5. Upon the election of General Taylor as President of the United States, Mr. Polk retired to private life, and soon died at Nashville, Tennessee. He was a pure and laborious man, but was not the equal of Andrew Jackson in those great natural gifts which immortalized the hero of New Orleans.

6. Upon the cessation of war with Mexico, it had been agreed in the treaty of peace that upon the payment of a large sum of money, Upper California should, with other Mexican territory, belong to the United States. The discovery of immense deposits of gold on the Pacific coast led to such immigration there that, in 1850, California was applying for admission as a State into the Union.

7. Again the spectre of coming strife and bloodshed was seen in the renewal of the struggle over the question of freedom or slavery in this new sister in the galaxy of States. Southern men like Henry Clay thought that the whole subject had been settled in 1820, when, by the Missouri Compromise, it had been ordained that involuntary servitude should not obtain north of the geographical line 36 30' north latitude.

1850.

8. It was understood that the surrender of the right to own slaves north of this line was the consideration for the admission of the right to own them south of it, and that this was what the "compromise" meant. But they were told that the inhibition alone was effective, and that no such converse right was intended to be conveyed as that contended for by the men of the South. The most logical of these men said that Congress had exceeded its powers in the enactment mentioned, and that no power could settle the question but the people of the new State.

9. It was seen that "Wilmot's Proviso," which was an amendment continually offered by Mr. Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, excluding slavery from all future States, was the fixed determination of the Northern people. So, after a protracted and bitter struggle, Mr. Clay, as the last service of a long and illustrious life, procured the passage of the compromise of 1850, in which the only concession by Northern men was the "Fugitive Slave Law."

10. This statute provided that Federal courts and officers should arrest and return to their owners such slaves as should be found absconding in the different States of the Union, whether free or slave-holding. It was greeted by a prodigious outcry from the Northern press and people. They determined that this national law should not be executed, and the different legislatures of the free States began their enactment of personal liberty laws, which made it penal to aid in carrying out the law of Congress.

1851.

11. The people of the South were both exasperated and disheartened at such manifestations, and in view of such palpable violations of their plain constitutional rights, began seriously to consider whether in a union with the Northern States the arbitrary will of the people of those States was not to be the rule of government rather than the Constitution solemnly agreed upon between their forefathers. If this were to be so, the dream of liberty, regulated by law in the Federal Union, was at an end.

QUESTIONS.

1. What educational institutions are mentioned?

2. Who was Governor in 1818? What two men were distinguished in the United States Senate?

3. Who were the representative men in the House?

4. Who succeeded Governor Graham in 1849? What proposition was agitating the people?

5. Who succeeded James K. Polk as President of the United States? What is said of President Polk?

6. What events were occurring in the West?

7. What spectre of the past reappears? Relate circumstances.

8. In what condition was the question now seen?

9. What is said of the "Wilmot Proviso" and "Fugitive Slave Law"?

10. What was the"Fugitive Slave Law"? How did the North legislate against this law of Congress?

11. How was the South affected by these troubles?



CHAPTER LIII.

THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STATUS.

A. D. 1852 TO 1859.

The election of General Franklin Pierce to the Presidency, in 1852, was considered by many as a rebuke to those who had been so clamorous in the North against the compromise of 1850. He was a warm supporter of the rights of the individual States, and the knowledge of this fact brought repose to the minds of Southern men.

2. North Carolina had just entered upon a career of rapid development in her mineral resources. The incorporation of a clause extending the right of suffrage in the State Constitution, the completion of the great central railway, the opening of the asylums and the large addition to the number of schools, were evidences of progress and widespread prosperity. Capitalists, for the first time, began to invest their wealth in cotton and woolen factories.

1853.

3. The creation of the office of Superintendent of Common Schools, in 1853, and the appointment of Calvin H. Wiley, of Guilford, to that position, marked an extraordinary advance in the matter of popular education. Mr. Wiley soon evinced so much discretion and devotion to his duties that his propositions of improvement were adopted, and his views and wishes soon became those of the State government. The same year was further signalized by the Normal School, under charge of Mr. Craven, being empowered by the Legislature to grant literary degrees and the assumption of the full dignities of a college. After nearly thirty years of usefulness, this institution, now known as Trinity College, is still accomplishing great good under the auspices of the Methodists of the State.

4. With the new lines of railway and the restoration of the old routes, there was a large advance in the value of real estate and in the amount of productions sent abroad. The use of Peruvian Guano and other concentrated fertilizers was just being introduced, and the example of Edgecombe county in the use of compost heaps was being followed in every direction and adding immensely to the yield of exhausted fields.

5. It was a notable thing in the political history of the country, that in the Presidential contest of 1852 the candidates for Vice-President, of both the Whig and Democratic parties, were born in North Carolina and educated at Chapel Hill. Ex-Governor William R. King, Democrat, then of Alabama, was chosen over ex- Governor Graham, who had been Secretary of the Navy in the Cabinet of President Fillmore.

6. The churches were prospering under their increased attentions to education. A larger culture was coming to those who filled the pulpits at home, and devoted men like Dr. Matthew T. Yates were going to heathen lands to spend their lives for the good of other races. The Episcopal Church had abundant compensation in the wisdom and virtues of Bishop Atkinson for the loss of Bishop Ives, upon his leaving that communion for the Church of Rome. The great slavery controversy was bringing trouble and division to the Baptists and Methodists, and thus, not only statesmen and politicians, but ministers of the Gospel, were also set at variance.

1854.

7. From Massachusetts was sent, at this period, a new and startling impulse to the Northern pulpits and hustings. It had been the peculiar glory of the American people that they were the originators of the great doctrine and practice of religious liberty. A new party, calling themselves the "KnowNothings," had carried that State and were proclaiming their opposition to all Roman Catholics as public officers. The "Know-Nothings" were also called the "American Party," and their motto was "America for Americans."

8. This was to prove a short-lived and pernicious movement. It not only contravened the noblest American precedents, but at once combined all the ends and fragments of parties which had previously opposed the great organization that had been led by Jefferson and Jackson. Besides their hostility to the Roman Catholic religion, they inculcated one other principle; this was opposition to the naturalization of foreign immigrants until after a residence of twenty-one years within the borders of the United States. The success of this new party ended in the Virginia campaign between Governor Wise and T. S. Flournoy.

1855.

9. About this time another party began to be prominent in the Northern States. It was called the "Republican Party," and was the outgrowth of the notorious controversy over the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act through Congress. This statute was, in effect, but a continuance of the legislation in regard to California, and amounted to little beyond transferring the question of slave or free territory from Congress to the new States. The North, however, was fanatically bent on the destruction of slavery everywhere within the United States, and would not consent that each new State should settle the question for itself. On the contrary, it was determined to prohibit the spread of slavery whether the people in the new States and Territories desired it or not.

10. It was soon seen, therefore, in the bloody conflicts between the settlers from the North and those from the South, especially in Kansas, that "Squatter Sovereignty" would neither afford protection to Southern immigrants in removing with their property there, nor any prospect of a fair solution of a vexed question.

1857.

11. On June 27th, 1857, an event occurred in North Carolina which brought sadness to the whole State. Rev. Elisha Mitchell, D. D., while making researches and surveys upon Black Mountain, in the darkness of night, lost his way and fell over a very steep precipice and waterfall, and was killed. His remains were found, eleven days after the accident, in a pool of clear water at the foot of the waterfall. They are now resting on the highest point of the mountain, and the spot is known as "Mitchell's Peak." Dr. Mitchell found, by measurement, that the Black Mountain was the highest point of land east of the Rocky Mountains. "Mitchell's Peak" is 6,672 feet above the level of the sea, and 244 feet higher than Mount Washington, in New Hampshire.

12. After the defeat of Charles Manly by David S. Reid, of Rockingham, for Governor in 1852, the Democrats continued to gain in strength in each succeeding election. In 1854, Governor Bragg was elected to succeed Governor Reid, by an increased majority, over Hon. John A. Gilmer, the Whig candidate. Messrs. Mangum and Badger were succeeded by Governor Reid and Colonel Asa Biggs, of Martin, as United States Senators; and when, in 1858, another Governor was to be chosen, both Judge John W. Ellis, of Rowan, and his competitor, Duncan K. MacRae, of Cumberland, claimed to be defenders of the Democratic faith. The differences between the North and the South were fast bringing the people of North Carolina to one mind.

QUESTIONS.

1. Of what does this chapter treat ? How was the election of President, Pierce considered ?

2. What is said of internal improvements?

3. What educational progress was being made?

4. How was the value of lands increasing?

5. What is said of the Presidential campaign of 1852?

6. In what condition were religious matters?

8. How was the question of slavery affecting some of the religious denominations?

7. What new party was organized in Massachusetts? What was the main policy of the "Know-Nothings"?

8. What is said of this new party?

9. What party next originated?

10. How was the South affected by "Squatter Sovereignty"?

11. What fatal accident befell Dr. Elisha Mitchell in 1857?

12. What changes in the government of the State are now mentioned?



CHAPTER LIV.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN AND THE WAR.

A. D. 1860 TO 1861.

1860.

After seventy years of party struggles touching the relations of the General Government to the individual States, the Presidential contest of 1860 opened with such notes of violence and public confusion, that it was at once seen that at last the supreme crisis had come.

2. The only issue apparently before the American people was that of slavery in the Territories. The Democrats were divided into two fragments. Those supporting Judge Douglas for the Presidency advocated "Squatter Sovereignty." The Breckinridge men said that the question of slavery should only be settled as to the new States at their constitutional conventions; while Republicans supporting Abraham Lincoln, proclaimed that only the enactment of the "Wilmot Proviso" would satisfy them. The Whig candidates, Messrs. Bell and Everett, and the Whig party, were silent on all these stormy differences, and were not of much significance in the general upheaval.

3. Back of this question, however, about slavery in the Territories, and involved in it, was the real issue between the Republican and Democratic parties, and that was whether the Federal Constitution should be the supreme law of the land. The right of property in slaves was guaranteed by that Constitution, and if the Republican party could thus destroy that right it might when it so pleased, destroy any and all other rights. The Democrats hold that the Constitution was supreme; the Republicans held that there was a still higher law unwritten and undefined. One was certainty, the other chaos.

4. It was seen at an early period of the contest, that the bulk of the Southern people would be found supporting Breckinridge and Lane. * It was generally held in all the slave-holding States that the election of Mr. Lincoln would be significant of a purpose among Northern men to disregard their rights, and that the inauguration of the abolition policy by the Federal officers would compel and justify the secession of the Southern States from the Union.

*Joseph Lane was born in Buncombe county in this State, and was the cousin of Colonel Joel Lane, who once owned the lands upon which Raleigh was built. He had served gallantly as a Brigadier General in Mexico, afterwards in Congress, and as Governor of Oregon.

5. When, in November, 1860, it was known that the Republicans had triumphed in the national election, and that Abraham Lincoln would be chosen President of the United States by a majority of the electors in the different State electoral colleges, then it was realized that the extreme Southern States would, at an early period, sever their connection with the government at Washington.

1861.

6. South Carolina and others said that protection of their property would now be impossible in the Union, and therefore, before the inauguration of President Lincoln, on March 4th, 1861, seven States had assembled conventions, and by their ordinances declared the ties formerly binding them to the Republic of the United States null and void.

7. On the 1st of January, 1861, the Legislature then in regular session passed, by a large majority in each House, an act declaring that in its opinion the condition of the country was so perilous "that the sovereign people of the State should assemble in convention to effect an honorable adjustment of the difficulties whereby the Federal Union is endangered, or otherwise to determine what action will best preserve the honor and promote the interest of North Carolina."

8. At the same time that the delegates were to be elected the act required that the sense of the people should be taken whether there should be a convention at all or not. The election was held on 28th of February, 1861, and upon the question of convention or no convention, the official count showed a majority of 194 votes against convention, that is to say, 45,509 votes for convention and 45,603 votes against convention. The vote of Davie county, which was not received in time to be counted, would have increased the majority against convention some 200 votes.

9. How the delegates elected were divided in sentiment on the day of election cannot be ascertained, nor was such division to be relied upon, for changes were daily taking place, and men, no matter how reluctantly, were rapidly coming to believe that in United action by the South lay the only hope for the future.

10. In April, President Lincoln, in consequence of the attack upon and capture of Fort Sumter, required of Governor Ellis North Carolina's proportion of an army of seventy five thousand men, which was to be used in the coercion of the seceded States. This demand Governor Ellis promptly refused; and he at once convened the Legislature in special session, declaring in his proclamation that the time for action had come, and, upon his recommendation, twenty thousand volunteers were called for by the General Assembly to sustain North Carolina in her course.

11. A State Convention was called by the Legislature on the first of May, and met on the 20th of May, 1861; in the hall of the House of Commons. On this anniversary of the Mecklenburg Declaration the Ordinance of Secession was passed, and North Carolina made haste to connect herself with the " Confederate States of America."

12. The Ordinance of Secession was as follows

"AN ORDINANCE DISSOLVING THE UNION BETWEEN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA AND THE OTHER STATES UNITED WITH HER UNDER THE COMPACT OF GOVERNMENT ENTITLED 'THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. '

"We, the people of the State of North Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the ordinance adopted by the State of North Carolina in the Convention of 1789, whereby the Constitution of the United States was ratified and adopted; and also all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly ratifying and adopting amendments to the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, rescinded and abrogated.

"We do further declare and ordain, That the Union now subsisting between the State, of North Carolina and the other States, under the title of 'The United States of America,' is hereby dissolved, and that the State of North Carolina is in full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State."

13. The number of submissionists in North Carolina was very small, and the real differences of opinion did not so much regard final action in the crisis as they did the way and the time in which it should be reached. Many preferred separate State action; many others preferred concert of action among the States. Some preferred immediate action; others thought it advisable to wait until some actual "overt act," as it was called, was committed by the new administration. But no matter how much people were divided on these points, on one point they were a unit, that is to say, in the desire that final action should represent as near as possible every phase of public sentiment. And to secure this greatly to be desired unanimity in action, many personal preferences and original opinions were sacrificed.

14. Many good people had hoped and prayed that the troubles between the North and South would be peaceably arranged; but all hope of such a blessing was now lost, and the whole State resounded with the notes of preparation for the war. In every county men pressed forward by thousands to enlist at the call of the State.

15. Governor Ellis was in the last stages of hopeless disease, but, with great resolution, he addressed himself to the discharge of the onerous duties of his station until his death, on June 9, 1861. He was succeeded by Colonel Henry Toole Clark, of Edgecombe, who became Governor of the State by virtue of his office as Speaker of the Senate.

16. Colonel John F. Hoke, of Lincoln, was succeeded as Adjutant- General by James G. Martin, of Pasquotank, late a major in the army of the United States. The forts, Johnston, Macon and Caswell, were seized, as was also the Federal arsenal at Fayetteville; and, in this way, fifty-seven thousand stand of small firearms and a considerable store of cannon and ammunition were secured.

17. After many years of peace and prosperity, the people of North Carolina were once again to exhibit their patriotism, courage and endurance under the most trying circumstances. In the first revolution they had contributed twenty-two thousand nine hundred and ten men to the defence of the United Colonies; in this second upheaval more than a hundred and fifty thousand crowded to the fray, and grew famous on more than a hundred fields.

QUESTIONS.

1. How was the Presidential contest of 1860 viewed?

2. What was the issue? Who were the candidates; and what were their platforms?

3. What was the real issue between the Democrats and Republicans? What views were held by each party?

4. To whom were most of the Southern people giving support? How did they view the probable election of Mr. Lincoln?

5. Who were elected? What did some of the Southern States intend to do?

6. What occurred before the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln?

7. What act was passed by the North Carolina Legislature?

8. Can you tell the result of the vote upon this question?

9. What was the South beginning to realize?

10. What call was made upon North Carolina by Mr. Lincoln? With what result?

11. When did North Carolina leave the Union?

12. Can you repeat the Ordinance of Secession?

13. Mention the political opinions to be found in the State upon these questions?

14. What had been the hope of many of our people? How was the news of secession received?

15. What occurred on June 9th? Who succeeded Governor Ellis?

16. What seizures were made by North Carolina authorities?

17. What are the thoughts upon this period?



CHAPTER LV.

THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES.

A. D. 1861.

The people of North Carolina loved the Union of States that had been in such large part constructed by the heroism and wisdom of their own fathers. They well knew its value to themselves under an unbroken Federal Constitution; they knew, too, the danger incurred in the attempt to absolve them selves from further Federal connections. But they knew, also, their rights under the Constitution, and were fully determined neither to surrender them nor to aid in the subjugation of their sister States. As the State had entered the Union by action of a convention of her own people, she now resolved to leave it in the same manner.

2. For more than a month before the memorable 20th day of May, 1861, when the secession ordinance was passed, troops were volunteering and being received by Governor Ellis from many portions of the State. The first ten companies were embodied in a regiment, of which Major Daniel H. Hill was elected colonel by the commissioned officers. They were at once sent to Yorktown, in Virginia.

3. On June 9th, General Benjamin F. Butler, who was in command of the United States forces at Fortress Monroe, in Virginia, sent a column of troops up the peninsula for the purpose of ascertaining the possibility of reaching Richmond, which city had recently become the Capital of the Southern Confederacy. Early the next morning the Federal advance became confused in the darkness and two of their regiment, fired upon each other.

4. At Big Bethel, on the 10th, they found the regiment of Colonel Hill supporting a battery of the "Richmond Howitzers." There were also present two infantry and three cavalry companies belonging to Virginia. This force was assailed by the Federal army, but the attack was repelled and the assailants retired in disorder to Old Point Comfort. Only one Confederate soldier was killed in the action, and that was private Henry Wyatt, of Edgecombe county. He belonged to Captain J. L. Bridgers' company, and was the first Southern soldier slain in the war between the States.

5. The whole affair was insignificant, both as to the number engaged and the results achieved, but was hailed as a happy omen by the South. North Carolina, with all her deliberation in taking part in the struggle, was thus to afford the first martyr of the South, and was present with her troops to arrest the first Federal invasion of Southern soil.

6. On the 18th and 21st days of July occurred much greater and more serious conflicts at Manassas and Bull Run, also in Virginia. Another Federal army, commanded by General Irvin McDowell, and numbering more than forty thousand men, left Washington with orders to attack the Confederates under General G. T. Beauregard. The Fifth, Sixth and Twenty-first Regiments of North Carolina troops were present, and gallantly aided in the Federal defeat.

7. Colonel Charles F. Fisher was especially valuable in the aid he rendered in restoring a ditched train to the track, and thus making possible the timely approach of the reinforcements under General E. Kirby Smith, which so speedily resulted in the flight of General McDowell's army. It is mournful to add, that, after performing this signal service, and after gallantly capturing the celebrated Rickett's Battery, Colonel Fisher was slain in the battle. He fell at the head of his regiment, beyond the battery and still in pursuit of the enemy. This memorable victory was very grateful to the South, but it did not delude the people into the belief that the war was at an end; it was useful, too, in that it gave them time to prepare for the greater conflicts still to come.

8. It had been hoped by Mr. Lincoln and his advisers that all Southern opposition would be overcome in ninety days, but at Bull Run and Manassas they were convinced that only by a great and prolonged struggle were such adversaries to be subdued. The short periods of enlistment were abandoned by both sides, and the winter was spent in preparation for a gigantic struggle in the spring.

9. It was early seen in North Carolina that fortifications were necessary at Hatteras for the defence of the many broad waters covering so large a portion of the eastern counties. A small sand-work, known as Fort Hatteras, with an outlying flank defence, called Battery Clark, was the only reliance for the protection of Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds.

10. Before these weak defences a large Federal fleet appeared on August 27th, 1861, and by means of its superior armament, lay securely beyond the range of the guns mounted in Fort Hatteras, while pouring in a tremendous discharge of shot and shell. The Federals having effected a landing on the beach, and most of the caution being dismounted in the fort, it was thought best by Colonel W. F. Martin, on the 29th, to surrender the fort.

11. In two days' operations the whole tier of eastern counties was thus laid bare to the incursions of Federal troops and cruisers. There was great sorrow for the captured garrison, and general alarm and uneasiness; but the spirit of resistance was undaunted, and troops continued volunteering by thousands.

QUESTIONS.

1. What is the subject of this lesson? How did the North Carolinians consider their departure from the Union?

2. What preparations for war were made by the State, even before its secession? Who commanded the first regiment?

3. Relate General Butler's exploit.

4. Give an account of the battle of Big Bethel. What Confederate soldier was slain?

5. What is said of this event?

6. Where were North Carolina troops next engaged in battle?

7. What signal aid was rendered by Colonel Charles F. Fisher? What were the effects of this victory?

8. What did Mr. Lincoln learn from these battles?

9. At what point on the North Carolina coast were fortifications specially needed?

10. Describe the Federal attack on Fort Hatteras. Point out Hatteras on the map.

11. What was the result of the fall of Hatteras?



CHAPTER LVI.

THE COMBAT DEEPENS.

A. D. 1662.

1862.

By the fortune of war in the Revolution, as again in 1812, the State was nearly always left with a small proportion of her own troops to defend the home of their birth. So, also, when the spring opened in 1862, though fully forty thousand men of the State were under arms, they were to be found in Virginia and South Carolina, except a small force left at Wilmington and Roanoke Island.

2. This condition of affairs did not result, however, from any indifference on the part of the general government to us, but from the fact that the main strategic points were in other States, and fortunate it was for North Carolina that this was so; for whatever may have been the necessities of local defence, or the evils incident to an unprotected coastline, or those inseparable from its occupation by the enemy at various points, they cannot be compared to the evils resulting from the prolonged occupation of a State by large contending armies.

3. Roanoke Island was the only hope of defence for Albemarle Sound and the many rivers flowing therein. To defend it, General Henry A. Wise was sent with a small force to be added to the Eighth and Thirty-first Regiments of North Carolina Volunteers. He was sick on February 7th, 1862, when General Burnside, with a great fleet and fifteen thousand Federal troops, sailed up Croatan Sound and began the attack.

4. Colonel Henry M. Shaw, of the Eighth North Carolina Regiment, was in command, and made a gallant but unavailing defence. The Federals landed and moved up the island in the rear of the forts which had been constructed to prevent the passage of vessels to the west of the defences. The only recourse left was to abandon the lower batteries and concentrate the Southern troops at a point near the centre of Roanoke Island.

5. It was hoped that the morasses, indenting both shores and leaving a narrow isthmus, would enable the small Confederate force to defend that position; but the bravery and enterprise of the enemy enabled him to turn both flanks, and nothing was left Colonel Shaw and his command but to fall back to the northern end of the island and there lay down their arms.

6. The battle had been bravely fought for two days, and the two thousand Confederate prisoners and their gallant leader became captives, but only after inflicting heavy loss upon the assailants. The place was untenable against superior naval appliances, and quite men enough had been sacrificed in view of the impossibility of preventing its isolation by Federal fleets.

7. Very different were the defensive capacities of the city of New Bern. It was immediately foreseen that this important place would be next assailed, and with enough troops it would have been an easy feat to have held it indefinitely, but whether its value as a strategic point would have justified such a defence may be doubted. The Confederate authorities entrusted its defence to General L. O'B. Branch, who had no experience in military affairs, and in whose command, like General Wise's, was not a single regiment that had been under fire, though there were skillful officers of lower rank who had seen much service in the old army. On March 14th, General Burnside, with the army and fleet so lately the victors at Roanoke, moved to attack the forts which had been constructed just below the junction of Neuse and Trent Rivers.

8. General Branch had in his command the Seventh, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh, Thirty-third and Thirty-fifth North Carolina Regiments, a portion of the Nineteenth (cavalry), with Brem's and Latham's light batteries and a small force of militia. These were disposed along a line stretching from Fort Thompson, on Neuse River, across the railroad to an impassable swamp, which afforded abundant protection to his right flank.

9. The battle began at seven o'clock in the morning and raged until noon. The Federal attacks were repeatedly repelled until, by the fatal flight of the militia in the centre, the Confederate lines were broken and a precipitate retreat ensued. General Branch lost two hundred prisoners and seventy men killed and wounded; and, besides these, all his guns and stores. He was beaten in his first battle, when perhaps naught but defeat was expected, but he soon won high reputation as a brave soldier and skillful officer. Victory is not always possible to the best generalship. He met, in a few days at Kinston, reinforcements that would have enabled him to hold his ground at New Bern; but like many other earthly succors, they came too late for real benefit.

10. The fall of New Bern sealed the fate of the Confederate forces at Fort Macon. Colonel M. I. White, with five companies of the Tenth Regiment (artillery), endured the Federal bombardment until the work was in danger of being blown up. He surrendered the fort on April 26th, 1862. These disasters at home were indeed calculated to dishearten, but the only visible effect upon the people at large was to increase the numbers of those who were still volunteering by thousands to defend North Carolina and the Confederate States.

11. In the spring of 1862, General McClellan, the Federal commander, having determined to make his advance on Richmond by way of James River, and having made his preparations to that effect, General Johnston transferred the Confederate troops from Manassas to the peninsula between the James and York Rivers, thus placing his army between McClellan and Richmond.

12. At Williamsburg occurred the first memorable conflict of the year between the two great armies struggling on the soil of the Old Dominion. In this conflict the charge of the Fifth North Carolina Regiment, under Colonel D. K. MacRae, excited the admiration and its terrible losses the sympathy of both friend and foe.

13. In the bloody and glorious campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, General T. J. Jackson grew immortal before the coming of midsummer. The gallantry of the Twenty-first North Carolina Regiment at Winchester, like that of the Fourth at Seven Pines, was as conspicuous as bloody. In this latter battle, where so many other men of the State were slain, the Fourth Regiment, under Colonel George B. Anderson, lost four hundred and sixty-two men, out of five hundred and twenty.

14. In the last days of June nearly all of the North Carolina regiments and many Southern troops were concentrated around Richmond, under the command of General Robert E. Lee, in place of General Johnston, who had been wounded at Seven Pines. In the week of battle which ended in the overthrow of the great investing army of General McClellan, they lost thousands of their bravest and best. Ninety-two regiments constituted the divisions of Jackson, Longstreet, D. H. Hill and A. P. Hill. These were the forces that drove the Federals to their ships; and forty-six of these regiments belong to North Carolina. It may be safely asserted that more than half the men actively engaged and disabled during that terrible week were citizens of North Carolina.

QUESTIONS.

1. What is said or North Carolina's forces in the wars?

2. What is said of this condition of affairs?

3. What force was sent to defend Albermarle Sound?

4. Can you tell of Burnside's attack?

5. What was the conclusion of the engagement?

6. What is said of this battle?

7. To what point was attention next directed? What officer was in command? When was the Federal attack made?

8. What composed General Branch's command?

9. Describe the battle.

10. What is said of the fall of New Bern? What fort was next surrendered? Where is Fort Mason?

11. What military movements were made in Virginia?

12. What is said of the gallant charge of the Fifth Regiment at Williamsburg?

13. What regiments are specially mentioned as participants at Winchester and Seven Pines?

14. What is said of the events at this period?



CHAPTER LVII.

THE WAR CONTINUES.

A. D. 1862.

Amid the exultation that filled the hearts of the people of North Carolina for the victories around Richmond, there was grief in many families for heroes fallen in the discharge of duty. Colonels Stokes, Meares, Campbell and C. C. Lee, like a great host of their compatriots, were gone to come no more. It seemed that the superior numbers and resources of the United States forces were to prove powerless before the fiery onsets of the Confederate troops.

2. In the month of August, 1862, Zebulon B. Vance, of Buncombe, then Colonel of the Twenty-sixth Regiment, was chosen Governor of North Carolina over William Johnston, of Charlotte, who had been of late Commissary-General of the State. By an ordinance of the Convention, Colonel Vance entered upon his duties as Chief- Magistrate on September 8th, 1862. He was to evince great zeal in the discharge of his official duties.

3. The first Maryland campaign, which occurred in the fall of the year, was the next event of general interest. In the battles fought in that memorable campaign the North Carolina regiments won great reputation, but a terrible loss of life. General Branch was killed and General Anderson received wounds at Sharpsburg of which he soon died, and left grief in many hearts for their untimely end. Colonel C. C. Tew also fell in the same great battle, and increased the grief of his people at the loss by the mystery of his fate. He disappeared amid the storm of conflict, but exactly how and when was never known.

4. In North Carolina there had been comparative quiet through the spring and summer months. The Federal garrisons at Plymouth and New Bern were watched by small bodies of Confederates, but no fighting occurred except in Plymouth, which town was taken and held for a few hours by Colonel Martin, with the Seventeenth Regiment, and then abandoned because of the Federal gun-boats.

5. On Blackwater River, just below Franklin, in Virginia, there was a gallant conflict of a few cavalrymen under Lieutenant Thomas Ruffin, of the Fourth Cavalry, and a Federal double-ender. The crew were all driven from deck and the ship lay at the mercy of the assailants until her consorts came up the stream from below and shelled the victors from their prey.

6. By the 1st of December the Federal army, this time under command of General Burnside, was confronting General Lee at Fredericksburg, Virginia. On the 13th, Burns attempted to carry our lines, but after repeated and desperate assaults and terrible slaughter, withdrew his troops. It was this battle that Marye's Heights won its bloody fame. The gallantry of the enemy, especially of Meagher's Irish Brigade was magnificent.

7. Simultaneously with the attack of General Burnside of the army of General Lee at Fredericksburg, the South Carolina Brigade of General Evans, then stationed at Kinston, North Carolina, was surprised to see a few mounted Federal soldiers make an attack upon the position then held by them. The Federals were driven back and pursued in the direction of New Bern. Suddenly the South Carolinians found themselves confronted by more than twenty thousand foes.

8. In the speedy retreat that ensued, General Evans was unable to burn the bridges across the river, and effected escape with some loss. He was, the next day, reinforced and awaited General Foster's approach on the road leading to Goldsboro. But the Federals were seeking to intervene between that place and the one occupied by Evans. All Tuesday morning (December 16th) the masses of the Union troops were seeking to cross Neuse River at White Hall; they were bravely met there by General Beverly H. Robinson who, with the Eleventh, Thirty-first, Fifty-ninth and Sixty-third Regiments, and Battery B, Third North Carolina Battalion, withstood all their attacks and inflicted severe loss on the baffled invaders. The contest lasted for eight hours during which General Foster persisted in his efforts to drive off the Confederates, so that pontoons could be laid forming a bridge across the stream, in place of the one burned the night before.

9. Failing to cross Neuse River at White Hall, General Foster marched in the evening for Goldsboro, and, having reached the bridge of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad, succeeded in burning it, in spite of the gallant efforts of General Clingman and his brigade to prevent.

10. General Foster retired in great precipitation to New Bern, and the burned bridge was his only trophy in an expedition which seemed so threatening at its inception.

QUESTIONS.

1. What was the feeling concerning the victories around Richmond?

2. Who was chosen Governor in 1862? When did Colonel Vance enter upon the duties of Chief-Magistrate?

3. What losses had North Carolina sustained in the battle of Sharpsburg? What increased the grief of Colonel Tew's people?

4. What was the state of affairs in North Carolina during the spring and summer of 1862?

5. Describe the engagement on Blackwater River?

6. Where was the Federal army confronting General Lee on December 1st? What occurred on the 13th?

7. Can you tell of the surprise at Kinston?

S. What was the further result of this affair?

9. What is said of the conclusion of this matter?

10. Where did General Foster go?



CHAPTER LVIII.

WAR AND ITS HORRORS.

A. D. 1863.

1863.

When the year 1863 had come upon the American States in their bloody and wasting quarrel, there was nothing to indicate any solution of the great controversy. Many bloody battles had been fought, thousands of homes were saddened in the loss of brave and true men, and yet both sides were as intent as ever upon carrying on indefinitely the terrible and costly struggle.

2. Mr. Lincoln and the government at Washington said there should be no peace until the seceded States returned to their allegiance. Mr. Davis and the government at Richmond said, on the other hand, that the seceded States were, of right, free and independent States that had rightfully resumed their delegated powers, and owed no allegiance to the Federal government.

3. It was hoped that England and France would recognize the independence of the Confederate States; but beyond extending to the Southern government the rights of belligerents, this trust proved utterly fallacious. Confederate agents were received and armed vessels allowed to enter their ports, but no aid was extended to the Southern cause. The arrest of the Confederate Commissioners, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, on a British mail steamer, by a United States war vessel, was resented by England and war seemed probable; but these Southern envoys were released, and no aid came from abroad except in the ships that were bought of private persons for the purpose of cruising against vessels belonging to citizens of the United States.

4. Among the earliest measures adopted by the Federal government was the blockade of the Southern seaports. Wilmington, Charleston, Savannah, Mobile and Galveston were all watched by armed ships that sought to exclude the vessels of all countries from entering these harbors. Cruisers swarmed along the whole Southern coast, and it became a matter of great peril and difficulty to send out or bring in any commodity by way of the ocean.

5. This soon led to a scarcity of salt, sugar, coffee, molasses and everything which had been formerly imported from Europe or bought of Northern merchants. Prices continually advanced as such things became more scarce in the South. Wilmington is so situated that an effective blockade there was almost impossible. There were two inlets, and, therefore, two blockade fleets were necessary, and even with this added difficulty the blockading squadron could not prevent, on dark nights, the passage of swift steamers that swept in and out of the Cape Fear River and brought from Nassau and Bermuda what was most needed for the armies and people.

6. Soon after his inauguration, Governor Vance, at General Martin's suggestion, sent Colonel Thomas M. Crossan to England for the purpose of procuring a ship to supply the wants of North Carolina. Crossan had been a naval officer in the service of the United States, and had judgment enough in such matters to select one of the swiftest ships in the world. It was called the Lord Clyde abroad, but that name was changed to the Ad-Vance, and the vessel made many successful voyages before she was captured.

7. In the superior clothing and equipments of the North Carolina troops were the wisdom and activity of the State government manifested. And, too, not only were the necessities of our own soldiers supplied, but large aid was extended to the troops of other States. Besides this, cotton and woolen cards and many other necessaries were brought in and distributed to the different sections of the State. Salt was the most important of all the domestic supplies excluded by the blockade. To procure this indispensable article, private factories on the seacoast were supplemented by others under State management; but these proved insufficient to meet popular wants, and arrangements were made to procure additional supplies from the salt wells of southwestern Virginia.

8. It was early foreseen that in so great a struggle enormous expenditures would become necessary; and to meet such liabilities, it would be necessary for the Confederacy and the individual States to use their credit in procuring supplies on the faith of future payments. Many millions of dollars were to be expended, and only Confederate and State obligations would be available to meet such purchases.

9. Unhappily, the great supply of cotton then in the South was not utilized by the authorities, and thus a solid basis of credit was lost; and a favorite theory is, that had all the cotton been promptly seized by the government and sent to foreign ports, the depreciation of its funds would have been averted, but whether this could have been done is, to say the least, by no means certain. As it was, in 1863, both Confederate and State money began to depreciate in value, and this depreciation once begun, had no stop in its downward tendency.

QUESTIONS.

1. What was the condition of the war in 1863?

2. What positions were taken by Presidents Lincoln and Davis?

3. From what countries had the South expected aid? What is said of the arrest of Mason and Slidell?

4. What Southern cities were blockaded? What was the effect of this blockade?

5. What is said of the port of Wilmington?

6. How did Governor Vance supply the wants of the people? What is said of the Ad-Vance?

7. What supplies were brought in by the Ad-Vance? How was salt obtained?

8. How did the Confederate government propose to obtain funds for carrying on the war?

9. What was the cause of the great depreciation in the value of money?



CHAPTER LIX.

THE DEATH-WOUND AT GETTYSBURG.

A. D. 1863.

In spite of the great Federal success in acquiring territory in North Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi and elsewhere, and notwithstanding the increasing hardships everywhere felt, the government and people of the Confederate States were still undismayed and hopeful when the spring of 1863 permitted the vast armies of the United States to resume active military operations. No thought of submission was entertained by the Confederate soldiers, and among the people at home only in rare instances were individuals to be found who expressed hopelessness as to the result of the war.

2. In North Carolina a period of inactivity succeeded the raid by General Foster, which was only broken by the unsuccessful attack on the town of Washington. General W. B. C. Whiting, who had made reputation as a division commander in the Army of Northern Virginia, was sent to assume charge of the Department of the Cape Fear, with his headquarters in Wilmington. This city had been fearfully ravaged by yellow fever in the fall of 1862, and had now become all important to the Confederacy as a port. Other Southern sea ports were almost totally closed by blockade, and only at the Cape Fear was there left a hope of access.

3. Generals Braxton Bragg, D. H. Hill, Leonidas Poll, and Benjamin McCulloh had all risen to prominent commands and conferred honor by their connections with the Old North State. Among the younger officers, Generals Pender, Hoke, Pettigrew and Ramseur had all won distinguished notice and promotion for gallant and meritorious service.

4. Many thousands had been enrolled in the sixty-six regiments and ten battalions of North Carolina mustered in the Confederate service, and, though mourning was in many households, recruits were constantly going to fill the gaps occasioned by deaths on the field and in the hospitals. Dr. Charles E. Johnson had been succeeded as Surgeon General of the State by Dr. Edward Warren. Drs. E. Burke Haywood, Peter E. Hines, W. C. Warren and others of the leading physicians were placed in charge of great hospitals at Raleigh and other cities in the State. North Carolina sustained a similar institution at Petersburg, in Virginia. Of the latter the excellent lady, Miss Mary Pettigrew, a sister of the general of the same name, became matron; and, like another Florence Nightingale, cheered the sick and dying with her elegant presence.

5. General Burnside lost his place by his disaster at Fredericksburg, and was followed in command of the Army of the Potomac by General Joseph Hooker. This gallant commander was as signally beaten at Chancellorsville on May 2d and 3d. No battle of any age conferred greater honor upon the victors; but in the loss of Stonewall Jackson the South was deprived of a leader whose place could not be supplied. North Carolina was never more gloriously vindicated than on this famous field, and ex-Governor Graham, who was then in Richmond, said, a few days afterwards, in the Confederate States Senate, that half the men killed and wounded at Chancellorsville belonged to North Carolina regiments.

6. So astonishing was the result of this battle, and so crushing its effects upon the Federal authorities, that General Lee again resolved upon an invasion of the North. The invasion proved a failure, and after several severe battles General Lee was forced to return, with his defeated army, to Virginia. It was on that last dread day, the 3d of July, at Gettysburg, that he discovered that even his incomparable infantry could not accomplish everything he desired.

7. Thirty thousand of the bravest and best, who had so long made the Army of Northern Virginia unconquerable, were lost to our cause forever. Among the North Carolinians, Generals Pender and Pettigrew, Colonels Burgwin, Marshall and Isaac E. Avery were slain, and a host of subalterns likewise perished.

8. Another great disaster happened at this time in the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, with the army there under command of General Pemberton, involving as it did the occupation of so large a portion of the Confederacy. These great losses, occurring as they did on the same day, and so vitally affecting our strength, were never retrieved, and from that day Southern fortunes waned, with occasional flickerings of hope, until the close at Appomattox.

9. But many gallant struggles were yet to be made. On different fields the great forces of the Union were to be bravely repelled, but the ranks of General Lee's army were so much thinned that it became daily more impossible to confront the increasing horde that gathered against it from all civilized nations. But the policy of attrition and exhaustion was not to be seen in full force until the next year.

10. During the month of June, Colonel Spear's cavalry raid in Hertford and Northampton counties was driven back by General M. W. Ransom, and, beyond this, there were no movements of a hostile character in the State limits during the year.

QUESTIONS.

1. In what condition was the South in 1863?

2. How was the port of Wilmington specially important to the Confederacy? Who was in command at this place?

3. What North Carolinians are mentioned as having risen to prominence?

4. How many regiments had the State furnished up to this time? Who succeeded Dr. Charles E. Johnson as Surgeon General of the State? What doctors had charge of the hospitals? What noble woman is mentioned, and what is said of her?

5. What fierce battle was fought on May 2d and 3d? What did Governor Graham say of the North Carolina troops at Chancellorsville?

6. Upon what did General Lee resolve after the victory? What was the result of the invasion?

7. How many Southern soldiers were lost on this occasion? What North Carolinians are named among the slain?

8. What other great disaster happened at this time? How did it affect the Southern cause?

9. What is said of Lee's army?

10. What raid was driven back by General Ransom?



CHAPTER LX.

GENERAL GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGN.

A. D. 1864.

1864.

The fourth year of the great war opened on North Carolina with grief in almost every family; still, with diminished hopes and increased exertions for the general defence, they looked forward to a campaign which they well understood was to be decisive of their fortunes. Perhaps not even General Washington was so trusted and beloved by the American people in the Revolution as was General Robert E. Lee by those of the South in the closing years of the struggle.

2. In his genius and capacity they felt sure they had the very highest human leadership, and in his splendid career and spotless renown they all took pride, as conferring reflected credit upon themselves. So noble, unselfish and wise, he had become the idol of his own people and the admiration of his foes. At the outbreak of the war he had declined the command of the Federal armies, because he believed it was his duty to take part with his own people.

3. Ex-Governor Thomas Bragg had been for some time in the Cabinet of President Davis, as Attorney-General. He resigned the position and was no more in public life. Since 1854, when he had left the Bar to become the Governor of North Carolina, he had been continually growing in public favor, and now returned to the leadership of his profession. No lawyer in our annals has been more respected or successful. In the Confederate States Senate the polished and eloquent George Davis, of Wilmington, and W. W. Avery, of Burke, had served until the latter was succeeded, in 1862, by W. T. Dortch, of Wayne; and, a year later, Mr. Davis was succeeded by ex-Governor Graham; and later still, Mr. Dortch was succeeded by Thomas S. Ashe, of Anson, who did not take his seat by reason of the dissolution of the Confederate government.

4. In the midst of the great struggle there was, of course, a great diminution of attention to matters of education. Governor Swain, with a remnant of the faculty, remained at Chapel Hill, and, with a few boys too young for service, yet retained the name and semblance of the University. Professors Hubbard, James and Charles Phillips, Hepburn, Smith, Fetter and Judge Battle were still on duty at their old posts, but Professor Martin was Colonel of the Eleventh Regiment, and almost all the students were enrolled as soldiers of the Confederate army. The sectarian colleges, male and female, were nearly all closed, and even in the common schools there was small interest manifested amid the blood and excitement of the time.

5. Many of the ablest ministers of the gospel left their churches and were faithful chaplains in the army. Great religious interest was awakened by them among the men who were so bravely battling in Virginia, and many thousands were converted and added to the churches during the revivals in the camps.

6. The recapture of Plymouth, in Washington county, on April 20th, 1864, was one of the most brilliant and successful affairs of the war. The youthful and gallant Brigadier General R. F. Hoke was sent by General Lee, in command of a division, with which he surrounded the strong fortifications and took them by assault, capturing more than three thousand prisoners. The help of the iron-clad Albemarle was very efficacious on this occasion, and her combat at the mouth of Roanoke River, a few days later, was one of the most stubborn naval engagements on record. Single-handed, Captain Cook fought and defeated a strong fleet of double-enders, and drove them, routed, from the scene. This expedition of General Hoke secured his promotion, and was in marked contrast with that of General Pickett against New Bern a few weeks before; the only incident of which, creditable to the Confederates, was General Martin's well-fought battle at Shepardsville.

7. When the spring opened, tidings came from the Wilderness of fresh battles in that region, which had been made famous the year before. General U. S. Grant had been made Commander-in- Chief of all the Federal armies, to assume the direction of affairs in Virginia. With the vast numbers at his command, he resolved upon such strategy as fell with fearful results upon his army, but it weakened the reduced ranks of the Confederates at the same time. General Grant lost more men in his march from the Rapidan to the James River than General Lee had confronting him, but it mattered not, for still fresh Federal thousands poured in to fill the places of those who fell at the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor and the minor combats. On our side, however, there were none to take the places of those who were killed.

8. In this terrible campaign, which was not ended even when General Grant began the siege of Petersburg, the North Carolina regiments were fearfully reduced. Generals Ramseur, Daniel and Godwin, together with Colonels Andrews, Garrett, Brabble, Wood, Spear, Blacknall, C. M. Avery, Jones, Barbour and Moore were among those who sealed their faith with their blood.

9. No battle of the war was more brilliant in its particulars and results than that of Reams' Station, fought on August 24th, 1864. General W. S. Hancock, of the Federal army, had seized and fortified a position, from which General Lee ordered Lieutenant-General A. P. Hill to dislodge him. So stern was Hancock's resistance that two bloody assaults had been repelled, when the privates of Cooke's, MacRae's and Lane's North Carolina brigades demanded to be led to the attack in which their comrades had failed. Their officers complied; and, with seventeen hundred and fifty muskets in the charge, they took the works and captured twenty-one hundred prisoners and thirteen pieces of artillery. *

*The North Carolina cavalry regiments were also greatly applauded by General Hampton for service on the same occasion.

10. In the steady depreciation of Confederate and State money was the greatest calamity of all. The cry of distress from famishing women and children was increasing in volume, and the State and county authorities were finding it more and more impossible to meet, by public charity, the pressing wants of their people.

11. The pay of Confederate soldiers in the ranks was $15 and $17 per month, in "Confederate money." During the latter days of the war flour sold for $800 per barrel; meat $3 per pound; chickens $15 each; shoes (brogans) $300 per pair; coffee $50 per pound; tallow candles $15 per pound. It may be easily imagined how great was the suffering in the South when it is remembered that numbers of soldiers' wives were almost entirely dependent upon the pay of their husbands for support. There were relief committees throughout the State, but the great scarcity of provisions made them almost helpless.

12. Almost all the white men in North Carolina were in the ranks of the different regiments and battalions mustered into the Confederate service. Their families were largely dependent upon the pay they received as soldiers. When the Confederate money became worthless, want and suffering appeared in every section, and unhappy wives were clamorous for their husbands' return to avert starvation at home.

13. The suffering families were ever in the minds of the dauntless men who were away facing the enemy, for a direr foe was thinning the blood and blanching the cheeks of wife and child. Therefore, many a hero turned his back on the scenes of his glory and incurred personal ignominy, and sometimes the punishment of death, for desertion.

14. The case of Edward Cooper was in point. He was tried by court-martial for desertion. He declined the aid of a lawyer to defend him, and, as his only defence, handed the presiding judge of the court the following letter, which he had received from his wife:

"My Dear Edward: I have always been proud of you, and since your connection with the Confederate army I have been prouder of you than ever before. I would not have you do anything wrong for the world, but before God, Edward, unless you come home, we must die. Last night I was aroused by little Eddie's crying. I called and said, "What is the matter, Eddie? " And he said, "O mamma, I am so hungry." And Lucy, Edward, your darling Lucy, she never complains, but she is growing thinner and thinner every day. And before God, Edward, unless you come home, we must die. YOUR MARY."

15. General Cullen Battle and his associate members of the court were melted to tears. Although the prisoner had voluntarily returned to his command, they found him guilty, and sentenced him to death, but recommended mercy. General Lee, in reviewing the case, approved the finding but pardoned the unhappy artilleryman, who was afterwards seen by General Battle, standing, pale and bloody, as he fired his last round into the retreating Federals. He then fell dead at his post in battle.

QUESTIONS.

1. What year of the war have we now reached? What is said of North Carolina's hopes?

2. What tribute is paid to General Robert E. Lee?

3. What is said of ex-Governor Bragg? What changes were made in the Confederate States Senate?

4. What is said of educational matters at this period?

5. How were the ministers of the gospel faithfully performing their duties?

6. Can you describe the capture of Plymouth by General R. F. Hoke's command?

7. Where was the principal fighting in the spring of 1864? What is said of Grant's campaign?

8. What losses had North Carolina sustained in this campaign.

9. Describe the battle of Reams' Station. What North Carolina troops captured General Hancock's position?

10. What is said of the depreciation of the Confederate currency? How was it affecting the people?

11. What was the pay of Confederate soldiers? Mention the prices of some of the necessaries of life.

12. How were the soldiers' families suffering?

13. What is said of the terrible struggle of the women and children?

14. Can you mention the case of Edward Cooper?

15. What was the verdict of the court-martial? What was the ending of this sad case?



CHAPTER LXI.

NORTH CAROLINA AND PEACE-MAKING.

A. D. 1864 TO 1865.

In 1864 Colonel Vance was re-elected Governor of North Carolina. At his first election he was personally very popular, was a soldier in the field, had been in actual battle, had been by no means a strong "Union" man in the earlier portions of the year 1861, and, indeed, in May of that year, was in camp at the head of his company. Mr. Johnston, his opponent, was a secessionist, but neither popular nor a soldier, and comparatively but little known to the mass of the people, except in his own immediate section of the State. Everybody of every shade of opinion had the fullest confidence that Colonel Vance would do his whole duty. There was no expectation that Mr. Johnston would be elected, nor any serious effort made in his behalf.

2. In his course as Governor such strenuous support was given to the Confederate States that when his term of service approached conclusion, and a new election was to be held, a few men who had been among his most zealous friends two years before, but who now opposed the determined attitude of the Confederacy and of North Carolina, were found opposing his continuance as Governor.

3. These comprised a small fragment of the people, and William W. Holden, of Wake, was their candidate, and this was all the opposition Governor Vance had. Mr. Holden was the editor of the Standard, a newspaper that had, in years past, been extreme in Southern proclivities, and he had advocated and signed the Ordinance of Secession, but of late he had advocated North Carolina's withdrawal from the Confederacy and the making of separate terms with the powers at Washington.

4. Governor Vance and the people, except the handful of Holden's followers, both in and out of the army, opposed this project as dishonorable and unjust to their compatriots of other States. They held that North Carolina's fortunes were inseparable from those of the other Southern States, and that she must share their fate, whatever that might be.

5. About this time several propositions looking to overtures to Mr. Lincoln for peace were communicated to Governor Vance from certain members of the Confederate Congress from other States, but he refused to take any part in such a scheme. He was re- elected by an overwhelming majority, after a thorough exposition of his views by many addresses both to the people at home and to the North Carolina soldiers in their camps.

6. As General Grant day-by-day massed fresh thousands of troops before Petersburg, and the Confederate resistance grew more feeble in the Shenandoah Valley, the conference which took place at Old Point Comfort was arranged to no purpose. After a mighty struggle, the South, in utter exhaustion, was soon to lay down the arms that had been so bravely wielded.

7. The importance of Wilmington to the waning fortunes of the Confederacy had long been evident in the closing of other seaports by blockade. General Whiting was an able and experienced engineer, and his main defence, Fort Fisher, on New Inlet, was pronounced by General Beauregard as almost impregnable. Forts Caswell and Holmes, at the mouth of Cape Fear River, and the numerous works fringing both banks of the stream from Wilmington to the ocean, had apparently rendered hostile approach from that direction a thing almost impossible to any naval expedition.

8. On December 25th the same General Butler who had been at the capture of Fort Hatteras in 1861, came with an army which was borne in a great fleet commanded by Admiral D. D. Porter. This vast armada, carrying six hundred of the heaviest cannon modern science has been able to construct, opened fire upon Fort Fisher.

9. The fort was reinforced by a few companies from other portions of General Whiting's command, and later, the division of General Hoke arrived from Petersburg and took position in the intrenched camp at Sugar Loaf, four miles distant up the river. General Braxton Bragg had been for some time in command of the department and was present on this occasion.

10. All day, on that Christmas Sabbath, a fiery storm of shot and shell was rained upon the fort, which answered slowly and deliberately from its different batteries. In the midst of the bombardment, General Butler landed his army on the peninsula above the land-face of the work, but upon inspection of its strength he grew hopeless of his undertaking, and on the night of December 26th, having re-embarked his force, the fleet returned to Beaufort.

1865.

11. There was much joy and relief in this evident Federal confirmation of the reported impregnability of the great work, and congratulations went around among the Confederates over this defeat of the costly undertaking of the invaders. General Bragg withdrew Hoke's Division and all the force at Sugar Loaf, except Adams' light battery and the cavalry, with the intention of attacking the garrison of New Bern.

12. He was signally interrupted in this undertaking, when, on the night of the 12th of January, 1865, Colonel William Lamb telegraphed from Fort Fisher that the fleet had returned and the troops were disembarking for a renewal of the attack. General Bragg hurried Hoke's and all other available commands back to the rescue, but found the Federal army in complete possession of the ground between the fort and intrenched camp. Upon a reconnaissance, the Enemy were found too strongly posted to be assailed.

13. The great fleet opened fire upon the land-face, and having dismounted all but one of the twenty-two heavy guns defending that flank, on the evening of the 15th, General Terry by signal, changed the fire of the fleet to the sea-face batteries. The three Federal brigades that had worked their way close up, sprang forward in a charge that resulted in the capture of seven traverses and four hundred prisoners. The assailants lost their three commanders and five hundred men. It was a fatal blow. The Federals could not be dislodged, and, after brave and unavailing combat within the works, Fort Fisher was taken; and its garrison, numbering two thousand men, became prisoners of war. General Whiting and Colonel Lamb were both badly wounded, and the former soon died of his injuries.

QUESTIONS.

1. What is said of the re-election of Governor Vance in 1864?

2. What course had Governor Vance pursued? What is said of the approaching election?

3. Who was Governor Vance's opponent? What measures were being advocated by Mr. Holden and his followers?

4. How did Governor Vance and the people consider these measures?

5. What proposition had certain members of the Confederate Congress communicated to Governor Vance, and how had he received them? What was the result of the election?

6. Where was General Grant placing fresh troops? What was the result?

7. What is said of Wilmington and its defences?

8. What occurred on December 25th, 1864?

9. Describe the attack on Fort Fisher.

10. What was the conclusion of the attack?

11 How did the state receive the news of this Federal failure? What forces were removed from Fort Fisher?

12. Describe the preparations for renewal of attack on January 12th.

13. Give an account of the engagement. What was the sad result?



CHAPTER LXII.

THE WAR DRAWS TO A CLOSE.

A. D. 1865.

1. With the fall of Fort Fisher the fate of Wilmington was sealed. With the Federal troops in such a position the port was most effectually closed. The last connection of the beleaguered Confederacy with the outer world was thus broken, and North Carolina, with beating heart, listened to the approaching footsteps of countless invaders. General Lee, who had been made General-in-Chief of all the Southern armies, selected General Joseph E. Johnston to command in North Carolina.

2. General Bragg's forces having retired from Wilmington, met the corps of Major-General Schofield in an ineffectual engagement at Kinston on March 8th, and retired upon Goldsboro. This command, with the troops lately in Charleston and Savannah, the remnant of the Army of Tennessee and Hampton's Division from Virginia, soon made an army of twenty-five thousand men, under the command of General Johnston.

3. Against him were coming, from South Carolina, the great army under General W. T. Sherman; from Wilmington, the corps of General Terry, and from Kinston, the army of General Schofield. In addition to these overwhelming forces, another column was approaching from the west, under General Stoneman.

4. As this great array gathered toward Raleigh as a common focus, the first conflict was between the division commanded by General Hardee and the army of General Sherman at the hamlet of Averasboro. After a stubborn fight, Hardee withdrew, and, having joined General Johnston, the latter collected fifteen thousand men at Bentonsville, in Johnston county, on March 19th, and awaited Sherman's approach.

5. General Sherman, on that day, made six successive attacks upon Johnston's left, composed of Hoke's and Cheatham's divisions and the late garrisons on the Cape Fear. The Federal assaults were all repelled, and, at the order for our troops to advance, three lines of the enemy's field works were carried and several batteries captured. This success, however, was not bloodlessly effected.

6. General Sherman withdrew to Goldsboro to meet Schofield and Terry, and Johnston halted near Smithfield to await developments. With such a force it seemed impossible that he would be able to meet the combined strength of the three, armies assembling at Goldsboro, but the result at Bentonsville had greatly elated his troops, and they resolutely awaited General Sherman's return to the shock of arms.

7. After so much bloodshed the end of hostilities, however, was near at hand. General Sheridan, with heavy cavalry reinforcements, having assailed the right flank of General Lee's defences at Petersburg, after hard fighting, succeeded in winning a decisive battle at Five Forks on the 28th of March. The loss, of the six thousand Confederates made prisoners on that day was fatal to longer hold on the thinly-manned lines around the city that had been so long and nobly defended.

8. On the morning of the 2nd of April, in the general assault, General Lee's lines were pierced in three places, General A. P. Hill was slain, and, at nightfall the doomed Army of Northern Virginia began its famous retreat. After incredible hardships, having fought their way to Appomattox Court House, the small remnant of the heroes who had for four years so dauntlessly held their ground against all comers, were enveloped in the masses of pursuing hosts, and, on April 9th, at the command of their beloved leader, they there laid down their arms.

9. General Lee was never greater or more loved or more reverenced thanin the hour of his fall. He had not taken part in the struggle to gratify ambition or for love of war; but in the conscientious discharge of sacred duty. Into that struggle North Carolina had sent more than a hundred and fifty thousand of her sons, and to them all he was ever the ideal of the soldier, the gentleman and the Christian. At his command they laid down their arms, returned to their homes and in time renewed their allegiance to the United States.

QUESTIONS.

1. What was the effect of the fall of Fort Fisher?

2. What occurred at Kinston? What was the size of General Johnston's army?

3. What great forces were marching against Johnston?

4. Where was the first conflict between these armies? When was the battle of Bentonsville fought? Point out Averasboro on the map. Bentonsville.

5. Can you tell something of the fight at Bentonsville? What was done by the Federal and Confederate commanders after this battle?

6. What occurred at Petersburg?

7. How did the battle result?

8. What took place at Appomattox?

9. What is said of the great General Lee?



CHAPTER LXIII.

CONCLUDING SCENES OF THE WAR.

A. D. 1865.

When General Johnston became aware of General Lee's retreat, he was informed that his next duty would be to effect a junction of his forces with those withdrawn from Petersburg. In accordance with this object a movement was begun at Raleigh, April 10th. The army, Governor Vance accompanying it, having passed the capital, ex-Governors Graham and Swain, accompanied by Surgeon-General Warren, met General Sherman at the head of his vast army a few miles from Raleigh and asked him to protect the city.

2. General Sherman and his accumulated army of more than a hundred thousand men entered the capital city on April 13th, and encamped near it. As the advance, under General Kilpatrick, moved up Fayetteville street, a Confederate cavalryman, Lieutenant Walsh, of Texas, before his flight, halted near the State House and fired several times at Kilpatrick and his staff. His horse falling in his effort to escape, he was captured and taken before Kilpatrick, who ordered him to be immediately hanged. This outrageous order for the murder of a Confederate prisoner of war was speedily obeyed.

3. General Johnston was soon apprised of General Lee's capitulation, and, after conference with President Davis at Greensboro, he resolved to end the war by surrender of his army. To this end, having communicated with General Sherman, they met on April 18th, at the house of a Mr. Bennett, near Durham, and agreed upon conditions of surrender, subject to the approval of President Lincoln. Most unhappily for the Southern people, Mr. Lincoln never had an opportunity to express his opinion concerning this military convention; for he having just been assassinated at Washington by John Wilkes Booth. Andrew Johnson, the Vice-President, had become President in his place.

4. Mr. Johnson was a North Carolinian by birth. He had lived in Raleigh until be reached manhood and then emigrated to Tennessee, where he became a very prominent citizen. When the war came on he adhered to the Federal side, and was very bitter and harsh, in his hostility to the South. He was rewarded for his course by election to the Vice-Presidency of the United States in 1864. In the violent excitement which followed upon the killing of President Lincoln, Mr. Johnson would not sanction the liberal terms of surrender which General Sherman had granted to General Johnston, although General Sherman had been in conference with the deceased statesman just previous to his death, and was following his directions as to the treatment of the conquered South.

5. Notwithstanding this refusal of the President of the United States to carry out the agreement of the military commissioners, the army of General Johnston was surrendered at Greensboro on April 26th, 1865, and sent home on parole on like terms with the Confederate troops at Appomattox.

6. General Schofield was made military Governor of North Carolina, and his first official act was a proclamation declaring freedom to the slaves in the State. After two centuries of servitude, these people were at last delivered from their bondage. It is difficult at this day to say who were the more blessed in this deliverance—the slaves or their masters.

7. It was a hard thing for men who had been reared in the South to realize that their principal property, guaranteed to them as it was, in the fundamental law of the land, was founded in injustice; and still harder was it to accept poverty on the strength of a sentiment. Human nature is selfish in all regions, and, that Southern men should have clung to their property is no more than what their opponents would have done had the circumstances been exchanged. It will be difficult for posterity to understand what a mighty revolution in the domestic life of the people was involved in this single act of an army officer.

[NOTE—In the State election of 1860 the total vote polled was 112,586—the largest that had ever been polled. North Carolina furnished to the Confederacy over 150,000 men, or quite as many soldiers as she had voters, during the four years of the war. The total number of troops furnished by all the States of the Confederacy was about 600,000, and it will be seen that North Carolina furnished one-fourth of the entire force raised by the Confederate government during the war. At Appomattox North Carolina surrendered twice as many muskets as did any other State, and at Greensboro more of her soldiers were among the paroled than from any of her sister States. North Carolina's losses by the casualties of the war were largely over 30,000 men —Our Living and Our Dead.]

8. The slaves had been looking forward with hope, since the beginning of the war, that freedom might be in store for them, yet almost all of them had remained in quiet subjection at their homes while the war was progressing. It seemed hard for them to realize, for some time, that they were at last the masters of their own movements. As a general thing, they continued quietly at labor on the farms of their former owners until the crops that were growing were complete in their tillage, or, as they expressed it, "laid by."

9. Governor Vance was soon arrested and imprisoned in the "old capitol" at Washington. President Davis was also captured and imprisoned. Mr. Johnson appointed Vance's late political antagonist, W. W. Holden, Provisional Governor, and, at the same time, removed from office every State and county official in North Carolina. For some weeks no officer with civil powers was to be seen, and to the commanders of the many Federal posts alone could the peaceful have looked for protection against violence and fraud.

10. No man ever had so great an opportunity for fixing himself in the esteem and affection of the people as Governor Holden had during his administration as Provisional Governor, and no man ever so completely threw golden opportunities away. Had he risen to the full height of a patriot, his name would today be a loving household word in every section of the State. But he did not, and such opportunities rarely occur twice to any man.

11. His career had not been an uneventful one. Of humble origin, he had, by dint of his own work and his own brains, carried himself to the control of the Democratic party in the State. He was not satisfied with the position of the editor of the chief organ of the dominant party, and the pecuniary profits that then resulted from such a position, but desired to be made Governor of the State. He was defeated for the nomination by Judge Ellis before the Democratic State Convention at Charlotte, and from that period dates his downward career. He advocated the Douglas movement, and then supported Breckinridge and Lane. He voted for and signed the Ordinance of Secession, declaring he intended to preserve as an heirloom in his family the pen with which he attached his name to the ordinance; and then he became the head and front of the Union element in the State during the war. At the close of the war, as we have seen, he was made Provisional Governor by President Johnson.

12. No man knew better than Governor Holden that on our side the war was entirely at an end when the troops laid down their arms, and that when the people of North Carolina renewed their allegiance to the Federal government, they intended to stand to it honestly and faithfully. None better than he knew that they desired nothing so much as to set themselves to the task of rebuilding their fallen fortunes. He knew, too, that they were well aware that before this could be done, civil government, with all its varied machinery, must be re-established, and that in all that was right and proper for a people so situated, they were ready to aid him in doing this. The returned soldiers, too, especially felt that of them some recognition was due for the honorable terms and respectful treatment accorded to them at Appomattox and Greensboro.

13. In such mood it would have been an easy task for a ruler who was both patriot and statesman to re-establish Federal authority in North Carolina. It was simply impossible to punish all who had fought against the Federal government. It was quite as impossible to expect the many who had fought against it to take part in punishing the few. Amnesty and oblivion on one side, renewed allegiance and strict observer of the laws on the other, plainly constituted the true solution of the problem. Unfortunately, the partisan prevailed over the patriot. Instead of granting amnesty and oblivion, treason was to be made odious and traitors to be punished. Instead of making the path easy back to the Union, it was constantly blocked up in every possible way by both State and Federal authority. Of course an era of bitterness began, which the long imprisonment of Mr. Davis, the judicial murders of Mrs Surratt and Henry Wirz, the protracted exclusion of the Southern States from all participation in the general government, and the harsh policy of reconstruction, daily served to intensify.

QUESTIONS.

1. What movement did General Johnston attempt after the surrender of General Lee? What men met General Sherman's army in behalf of the city of Raleigh?

2. When did Sherman's army reach Raleigh? What event is mentioned?

3. What was done by Johnston after learning of Lee's surrender? What occurred at Washington City?

4. What is said of President Andrew Johnson? How did he act concerning Johnston's surrender?

5. When and where did General Johnston surrender?

6. Who became military Governor of North Carolina? What was his first official act? What is said of the freedom of the slaves?

7. How is the question of slavery further considered?

8. How had the slaves acted during the war? How did they receive the news of freedom?

9. What befell Governor Vance? To what office was W. W. Holden appointed? What was the condition of civil affairs in North Carolina?

10. What is said of Governor Holden?

11. Can you tell something of his life?

12. How should Governor Holden have viewed the situation?

13. What would have been the proper course to pursue towards North Carolina?



CHAPTER LXIV.

REFITTING THE WRECK.

A. D. 1865 TO 1867.

1. When the bulk of the vast armies that had effected the overthrow of the Confederacy was marched northward and disbanded, the full extent of the ruin that had been wrought was at last realized. So many Federal troops had been collected in North Carolina that their subsistence and depredations had consumed nearly all the food in the State, and the utmost scarcity was disclosed in broad districts contiguous to the line of march and occupation by General Sherman's great armies.

2. Grief for the ruined South, the desolated homes and slain kinsmen was further supplemented by the pangs of want and hunger. Famishing men and women were forced to solicit rations of the Federal officers. Aid was given generally to needy applicants, upon their taking the oath of allegiance to the United States.

3. In the liberation of the slaves ruin was brought upon the banks and other fiscal corporations of the State, and, as a consequence, the endowments of the University and the colleges were, to a great extent, forever lost. Even the large Literary Fund, by which the whole system of common schools was sustained, being invested in similar securities, also disappeared in the general bankruptcy.

4. When the Provisional Governor had entered upon the discharge of his official duties, North Carolina was reduced to a small supply of cotton as the sum of her available means to discharge the current expenses of the new government, and even that was seized by the agents of the United States, and to Governor Holden's appeals for its release, the Secretary of the Treasury and President Johnson proved deaf and inexorable.

5. Judges Pearson and Battle were re-instated in their places of Supreme Court Justices, but Judge M. E. Manly was replaced by Edwin G. Reade, of Person. By orders from Washington, a proclamation was issued for an election of a Convention to restore the State to its former relations. This body met October 2nd, 1865, and selected Judge Reade as its president. Ordinances were passed repealing and declaring null and void the secession ordinances of May 20th, 1861, abolishing slavery and invalidating all contracts made in furtherance of the late war.

1866.

6. In the same election, Jonathan Worth, of Randolph, was chosen over Governor Holden as Chief-Magistrate. The State was apparently resuming its self-government, and was soon to show that some spirit was left in the people. They refused to ratify the ordinances of the late Convention by a decided majority; and while accepting the situation and submitting in all quietude to the authorities imposed, they were yet resolved to take no part in these constrained reformations.

7. The general government had been for four years declaring the Ordinances of Secession, passed by the several States, null and void. It had been repeatedly announced that no State could thus sever her connection with the Union; but when the legally elected Senators and Representatives from North Carolina reached Washington, they found that this doctrine was reversed, and were told that they could not take part in national legislation until Congress should restore the Southern States to their lost privileges.

8. In the Southern elections that were held, every man was required to take oaths of allegiance and for the support of the amended Federal Constitution. Some refused to attend the polls and a few left the country for foreign lands. A vast majority were resolved to support the Union in good faith, but, unhappily, this was not so understood by the men who controlled at Raleigh and Washington. They were impressed with the belief that only hostile sentiments actuated Southern white men, and, therefore, the proper policy was to confer political power upon the negroes, and in that way establish a new system of rule and social life in the Southern States lately in revolt.

1867.

9. This was a great and cruel mistake in policy. It was not only impossible of execution, but necessarily entailed trouble and suffering on both races thus put in antagonism. It could not be expected that white people would quietly submit to the domination of negroes who had so recently been their slaves, even if such rulers had been equally intelligent and socially respected. When the race feeling was added to the late subjection and present ignorance of the negroes, it was the most futile and abortive scheme ever proposed in America, and was at war with all the precedents and spirit of the great Republic.

QUESTIONS.

1. What was the condition of the State after the departure of Federal troops?

2. How were the people enduring mental and bodily suffering?

3. What had become of the various educational funds?