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Tar Heel is a nickname applied to the state and inhabitants of North Carolina, as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill\'s athletic teams (see North Carolina Tar Heels).
The exact etymology of the nickname is unknown, but most experts believe its roots come from the fact that tar, pitch and turpentine created from the vast pine forests were one of North Carolina\'s most important exports early in the state\'s history.Article on history of term from UNC Alumni webpage. A town in Bladen County, North Carolina, is also named Tar Heel.
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In its early years as a colony, North Carolina settlements became an important source of the naval stores tar, pitch, and turpentine especially for the English navy. At one time, an estimated 100,000 barrels of tar and pitch were shipped annually to England.Article on history of term from UNC Alumni webpage. Historians Hugh Lefler and Albert Newsome claim in North Carolina: the History of a Southern State (3rd edition, 1973) that North Carolina led the world in production of naval stores, from about 1720 to 1870.State Symbols from NC library Tar and pitch were largely used to paint the bottom of wooden British ships in order to both seal the ship and to prevent shipworm from damaging the hull.Article on shipworm
At the time, tar was created by piling up pine logs and burning them until hot oil seeped out from a canal. The vast production of tar from North Carolina led many, including Walt Whitman, to give the derisive nickname of "Tarboilers" to the residents of North Carolina.Article on history of term from UNC Alumni webpage. North Carolina was nicknamed the "Tar and Turpentine State" because of this industry.Article on history of term from UNC Alumni webpage.
Somehow, these terms evolved until the nickname Tar Heel was used to refer to residents of North Carolina and gained prominence during the American Civil War. During this time, the nickname Tar Heel was a pejorative, similar to how the nickname white trash is used today, but starting around 1865, the term began to be used as a source of pride.Article on history of term from UNC Alumni webpage.
In 1893, the students of the University of North Carolina founded a newspaper and christened it The Tar Heel, which was later renamed The Daily Tar Heel.Article on history of term from UNC Alumni webpage. By the early 1900s the term was embraced by many as a non-derisive term for North Carolinians by those from and outside the state of North Carolina.Article on history of term from UNC Alumni webpage.
The following legends and anecdotes have arisen trying to explain the history of the term Tar Heel.
According to this legend, the troops of British General Cornwallis during the American Revolutionary War were fording what is now known as the Tar River between Rocky Mount and Battleboro when they discovered that tar had been dumped into the stream to impede the crossing of British soldiers. When they finally got across the river, they found their feet completely black with tar. Thus, the soldiers observed that anyone who waded through North Carolina rivers would acquire "tar heels."Article on history of term from UNC Alumni webpage.
In the third volume of Walter Clark\'s Histories of the Several Regiments from North Carolina in the Great War, the author explains that the nickname came from the North Carolina troops ability to hold their ground during a battle. According to the book, North Carolina troops held their ground during a battle in Virginia during the American Civil War while other supporting troops retreated. After the battle, supporting troops asked the victorious North Carolinians: "Any more tar down in the Old North State, boys?" and they replied: "No, not a bit; old Jeff\'s bought it all up." The supporting troops continued: "Is that so? What is he going to do with it?" The North Carolinian troops\' response: "He is going to put it on you\'ns heels to make you stick better in the next fight."Tar Heel Traditions. Carolina Traditions. Retrieved on March 22, 2005.
The State of North Carolina was one of the last states to secede from the United States of America (Tennessee was the last to do so) and as a result the state was nicknamed the "reluctant state" by others in the south. The joke circulating around at the beginning of the war went something like this: " Got any tar?"- "No, Jeff Davis has bought it all."- "What for?"- "To put on you fellow\'s heels to make you stick." As the war continued, many North Carolinian troops developed smart replies to this term of ridicule. Such as when the 4th Texas Infantry lost its flag at Sharpsburg. Passing by the 6th North Carolina a few days afterwards, the Texans called out, "Tar Heels!", and the reply was, "Ifin you had had some tar on your heels, you would have brought your flag back from Sharpsburg."Origins of the Term Tarheel. 1st NC Cavalry. Retrieved on November 1, 2006.
During the late unhappy war between the States it [North Carolina] was sometimes called the "Tar-heel State," because tar was made in the State, and because in battle the soldiers of North Carolina stuck to their bloody work as if they had tar on their heels, and when General Lee said, "God bless the Tar-heel boys," they took the name. (p. 6)NC State library page
A letter found in 1991 by North Carolina State Archivist David Olson somewhat supports this theory that Lee might have stated something similar to this. The letter dated from 1864 (in the North Carolina "Tar Heel Collection") a Colonel Joseph Engelhard described the Battle of Ream\'s Station in Virginia. In that letter he states: "It was a \'Tar Heel\' fight, and ... we got Gen\'l Lee to thanking God, which you know means something brilliant."Link to scan of actual letterLink to NC State library page
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