The Vance House's place in Statesville lore

The blue-coated cavalry, 300 men strong, moved in column down West Broad Street, Statesville, at an easy trot. The armed men looked around warily. If anyone wanted a fight, they were ready, but with the war basically over, they hoped no one would do anything foolish now. The officer in charge raised his hand; the column halted.
The officer slowly dismounted then walked up the front steps of the house a half-block from Concord Female College.
He knocked on the door frame. A dark-haired, mustachioed man came to the door. The man looked at the officer and then calmly said, "Captain, I have been expecting you for several days. I am Zebulon Vance, Governor of North Carolina, at your service."
"Sir," the officer said, "I have orders for your arrest from the Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton."
"I expected as much," said Vance, whose 35th birthday was that very day, May 13, 1865. "Can I have some time to get some items together and properly say goodbye to my family?"
The officer took off his hat and slapped it against his dusty pant leg. "Sir," he said, "I have heard that you are an honorable man, a man of his word. Have I heard correctly?"
Vance stood ramrod straight and said, "I have always tried to keep my word as a gentleman."
"Well," said the officer, "if you'll give me your word, as a gentleman, and as the governor of this state, I will put off taking you into custody until tomorrow morning. I have your word?"
"You do, sir." Vance held out his hand. The Union officer took off his heavy gloves and took the hand of the rebel governor and shook it.
"Then I shall be here tomorrow morning at nine o'clock for you."
"And I, sir, will be here," said Vance.
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The above scenario or one much like it took place on the front porch of what we today call the Vance House, which was then located just east of Broad Street United Methodist Church.
Governor Vance had fled Raleigh on April 12 in advance of Union Gen. Sherman and had made his way westward to join his family here on May 4. His wife and four sons had previously come to Statesville.
Some claim Vance had close friends here. Others have suggested that he or his wife had kin here. Their identity has eluded historians.
Regardless, Vance was as good as his word and the next morning was waiting for the Union officer who took him into custody. Union President Abraham Lincoln had died just 28 days before and the Union Army was ordered to arrest anyone connected with the Confederate government, including governors of the rebellious states.
Vance had nothing to do with Lincoln's assassination, but nonetheless was taken into custody. A Statesville merchant, Samuel Wittkowsky, volunteered to take the governor in his carriage to Salisbury, where a train awaited them, bound for Raleigh and then the federal capital.
In Salisbury, as in Statesville, Vance pledged his word to appear at the train depot the next morning.
Vance had not made money off the war, as some had done. In fact, although North Carolina furnished more than its share of men to the Confederate Army, Vance had probably given Confederate President Jefferson Davis ulcers.
Surviving correspondence between them reveals two strong personalities who did not see the war, its aims and its strategy, eye to eye. Vance saw it as his duty to "fight with the Yankees and fuss with the Confederacy," continually bedeviling the Richmond government with complaints of North Carolina troops being led by Virginia generals and questions as to why North Carolina troops fought in Virginia when they should have been fighting Yankee troops along our state's coast.
So it was that on the morning of April 14, 1865, Vance left Statesville under an armed guard of federal troopers, bound for prison.
Vance was incarcerated in the Old Capitol Prison on May 20. Gov. John Letcher of Virginia was his cell mate. Vance was never charged with a crime, and was never tried.
After six weeks, on July 5, he was paroled and made his way back to Statesville. From here, the Vance family moved to Charlotte, where Vance resumed his career as a lawyer.
Vance came to Statesville again in 1868 as one of a legal team defending an ex-Confederate soldier named Thomas C. Dula, charged with the murder of Laura Foster.
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Born in Buncombe County in 1830, Vance had been a congressman, a colonel of the 26th N.C. Infantry Regiment, our 37th and 43rd governor and a U.S. senator. He is regarded by many as North Carolina's greatest governor. He died in 1894 and is buried in Riverside Cemetery, Asheville.
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In 1943, the Statesville Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy began a campaign to save and restore the Vance House, which had been scheduled for demolition to make room for an auto dealership.
In 1950, the building was moved from its original West Broad location to 501 W. Sharpe St., adjacent to Grace Park.
On Sept. 1, 1951, the restored Vance House held its formal opening.
It was again refurnished and reopened in 2003, and is now owned and maintained by the Reuben Campbell and Stephen Dodson Ramseur Chapter, Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Those wishing to tour the Vance House should contact Dennis Goodin at (704) 873-5976.