Descending into a rabbit hole in 'Bloody Madison' County

Historical marker for the Shelton Laurel massacre.

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Seeking information about the Shelton Laurel Massacre of 1863, I connected last Saturday at coffee shop in the rural, hippy town of Marshall, N.C., with an “old, anarchist, ornery, hillbilly guy” named Shane, who connected me with the sweet lady at the hardware store down the street named Kathy, whose customer named Wilson, the dude with the excellent, braided gray goatee, warned me about traveling back into the area’s hollers without permission. That conversation led me to the funky bookstore across the street with the sign in a front window that read “Warning: No Stupid People Beyond This Point.” I went in anyway and visited with the proprietor, a man named Jamey, who suggested I visit in the department store across the street with Georgette, whose husband is a descendant of one of the massacre victims.

The 1970 slaying of VISTA worker Nancy Morgan
remains a mystery--at least officially.

Whew. I’m exhausted reading that first paragraph.

Georgette, who sold me an excellent fried apple pie for four bucks, connected me via phone with Vicki Lane, author of a novel on the massacre called “And The Crows Took Their Eyes.” She’s a longtime resident of this area in the rugged and mysterious Appalachians. And now I’m officially descending deep into the rabbit hole of this Civil War tragedy.

On Saturday afternoon, I had an enlightening conversation with Vicki about the massacre and the place she has called home since a move from Florida in 1975. As an outsider, she felt compelled to adapt to the ways of the locals in this county that earned the nickname “Bloody Madison.” 

“We came here to learn,” says Lane, who lives on a farm in the hills outside Marshall. “We learned how to make tobacco. We learned how to milk cows. And we learned how to butcher pigs.”

The Shelton Laurel Massacre cast a long shadow over this beautiful part of the country— once one of the country’s poorest areas. Some still live without running water. But “rich hippies” and other transplants have greatly changed the character of Marshall and the area.

“Marshall used to have a grocery store, a funeral home and two florists,” says Lane. “And a guy who swept the street with a push broom.” But most locals seem content with the changes, Lane says.

The Shelton Laurel Massacre—the murders by Confederate soldiers of area Unionists in January 1863—isn’t the only area tragedy to earn national headlines. In 1970, law enforcement discovered the body of a government worker for the VISTA program—an anti-poverty effort—naked and hog-tied in the back of her abandoned car off a mountain road near Hot Springs, N.C. The murder of Nancy Morgan remains unsolved, at least officially.

There’s no mystery who killed those Unionists. Lt. Col James Keith commanded the Rebel soldiers who murdered 13 near Laurel Creek—including members of the Shelton clan. Keith never faced justice, living out his final days in Arkansas.

Dozens of Sheltons still live in the area.

“A friend who was a mail carrier told me he’d have to deliver mail to 15 Daniel Sheltons and 18 John Sheltons,” says Lane. “He never knew if he was going to the right mailbox.”

For more, read my book, “A Civil War Road Trip of a Lifetime,” coming spring 2023. 🙏 For more on Lane’s book, go here or buy it on amazon.com.

VISTA worker Nancy Morgan was murdered near Hot Springs, N.C.

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