shares his experiences and the challenges he faced set against the beauty of the Appalachian Trail. I thought that juxtaposition was beautiful.”

Joyner hopes everyone – not just hikers – will get a greater understanding of the AT and its history through her book.

“I hope for hikers who are prone to walking past without taking history into account, and those who love history, it’s our hope they will get out and explore the AT,” she said.

“I learned that I am a better historian than I ever thought I would be. I learned that there is a lot of really rich history on so many parts of the trail that are largely unexplored and underappreciated and the extent we can help illuminate that with this book is really exciting.”

IF YOU GO

•Leanna Joyner will sign copies of “Hiking Through History” at 7 p.m. Feb. 29 at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe, 55 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. To learn more, visit www.malaprops.com or call 828-254-6734.

•For more about the author, visit www.leannajoyner.com. Click on “Hiking Through History” to learn about the book and sign up for email alerts.