Like Virginia, North Carolina seceded from the Union because they would not willingly make war on the other States of the South. North Carolinas provided more direct support to their soldiers serving in the Confederate Army, then any of the other Southern States. Gov. Vance established a knitting mill and shoe factory to provide uniforms and shoes to NC soldiers. This was done right up to the end of the War. NC is also torn by the war. Like the far western part of Virginia, the far Western part of the state had little use for the Confederacy and resisted quite vigorously the Confederate draft. The coastal are was occupied for most of the war, and the Union was able to raise several regiments for the Army from the local population.
The blockade runners were fascinating, much as the centuries of pirates before them they utilized the shifting shoals of the NC coast to evade capture. They were beautiful, sleek ships. The State of NC owned four, the most storied of which was the Advance.