view of valley floor near Wallace Mountain, Walkertown
An ancestry blog by Terrell Ledbetter, originally posted January 30, 2019
In May of 1861, when John W. Woodfin, an attorney in Asheville
view of valley floor near Wallace Mountain, Walkertown
An ancestry blog by Terrell Ledbetter, originally posted January 30, 2019
In May of 1861, when John W. Woodfin, an attorney in Asheville, North Carolina, began organizing the Buncombe Rangers for service in the Confederate Army, James Washington Walker and his wife Sophronia Jane Burnett Walker were working their farm and raising their seven children (with one on the way). The conscription age for the Confederacy at that times was thirty-five max and James was thirty-nine and Sophronia thirty-seven. Sarah was the oldest of the children at fifteen, followed closely by fourteen year old Mary Jane and thirteen year old Harriet. Rhoda was barely older than her two brothers Albert, eight, and Julius, three. Dicie wasn’t walking yet and Martha was yet to be born.
Sophronia had been deeded twenty-five acres of land from her father, Frederick Burnett Jr. around the time of her marriage in May of 1846. James’ father, Jonathan Young Walker owned a great deal of land stretching from south of 4000 ft. elevation Brushy Knob, westward along the Walker Branch and around and beyond Wallace Mountain which lies near the present day Mt. View Church in the right fork of the North Fork Valley just outside Black Mountain, North Carolina. Jonathan and family, except for sons James Washington and Daniel, departed for Union County, Georgia before the war. There is no found records of the land transactions at that time but it most likely that James and Sophronia changed property. Sophronia had land west of the left hand fork of the Swannanoa River and most likely James had gotten land along the Walker Branch from his father.
note Walkertown southeast of Burnett Reservoir and under shadow of Potato Knob
In the meantime, Major John W. Woodfin and the Buncombe Rangers fought in the eastern part of North Carolina until September, 1862 when the Major resigned and moved back to Asheville, citing health issues. A few months later at the end of 1862, the Confederate States of America raised the conscription age to forty-five.
At that time, Major Woodfin organized the 14th Battalion North Carolina Calvary consisting of men who had been conscripted or had been previously exempt from service. Enter James Washington Walker into this unit which was not transformed into the Confederate State’s service but to the State of North Carolina service. During a battle at Warm Springs, North Carolina on the Buncombe Turnpike in October, 1863, Major Woodfin was killed in action. This area was a border county where citizens fought on both sides.
Major John W. Woodfin on horse “Prince Hal”
For the next two and a half years, Sophronia was left to tend the farm and raise eight children. By now Sarah, Mary Jane and Harriet were old enough to help. Just up the ridge to the northwest and a buggy ride away, were her father and mother, Frederick Burnett Jr. (Fed) and Elizabeth Smart Burnett who were having major effects from the war. Sons Drury, Berryman, John, Thomas and Marcus Lafayette (Fate) were fighting for the Confederate States of America at varying stages on entry. All but Fate perished in the war. It is uncertain as to when Fed and Elizabeth knew of their sons’ deaths but when Elizabeth died in 1864, she probably did not know everything Fed was left to help support his immediate remaining family, the families of his fallen sons and his mother, Peggy Null Burnett.
Sophronia was the epitome of a mountain woman. An article by her grandson Deward Edgar Walker Jr (as reported in Joan and Robert Goodson’s book about the North Fork of the Swannanoa River), read as follows: “She was tall, six feet plus, a gorgeous intriguing figure, beautiful twinkling hazel eyes, a face that could light up with a smile that was most enchanting, and Scottish red hair which seemed to change colors—-Her commanding personality could subdue the most stubborn person. Her special hobby was big game hunting, such as drowning a big buck deer with her bare hands in a hole in the creek a short distance from her home which was the ancestral home of Frederick Burnett Jr. who was her father. Or, in shooting a black bear and carting to her home, where he was dressed and then fed to hungry men folk who had returned from a day of hunting without little success in their hunt.”
Sophronia was the first woman to set foot on the top of Mt. Mitchell Peak choosing to ascend along the rugged side with her 