Tar Heel (or Tarheel) is a nickname applied to the U.S. state of North Carolina and its people. It is also the nickname of athletic teams at the University of North Carolina. The origins of the nickname trace back to North Carolina's prominence—from the mid-18th century through the 19th century—as a producer of tar, pitch, turpentine, and other materials from its plentiful pine trees. "Tar Heel" (and a related version, "Rosin Heel") was often applied to the Poor White laborers who worked to produce tar, pitch, and turpentine. The nickname was embraced by Confederate North Carolina soldiers during the American Civil War, and it grew in popularity as a nickname for the state and its citizens following the war.

History of the term

200px|thumbnail|Front page of the first issue of The Tar Heel, published on 23 Feb 1893. The paper was later renamed [[The Daily Tar Heel.]]

In its early years as a colony, North Carolina became an important source of the naval stores of tar, pitch, and turpentine, especially for the Royal Navy. Tar and pitch were largely used to paint the bottoms of wooden ships, both to seal the ships and to prevent shipworms from damaging the hulls. Tar was created by piling up pine logs and burning them until hot oil seeped out from a spout.

Hugh Lefler and Albert Newsome claim in their North Carolina: the History of a Southern State (3rd edition, 1973) that North Carolina led the world in production of naval stores from about 1720 to 1870. At one time, an estimated of tar and pitch were shipped from North Carolina to England every year. By the time the Civil War began in 1861, North Carolina had more than 1,600 turpentine distilleries. Two-thirds of all the turpentine in the United States came from North Carolina, and one-half came from the counties of Bladen and New Hanover.</blockquote>

In 1893, the students of the University of North Carolina founded a newspaper and named it The Tar Heel, later renamed The Daily Tar Heel.

Legendary explanations

The following legends and anecdotes attempt to explain the term's origin.

Revolutionary War

According to this legend, the troops of British Gen. Cornwallis during the American Revolutionary War were fording what is now known as the Tar River between Rocky Mount and Battleboro when they discovered that tar had been dumped into the stream to impede the crossing of British soldiers. When they finally got across the river, they found their feet completely black with tar. Thus, the soldiers observed that anyone who waded through North Carolina rivers would acquire "tar heels."

Walter Clark offers a similar account in the third volume of his Histories of the Several Regiments from North Carolina in the Great War, asserting that the nickname came about when North Carolina troops held their ground during a battle in Virginia during the American Civil War while other supporting troops retreated. After the battle, supporting troops asked the victorious North Carolinians: "Any more tar down in the Old North State [North Carolina], boys?" and they replied: "No, not a bit; old Jeff's bought it all up." The supporting troops continued: "Is that so? What is he going to do with it?" The North Carolinian troops' response: "He is going to put it on you'ns' heels to make you stick better in the next fight."<!-- probable grammatical errors-->

Likewise, Grandfather Tales of North Carolina History (1901) recounts,

<blockquote>During the late unhappy war between the States it [North Carolina] was sometimes called the "Tar-heel State," because tar was made in the State, and because in battle the soldiers of North Carolina stuck to their bloody work as if they had tar on their heels, and when General Lee said, "God bless the Tar-heel boys," they took the name. (p. 6)</blockquote>

An 1864 letter found in the North Carolina "Tar Heel Collection" in 1991 by North Carolina State Archivist David Olson supports this. A Col. Joseph Engelhard, describing the Battle of Ream's Station in Virginia, wrote: "It was a 'Tar Heel' fight, and ... we got Gen'l Lee to thanking God, which you know means something brilliant."

Early known uses

  • The earliest surviving written use of the term can be found in the diary of 2nd Lieutenant Jackson B. A. Lowrance, who wrote the following on February 6, 1863 while in Pender County, southeastern North Carolina: "I know now what is meant by the Piney Woods of North Carolina and the idea occurs to me that it is no wonder we are called 'Tar Heels'."
  • After the Battle of Murfreesboro in Tennessee in early January 1863, John S. Preston of Columbia, S.C., the commanding general, rode along the fighting line commending his troops. Before the 60th Regiment from North Carolina, Preston praised them for advancing farther than he had anticipated, concluding with: "This is your first battle of any consequence, I believe. Indeed, you Tar Heels have done well."
  • North Carolina State Governor Vance said in one of his speeches to the troops: "I do not know what to call you fellows. I cannot say fellow soldiers, because I am not a soldier, nor fellow citizens, because we do not live in this state; so I have concluded to call you fellows Tar Heels."
  • A piece of sheet music, "Wearin' of the Grey", identified as "Written by Tar Heel" and published in Baltimore in 1866, is probably the earliest printed use of Tar Heel.
  • On New Year's Day, 1868, Stephen Powers set out from Raleigh on a walking tour that, in part, would trace in reverse the march of Gen. William T. Sherman at the end of the Civil War. As a part of his report on North Carolina, Powers described the pine woods of the state and the making of turpentine. Having entered South Carolina, he recorded in his 1872 book, Afoot & Alone, that he spent the night "with a young man, whose family were away, leaving him all alone in a great mansion. He had been a cavalry sergeant, wore his hat on the side of his head, and had an exceedingly confidential manner." "You see, sir, the Tar‑heels haven't no sense to spare," Powers quotes the sergeant as saying. "Down there in the pines the sun don't more'n half bake their heads. We always had to show 'em whar the Yankees was, or they'd charge to the rear, the wrong way, you see."

Further reading

  • Michael W. Taylor: Tar Heels: How North Carolinians got their nickname. Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Dept. of Cultural Resources 1999,

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  • Barteby dictionary entry with suggested etymology
  • North Carolina Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce explanation
  • Early postcard of the icon of a Tar Heel from UNC library, Link to UNC library site on civil war images
  • NC Museum of History answer in pdf format