WHY IS NORTH CAROLINA THE “TAR HEEL STATE”?
The Tarheel State: In North Carolina’s early years, tar was one of the state’s major products. Tar is a dark brown or black sticky liquid created by the decay of organic material such as wood, coal or peat. There are two contradictory stories about the origin of this nickname. Both stories concern Civil War battles in which North Carolina troops were involved. John S. Farmer’s Americanisms – Old and New, published in 1889, tells of a battle involving Mississippi and North Carolina soldiers. The story goes that, during a battle, a brigade of North Carolinians failed to hold their position. The Mississippians taunted the North Carolinians with failure to tar their heels that morning. They meant by this that, if the North Carolinians had tarred their heels, they would have been able to “stick” to or hold their position. North Carolina soldiers come out of a story by Walter Clark having a little more heroic. In Mr. Clark’s story, the North Carolinians had to fight it out alone after their
