Husband and Wife Warriors (Article 96)

William McKesson Blalock (known by everyone as Keith) married Sarah Malinda Pritchard (known by everyone as Malinda) in April 1861, in the Presbyterian Church at Coffey’s Gap, North Carolina. Keith was 23 and Malinda was 19, actually a little late in life for marriage in that time and place; but they had known each other since childhood. Some, however, may have been surprised at the match because, over the years, the Blalocks and Pritchards had quarreled over land boundaries, and a myriad of other petty issues, and the disputes occasionally broke into outright violence. Several men had been killed over the generations, but no individual was ever charged in the murders. In the North Carolina mountains, justice was served individually, by those affected. Keith’s father may have been murdered, but all we know for sure is that he went missing when Keith was only a child; and his remains were found a year later. However, after his father’s death, Keith’s mother married Austin Coffey, a neighbor whose family was familiar with both the Blalocks and the Pritchards, but had stayed out of their feuds.  It would appear that, at first, the Pritchard family accepted Malinda’s choice of a husband now that Keith was in the Coffey family.

A few days before the wedding, however, Confederate forces had fired on, and captured Fort Sumter and President Lincoln had issued a call for 75,000 volunteers to put down the Southern rebellion. The Confederacy called into action militia units from the states which had seceded to fend off any Yankee invasion of the South. Therefore, unfortunately for Keith and Malinda, the pending war dominated conversations at the wedding because the three families (Pritchards, Blalocks, and Coffeys) were divided over secession and the need for war! Keith and Malinda, however, hoped to stay out of the conflict and not have to choose a position. They just wanted a peaceful life together.

As it was, all of the Pritchards were ardent secessionists, while the Blalocks were generally Unionists, with a few cousins who supported the Confederacy. The Coffeys were divided on the issue, with Austin Coffey, Keith’s stepfather, a supporter of the Union; while Austin’s brother, William, was a vocal secessionist. At the wedding, a few of the Pritchards and William Coffey publicly prodded Keith to declare himself for the Confederacy, much to the consternation of Austin Coffey. Keith seemed ambivalent on the matter, but he was probably more of a Unionist, if only because he still hoped to avoid military service.

Keith and Malinda Pritchard Blalock

Malinda said later, “It was the beginning of our great adventure!”

The wedding was a large event in the region, with over 100 guests, and the “shindig” covered two days. It can be assumed there was sufficient amounts of alcohol (moonshine, bottled whiskey, and even some well- made Scotch; after all, many of the attendees were Scottish Presbyterians). The discussions among the men began to turn into arguments, and the arguments turned into threats; and eventually, a few punches were thrown.

The wedding did not end well!

The North Carolina militia units were decidedly pro-Confederate and began to seek, and accept, more volunteers to swell their ranks. Nearly 5,000 men were enlisted, but Keith Blalock was not among them. While the first recruits to join were certainly eager volunteers, the militia units began to pressure those who had not yet signed up. Keith’s step-uncle, William Coffey, made repeated attempts to persuade Keith to join the militia, each attempt becoming more menacing and threatening. We do not know if Austin Coffey tried to protect Keith, but in the end, Keith agreed to “volunteer” for service. But he had a plan to avoid fighting!

He believed his unit would be sent into Virginia to confront the Northern forces, and he planned to simply desert and return home. Most people at the time, incorrectly, expected any war to be short, no matter the outcome, so he thought he would be able to resume his civilian life.

But Keith did not know that Malinda had a plan of her own. After induction into a small infantry unit, Keith began to march to his assigned area, but not in Virginia as he anticipated; instead along the North Carolina border. A few days into their march, a new soldier joined the unit. As the new recruit approached Keith, he heard a familiar voice say, “I am going to fight with you.” Malinda had done as much as she could to look like a young man and enlisted under the name of Sam Blalock, Keith’s younger brother. In her uniform, she looked like any other 15- or 16-year-old new soldier. (The Southern recruiters were never very inquisitive about age, they just wanted to fill the ranks.)

Any war takes turns least expected and, during a skirmish with a Yankee patrol, Malinda was wounded in the shoulder. The doctor who treated her discovered she was a woman and notified the unit commander. In another irony of war, that commander had attended her wedding and knew her family. Although she could have faced more serious charges, he just rescinded her enlistment and sent her home. In the meantime, Keith has a predicament! He wanted to go with Malinda, but by now was too well known in the unit and would have been hunted down if he deserted.

Their solution was ingenious.

He found a growth of poison oak and rubbed it over parts of his body. He had seen the effect before as a youngster and as soon as the blisters and fever were evident, he told the camp doctor that he had helped a sick stranger who also had welts. As expected, the doctor assumed Keith had contracted smallpox and quickly arranged a medical discharge and sent him home. He joined Malinda on the road and the two, now discharged soldiers, treated Keith’s poison oak symptoms and headed home.

Some of the secessionists back home heard about the discharges, but also noted that Keith bore no ill effects from his bout with small pox. They reported their suspicions to the Home Guard and to conscription officers, groups specifically formed to root out deserters and force new enlistees; and the enforcers then went to find Keith. Whether someone tipped off Keith and Malinda, or they just expected such a visit, Keith slipped away into the dense forest and rugged hills. Malinda stayed behind and met with the searchers, but since her discharge was valid, and there was still a code of chivalry, there was no action taken against her. She was watched, however.

But Keith and Malinda continued to communicate and even see each other. They developed a set of complicated signs and signals, and had established places in the forest to meet. The families in that region all knew about Keith’s situation; some gave him shelter, while others reported any sightings to the Home Guard or to conscription officers. But for months, Keith avoided capture.

Part of the reason for Keith’s success was the ineffective leadership of the local enlistment/conscription groups. However, in late summer of 1862, a new commander was appointed. Major Harvey Bingham had been an exemplary soldier, who suffered several serious wounds, which limited his battle effectiveness; but his tactical abilities and commitment to his cause were intact. He planned to force every able-bodied man in his region into Confederate service, and to capture every deserter. And Keith Blalock was high on the Major’s list.

His methods were ruthless, but effective. If he considered a man able-bodied, Bingham asked him to enlist, but if that failed, the man was beaten. By then, most joined up, but the few who did not were shot and killed. If any man tried to escape, Bingham skipped the first two steps and executed the runaway.

Some of Bingham’s “recruits” told him where sightings of Keith Blalock had occurred and the net began to close in. In late August, 1862, a group of Bingham’s men located one of Keith’s hide-outs and surrounded the cabin. Major Bingham was not with them, but Keith’s step-uncle William Coffey was the leader. Keith offered to surrender if Malinda could go free and William Coffey, to his regret, agreed that Keith could wait to surrender until he was sure Malinda was away and safe. The guards fell asleep, some reports were that they were drunk, and Keith slipped away in the night, rejoined Malinda, and the two headed for another distant hide-out.

To this point, Keith and Malinda operated together, but without any other organized assistance. However, the hills were full of other deserters, and men who had fled rather than enlist, and Keith began to assemble a rag-tag group, who looked to him as their leader. He wrote later, “I saw the need for men we could trust and who could shoot.”

Once more Bingham’s men located Keith, but this time, Keith’s mountain sharp-shooters forced the enforcers to withdraw. Fortunately, no one on either side was killed.

But Keith and Malinda realized it was only a matter of time before Bingham again located them in North Carolina and the next time could prove deadly. So, they, along with a few of their men, made their way into Tennessee, contacted Union forces, and offered their services.

In June 1864, Keith agreed to lead a force of 25 men, on two distinct missions. First, to scout the mountains along the Tennessee-North Carolina border for Confederate guerilla units (some were called Partisans); which he would engage if possible or report back to Union forces if the enemy contingent was too large.  His second mission was to recruit Confederate deserters he encountered, with promises of good pay and steady rations; neither of which was available to Confederate soldiers. As an added bonus, Keith and his men were issued more modern and lethal weapons, including repeating rifles and rapid load pistols. Since Malinda joined them, it is likely she was also equipped with the better weapons.

And they head back into North Carolina.

Their missions did not specifically include attacks on the Home Guards or conscription officers, but they learned that Major Bingham’s forces had killed a neighbor who had tried to flee; therefore, revenge became an added mission.

They soon encountered a small group of Home Guards and killed three of the men, and in a second attack, they killed two more. Major Bingham retaliated by killing a local farmer who was a known Union sympathizer. It became a deadly back and forth routine. The Blalock group attacked the Home Guard and anyone who supported their “recruitment” efforts and Bingham would burn a farm and assault or even murder the farmer.  Even boys not yet old enough to enlist were shot or hanged by Home Guards.

One group of antagonists was, as yet, unaffected by the rampage. Austin Coffey had reached an agreement with his brother, William, that neither of them would permit an attack on the other’s property or family (which included Keith’s mother as Austin’s wife). But Keith was not a party to the agreement and said later that he would kill William, a leader of the Home Guard, if he had the chance.

Malinda had recovered from her earlier wounds and was an active participant in the attacks on the conscription enforcers, until she was again wounded badly enough to require the attention of a surgeon. She made her way back to Union lines where doctors successfully repaired the damage to her arm; however, Malinda discovered she was pregnant. So, her fighting days were over and she convalesced in Tennessee, hoping for her husband’s safe return.

Meanwhile, Keith and his men continued to hunt and kill members of the Home Guard. Keith wrote later, “We all tried to do to them before they did to us.”

In January 1865, Keith and his men captured his step-uncle William Coffey and, at some point, one of Keith’s men executed William. While there is no proof that Keith directed the execution, neither did he ever deny giving the order.

The skirmishes continued, the death toll mounted on both sides, and later in January 1865, Keith was seriously wounded; he lost an eye and his jaw was shattered. However, he survived to fight again.

But the Home Guard was also busy. In February 1865, they captured Austin Coffey and tied him to a tree. Keith’s mother, Austin’s wife, escaped into the nearby woods and watched as events unfolded. Suddenly, without warning, one of the Home Guard officers walked over to Austin and shot him dead! Keith soon learned that his step-father had been murdered and vowed revenge saying he would kill the men responsible, “If it took 40 years after the war to do so.”

On April 26, 1865, with Abraham Lincoln’s assassination ten days earlier and the surrender of the Confederacy’s largest army, the war in North Carolina was essentially over. But not for Keith Blalock. Although he received a discharge, he had made a vow to kill the men involved in Austin Coffey’s death. In February 1866, nine months after the war ended, Keith cornered the man who he held most responsible for his step-father’s murder, and shot and killed him! It had not taken forty years. Keith was briefly arrested for the crime, but no trial was ever held, and he was quickly granted a full pardon by the new Republican Governor.

Malinda and Keith began a new life after four years of turmoil during the war. They had four children and both lived to see their children grown and grandchildren hustling about their home. Some of the old feuds still surfaced from time to time, but there was generally peace in the valley.

Malinda and Keith Blalock had earned their more tranquil life.