Robert B. Vance | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the North Carolina House of Representatives fromBuncombe County | |
| In office January 4, 1893 – January 9, 1895 | |
| Preceded by | J. P. Lowery |
| Succeeded by | Virgil S. Lusk |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNorth Carolina's8th district | |
| In office March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1885 | |
| Preceded by | Zebulon B. Vance (prior to Civil War, 1861) |
| Succeeded by | William H. H. Cowles |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert Brank Vance (1828-04-24)April 24, 1828 |
| Died | November 28, 1899(1899-11-28) (aged 71) |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Harriett V. McElroy (1851) Lizzie R. Cook (1892) |
| Parent(s) | David Vance Jr. Mira Margaret Baird |
| Profession | Farmer, merchant |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Confederate States |
| Branch/service | Confederate States Army |
| Years of service | 1861–1865 |
| Rank | Brigadier general |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
Robert Brank Vance (April 24, 1828 – November 28, 1899), nephew of the earlier CongressmanRobert Brank Vance (1793–1827) and brother ofZebulon B. Vance, was aNorth CarolinaDemocratic politician who served as a member of theU.S. House of Representatives for six terms (1873–1885). He was chairman of theUnited States House Committee on Patents. During theAmerican Civil War, Vance served in theConfederate States Army, where he reached the rank ofbrigadier general.
Vance was born in 1828, near present-dayWeaverville, in theold homestead on Reems Creek, atBuncombe County, North Carolina.[1][2] He was eldest son of David Vance II andMira Margaret Baird.[2][3] He was a grandson ofDavid Vance and ofZebulon Baird, both members of theNorth Carolina General Assembly.
He was named for his paternal uncle,Robert Brank Vance, a former congressman who was killed in aduel during his 1827 campaign.[4]
Vance came from a Scotch-Irish, slave-owning family, with a history of military and public service, includinghis paternal grandfather, who served in theRevolutionary War, and his own father, who fought in theWar of 1812.[5][6][7] His younger brother wasZebulon B. Vance.
Vance had always grown up around slaves. When he was twelve, his father owned 12 slaves, the names of which eight are known – Sandy, Leah, Ann, Aggy, May, Bob, Richard andVenus.[6][7][8][9] Venus, the eldest of his father's slaves, had raised Vance and his siblings, and was referred as "Mammy Venus."[10][11]
In total, the slaves tended to the Vance children, cooked the family's meals, made the housing wares, fetched the water, cultivated the farm crops, and, otherwise, allowing Vance to spend his formative years pursuing his education and reading the classics from a 500-volume library that his family inherited from his uncle.[10][12][4]
Like his brother, Zeb, Vance was aWhig who subscribed to the political philosophy of Henry Clay.[2]
When Vance was twenty, he was elected clerk of the Buncombe County Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions, the position his father held until his death.[2] Rather than seek re-election, in 1858, he decided to become a merchant in Asheville.[2] Later, he became the joint Secretary and Treasurer of theHolston Conference Female College before it closed during the war.[13]
During the1860 presidential election, Vance supported theConstitutional Union Party candidate,John Bell.[2]
Following the election, Vance remained a devoutFederalist, untilPresident Lincoln began organizing troops, after southern states began seceding from the Union just a month after the election.[2]
Vance entered the Confederacy forming the "Buncombe County Life Guards" (later, Company H of the 29th North Carolina Infantry Regiment). After training at Camp Patton, in Asheville, Vance was unanimously elected as the regiment's colonel.[14]
The regiment was sent to easternTennessee to guard the bridges on the Bristol-Chattanooga road.[14] They all took up position at theCumberland Gap, seeing their first real action on March 24, 1862.[2] They later accompaniedEdmund Kirby Smith intoKentucky, and on December 30, 1862, Vance commanded thebrigade ofJames E. Rains, after his death, at theBattle of Murfreesboro.[14] There were many casualties in the brigade, with Vance's own horse killed beneath him by a shell.[2] After the battle, Vance had to step down from his post as he contractedtyphoid fever, but he was commended for his service by General John P. McCown, which led to Jefferson Davis commissioning him as brigadier general on March 4, 1863.[2][14]
After a lengthy recovery from his illness, Vance was placed in charge of the North Carolina–Tennessee mountains under the command of General Braxton Bragg, with orders to harass the Union flanks and disrupt the flow of enemy supplies.[2][14]
On January 14, 1864, he was assigned a mission atCosby Creek, Tennessee.[14] Vance intercepted a major supply train going to General Ambrose Burnside's troops near Knoxville, but when he tried to take the wagons to North Carolina, Vance, and nearly all of his troops, were captured by SergeantEverett W. Anderson of the15th Pennsylvania Cavalry.[2][14]
Vance was detained at various Union prisons in Nashville, Louisville, Fort Chase (Ohio), andFort Delaware until a former prisoner of Vance's, Reverend Nathaniel G. Taylor, intervened on Vance's behalf, as Vance had treated him well and, eventually, released him[2]
President Lincoln issued Vance a special parole, allowing him to buy clothes for other Confederate soldiers. On March 10, 1865, Lincoln granted Vance a conditional full pardon, allowing him to return to North Carolina, but requiring him not to fight again.[2]
In 1872, Vance ran as aDemocrat, and won the congressional seat once held by his uncle and brother. He served six terms, from 1873 to 1885. During that time he missed 340 of 2,301 (15 percent) of his roll call votes.[15][16]
While in office, he obtained appropriations for every county in his district to get daily mail delivery, and to have the French Broad River dredged from Brevard to Asheville for transportation.
He sat on the Committee on Pensions for Veterans of the War of 1812, the Committee on Coinage, and was the four-term Chairman of the Committee on Patents.
It is unclear whether Vance declined reelection or lost his seat in 1884.[14][2]
After leaving Congress, Vance was appointed assistant commissioner of patents byPresident Grover Cleveland. He also became a member of the North Carolina General Assembly in 1893, where he served one term until 1895.[2]
Vance married Harriett V. McElroy in 1851. They had six children, two of whom died before adulthood. Harriet died in 1885.[17]
In 1892, he married Lizzie R. Cook.[17] They had no children.
Vance was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.[2]
Prior to the start of the war in 1860, Robert owned seven slaves, including a 32-year-old female slave and twomulatto children, aged 2 and 1.[18][8]
Vance was a Master Mason of Mount Hermon Lodge #118, in Asheville, in 1866, 1867 and 1873.[19] He wasGrand Master ofMasons of North Carolina in 1868 and 1869.[20]
Vance was a published poet. He released the following collections of his work:[2]
Vance died nearAsheville, North Carolina, at his farm, on November 28, 1899.[17]
He and his brother, Zebulon, are interred atRiverside Cemetery in Asheville.[14][22]
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| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by Civil War | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNorth Carolina's 8th congressional district 1873–1885 | Succeeded by |
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