You mentioned that Ashe County would have been fifty percent Unionist. That can only be true for a certain time as political sentiment in a county or state may change frequently. For instance, political sentiment in Ashe County has probably shifted significantly at times during the past five to ten years. The same would have true between 1856 and 1865. You must also consider the number of people who are marginally committed one way or another, or have little interest in anything outside their own personal lives.
A common thread for Unionism in the lower and mountain South appears to be isolation. This is ironic, because scholars usually associate Unionism with industry, commerce, modernization, diversity and freedom. The same scholars usually link the Southern cause with agriculture, traditional folkways, backwardness, homogeneity and slavery.
Support for secession and the Confederacy usually came from counties having thriving market centers. During the 1850s larger cities and towns along rivers and rail lines grew rapidly, their prosperity based on active commerce and immediate connection with the outside world, a high degree of literacy, culture and political awareness. They also show evidence of political involvement as well as a diverse population. Print media in the form of daily and weekly newspapers provides another important indicator, in that they helped to disperse popular opinion.
Southern counties from Florida to western Virginia which provided recruits for U.S. military service were often quite isolated. They had limited access to the outside world by means of river, rail or highway, with few towns or market centers of any size and no newspapers. Industrial and commercial development would be minimal, and educational facilities sparse. In these counties population counts are low, farms are small and slavery almost non-existent.
Take, for example, Winston County in Alabama. In 1860 there were no towns or cities, no ports, no railroad depots and only one major road which crossed the western edge of the County. In the summer of 1860, only four post offices could be found outside of the county seat of Houston, and one of those closed on Aug. 3, 1860.
Clear Creek Falls Houston Littlesville Seraloo Thorn Hill The 1860 census of this county reports few merchants, attorneys, clerks or teachers, small market centers with, little sign of cultural, educational or literary life, indifference to social activity, homogenous population, resistance to change and no newspapers. According to the 1860 census, citizens pursuing these occupations could be found in Alabama --
763 attorneys 3,669 clerks 145 dentists 637 grocers 2,638 merchants 1,775 physicians 2,253 students Of these, the following lived in Winston --
2 attorneys 2 clerks 1 dentist no grocers 7 merchants 1 physician 4 students
Total free population of Winston County amounted to 3,454, or roughly four persons per square mile. That's one household for every 1.4 square miles.
The average for Alabama was 19 people per square mile.
In 1860, Winston County was easily the most isolated, unpopulated, poorest and undeveloped area within the state. These characteristics can be applied to Unionists communities across the South, including North Carolina.