“Slave Population, 1860, Percentage by County” by Mark Anderson Moore, North Carolina Office of Archives and History (used with permission of that agency)
A significant number of men who served in the 1st U.S. Colored Cavalry were freedom-seekers from North Carolina. Many were from counties closest to the Virginia border and along the coast. Many, but not all, remained in Virginia after their military service.
An excerpt from this 1944 publication describes the enslaved population in North Carolina while downplaying the state’s role in perpetuating this practice:
“Slaveholding in North Carolina was concentrated in the Coastal Plains and Piedmont Regions. The greatest number of slaves to the square mile was in the counties along the Virginia border. In 1860, only five counties, Edgecombe, Granville, Halifax, Warren, and Wake contained more than 10,000 slaves. During this period thirty-six of the eighty-five counties in the State contained 71 per cent of the total Negro population and 58 per cent of the improved land under cultivation.
“Although from the first it was committed to the slave regime, North Carolina was never one of the chief slaveholding states.
“In 1860 when the slave population was at its peak, North Carolina had only 331,059 slaves compared to Virginia’s 490,865; South Carolina’s 402,406, and Georgia’s 462,198. Of the ten states threatening to secede in 1850, North Carolina ranked eighth in the ratio of slaves to whites. There were 52 slaves in North Carolina to every 100 whites, 53 in Virginia, 91 in Georgia, 105 in Mississippi and 140 in South Carolina.”
John R. Larkins. The Negro Population of North Carolina: Social and Economic
Raleigh: North Carolina State Board of Charities and Welfare, 1944, pages 11-12
The map included in this post — “Slave Population, 1860, Percentage by County” by Mark Anderson Moore, North Carolina Office of Archives and History — was created at a much later date and is used with the permssion of that agency.
See also The North Carolina Maps Project published on this blog on 18 May 2020.
1st U.S. Colored Cavalry 
Interesting and useful data even with downplay. Thank you
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