Eastern Kentucky and Northwestern Virginia, 1861–1862

From May 1861 through 1862, Appalachian eastern Kentucky and northwestern Virginia stood at the forefront of many decisions by the governments of the United States and the Confederate States. These regions, with their topographical challenges, provided the perfect cover for guerrilla activity. Poor roads and isolated communities holding populaces with divided loyalties encouraged small-unit tactics. The contest for northwestern Virginia grew out of the want of control of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Quick and sharp, the war in northwestern Virginia ultimately resulted in the formation of a new Union state. It provided the fields for many important figures who would grow to prominence in the coming war, including Gen. Robert E. Lee and Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan. In eastern Kentucky, the armies competed for the important road connecting the Cumberland Gap to the Bluegrass region. The Battle of Mill Springs settled the question of who would control the region.

DNA Evidence for a Colonial Jewish Settlement in Appalachia

Using a 5,000-person DNA database from the Cumberland Gap Region of Appalachia, we document the presence of a Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jewish settlement in Central Appalachia. The settlement may have begun as early as the mid-sixteenth century with the Pardo Expedition and been substantially supplemented from the early seventeenth century onward with Jewish colonists from England, Scotland, and Wales. Additional persons found in this mountainous region show DNA origins from Southeastern Europe, North Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. Thus the region may have served as a refuge for non-white, non-Christian persons arriving in Colonial North America.