The Walton War

The Orphan Strip was a 12 mile wide piece of land in what is now Transylvania County,NC. It was called the orphan strip because neither state wanted to govern the strip & it became known as a no man's land. In 1803 Georgia created Walton County out of the Orphan Strip and began to clean it up and began to govern the county. Walton County was a GA county until 1811.

But as Georgia cleaned up the strip the land became more attractive to North Carolina as both Georgia & NC claimed the strip. This problem led to war when both North Carolina and Georgia claimed that the orphan strip belonged to their respective state, and took action to dominate in the area. In December 1810 a NC militia was sent  to the upper French Broad River with orders to remove the Walton County Government. In Jan 1911 a number of Georgians were killed by NC militia and about 25 Georgians were taken prisoner.

The Walton County GA government collapsed as the strip was far from major cities in GA for Georgia to make a strong defense. In 1807 a joint commission was formed to resolve the dispute. The commission found in NC's favor yet Georgia refused to recognize its decision and counted Walton County as a Georgia County until 1811. But by 1818 Georgia admitted defeat when the General Assembly created a new Walton County with Monroe, GA as the county seat. 

But even as late as 1971 the Georgia General Assembly was still questioning the border with North Carolina. In response the North Carolina General Assembly responded in a genial manner  that  the National Guard be called out to defend the border.

For more information see:
About North Georgia: http://www.aboutnorthgeorgia.com/ang/The_Walton_War
North Carolina Digital History: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-newnation/5272
NC History Project: http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/623/entry
NCpedia: http://ncpedia.org/walton-war