“To Stand on Solid Ground: A Civil War Novel Based on Real People and Events,” includes a character based on Robert F. Hamilton, the first sheriff of Transylvania County. Born in 1834, he served as sheriff from 1861-1864 and was succeeded by his deputy sheriff and wife’s first cousin, George Neill. Hamilton then served as Neill’s deputy and again as the sheriff from 1869-1870. The role of sheriff included a number of other responsibilities, such as road commissioner and magistrate to both branches of state legislature (see a previous Picturing the Past article about early county sheriffs and their many duties on Transylvania County library’s local history blog).

Hamilton and Neill both helped prisoners escape and aided Union soldiers. Research indicates that Sheriff Hamilton often hid people in a ravine near his Lamb’s Creek home, which the family later called Yankee Hollow. Some Union soldiers noted that they were entertained for dinner by Sheriff Hamilton and Deputy Sheriff Neill at the Hamilton home. In another account, Hamilton and Neill guided a group of Union officers, deserters and others for ten miles to a rendezvous point in Mills River.

In researching Hamilton, one complexity was that some of his ancestors were named Robert F. Hamilton and he even had two first cousins also named Robert F. Hamilton. Like much of history, this makes it challenging to differentiate between the stories, especially when these accounts are similar in nature.

First cousin Rev. Robert Hamilton, for example, was said to have used a stick to the roof of his mouth to injure himself, making it seem that he was hemorrhaging. He was sent home from duty, and later contacted Union agents and joined up with them. Rev. Hamilton named a son born in 1863 Thomas Lincoln, which Earl H. Kilpatrick noted in“The Heritage of Transylvania County, North Carolina, Vol. III” as “an indication of Granddaddy Robert’s loyalties at the time.” He later became a well-known preacher and was influential with many churches in the area.

Given these stories, it is fair to say that a number of the Hamilton/Neill family supported the Union and took action to distance themselves from the Confederate army’s goals. Sheriff Hamilton, as Capt. Aldrich noted in his diary, was one of “these union people [who] are a noble, generous and liberty loving class.”

Authors G. Keith Parker and Leslie Borhaug will discuss their newest book, “To Stand On Solid Ground,” in the Transylvania County Library’s Rogow Room, Wednesday, August 30, at 12 p.m. Authors will be available after the reading to sign already-owned books. A small number of copies may be available for purchase at the event.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. Sources are available upon request. This article was written by Local History Associate Erin Weber Boss. For more information, comments, or suggestions, contact NC Room staff at [email protected] or 828-884-1820.