More than a decade before the War Between the States, a smaller scale war was waged between brothers Jesse and James Ward that would stretch on for more than five years and would eventually be ruled upon by the North Carolina Supreme Court.
The brothers were sons of Benjamin Ward, a Virginia native and Revolutionary War veteran, who had made his home in western North Carolina by 1777. Benjamin was among the first settlers on lower Watauga River in Ashe (present-day Watauga) County. He died in...