In the 1860 Census, Elizabeth Nance’s age is listed as “90” while in the following letter she writes that she is “A Bout 70.” The identity of her son is uncertain since the Randoph County widow fails to identify him by name. The 63rd NC became the 5th NC Cavalry and did contain soldiers from Randoph County, including thirteen with the surname “Nance,” and it is unclear which one might have been her son. As in other petitions of this sort, many of the signatures are in the same handwriting, although none except Elizabeth’s appears to be the same hand as the body of her letter to the Governor. In a response typical for requests of this sort, Vance noted on page 2: “Ansr that Gov has not the power ZBV”