Class _F'2l^J1/ Book XT. ^7 GoEyiiglrtB?-- . COEmiGHT DEPOSm TALES AND TRADITIONS OF THE 1 JL i D -I H -( 1661-1896. By JAMES SPRUNT, Entered according to Act of Congress in the year of i8g6, by James Sprunt, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. WILMINGTON, N. C. LeGwin Brothers, Printers, 1896. TO THE MEMORY OF GEORGE DAVIS, WHO, EVER UPHOLDING THE HONOR OF HIS NATIVE LAND, MODESTLY EXEMPLIFIED IN HIS LONG, EVENTFUL LIFE AND STAINLESS REPUTATION, THE IDEAL PATRIOT, JURIST, STATESMAN ; AND ABOVE ALL, THE NOBLE CHRISTIAN GENTLEMAN, THIS HUMBLE RECORD OF HIS BELOVED CAPE FEAR IS AFFECTIONATELY AND REVERENTLY INSCRIBED. o J) J PREFACE. T^HIS little guide book, prepared perhaps too hastily, *- was undertakea six weeks ago as a compliment to Captain John W. Harper, of the Steamer "Wilmington," by one who treasures the memories of the Lower Cape Fear, and who has tried to catch the vanishing lines of its history and traditions for the benefit of those who may not be unmindful of the annals of a brave and generous people. Wilmington, N. C, 1st May, 1896. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Pagf; The Southport Steamer 9 The First Steamboat on Cape Fear River 12 Settlement of Wilmington 15 Sanitary 16 Cape Fear Steamboats 18 Negro Head Point 20 Hilton Park 23 Market Dock and Ferry 24 Colonial Governor's Residence 28 Confederate States Cotton Press 30 Historic Mansion 31 United States Monitor Nantucket 32 Old Ship Yard 33 The Dram Tree 35 Hospital Point 36 Brunswick River, Mallory Creek and Clarendon Plantation 38 Old Town Settlement 38 Big Island 39 Rice Birds 39 First Navigators of the Cape Fear — King Watcoosa and his Daughters 40 Cushing's Exploits 43 Cushing's Daring Visit to Fort Anderson 46 Carolina Beach 48 Gander Hall 49 Sedgeley Abbey 50 First White Settlement 52 TABLE OF CONTENTS— CONTINUED PAGE. Cape Fear Indians e^ Lilliput ^ c Kendal eg Orton 5j __ Colonial Governor Tryon's Palace—Scene of the First Outbreak of the Revolutionary War 5y Ruins of Brunswick y2 Ruins of St. Philip's Church 73 Colonial Ferry and Inn 75 Confederate Fortifications -j-j Fort Anderson -,8 A Colonial Fort 3q Fort Fisher __ g^ Description of Situation _ go Land Face of Fort Fisher g5 Sea Face of Fort Fisher gg The Fort Fisher Fight- oo Craig's Landing q^ The Heroine of Confederate Point oS 107 Butler's Powder Ship The Rocks— Closure of the Inlet log Battery Lamb— Confederate Salt Works m Snow Marsh— Dredging Steamer "Cape Fear", 112 Price's Creek Lighthouse Confederate States Signal Station 114 Wilmington and Charleston Mail Boats Cape Fear Quarantine Station Southport— Governor Smith— Cape Fear Pilots Bald Head Pirates Fort Caswell Evacuation and Explosion of Fort Caswell War Department Records— Forts Johnston and Caswell Fort Johnston, North Carolina 117 119 122 125 12S 131 134 135 TABLE OF CONTENTS— CONCLUDED. PAGE. Wild Pigeons — Wreck of Spanish Ship — Probable Murder — Treasure Trove 140 Life Savers I43 A Run to Sea i44 Captain Fry and the Cuban War i45 Cape Fear Privateers in the War of 1812 and 1S61 154 Blockade Runners 162 Maffitt's Experience 166 Blockade Runner "Don" 184 Pilots in a Storm 205 Homeward Round 213 Advertisements i to lxii '^^f^^^' The Southport Steamer. ^Ji^HK steniuer '' AN'ilmiiiiiton " Is a model of nmiiiie nrc'hitecture, combining' spacions and comfortable ])as- senger accommodations with the greatest speed attained by steam craft on the Cape Fear river. Her clean decks and tidy saloons afford the bracing outside air, or the restful seclusion which invites repose. Ttie daily run to and from 8oTitliiX)rt is made in two hours, including all river landings ; and tlie object of this little book is to interest and amuse the traveller by a concise description of Wilmington business enterprise and local scener^^ contrasting the record of the present busy age with the history and traditions of long ago. As we approach the gangway of this stately steamer. We are impressed with the quiet of the scene. We miss, most gratefully, the noisy roar of es(;aping steam, the confusing shouts, the imprecations and jostlings of the professional baggage-smasher, and all the other dis- tasteful and offensive features of former days. We are promptly met by the Commander and owner, a dignified, stalwart specimen of the American sailor and gentleman, who receives us conrteously, and who welcomes ns with 10 miniistakable corcllality. His name is John SV . Harper, and lie is said to be the favorite skipper of North Caro- lina. When yon have made the ronnd trip in his charge yon will not donbt his title to that honorable distinction. A snccessfnl steamboat captain shonld be competent^ cool, cantions, patient, polite and amiable to the last degree ; with an infinite reserve stock of never failing good hnmor. These attributes are possessed by Captain Harper, to an nnnsnal extent, wdiicli combined with a large exjjerience, inspire confidence and in- sure safety. He has been running boats u}) and down the river for twenty- two years, and he has niade^ during that time, more than thirteen tliousand trips between Wilmington and Southport- — equal to fifteen trips around the world. He was the pioneer of the regular summer excursions to the Cape Fear seacoast^ by which thousands of weary people and sick babies from the uj) country and the city, oppressed with mid- summer heat, have been refreshed and strengthened by ocean breezes and salt water at a nominal expense. Ifc is a nuitter of fact that salt sea air will often do more good to a sick, puny child than any of the med- ical remedies in the pharmacopoeia. Many anxious,, worn-out mothers^ have had reason to bless Captain Harper as the means under Providence of restoring to' health their sick or feeble little ones. A beloved 11 physician lias often said that daily tiips Troni Wilming- ton to Southx)ort are even more beneficial to si(dv childi-en than a residence on the seashore. The gliding motion of the boat soothes them, the clear, fresh air of the river invigorates and strengthens them, and the entire freedom from dnst and grime which is so disagreeable and liuit- ful on railroad jonrneys brings gratefnl sensations of cleanliness and comfort to young and (dd alike. "How happy they Who from the toil and tumult of their lives Steal to look down where naueht but oceiin .stiive.s." ^ 12 ■^\i-,^:t':.^Sr>?t?»-cn' The First Steamboat on the Cape Fear River. i^ET lis coiitrast tlie swifl steamer Wilminiiton with the lidiruloiis example of former days — let us turn back for three-quarters of a century, when the tow^n of Wilming- ton contained only a tenth of its present population, and I'Hcall an incident, related to the writer b}^ our ven- erable townsman. Col. J. G. Burr, which created the 1 '> lo greatest excitement at the time, and whicli was the occasion of the wihlest exuberance of feeling among the usually staid inhabitants of the town — the arrival of the first steamboat in the Cape Fear River. A joint stock com])any had been formed for the purpose of having one built to })ly between Wilmington and Smith- ville or Wilmington and Payetteville. Captain Otway Burns, of Privateer "Snap Dragon" fame, during the war of 1812, was the contractor. The boat was built at Beaufort, where he resided. When the company was informed that the steamer was finished and ready for delivery, they despatched Captain Thomas N. Gautier, an old sea captain, and a wx)rthy citizen of the town, to take command and bring her to her destined port. Expectations were on tiptoe after the departure of the Captain ; a feverish excitement existed in the commu- nity, which daily increased, as nothing was heard from him for a time, owang to the irregularity of the mails ; l)ut early one morning this anxiety broke into the wildest enthusiasm wdien it was announced that the "Prometheus" was in the river and had turned the Dram Tree. Bells were rung, cannon fired, and the entire population, witliout regard to age, sex or color, thron£:ed the wharves to welcome her arrival. The tide was at the ebb, and the struggle between the advancing steamer and tlie lierce current was a desjjerate one; for u she panted fearfully, as tlion^b wind-blown and ex- hausted ; she could be seen in the distance, enveloped in smoke, and the scream of her high pressure engine reverberated through the woods, while she slowl}^ but surely crept along. As she neared Market Dock, where the steamer Wilmington is at present moored, the old Captain, gorgeously arrayed in brilliant uniform, with cocked hat and epaulettes, made his appearance near the engine room, in full view of the excited crowd, and applying his sx^eaking-trumpet, his symbol of authority, to his lips, bellowed to the engineer below, in a voice that sounded like the roar of some hoarse monster of the deep : " Give it to her, Snyder" ; and while Snyder gave her all the steam she could bear, the laboring "Prometheus" snorted by amid the cheers of the excited multirude. In those days the river traffic was sustained by sailing slooj)s and small schooners, with limited passenger accommodations and less comfort. The schedule time to Smith ville (now called Southport), was four hours, wind and weather })ermitting, and the fare was one dollar each way. 15 Settlement of VViSmin^ton. ^BorT tlie year 1780, some five years after the town of Brunswick was established foizrteen miles h)wer down the rivei', a few settlers built their humble habitations on a bluff in the midst of the primeval forest now known as Dirkinson Hill, nearly opposite the junction of the Northeast and Northwest branches of the Cape Fear rivei', which was then known as the Clarendon river. Their i)ui'p()se was to hnd a safer harbor than the exposed roadstead of Brunswick, and to secure a larger share of the river ti'afiic from the up country, which was then very profitable. In a few months this hamlet increased to the propor- tion of a small village, withont order or regularity, which was named New Liverpool. In 1733 it was surveyed into town lots, althongh the inhabitants had no legal right to the land. In the same year John Watson obtained a Royal grant of 640 acres of land on the East side of the Northeast branch of the river called the Cape Fear, in which was inclnded the site of the village or town called New Liverpool, but latterly known as Newton. In 1739, through the influence of the Colonial Gov- ernor, Gabriel Johnston, the name was again changed to IB Wilmington, in honor of Spencer Conipton, Bnroll Wilmington, an intiuential English friend of the Gov- ernor. In 17()() King George 11. made the town a borough, with the right of sending a member to the Assembly. Arthnr Dobbs was then the Royal Governor, and he lived at Rnsselboro, which is now a part of Orton plantation. In 1763, George III. being King, additional rights were granted by the Crown, the corporate title being made "The Mayo]', Recorder and Aldermen of the Borongh of Wilmington.'' In 1776 the corporate name was changed to that of "The Commissioners of the Town of Wilmington"; and this name was continued for one hundred years. The present corporate name, '' The City of Wilmington," was acquired in the year 1866. Sanitary* Aktificial drainage has in recent years carried the storm water from the city into the tributary streams of the Cape Fear, and if maintained in proper condition, is well designed to effectually drain a large area which was formerly the most -unhealthy quarter of the settle^ 17 ment. As a result malarial fever lias greatly deerensed in the last twenty years, and it may be truly Naid, although stigmatized forty years ago as the sailor's grave, and shunned by the people of the up country as an unsafe place in which to tarry all night during tlie summer and autumn, it has become exceptionally healthy. As an evidence of this, the death-rate for several years past has been much smaller than in the surioiinding country; and compares favorably with the most favored towns of its size on the Atlantic coast — the annual death- rate being about seventeen to tlif* thousand. Drainage has not, and cannot, it is true, alter the malarial inlluence upon crews of vessels sleeping on the river in the months of July, August, September a.nd October, This standing menace to the prospeiity of oui- shipping, as evidenced by the scarcity of tonnage during these months, has been seriously considered for many years, and a remedy actually devised. The difficulty has been to impress the lesson of prevention, leained at such a cost, upon the interested parties. The State Board of Health has done much towards in<'uhating Important advice upon the subject. For many years it has been known, as well by the people as by the doctors, that the fevers occurring among the vessels in our tide- water streams were preventable in a marked degree. 18 Observaficns exteiidiii<2,' over a space of time marked by four or live generations demonstrated that the cause of sickness among sailors was due very Uirgely to sleeping: on boju'd of vessels in the Cape Fear river particularly. This fact was so Mrmly established in the ojnnion of merchants in Wilmington, that 120,000 was subscribed to build a hf)me for seamen, in which they might Mnd a safe iHtreat from the effluvia of the river^ and what is> not exactly pertinent to the present subject,, to escape- also the abominable effluvia of low sailor lodgings. In this building ample provision was made for more sailors than ever visit the port of Wilmington at one time^ and l)y tht- Christian benevolence of Capt, Gilbert Potter^ one of the oldest citizens of ouj* city, who had himself been a sea-captain,, a house of worship^ sui)plied by the yearly ministrations of a preacher, was provided, to throw ajouud these ''toilers of the sea'- a beneiicent ill tin en ce.. Cape Fear Steamboats. _____ - ■ ■ ^ ^ ^Et onE railroads were so numerous and the means of transportation limited, the Cape Fear River Steamboat Company enjoyed a large share of public patronage. 'I he merchandise for the merchants of Western North Caiolina, East Tennessee and poitionsof South Carolina., 11) ireorgici and Virginia was brought to this port by vessels, ti'ansf erred to the river boats to Fayetteville, and then forwarded to destination b}^ the slow, tedious and expen- sive means of transportation by wagons. Paj^erteville in those days \vas a place of as much business and im- portance in a commercial point of view as any inland town in the country, and every citizen in the phice took pride in seeing the jjlace flourish and x)rosper. The merchants built steamboats and plank-roads, and in this way fostered the trade which from the position at the head of navigation w^as a natural outlet. But as soon as the railroad became the grand artery to receive and disperse everything as public and private interest directed, the river traffic decreased, and with its decline the plank-roads ceased to be profitable, and there was almost a total disappearance of the white-covered cara- vans that x)li<^t^ between the mountains and the Cape Fear country. The Worths, Lutterlohs, Orrells and others had regu- lar fleets on the Caj^e Fear. We now recall the steamers Rowan, Henrietta, Chatham, Gov. Graham, Flora Mc- Donald, A, P. Hurt and Gov. AVorth, commanded by captains Roderick McRae, A. P. Hurt, Sam Skinnei', A. H. Worth ; the steamers Brothers, James R. Giist, Douglass, J. T, Petteway and Scottish Cliief, all of whieh boats w^ere at times under tlie conimand but she came back loaded with salt. The com- 34 mander was Captain Hiintinoton, already in middle life at the time of the ship's first voyage. His son after- wards married Miss Brown of this place. Long afterwards, while the "Eliza and Susan" was engaged m the whaling trade of the Pacific, Captain Thomas F. Peck, who had gone from Wilmington to the land of gold with the " forty-niners," saw the familiar Wilmington ship at anchor in San Francisco bay. He was subsequently inyited on board and served with a glass of Cape Fear river water, then highly esteemed as pure and wholesome, which had been kept m one of the reserve tanks for more than twenty years. At right angles with the river and parallel with Queen street Mr. McHhenny cut a canal; at the head of this canal the ship was built. In launching her she stuck m the mud, and Colonel Mcllhenny remembers as a boy seeing his father fume most vigorously about- It. There were on the river about that time the •' Enterprise," the " Spray," the "John Walker" and the "Henrietta." Mr. Mcllhenny and Governor Dudley owned the " Enterprise," which was a very small boat and was used by them for towing the rice flats from' the different plantations. They lengthened her first- ten or twelve feet, then afterwards gave her an addi- 35 tional length cuid ran her as a passenger boat from Wihnington to Smithville. The "Spray" ran about 1853 or 1854, and was the fastest of them all. She was shaped something like a barrel, hooped up on the sides. She was the favorite steamboat plying between Wilmington and Smithville a few years before the war. Mr. Mcllhenny was awarded a contract by the Gov- ernment to furnish timber for building the United States man-of-war "Pennsylvania." No large ships were built here subsequently. Mr. B. W. Beery built some schooners and pilot boats, and afterwards Mr. Cassidy established the ship-yard now conducted by Captain S. W, Skinner, the only ,ship-yard in Wilminoton. The Dram Tree. i^ooKiNG ahead to the farthest point in view, we dis- tinguish an object, the passing of which was signalized in "ye olden time" by the popping of corks or by other demonstration of a convivial nature. It is an old cypress tree, moss -covered and battered by the storms of centuries. Like a grim sentinel, it stands to warn the out-going mariner that his voyage has begun, 36 mul to welconio the i„-co,ning stor.n-tossed sailor to he q-et harbor beyond. It. na.ne is si,„ifieant t I.S called the Dran, Tree, and :t has borne this name for more han a hundred years. For further particulars see Captain Harper. Hospital Point. rovis,o„ „p to that time had been made. Subscriptions were raised, a society formed, and the Mount Tirzah 37 ])roperty of 1^0 ncres and several houses standing thereon purchased from (Tovernor E. B. Dudley for one thousand dollars. The lU'incipal bnilding, a house of two stories, was converted into a hospital and managed by the Marine Hospital Society until April 24th, 1855, when this property and the other assets of the Society were trans- ferred to the Seamen's Friend Society, which undertook to carry on the work in conjunction with its own benevo- lent enterprise in the port of Wilmington. Later on the United States Grovernment established in the South- eastern part of the town a line marine hospital, which i:>rovided greatly imjjroved quarters and treatment for sick seamen, and which is now one of the most interest- ing features of the port of Wilmino'ton. The Mount Tirzah property is occasionally used by the City Grovernment for the isolation and treatment of cases of infectious diseases. ^^ 38 Brunswick River— Mallory Creek- Clarendon Plantation. ©N the West side is the mouth of Brunswick River, still partly obstructed by Confederate torpedoes. Mallory Creek is some distance lower down. Near it is "Clarendon," a fine rice plantation, originally owned by Marsden Campbell and afterwards tlie property of William Watters, Esq., a Cax)e Fear gentleman of the Old School, and a planter of large experience. It is now owned by Messrs. Fred Kidder and H. Walters. Old Town Settlement. iiPASSiNG Barnard's Creek on the East side, near whi(di in the olden time were several valuable plantations, we come to Town Creek, where 800 colonists from Barba- does, led by Sir John Yeamans, built a town in the year 1665 and called it Charlestown in honor of the reigning sovereign of England, King Charles 11. Sir John had been a loyal adherent of the deposed King, and was rewarded upon the Restoration with the order of Knighthood and a royal grant of lands in Carolina. He is said to have been the lirst Biitish (hivi'vuor of (Jlarendon, winch extended original!}^ from Albemarle to St. Augustine, Florida. The settlement did not prosx^er. In a few years the colonists aban- doned it and removed, some to Charleston^ S. C, others to Albemarle, in the North. Not a white man remained, and the river land continued in possession of the Indians for many years after. Big Island -Rice Birds. ^BoDT a mile below Old Town is Big Island, a tract of nearly 300 acres of rich alluvial soil, which the first voyagers to the Cape Fear in 1668 named Crane Island^ and which is charted by the United States Coast Survey as Campbell^ s Island. It was formerly a light-house station, but the light was discontinued during the late war and a battery erected in its place. There is a fortune in this island waiting for some enterprising truck farmer^ as the State Geologist says it contains some of the richest lands in the South, that will never need fertilizing. Millions of fat rice birds roost here at night after prey- ing upon the milky rice of the neighboring plantations during the day, It is estimated that these toothsome little pests devour 25 per cent, of all the rice made on 40 the Cape Fear. They appear every Fall together iVn the same day and depart during a single night when the rice gets too hard for them. The planters have never been able to protect their crops from the yearly ravages of these birds. Although a gang of boys and men are kept firing guns at them all day, a very small proportion of the immense droves is killed. For a dainty supper, a fat rice bird is perhaps the most delicious morsel that, ever tickled the palate of an epicure. First Navigators of the Cape Fear- King Watcoosa and His Daughters. ^itE first reference made in history to Big Island is in the report of the Commissioners sent from Barbadoe^ in October, 1663^ to explore the river Cape Fear. After describing the voyage to the Cape, they say thaC the channel is on the East side by the Cape shore, and that it lies close aboard the Cape land, being 18 feet at high water in the shallowest place in the channel, just at the entrance, but that as soon as this shallow place iB passed, a half cable length inward, thirty and thirty^ five feet water is found, which continues that depth for twenty-one miles, when the river becomes shallower 41 until there is only twenty-feet depth running down to ten feet (where Wilmington now stands). These bold voyagers brought their vessel some dis- tance higher than Wilmington, and were much pleased with the land on the main river above Point Petre. They found many Indians living on their plantations of corn, which were also well stocked with fat cattle and hogs stolen from ihe Massachusetts settlers of 1660 on the Cape opposite Orton Point. Game was very abundant, and fish was also plentiful- During an expe- dition higher up in a small boat, they killed four swan, ten geese, ten turkeys, forty ducks, thirty-six paraquitos and seventy plover. They were attacked by Indians once; a display of tire-arms afterwards compelled the peaceful recognition of the natives. And when the ship reached Crane Island (now Big Island) on the return, Sunday, 29th November, 1663, they met the first ruler of the ^'Cape Fear Country," the Indian Chief Watcoosa, who sold the river and land to the Barbadians, Anthony Long, William Hilton and Peter Fabian. A ludicrous incident which the virtuous Barbadians took very seriously occurred during their negotiations. The King, Watcoosa, accompanied by forty lusty war- riors, made a long speech to them, which, although unintelligible to the white men, was undoubtedly of a 42 peaceful nature, as he indicated by pantomime tliat he would cut off the heads of any of his peoj)le who attempted to injure them, and in testimony of Ms good- will, at the conclusion of his discour&e he presented to the Barbadian Captain two very handsome and proper young Indian women^ whom the voyagers were given to understand were the King's daughters. These guileless maidens of the Gape Fear, whom Hilton describes as the tallest and most beautiful women he ever saw, were not at all shy, but forced their way into the white men's boat and refused to leave it. Captain Hilton probably had a wife at home,, and the thought of presenting these two beautiful girls in their native costume to his better half in Barbadoes must have appalled the stout-hearted explorer w^ho had already faced so many lesser dangers^ He loaded them wath i3resents; he gallantly entreated them to call again, but they laughingly shook their heads, and pointing to the ship, indicated their purpose* to remain with him for better for worse. What was the poor man to do ? Worse still, thought the Captain, what will Mrs. Hilton do f He met the emergency as- little George Washington did not do. He presented ta the father a little hatchet, and fee told him a lie. He' promised to take the girls aboard in four days; but. aias! their nani'es do not appear later in the passenger- 43 list for the homeward voyage. It is said that for many years after, these disappointed maidens might be seen on the Cajje lands shading their eyes as they gazed towards the Southern horizon, looking in vain for the return of the perfidious Hilton, who wisely remained at home when the colonists came to settle on Old Town Creek. Cushing's Exploits, Opposite Big Island, an the East side, is Todd's Creek, known as also Mott's Greek, which was the scene of Lieut, William B. Gushing' s brave exploit June '28d, 1864. This gallant young naval officer perhaps accomplished n:iore by personal valor than any other individual «>n either side during the war. At half-past seven o'clock on the night of May 6th, 1864, the Gonfederate iron-clad ^'Raleigh," whi/di was built at the foot of Ghurch street, in Wilmington, proceeded down the river in company with several other smaller boats composing the puny fieet of Gommodore Lynch^ and under the command of Lieut. J. Pembroke Jones, G. S, N., crossed the New Inlet bar and attacked Ihe blockading fieet. Th^^ Federals wejH taken bv 44 surprise, and after a feeble resistance took flight, the "Raleigh" having damaged one or two of the block- aders b}^ her well-directed fire. The Ram was too unwieldy for service at sea, however, and on the second day out Commodore Lynch ordered her back to the river. After crossing the Inlet she stuck on the Rip Shoal and sunk, where she still remains buried in the sand. Lieut. Gushing, then attached to one of the blockaders, the United States steamer " Monticello," with his usual zeal and fearlessness, volunteered to attempt the destruction of the "Raleigh," whose fate was unknown to the Federals. He also undertook a recounoissance of the defences of the Cape Fear River for the information of the United States Government, which was then x>reparing an expedition for the capture of Wilmington. Notwithstanding the warning of his superiors that he was almost certain to be captured or killed iu this adventure, he pjersisted in his scheme, and on the night of June 23d, 1864, left his vessel in the first cutter, accompanied by two subordinate officers and fifteen men, crossed the western bar and passed the forts and town of Smithville without discovery, but was very nearly run down by an outward-bound blockade-runner. He then proceeded fearlessly up the river, and with muffled oars steered his boat immediately under the guns of Fort Anderson. 45 As dishing attempted to leave Fort Anderson the moon came out from the chjuds and disclosed the party to tlie sentinels, who hailed and immediately opened lire. Tlie fort was roused and the confusion general. Gushing boldly pulled for the opposite banks and swiftly disappeared along the other shore. His next stopping-place was in this creek, up which he poled his boat until he came to the military road leading from Wilmington to Fort Fisher. Here he cut the telegraph wire and captured a courier from General \y luting with despatches for Colonel Lamb at Fort Fisher. He then put one of his officers (Howorth) in the Confederate's uniform and dispatched him in broad daylight to Wilmington for supplies. Howorth returned a few hours after with a liberal supply of chickens, eggs and butter, which he had bought without attracting any suspicion. Cushing then waited for darkness, and it is said went in person and also in the courier's clothes to Wilmington, and proceeded to his aunt's house, corner of Eighth and Market streets, where he j^eeped through the window-blinds and recognized his Confederate kinsfolk, who were of course not made aware of his presence. On the following day he made sketches of the fortifi- cations around Wilmington and cax^tured a boat-load of Confederates, from whom he learned the fate of the 46 " Raleigh," w iiicli he subsequently inspected in person* He next put his prisoners (six men) into a boat without oars or sails and sent them adrift to get home as best they could. Proceeding down the river, he carefully inspected the torpedo obstructions, and attempted the cai)ture of the Confederate guard-boat near New Inlet, Here he met with formidable resistance, four boats having pursued him, and he was obliged to dash into the breakers on Carolina shoals to escape a large force of Confederates. He reached the blockading squadron safely after an absence of two days and three nights. His subsequent destruction of the Confederate Earn ''Albemarle" is doubtless one of the bravest examples of personal valour in militar}^ history. Cushing*s Daring Visit to Fort Anderson. ^^T early dawn on Friday, February ITtli, 1865, the Federal fleet in the river began to bombard Fort Ander- son, while the troops under General Schotield attacked the land force and the lines extending westward. The bombardment was kept up all day long witli great fury, but the flrini>' ceased at sundown. 4/ Al)(>ut eioiit o'clock that night the *'Entaw Band,'' attaclied to the 25th S. C. Regiment ((Udonel (J. fL Sinionton commanding) came into the Fort and gave a serenade complimentary to the commanding officer (Colonel John J. Hedrick, 40th N. C. Regiment) and his officers. Colonel John D. Taylor was requested by Colonel Hedrick to return thanks to the band, and while lie was doing so in a neat and appropriate speech, the officer of the day reported that a boat had been seen passing the Fort and going into the cove on the North side of the Fort. Soon after the speaking the boat w^as seen pulling out into the river. Captain E. S. Martin had seen the boat going up the river and ordered that the heavy shot be withdrawn from several guns and grape-shot substituted; and wdien the boat w^as seen going down the river he ordered the guns fired at it. The boat responded with small arms, and the crew escaped and notified those in the Fort of their safe arrival at the fleet by a single rocket that shot ujj into the air. and the Confederates heard nothing more of it at that time. On the 9th or 10th of March, 1865^ the same troops which were in the Fort the night above mentioned were at Kinston, N. C, resisting the advance of General Cox's commatid from New Berne to Goldsboro. The advance guard of General Cox was captured and one of the 48 prisoners gave a Confederate officer a copy of the " New York Herald," which contained an account of a visit made by Captain Cnshing to Fort Anderson. He stated that he commanded the boat above mentioned, and had passed into the cove above the Fort, landed and gone into the Fort while Colonel Taylor was spealdng. He had hidden himself under one of the guns (which was not in use) on the opposite side of the Fort, about 76 or 100 feet from the speaker, and heard the rest of his speech, which was reported in the account of this visit. The officer (Captain Martin) into whose hands the "Herald" came, having heard the speech of Colonel Taylor, recognized the report as accurate in every particular. The account also described the escax)e of Captain Cushing from the Fort and of the boat from the lire of the Confederate guns, and his safe return to his vessel below the Fort. Carolina Beach. 3^HE next point of interest on the East side is the wharf of the New Hanover Transit Company, from which there is a short railroad connection of about two miles to the favorite seaside resort, Carolina Beach. 41) Tills place was loiii*" known to a few of onr jteople as the finest and safest beach on the Atlantic coast, but generation after generation of onr inhabitants lived and died without having seen the beautiful foaming breakeis cnrling over these hard while sands, whi(di extend for five miles along this exqnisite sliore. Before the Wilmington and Wrightsville turn|)ike was thought of, and long years prior to the building of the Seacoast Railroad, Captain Harper undertook to bring in the steam yacht "Passport" thousands of excursionists from Wilmington and the interior to th.e health-giving breakers at such a trifling expense, that the hund)lest and poorest might enjoy the pleasures of surf-bathing, which had hitherto been the exclusive privilege of the rich, unti) the number has increased to foity and lifty thousand passengers annually. The steamer ''Wilmington" makes four or hve trips daily, and the run occui:)ies on^ hour from Wilmington to the beach. Gander Hall. ^[;l.EAR this landing may be seen a tine grove of old oaks which many years ago sheltered an attractive estate, still known as Gander Hall. It was owned in the yeai' 1830 by Captain James Mcllhenny, of an honored and respected family on the Cape Fear. Captain Mcllhenny was the victim of a well-known joke which gave the place its peculiar name. An extraordinary trade demand for goose-feathers at high prices led him to purchase in the uj) country a flock of geese whicli he intended to use for breeding purposes. He counted the increase before it was hatched, and anticipated with satisfaction large profits from the sale of feathers. The Captain selected the geese in person, and as he wanted white feathers, was careful to accept only the white birds. After waiting an intolerable time for the laying season to begin, he consulted a goose expert^ and was informed, to his amazement^ that his geese were all ganders. Sedgeley Abbey. EAR Gander Hall are the ruins of " Sedgeley Abbey,^'' which was the grandest colonial residence of the Cape* Fear. Jt w^as of about the dimensions and appearance^ of the Grovernor Budley mansion in Wilmington, and was erected about 170 years ago by an English gentleman t)f wealth and refinement, named Maxwell, who owned all the land as far as Smith's Island. The house wa» 51 built of coqiiina, a rock made up of fragments of maiine shells slightly consolidated by natural })res8ure and infiltrated calcareous matter, of whicli there are still large formations there. The cellar alone remains, liaving been cut out of the solid rock. The South wing of the building was standing until abt)ut 2d years ago, when it was demolished and the material burned for fertilizeis by an unsentimentiil tenant, who might have gathered all the oyster-shells he desired which had been left by the Indians at a slightly greater distance, A beautiful avenue of oaks extended from the mansion on the East for 1,500 feet towards the ocean in fuli view, and a corduroy road, which may still be seen, was built through a bay and lined with trees to the i iver landing. Some weird traditions about the house and its lonely master have conie down through the neighborhood negroes, who still regard the place with superstitious awe. It is said that several attempts were made many years ago to find some gold alleged to be buried there, and although the times chosen were on bright, clear days, the sky became suddenly overcast, the wind moaned through the rootless walls, and cries and groans were distinctly heard by the treasure-hunters, who did not tarry for further investio^ation. 52 First White Settiement. ^ FEW niilps below this interesting' inin may j^et be seen indications of the first wViire settlement on the Cape Fear in 1661 by the enterprising New Englanders from Massachusetts, who might have prospered, bnt their greed led them to destrnction. For a time they carried on a profitable and ap])arently peaceable intercourse witli the native Indians, but when they sent Indian (diildren North to be sold into slavery under the pretense of instructing them in learning and in the principles of tlie Christian religion, the red men were not slow to discern their treachery, and from that time, as Lawson says, "they never gave over till they had entirely rid themselves of the English by their bows and arrows." The New Englanders left much cattle behind them, which the Barbadians four years later found in the j)()ssession of the Indians along the Caj^e Fear. On this first attempt at a settlement on tlie Cape Fear river, Bryant, in his "Po^jular History of the United States," page 272, says: "There were probably few bays or rivers along the coast, from the Bay of Fundy to Florida, unexplored by the New Englanders where there was any promise of })rofitable trade with the Indians. The colonist followed the trader wherever 53 unclaimed lands were open to occuipation. These energetic })ioneers ext)lored the sounds and rivers South of Virginia in pursuit of Indian traflic, contrasted the salubrity of the climate and the fertility of the soil with that region of locks where they had made their homes, and where winter reigns for more than half the year. In 1()60 or 1661, a company of these men purchased of the natives and settled upon a tract of land at the mouth of the Cat)e Fear river. Their first purpose was apparently the raising of stock, as the country seemed peculiarly fitted to grazing, and they brought a number of neat cattle and swine to be allowed to feed at large under the care of herdsmen. But they aimed at something more than this nomadic occupation, and a company was formed, in which a number of adventurers in London were enlisted, to found a i^ermanent colony. Discouraged, however, either by the want of immediate success, or for want of time to carry out their x^lans, or for some less creditable reason, the settlement was soon abandoned." 54 Cape Fear Indians. %T 18 an interesting fact that the descendants of these fndians live in the same locality to the present day, and illustrate an unusual condition — an amalgamation of white, black and Indian races. The Indian character- istics, however, predominate. The men are thrifty, industrious and peaceable ; engaged principally in lishing during the shad season, and in cattle-raising upon the same range that was occupied two hundred years ago by their savage ancestors. Large mounds of oyster-shells, many pieces ot broken wicker pottery, arrow- heads, and other relics of the red men are still found on the peninsula below Carolina Beach. During the late w\ar these remains of an Indian settlement were frequently unearthed by the Confederates engaged upon the intrenchments around Port Fisher; and here are buried the last of the Corees, Cheraws and other small tribes occupying the land once inhabited by the powerful Hatteras Indians. They were allies of the Tuscaroras in 1711, and in an attack upon the English suffered defeat, and have now disappeared from the earth and their dialect is also forgotten. The Hatteras tribe numbered about 8,0(10 warriors when Raleigh's expedition landed on Roanoke Island in 1584, and when B5 the En^i^lish made ])ernianent settlements in that vicinity eighty years later, they were ipdiiced to about lifteen bowmen. The Cape PVar Coree Indians told the English settlers of the Yeamans colony in 1669 that their lost kindred of the Roanoke colony, including Virginia Dare, the first white child born in America, had been adopted by the once powerful Hatteras tribe and had become amalgamated with the children of the wilderness. It is believed that tlie Croatans of this vicinity are descendants ot* that race. The Massachusetts settlers referred to the Cape Fear as the Charles river, which w^as apx)lied, as was also the original name, Caiolina, in honor of King Charles IX.- of France, during whose reign Admiral Coligny made some settlements of French Huguenots on the Floridfi coast, and built a fort which he called Charles Fort, on what Ib now the South Carolina coast. LHIipute jJ^EAi^LY opposite, surrounded by noble oaks^ are the ancient estfites of Lilliput and Kendal. The first record extant of Lilliptit plantation is in a patent from the Lords Proprietors, 6th November, 1725, recorded in the Secretary's office of North Carolina, to ^56 Eleazar Allen. Mr. Allen was born at or near Ohai-leston abont 1692. He married Sarah, eldest dan^^^hter of Colonel William Rhett, abont the year 1722. In 1780 he was recommended for one of the conncil of North Carolina by Governor Bnrrington, and a^^jpointed to that office by the Crown; bnt he does not a[)pear to have assnmed the dnties until the 22d of November, 1735^ He was appointed in that year with Nathaniel Rice, Roger Moore and Cax)t. James Innes, a Commissioner to fix the boundary line between North and South Carolina. He was made Receiver General of the ]*rovince of North Carolina from 1735 to 1748. During that time he experienced, in common with all the other public treasurers, great difficulty in collecting the quit rents due the Crown, for which he was held personally responsible by the British Government, and for the security of which he ultimately pledged his entire estate, including Lilliput. An English gentleman who visited the Cape Fear in 1784 with thirteen other travellers, made special mention of Mr. Allen's a^esidence, a beautiful brick house on Lilliput, adjoining Kendal, and also of his well-known hospitality. He says Mr. Allen was then speaker to the Commons, House of Assembly in the Province of South Carolina. Mr. Allen must have lived sumptuonsly and entertained lavislily, as among the items of personal propert}^ in liis estate made known at liis deatli, was twelve dozen cnt-glass table basins, now known as finger-bowls. On the death of Mr. Allen, 17th January, 1749, aged fifty-seven years, at Lillipnt, where he was buried, this X^lantation became the property and residence for a time of Sir Thomas Prankland. It was snbsequently sold to John Davis, Jr., in 1765. Sir Thomas Frankland was a grandson of P^rances, daughter of Oliver Cromwell, who, npon the death of his brother, Sir Charles Frankland, in 1765, sncceeded him as baronet. Sir Thomas was previons to that time an Admiral of the White in the British Navy, a i)OSt of great distinction. He married Snsan, daughter of William Rhett, Jr., of Charleston. They have numerous descendants now living in England. We find that, in 1789, Lillipnt was in possession of the well-know^n McRee family of this section, and here w^as born the distinguished medical practitioner and diagnostician, Dr. James Fergus McRee, Avho afterwards lived and died in Wilmington. ^1 ^- 58 Kendal. ^HE adjoining' plantation of Kendal was originally crwned by "King" Roger Moore, who bequeathed it Tth March, 1747, to his son, George Moore. ''King" Roger also devised to other heirs two hundred and fifty negro slaves. George Moore, of Moore Fields, as he was afterw^ards called, was remarkable for his great energy, good management and considerable wealth. The original proprietors of the Cape Fear plantaticms were men of extraordinary discernment and discretion. They first took up all the best land within easy access, laid out and built their plantation residence, and then provided themselves with a comfortable summer house on the Sound, Evidences of this method are still to be seen in the many Sound roads which converge into the old. thoi'oug'hfare at the east landing of the Brunswick ferry- near Big Sugar Loaf and opposite the site of old Brunswick. George Moore^s summer place was a tract on the north side of the creek at Masonboro, now owned by the McKoy family. He was twice married, and his wives, with remarkable fidelity and amazing fortitude, presented him every Spring with a new baby, until the number reached twenty-eight. An interesting relic of 59 this extraordinary family is preserved by Mr. Junius Davis. It is a book of Common Prayer, on the tiy-Ieaf of which is inscribed the names and dates of birth of tlie entire family of twenty-eight children. In common with the titled class in England, the Cape Fear planters held trade and trades-peoi)le in abhorrence, and kept themselves aloof from the commercial centres. They jjreferred to live on their plantations, and their social life betrayed a class distinction not at all in keeping with the democratic ideas of their descendants. In one respect, however, they greatly differed from tlie aristocracy of the Old Country— a generous and reiined hospitality being universal and proverbial, and this excellent trait is still a striking characteristic of their successors on the river to the present day. For personal reasons, to avoid the public parade of his numerous family through the town of Wilmington, U suited George Moore to cut a private road for his own use, from his plantation on Rocky Point to Masonboro Sound, by which his faithful wife and her remarkable progeny travelled on horseback in their yearly journeys from the country plantations to the seashcu^e. Mr, Moore's method of transporting liis iKuisehold effects was unique, by which he employed the services f a large retinue of negro silaves: upon the head ot one 60 was placed a table ; upon another a mattress ; a third a ehair, and so on, until hfty or more bearers were in line, when the cavalcade proceeded on foot towards Mason- l)oro — an extraordinary and moving spectacle. When corn was wanted at the summer [dace, one hundred negro fellows would be started, each with a l)ushel bag on his head. There is, said the late Dr. John II. Hill, quite a deep ditch leading from some large bay swani[)S lying to the west of the George Moore road. It used to be called the Devil's Ditch, and there was some mystery and idle ti-adition as to why and how the ditch was cut there. It was doubtless made to drain the water from those bays, to tiood some lands cultivated in rice, which were too low 1,0 be drained for corn. Kendal and Lil]i[)ut have been owned and cultivated for years past by Mr, Fred. Kidder, a type of the Old School gt^ntleman, one of the most prominent and industrious [)lanters on the river, a worthy and honored successor (d' tlie distinguished settlers on the Cape Fear, described as gentlemen of birth and education, bred in the rehneiuent of polished society, and bringing with tlieiu ample fo-rtuiies,, gentle manners, and cultivated minds.. 61 :^ (Orton Plantation,) Orton. ^MONG the venerable relics of Colonial days in North Carolina there is probably none richer in legendary lore, nor more worthy of historic distinction, than the old Colonial plantation of Orton on tlie Cape Fear. The name is doubtless taken from the old town or village of Orton, near Kendal, in th^ beautiful lake district of England, from whence thn ancestors of the Moore family on tlie Yeamans side may have come to Barbadoes ; tlie line of the Moore family being of Scotch Irish origin, as there is a Kendal Point and it is said an Orton plantation on that Island, which was the home of Sir John Yeamans, who afterwards settled npon the Cape Fear and was (xovei'nor of Clarendon. Orton plantation was owned originally by Manrice Moore, the grandson of Governor Sir John Yeamans, and the son of Governor James Moore, of South Carolina, who came with his brother, Colonel James Moore, to suppress the Tuscarora Indian outbreaks in the Province of North Carolina in 1711. From him it Xjassed to his brother, Roger Moore, known ever afterwards as ''King" Roger. He vv^as a man of lordly and distinguished bearing, and owned immense bodies of land in this part of the country, and was for many years a member of Governor Gabriel Johnston's Council. During his absence from home, in the early days of the settlement, his house at Orton was attacked, pillaged and burned by the Cree Indians, who lived on the Cape opposite the plantation. Some days afterwards "King'' Roger, with a small force of neighbors and servants, seeing the Indians at play and bathing in the river ueai" Big Sugar Loaf, marclied u[) the' river out of sight, 63 ci'ossed over, and taking- tlie savages by surprise, exterminated the whole tribe. His tomb, a brick mound, is still in a good state of yu'eservatiou in the old family burying-ground at Orton. The spot, whicdi lias nnfortunatel}^ in recent years been partly cleared, is described by the author of "Roanoke" as follows : "I found myself in one of those spots which nature herself seems to have consecrated for her most holy rites. There was not a shrub, nor a blade of grass, within this sacred temple; there the garish beams of the sun never penetrate, but even at noonday a deep, solemn twilight reigns. The oaks, whose multitudinous branches form a thick canopy above us, looked as if they had witnessed the flight of centuries; and from their limbs and trunks there streamed hoar}^ and luxuriant flakes of moss sweeping almost to the ground, and looking like elfin locks whitened by the frosts of a thousand years. Within this druid temple there are old brick vaults, without a name and without a date; and here, because, perhaps, nature herself seems to have formed a cemetery for her favorite child — here, be- neath one of these vaults and close by the banks of the old Cape Fear, are supposed to repose the ashes of Utopia. The scene and the recollections which it awakened threw me into a meditative mood, and seating myself on one of the vaults, and looking out on the broad but lovely expanse of waters before me, I remained, listening to the subdued murmur of the distant ocean." This fine jDroperty was sold about the year 1860, with the slaves ux^on it, for one hundred thousand dollars; but the purchase money was never paid, and the estate deteriorated for more than fifteen years from inattention and decay. In 1876, a young English gentleman of education and refinement, named Currer Richardson '9 64 Roundel (a nei)liew of Sir Roundel Palmer wlio afterwards became Lord Chancellor of Great Britain as Lord Selborne), came to Wilmina'ton evidently suffering with some mental disorder. He was induced by the agents to buy Or ton, which had been in the market for some time previous, and he undertook to reclaim it, but met with difRcnlties which he had not anticipated, and which so depressed him that he took his own life. The writer found him early on the morning of July 26th, 1876, in his room at the hotel in Wilmington stripped to the w^aist, and lying upon the lloor in a i)ool of bloorl, the deadly pistol in one hand, the other hand pointing to a ragged hole in his forehead. He was dead. He was buried hj kind and gentle hands in Oakdale near Wilmington. The present beautiful residence, with its majestic columns and its white and glittering vestments, now occupied by Colonel K. M. Murchison, the proprietor, w^as built about the year 1725 by ''King" Roger Moore, of brick brought from England, and was afterwards enlarged and improved by the late Dr. Fred. J. Hill, a rice-planter, an intelligent gentleman, and a princely citizen, who was noted far and near for his elegant and refined hospitality. Colonel Murchison has brought the plantation up to its best production — about a hundred laborers are 65 employed and ninny exi)ensive permanent iniprovenients have been adoj^ted. He resides here with his family during the winter months, his home and principal business being in New York City. These ten thousand acres include a tine game i)reserve, which is greatly enjoyed by the Colonel and his friends, to whom the pleasures of the chase are its i)rincipal attraction. Born and reared on the upper Cape Fear of Scotch ancestors wdiose brain and brawn have ever infused new lifeandvigorthroughout the business world, ColonelK. M. Murchison is honored; for out of nothing but a stout heart, an honest x)urpose and a good name, he has built up a fortune and achieved a reputation for integrity and usefulness among men who only acknowledge such as leaders. He deserves well of Wilmington because he has given liberally of his means for the development of our trade and industries. When there was not a hotel in the j)lace worthy of the name, and when it was said that this lack barred a class of visitors hitherto unknown, but greatly to be desired by the community, he came forward and fearlessly invested a large amount in a first-class hotel, of which we should all be proud, although it has not been prox)erly appreciated. Were our citizens animated with a little of the public spirit of their forefathers, who gave 66 Miree hnndred and fifty thousand dollars to build and equip a Wilmington railroad, when the entire taxables were only three hundred thousand dollars^ '*The Orton" would always be filled to overflowing and such an enterprise receive its just reward. Colonel Murchison served throughout the war as Colonel of the 54th N, C. Troops, took part in the active Virginia campaigns^ and uj)on the conclusion of peace returned to New York^ where he has ever since been engaged in business. ^2^5^- (Colonial Governor's Palace.) Colonial Governor Tryon's Palace- Scene of the First Outbreak of the Revolutionary War. ^^BOUT half a mile to the South of Orton House, and within the boundary of the plantation, are the ruins of Cxovernor Tryon's residence, memorable in the history of the United States as the spot upon which the first overt act of violence occurred in the war of American Independence, and nearly eight years before the Boston Tea incident, of wliich so niucli has been made in Northern history ; while this Colonial ruin, the veritable cradle of American liberty, is probably unknown to nine-tenths of the people on the Cape Fear at the present day. This place, which has been eloquently referred to by two of the most distinguished sons of the Cape Fear, and direct descendants of Sir John Yeamans, the late Hon. George Davis and the Hon. A. M. Waddell, and which was known as Russelborough, was bought from William Moore, son and successor of "King" Roger, by Captain John Russell, Commander of His Britannic Majesty's sloop of war "Scorpion," who gave the tract of about fifty-five acres his own name. It subsequently passed into the possession of liis widow, who made a (jeed of trust, and the property ultimately again became a part of Orton plantation. It was sold March 31st, 1758, by the executors of the estate of William Moore to the British Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Arthur Dobbs, who occupied it and who sold it or gave it to his son, Edward Bryce Dobbs, Captain io His Majesty's 7th Regiment of Foot or Royal Fusileers, who conveyed it by deed dated February 12th, 1767, to His Excellency William Tryon, Governor, etc. It appears, however, tnat Governor Tryon occujDied this residence prior to the date of this^ deed, as- is shown by the fcdlowing official 69 correspondence in 1766 with reference to the uprising of the Cape Fear peoiile in opposition to the Stamp Act : " BRUNSWICK, 19th FEBRUARY, 1766, "Eleven at Night, " Sir:— " Between the hours of six and seven o'clock this evening, Mr. Geo. Moore and Mr. Cornelius Harnett waited on me at my house, and delivered to me a letter signed by three gentlemen. The inclosed is a copy of the original. I told Mr. Moore and Mr. Harnett that as I had no fears or ap- prehensions for my person or property, I wanted no guard, therefore desired the gentlemen might not come to give their protection where it was not necessary or required, and that I would send the gentlemen an answer in writing to-morrow morning, Mr. Moore and Mr. Harnett might stay about five or six minutes in my house. Instantly after their leaving me, I found my house surrounded with armed men to the number I estimate at one hundred and fifty. I had some altercation with some of the gentlemen, who informed me their business was to see Capt. Lobb, whom they were informed was at my house ; Captain Paine then desired me to give my word and honor whether Captain Lobb was in my house or not. I positively refused to make any such declaration, but as they had force in their hands I said they might break open my locks and force my doors. This, they declared, they had no intention of doing; just after this and other discourse, they got intelligence that Captain Lobb was not in my house. The majority of the men in arms then went to the town of Brunswick, and left a number of men to watch the avenues of my house, therefore think it doubtful if I can get this letter safely conveyed. I esteem it my duty, sir, to inform you, as Fort Johnston has but one officer, and five men in garrison, the Fort will stand in need of all the assistance the "Viper" and •' Diligence " sloops can give the commanding officer there, should any insult be offered to his Majesty's fort or stores, in which case it is my duty to request of you to rrpcl force with force, and take on board his Majesty's sloops so much of 70 his Majesty's ordnance, stores and ammunition, out of the said fort as you shall think necessary for the benefit of the service. "I am, sir, your most humble servant, (Signed) " WM. TRYON." " To the Commanding Officer, either of the Viper or Diligence Sloops of War." The writer, who frequently enjoys the old-time hospi- tality of Orton, had often inquired for the precise location of the ruins of Governor Tryon's Russelborongh residence, without success. But during a recent visit, and acting upon Colonel Waddell's reference to its site on the north of old Brunswick, the service of an aged negro who had lived continuously on the plantation for over seventy years was engaged, who, being questioned, could not remember ever having heard the name Russelborough, nor of Governor Dobbs, nor of Governor Tryon, nor of an avenue of trees in the locality described. He said he remembered, however, hearing when he was a boy about a man named "Governor Palace," who had lived in a great house between Orfoii and old Brunswick. We proceeded at once to the spot, which is approached through an old field, still known as the Old Palace Field, on the other side of which, on a bluff facing the east, and affording a fine view of the river, we found hidden in a dense undergrowth of timber the foundation walls of Tryon's residence. Tlie aged guide sliowed us fhe 71 well-worn ('arriage road of the Governor, and also his private path through the old garden to the river landing, a short distance below, on the south of which is a beautiful cove of white and shining sand, known, he said, in olden times, as the Governor's Cove. The stone foundation walls of the house are about two feet above the surface of the ground. Some sixty years ago the walls stood about twelve to fifteen feet high, but the material was unfortunately used by one of the proprietors for building purposes. The old servant pointed out a large x)ine tree near by, upon which he said had been carved in Colonial times the names of two distinguished persons buried beneath it, and which in his youthful days was regarded with much curiosity by visitors. The rude inscription has unhappily become almost obliterated by several growths of bark, and the strange, mysterious record is forever hidden by the hand of time. A careful excavation of this ruin would doubtless reveal some interesting and possibly valuable relics of Governor Tryon's household. Near the surface was^ found, while these lines were being written, some fragments of blue Dutch tiling, doubtless a part of the interior decorations ; also a number of peculiarly shaped bottles for the favorite sack of those days, which Palstaff called Sherris sack, of Xeres vintage^ now known as dry sherry. 72 Ruins of Brunswick, ^BOUT a quarter of a mile distant towards the South, and yet within the limits of this time-honored estate of Orton, are the ruins of the old Colonial town of Brunswick, once the chief seaport and seat of govern- ment of the Province of North Carolina. Its public buildings and substantial houses have long ago crumbled to their foundations, which still remain. The daily hum of trafSc has long since ceased, and the busy feet that trod its now silent streets have mouldered into dust. " No more for them the blazing hearth shall burn. Nor bus}^ housewife ply her evening care, Nor children run to greet their sire's return, Or climb his knee the envied kiss to share." The glad voices of the village children, the merry ring of the blacksmith's anvil and the hearty yo-ho of the sailors in the bay have melted away into the silence of the dead, which is only broken by the hooting owl and the barking fox, or by the plaintive cry of the whippoor- will and the plunge of the osprey in the now peaceful waters of the Governor's Cove, while from across the narrow isthmus is heard the moaning of the lonely sea. 73 Ruins of St. Philip's Church. ^(Xtri'iUN the boundaries of rhis forgotten town are the picturesqne ruins of St. Philip's Church, wliich was built by the citizens of Brunswick and principally by the landed gentry about the year 1740. In the year 1751 Mr. Lewis Henry DeRosset^ a member of Cxoveinoi' Gabriel Johnston's Council and subsequently an expatriated Royalist, introduced a bill appropriating to the church of St. Philip at Brunswick and to St. James' Church at Wilmington, equally, a fund that was realized by the capture and destruction of a pirate vessel, which, with a squadron of Spanish privateers, had entered the river and plundered the plantations. A picture (''Ecce Homo"), captured from this pirate, is still preserved in the vestry-rooni of St. James' Church in Wilmington, St. Philip's Church was built of large l)rick brought from England. Its walls are nearly three feet thick and are solid and almost intact still, the roof and the lioor only having disappeared. Its dimensions are nearly as large as those of our modern churches, being 76 feet 6 inches long, 53 feet 8 inches wide, standing walls 24 feet 4 inches high. There are 11 windows, measuring 15x7 feet, and 8 large doors. It must have possessed 74 much architectural beauty aud massive grandeur with its high pitched roof, its lofty doors and beautiful chancel windows, Uxion the fall of P\>rt Fisher, which is a few miles to the southeast of Orton, in 1865, the Federal troops visited the ruins of St, Philip's, and with pick-axes dug out the corner-stone, which had remained undisturbed for one hundred and twenty-five years, and which doubtless contained papers of great interest and value to our j)eople. It is a singular fact that during the terrific bombardment of Fort Anderson, which w^a^ erected on Orton, and which enclosed w^ith earthworks the ruins of St, Philip^s, while many of the tombs in the church-yard were shattered and broken to pieces by the storm of shot and shell, the walls escaped destruction ; as if the Power Above had shielded from annihilatioD the building wdiich had been dedicated to His service. This sanctuary has long been a neglected ruin, trees of a larger grow^th than the surrounding forest have grow^n up within its roofless w^alls, and where long years ago the earnest prayer and song of praise ascended up on high, a solemn stillness reigns, unbroken save by the distant murmur of the sea, which ever sings a requiem to the buried past. In concluding his most interestino- sketch of old 75 Brunswick, in "A Colonial Officer and His Times/' (he .graceful and ,i,nfted author, Colonel Alfred Moore Waddell, says : "Memorable for some of the most dramatic scenes in the early history •of North CaroHna as the region around Brunswick was (being the theatre of the f3.rst open armed resistance to the Stamp Act, and not far from the ■spot where the first victory of the Revolution crowned the American arms at Moore's Creek Bridge, on the 27th of February, 1776), its historic interest Was perpetuated when, nearly a century afterwards, its tall pines trembled >and its sand-hills shook to the thunder of the most terrifi-c artillery fire that has ever occurred since the invention of gun-powder^ when Fort Fisher Was captured in -1865. Since then it -has again relapsed into its former sstate, and the bastions and traverses and parapets of the whilom Fort Anderson are now clad in the same exuberant robe of green with which .generous nature in that clim.e covers every neglected -spot. And so the old •and the new ruin stand side by side in mute attestation of the utter 'emptiness of all human ambidon; while the Atlantic breeze sings gently amid the sighing pines, and the vines cling more closely to the old church Wall, and the lizard basks himself where the sunlight faJLs on a foi:gotten c-grave.." Colonial Ferry and Inn. ^HE ruins of an inn and ferry-house attract attention ^at old Brunswick landing. This ferry to the landing at Big Sngar Loaf on the opposite side of the river^ a distance of over two miles, must have been an exposed tfand dangerous passage during .stormy weather. It was 76 kept by Cornelius Harnett and connected with tlie only road to the northern part of the Province. This Colonial I'oad is still used at the present day, and may be seen at tlie old landing place near Big Sugar Loaf. It is interesting to recall the fact as stated by Doctor Brickell, a Dublin gentleman who visited this region in 1737, that the people on the Cape Fear were invariably com- fortable and prosperous, and that they were also exceed- ingly hospitable and kindly. The planters cultivated rice, of which he says there were several sorts — '"some bearded, others not so; besides there was the white and led rice, the latter the better." Indian corn was largely produced ; fruits were plentiful ; game abundant ; cattle thrived and fattened in rich pastures; horse-racing, wrestling and foot-racing were favorite amusements. He savs the women were well featured^ brisk and charminsr in their conversation and as " finely shaped as any in the world;" that ^^they marry very young, some at thirteen and fourteen," and that '^'a spinster of twenty is reckoned a stale maid." The houses were full of healthy childi'en. Mr. riai'nett entertrdiied his patrons at the Inn with a liberal diet of beef, pork, venison, wild and tame fowl, fish of several delicate sorts, "roots" (vegetables,, probabiy), several kinds of sahids, good bread, butter^ 77 inilk, cheese, rice, Indian corn, hasty puddino', mm, brandy, cider, persimmon beer, cedai' beer, cMstenn or tanpanan, Indian tea, etc. Confederate Fortifications. _ _ ^E now approach the ruins of Fort Anderson, Battery Hoke, Camp Wyatt (so named for the tirst victim of the war, private Henry A. Wyatt, of the 1st N. C. Heoiment, killed at the battle of Big Bethel), Battery Buchanan, Fort Fisher and Mound Battery, famous as the o^ateway of the Southern Confederacy, and for months the only key to the outside world from which was replenished its scant supplies of army stores. It has been well said by a prominent ex-officer of the late C. S. Navy that "the fall of Wilmmgton was the severest blow to the Confederate cause which it could receive from the loss of any port. It was far more injurious than the capture of Charleston, and but for the moral effect, even more hurtful than the evacuation of Richmond. With Wilmington and the Cape Fear open, the supplies that reached the Confederate armies wouhl have enabled tliem to maiiitain an unequal contest for years ; but with the fall of Fort Fisher, the constant stream of supplies was effectually cut off and the blockade made truly effective— not by the navy fieet, but by its captures on land." Fort Anderson. %^onr Anderson and Orton House, the latter used a^ the headquarters of Captain E. S» Martin, Chief of Ordnance, were the last Confederate positions evacu- ated upon the river, and they were abandoned to superior force a month after Fort Fisher fell. At nine o'clock on the evening of Sunday, January 15th, 18G5, Fort Fisher, which had for years stub- bornly resisted the bombardments and assaults of the Federal fleet and forces, was overcome. On Monday and Monday night, Fort Holmes, on Smith's Island. Forts Caswell and Campbell, on Oak Island, and Fort Pender (Johnston), at Smith ville, were evacuated by" the Confederates. On Friday of the same week, the garrisons of these forts were assembled at Fort Anderson under command of General Hebert. He was soon relieved in command by General Johnson Haaood, who commanded until Fort Anderson wni^ evacuated. 79 After the capture of Fort Fisher, the Federals were employed in getting their monitors and gun -boats over the shoals called the Rip, near New Inlet, into the river. This was a tedious process. The heav}^ guns and turrets were slowly removed to lighten the draft, and these were afterwards replaced for an assault upon Fort Anderson, the last stronghold of the w^eary, half- starved, but devoted band of Southerners, who calmly awaited their death-blow. The Federal fleet then remained with General Terry's command in and about Fort Fisher in front of General Hoke's line, and made no demonstration until Friday, February 17th, 1865, when Geneial Schofield's corps of 20,000 men having arrived, landed at Fisher, and were transferred to Smithville, Terry then attacked Hoke's line on the east side of the river, and Schofield moved up from Smithville and assaulted Fort Anderson from the rear, while the Federal fleet opened on the Fort from the river. The bombardment and land attack on Fort Anderson continued all day Frida5% Saturday and Saturday night, until Sunday morning, February 19th, about two o'clock, when the Fort was evacuated, and the Confederate troops fell back behind Town Creek, burnino; the brido^es over the creek. Schofield attacked 80 them Sunday and Monday. On Monday" afternoon, abont fonr o'clock, the Confederates retreated towards Wihnington, which they entered on Monday night, February 20th, 1865. Terry and Schofield followed on the 22d and took possession of Wilmington, the Confederates having moved towards North East river during the night of the 21st February. Sherman, spreading desolation in his track, had already reached Fayetteville and messengers were sent to him by Schofield on board the steam tug J. McB. Davidson, which was the hrst boat to ascend the Cape Fear after the fall of Wilmington ; she was commanded by Captain Marshall, and her Chief Engineer was Mr. Price, both of whom were subsequently lost at sea. A Colonial Fort. ^ SHORT distance below Fort Anderson, on a bluff called Howe's Point, are the remains of a Colonial fort, and behind it the ruins of a residence, in which, tradi- tion says, was born in 1780 one of the greatest heroes of the Revolutionary War (General Robert Howe), the trusted and honored Lieutenant of Washington. He 81 was the son of Job Howe, an educated and wealthy planter on the Cape Fear, who left, in 1748, a jjlantation to each of his five sons. It is said that Robert's estate was on Old Town Creek, and that he resided there. It is also stated that he lived for a time at Kendal, and that on the 12th of May, 1776, the British Generals Cornwallis and Clinton landed with a troop of nine hundred men and ravaged General Howe's plantation. Mr. Reynolds, the present intelli- gent owner and occupant of the Howe place behind the Colonial fort, who took part in building Fort Anderson, says that his father and his grandfather informed him forty years ago that this fort was erected long before the War of the Revolution as a protection against buccaneers and pirates; that his great-grandfather lived with General Howe on this place during the war and took part in a defence of this fort against the British, who drove the Americans out of it; that the latter retreated to Liberty Pond, about a half mile in the rear, pursued by the British; that a stand was made at this pond, the Americans on the west and the enemy on the east side, and that the blood which flowed stained the margin of the beautiful sheet of water which still bears the name of Liberty Pond; and that the Americans ugam retreated as far as McKenzie^s Mill Dam, behind Kendal, where the British abandoned the pursuit and returned to tiieir ships of war. Since the foregoing was written, Mr. Reynolds' state- ment with reference to General Howe's residence hai§ been fully corroborated by the well-known Cape Fear skipper, Captain Sam Price, now eighty-six years old. He remembers distinctly, and has often visited the house known as General Howe's residence, which he says was a large three-story frame building on a stone or brick foundation, on the spot already described just below Old Brunswick, long and still known a& Howe^^ Point. ■^^ 83 Fort Fisher. ^OLONEL William Lamb, who was in command of Fort Fisher, in his admirable report of its defence, says that "the capture of Fort Fisher, N. C, on the 15th of January, 1865, was followed so quickly by tj^e final dissolution of the Southern Confederacy, that the great victory was not fully realized by the American people. The position commanded the last gateway between the Confederate States and the outside world. Its capture, with the resulting loss of all the Cape Fear river defences and of AVilmington, the great imyjorting depot of the South, effectually ended the blockade-running." General Lee, feeling the importance of the situation, sent word to Colonel Lamb "that Fort Fisher must be held or he could not subsist his army." ~^ — — — — — * i « < *»^ ■ ■ - ■ — ■ ' ■ ■ "■■ Description of Situatio n. "^^ 'J^HE indentation of the Atlantic ocean in the Carolina €oast known as Onslow Bay, and the Cape Fear river, running south from Wilmington, form the peninsula known as Federal Point, which during the Civil War was called Confederate Point. Not quite seven miles north of the end of this ])eninsula stood a high -sand-hill i^\ r^mmm^w^" »"!(?■ r Q Z O / i o 85 called the " Sugar Loaf." Here there was an intrenched camp for the army of Wilmington under General Braxton Bragg, the Department Commander, that was hid from the sea by forest and sand-hills. From this intrenched camp the river bank, with a neighboring ridge of sand- dunes, formed a covered way for troops to within a hundred yards of the left salient of Fort Fisher. Between the road and the ocean beach was an arm of Masonboro Sound, and where it ended, three miles north of the fort, were occasional fresh -water swamps, generally wooded with scrub growth, and in many cases quite impassable. Along the ocean shore was an occasional battery formed from a natural sand-hill, behind which AVhitworth guns were carried from the fort to cover belated blockade-runners or to protect more unfortunate ones that had been chased ashore. "About half a mile north of the fort there was a rise in the plain, forming a hill some twenty feet above the tide on the river side, and on this was a redoubt com- manding the approach to the fort by the river road. Thus nature, assisted by some slight engineering work, had given a defence to Confederate Point which would have enabled an efficient commander at the intrenched camp, co-operating with the garrison of Fort Fisher, to have rendered the Point untenable for a largely superior 86 force at night when the covering fire of the Federal navy could not distinguish between friend and foe." The plans of Fort Fisher were Colonel Lamb's, and as the work progressed were approved by Generals French, Raines, Longstreet, Beauregard and Whiting. It was styled by Federal engineers 'Hhe Malakoff of the South." It was built solely with the view of resisting the fire of a fleet, and it stood uninjured, except as to armament, two of the fiercest bombardments the world has ever witnessed. The two faces to the works were 2,580 yards long. The land face was 682 yards long, and the sea face 1,898 yards long. The Land Face of Fort Fisher ^ ^ -A^T the land face of Fort Fisher the peninsula was about half a mile wide. This face commenced about one hundred feet from the river with a half bastion, and extended with a heavy curtain to a full bastion on the ocean side, where it joined the sea face. The work was built to withstand the heaviest artillery fire. There was no moat with scarp and counterscarp, so essential for defense against storming parties, the shifting sands rendering its construction impossible with the material available. 87 The outer slope was twenty feet high and was sodded with marsh grass, which grew luxuriantly. The parapet was not less than twenty-five feet thick, with an inclina- tion of only one foot. The revetment was live feet nine inches high from the floor of the gun chambers, and these were some twelve feet or more from the interior plane. The guns were all mounted in barbette on Columbiad carriages, there being no casemated gun in the Fort, Between the gun chambers, containing one or two guns each, there were twenty heavy guns on the land face ; there were heavy traverses exceeding in size any known to engineers, to protect from an enfilading fire. They extended out some twelve feet or more in height above the parapet, running back thirty feet or more. The gun chambers were reached from the rear by steps. In each traverse was an alternate magazine or bomb-proof, the latter ventilated by an air chamber. The passage ways penetrated traverses in the interior of the work, forming additional bomb-j)roofs for the reliefs for the guns. As a defense against infantry, there was a system of sub-terra torpedoes extending across the peninsula, five to six hundred feet from the land-face, and so discon- nected that the explosion of one would not affect the others ; inside the torpedoes, about fifty feet from the 88 berme of the work, extending from river-bank to sea- shore, was a heavy palisade of sharpened logs nine feet high, pierced for musketry, and so laid out as to have an enfilading lire on the centre, where there was a redoubt guarding a sally-port, from which two Napoleons were'^run out as occasion required. At the river end of the palisade was a deep and muddy slough, across which was a bridge, the entrance of the river road into the port ; commanding this bridge was a Napoleon gun. There were three mortars in the rear of the land face. The Sea Face of Fort Fisher. ^HE sea face for one hundred yards from the north* west bastion was of the same massive character as the land face. A crescent battery intended for four guns joined this, but it was converted into a hospital bomb- proof. In the rear a heavy curtain was thrown up to protect the chambers from fragments of shells. Prom the bomb '■proof a series of batteries extended for three- quarters of a mile along the sea, connected by an infantry curtain. These batteries had heavy traverses, but were not more than ten or twelve feet high to the top of the parapets, and were built for richochet tiring. On the line Wtis a bomb-proof electric battery connected with a system of submarine torpedoes. Farther along, where the channel ran close to the beach, inside the bar, a mound battery sixty feet high "was erected, wath two heavy guns which had a plunging fire on the channel ; this was connected with the battery north of it by a light curtain. Following the line of the works, it was over one mile from the mound to the northeast bastion at the angle of the sea •und land faces, and upon this line twenty -four heavy guns were mounted. From the mound for nearly one mile to the end of the Point, was a level sand -plain scarcely three feet above high tide, and much of it was submerged during gales. At the Point was Battery Buchanan, four guns in the shape of an ellipse com- manding the Inlet, its two 11 -inch guns covering the approach by land. An advanced redoubt with a 24-pounder was added after the attack by the forces t3n Christmas, 18(14. A wharf for lars^e steamers was in close proximity to these works. Battery Buchanan 'was a citadel to which an over-powered garrison might I'etreat and with proper transportation be safely carried •off at night, and to which re-inforcements could be sent 'under the cover of darkness," m The Fort Fisher Fight. (4}ENEKAL Whiting, in his officinl rei>ort of the taking of Fort Fisher on the night of the 15th of January, 1865, after an assault of unprecedented fury, both by sea and land, lasting from Friday morning until Sunday night, says : " On Thursday night the enemy's fleet was reported off the fort. On Friday morning the tieet opened very heavily. On Friday and Saturday, during the furious bombardment of the fort^ the enemy was allowed to land without molestation and to throw up a light line of field-works from Battery Ramseur to the river, thus securing his position from molestation and making the fate of Fort Fisher, under the circumstances, but a question of time. "On Sunday, the fire on the fort reached a pitch of fury to which no language can do justice. It was concentrated on the land face and front. In a short time nearly every gun was dismounted or disabled, and. the garrison suffered severely by the fire. At three o-'clock the enemy's land force, which had been gradually and slowly advancing, formed in two columns for assault. The garrison, during the fierce bombardment, was not able to stand to the parapets, and many of the re-inforce- ments were obliged to be kept a great distance from the «.B!i 11- 1 «fi>T •'MWiffiffirjsEiiiii'iiiaffiM'p'riiii o V 5 > c H O ?3 92 fort. As the enemy slackened his tire to allow the assault to take place, the men hastily manned the ramparts and gallantly repulsed the right column of assault. A portion of the troops on the left had also repulsed the first rush to the left of the work. The greater portion of the garrison being, liowever, engaged on the right, and not being able to man the entire work, the enemy succeeded in making a lodgement on the left fiank, planting two of his regimental flags in the traverses. From this point we could not dislodge him, though we forced him to take down his flag from the fire of our most distant guns, our own traverses protecting him from such fire. From this time it was a succession of fighting from traverse to traverse and from line to line until nine o'clock at night, when we were over- powered and all resistance ceased. "The fall both of the General and the Colonel com- manding the fort — one about four and the other about four-tuirty o'clock, p. m., had a perceptible effect upon the men, and no doubt hastened greatly the result ; but we were overpowej'ed, and no skill or gallantry could have saved the i)lace after he effected a lodgement, except attack in the rear. The enemy's loss was very heavy, and so, also, was our own. Of the latter, as a prisoner, I have not been able to ascertain. "At nine o'clock, p. m., the gallant Major Reilly, wlio 93 had fought the fort after the fall of his superiors, reported the enemy in possession of the sally-port. The brave Captain Van Benthuysen, of marines, though himself badly wounded, with a squad of bis men, picked up the General and Colonel and endeavored to make way to Battery Buchanan, followed by Reilly with the remnant of the forces. On reaching there, it was found to be evacuated, by whose order and what authority, 1 know not; no boats were there. Tlie garrison of Fort Fisher had been coolly abandoned to its fate. Thus fell Fort Fisher after three days battle unx>ararielled in tlie annals of the war. JSothing was left but to await the approach of the enemy, who took us about 10 p. m. The Heet surpassed its tremendous efforts in the previous attack. The fort has fallen in precisely tiie manner indicated so often by myself, and to which your attentiou has been so frequently called, and in the presence of the ample force provided by you to meet the contingency." Colonel Lamb, in his report, says he had half a mile of land face and one mile of sea face to defend wirli 1,900 men. He knew every company present and ifs strength. This number included the killed, wounded and sick. To capture Fort Fisher, the enemy lost, by their own statement, 1,445 killed, wounded and missing. Nineteen hundred Confederates with 44 guns, contending against 1J4 10,000 men on shore and 600 heavy guns alioat, killing and wounding almost as many of the enemy as there were soldiers in the fort, and not surrendering until the last shot was exjDended. The garrison consisted of two companies of thn lorli North Carolina nnder Major Reilly; the 36th North Carolina, Colonel William Lamb, ten companies; four companies of the 40th North Carolina; Company D of the 1st North Carolina Artillery Battalion; Company C 3d North Carolina Artillery Batallion; Company D 13th North Carolina Artillery Batallion, and the Naval Detachment under Captain Van Benthuysen. General Whiting had been assigned to no duty by G-eneral Bragg, although it was his right to have commanded the supporting troops. He deternjined to go to the fort and share its fate The Commander, Colonel Lamb, offered to relinquish the control, but General Whiting declined to take away the glory of the defense from him, but remained with him and fought as a volunteer. It is related that during the tight, when one hundred immense projectiles were being hurled per minute at the fort, General Whiting was seen "standing with folded arms, smiling upon a 400-pound shell, as it stood smoking and spinning like a billiard-ball on the sand not twenty feet away until it burst, and then moved quietly away." During the fight General Whiting s iw 95 Ihe Fedei'nl iln,ii,s planted on tlie traverses. Calling on llie troops to follow bin], they fought hand to liand with clubbed muskets^ and one traverse was taken. Just as he was climbing the othei', and had his hand upon the Federal llag to tear it down, he fell, receiving two Wounds. Colonel Lamb, a half-hour later, fell with a desperate wound through the hi}:). The troops fought on. Lamb, in the hospital, found voice enough, though faint unto death, to say: "I will not surrender" ; and Whiting, lying among the surgeons near by, responded^ "Lamb, if you die^ I will assume command, and I will never surrender." After the fort was captured and General Whiting w^as made prisoner, lie was taken to Fort Columbus, on Grovernors' Island, and there died, March 10th, 1865. The fearless defender of the last stand at Fishei% Major James Eeilly, remained not far from the scene of his exploits until his death, November 5th, 1894. Colonel William Lamb still survives, and since the war has resided continuously at his home In Norfolk^ Virginia, where he is engaged in business. Another prominent officer of the Cape Fear^ Colonel George Tait. a gallant Scotchman from Bladen county, who volunteered at the outbreak of the war and remained in active service to the end, is also living in 96 Norfolk. Always beloved and honored as a soldier and a gentleman, lie has in his declining years the comforts and respect achieved by an honorable, active and successful business life. *-s *^^^^^ ^^^ 07 Residp:nce of thp: Commander of P'ort Fisher Craig's Landing. ^^KOM the (leek of the steamer Wiiiiiiii.^'toii tlie watelifiil tourist may e.spy near Craig's Lanrliiig a weather-beaten little cottage of very humble aspect. This unpretentious building was the residence of the Corainandant of Fort Fisher and his little family during the war. It is worth preserving, because one of the sweetest little flowers of Confederate womanhood graced its rongh interior, and enconraged by her noble self -sacrificing 98 spirit the o-iJlarit defenders of tlie Lost Cause. She, tor), has crossed ovei' tlie river, and rests under the shade of the trees. Like a gentle exhalation she has passed a\vay, but the memory of lier devoted life of faith and fortitude, her loving and tender sym])athy for the sick and wounded, will live as long as the story of Fisher is told. B}^ the courtesy of our friend wdjo was her worthy husband, we are i>ermitted to copy the following sketch published some months ago in the "Southern Historical Papers'- of Richmond : The lieroine of Confederate Point, ^'' Xn- the Fall of 1857, a lovely Puritan luaiden, still in her teens, was married in Grace Church, Providence, Rhode Island, to a Virg-inia youth, just passed hi& majority^ who brought her to his lumie in Norfolk, a typical ancestral homestead^ where, beside the 'white folk,' there w^as quite a colony of family servants, from the pickaninny, just able to crawl, to the old, gray- headed mammy wdio had nursed "ole Massa." She soon became enamored of her surroundings and charmed with the devotion of her colored maid, wliose sole duty it was to wait upon her young missis. When the Jolm Brown raid burst upon the South and her husband was ordered to Harper's Ferry, there was not a more indignant matron in all Virginia, and when at last secession came, the South did not contain a more enthusiastic little rebel. '*0n the 15th of May, 1862, a few days after the surrender of Norfolk to the Federals, by her father-in- law, then Mayor, amid the excitement attending a captured city, her son Willie was born. Gut off from her husband and subjected to the privations and annoyances incident to a subjugated community, her father insisted upon her coming with her children to his home in Providence; but, notwithstanding she w\as in a luxurious home, with all that parental love could do for her, she preferred to leave all these comforts to share with her husband the dangers and privations of tlie South. She vainly tried to x)ersuade Stanton, Secretary of War, to let her and her three children with a nurse return to the South; finally he consented to let her go by flag of truce from Washington to City Point, but without a nurse, and as she was unable to manage three little ones, she left the youngest with Ills grandparents, and with two others bravely set out for Dixie. The ■generous outfit of every description which was prepared fcu' the journey and which was cin'ried to the ])lace of 100 einb-irkation, was ruthlessly oast aside by the inspectors on the wharf, and no tears or entreaties or offers of reward by the parents availed to pass anythino- save a scanty supply of clothing and other necessaries. Arriving in the South, the brave young mother refused the proffer of a beautiful home in Wilmington, the occupancy of the grand old mansion at "Orton," on the Cape Fear river, but insisted upon taking up her abode with her children and their colored nurse in the upper room of a pilot's house, where they lived until the soldiers of the garrison built her a cottage one mile north of Fort Fisher on the Atlantic beach. In both of these homes she was occasionally exposed to the shot and shell lired from blockaders at belated blockade-runners. '' It was a quaint abode, constructed in most primitive style, with three rooms around one big chimney, in which North Carolina pine-knots supplied heat and light on winter nights. This cottage became historic and was famed for the frugal but tempting meals which its charming hostess would prepare for her distinguished guests. Besides the many illustrious Confederate Army and Navy officers who were delighted to find this bit of sunshiny civilization on the wild sandy beach, ensconced among the sand-dunes and straggling pines and black-jack, many celebrated English naval officers enjoyed its hospitality under assumed names ; 101 Roberts, ^ifterwards the renowned Hobart Pasha, who commanded the Turkish navy ; Murray, now Adnnral Aynsley, long since retired, after havinoj been rapidly promoted for gallantry and meritorious services in the British navy; the brave but unfortunate Burgoyne, who went down in the British iron-clad "Captain'' in the Bay of Biscay ; and the chivalrous Hewitt, who won the Victoria Cross in the Crimea and was knighted for his services as Ambassador to King John of Abyssinia, and who, after commanding the Queen's yacht, died lamented as Admiral Hewitt. Besides these, there were many genial and gallant merchant captains, among them Halpin, who afterwards com- manded the "Great Eastern" while laying ocean cables ; and famous war correspondents, Hon. Francis C. Lawley, M. P., correspondent of the "London Times," and Frank Yizitelli, of the ' ' London Illustrated News," afterwards murdered in the Soudan. Nor must the handsome and plucky Tom Taylor be forgotten, the purser of the "Banshee" and the "Night Hawk," who, by his coolness and daring, escaped with a boat's crew from the hands of the Federals after capture off the fort, and who was endeared to the children as the "Santa Claus" of the war. "At first the little Confederate was satisfied with pork and potatoes, corn-bread and rye coffee, with 102 sorghuni sweetening, but after the blockade-riiniiers made her acquaintance the impoverished store-room was soon filled to overflowino-. notwithstandino' her heavy requisitions on it for the post hospital, the sick and wounded soldiers and sailors always being a subject of her tenderest solicitude, and often the hard-worked and poorly-fed colored hands blessed the little lady of the cottage for a tempting treat. "Full of stirring events were the two years passed in the cottage on Confederate Point. The drownino- of Mrs. Rose Greenough, the famous Confederate spy, off Fort Fisher, and the finding of her body, which was tenderly cared for, and the rescue from the waves, half dead, of Professor Holcombe and his restoration, were incidents never to be forgotten. Her fox-huntino- with horse and hounds, the narrow escapes of friendly vessels, the fights over blockade-runners driven ashore, the execution of deserters and the loss of an infant son, whose little spirit went out with the tide one sad summer night, all contributed to the reality of this romantic life, "When Porter's fleet appeared off Fort Fisher, December, 1864, it w^as storm-bound for several days, and the little family, with their household goods, were sent across the river to. "Orton," before Butler's powder-ship blew up. Aftei' the Cliristmas victory 103 over Porter nnd I'utler tlie little lioroiiio insisted iijioii eoming- bnek to her eottage, altliough lier ImsbaiKi had procured a home of refnge in Cumberland county. General Whiting protested against her running the risk, for on dark nights her husband could not leave the fort; but she said, 'if the firing became too hot, she would run behind the sand-hills as she had done before,' and come she would, "The licet re-appeared unexpectedly on the night of the 12th of January, 1865, It was a dark night, and when the lights of the fleet were reported, her husband sent a couriei* to the cottage to instruct hei* to pack up quickly and be prepared to leave with children and nurse as soon as he could come to bid them good-bye. The garrison barge with a trusted crew was stationed at Craig's Landing, near the cottage. After midnight, when all necessary orders were given for the coming- attack, the Colonel mounted his horse and rode to the cottao^e, but all was dark and silent. He found the messat^e had been delivered, but his brave wife had been so undisturbed by the news that she had fallen asleep and no preparations for a retreat had been made. Precious hours had been lost, and as the fleet would soon be shelling the beach and her husband have to return to the fort, he hurried them into the boat as soon as dressed, with only what could be gathered up 104 hastily, leaving dresses, toys and household articles to fall into the hands of the foe. Among the articles left was a writino- desk, with the followino- unfinished letter, which after many years has been returned. It is such a touching picture of those old Confederate days that consent has been given to its publication : '"THE cottage; January gth, 1S65. "My Own Dkar Parents: ' ' I kno\Y you have been anxious enough about us all, knowing what a terrible bt)mbardment we have had, but I am glad that I can relieve your mind on our behalf and tell you that we are all safe and well, through a most merciful and kind Providence. God was with us from the first, and our trust was so firm in Him that I can truly say that both Will and I 'feared no evil'. "I staid in my comfortable little homo until the lleet appeared, when I packed up and went across the river to a large but empty house, of which 1 took possession; a terrible gale came on which delayed the attack for several days, but Saturday it came at last in all its fury ; I could see it plainly from \Yhere I was; 1 had very powerful glasses, and sat on a stile out doors all dav watching it — an awful but magnificent sight, "I kept up very bravely (for yoi( knoiv I am brave, and icovld, if J thought I could, whip Porter and Butler myself), until the last gun had ceased auvd it began to get dark and still. I was overcome at last and laid my head on the fence and cried for the first and last time during it all. I then got my carriage and rode to a fort near b}- to learn the news, but my heart failed as I approached it, and I returned to the house and waited a dispatch, which I received about 11 o'clock, saying all was well. I was quite touched with a little incident which occurred during the day; the little ones looked very grave and thoughtful ; at last Dick came to me in the midst of the roaring and awful thimderingand said: ' Mnn-ma, I want 105 to pray to God for my papa'. He knelt down and said his little earnest prayer; then jumped up, exclaiming and dancing about: 'Oh, sister, I am so glad! J am so glad! Now Ood will keep care of my papa' ! " The shelling was even moi'e terrific on Sunday, and I, not knowing how long it might continue, concluded to go to Fayette ville, and started Sunday noon in a small steamer, with the sick and wounded, to Wilmington, where I was obliged to stay for several days in great suspense, not able to get away and not able to hear directly from Will, as the enemy had cut the \xires, — and then a martyr to all kinds of rumors — one day heard that Will had lost a leg, etc.. etc.; but I steadfastly made up my mind to give no credit to anything bad. At last I heard again that we had driven our persecutors off, and I returned again to the place where I went first, and the next day Will came over for me and took me to the fort, which I rode all over on horseback, but we did not move over for nearly a week. The tort was strewn with missiles of all kinds — it seemed a perfect miracle how any escaped-^the immense works were literally skinned of their turf, but not injured in the slightest; not a bomb-proof or a magazine — and there nre more than one— touched; the magazine the enemy thought they had destroyed was only a caisson ; the men had very comfortable quarters in the fort — pretty little white- washed houses — but the shells soon set fire to them, makmg a large fire and dense smoke, but the works are good for dozen of sieges— plenty of everything; particularly plenty of the greatest essential— drave hearts. Our beloved General Whiting was present, but :g-ave up the whole command to Will, to whom he now gives, as is due, the whole credit of building and defending his post, and has urged his promotion to Brigadier-General, which will doubtless be received soon, though neither of us really care for it. " We expect the Armada again, and will give him a warmer reception next time. The fort, expecting a longer time of it, was reserving their heaviest tire for nearer quarters. Butler's ', gallant troops' came right 'under one side of the fort, but our grape and canister soon drove them off, and nxjt Porter's shell, which did not happen to be falling that way at that lime; they left their tra-ces sufficiently next morning. 106 "The 'o^allant fellow' who stole the horse from the inside of the fort was doubtless so scared he didn't know much where he was. The true statement of the thing is, that an officer, unauthorized by Will or the General, sent a courier outside the fort with a message to some troops outside, and soon after he left the fort was attacked and killed by a Yankee sharp-shooter hidden under a bridge. The poor body fell and the horse was taken, and the flag spoken of, in the same way, was shot from the parapet and blew outside, when it was taken. When any of them see the inside of the fort, they will never live to tell the tale, "Ah, mother! you all, at home peacefully, do not know the misery of being driven from home by a miserable, cruel enemy! 'Tis a sad sight to see the sick and aged turned out in the cold to seek a shelter, I cannot speak feelingly because of any feeling myself, as God is so good to us, and has so favored us with life, health and means, and my dear, good husband has provided me a comfortable home in the interior, where I can be safe. " Will has worried so much about you, dear mother, thinking you would be so anxious about us. He often exclaims, when reading some of the lying accounts: ' How that will worry Ma ' ! " How is my darling Willie ? We do so want to see our boy. I think Will will have to send for him in the Spring. Kiss the dear one dozen of times for his father and mother, • "Though it was a very unpleasant Christmas to me, still the little ones; enjoyed theirs. Will had imported a crowd of toys for them, and they are as happy as possible with them . " I have not heard from my dear home since last August, and you can imagine how very anxious I am to hear, particularly of dear sister Ria. Is she with George ? Do write me of all the dear ones I love so much , How I would love to see you all, so much, and home ! " I forgot to tell you of the casualties in the fight. Ours were only three killed;, about sixty wounded:, they were all. 107 Butler's Powder Ship. Sn the course of his admirable address to 5,000 ex-Union soldiers at Steinway Hall, New York City, on May 3d, 1878, our silver-tongued orator of the Cape Fear, Colonel Alfred M. Waddell, said: " While it may be difficult to determine in what engagement of the wr.r the severest concentrated fire of small arms occurred, there can be no doubt as to the place where the power of heavy artillery was exhibited in its most terrific form. The bombardment of Fort Fisher was by far the most frightful that has ever happened since the invention of gun-powder. All the testimony taken before the * Committee on the Conduct ot the War' goes to establish this fact; but, in addition to this, and to the universal admission on the Confederate side, there was still stronger evidence which was given in ray presence the day after the capture of the fort by a competent and disinterested witness. The siege of Sebastopol is admitted to have been the greatest bombardment in history up to that time. An English officer, however, who had run the blockade, and who Was present at Fort Fisher under an assumed name, was giving an account of it after his escape, and, avS preliminary to his remarks, said that he had been at Sebastopol and thought there could never be anything like it again. ' But,' said he,' Sebastopol was the merest child's play compared to what I have witncvssed in the last two days. It was simply inconceivable and indescribable in its awful grandeur. I had no conception until now of what an artillery fire could be/ You remember, peihaps, that there was no cessation for more than forty-eight hours, and there were, besides the other projectiles, as many as twepty-five ii-inch shells in the air at the same instant throughout the whole time. Fifty thousand shells were expended by the fleet. During the continuance of the fire it would have been impossible for any livii\g thing to remain on the parapets which faced 108 the sea for a mile, and when the assaulting column was formed there was, along that whole front, but a single gun remaining, and that could only be fired once before the fort was reached, and that long, desperate hand-to- hand struggle began. A month before this the celebrated powder- ship explosion occurred, which was intended to blow down this solid earthwork, a mile in extent, with forty- feet traverses every few yards. The best incident of this huge joke was related to me by a distinguished officer of the navy several years ago. The night after the explosion of the powder- ship some of our pickets on the beach were captured and carried on board the Admiral's ship. Among them was a very solemn-looking fellow, who sat silently and sadly chewing tobacco. As there was intense curiosity among the officers of the lieet to know the re.sult of the remarkable experiment, one of them asked the solemn -looking 'Reb' if he was in the fort when the powder-ship exploded; to which he replied in the affirmative, but without exhibiting the least interest in the matter; whereupon the officers gathered around him and began to ask questions: " You say you were inside the fort ? " "Yes; I was thar." " What was the effect of the explosion ? " " Mighty bad, sir — powerful bad." " Well, what was it ? Did it kill any rebels or throw down any of the works?" "No, sir; hit didn't do that." " Well, what did it do ? Speak out." ' Why, stranger, hit waked up pretty nigh every man in the fortl" "S^ 109 The Rocks—Closure of New Inlet. lEaiNNiNG at Battery BuclianaD, a long line of heavy masonry, known as the Rocks, will doubtless interest the traveller. This sea-wall is one of the best x^lanned and most successful engineering feats in the South. In the year 1761, during a heavy storm, the Atlantic ocean broke across the narrow sand beach which divided the sea from the river some seven miles above the mouth, which from that time became known as the New Inlet, and which caused a rapid shoaling of the old channel, there being- then two outlets instead of one as formerly. The Cape Fear river, from its mouth nearly to Wilmington, is j)roperly a tidal estuary of about thirty- eight square miles. The river and its branches drain an area of about eight thousand square miles. The amount of fresh water passing out at the mouth, though large, is insignificant when compared with the tidal flow which alternately fills and empties this great reservoir. The mean fresh water discharge of the river does not exceed 9,000 cubic feet per second, while the tidal flow at the entrance averages about 175,000 cubic feet per second. This is the real force which creates and preserves the channel across the shifting sands of the coast at the mouth of the river. No demonstration is no needed to prove the importance of eoncentrating this force. It is also apparent that such a force would be most efficient in preserving a passage across a bar and shoals which are in a position sheltered from the prevailing winds and heaviest storms of the coast. This we have at the natural mouth of the river, which is wholly sheltered from northerly, northeasterly, and, in a great measure, from easterly winds by its position in the bay, i)rotected by Cape Fear and Frying Pan Shoals. Congress was accordingly x)t3titioned by our people to appropriate the necessary means for increasing the depth of water on Cape Fear bar and river; and after careful surveys and estimates by the Corps of Engineers U. S. A., it was decided to undertake the entire closure of New Inlet under the direction of Colonel W. P. CraighilL This important and difficult work was begun in 1875. A continuous line of mattresses composed of logs and brushwood sunk and loaded with stone, was laid entirely across the New Inlet from October, 1875, to June, 1876. This was the foundation of the dam. The work was continued from year to year by piling small stone rip-rap on and over this foundation, bringing it up to high water, and then covering it with heavy granite stones on the top and slopes to low AVater. The closure was completed successfully in 1881 and was the occasion of much rejoicing in AVilmington, for its failure would Ill have C3ompletely raiiiHd the [)()rr of Wiliriington^ wliich depends for its life u[)on deep water and successful competition with Norfolk and Charleston. The length of the dam from Federal Point to Zeke's Island is one mile, but the extension of Zeke's Island jetties to Smith's Island makes the line much longer. The Rock foundation of this wall is from dO feet to 120 feet wide at the base, and for three-fourths of the line the average depth of the stone wall is 30 feet from the top of the dam. In some places it is 36 feet deep. The stone used in this gigantic structure would build a solid wall eight feet high, four feet thick and one hundred miles long. The cost of the work was $480,000 — a small sum when the magnitude and difficulty of the undertaking is considered. Battery Lamb— Confederate Salt Works* '1|; A8SING Battery Lamb, a Confederate work on Reeves' Point, we c )me to Walden^s Creek, uj^on which were established, in war times, large Confederate Salt Works for the supply of this indispensable article to the soldiers of the South. The salt-water was carried in lighters from New Inlet to this creek and evaporated by artificial hen t. producing 112 i\ fine white salt at a small expense. These Salt Works lined the coast from Cape Fear to Cape Lookout, and many were owned by speculators who made large fortunes in Confederate money from their product. Nearly all of them were demolished from time to time by the Federal blockaders which threw shells in the woods every day where tell-tale smoke indicated the location of salt pans. But as soon as the demoralized darkies who attended them could be brought back from a seven-mile stampede, the plucky owners would begin to lay out another plant. It is also noteworthy that the bricks which were used in the original construction of Fort Caswell were made on the banks of Walden Creek. Snow^s Marsh— Dredging Steamer *' Cape Fear," ^Farther down is Snow^s Marsh, through which the ship channel runs. This tortuous cou.rse has for years perplexed and discomfited navigators on account of the shifting sands and shoaling water which made it at times almost impassable to large vessels. For a long time this trouble baffled the engineers, but in 189o Major W. S. 113 Stanton, Corps of United States Engineers, undertook to protect the channel by a trainino- dike or wall of brushwood bound in bundles by heavy wire, which has proved highly effective. The bundles were 22 feet long and 2 feet in diameter, piled to a height of half tide between piles driven 15 feet into sand and mud, 8 feet apart, in two rows, 5 to 6 feet apart. Should this means prove permanently effective, a more sub- stantial wall may be built later. Another helpful contrivance of Major Stanton's is the U. S. dredging steamer "Cape Fear," which he designed especially for this service and which began a most successful work in June, 1895. She is fitted with sand- pumps of great strength and capacity, which lift and deposit in the bins on board about 500 cubic yards of sand per hour. This steamer is invaluable to the work now under the direction of Colonel D. P. Heap, U. S. Engineers, for the deepening of the river and bar. The total exjjenditure of money upon our river and harbor improvement from the year 1829 to 1895 was 12,427,584.46, and Congress has just appropriated the further sum of $195,000 for the continuance of the work. 114 Price's Creek Light House— Confederate States Signal Station. ,E seeontheAVestern side the old ante-bellum light- house and keeper's residence on Price's Creek, which were used during the Civil War as a signal station— the only means of communication between Fort Caswell at the western bar and Fort Fisher at the New Inlet via Smithville, where the Confederate General resided. The Confederate States Signal Corps frequently rendered some very efficient service to the blockade- runners after they had succeeded in getting between the blockaders and the beach, where they were also in danger of the shore batteries until their character became known to the forts. As the signal system developed, a detailed member was sent out with every ship, and so important did this service become that signal officers, as they w^ere called, were occasionally applied for by owners or captains of steamers in the Clyde or at Liverpool before sailing for Bermuda or Nassau to engage in running the blockade. The first attempt to communicate with the shore batteries was a failure, and consequently the service suffered some reproach for awhile, but subsequent X)ractice with intelligent, cool-headed men, resulted in 115 complete success, and some valuable ships, with still more valuable cargoes, were saved from capture or destruction by the intervention of the Signal. Service, when, owing to the darkness and bad landfall, the captain and pilot were alike unable to recognize their geograx3hicaJ position. To Mr. Frederick Gregory, of Crowells, N. C, belongs the honor of the first success as a signal operator in this service. Identified with the corps from the beginning of the blockade, and with the Cape Fear at Price's Creek Station, wdiich was for a long time in his efficient charge, he brought to this new and novel duty an experience and efficiency equalled by few of his colleagues and surpassed by none. It was well said of him that he was always ready and never afraid — two elements of the almost unvarying success which attended the ships to which he was subsequently assigned. It was my good fortune to be intimately associated with Mr. Gregory for nearly two years, during which we had many ups and downs together as shipmates aboard and as comx)anions ashore. He was one of the few young men engaged in blockade-running w^ho successfully resisted the evil infiuences and dej^raved associations with which we were continually surrounded. Unselfish and honorable in all his relations with his fellows, courageous as a lion in time of danger, he was an honor 116 to his State and to tlie cause wliicb lie so worthily represented. Another gallant Confederate deserving honorable mention was Leo Yogel, an officer under Maffitt on the corvette ""Florida," and subsequently with us on the "Lilian." Patriotic, brave, generous, he was a noble type of Southern chivalry, an honor to his flag and country. Of charming physique and pleasing address^ his mr.'desty and good breeding were in striking contrast with the occasionally disgraceful conduct of others who w^ere most discreditable to the South. For some time after the war Captain Yogel was identified with the Charleston and Florida Steamboat Company, command- ing for many years the steamer " Dictator," until he was placed in charge of the magnificent steamer "St. Johns," the most palatial boat ever constructed for the Florida business. While with this Company Captain Vogel numbered his friends and acquaintances by the thousands, and now that he has a steamer on the St, John's, they never fail to avail themselves of a trip with him up this beautiful river. He is said to be one of the attractions of the "Land of Flowers." 117 Wilmington and Charleston Mail Boats* A/HE ruined lio'ht-houses at Big Island, Orton Point and Price's Creek remind us of the days long ago, when passengers and mails from the great North and South were transported between Wilmington and Charleston by way of the Cape Fear river on the regular line of ocean steamers connecting the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad with Charleston and the Sonth. The names of these steamers, which were of the best design in those days, were "Wilmington," "Gladiator," "North Carolina," "Vanderbilt" and "Dudley." The average X)assage between Wilmington and Charleston was about seventeen hours, but it was done under exceptionally favorable conditions in twelve hours. The boats were about 190 feet long, draft 10 to 12 feet, and in conse- quence of the lack of water on the bar, they had often to wait for a tide. The Company's office and landing pier was just north of the Champion Compress, where the Atlantic Coast Line warehouses now stand. John A. Taylor, Esq., Col. James T. Miller and Captain Benjamin Lawton were agents of the line at different times ; the last named acted in that cax^acity when the boats were sold upon the completion of the Wilmington and Manchester Pail- 118 road, now the Wilmington, Oolnnibia and xVugusta Kailroad. In 1851, the remains of the lamented statesman, John C. Calhoun, were brought from the North by the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, ;ind conveyed to the present Custom House wharf, from which they were transi)orted by the "Nina," a special steamer, sent from Charleston with the Committee from that city on board. The "Nina" was draped in deep mourning. On another occasion the fnmous singer, Jenny Lind, known also as the Swedish Nightingale, was a passenger during the most tempestuous voyage ever encountered by these boats — a very destructive storm prevailed along the coast. The diva was under the management of P. T. Barnum, and the troujje consisted of sixty persons. The great singer persisted in remaining on deck during the entire trip, while the others kept below, indifferent to everything but the fact that they were distressingly sea- sick. "g^ 119 The Cape Fear Quarantine Station, ^-TiiE following excellent editorial by Doctor Robert D. Jewett is taken from the North Carolina Medical Journal of April 5th, 1896: " The Cape Fear river is the only marine gateway of importance by which epidemics may gain an entrance into North Carolina; and while vessels never pass up the river more than two or three miles above Wilmington, the whole State is, of course, deeply and directly interested in the efforts to prevent the introduction of infectious diseases at this port. As the poison gaining an entrance through a slight peripheral lesion passes along the lymph and circulatory channels and makes the whole organism sick, so one case of contagious disease gaining entrance through this port, away down in the southeastern corner of the State, may spread along the avenues of travel and endanger the welfare of the whole Commonwealth. And as this applies to one State it applies to the whole country; therefore the whole country is directly interested in stopping the poison at the gateway. The watchers at the port of New York protect Chicago as truly as they do New York, and those at New Orleans defend Memphis and all the cities on the Mississippi as well as New Orleans. And since the quarantine at a port of entry is intended as a protection for the whole country, it is not just that one Slate or city should be burdened with the expense of conducting it. " For a number of years the quarantine at the mouth of the Cape Fear has been under the control of a Quarantine Board, consisting of three medical men, receiving their appointment from the Governor of the State. We speak of it as a Station, but it was so only nominally, for there was no plant for the disinfection of vessel and crew, and no hospital for the care of the sick or the detention of suspects. The disinfection of vessels was accomplished by burning in their holds a quantity of sulphur, while disinfection of the crew's clothing was probably never done. The fact that 120 we have so long escaped the introduction of contagious diseases is therefore due, apparently, rather to Divine beneficence than to our own care and watchfulness. " The Quarantine Board have long felt the great need of a well-equipped station, and with the co-operation of the City Produce Exchange succeeded in getting passed by the Legislature of 1893 a bill appropriating $20,000 for this purpose, provided the city of Wilmington would appropriate $5,000. The city refused to do its part, and the station remained unequipped. " In February, 1S93, a bill was passed in Congress granting to the Marine Hospital Service the control over all quarantines; but provided that whenever a local quarantine station complied with the minimum require- ments of the United States quarantine laws, as determined by periodical inspections by officers of the Marine Hospital Service, that station should not be interfered with. The State Board of Health seeing that the effort to equip the station and keep it under the State control had failed, turned the station over to the Marine Hospital Service An inspection was made and an appropriation uf $25,000 immediately secured for building and equipping the station with modern apparatus. " Plans were devised in the office of the Supervising Architect and the contract to build the station awarded. Dr. J. M. Eager, who has had several years experience in Marine Hospital Service at Cincinnati, Key West and New Orleans, besides several details for special quarantine duty, was detailed to take command of the station, and will make an efficient officer. " The new station is located on the east side of the channel of Cape Fear river about one and one-eighth miles north of Southport. The station is to be built on a pier 600 feet long, with gangways, dock and ballast crib. The head of the pier will extend into the channel in 20 feet of water. The general plan of the pier will be in the shape of a cross, the front of which will extend towards the shoals. The Disinfecting House will be provided with the most approved scientific appliances for the mechanical and chemical cleansing of infected vessels. A sulphur furnace will be provided, with which 10 per cent, per volume strength of sulphur dioxide of gas can be evolved, a result not otherwise obtainable except by the liberation of liquified 121 SVilphUV dio'xurc. Th'i^ i^'a?. will b^ conducted m the holds and other parts of the vessels by means of a hose. Apparatus will also be provided for disinfection by iive steam, and tanks for the storage of disinfecting solutions \vith appliances for their application. There will be buildings for a hospital, J5urgeon's quarters and attendants' quarters. "A special landing for contagious patients^ to be taken to the hospital \vithout contact with other parts of the station, will also be provided. At Ipresent the station is being conducted for inspection only. Should any iinfected vessel arrive at Southport quarantine before completion of the Station-, it will be remanded to United States quarantine station, Blackbeard 'island, Sapelo^ -Georgia^ for proper treatment. " The inspection of vessels is always made by daylight 'except in rases of Vessels in distress-. .All persons on vessels having had small-pox on board, inust be vaccinated or show satisfactory evidence of rec-ent vaccination, or of liaving had Sinall-pox, or detained in quarantine for not less than fourteen days, and all effects and colnpartm-ents lia^ole to convey infection, disinfected. No fees are charged for United States quarantine. Pilots who have boarded infected vessels are^subj-ect to the same treatment as members of the crew. " When a vessel is held for disinfection, the passengers and all of the crew ^re removed if cholera has occurred, save those necessary to care for the vessel. The sick are placed in "hospital. Those especially suspected are 'carefully isolated. The ethers are segregated in small groups, amd no ^communication is allowed between these groups— those being especially capable of conveying infection are not peTmitted to enter the barracks tintil thej- are bathed and furnished with sterile clothing. No material Capable of conveying infection is taken in barracks, especially food. All hand-baggage is disinfected. All cargo liable to convey infection, the 14'ving apart^iients, furniture and such other portion of vessels as are liable, ■are disinfected. The water-tanks or casks are chemically cleansed and afterwards filled with water known to T^e absolutely pure, or with water recently boiied> 122 "After completion of all disinfection all persons are detained in quarantine for a time sufficient to cover the period of incubation of the^ disease for which quarantine is practiced — 'this for yellow fever is five days; for typhus, not less than twenty; for small-pox, not less than fourteen. No alien lepers are allowed to land. The quarantine laws will be rigidly enforced here as soon as the station is equipped." <«^»»i Southport— Governor Smith- Cape Fear Pilots. iAEAK the month of the beautiful Gnpe Fear riven on its right bank, is a pleasant little town. It is fanned by the delicious sea breezes ; huge live-oaks gratefully shade its streets. In its sombre cemetery repose the l)odies of many excellent people. Its harbor is good. It is on the main channel of the river. From its wharves can be seen, not far away, the thin white line of waves- as they break on the sandy beach. But the ships to and. from its neighbor, Wilmington^ pay little tribute as they pass and repass. Its chief fame is that it contains the Court House of the county of Brunswick. Its name is Smithville.^' Thus wrote the Hon. Kemp P, Battle^ in his beautiful tribute to the memory of the first benefactor of the State Univers-ity^ Benjamin Smithy who had served in his youth as Aid-de-Camp of Washington, who had 123 behaved vvitli conspicuous gallantry under Moultrie, when he drove the British from Port lloyal, who had roused to enthusiasm, by an address full of energy and lire, the entire male population of Brunswick county to follow his lead against their country's enemy, who was elected fifteen times to the Senate, and who, in 1810, became Governor of the Commonwealth. Philanthropist, Patriot, Soldier, Statesman, he came at last, in poverty and wretchedness, to a pauper's end. For him, in 1792, this charming little town was named. It was previously known as Fort Johnston, a fortification named for the Colonial Governor, Gabriel Johnston, having been established here about the year 1745 for the protection of the Colony against pirates which infested the Cape Fear. The old garrison is still one of the sights of this healthful seaside resort. The town, or city as it is aravelv called by its dignified inhabitants, is now known as Southport, and, to the credit of its virtuous citizens, it is also known as a dry tow^n, in the sense that no intoxicants are permitted to be sold within its jurisdiction. Smithville was a centre of busy military life during the war between the States. Here were the headquarters of tlie Confederate General commanding the post, and here the homes of about sixty hardy pilots wliose 124 humble sphere was suddenly exalted to the dignity of the most important and responsible officers of the swift blockade-running steamers, which braved the dangers of a hostile fleet and crept in every night under cover of the darkness. The Cape Fear pilots have long maintained a standard of excellence in their profession most creditable to them as a class and as individuals. The writer, for eight years a member of the Board of Commissioners of Navigation and Pilotage, having ample means of observation at home and abroad, believes that our pilots would compare most favorably with any organization of the kind elsewhere in all the essential qualifications of this noble calling. The story of their wonderful skill and bravery in the time of the Federal blockade has never been written because the survivors are modest men, and time has obliterated from their memories many incidents of this extraordinary epoch in their history. Amidst the impenetrable darkness, without lightship oi' beacon, the narrow and closely-watched inlet was felt for with a deep sea lead as a blind man feels his way along a familiar path; and even when the enemy^s fire was raking the wheel-house, the faithful pilot, with steady hand and ir(m nerve, safely steered the little 125 fugitive of the sea to her desired haven. It might be said of him as it was told of the Nantucket skipper, that he could get his bearings on the darkest night by a taste of lead. Bald Siead-^Pi rates. z — ^ 'jllIiALD Head, upon which now stands the friendly lighthouse, an emblem of peace and good will to men, was once the scene of barbarous atrocity. In the early days of the colony, and after the abandonment of the river settlements by the whites, the Cape was in great disrepute on account of the savage barbarity of the Indians, who decoyed vessels ashore, and who, after plundering the ships, iiendishly mutilated and murdered the unfortunate sailors who fell into their hands. It was also for years after, the rendezvous of pirates —as many as twenty piratical vessels, under the black flag, skull and cross bones, having anchored at one time in the now peaceful harbor of Southport. These preyed upon the shipping between Charleston and the West Indies ; and they were commanded by the notorious pirate chiefs. Steed Bennett and Richard Worley. The infamous Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, also 126 used these waters in liis nefarioas undertakings. He commanded a ship of forty guns and his squadron consisted of six vessels. The depredations of these sea robbers became so ahirming that Governor Spots- wood, of Virginia, appealed to the British naval officers on that station to send a force into Carolina w^aters and capture those desperate pirates. Two sloops of war were at once fitted out and a brave British officer, Lieutenant Maynard, placed in command, who sailed from James River, November 1718, and overtook Teach in Pamlico. As Maynard approached Teach, the pirate swore at him with the most horrid imprecations, saying that he would neither give nor take quarter. Maynard's ship unfortunately grounded, giving Teach the advantage, and the pirate's first broadside killed twenty of his men. Maynard saw that the situation was desperate, and promptly determined to fight hand to hand to the death. Teach immediately laid his ship alongside and boarded and the slaughter began. The deck was soon slippery with blood. Not a man on either side escaped unhurt; nearly all the pirates were killed or desper- ately wounded. Maynard and Teach fought hand to hand with their dirks. At last the pirate fell and the gallant Maynard, having ordered the pirate's head severed from his body, placed it at the end of his bow- sprit and returned to Virginia. 127 On Bald Hend is now established, in striking con- trast with those dreadfnl times, a well-eqnipped Life Saving Station, with a stnrdy crew of brave hearts and strong arms, always alert for signals of distress at sea. The honored and lamented George Davis has elo- qnently referred to this point, as follows : "Looking then to the Cape for the idea and reason of its name, we find that it is the Soiithermost point of Smith's Island, a naked, bleak elbow of sand, jutting- far out into the ocean. Immediately in its front, are the Frying Pan Shoals pushing out still further twenty miles to sea. Together they stand for warning and for woe ; and together they catch the long majestic roll of the Atlantic as it sweeps through a thousand miles of grandeur and power from the Arctic towards the Gulf. It is the play-ground of billows and tempests, the kingdom of silence and awe, disturbed by no sound save the sea-gull's shriek and the breaker's roar. Its whole aspect is suggestive, not of repose and beauty, but of desolation and terror. Imagination cannot adorn it. Romance cannot hallow it, Local pride cannot soften it. There it stands to-day, bleak and threatening and pitile.ss, as it stood three hundred years ago, when Greenville and White came near unto death upon its sands. And there it will stand bleak and threatening and pitiless until the earth and the sea shall give up their dead. And as its nature, so its name, is now, always has been, and always will be the ' Cape of Fear.' " Fort Caswel l. ^,HE work at Fort Caswell at the mouth of the Cape Pear river was commenced by the Government in the year 1826. Major George Blaney, of the United States Engineer Corps, was in charge of it for several years until his death at Smithville (now SoiUhport), in 1836 or 1837. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and was an accomplished officer. His remains were brought to Wilmington, and the Wilmington Yolunteers, a uniformed Company, and the only one then existing in the town, formed at the Market dock to receive them, and escorted them to the old burial-ground adjoining St. James^ church, where they were interred with military honors and where they still repose. Major Blaney's assistant in building the fort was Mr. James Ancrum Berry, a native of Wilmington, a natural engineer, the bent of whose mind was strongly mathe- matical, who was thoroughly competent for the position he held and who took great pride in the work. So much so, indeed, that he had a small house erected on the river-front of the fort and resided there with his family for a year or two until the encroaching waters rendered his habitation untenable, when he returned to Smithville* He died suddenly in 1832. He was hunting with the late Mr. John Brown, and while crossing a small stream on 129 a log he lost his footing, hisgan came in contact witli tlie log and was discharged, the contents entering his brain, killing him almost instantly. He was an honorable gentleman, high-toned and chivalric, and was greatly mourned. It is probable that Captain A. J. Swift, son of the distinguished Chief of the Engineer Corps, General Joseph Swift, succeeded Major Blaney. It is known, however, that he had charge of the works at the mouth of the river for quite a long time, and it is believed they were finished under his supervision. Captain Swift was regarded as one of the ablest engineer officers in the Army, and, though dying quite young, left behind him a reputation second to none in that branch of the service. Fort Caswell, named in honor of Richard Caswell, first Governor of the State, was in charge of United States Sergeant James Reilly at the beginning of the Civil War, who surrendered to a large force of Confede- rates under Colonel J. J. HedricJv, of Wilmington. It is a remarkable fact that, notwithstanding its exposed jDosition to the Federal fleet, no general engagement occurred at Caswell during the four year's war. The fort was of great service, however, in defending the main bar and the garrison at Smithville, although 130 the fighting was confined to an occasional artillery duel with the United States blockading fleet. The rnins are very interesting and are of a totally different character from the earthworks at Fort Fisher, It is understood that the War Department will restore and reinforce this once formidable fortification. We learn from the "Literary Digest" of April 25th, 1896, that, with practical unanimity, the House of Representatives passed the Fortifications Approjjriation Bill without a division, and in the form recommended by the Appropriations Committee, on April 14th. The bill carries a total of $5,842,337, of which $1,885,000 is for the construction of gun and mortar batteries and fortifications, and $1,729,000 for armament of fortifica- tions. In addition to the total direct appropriation carried by the bill, the Secretary of War is authorized to enter into contracts to the total amount of $5,542,276 for materials and construction of fortifications and armament, making the aggregate amount appropriated and authorized $11,384,613. ^ f^^ 131 Evacuation and Explosion of Fort Caswell. ^HE defences of Oak Island were composed of Forts Caswell and Campbell, the latter a large earth fort, situated about one mile down the beach from Fort Caswell ; Battery Shaw, and some other small works, all under the command of Colonel Charles H. Simoiton. With Colonel Simonton were the following members of his staff : Captain E. S. Martin, Chief of Ordnance and Artillery; Captain Booker Jones, Commissary; Captain H. C. Whiting, Quartermaster, and Captain Booker, Assistant Adjutant General. Fort Fisher fell about nine oNdock Sunday night, January 15th, 1865, and by midnight orders had been received at Fort Caswell to send the garrisons of that Fort and Fort Campbell down the beach and into the woods before daylight in order to conceal them from the Federal Heet. The troops were immediately withdrawn from the forts, and under cover of darkness marched away. Orders were also received to spike the guns in those two forts and destroy the ammunition as far as possible. Accordingly, during Monday, the 16th of January, the Chief of Ordnance and Artillery (Captain E. S. Martin) was em_ployed with the ordnance force of 132 the forts in carrying out this order, preparing to burn the barracks — hirge wooden structures built outside and around Fort Caswell— and blow up the magazines. About one o'clock, a. m., Tuesday, January 17th, the order came to evacuate and blow up the magazines, when Colonel C. H. Simonton, Lieutenant Colonel John D. Taylor and Captain Booker Jones, who had remained up to this time, departed, leaving Captain Martin to destroy the barracks and forts. The buildings Avithout the fort and the citadel within were at once set on fire, and were soon blazing from top to bottom. Trains had been laid during the day to each of the seven magazines at Fort Caswell and the five magazines in Fort Campbell, and under the lurid glare of the burning buildings the match was applied to the trains and magazine after magazine exploded with terrific reports. One of the magazines in Fort Caswell contained nearly one hundred thousand pounds of powder, and when it exploded the volume of sound seemed to rend the very heavens, while the earth trembled and shook, the violence of the shock being felt in Wilmington, thirty miles distant, and even at Fayetteville, more than one hundred miles away. Tlie sight was grand beyond description. Amidst this sublime and impressive scene the flag of Fort Caswell was for the last time hauled down and carried away by the officer above mentioned, who, with his men, silently departed — the last to leave the old fort, which for four long years of war had so gallantly guarded the main entrance to the river. 134 War Department Records— Forts Johnston and Caswell. ^INCE the foregoing sketches of Forts Johnston and Caswell were in type I have received the following official particulars from the Honorable the Secretary of War, which will doubtless be found valuable and interesting : " Port Caswell, at the mouth of Caj^e Fear river, North Carolina, was commenced in the year 1826, the first appropriation for its construction being under Act of Congress approved March 2d, 1825. It was reported as about completed by Captain Alexander J. Swift, United States Engineers, October 20, 1838, at a total cost of $473,402. From 1838 to 1857, for preservation of site, repairs, etc., at Fort Caswell, and some repairs at Fort Johnston, the sum of $69,422.09 was expended, making a total to 1857 of $542,844.09. It was named Fort Caswell by War Department Order No. 32, of April 18th, 1833. "Fort Caswell was an inclosed pentagonal work, with a loop-holed scarp wall, flanked by cax3onniers, was constructed for an armament of 61 channel -bearing- guns, mounted en-barbette, and a few small guns for land defense. Capacious defensive barracks called a citadel occupied a large part of the parade. 135 "Upon its evacuation by the Con federate forces in Jannary, 1865, an attempt was made to blow it up. All the scarp wall of the southeast face was overturned by a mine exploded in the scarp gallery of that face ; a portion of the scarp wall of north and west fronts was badly shattered by the explosion of a magazine on the covered way near the northwest salient, and the citadel on the parade of the work was burned. ''It is now in a dilapidated condition — its armament consists of seven 10-inch and four 8-incli Columbiads and one 9-inch Dalilgren guns, all en-barbette and not mounted. " New works are contemplated for the site of this fort, but their details are not x^ublished." Fort Johnston, N. C. ^HE erection of the original fort was provided for by an Act of the Colonial Assembly held at New Berne Ajjril 20th, 1745 (page 94 of the Laws of North Carolina). It recited that, 'Whereas from the present War with France and Spain, there is great reason to fear that such parts of this Province which are situated most commo- dious for shipping to enter, may be invaded by the 136 enemy ; and whereas the entrance of Cape Fear River, from its known depth of water and other conveniences of navigation may tempt them to such an enterprise while Lt remains in so naked and defenceless a condition as it now is : Therefore, for the better securing of the Inhabitants of the said river from any insult and inva- sion,' etc. ^ ^ ^ That the 'Fort or Battery shall be called Johnston's Fort, and shall be large enough to contain at least Twenty-four Cannon, with Barracks and other conveniences for Soldiers.' "This was before the opening of New Inlet. This opening, which was caused by a violent equinoctial storm in 1761, increased in importance, so as to form a new mouth for the Cape Fear River, deepening from 6 feet at low water in 1797 to 10 feet at low water in 1839, had a marked effect upon that river, diminishing the depth of water upon the main bar entrance from 15 feet in 1797 to 9 feet in 1839. Prior to the opening of New InJet, and even until 1839, Baldhead channel was the natural and main entrance to the river. From 1839 to 1872 both the Rip (western channel) and New Inlet were the main entrances, and the use of Baldhead was discontinued. Since 1872 and the closure of the New Inlet, Baldhead has again become the main channel. " As a result of work carried on under the supervision of the Corps of Engineers in 1894 the depth of the 187 channel at mean low water wns from AVilmirjoton, 2() miles, (o Snow's Marsh 18 feet, except where shoaling had occurred at the lower extremity of Lilliput Shoal, where the depth was 16J feet; at Snow's Marsh Shoal 14 feet ; on the inner shoals at the bar IG feet by a crooked channel and 14.3 feet by a straight course, and on the outer bar 16.6 feet. " For the original depth of water, see old maps in the office of Lieutenant- Colonel D. P. Heap, Corps of Engineers, in the Post Office building at Wilmington. For historical sketches of the work of improving that river, &c., see report of Captain C, B. Phillips, Corps of Engineers, pages 321-331, of Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1(S76; report of Captain W. H. Bixby, Corps of Engineers, pages 1,004-1,011 of Annual Reports of the Chief of Engineers for 1886; various reports of Mr. Henry Bacon in the Annual Ptcports of the Chief of Engineers from 1876 to 1890, and an article on the subject published on pages 236-246 of Volume XXIX, (July, 1893, number) of the Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, in a paper entitled ' The Improvement of the Harbors on the South Atlantic Coast of the United States.' The printed annual reports of the Chief of Engineers may be seen in Colonel Heap's office. 138 " In a report made by Acting Assistant Surgeon, S. S. Boyei*, U. 8. Army, on this fort, published on pages 92-94 of Circuhir No. 4, War Department, Surgeon General's Office, December 5th, 1870, a report on Barracks and Hospitals, with descriptions of Mili- tary Posts, he states: 'This fort receives its name from Gabriel Johnston, who was Goyernor of the Province of North Carolina from 1734 to 1752, It was erected by the British soon after France declared war against England, in 1744. Since that period it has been garrisoned at irregular intervals." * '"' ''^ "There is no fort built upon the reservation. During the late civil war it came into the possession of the rebels, and they constructed some minor works upon it, which have since been removed by United States- troops. '"By reference to American State Papers^ Military Affairs, Vol. I, pages 95-101, 224, 237, etc, Mr. Sprunt will find information that may be of use to him in relation to the construction by the United States of a new work on the site of the old fort, finished about the year of 1809, etc. The new work consisted of a simple epaulement of concrete (some of it yet remains) and an enclosure of planks; within the enclosure there was a block house, lately destroyed, to the regret of this Department,, a powder magazine, and quarters for 139 officers of brick; and a barracks, a guard-house and a store-house of wood. "The terreplein of the battery was ten feet below the parade and site of the buildings. The battery could receive eleven or twelve guns. The block house was square and of two stories, the upper projected three feet, forming a machicoulis defense of the ap- proach to the lower story. The distance from the block house to the battery was about one hundred yards. This battery was provided with loop holes and embrasures above. " There is a drawing on file entitled 'Fort Johnston and part of the town of Smithville, N. C, 1802,' which shows a large pentagonal work. Whether this repre- sents the fort erected about 1745 or one erected later, is not shown by an exaniination of the records. " This is about all the information than can be ascer- tained from the records and maps of this office relative to these two forts, in reference to the inquiries of Mr. Sprunt," 140 Wild Pigeons— Wreck of Spanish Ship. Probable Murder— Treasure Trove. SuEiNG the early part of the century, about the year 1812, great numbers of wild pigeons frequented Bald Head, where there was an immense roost. General Swift, then in command of Fort Johnston, says in his memoirs that some of these flocks were miles in extent and that the sound of their wings was like that of a roaring wind. Many were killed by sportsmen. In November, 1803, a large Spanish ship called the " Bilboa," was cast away on Cape Fear in a storm. The crew, numbering twenty men of villainous aspect, were arrested by Lieutenant Fergus, at Fort Johnston, and confined in the block house (which still exists), under suspicion of having murdered their captain and mate at sea. They told the improbable story that their officers had died at sea, and that they, being ignorant of navigation, had let the ship drive before the wind until she fetched up on Bald Head. They all had silver doUars tied in their sashes around their waists, and they said there was a great deal more on the wreck. The pilots and others made search for this treasure but did not recover it. For fifty years after- wiiids, these silver coins were occasionallv washed 141 up by the sea, and the pilots livino- on the island were always on the alert for specie on the beach after a severe storm. The sailors were sent to Charleston for trial, and in the absence of testimony a<^ainst the]n, were dis- charo'ed. Monitor Nantucket. o t-' < H O y. 143 Life-Savers. ^i^oiT a mile from Fort Caswell, facing the dangerous middle-ground upon whicJi many a gallant ship has met her doom, is situated the Oak Island Life-Saving Station, the crew of which i)atrol the beach south of main bar. while their fellow life-savers of the Cape Fear Station on Bald Head watch the white line of breakers for miles to the north. A visit to either of these well-equipXDed stations will greatly interest those who are not already familiar with the drill and appliances of this humane institution. They were established upon our dangerous coast some years ago mainly through the instrumentality of our member of Congress, Colonel Alfred M. Waddell, who has said with reference to the service : " It is a hard life, a most tryin^^ and hazardous employment, the pecn- niary compensation for which, as to the surfmen, is small, and as to the keepers, who have great responsibilities, totally inadequate, being only $200 a year. If you have ever been in the breakers, as I have, even in ordinary weather and in a good boat, you can appreciate the value of calm, steady nerves, courage, strength and self-possession , " But when a howling tempest is raging, and the waves leap heavenward (with the thermometer perhaps at zero), the men who launch a life- boat in the surf, and pull out into the hell of waters to save their fellow-beings, must be made of such stuff as heroes are made of." 144 A Run to Sea. ^I^EKHAPs the air is balmy and the trip to-day includes a run to sea. We swiftly pass Fort Caswell on the starboard side, with Bald Head Li^^ht House close aport. Soon the long ground-sw^ell of the majestic ocean tells us we have crossed the bar. Ahead we hear the dong, dong of the restless bell buoy, a weird but welcome warning to incoming strangers that dangerous shoals are near. Far off in the dim horizon, also in nearer view, white-winged merchantmen speed on their voyage up and down the coast. A trail of smoke marks the track of a distant steamer. Sea gulls, which Coleridge likened to human souls in the mist and darkness, sail past us with a grace and beauty of flight that is not of earth, but that comes alone from Him who marks the sparrow's fall and who holds the ocean in His fist. Away to the southwest are the blackfish shoals, where many a seasick amateur has longed to be at home. Exposed to the fury of every storm on the edge of the dangerous Frying Pan, we see the faint outlines of the good Light Ship as she plunges to her mushroom anchors and buries her head in the foam. "Alone on the wide, wide sea, so lonely 'twas that God Himself scarce seem^ed there to be." 145 W' e are now about ten miles out. Beneath ns many fathoms deep reposes a gallant and ill-fated ship, the Cuban sti^amer "Virginius." It is a sad but o'er true tale, and it may interest the sympathizers of Cuba Libre. Captain Fry and the Cuban War. jJiN the year 1841, a winsome, honest lad, who had determined to join the navy of his country, and who had been thwarted in his purpose by the friends at home, made his way alone from Florida to Washington, and demanded his right to speak with the President, "which was not denied him, Mr. Tyler was so pleased by the youthful manliness of the little chap, who was only eight years old, that he Invited him to dine at th-e White House on the following day. The favorable impression was confirmed on that occasion. The young Floridian was the observed (5f all observers; members of the Cabinet and their wives., members of Congress and officers of the navy had heard r>f the little lad's story, and all united in espousing his patriotic cause. The President, won by -his ardor, as well as by his .gentlemanly and modest behavior, granted the boy's 146 request and immediately^ signed bis warrant as a midshipman in the United States Navy. The subsequent record of Captain Joseph Fry, the Christian gentleman, the gallant sailor, the humane commander, the chivalrous soldier, is known to readers of American history. Of heroic mould and dignified address, he was "A combination and a form indeed, Where every god did seem to set his seal. To give the world assurance of a man." When the Civil War came, it found him among the most beloved and honored officers in the service. The trial of his faith was brief and bitter. He could not fight against his home and loved ones^ much as he honored the Hag which he had so long and so faithfully cherished. He was a Smithron, and with many pangs of sincere regret he went with his native State for weal or woe. His personal bravery during^ the war was wonderful ; he never performed deeds of valor under temporary excitement,, but acted with such coolness and daring as to command the admiration of superiors and inferiors alike. He was severely wounded at the battle of White River, and while on sick leave was ordered, at his own request, to command the Confederate blockade-runner " Eugenie," upon which the writer made a voyage. On. Captain ]oskph Fry> 148 one occasion the "Eugenie" grounded outside of Fort Fislier, while trying to run through the fleet in daylight. The ship was loaded with gun-powder — the Federal fleet was firing upon her — ^the risk of immediate death and destruction to crew and ship was overwhelming. Fry was ordered by Cok)nel Lamb to abandon the vessel and save his crew from death by explosion. He accordingly told all who wished to go — as for himself, he w^ould stand by the ship and try to save the powder, which was greatly needed l)y the Confederate Government, Several boatloads of his men retreated to the fort ; a few remained with Fry, the enemy^s shells falling thick and fast around them. In the face of this great danger, Fry lightened his ship, and upon the swelling tide brought vessel and cargo safely in. Later on he commanded the steamer "Agnes E. Fry,'' named in honor of his devoted wife. In this ship he made three successful voyages, after which she was unfortunately run ashore by her pilot, and lies not far distant from the "Virginius." Captain Fry was then placed in active service during the remainder of the war in command of the Confederate gun-boat "Morgan '" and was highly complimented by his General, Dabney H. Maury, for conspicuous bravery in action. After the war his fortunes underwent many changes. Several undertakings met with varying successor failure„ 149 At last, he went to New York in July, 1893, where he hoped to secure employment in command of an ocean steamer. There he was introduced to General Quesada, agent of the Cuban Republic, who offered him the command of the steamer " Virginius," then lying in the harbor of Kingston, Jamaica. He accepted the offer, and received a month's pay in advance, one hundred and fifty dollars, two-thirds of which he sent to his needy family, and reserved the remainder for his personal outfit. The "Virginius," originally named "Virgin," was built in Scotland in 1864, and was especially designed for a blockade runner in the Confederate service. She made several successful trips between Havana and Mobile. Being shut up in the latter port, she was used by the Confederates as a despatch and transport steamer. For a time, after the war, she was used by the Federal Government in the United States Revenue Service, but proving unsatisfactory, owing to her great consumption of coal, was sold at public auction by the United States Treasury Department to an American firm. The owners in 1870 took out American papers in legal form, and cleared her for Venezuela. From that time she was used in conveying volunteers and supplies to Cuba ; and while engaged in this business under the American flag, recognized by American consuls as an American vessel, she was overhauled at sea on the 81st of October, 160 1873, by the Spanish man-of-war "Tornado," and decLared a prize to the Spanish Government. Fry never dreamed of greater danger — -he occupied the same j^osi- tion he had assumed while running the Federal blockade and the same as in the recent cases of the "Commodore'' and the "Bermuda." He was a merchantman, carried no guns, made no armed resistance and flew the American flag. Notwithstanding all this, a drum-head Court-Mar tial was held on board the "Tornado" on the second day afterwards, the unfortunate victims con- demned as pirates and sentenced to immediate execution at Santiago cle Cuba, where the Spanish war sliip had arrived. Even then Captain Fry and his crew, wTio were nearly all Americans, expected release through the intervention of the United States authorities. Vain hope! The American Consul was absent; the Vice- Con sul did what he could, in vain ; the Home Govern- ment was silent; the British Consul x>i'otested, but without avail, and the butchery of these brave men began. We read from the newspaper accounts of the dreadful scene that the victims were ranged facing a wall. Captain Fry asked for a glass of water, which was given him by the friendly hand of one of his own race. He then walked with Arm, unfaltering steps, to the place assigned him, and calmly awaited the volley which end(Ml his noble life. 151 A touching scene occarrcd on the march to execu- tion. When the brave man passed the American Consulate, he gravely saluted the bare pole, which should have borne the Hag\ once and again, so dear to his heart, but which had failed him in his extremity. Although the firing party was only ten feet aw^ay^ says the published account, Fry was the only one killed outright. Tiien ensued a horrible scene. "The Spanish butchers advanced to where the wounded men lay, writhing and moaning in agony^ and placing the muzzles of their guns in the mouths of their victims, shattered their heads into fragments. Others were stabbed to death with knives and swords." Fifty-three victims had suffered death — ninety-three more were made ready for execution ; the bloody work was to be resumed, when an unlooked-for intervention came. The news had reached Jamaica, and it found in the harbor the British man-of-war "Niobe," under command of Captain Sir Lambton Lorraine, who, true to her name (goddess of tears) and to his instincts and honor as an Anglo-Saxon, needed no orders to speed to the rescue. Leaving in such haste that many of his men were left behind, he steamed with forced draught to Santiago. Before the anchor reached the bottom of the harbor the "Niobe's" drums had beat to quarters and the well-trained ornnners were at their stations. 152 Commander Lorraine ignored the customary formali- ties ; precious lives were trembling in the balance ; moments were vital. Before the Spanish General was made aware of his arrival, Lorraine stood before him, and demanded that the execution be stayed. To Burriels' unsatisfactory response the brave Commander returned answer that in the absence of an American man-of-war, he would protect the interest of the Americans. Brave words, Captain Lorraine ! All honor to you for them ! Still the Spaniard hesitated— he had tasted human blood, but his thirst was not satisfied. Again the gallant Britisher demanded an unequivocal answer, and report says, confirmed it by a threat that he would bombard the town as he had in Honduras for the protection of the Anglo-Saxon. His prompt, decisive action arrested the bloody work, and eventually saved the lives of the remainder of the " Virginius' " crew\ On his return to England, some months later, Sir Lambton was detained some days in New York. The city authorities, animated by his gallant conduct, ten- dered him a public reception, which was modestly declined. A^irginia City, Nevada, desiring to testify its appreciation of his noble humanity, forwarded to him a fourteen-pound brick of solid silver, upon which was inscribed his name and the incident, with the legend, Captain Sjr Lambton Lorraine, Royal Navy. rrReiiroduced from an inijierfeft woo"d eut-] 154 "Blood is thicker than water, '^ signifying aIs'o\ in Western eulogy, 'SM)ii'r a brick." A tardy recognition of the rights of American j)osses- sion was made later by the Spanish CTOvernment^ and the ''Yirginius" delivered to an American man-of-war^ While towing the nnfortunate craft off Cape Fear and bound for a Northern port, the ''Yirginius" sprang a-leak, oi' some say, was scuttled, and found her g¥9;V*e- in the ocean-depths beneath us, [See Life oJ Caiitaiii Fry, by .Itanilis Mart; Walkev :i Cape Fear Privateers in the War of 1812 and 1861. ^iiE war against Gieat Britain was declared on t]ie IS'th^ of June, I8I25 and the United States were very success- ful on the higli seas in several naval engagements, buS it was tlie privateers which were fitted aut under letter?^ of marque that did the most damage. They severely distressed the eneniy's commerce^ and during the first seven months of the war captured about five hundred of their merchantmen and took nearly three thousandi prisoners. The prizes taken by those " skinnners of the seas" were generally carried into the port nearest the- -« T w scene of actioii, and sukl witii whatever cargoes they had, and immen&e snms were realized. Sevei'al were brought into Wilmington, having been captured near the coast ; and it was not long before the port became a rendezvous for vessels of that character. They would appear suddenly in the river, remain a few^ hours, some- times a day or two, and then mysteriously disappear, returning again with a prize they had succeeded in •oapturing. Tradition reports that on one occasion two of theui €ame in together — the Snap Dragon, under the couimand of Captain Otway Burns,, who had at that, time a consid- -erable amount of local notoriety; and the Kemp, com- manded by Caj)tain Almida, each accompanied by a merchant vessel they had captured. In due tiuie the vessels and cargoes were sold, but when the proceeds of the sal€ were to be divided a dispute arose between the two oflicers^ each claiming that the lai-ger portion should belong to him, as he was more instrumental in securing the prize than the other. The quarrel waxed hot, and it was feared that they would come to blows at any mo- ment, wh=en th« tiery Burns put an end to the discussion by challenging his antagonist to meet him on the sea and tight it ont yardarm to yardarm. Thetdiallenge was promptly accepted; each vessel got under way immedi- ately, and sailed for the appointed place of uieetm^-; 156 bnf, while inanoeuverino^ for position, a Ifeet of the ene- my's merchanrmen, under convoy of a ship of war, hove in sight, and effectually put a stop to the contemplated duel. Adjourning their quarrel to another time (but which was never renewed), they dashed into the lieet and succeeded in capturing' tw^o or three ships with valuable cargoes, and brought them safely into jjort, a much bet- ter result in every way than trying to send each other to the bottom on a mere question of dollars and cents. As showing how profitable the business was to aJl engaged in it, it is remembered that on one occasion a youth, in fact, a mere boy, who was a son of a citizen of Wihnington, volunteered on one of the ships, and wa8 gone but one week, and his portion of the prize money amounted to more than six hundred dollars. He never tried it again, however, owing to the fact that a cannon- l)all frou) one of the enemy's guns jiassed through his liat and slightly scalped him on its passage. He was not seriously liurt, but sufficiently so to quash any further desire on liis part to become a i>rivateersman. In addition tr> the Kemp and Snap Dragon already mentioned, tlie waters of the (Jape Fear were frequently vexed V)y two other craft of similar character — the Saratoga, the name of whose commander is not now attainable and the General Armstrong, Captain Sinclair, of the naval force of the United States, Quite an. 157 amusing incident is reniembered in connectioii witli C;i[)tain Sinclair, tliongh at the time it occurred it came very near being a serious matter to him. While lying in this port, he received orders to discharge his crew and dismantle his ship, which he proceeded at once to do, and carried his light spars and rigging, ammunition and fire-arms, whicdi latter he stacked muzzle upwards, to a building which then stood on the southeast corner of Market and Second streets, while he occupied the rooms above as an oifice and bed-room. This arrange- menr continued undisturbed for some time, but one night during the prevalence of a violent thunder-storm, a loud explosion startled the inhabitants of the town, who rushed to the spot and found that the lightning had struck the building in which Sinclair had deposited so much combustible matter, and completely destroyed it. A rigorous search was made for Sinclair, but he could not be found, and it was finally given up upon the su^j position that he had been blown to pieces ; but at daylight, as two of his intimates were still searching amid the ruins, one of them finally remarked : '' It is no use searching any longer ; old Sinclair has gone to h — at last.'' A smothered voice that seemed to issue from beneath their feet was heard exclaiming : " That's a lie; come here, Jacobs, and help me out." It was Sinclair in the fiesh ; he had been stunned by the explo- 158 sion, but with tlie exception of a few bruises was not seriously injured. He was soon extricated from the debris under which he had been covered, and after a few remarks about the lightning, wdiich were more emphatic than polite, he and his chums disappeared from view and were seen no more until the following day. What finally became of him we have no means of ascertaining. When the war between the States commenced, the entire common navy was in possession of the Federal authorities, and the Confederates had no other resort than to enlist armed ships under letters of marque. Very soon quite a number of small vessels were put in commission, and reached the high seas by running the blockade; and in less than a month more than twenty prizes were taken and run into Southern ports. These vessels sailed from Charleston, Mobile, IS'ew Orleans and Wilmington, two having been fitted out in this ])ort. It will be remembered that the Savannah, a schooner of fifty tons, ran the blockade at Charleston in 1861, cap- tured one brig, but was herself soon after captured by the United States ship Perry, and her officers and crew* were sent to Philadelphia, where they were tried for piracy, and condemned to be executed, which was only prevented by an announcement from President Davis to Mr. Lincoln that if they were executed he w^ould surely U9 retaliate by the execution of an equal number of United States prisoners then In the hands of the Confederate authorities. This brought the Government at Wash- ington to their senses, and the men were subsequently exchanged as other prisoners of war. The steamers Sumter, Nashville^ Florida, Alabama and Shenandoah were fitted out hy the Confederate Government ; and by this little fleet millions worth of merchandise was cap- tured, and the foreign trade of the enemy nearly driven from the ocean. But this is a matter of general liistory. and our business just now is with that wliiidi is more local. The first vessel htted out as a privateer in Wilming- ton W'as the steam tug Mariner dui'ing the gunimer el' 1801. She was owned by a company of wliich the late Joseph H. Flanner was president, and was armed with one twenty four pounder forward and two nine pound- ers aftj and was under the command of Captain B. W, Beery. She made a cruise on the coast of North Caro- lina, captured one, perhaps two. vessels, and sent them into New Berne, when she returned to Wiluiingtcm. She was afterwards used during the spring and summer of 1862 by the Confederate States Government as a guard boat on the Cape Pear river, and was under command of the late Captain Josejdi Price, a Wilmington boy, who was well known and ^I'eatlv esteemed by our' (Uti/^eus, 160 She tlieil mMo one trip through the blockade to NaSs sau and back to this port, but was captured on the next outward trip. ^he United States GovernlTieiU tug "Uncle Ben'^ came to Wilmington in Aprils 1861, and was taken possession of by the Confederate States Go^^erntnent. When the iron -clad "North Carolina'^ was built^ the engines of the tug were taken out and used for that shi]^, the hull Was sold and bought by a Mr. Power, of the firm of f'ower, Low & Co.^ who were engaged in the blockade business at that time* She was rigged as a schoonei^ and armed with one twenty pound Parrott gun and two nine-pound smooth bore guns. She went to sea as a privateer, cruised in the West Indies for gome months, Capturing three or four vessels, but only succeeded in getting one into port, owing to the rigid l)lockade» She was finaliy sold in Nassau and was lost on Hatteras in the Winter of 186ft. After the seizure of the " Uncle Ben^^ by the Confederate authorities, her name was (diaUged to ^' Rptribution,'^ and she was commanded by Captain Locke, of Nova Scotia, her first ofiicei- being Captain Joseph Price^ of Wilmington. These two were the only privateers fitted out in Wilmington during our late Civil War- They did not acconi])ii^]i very ?]niclh and much could not have been expected of them, foi* 161 they were ordinnrv tn^n-bonts iiripiovised foi' the occa- sion, and not suited to the hazardous l)usiness in wliicdi rliey were eni])loyed. But they did some d:image, nevertheless, and those who managed and had charge of them are jnstly entitled to praise for the skill and intrepidity they displayed nnder very end)arrassing and advei'se conditions. rriie foregoing has been kindly furnished nie hy Colonel J. G. Buxr.) 162 '.eSS^K/M^V/uM.Nt Running the Blockade. Blockade-Runners. Tlhts narrative would be incomplete with on t a more extended reference to blockade-running on the Cape Fear during the Civil War, in which this writer, then a lad of sixteen years of age, was engaged as purser on the steamers "North Heath/' "Lilian^' and "Susan Beirne." The beach for mau}^ miles North and South of Bald Head is marked still by the melancholy wrecks- of swift and graceful steamers then employed in this perilous enterprise. Some of tlie liundred vessels engaged in this traffic ran between Wilmington and the West Indies with the regularity of mail-boats, and some, even of the slowest speed, eluding the vigilance of the Federal fleet, passed unscathed twenty, thirty and forty times, making millions for their fortunate owners. One little beauty, the "Siren," a fast boat, numbered nearly fifty voyages. The success of these 8liips depended, of course, in a great measure, upon the skill and coolness of their commanders and pilots. It is noteworthy that those in charge of Confederate naval officers were never taken: but many were captured, sunk or otherwise lost through no fault of the brave fellows wdio commanded tliem. There were also cases of con- temptible and ludicrous cowardice on the part of officers who dearly loved to brag on shore of the perils they had passed and the dangers they had braved. Such an one commanded for a time a noted and most successful blockade-runner. He was a good navigator, but when shots from the enemy's guns fell near him, he fled ingloriously from the bridge and locked himself in his cabin, leaving his chief officer and never-failing chief engineer to extricate the ship, which their cooler heads and braver hearts accomplished with safety to all on board. The unworthy commander would then, with unspeakable audacity, relate to his admiring friends 164 from Fort Fisher a clever story of liow he had eluded the pursuing blockaders. The names of some of the wrecks referred to may interest the traveller. The 'VBeanregard " and the "Venus" lie stranded OQ Carolina Beach; the "Modern Greece " near New Inlet ; the ''Antonica'' on Frying Pan Shoals ; the '' Ella" on Bald Head ; the " Spunky " and the "Georgiana McCall " on Caswell Beach; the "Hebe" and the "Dee" between Wrightsville and Masonboro. Two others lie near Lockwood's Folly bar, and others whose names are forgotten lie half buried in the sands where they may remain for centu- ries to come. The loss of the " Georgiana McCall " is associated with a horrible crime — the murder of her pilot When the ship was beached under the fire of the blockaders^ Mr. Thomas Dyer did not leave with the retreating crew who sought safety ashore; he seems to have been left behind in the rush. It was known that he had a large amount of money in gold on board, and it was thought that he remained to secure it. A boat returned for him, but found his bloody corpse instead. His skull was crushed as by a blow from behind ; there was no money on his person. Another man was found on board, but unhurt, wdio professed ignorance of lii& 165 fellow. This person was the watchman, and it is sjiid that he carried ashore a large amount of money. He was arrested on suspicion, but there was no proof. He still lives on the river, but the cause of poor Dyer's death will probably never be known until the Great Assize. 'm^ 166 Captain John NeWland Maffitt. Maffitt's Experience. ^(i[vE conclude our blockade-runner's reminiscences with a few extracts from his " Tales of the Cape Pear Blockade," published originally in the " Southport Leader." [Experiences of Captain John Newland Maffitt, C. 8. N., in running the blockade at Wilmington.] *• We are ready to depart ; friends bid us farewell 167 with lugubrious indulgence of fears for our safety, as the hazards of blockade-running had recently increased in consequence of the accumulated force and vigilance of the enemy. Discarding all gloomy prognostications, at dusk we left the harbor of Nassau. Before break of day Abaco light was sighted, a place of especial interest to Federal cruisers as the turning- point for blockade-runners. At the first blush of day we were startled by the close proximity of three American men-of-war. Not the lea at obeisance made they, but with shot and shell paid the early compli- ments of the mornincj. " The splintering spars and damaged bulwarks warned us of the necessity for traveling, particularly as nine hundred barrels of gun -powder constituted a portion of our cargo. A chance shell exploding in the hold would have consigned steamer and all hands to Tophet. We were in capital running condition and soon passed out of range. Tenaciously our pursuers held on to the chase, though it was evident that the fleet Confederate experienced no difficulty in giving them the go-by. In the zenith of our enjoyment of a refreshing sense of relief, the old cry of ''sail ho"! came from aloft. The look-out announced two steamers ahead and standing for us. A system of zigzag running became necessary to elude the per- 168 sistent enemy. (3ur speed soon accomplished this object. In about three hours the Federals faded under the horizon, and our proper course for the Cape Fear was resumed. Those who needed repose retired for the indulgence. My relaxation from official cares was of brief duration, as a gruff voice called out: " Captain, a burning vessel reported aloft, sir." Repairing on deck, by the aid of a spy-glass I could distinctly see, some four miles ahead, a vessel enveloped in smoke. Though not ourselves the subjects of charity, never- theless we were human, and as seamen cherished the liveliest sympathy for the unfortunate who came to grief on God's watery highway. Regardless of per- sonal interest, your true Jack Tar scorns the roll of Pharisee and prides himself upon the Samaritan pro- clivities that fail not to succor the sufferer by the wayside. ' Increasing our speed, we quickly ran quite near to the burning vessel. She proved to be a Spanish barque, with ensign at half-mast. (Int of her fore hatch arose a dense smoke. Abaft were clustered a panic-stricken group of passengers and crew. Among them several ladies were observed An inefi'ectual effort had been made to hoist out the long boat, which was still sus- pended by the yard^arni stay tackles. 169 '' Sending an officer aloft to keep a sharp look-out that we might not be surprised by the enemy while succoring the unfortunate, the chief mate was dis- patched in the cutter to render such assistance as his professional intelligence might suggest. He found the few passengers, among whom were four ladies, much calmer than the officers and crew; the latter, in place of endeavoring to extinguish the fire, which had broken out in the forecastle compartment, were confusedly hauling upon the stay-tackJe in a vain effort to launch the long boat. Our mate, with his boat's crew, passed the jabbering, panic-stricken Spaniards, and proceeded at once to the forecastle, which he instantly deluged with water, and to the astonishment of all hands, speedily subdued the trifling conflagration, which proved to have resulted from the burning of a quantity of lamp-rags that had probably been set on fire by one of the crew, who carelessly emptied his pipe when about to repair on deck. The quantity of old duds that lay scattered about Jack's luxuriously furnished apart- ment supplied abundant material for raising a dense smoke, but the rough construction of the vessel in this locality fortunately ottered nothing inflammable, and the great sensation, under the influence of a cool head, soon subsided into a farce. "The mate, who was much of a wag, enjoyed the to 170 general perturbation of the passengers, particularly on ascertaining that three of the ladies hailed from Marblehead, and were returning from a visit to an uncle who owned a well- stocked sugar plantation near Sagua Le Grande, in Cuba. A Spanish vessel bound to Halifax had been selected to convey them to a British port convenient for transportation to New York or Boston, without risk of being captured by Confed- erate buccaneers, whom, according to Cuban rumors^ swarmed over the ocean and were decidedly anthro- pophageous in their proclivities. " A hail from the steamer caused our mate to make his adieus, but not before announcing himself as one of the awful Southern slave-holders they had in con- versation anathematized. They could not believe that so kind and polite a gentleman could possibly be a wicked 'rebel.' ' But I am, ladies, and also a slave- owner, as is your uncle — farewell.' Instead of mani- festing anger at the retort, they laughed heartily and waved their handkerchiefs in kind adieu, utterly unsus- picious of having received kindness and courtesy from a blockade -runner. We made the best of speed on our way to Wilmington. The following day, our last at sea, proved undis- turbed and pleasant. At sunset the bar bore west- northwest seventy miles distant. It would be high 171 at half-past eleven, the proper time for crossing. Sixty miles I determined to dash off at full speed, and then run slowly for disentangling ourselves from the fleet. "None but the experienced can appreciate the difficul- ties that perplexed the navigator in running for South- ern harbors during tlie war, Tlie usual facilities ren- dered by the light houses and beacons had ceased to exist, having been dispensed with by the Confederate Government as dangerous abettors of contemplated mischief by the blockaders. "Success in making the destined harbors depended upon exact navigation, a knowledge of the coast, itssur* roundings and currents, a fearless approach, and banish- ment of the subtle society of John Barleycorn. Non- exx^erts too often came to grief, as the many hulks on the Carolina coast most sadly attest.^ "Under a pressure of steam we rushed ahead, annihi- lating space and melting with excited fancy hours into minutes. Our celerity shortens the distance, leaving *Captain Maffitt's reference to the necessity of exact navigation on the part of masters of blockade runners during the war, recalls to us a story told by Mark Stevenson, one of the signal corps boys, about a wonderful landfall made in the "Boston" by an oM friend and shipmate. Captain John W. Carrow, who said that his meridian observation made him a few miles to the westward of Raleigh, and that while he was trying to reach the capital, a yankee came along and picked him up. J. S. 172 only ten miles between us and the bar. With guiding lead, slowly and carefully we feel our way. " 'Captain.' observed the sedulous chief officer, as he strove to peer through the hazy atmos])here, 'it seems to me from our soundings that we should be very near the blockaders. Don't you think so' ? "'I do, was my response. 'Hist'! there goes a bell — one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, half-past eleven—a decidedly good calculation, and it is high water on the bar. By jove ! there are two directly ahead of us, and I think both are at anchor. Doubtless others are cruising around these indicators of the channel.' " I ordered the helm put hard a-starboard, directing the wheelman to run between the two blockaders, as it was too late to sheer clear of either. Through a bank of clouds huge grim objects grew distinctly into view and necessity forced me to run the gauntlet, trusting against hope that our transit would not arouse their vigilance. They w^ere alert vessels, for a sparkling^ hissing sound was instantly followed by the fiery train of a rocket, succeeded by the dreadful calcium lights with a radiance brilliant, though brief, as to illuminate distinctly an area of miles, " ' Heave to, or I'll sink you ' I shouted a gruff, impe- rious voice, so near that we could fancy his sx^^^^"^i^g' trumpet projected over the steamer. 'Ay, ay^ sir' ! was the prompt response, and to the horror of all on board, I gave the order in a loud tone : ' Stop the engine' ! " Then was heard the boatswain's whistle, the calling away of cutters and the tramping of boat's crews. Our impetus had caused the steamer to nearly emerge from between the Federals. "Back your engines, sir, and stand by to receive my boats,' said the same stern voice. Affirmatively acknowledging the command, I whispered loud enough for the engineer to hear me : ' Full speed ahead, sir, and open wide your throttle valve.' The movements of th« paddles for a moment deceived the Federal Com- mander into the belief that we were really backing, but speedily comprehending the manoeuvre, with very fierce execrations, he gave the order to fire. Drummond lights were burned, doubtless to aid the artillerists, but so radiated the mist as to raise our hull above the line of vision, causing the destructive missiles to play havoc with the sparse rigging instead of shattering our hull and probably exploding the nine hundred barrels of gun- powder with which General Johnston afterwards fought the battle of Shiloh. It certainly was a miraculous escape for both blockader and blockade-runner. We paused not recklessly, but at the rate of 16 knots an hour absolutely flew out of the unhealthy company who 174 discourteously followed us with exploding shells and for some time kept up such a fusillade as to impress us with the belief that the blockaders had inaugurated a ' kilkenny cat muddle,' and were polishing off each other, a supposition I subsequently learned was partially correct. ''The breakers warned us of danger, and the smooth water indicated the channel, through which we passed in safety, and at one o'clock in the morning we anchored off the venerable village of Smithville (now Southport). Then came the mental and physical reaction, producing a feeling of great prostration, relieved by the delightful realization of having passed through the tiery ordeal in safety and freedom. ' If after every tempest came such calms, May the winds blow till they have weakened death, And let the laboring barks climb hills of seas Olympus high ! and duck again as low As hell's from heaven.' " After sunrise we proceeded in all haste to Wilming- ton, where our cargo was quickly discharged. Having obtained our return cargo, in company with two other blockade runners, I started for Nassau, and although the sentinels of the bar presented me with affectionate souvenirs in the way of shot and shell, they did but lit- tle damage. My companions came to grief, thereby 175 adding to the prize fund tliat was shared by the Govern- ment with th(^ officers of the blockade squadron." Mrs. Maffitt adds: ''On the 10th of May, 1862, Captain Maffitt arrived in Nassan on the steamer 'Gordon,' and was there presented with a communica- tion from Captain Hiillock, Confederate Navy Agent in Enrope, requesting him to take immediate charge of the gunboat 'Oreto,' afterwards christened the 'Florida,' which he had dispatched to Nassau, and hasten to sea. Fully appreciating the necessity for prompt action, Captain Maffitt surrendered the 'Gordon' and took charge of the 'Oreto,' being confirmed in the command by the Secretary of the Navy. He retained command of the 'Fiorida' until April or June of 1864, when the state of his health comx^eiled him to apply for detach- ment, which being granted. Captain Barney became his successor. At this time the 'Florida' had been run into the harbor of Brest, France, for needed repairs. Captain Maffitt writes: 'The demand on my physical ability liad been excessive, nor liad I entirely recovered from the effects of yellow fever, which still clung to me, and was militating against my general usefulness. Consult- ing a distinguished physician in Paris, he pronounced my heart affected by tropical disease, and after putting me through a course of severe treatment, started me off for Sweden, not to rest, but to travel for my health." 176 Shortly afterwards Captain MafRtt went to England, took command of a blockade-runner, " Lilian,'' of which Mr. James Sprunt, the compiler of these notes, was the purser, and returned to the Confederacy through the X)ort of Wilmington. He was then ordered to relieve Captain Cooke at Plymouth, N. C, from the command of the ''Albemarle," which had been so wonderfully constructed and gallantly handled by Captain Cooke in the attack on the "Southfield" and ''Miami." Prom this duty Captain MafRtt was soon relieved and ordered to the command of the "Owl," one of the blockade- runners purchased from England by the Government. The 21st of December, 1864, found him on board the "Owl" at Wilmington, receiving her cargo of 750 bales of cotton. With three other blockade-runners in com- pany, he started for the bar. He escaped the Federal sentinels "without the loss of a roxje-ynrn," though one of his companions came to grief through an accident to machinery. Their destination was St. George, Bermuda, w^hich they reached in safety, finding several steamers loaded and anxiously awaiting news from the Federal expedition under General Butler against Fort Fisher. Through a Halifax steamer, the Northern papers apprised them of the failure of the expedition, and in company with six other steamers and many gallant spirits, thtf 177 ^^Owl" started on her return to Dixie, all cheered by the (to them) joyful news. Jn the meantime another expedition against Fort Fisher had been fitted out under General Terry and Admiral Porter, which had been successful, and the river was in })Ossession of the Federals. Communicating with Lockwood's Folly, where they reported all quiet and Fislier intact, Captain Maffitt steamed for the Cape Fear. At eight o'clock it was high water on the bar, and the moon would not rise before eleven. Approaching the channel, he was sur- prised to see but one sentinel guarding the entrance. Eluding him, he passed in. Some apprehension was excited by a conflagration at Bald Head and non-response to his signals, but as Fort Caswell looked natural and quiet, he decided to anchor off the Fort wharf. He was immediately interviewed by the Chief of Ordnance and Artillery, E. S. Martin, and another officer, who informed him of the state of affairs and that the train was already laid for blowing up Fort CaswelL^. Gunboats were approaching, and in great distress Captain Maffitt hastily departed. The solitary blockader pursued him furi- ously for some time, and far at sea he heard the explosion that announced the fate of Caswell. As his cargo was important and much needed. Captain Maffitt determined to make an effort to enter the port of 178 Charleston, although he had been informed that it was more closely guarded than ever beiore. The rest of the story is told in Captain Maffitt's inimitable style : "The history of the live steamers in whose company I sailed from the harbor of St. George's is briefly told. Captain Wilkinson, the late gallant commander of the 'Chickamaiiga,' was too experienced and keen a cruiser to be caught in a trap. Convinced from observation that there was 'something rotten in the State of Den- mark,' he judiciously returned to Bermuda. The re- maining three were decoyed into New Inlet by the contin- uance of the Mound Light, and became easy prey under the following circumstances: First, the 'Stag,' with several English officers on board as passengers, deceived by Admiral Porter's cuteness, crossed the bar, and, as was customary, anchored under the mound, there to abide the usual visit of inspection of the boarding officer of Fort Fisher. Waiting some little time without receiving the official call, the Captain naturally con- cluded it had been deferred until daylight. He there- fore directed the steward to serve the entertainment that had been elaborately prex)ared to celebrate their safe arrival in the Confederacy. The gastronomic hidalgo flourished his baton of office and escorted his guests to the festive board. In shouts of revelry and 179 with flowing bumpers, the joc/nnd party Luzizahed for Dixie, and sang her praises in songs of adulation that made the welkin ring, and aroused the sea mews from their ijeaceful slumbers. A pause from exhaustion having occurred in their labor of justice to the luxurious repast gave to an English captain a desired opportunity to ventilate in appropriate sentiments his appreciation of the joyful occasion. Mysteriously rapping to enjoin attention, in the silence that followed, he solemnly arose. At a wave of his dexter, the steward, all alert- ness, replenished the glasses. "'Gentlemen,' said the captain, 'after a successful voyage, fraught with interesting incidents and excite- ments, we have anchored upon the soil of battle-worn, grand old Dixie. We come, not as mercenary adven- turers, to enlist under the banner of the Confederacy, but, like true knights errant, to join as honorable vol- unteers, the standard of the bravest lance in Christen- dom, that of the noble, peerless Lee (cheers, hear, hear). In gaining this Palestine of our chivalrous aspirations we have successfully encountered the more than ordi nary perils of the sea, in storm, the lingering chase, and hazards of the blockade. Through all vicissitudes there was a mind to conceive, a hand to guide, a courage to execute. CTentlemen, I propose the health and happiness 180 and speedy promotion of the officer who merits these commendations— our worthy commander.' ^'Mingled with vociferons applanse, came the cus- tomary hip! hip! hnzzah ! hip! hip! huz— "The half uttered huzzah froze like an icicle on the petrified lips of the orator, who •With wild surprise, As if to marble stuck, devoid of sense, A stupid moment, motionless stood,' as the apparition of a Federal midshipman appeared upon the cabin stairway. " ' Who commands this steamer? ' was the Federal's interrogatory. "' I am that unhappy individual,' groaned the com- mander, as reminiscences of a long confinement came X)ainfully to his mind. " ' You are a prize to Admiral Porter's squadron, and I relieve you of all further responsibility. Gentlemen, as parolled prisoners, you are at liberty to finish your rejjast/ '• The withering enunciation of capture blighted like a black frost the hopeful blossoms that had, under the inspiring influence of the sparkling Epernay, bubbled into X)oetic existence. One by one the lights soon faded in this banquet hall deserted, their last glimmer, falling 181 mournfully on the debris of the unfinished congratula- tory repast. "Ere an hour elapsed two more unfortunates, lured by the channel lights, entered and likewise anchored off the mound, and became a prey to Admiral Porter's fleet. "My cargo being important, and the capture of Fort Fisher and Cape Fear cutting me off from Wilmington, I deemed it my duty to make an effort to enter the harbor of Charleston, in order to deliver the much- needed supplies. "I had been informed that the blockade of that port was more stringently and numerically guarded than ever before since the inauguration of hostilities. The 'Owl's' speed was now accommodated to the necessary time of arriving off the bar, which was 10 p. m. Throughout the day vigilant steamers were seen along the shore inspecting inlets and coves regardless of their want of capacity for blockade purposes. This spirit of inspec- tion and watchfulness was most assiduous, as if an order had been issued to overhaul even the coast gallinipers to see that aid and comfort in the shape of muskets and pistols were not smuggled into the needy Confederacy. Occasionally one of these constables of the sea would fire up and make a dash after the 'Owl'; a little more coal and stirring up of the fire-draft was sufiicient to start the blockade- runner off with such admirable speed 182 as to convince the Federal that he was after the fleetest steamer that ever eluded the guardians of the channel- ways. " Seasonably making the passage, 9 o'clock, P. M., found us not far from the mouth of MafRtt's channel. Anticipating a trying niglit and the bare possibility of capture, two bags were slung and suspended over the quarter by a stout line. In these bags were placed the Grovernment mail not yet delivered, all private corres- pondence, and my war journal, including the cruise of the 'Florida,' besides many other papers. An intelli- gent quarter- master was ordered to stand by the bags with a hatchet, and the moment capture became inevita- ble, to cut adrift and let them sink. "When on the western tail-end of Rattlesnake Shoal, we encountered streaks of mist and fog that enveloped stars and everything for a few moments, wdien it would become quite clear again. Running cautiously in one of these obscurations, a sudden lift in tlie haze disclosed that we were about to run into an anchored blockader. We had bare room with a hard-aport helm to avoid him some fifteen or twenty feet, when their officer on deck called out: 'Heave to, or I'll sink you'! The order was unnoticed, and we received his entire broadside, that cut away turtle-back, perforated forecastle and tore up bulwarks in front of our engine-room, wounding twelve 183 men, some severely, some slightly. The quarter-master stationed by the mail-bags was so convinced that we were captured that he instantly used his hatchet, and sent them, well moored, to the bottom. Hence my meagre account of the cruise of the 'Florida.' Rockets were fired as we passed swiftly out of his range of sight, and drummond lights lit up the animated surroundings of a swarm of blockaders, who commenced an indis- criminate discharge of artillery. We could not under- stand the reason of this bombardment, and as we picked our way out of the melee, concluded that several block- ade-runners must have been discovered feeling their way into Charleston. "After the war, in conversing with the officer command- ing on that occasion, he said that a number of the steamers of the blockade were commanded by inexperi- enced volunteer officers, who were sometimes over- zealous and excitable, and hearing the gun-boat firing into me, and seeing her rockets and signal lights, they thought that innumerable blockade-runners were forcing a passage into the harbor, hence the indiscriminate discharge of artillery, which was attended with uufor- tunate results to them. This was my last belligerent association with blockade-running. Entering the harbor of Charleston, and finding it in the possession of Federals, 184 I promptly checked progress and retreated. The last order issued by the Navy Department, when all hope for rhe cause had departed, was for me to deliver the 'Owl' to Frazier, Trenholme & Co., in Liverpool, which I accordingly did." The Blockade Runner " Don. (f^NE of the most distinguished Commanders of the blockade running steamers was Captain Roberts (so- called) of the twin screw steamer "Don," a quick, handy little boat, admirably adapted to the trade. I had the pleasure of knowing him personally through frequent intercourse with his signal officer, a fine young felloAv, named Selden, from Virginia, and we were much impressed w4th the superior bearing and intelligence of this remarkable man, who afterwards became famous in the war between Russia and Turkey as Hobart Pasha, Admiral-in-Chief of the Turkish Navy. " Captain Roberts" was really the Honorable Augus- tus Charles Hobart Hampden (son of the Earl of Buck- inghamshire), Post Captain in the Royal Navy, and for a time Commander of Qaeen Victoria's yacht " Victoiia and Albert." He had seen service in the 185 war between Emperor Nicholas, France and Great Britain in 1854, under the great Admiral Sir Charles Napier, when he commanded H. M. S. "Driver," and after the general order "Lads sharpen your cutlasses" boarded the Russian warships before Cronstadt, stormed the seven forts which guarded the entrance to that harbor, and sailed up the Neva even to St. Petersburg itself. Having made- several runs into Wilmington during his absence from England on leave, he returned home, and, fretting under the dull routine of service ashore, accepted the command of the entire Turkish Nav}^ at the outbreak of the war with his old antago- nists, the Russians. He died in 1886 Admiral-in -Chief of the Turkish Navy, and was buried in the English cemetery at Scutari. Following is his own account of adventures in blockade-running to Wilmington : *' We left the quay at Wilmington cheered by the hurrahs of our brother blockade -runners, who were taking in and discharging their cargoes, and steamed a short distance down the river, when we were boarded to be searched and smoked. This latter extraordinary proceeding, called for perhaps by the existing state of affairs, took me altogether aback. That a smoking apparatus should be applied to a cargo of cotton seemed almost astounding. But so it was ordered, the object being to search for runaways, and strange to say, its 186 efficacy was apparent, when, after an hour or more application of the process (which was by no means a gentle one) an unfortunate wretch, crushed almost to death by the closeness of his hiding-place, poked with a long stick till his ribs must have been like touch- wood, and smoked the color of a backwood Indian, was dragged by the heels into the daylight, ignomin- iously put into irons and hurled into the guard-boat. This discovery nearly caused the detention of the vessel on suspicion of our being the accomplices of the runaway; but after some deliberation we were allowed to go on. '' Havino^ steamed down the river a distance of about twenty miles, we anchored at two o'clock in the after- noon near its mouth. We were hidden by Fort Fisher from the blockading squadron lying off the bar, there to remain till some time after nightfall. After anchor- ing we went on shore to take a peep at the enemy from the batteries. Its commandant, a fine, dashing young Confederate officer (Colonel Lamb), who was a firm friend to blockade-runners, accompanied us round the fort. We counted twenty -five vessels under weigh ;. some of them occasionally ventured within range ; but no sooner had one of them done so than a shot was thrown so unpleasantly near that she at once moved out again. 187 ^* We were much struck with the weakness of Fort Fisher, which, with a garrison of twelve hundred men^ and only half finished, could have been easily taken at any time since the war began by a resolute body of five thousand men making a night attack. It is true that at the time of its capture it was somewhat stronger than at the time I visited it. but even then its o^arrison was comparatively small and its defences unfinished. I fancy the bold front so long shown by its occupiers had much to do with the fact that such an attack was not attempted till just before the close of the war. The time chosen for our starting was eleven o'clock, at which hour the tide was at its highest on the bar at the entrance of the river. Fortunately the moon set abont ten, and as it w-as very cloudy, we had every reason to expect a pitch-dark night. There w^ere two or three causes that made one rather more nervous on this occasion than when leaving Bermuda. " In the first place, five minutes after we had crossed the bar vve should be in the thick of the blockaders, who always closed nearer in on the very dark nights. Secondly, our cargo of cotton was of more importance than the goods we had carried in; and thirdly, it was the thing to do to make the double trip in and out safely. There were also all manner of reports of the new plans that had been arranged by a zealous Corn- 188 modore lately sent from New York to catch us all. However, it was of do use canvassing these questions, so at a quarter to eleven we weighed anchor and steamed down to the entrance of the river. " Very faint lights, which could not be seen far at sea, were set on the beach in the same position as I have before described, having been thus placed for a vessel coming in; and bringing these astern in an exact line, that is, the two into one, we knew that we were in the passage for going over the bar. The order was then given: ' Full speed ahead,' and we shot at a great speed out to sea. "Our troubles began almost immediately; for the cruisers had placiod a rowing barge, which could not be seen by the forts, close to the entrance, to signalize the direction which any vessel that came out might take. This was done by rockets being thrown up by a designed plan from the barge. We had hardly cleared the bar when we saw this boat very near our bows, nicely placed to be run clean over, and as we were going about fourteen knots, her chance of escape would have been small had we been inclined to finish her. Changing the helm, which I did myself, a couple of spokes just took us clear. We passed so close that I could have dropped a biscuit into the boat with ease. 189 I heard the crash of broken oars against oar sides; not a word was spoken. *' 1 strongly suspect every man in that boat held his breath till the great white avalanche of cotton, rushing by so unpleasantly near, had passed quite clear of her. *' However, they seemed very soon to have recovered themselves, for a minute had scarcely passed before up went a rocket, which I thought a very ungrateful proceeding on their part. But they only did their duty, and perhaps they did not know how nearly they had escaped being made food for fishes. On the rocket being thrown up, a gun was fired uncommonly close to us. but as we did not hear any shot, it may have been only a signal to the cruisers to keep a sharp lookout. " We steer<^d a mile or two near the coast, always edging a little to the eastward, and then shaped our course straight out to sea. Several guns were fired in the pitch- darkness very near us. (I am not quite sure whether some of the blockaders did not occasionally pepper each other.) After an hour's fast steaming we felt mode^^ately safe, and by the morning had a good ofiing. " Daylight broke with thick, hazy weather, nothing being in sight. We went all right till half- past eight o'clock, when the weather cleared up, and there was a large paddle-wheel cruiser (that we must have passed 190 very near to in the thick weather) about six miles astern of us. The moment she saw us she gave chase. After running for a quarter of an hour it was evident that, with our heavy cargo on board, the cruiser had the legs of us, and as there was a long day before us for the chase, things looked badly. We moved some cotton aft to imaierse our screws well; but still the cruiser was steadily decreasing her distance from us, when an incident of a very curious nature favored us for a time. "It is mentioned in the book of sailing directions that the course of the gulf stream (in the vicinity of which we knew we were) is in calm weather and smooth water plainly marked out by a ripple on its inner and outer edges. We clearly saw, about a mile ahead of us, a remarkable ripple, which we rightly, as it turned out, conjectured was that referred to in the book. As soon as we had crossed it we steered the usual course of the current of the Gulf Stream, that here ran from two to three miles an hour. Seeing us alter our course, the cruiser did the same; but she had not crossed the ripple on the edge of the stream, and the course she was now steering tended to keep her for some time from doing so. The result soon made it evident that the observations in the book were correct; for until she, too, crossed the ripple into the stream, we dropped her 191 rapidly astern, whereby we increased oar distance to at least seven miles. " It was now noon, from which time the enemy again began to close with ns, and at five o'clock was not more than three miles distant. At six o'clock she opened a harmless fire with the Parrott gun in her bow, the shot falling far short of us. The sun set at a quarter to seven, by which time she had got so near that she managed to send two or three shots over us, and was steadily coming up. " Luckily, as night came on, the weather became very cloudy, and we were on the dark side of the moon, now setting in the West, which occasionally breaking through the clouds astern of the cruiser, showed us all her movements, while we must have been very difficult to make out, though certainly not more than a mile off. All this time she kept firing away, thinking, I suppose, that she would frighten us into stopping. If we had gone straight on, we should doubtless have been caught, so we altered our course two points to the eastward. After steaming a short distance, we stopped quite still, blowing off steam under water, not a spark or the slio-htest smoke showinor from the funnel; and we had the indescribable satisfaction of seeing our enemy st(^ara past us, still firing ahead at some imaginary vessel. 192 " This had been a raost exciting chase and a very narrow escape; night only saved us from a New York prison. All this hard running had made an awful hole in our coal-bunkers, and as it was necessary to keep a stock for a run off the Bahama Islands, we were obliged to reduce our expenditure to as small a quantity as possible. However, we were well out to sea, and after having passed the line of cruisers between Wilmington and Bermuda, we had not much to fear until we approached the British possessions of Nassau and the adjacent Islands, where two or three very fast American vessels were cruising, although five hundred miles from American waters. I am ignorant, I confess, of the laws of block- ade, or indeed if a law there be that allows its enforce- ment and penalties to be enacted, five hundred miles away from the ports blockaded. But it did seem strang'e that the men-of-war of a nation at peace with England should be allowed to cruise off her ports to stop and examine trading vessels of all descriptions, to capture and send to New York, for adjudication vessels on the mere suspicion of their being intended blockade-run- ners; and to chase and fire into real blockade- runners so near to the shore that on one occasion the shot and shell fell into a fishing village, and that within sight of an English man-of-war lying* at anchor in the ha^rbor at 193 Nassau. Surely it is time that some well-understood laws should be made, and rules laid down, or such doings will sooner or later recoil on their authors. ''Having* so little coal on board, we determined on making* for the nearest point on the Bahama Islands, and luckily reached a queer little island called Green Turtle Quay, on the extreme North of the group, where Was a small English colony, without being seen by the cruisers. We had not been there long, however, before one of them came sweeping round the shore and stopped Unpleasantly near to us^ even though we were inside the rock^ she hovered about outside, not a mile from us. " We were a tempting bait, but a considerable risk to snap, and I suppose the American captain could not quite make up his mind to capture a vessel (albeit a blockade-runner piped full of cotton) lying in an Eng- lish port, insignificant though that port might be. We had got a large white English ensign hoisted on a pole, thereby showing the nationality of the rock, should the t3ruiser be inclined to question it. After many longing looks she steamed slowly away, much to our satisfac- tion. Coals were sent to us from Nassau the next day, which having been taken on board, we weiglied anchor, •keeping close to the reefs and islands all the way. We steamed towards that port, and arrived safeh% having 194 made the in-and-out voyag-e, including' the time in un- loading and loading- at Wilmington, in sixteen days. "To attemj)t to describe at leng-th the state of thing's at this unusually tranquil and unfrequented little spot is beyond my powers. I will only mention some of its most striking' features. Nassau differed much from Wilmington, inasmuch as at the latter place there was a considerable amount of poverty and distress, and men's minds were weighed with many troubles and anxieties; whereas at Nassau everything' at the time I speak of was couleur de rose Every one seemed prosperous and happy. You met with calculating", far- seeing men who were steadily employed in feathering their nests, let the war in America end as it mig'ht; others, who, in the height of enthusiasm for the South- ern cause, put their last farthing- into Confederate se- curities, anticipating' enormous profits; some men, care- less and thoughtless, living' for the hour, were spending' their dollars as fast as they made them, forg*etting' that they 'would never see the like again. "^ There were rol- licking captains and officers of blockade-runners, and drunken, swagg'ering* crews; sharpers looking' out for victims; Yankee spies and insolent, worthless free nigg'ers — all these combined made amostheterogeneous, though interesting., crowd. 195 ^'The inhabitants of Nassau, who, until the period of blockade-running, had, with some exceptions, subsisted on a precarious and somewhat questionable liveli- hood gained by wrecking, had their heads as much turned as the rest of the world. Living was exorbi- tantly dear, as can Well be imagined, when the captain of a blockade-runner could realize in a month a sum as large as the Governor's salary. The expense of living was so great that the officers of the West India resi- ment quartered here had to apply for special allowance, and I believe their application was successful. The hotel, a large building, hitherto a most ruinous specu- lation, began to realize enormous profits. In fact, the almighty dollar was spent as freely as the humble cent had been before this golden era in the annals of Nassau* ''As we had to stay here till the time for the dark nights came round again, we took it easy, and thor- oughly enjoyed all the novelty of the scene. Most lib- eral entertainment was provided free by our owner's agent, and altogether we fouuvd Nassau very jolly; so much so that we felt almost sorry when 'time' was called, and we had to prepare for another I'un. In fact, it was pleasanter in blockade-running to look backwards than forwards, especially if one had been so far in o-ood luck. 196 '' All being ready, we steamed out of Nassau harbor, and were soon ag-ain in perilous waters. We had a dis- tant chase now and then— a mere child's play to us after our experience — and on the third evening- of our voyage we were pretty well placed for making' a run through the blockading' squadron a« soon as it was dark. As the moon rose at twelve o'clock, it was very important that we should get into port tefore she threw a light upon the subject. ''Unfortunately, we were oblig'ed to alter our course or stop so often to avoid cruisers tlmt we ran our time too close; for, as we were g-etting' near to the line of blockade, a splendid, three-quarter size moon rose, mak- ing everything- as clear as day. Trying' to pass through the line of ves3els ahead with such a brig'htlig'ht shining' would have been madness; in fa£'t, it was dang'er- ous to be moving" about at all in such clear weather^ so we steamed towards the land on the extreme left of the line of cruisers, and having' luade it out, went quite; close inshore and anchored. ''By lying' as close as we dared to the beach, we must have had. the appea.rance of forming' part of the low sand hills, which were about the heig'ht and color of the vessel, the wood, on their tops forming" a ba>ckgTound« which hid the small amount of funnel and mast that showed above the decks. We nuist liiive been nearly 197 iiivii^ible^ for we had scarcely been an hour at anchor^ when a o'an-boat came steaming along* the shore very near to the beach; and while we were breathlessly watching her, hoping she would go past, she dropped, anchor alongside of us, a little outside where we were lying — -so close that we not only heard every order that was given on board, but could almost make out the pur- port of the ordinary conversation of the people on her decks. A pistol shot would have easily reached us. Our position was most unpleasant, to say the least of it. We could not stay where we were, as it only wanted two hours to daybreak. If we had attempted to weigh anchor, we must have been heard doing so. However, we had sufficient steam at command to make a run for it. So, after waiting a little to allow the cruiser's fires to get low, we knocked the pin out of the shackle of the chain on deck, and easing the cable down into the water, went ahead with one engine and astern with the other, to turn our vessel round head to seaward. ''Imagine our consternation when, as she turned, she struck the shore before coming half round (she had been lying with her head inshore, so now it was pointed along the beach, luckily in the right direction, i. e., lying from the cruiser). There was nothing left to us but to put on full speed, and if possible force her from 198 the obstruction, which after two or three hard biimpt^ we succeeded in doing. ''After steaming quite close to the beach for a little way, we stopped to watch the gun- boat, which, after resting for an hour or so, weighed anchor and steamed along the beach in the opposite direction to the way we had been steering, and was soon out of sight. So we steamed a short distance inshore and anchored again. It would have been certain capture to have gone out to sea just before daybreak, so we made the little craft as invisible as possible, and remained all the next day, trusting to our luck not to be seen. And our luck fa- vored us, for although we saw several cruisers at a dis- tance, none noticed us, which seems almost miraculous. ''Thus passed Christmas day, 1863, and an anxious day it was to all of us. We might have landed our cargo where we were lying but it would have been landed in a dismal swamp, and we would have been obliged to go into Wilmington for our cargo of cotton. "When night closed in we weighed anchor and steamed to the entrance of the river, which, from, our position being so well defined, we had no difficulty in making- out. We received a broadside from a savage little gun- boat quite close in shore, her shot passing over us, and that was all. We got comfortably to the anchoi'age 199 about half-past eleven o'clock, and so ended our second journey in. "It is not my intention to inflict on my readers any more anecdotes of my doings in the D — n, suffice it to say that I had the good luck to make six round trips in her, in and out of Wilmington, and that I gave her over to the chief officer and went home to England with my spoils. "On arriving at Southampton, the first thing I saw in the 'Times' was a paragraph headed 'The capture of the 'D- n.' Poor little craft! I learned afterwards how she was taken, which I will relate, and which will show that she died game. "The officer to whom I gave over charge was as fine a specimen of a seaman as can well be imagined, pluck}^ cool and determined, and by the way, he was a bit of a medico, as well as a sailor; for by his beneficial treat- ment of his patients we had very few complaints of sickness on board. As our small dispensary was close to my cabin I used to hear the conversation that took place between C and his patients. I will repeat one: C. — 'Well, m}-^ man, what^s the matter with you? Patient. — 'Please, sir, IVe got pains all over me." C. — 'Oh, all over you are the}^; tliat's bad.' 200 t 'Then, during the pause, it was evident Something was being mixed up, and I could hear C— say: 'Here, tal^e this, and come again in the evening. ' (Exit patient. ) ''Then C— — said to himself: 'I don't think he'll come again; he has got two drops of the croton. Skulking rascal, pains all over him, eh V' ''I never heard the voice of that patient again; in fact, after a short time we had no cases of sickness on board, uQ__ explained to me that the only medicine he served out, as he called it, was croton oil: and that none of the crew came twice for treatment. ''Never having run through the blockade as com- mander of a vessel (though he was with me all the time and had as much to do with our luck as I had), he was naturally very anxious to get safely through. There can be no doubt that the vessel had lost much of her speed, for she had been very hardly pushed on several occasions* This told sadly against her, as the result will show. "On the third afternoon after leaving Nassau she was in a good position for attempting the run when night came on. She was moving stealthily about waiting for the evening, when suddenly, on the weather, Which had been hitherto thick and hazy, clearing up, she saw a cruiser unpleasantly near to her, which l)ore down un- der steam and sail, and it soon became probable that 201 the pcK>r little 'D n's' twin screws would not save her this time, well and often as they had done so before. "The cruiser, a large, full-rigged corvette, wa^ coming up hand over hand, carrying a strong breeze, and the days of the 'D n' seemed numbered, when C^ — ^ tried a ruse worthy of any of the heroes of naval history. "The wind, as I said, was very fresh, with a good deal of sea running. "On came the cruiser till the 'D n' w^as almost under her bows, and shortened sail in fine style. The moment the men were in the rigging, going aloft to furl the sails, C put his plan into execution. He turned his craft head to the wind, and steamed de- liberately past the corvette at not fifty yards distance. She with great way on, went nearly a quarter of a mile before she could turn. "I have it from good authority that the order was not given to the marines on the man-of-war's poop to fire at the plucky little craft who had so fairly out- manoeuvred the cruiser, for out-manceuvred she was to all intents and purposes. ' 'The two or three guns that had been cast loose during the clmse had been partially secured, and left 202 so while the men had gone aloft to furl the sails, so that not a shot was fired as she went xDast. Shortly after she had done so, the cruiser opened fire with her bow gains, but with the sea that was running she could do no harm, being without any toj) weights. "The 'D ^n^ easily dropped the corvette Avitli her heavy spars astern, and was soon far ahead, so much so that when night came on the cruiser was shut out of sight in the darkness. "After this the 'D n' deserved escape, but it w^as otherwise fated. "The next morning when day broke she was within three miles of one of the new fast vessels, which had come out on her trial trip, flying light, alas! She had an opportunity of trying her speed advantageously to herself. She snapped up the poor 'D -n' in no time and took her to the nearest port. "I may mention that the 'D n' and her captain were well known and much sought after by the Amer- ican cruisers. The first remark that the officer on coming aboard her was: 'Well, Captain Koberts, so we have caught you at last!' and he seemed much dis- appointed when he was told that the captain they so particularly wanted went home in the last mail. 203 ^'Tlie corvette, which had been chased and beaten by the 'D— — ^n' the day before, was lying in the port into which she was taken. Her captain, when he saw the prize said, 'I must go on board and shake hands with the gallant fellow who connnands that vessel !' and he did so, warmly complimenting C— — on the courage he had shown, thus proving that he could ap- preciate pluck and that American naval men did not look down on blockade-running as a grievous sin, hard work as it gave them to x^ut a stop to it. They were sometimes a little severe on men who, after having been fairly caught in a chase at sea, wantonly de- stroyed their compasses, chronometers, etc., rather than let them fall into the hands of the cruiser's officers. "I must say that I was always prepared, had I been caught, to have made the best of things, to have given the officer who came to take possession all that they had fairly gained by luck having declared on their side, and to have a farewell glass of champagne with the new tenant at the late owner's expense. The treatment received by persons captured engaged in running the blockade differed very materially. "Jf a bona fide American man-of-war of the Old 204 School made the ca^jture, they were always treated with kindness by their captors. But there were among the officers of vessels picked up hurriedly and employed by the Government a very rough lot, who rejoiced in making their prisoners as uncomfortable as possible. They seemed to have only one good quality, and this was that there were among them many freemasons, and frecxuently a prisoner found the advantage of having been initiated into the brotherhood. ''The 'D n' crew fell into very good hands, and till they arrived at New York were comfortable enough ; but the short time they spent in prison there, while the vessel was undergoing the mockery of a trial in the Admiralty Court, was far from pleasant. How- ever, it did not last very long — not more than ten days ; and as soon as they were free most of them went back to Nassau or Bermuda ready for work. "C came to England and told me all his troubles. Poor fellow! I am afraid his services were not half appreciated as they oug'lit to have been, for success, in blockade-running-, as in everything else, is a virtue, whereas bad luck, even though accompanied with pluck of a hero, is always more or less a crime not to l>e forgiven." Pilots in a Storm 205 ,E have referred to the hard hfe of these toilers of the sea, who often win their bread at the risk of their Hves. Before the recent change in the method of boarding inward-bound vessels, pilotage business was open to gene- ral competition, and as about sixty licensed men depended upon their profession for a living, many of them took their lives in their hands and cruised in frail boats and heavy weather for fifty and a hundred miles at sea, searching for vessels in need of their assistance. We illustrate some of the hardships to which they were exposed by the following thrilling story of the great storm in 1877 by Colonel Waddell, which will doubtless be read with interest : "On April 12tli, 1877, one of the most terrific storms that ever visited the North Carolina coast began and lasted for three days, culminating on the 15th off Cape Fear. It was fearfully destructive to life and property, wrecking many ships with their crews and cargoes, and burying them beneath the waves. One large three-masted vessel broke up and parts of her drifted into Smithville Bay, a prize for the wreckers, which not only illustrated the force of the storm, but was a curiosity in the strength of its structure. 206 *• All her bolts," said one who examined pieces of the wreck, * are brass, four, six and even eight feet long ; the knees are solid iron and the outside planking six inches through and of stout pine' ." There were two Smithville pilot-boats, the Mary K. Sprunt and the Uriah Tiramons, cruising off the coast at the time the storm commenced, and finding it impossible to make a harbor, they were compelled to stand off and try to weather it out. The Mary K. Sprunt had a crew of five men, viz: Christopher Pinner, Robert Walker, Charles Dosher, Jr., Thomas Grissom and Lawrence Gillespie, the cook. They were brave and skilful men, but after a desperate struggle, in which all that the most skilful seamanship could accomplish had been exhausted, she went down with all on board. On the 28th, the body of Tom Grissom was found by the pilot-boat H. Westerman, floating at sea, about nine miles out, and the pilots also found the Mary K. Sprunt lying on the bottom, in eleven and a half fathoms, her white sails torn into ribbons, shining up through the blue depths and undulating with the motion of the restless sea. The Uriah Timmons had a crew of four men, C. C. Morse, Julius Weeks, Joseph Thompson, Jr., and Joseph 207 Arnold, and of these Arnold was the youngest, hardly twenty years of age. Every precaution was taken upon the approach of the storm, and with only enough canvas to steer by, she faced it. All day and night of the 12thy she leaped and rolled and dived like a cork on the waves, while the storm increased in fury every hour. Day dimly dawned on the 13th over a howling waste of waters, whose billow:^ heaved her skvward, leavinij areat chasms, down whose sides she rushed headlong as if to certain destruction. A gray mist shrouded sky and sea, and the storm-fiend shrieked with that unearthly voice which, once heard, is never forgotten. Cowering before the blast, licked from stem to stern by the tongue of the hungry sea, groaning and sobbing as she strained up the watery heights or slid down the hissing gulfs, the little ship drove on. Although carrying but thirteen yards of canvas, the jaw of the boom was eating into the foremast like a famished animal. With the advancing day, the fury of the gale increased. It seemed as if the spirit of an angry god walked the waters and was lashing the elements in his wrath. A mountainous wave, leading the host of billows, would rush toward the little vessel, and toppling as if to fall upon and crush her, would lower its crest, and gliding beneath her trembling timbers, lift her almost clear 208 ill air and toss her, toy-like^ to another hillow, while the multitudinous ocean roared with rage. The crew of the Timmons, brave and hardy mariners as they were, and accustomed to storms on the broad water from childhood, stood appalled at the surpassing terrors of this awful scene. Lashed in the cockpit, with vise-like grip upon the wheel and drenched to the skin, sat Julius Weeks, who had been there thirteen hours. At last, towards after- noon, to the utter dismay of all on board, the jib-halyard parted, and flying down the stay, the jib hung, bag-like, below the bowsprit, and instantly the sea, like a ravenous beast, fell upon it and held it down as if devouring it. The brave boat struggled hard to lift her bow, thus weighed, from the waves, and with a mighty effort suc- ceeded. Again the sea seized and held the bellying jib, and again the gallant boat, struggling, raised it clear, but with weakening power. The pilots now realized that, unless immediately released from this new and frightful danger, the Timmons could not hold her head up, but must founder after a few more struggles; but, feeling assured that an attempt to reach the jib-stay would result in certain death, as no man could ever remain on the bow- sprit, even if he could reach it, they were stricken with 209 despair. "We are lost." exclaiTiied one; "unless we can cut that jib-halliard, we are certainly gone! A man can't live there, but it is our only hope." Who should do this desperate deed ? They hurriedly agreed to decide the matter by lot, and were about to pro- ceed to do so, when Joe Arnold, who was now at the wheel, shouted : ' Hold on, men ! You are all married and have families ; T am a single man ; let me try it, and if I go overboard it will be all right," and surrendering the wheel, the brave b(\v drew his sheath-knife, and putting it between his teeth, started forward. It was impossible to keep his footing, and so he crawled cautiously along the deck (there is no railing to a pilot-boat), holding on as best he could. His companions watched him with the eager- ness of men whose only hope of life hung on his steadi- ness of nerve and physical strength. If he reached the bowsprit in safety, the sea w^ould certainly beat him off, for every time the little craft plunged, the waves seemed to leap up to meet her. For the first time since childhood fervent prayers rose to the lips of some of these men, who had ^'followed the sea" all their days without thinking of Him whose presence they now realized as they had never realized it before, and tears flowed freely down their bronzed faces. 210 Joe reached the foremast, and just then the Timmons rolled nearly on her beam-ends. He threw his arms around the mast and held on. The storm was now inde- scribably fierce and terrific. As the vessel slowly recov- ered herself, he loosened his hold and crawled towards the bowsprit. He reached it, got astride of it, locked his arms around it, drew a long breath, and then with a rush, the Timmons buried her head and Joe disappeared in the seething waters. The crew held their breath in an agony of suspense, while their eyes strained towards the boiling foam which engulfed him. In a moment the staunch craft, as if con- scious of the heroic effort for her relief, and stimulated by it to renewed exertion, bounded forward and upward through the dashing waters. And on the bowsprit, which was pointing skyward, the crew saw Joe straighten- ing himself into a sitting position, the knife still held in liis clenched teeth, and preparing to crawl still further out. Again and again this scene was enacted, each plunge and rise finding the hero nearer the object at which he aimed, while the crew fairly ached with the intensity of their emotions. He reached it at last, and watching the most favorable opportunity, released his right arm, snatched the knife 211 from his teeth, and with a swift and powerful stroke cut the jib-halliard through, as the trembling vessel started down another sea, restored the knife to its place, a.gain clasped the bowsprit in his arms, and again disappeared, but only for a moment, for the Timmons, now relieved of the weight which held her down, sprang out of the threatening gulf as with new life inspired. It was a great relief, but the tempest was still at its height, and now both Joe and the crew realized that the most hazardous iDart of this heroic enterprise was still before him, namely, getting back to the ()r and river towing, EMIPTENT CITIZENS. The record of the past and of the present would be in- complete wdthout a grateful reference to the lives of a few of our eminent citizens who, having served long and faith- fully their day and generation, have now retired from the activities of a well-spent life and aw^ait wdth Christian calmness and an abiding faith the summons to their re- ward. Six of them are octogenarians, whose shining examples as Christians, as patriots, as men of affairs, our youth would do well to emulate. We distinguish them by the good they have done in public and ])rivate life. XI r and by their k)ii,n^ jikI faithful devotioi to the best inter- ests of our city and eoinuionweilth. AVhen they have passed away may coining generations honor and revere the memory of Mr. John S. James, Dr. A. J. DeRosset. Mr. Alfred Martin, Mr. Alfred Alderman, Dr. John D. Bellamy, Col. James G. Burr and others whose names have long been, and happily are still, household words in Wilmington. •-'^>'-« ■ ■ ■ ATLANTIC COAST LINE The most prominent and remarkable of Wilmington indu.stries is that of the busy, thriving Atlantic Loast Line Company. The development of this splendid organization of forces was largely due to the industry, intelli- gence and wealth of the late Mr. W. T. Walters, of Baltimore; and its continuous prosperity, in the face of almost general depression in railway properties, to the superior skill and foresight of its present executive staff, at the head of which is Mr. Harry Walters, the only son of its projector. The annual meeting of stockholders of 1895 was marked by a melancholy incident — the presentation of resolutions of respect to the ' memory of the dead President by the greatest of North Carolinians, who, too, alas, was' soon to pass away. Mr. George Davis said : "The fortunate soldier who makes a wilderness and calls it peace, will ever be the world's hero, and the theme of its- glowing praise ; but of those who are to live when the soldier has passed by, surely he who devotes his life with a broad charity and an untiring energy to build up the waste places which the soldier has made, ought not to be without the grateful remembrance of those whom his labors have benefited. Such, in a great measure, is the life history of William T, Walters. • And that mind must be incapable of sound discrimination which X[II withholds its oniniciidation, because in benefiting others he also benefited himself. Those ot us who remember the country between Charleston and Richmond, when it was first awakened by his touch, and who look upon it now, will need no aid to invoke our grateful remembrance. * -^s- * * * His keen sagacity to discern where great possibilities lay dormant, and the courage to grasp and fix them, the ability to command great resources and to weld and organize them, never losing sight of details until the whole were moulded into one consistent plan, and then the energy and resolution which moved on as resistless as fate, until the work was done — these lifted him up to the level of those merchant princes of old who sat at the board of kings and propped the revenues of empires. He was no gilded youth, dallying with opportunities and catching them only when they fell into his hands. He made his opportunities and utilized them for himself, and that after all, was the great lesson of his life." The system comprises fifteen Southern roads, with an aggregate of r,540 miles of track, extending from Richmond and Norfolk on the North, to Charleston, Columbia, and Denmark on the South. The company owns and employs i8o locomotives, 3,800 freight cars, and 135 passen- ger coaches. The number of employes varies between 4,800 and 5,300 men. The fastest railway journey ever made in the South was completed over the Coast Line in 1S94, from Jacksonville to Washington, 780 miles, in fifteen hours and forty-nine minutes, by a special train for the accommodation of the Knights of Pythias. The actual running time was fifty-three miles an hour. This was done via the Wilson Short Cut, " the fly in the amber" from a Wilmington point of view, by which we lose the through connection of former days, and which has probably proved as unprofitable to the Company, as it has been injurious to Wilmington. Colonel Warren G. Elliott, President of several railroads included in the system, was elected to this most important position on the death of Hon. R. R. Bridgers. Colonel Elliott is a man of broad and liberal views, familiar with the laws governing transportation lines, and thoroughly con- versant with the administrative department. He is admired for his genial and social qualities as well as for his bright intellect and business knowledge. XIV Probably no other stranger whoever cast his lot in Wilmington has gaini'd so quickly and so generally the friendship^ esteem and cordial good-will of our people. Major J. R. Kenly's reputation as Manager of this great system extends beyond the sea. Endowed with an active and discerning mind, he readily comprehends the most difficult problems and with rapidity arrives at conclu' sions. From the minutest details he is familiar with all that pertains to executive control of the myriads of forces which play their parts in this grand aggregation. Secure in the assurance of his power to wield and weld this force into a harmonious whole and to direct the whole for the best interest of his system, he impresses everyone strongly with his thoughtful, serious face and courteous demeanor, which so often characterize the man who is born to lead in the great business of life. Captain John F. Divine, General Superintendent, one of the oldest officials of the line, has ever been faithful and devoted to the interests of the com- panies he has served for so many years. His long experience has given him a thorough knowledge of the requirements for successfully and economically operating railroads He has long enjoyed the reputation of being better informed as to the cost of construction and equipment than any one in the South. Captain Divine is one of our most esteemed citizens, kind and considerate, charitable and benevolent, and always willing to lend a helping hand in the up-building of his city and State. Mr. W. A. Riach, the General Auditor, has long experience in his profes- sion. A gentleman of education and refinement, an expert accountant, trained under the most favorable conditions in his native Scotland, he retains the confidence and esteem of not only the great corporation which he so ably represents, but of our entire community. His superior traits of heart and mind in works of Christian benevolence have been recognized and honored by our best people. The enormous increase in the freight business of this system has been developed under the able management of the Traffic Manager, Mr. T. M, Emerson, who brought to this field the skill and experience of a well-trained and far-seeing mind. Nothing short of a genius in railroad affairs could xy have held the lead in Southern traffic manat^ement that Mr. Emerscn has sus- tained for five years past. Always alert, with an intellectual penetration not excelled in his profession, this Argus of the hundred eyes suffers nothing to escape him that would under his skilful direction subserve the interest of his employers. His tranquil countenance never betrays the workings of his well-balanced mind, and any one who tries to surprise his confidence in an attempt to cut rates, will soon find it a hopeless task, Mr. Horace M. Emerson, Assistant General Freight and Passenger Agents is steadily buiding a reputation which is already second to none in his line of duty. Affable, courteous, persuasive, he exemplifies superior tact, ^vhich, with a tenacity of purpose, effects results simply unattainable by heroic measures. Mr. James F. Post, Jr., Treasurer, has a thorough knowledge of the intri- cate and voluminous transactions which give life and strength to large corporations, and that he has performed his duties acceptably is well attested by his ability to give general satisfaction. His promotion from a subordinate place to the responsible position he now fills, reflects credit an his financial knowledge and capabilities. He takes great interest in education, afld for many years has served as Chairman of School District No. 1. He has served as Alderman, and is active in city affairs. And last, but not least, is A faithful and consistent member of the Methodist Church, having served his people as Superintendent of the Sunday School. Mr. Post is generally liked by his associates and friends, Mr, E. Borden, Superintendent of Transportation, is eminently fitted for the place. The variety and completeness of his work, the methods of its> arrangement, the necessary orders and instructions to guide, command ouf respect and admiration. He might be termed a specialist in his branch oi railroading, having given more attention to this particular line, and this enables him to lend a helping hand to those occupying other positions, dependent on his prompt movement of trains. He has been wonderfully successful, and stands high with his Company. Mr. Borden is quiet and unassuming and posse.csed of many superior traits of character. ID p O O U H XVII ALEXANDER SPRUNT & SON. The -Champion Compress and Warehouse Company's plant adjoins to that of the Atlantic Coast Line. This corporation was chartered by the State of North Carolina in 1879, and the entire capital stock is owned by the proprie- lors, who have lonp^ controlled it and whose export business alone has fostered and sustained it. The property includes 420,000 square feet of warehouse and dock space, with storage capacity of twenty thousand bales of cotton. Two of the largest Morse Compressors of ninety inch cylinders, are kept going from the begin- ning to the end of the cotton season. Their capacity is 3,000 bales in twenty- four hours, and more than a million bales of cotton have been pressed by Ihem during the past fifteen years, with scarcely a break of serious conse- quence. The plant is said to be the most convenient and complete of its kind in the United States. The warehouses are protected from fire by a thorough 'system of automatic sprinklers, which have never failed in any emergency. The proprietors, Alexander Sprunl & Son, were the pioneers of the steam foreign trade in Wilmington, having previous to the charter of their first steamer, '* Barnesmore," in 1S81, been largely engaged in the naval stores trade, by sailing craft, and their business kept steady pace with the develop- ment of navigation by river and harbor improvement under the direction of United States Engineers. The "Barnesmore's" draft was 13 feet and her cargo 3,458 bales of cotton. The " Jeanara " took last year 11,250 bales of cotton on 18,^ feet of water. The firm has frequently loaded as many as five large steamers simultaneously, and the present class of boats employed by them average a capacity of 10,000 bales. The firm's direct agencies extend from Barcelona and Genoa, on the Mediterranean, in the South, to Helsingfors, in the Gulf of Finland, and Moscow, in central Russia, in the North of Europe, The}- have also an office and staff in Liverpool and in Ghent. xvdf THE ORTON " The a(fvantag'e& and attractions of WiimingJon, North Carolina, as a Winter Resort are being more widely recognized every year. lis location, directly on the Atlantic Coast Line, onJy eighteen hours from New York, renders it a desirable resting-place for both Northbound and Southbound tourists. It is just half-way between Jacksonville and New York City, The climate of Wilmington is excellent; there is not a more healthfu!^ Winter Resort in the United States. '"The Orton " is one of the best Hotels- Orton Plantation — Front View, Orton Rick Fikld. Colonial Road at Orton. OrTON HOMESTiSiVD. XXI in the South — containing all modern comforts and conveniences, including excellent beds, dainty, well-prepared food, electric lights, Otis elevator and return call-bell system. This establishment was built and is owned by a prominent Norih Carolinian, a resident of New York, who has sustained robust health and fine spirits by a Winter residence near Wilmington on his historic Colonial plantation, Orton, where he keeps a well-stocked game preserve. The table of "The Orton" Hotel in Wilmington is supplied with rice-fed poultry from this old farm, which in flavor and tenderness cannot be ecjualed at any other hostelry North or South. WORTH & WORTH This well-known firm was established by Dr. T. C. Worth, who came to Wilmington in 1852, and conducted successfully a large shipping business. He was joined in 1853 by his brother, B. G. Worth, Esq., and the firm style changed to T. C. & B. G. Worth. At that time all merchandise from the North for the interior of this State, and also for a part of South Caro- lina and Tennessee was brought by fast sailing packets from Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Baltimore to Wilmington, and transhipped in part by rail, but mostly by river steamboats to the country. An immense busi- ness was done by forwarding merchants here, who charged 20 per cent on the freight for their service, and the wharves of Wilmington were lined for a mile or more with the beautiful white- winged schooners, sometimes two or three abreast. River property was valuable in those days, as the fol- lowing incident will show : A small wharf below Market street, which would not realize more than two hundred dollars a year now, was be- ing rented at public auction, and the veteran crier, Mr. M. Cronly, sur- prised by the lively competition of responsible bidders, which reached six- teen hundred dollars, came to a full stop and said : "Gentlemen, please understand that I am not selling this wharf, I am only renting it for one year ! " XXII Messrs. T. C. & B. G. Worth were also largely interested in the river steamboats plying between Wilmington and Fayetteville, and were agents of the Cape Fear Steamboat Company. The Worths built the "Flora McDonald," "A. P. Hurt " and "Governor Worth." The "Hurt" stil survives. We recall the names of a few of the sailing vessels regularly engaged in our trade at that time: "Damon," "Charles E. Thorn, '^ "Alfred F. Thorn," "Repeater," " Regulus," " Aloric," "Venus,' " DeRoset," "John," "Ned," "Ben," "Alba," " Mary Powell," "A.^ Denike," "Belie," " David Duffield," "Myrover," "Lilly," "David Faust,' " Wm. L. Springs," " E. S. Powell," "Enchantress." There was also quite a fleet of small sailing craft styled " corn crackers," which brought corn in bulk and in bags from the Eastern counties, Hyde county being the centre. Three of these sprightly little schooners bore peculiar, and at times when off their schedules, strangely inappropriate names: " We'r Here," " I'm Coming," "So Am I". In 1862 Dr. T. C. Worth died, and after several changes of the firm name it became Worth & Worth, the present partners being Messrs. B. G. Worth, D. G. Worth and C. W. Worth. The house has always ranked highest in the commercial ratings of Wilmington, and its members are eminent in public and social life, especially and notably so in their liberal support of the cause of Christian benevolence. The writer, who received his early train mg from one of the leaders of business affairs in Wilmington, Mr. David G. Worth, would fain pay his tribute in this connection to the virtues and excellence of his former employer. The records of Wilmington do not contain a more patriotic citizen, a more upright merchant, a more consecrated life, a more devoted friend, than David Gaston Worth. In early youth he acquired from his distinguished father — the late Governor Jonathan Worth — those traits of heart and mind which, fitly joined together, make up the life and character of the gracious Christian gentleman. Of remarkable intellectual discernment and superior business penetration, he daily illustrates with characteristic modesty a broad charity and a noble purpose which our youth would do well to emulate. ::.-Jru XXIII THE CLYDE STEAMSHIP COMPANY. Adjoining the Champion Compress and Warehouse Company's dock is the wharf of the Clyde Steamship Company. Their steamers run between New York and Wilmington, N. C, and Georgetown, S. C, bringing large quantities of freight South for Wilmington and the interior, and taking lumber, cotton, naval stores and many other products to New York, Can- ada, Northwest and points in Europe, The steamers consist of Steamship "George W. Clyde," 1574 tons ; Steamship "Delaware," 1272 tons ; Steam- ship "Pawnee," 858 tons; Steamship " Croatan," 827 tons; Steamship "Oneida," 752 tons, forming a fleet of fast, able steamers, with good pas- senger accomiuodation. General office is at 5 Bowling Green, New York, and the Traffic Manager of the line is Mr. Theo. G, Eger, The company is ably represented here by Mr. H. G. Smallbones, as Superintendent, w^ho has been long and favorably known in Wilmington. THE WILMINGTON COTTON MILLS, The Wilmington Cotton Mills was incorporated in the year 1874. It has been operated continuously since that time, first as a Print Cloth mill, and later, with the addition of a dye-house and finishing machinery, the pro- duction was so changed as to include a wide range of fabrics, such as crasher, gingham, cotton worsted and domestics. At the present time the mill is making domestics and napped goods almost exclusively. The product is sold in the North and Northwest, ia the principal markets, and to the largest buyers in the country, thus meet- ing successfully severe competition and demonstrating the fact that in Wilmington there are no serious obstacles to continued expansion of textile industries. The mill employs about two hundred people, and pays to employes about $4,000 per month; uses 2,000 bales of cotton a year; runs 7,000 spindles, 286 looms and dyeing and finishing machinery. XXIV Much of the machinery was added during 1894 and 1895, and during* 1896 a new weave building has been completed, which will add greatly to the production of the plant and to its efficiency. Plans are now being made for increasing the dyeing and finishing departments. The officers of the corporation are : President, Hugh MacRae; Vice President, David G. Worth; Secretary and Treasurer, Donald MacRae; Superintendent, J. W. Hawkins; Directors— Matt J. Heyer, B. G. Worth, Clayton Giles, D. G. Worth, D. MacRae and Hugh MacRae. PATTERSON, DOWNING & CO. This is perhaps the most extensive house in the naval stores trade in the United States. Their business connections extend throughout the great Northwest and Canada, and their foreign agencies are in every port abroad where the rosin and turpentine demand justifies the expense. They have branches in Canada, New York, Wilmington, Charleston, Savannah, Bruns- wick, and probably in other places. The firm is managed in New York by a former Wilmingtonian, Mr. E. S. Nash, and the agent here is his brother, Mr. H. K. Nash. Mr. Patterson has been long and favorably known as a merchant and capitalist of superior ability and a gentleman of extraordinary social qualities. J. H. SLOAN, COTTON BUYER. Conducts a large business in Charlotte and has an agency in Wilmington under the efficient charge of Mr. A. H. Brenner. Mr. Sloan was a member of the late firm of W^alker, Fleming & Sloan, and he has long experience in the trade. This firm employs foreign steamers in their cotton export trade from Wilmington to ports abroad and represents the well-known cotton mer- chants G. H. McFadden & Bro., of Philadelphia. XXV THE SEABOARD AIR LINE. Controlling over one thousand miles of railway, and having one of its termini in the city of Wilmington, has been one of the principal factors in promoting the prosperity of the city. The Carolina Central Railway Company, constituting that part of the Seaboard Air Line which reaches Wilmington, succeeded the Wilmington, Charlotte & Rutherford Railroad Company, which was projected and partly constructed prior to the war. It traverses the prosperous and fertile tier of counties on the Southern border of the State, and has a length of 287 miles, extending to the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is intersected no miles west of Wilmington by the main line of the System, the latter reaching- from Portsmouth to Atlanta and placing our city in easy reach of both the North and the South. First-class passenger service, with quick schedules, is operated, and all Southern, Western and Northwestern points are easy of access to travel- lers. This is also the case as to Northern and Western cities. A large number of visitors, some for short stay, and some spending the sumwer, come from the interior for the benefit of the salt water bathing, the good service affording a comfortable trip from Georgia, Alabama and other Southern States. Transfers to trains to the beach or boat for the river to Southport are made without expense, and without trouble. A large freight business is handled in and out of Wilmington, both local and to distant points. Excellent freight connections guarantee prompt movement, and the consolidation of the several roads now comprising the System under one general management, has given Wilmington a fast and serviceable route to and from all the great markets of the North and West. Attention is especially called, however, to the strenuous efforts being made by the Seaboard Air Line towards advertising the resources of the South, in the benefits of which Wilmington will share in proportion to its endeavors in the same direction. Mr. E. St. John, Vice-President and General Manager, became convinced immediately -after assuming charge of the Line, a, little over a year ago, that the prasperity of the Southern XXVI country, and consequently of the railroads traversing it, was largely dependent upon augmenting its populace with the same class of industri- ous, thrifty and intelligent farmers by whom the West had been built upr and he organized a special department under his immediate direction, in the interests of immigration. Thorough knowledge of the wants to be filled and a wide experience in the management of a large system of rail- roads in the West, outlined a policy which is beginning to bear fruit, and promises to build up the waste places in the South, putting in cultivation the fertile fields now idle, which should be yielding abundant harvests. A publication in the interest of intending settlers is published monthly, and can be had free of charge from any agent. In addition a handsome, illus- trated pamphlet, with carefully prepared description of the lands along the Line, can be had by addressing (with four cents for postage) Mr. George L. Rhodes, General Agent, Portsmouth, Virginia, who gives this depart- ment his personal supervision. The interests of the Seaboard Air-Line at Wilmington are in charge of Mr, Thomas D. Meares, General Agent.. The offices of the line are in Portsmouth, Va. , the following being a list of the general officers : E. St. John, Vice-President and General Manager ; V. E. McBee, Gen- eral Superintendent ; H. W, B. Glover, Traffic Manager ; Geo. L Rhodes, General Agent ; Charles R. Capps, General Freight Agent ; T. J. Ander- son, General Passenger Agent, Mr. Thomas D. Meares, the Wilmington Agent, is a conspicuous repre- sentative of an old and honored family of the Cape Fear. His fine- courtesy, his frank and manly qualities and his recognized business ability have won him many friends in social, political and professional life. Elected an Alderman of the city some years ago, his official acts have been marked by singleness of purpose — the promotion of the public good. He- believes in the benefits of advertising, and has already accomplished much by that means for the development of Eastern North Carolina and for the Railway system which be so ably represents. XXVII NAVASSA GUANO COMPANY OF WILMINGTON. As early as i8o4» Humboldt had described deposits of guano on the Islands of the Pacific ocean off the coast of Peru. The increasing demand and large exportation of this article from these Islands stimulated search for new localities, and in 1856 deposits were discovered in the West Indies, including the Island of Navassa. This Island was purchased by a party of enterprising Americans and placed under the protectorate of the United States Government, and has the distinction of being the only foreign possession of this Government outside of Alaska. Immediately upon obtaining possession of this Island the projectors cast around for a suitable location for the establishment of a plant to utilize the valuable deposits found there, and Wilmington was selected as the most available point in the South for the distribution of their manufactured product. On the 5th day of August, 1869, letters patent were issued by Governor Holden, of North Carolina, to Robert R. Bridgers, George W. Grafffin and Francis W. Kerchner, creating them a body politic and corporate to be known as Navassa Guano Company of Wilmington, for the purpose of manufacturing fertilizers and chemicals, mining and working the necessary ores, and such other things as may be incident to the manufacture and sale of fertilizers and chemicals, This Company was promptly organized, its capital stock subscribed for, officers elected and a site, known as Meares' Bluff, on the Cape Fear river, about four miles above Wilmington, secured. The erection of their plant was rapidly pushed forward, and as soon as practicable the Company began the work of manufacturing com- mercial fertilizers. The Navassa Guano Company has developed into one •of the largest and most successful organizations engaged in this important industry, and is to-day one of the best known industrial enterprises ever originated in the South, attesting the foresight of the gentlemen who conceived this idea. This plant was established and in successful operation long before the deposits of phosphate were known or exploited around Charleston, and before a single factory had been established at that centre. xxyjii The plant is well located, being situated on the banks of the Cape Fear river, where vessels from all parts of the world can proceed to discharge their cargoes of materials; in addition, they have most excellent terminal facilities connecting all the important railroads which centre at Wilmington. They procure their material from all parts of the United States, and import from South America, the West Indies, Italy and Germany. Their plant is thoroiighly equipped with all modern devices and appliances for the economical manufacture of high grade fertilizers, and their enormous warehouses occupy something over six acres of floor space. The Navassa Guano Company claims the distinction of being the pioneer in the fertilizer industry in the South, which, since the establishment of their factory, has developed into enormous proportions, giving employment to thousands of people, utilizing thousands of tons of what was formerly waste products, and representing an investment of about $40,000,000 THE WILMINGTON, NEWBERN AND NORFOLK RAILWAY. The Wilmington, Newbern and Norfolk Railway was completed and in operation between Wilmington and Jacksonville, North Carolina, a distance of fifty miles, by February ist, i8gi, under the charter of the Wilmington, Onslow and East Carolina Railroad. Subsequently it was extended thirty- eight miles northward from Jacksonville to Newbern, namely, under the charter of the East Carolina Land and Railway Company ; which extension was completed in the latter part of July, 1893. Under legislative authority the two roads were consolidated by purchase of the East Carolina Land and Railway Company's Railroad, franchises, etc. ; and the entire line is,, and has been since February, 1894, owned and operated by the Wilmington^ Newbern and Norfolk Railway Company. The railway is of standard gauge, 4^9^^, namely, and is laid with 56-pound steel rails. The Company has fca^r locomotives, eight passenger cars, three' XXIX baggage ears and sixty-four freight cars. It also operates a steamer on New River between Jacksonville and Marines, a distance of eighteen miles, the latter point being wiihin about three miles of the mouth of the river. Semi-weekly trips are also made by this steamer to Tar Landing, about seven miles north of Jacksonville, on New River. In addition to the shipping facilities afforded by the Company at Jack- sonville, it has also constructed wharves on New River at Glenoe Stock Farm, seven miles below Jacksonville, and at Moore's Landing, on the west bank, and Marines, on the east bank of New River, eighteen miles below Jacksonville . At Jacksonville it has numerous sidings running into the property of the Parmele-Eccleston Lumber Company, one of the largest and most com- pletely equipped lumber-milling establishments in the South. At Newbern the Company has a large and commodious wharf and ware- house on the Neuse River at its Newbern terminal, and an attractive and roomy passenger station and warehouse. At Wilmington the Wilmington, Newbern and Norfolk Railway Company has a fine terminal property on the Cape Fear River at the south end of the city, on which is a wharf five hundred feet in length along the river, with a depth of water varying at mean low tide from 12^ feet at the extreme northern end of the wharf to 17 feet at the southern end. At this wharf vessels of large tonnage can load and unload directly from the cars and the Company's tracks alongside the wharf, which tracks are capable of holding fourteen freight cars suitably placed for discharging or receiving cargo to and from vessels. At Surry and Wooster streets, just above the Wilmington Cotton Mills, this railway has another warehouse and operates a valuable wharf property, now occupied, in part, by the United States River and Harbor Improve- ments Department under a lease. The Company has also leased for forty years the freight line of the Wilmington Street Railway Company, operated by steam vdummy along the water-front on the Cape Fear River, and con- necting the Wilmington, Newbern and Norfolk Railway on the south with the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley, the Wilmingtan, Columbia and Augusta XXX Railroad, the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, and the Carolina Central Railroad, near the extreme north end of the city. The general offices of the Wilmington, Newbern and Norfolk Railway are at the foot of Orange street, in the Power House of the Wilmington Street Railway. Its principal passenger station and warehouse in town are at the corner of Mulberry and Water streets. Its roundhouse is at Kiddei' street, in the south end of the city. The property of this railway company is in all particulars well con^ structed and equipped. At Newbern it connects with the East Carolina Despatch, thus giving it a through line connection with Norfolk, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and other Northern cities. This railway is almost entirely owned by Mr. Thomas A. Mclntyre, of the firm of Mclntyre & Wardwell, Produce Exchange, New York City, who is its President. The other officers of the Company are: Vice-President and General Manager, H. A. Whiting, of Wilmington, North Carolina; Traffic Manager and Auditor, J. W. Martenis, of Wilmington; Treasurer, William A. Nash, President Corn Exchange Bank, New York City; Secre- tary, C. M. Whitlock, of Wilmington; Cashier and Purchasing Agent, A. J. Howell, Jr., of Wilmington; Engineer of Roadway, W. G. Furlong, of Wilmington; Master Mechanic, George E. Branch, of Wilmington. ROBINSON & KING. This well-known and strictly reliable firm has long been identified with the naval stores trade of Wilmington. The senior member has served repeatedly as President of the Produce Exchange, and is thoroughly conversant with all the details of his business. Consignments from the interior will receive prompt personal attention. Orders from the North and West and from abroad, could not be placed in better hands. They make a specialty of the Tar business. XXXT BONEY & HARPER. This firm, the largest in the grain and feed trade of Wilmington, was established by Mr. G. J. Boney in 1884; twoyears later he associated with him Captain J. T. Harper, who was previously engaged in the steamboat busi- ness. The firm possess ample means, and valuable modern machinery, with all needful appliances in the manufacture of hominy and corn meal, which are their principal staples. The capacity of their mills is about two thousand bushels per day. They hold an extensive trade \vith North and South Carolina, and their well-earned reputation for fair dealing has been established throughout that district. The senior partner was elected Presi- dent of the Produce Exchange twice, and is one of the most active and intelligent traders of Wilmington, His public acts in political and business life have been rewarded by the recognition and respect of our entire community. Captain Harper, the junior partner, has established for his own account in Southport, one of the most complete general stores in the State. It is regarded as a model in its various modern appliances for convenience and comfort. WILMINGTON COMPRESS AND WAREHOUSE COMPANY. The Wilmington Compress and Warehouse Company was organized in 1874. Operations were immediately commenced with a small Baldwin Press on the present site of the Wilmington, Columbia & Augusta Railroad freight warehouse. The following year a change was made to the present location, north of the Carolina Central Railroad, where the capacity of the plant was in- creased by the erection of a Tyler Compress. Unfortunately, during the season of 1876, the Baldwin Press broke down, at which time there were twenty-eight vessels in port, loading and waiting for cargoes of cotton. In XXXII 1877 the Company was chartered, the Tyler Press was sold, improvements made and a more powerful Hydraulic Compress purchased. Recently another Compress of same make has been added. The plant now c