Editing Zebulon Vance (section)

=== Journalism ===
In March 1855, John D. Hyman of the Asheville ''Spectator'' convinced Vance to join the newspaper as an editorial assistant.<ref name=":35">{{Cite news |date=March 21, 1855 |title=Asheville Spectator |pages=3 |work=The Spirit of the Age (Raleigh, North Carolina) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1661773/praise-for-zeb/ |access-date=April 11, 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He predicted that Vance would have "a brilliant career in the editorial line".<ref name=":35" /> This weekly newspaper was published from 1853 to 1858 and was the leading Whig paper in the region.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Asheville Spectator (Asheville, N.C.) 1853–1858 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/sn91068019/ |access-date=April 11, 2022 |website=Library of Congress}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=CA8yAQAAMAAJ Representative Men of the South]. Philadelphia: C. Robson & Company, 1880. p. 293 via Google Books, April 11, 2022.</ref> One of the stories Vance wrote was about the search for Dr. [[Elisha Mitchell]] who disappeared in June 1857, having fallen to his death while trying to prove which peak was the highest in North Carolina.<ref name=":39" /> Mitchell taught Vance geology at the University of North Carolina, and Vance immediately volunteered for the search party.<ref name=":39" /> His account of the search, published in the ''Spectator'' in July 1857, is considered the most complete record of the tragic event.<ref name=":39" />

Vance stopped working as joint editor of the ''Spectator'' after a year, but became half-owner of the newspaper.<ref name=":39" /> However, Hyman's steadfast support of Vance in the ''Spectator'' was a huge help to Vance's political career.<ref name=":39" /> The opposition paper, the Asheville ''News'' wrote, "Mr. Vance is the ''Spectator''<nowiki/>'s specialty, and at every mention of his name it sputters and snaps and snarls like a cat with its tail in a steel trap. To question the correctness of his views on a public issue, the ''Spectator'' seems to regard as little short of treason."<ref name=":39" />