Transylvania County
was officially formed from Henderson and Jackson Counties on February 15,
1861.  Within the act that established
Transylvania County it states that “a court of pleas and quarter sessions shall
be held, and the same is hereby established in and for the county of
Transylvania, to be held by the justices for said county on the third Monday of
February, May, August and November.  The
first session of which shall be held at the house of B. C. Lankford, on the
third Monday of May next, when the court aforesaid, a majority of the justices
of the said county being present, shall elect a clerk, a sheriff, a coroner, a
register and entry taker, a surveyor, constable, and all other officers for
said county.”             

            As it turned out the first shots
of the US Civil War where fired at Fort Sumter, SC on April 12, 1861.  On Monday, May 20th North Carolina joined
nine other southern states and seceded from the Union.  And, as the 20th was the third Monday of May,
Transylvania County’s Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions met for the first
time.  The justices elected George Orr,
Clerk of Court; Robert Hamilton, Sheriff; J.W. Clayton, Coroner; John J.
Wilson, Register of Deeds; James Hamlin, Entry Taker; T.G. Henson, Surveyor;
John E. Rice, Constable; A.W. Beck, Standard Keeper; J.W. Killiam, Chairman of
Court of Please & Quarter Session; W.P. Poor, Trustee for County; P.C. Orr,
Treasurer of Public Buildings; and A.D.B. Allison, County Ranger to serve
Transylvania County, North Carolina in the Confederate States of America.         

            According to a letter dated
May 19, 1861 from Amanda Lankford, B.C. Lankford’s wife, to her brother, Jimmy
Morris, “This week is to bee court & it is raining now.  I think tha will hold court at the camp
ground, it is said there is to bee a flag hoisted & a cannon fired on
Tuesday next & a speech by Jourden to make up a company in this part of the
state as hard times are here & worse comeing I feare.”