A new marker in Boone

 Stoneman's Raid historic markers are ubiquitous in western North Carolina, and there will soon be a new one in Boone, where the action started March 28, 1865. These markers inspired The Stoneman Gazette, an anachronistic online newspaper I published in 2015 to mark the 150th anniversary of the final battles of the Civil War. 
 The new marker will be part of the Civil War Trails program, a six-state initiative is designed to promote Civil War tourism. This is separate from the state historical markers. One of those markers has stood in Boone since 1940.
 The new marker, to be erected in April, details the March 1865 skirmish, the April 1865 occupation, and the Boone Cemetery, where 13 Union loyalists are buried.
 Boone was not incorporated until 1873 and was then known as Councill's Store. Jordan Councill's nephew, Jacob Mast Councill, was among the three local men who died in the raid.
 Watauga County had voted pro-Union in the 1860 secession referendum, but there was a Confederate contingent organized as the Home Guard. These men were drilling that morning at the original courthouse on Linney Street when Union Major Miles Keogh led the blue-coated cavalry into town.
 The Civil War Trails program already marks sites in Cove Creek (Camp Mast), Patterson, and near Linville (the graves of Keith and Melinda Blalock).

DISPATCHES FROM OUR WATAUGA COUNTY BUREAU

Jan. 25: The month they drove old Dixie down

Feb. 1: Abraham Lincoln and the Horn of Freedom

  March 23: Stabbing the Confederacy in the back

March 26: 'A Yankee gentleman can steal butter'

 March 27: Stoneman's midnight ride takes a wrong turn

 March 27: Rallying the Home Guard to fight the Yankees

April 6: Meanwhile, back in Boone  

April 17: Historical marker finally finds its way home