BS: just what is a tarheel?

Subject: BS: just what is a tarheel?
From: tar_heel
Date: 09 Feb 04 - 07:31 PM

Just What Is A Tarheel?

Well this question was posed to me by some slow Yankee Boy recently. So for those of you who ain't from here (NC--The Tarheel State--USA--Yee Haw), here is the story as I have heard it.

Way back when--during the Civil War--a lot of dumb southern people just couldn't deal with the ideas that all them Damned Yankees had. So they decided that the southern states would no longer be part of the Union. Hey! The South had lots of pretty land and cotton and *cheap labor* and loads of ego! What else do you need?! Forget the fact that the North had these things called "Factories" where they could make things that would blow the South away. And forget the fact that people outside of the South were beginning to evolve and were realizing that slavery was retarded. The South was gonna be all tough and teach them Yankees a thing or two.

Well we all know how that worked out. But in the process, North Carolinians who engaged in battle were dubbed "Tarheels" because they were...

A) some kick-ass soldiers who stuck in battle "as if their heels were stuck in tar"

or

B) so poor that they couldn't afford shoes and, therefore, the bottoms of their feet were disgusting.

Either story explains why NC is The Tarheel State

For what it's worth, I am from NC and I have several pairs of shoes that I wear often, I never spit inside, and there is no history of inbreeding in my family. Thank you.

Subject: RE: BS: just what is a tarheel?
From: Allan C.
Date: 09 Feb 04 - 08:08 PM

In my future book, "History As Remembered By Allan," an exerpt will read: "Pine tar was once the most important commercial product of the Carolinas. It was due to this that the nickname, 'Tarheel,' was coined as a label of folks from North Carolina."

I can cite no other references.

Subject: RE: BS: just what is a tarheel?
From: Allan C.
Date: 09 Feb 04 - 08:35 PM

Although the nickname isn't mentioned, there is some great information about the history of the pine tar industry here.

Subject: RE: BS: just what is a tarheel?
From: Bobert
Date: 09 Feb 04 - 09:02 PM

Yo "tar heal". I ain't too sure 'bout the origin of the term but you an' me gotta talk a little about that Civil War, which it weren't. And more specificly about who wanted the war and who pushed fir it so hard and all them political type things that go on before most wars...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: just what is a tarheel?
From: Allan C.
Date: 09 Feb 04 - 09:09 PM

Here ya go...The official, State of North Carolina website has the following explanation:

         Nickname, The Old North State or The Tar Heel State

In 1629, King Charles I of England "erected into a province," all the land from Albemarle Sound on the north to the St. John's River on the south, which he directed should be called Carolina. The word Carolina is from the word Carolus, the Latin form of Charles.

When Carolina was divided in 1710, the southern part was called South Carolina and the northern, or older settlement, North Carolina. From this came the nickname the "Old North State." Historians have recorded that the principal products during the early history of North Carolina were "tar, pitch, and turpentine." It was during one of the fiercest battles of the War Between the States, so the story goes, that the column supporting the North Carolina troops was driven from the field. After the battle the North Carolinians, who had successfully fought it out alone, were greeted from the passing derelict regiment with the question: "Any more tar down in the Old North State, boys?" Quick as a flash came the answer: "No, not a bit, old Jeff's bought it all up." "Is that so; what is he going to do with it?" was asked. "He's going to put on you-un's heels to make you stick better in the next fight." Creecy relates that General Lee, upon hearing of the incident, said: "God bless the Tar Heel boys," and from that they took the name (Adapted from Grandfather Tales of North Carolina by R.B. Creecy and Histories of North Carolina Regiments, Vol. III, by Walter Clark).

Subject: RE: BS: just what is a tarheel?
From: Hrothgar
Date: 10 Feb 04 - 04:50 AM

Didn't they shoot Stonewall Jackson?

Ducks, runs ...