_ Tar Heel History
By Buck Paysour
Mountain Man
Elisha Mitchell lost his life searching for the truth about
his beloved Black Dome.
No one will ever know whai
Elisha Mitchell was thinking
when he stood alone on North
Carolina's Black Dome Mountain as
lightning ripped the skv over his head
and thunder reverberated between
nearby peaks and valleys Irclow.
But there is no doubt what had
brought this Presbyterian minister, sci¬
entist and I’niversitv ol North Carolina
professor to the mountain that fateful
June day in 1857: the sea ft h for truth.
That search would also soon cost him
his life and result in the mountain
upon which he lost his life being
named in his honor.
Mitchell had come to Black Dome
(now called Mount Mitt hell) in south¬
ern Vances- County to prove that it. not
Mount Washington in his native New
England, was the highest mountain in
the Eastern United States.
Elisha Mitchell was born in
Washington. Connecticut, on August
19. 1793. He graduated in ISI3 from
Vale College (later Yale University) at
the top of his class. Alter graduation, he
taught in a hoys' school, was a tutor at
Yale and then was appointed headmas¬
ter of a girls’ school, lie was also
ordained a minister in the
Congregational Church.
In the fall of 1817 lie left New
England for the Tar Heel State, where
he was appointed profevsoi of mathe¬
matics and natural philosophy at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.
In 1825 he transferred to chair the
department of chemistry and mineralo¬
gy at UNC, a position he was to hold for
32 years. Mis interests, however,
reached fai beyond teaching and
preaching.
He was the university's bursar, a jus¬
tice of the peace, a farmer, a commis¬
sioner for the village ol Chapel Hill, a
magistrate ol the village's |>olice. twice
chairman of the university’s faculty and
rv», J W (
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FJisha Mitchell
twice acting president of the university.
.-Vs if he were not already busy
enough, he took on the responsibilities
of North Carolina state geologist with
an annual salary ol $150. Mis duties in
that post involved making a geological
and agricultural survey ol the state.
He apparently tallied out most of his
work as state geologist during his sum¬
mer vacations away from the university.
At least that was when he traversed the
state from the Atlantic Ocean to the
mountains. He traveled by wagon, on
horseback and on loot, depending on
the terrain.
In the meantime, he became a
Presbyterian and was ordained a minis¬
ter by the Orange Presbytery ol North
Carolina.
During his travels as state geologist,
he wrote long letters to his wife. The
letters were filled with scientific obser¬
vations about the state's soil, geology,
botany and agric ulturc.
He even described the mica in a
stream bed that he crossed and wrote
that the fir was the dominant tree on
one mountain.
“.As I traveled (into the Blue Ridge
Mountains), the rocks appeared to be
chiefly mica slate," he wrote in one let¬
ter.
His letters were not always that dry.
Some were sprinkled with gossip and
painted a remarkable picture of life in
rural North Carolina before- the Civil
War.
“Passed an old Dunker (member of a
religious seel) who was mending his
mill race," Mitchell wrote from the
mountains. "He evidently is not quite
orthodox, |mm»i man: foi he shaves
around tin* mouth where the beard
would probably interfere with what he
probably considers as amongst the
more important duties ol his lilt- —
those of kissing his wife and eating."
From Ashe County, he described the
wife of his male host as “bcltci looking
(than the host) and the only objection
I (had) to her was the lleas in the beds
and (hei habit) ol wiping her soiled
lingers upon hei apron (altei which)
she proceeded directly to wet the meal
for the combread. which, along with
some milk, constituted my supper."
On one trip in July 1829. he wrote his
“(
имм1
and Dear Wife" about how cold
it was in the mountains, even in the
summer. He said lie slept one night in
an inn covered in a buffalo skin
between two other men.
Despite the backwardness he said he
found, he loved the North Carolina
mountains and llieii people. The
mountain people. IhmIi the- poor and
the influential, unabashedly returned
that affection.
One reason Ini his |x>pularitv was
that the simple. <x>d-leariug people of
rural North Carolina were veiv much
moved by the sermons he frequently
delivered as he traveled around the
state on his duties as geologist.
“Went to l.incolntoii and preached in
the morning," was typical of comments
he wrote to his wife.
He delivered a sermon in Salisbury
en route to Blai
к
Dome on the journey
that was to end in his death.
Mitchell was very religious, a man of
Strong opinions and high moral charac¬
ter. These were qualities that would
contribute to bis violent death.
After making liarometric mcasure-
The Statf/Novcmbrr 1995