North Carolina History

North Carolina History

 North Carolina, as one of the original 13 colonies, has a long and interesting history. This page provides both a brief summary of that history and a detailed timeline of events, separated by era.

North Carolina History

• In ancient times, the eastern half of the state was underwater, and giant megalodon sharks roamed the waters. On land, there were woolly mammoths and mastodons. It is believed that the first Native Americans inhabited the New World 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Eventually, nearly 30 Native American groups settled across the state.

• In the 1580s, the British established two colonies in North Carolina, both of which failed. In the 1600s permanent settlers from Virginia began to move to North Carolina, and it eventually became part of a British colony known as "Carolina."

• Many people believe that in 1775 North Carolina became the first colony to declare independence from Great Britain. After the American Revolution, North Carolina became the twelfth state of the Union.

• In 1861, North Carolina seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy in the Civil War. In 1865, North Carolina troops surrendered, leaving the state to be brought back into the Union in 1868.

• The 20th century saw North Carolina transformed into a modern state, a transformation that began when the Wright Brothers flew the first airplane in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903.

1861
May 20: North Carolina leaves the Union. Instead of voting to secede from the United States, as other states did, North Carolina voted to "undo" the act that had brought it into the United States.

1861-1865
The United States Civil War. Some 40,000 North Carolinians are killed over the course of the war.

1865
March 19-21: The Battle of Bentonville becomes the bloodiest battle fought in North Carolina. The Confederates are defeated by Union troops.
April 26: A large number of Confederates surrender at Bennett Place, outside of Durham, North Carolina.
May 6: The last Confederate troops in North Carolina surrender.
April 15: Andrew Johnson becomes the 17th president of the United States.