East TN, West(ern) VA (West Virginia, the state, was admitted to the Union as a breakaway from Virginia State in 1863), and West NC didn’t really benefit from slavery like the rest of their states. There were plenty of independence/Pro-Union movements in that region at the time, like The State of Scott.
That’s some of why East Tennessee and West Virginia sided with the Union in the Civil War, too.
It wasn’t uncommon at the time.
East TN, West(ern) VA (West Virginia, the state, was admitted to the Union as a breakaway from Virginia State in 1863), and West NC didn’t really benefit from slavery like the rest of their states. There were plenty of independence/Pro-Union movements in that region at the time, like The State of Scott.