Notes: When North Carolina seceded in May 1861, many mountain men were torn between loyalty to their state and disdain for the rich planters of the lowlands further east. As the war dragged on, conditions in the mountains deteriorated and many of these folks saw their only alternative as crossing over the mountains and joining the Federal Army, which by 1863, occupied large portions of nearby Tennessee. ?Going Across The Mountain? is a song of a mountain Unionist saying farewell to his sweetheart. It comes from the singing of Jim Taylor and Frank Proffitt from the mountains of western NC.
