Shenandoah Valley Civil War Round Table SVCWRT

A presentation by Michael C. Hardy

It is a tragic footnote in the history of the war. Thirteen men and boys lined up and executed in a far-away mountain cove in western North Carolina in January 1863. Their crime: robbing salt needed to cure meat, providing food for their families for the winter months. Or, at least that is the way the story of the Shelton Laurel Massacre is portrayed in those footnotes. The real story is about a turbulent community and the divisive war that raged across a region. Join award-winning historian and author Michael C. Hardy as he dives deeply into the tragic story that goes far beyond salt and a handful of victims.

Bio: Michael C. Hardy

Michael C. Hardy is an award-winning and widely published author. A graduate of the University of Alabama, he has written on a large array of subjects — Confederate regimentals, Southern places, and personalities — in books, articles, and blog posts. In 2010, Hardy was named North Carolina Historian of the Year by the North Carolina Society of Historians. He was also awarded the James I. Robertson Literary Prize by the Robert E. Lee Civil War Library and Research Center in 2018 for his history of the Branch-Lane Brigade, General Lee’s Immortals (Savas Beatie, 2018). When not researching, writing, and traveling, he volunteers at historic sites, sharing his love for history.