Zebulon Vance was a great governor and would have been regardless of his situation, but given the circumstance of governing a State that voted somewhat reluctantly and very late to secede, after more or less being surrounded by seceding States, was an extremely difficult task and he did so with great concern over the people of his State. NC not only purchased manufacturing facilities for uniforms but also purchased it’s own Navy. Vance was a westerner, and western NC had little truck with slavery, secessionist sentiment was very low there. He was a good man. No doubt some here would condemn him after the fact as a racist or some such silliness. Well, no, he was a good and decent man.
Vance also hated the Confederate Draft. He signed thousands of exemptions for North Carolina citizens to keep them from being drafted into the Confederate Army.