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THE LAST NINETY DAYS OF THE WAR IN NORTH-CAROLINA.
by
CORNELIA PHILLIPS SPENCER.
New-York:
Watchman Publishing Company,
W. H. Chase, Publishing Agent
1866.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by
Charles F. Deems,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New-York.
TO THE
Hon. D.L. Swain, LL.D.,
AT WHOSE SUGGESTION IT WAS UNDERTAKEN, AND BY WHOSE
INVALUABLE ADVICE, ENCOURAGEMENT, AND ASSISTANCE
IT HAS BEEN COMPLETED, THIS BOOK
IS MOST RESPECTFULLY
DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
The papers on the Last Ninety Days of the War in North-Carolina, which
originally appeared in the New-York WATCHMAN, and are now presented
in book form, were commenced with no plan or intention of continuing
them beyond two or three numbers. The unexpected favor with which they
were received led to their extension, and finally resulted in their
republication.
To do justice to North-Carolina, and to place beyond cavil or reproach
the attitude of her leaders at the close of the great Southern States
Rights struggle--to present a faithful picture of the times, and a just
judgment, whether writing of friend or foe, has been my sole object.
Slight as these sketches are, they may claim at least the merit of
truth, and this, I am persuaded, is no slight recommendation with the
truth-loving people of North-Carolina.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Difficulties of the History--The Position of North-Carolina--The Peace
Convention--The Montgomery Convention--Governor Vance--The Salisbury
Prison--Testimony on the Trial, 13
CHAPTER II.
Winter of 1864-'5--Letter of Governor Vance--Appeal for General Lee's
Army--The Destitution of the People--Fall of Fort Fisher--Advance of
General Sherman--Contrast between Sherman and Cornwallis--Extracts
from Lord Cornwallis's Order-book--The "Bloody Tarleton," 26
CHAPTER III.
Judge Ruffin--His History--His Character--His Services--General Couch's
Outrages after Peace had been declared--General Sherman's Outrages--His
unblushing Official Report--"Army Correspondents"--Sherman
in Fayetteville--Cornwallis in Fayetteville--Coincidences of
Plans--Contrasts in Modes--The Negro Suffers--Troops Concentrating under
General Johnston, 40
CHAPTER IV.
Laws of War--"Right to Forage older than History"--Xenophon--Kent on
International Law--Halleck's Authority _versus_ Sherman's Theory and
Practice--President Woolsey--Letter of Bishop Atkinson, 53
CHAPTER V.
Lord Cornwallis in Fayetteville--A young Lady's Interview with him--How
he treated her--How Sherman's Men treated her Grandson--"The
Story of the Great March"--Major Nichols and the "Quadroon Girls"--Such
is NOT War--Why these Things are recorded--Confederate Concentration
in North-Carolina--A Sad Story, 65
CHAPTER VI.
"Shays's Rebellion"--Kent on Massachusetts--Conduct of a Northern
Government to Northern Rebels--The "Whisky Insurrection"--How
Washington treated a Rebellion--Secession of New-England Birth--The
War of 1812--Bancroft on 1676--The Baconists--An Appeal, 76
CHAPTER VII.
Schofield's Army--Sherman's--Their Outrages--Union Sentiment--A
Disappointment--Ninety-two Years Ago--Governor Graham--His Ancestry--His
Career--Governor Manly, 94
CHAPTER VIII.
Governor Graham opposes Secession--But goes with his State--Is sent to
the Confederate Senate--His Agency in the Hampton Roads
Interview--Remarkable and Interesting Letters from Governor Graham,
written from Richmond in 1865, 109
CHAPTER IX.
State of Parties--The Feeling of the People--The "Peace"
Party--Important Letter from Governor Vance in January, 1864--His
Reëlection--The War Party--The Peace Party--The Moderates--Governor
Graham's Letter of March, 1865--Evacuation of Richmond, 121
CHAPTER X.
General Johnston preparing to uncover Raleigh--Urgent Letter from
Governor Swain to Governor Graham--Governor Graham's Reply--A Programme
of Operations agreed upon--Finally Governors Graham and
Swain start for Sherman's Headquarters, 134
CHAPTER XI.
Raleigh, when uncovered--The Commissioners to General Sherman--They
start--Are recalled by General Johnston--Are stopped by Kilpatrick's
Forces--Their Interview with Kilpatrick--Are carried to Sherman's
Headquarters--His Reply to Governor Vance--The further Proceedings
of the Commission--A Pleasant Incident--The Commissioners return
to Raleigh--Governor Vance had left--His Letter to Sherman--The
Federal Troops enter Raleigh--Incidents, 145
CHAPTER XII.
Johnston's Retreat--Governors Graham and Swain misunderstood--Wheeler's
Cavalry--Confederate Occupancy of Chapel Hill--The Last Blood--"Stars
and Stripes"--One in Death--General Atkins--Scenes around
Raleigh--Military Lawlessness, 165
CHAPTER XIII.
Correspondence between Governor Swain and General Sherman--Governor
Vance's Position and Conduct--Kilpatrick--The Conduct of the
Servants--"Lee's Men"--President Lincoln, 178
CHAPTER XIV.
General Stoneman--Outrages--Cold-blooded Murders--General
Gillam--Progress through Lenoir, Wilkes, Surry, and Stokes--Stoneman's
Detour into Virginia--The Defense of Salisbury--The Fight in the Streets
of Salisbury--General Polk's Family--Temporary Occupancy of
Salisbury--Continuous Raiding, 192
CHAPTER XV.
Iredell County--General Palmer's Courtesy to Mrs. Vance--Subsequent
Treatment of this Lady by Federal Soldiers--Major Hambright's Cruelty
in Lenoir--Case of Dr. Ballew and Others--General Gillam--His
Outrages at Mrs. Hagler's--Dr. Boone Clark--Terrible Treatment of
his Family--Lieutenants Rice and Mallobry--Mrs. General
Vaughan--Morganton, 213
CHAPTER XVI.
Plundering of Colonel Carson--Of Rev. Mr. Paxton--General Martin
repulses Kirby--Gillam plunders during the Armistice--Occupation of
Asheville--Wholesale Plunder--Dispatch from General Palmer, 225
CHAPTER XVII.
Surrender of General Lee--Why North-Carolina could not have taken
Measures to send Commissioners--Review--The Coal-fields
Railway--Difficulties of Transportation--Provisions--The Last
Call--Recreants--Privations--The Condition of the Press, 235
CHAPTER XVIII.
The University--Its Early History--Its Continued Growth--The Ardor of
the Young Men--Application for Relief from Conscription--Governor
Swain to President Davis--Another Draft on the Boys--A Dozen Boys
in College when Sherman comes; and the Bells ring on--"Commencement"
in 1865--One Graduate--He pronounces the Valedictory--Conclusion, 251
APPENDIX.
I.--UNIVERSITY RECORD, 267
II.--GENERAL JAMES JOHNSTON PETTIGREW, 278
THE LAST NINETY DAYS OF THE WAR
IN
NORTH-CAROLINA.
CHAPTER I.
DIFFICULTIES OF THE HISTORY--THE POSITION OF NORTH-CAROLINA--THE PEACE
CONVENTION--THE MONTGOMERY CONVENTION--GOVERNOR VANCE--THE SALISBURY
PRISON--TESTIMONY ON THE TRIAL.
It will be long before the history of the late war can be soberly and
impartially written. The passions that have been evoked by it will not
soon slumber, and it is perhaps expecting too much of human nature, to
believe that a fair and candid statement of facts on either side will
soon be made. There is as yet too much to be forgotten--too much to be
forgiven.
The future historian of the great struggle will doubtless have ample
material at his disposal; but from a vast mass of conflicting; evidence
he will have to sift, combine, and arrange the grains of truth--a work
to which few men of this generation are competent. But meanwhile there
is much to be done in collecting evidence, especially by those who
desire that justice shall be done to the South: and this evidence, it
is to be hoped, will be largely drawn from _private_ sources. History
has in general no more invaluable and irrefragable witnesses for the
truth than are to be found in the journals, memoranda, and private
correspondence of the prominent and influential men who either acted
in, or were compelled to remain quiet observers of the events of their
day. Especially will this be found to be the case when posterity shall
sit in judgment on the past four years in the South. From no other
sources can so fair a representation be made of the conflicts of
opinion, or of the motives of action in the time when madness seemed to
rule the hour, when all individual and all State efforts for peace were
powerless, when sober men were silenced, and when even the public press
could hardly be considered free.
If it be true of the South in general, that even in the most
excited localities warning voices were raised in vain, and that a
strong undercurrent of good sense and calm reflection undoubtedly
existed--overborne for a time by the elements of strife and
revolution--more especially and with tenfold emphasis is it true of the
State of North-Carolina.
"Where we lay,
Our chimneys were blown down: and, as they say,
Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death;
And prophesying, with accents terrible,
Of dire combustion, and confused events,
New-hatched to the woful time."
That North-Carolina accepted a destiny which she was unable to
control, when she ranged herself in the war for Southern independence,
is a fact which can not be disputed. And though none the less ardently
did her sons spring to arms, and none the less generously and
splendidly did her people sustain the great army that poured forth from
her borders; though none the less patient endurance and obedience to
the general government was theirs; yet it is also a fact, indisputable
and on record, that North-Carolina was never allowed her just weight
of influence in the councils of the Southern Confederacy, nor were the
opinions or advice of her leading men either solicited or regarded.
And therefore, nowhere as in the private, unreserved correspondence
of her leading men, can her attitude at the beginning, her temper
and her course all through, and her action at the close of the war,
be so clearly and so fairly defined and illustrated, and shown to be
eminently consistent and characteristic throughout.
The efforts made by North-Carolina, during the winter and spring of
1861, to maintain peace and to preserve the Union, were unappreciated,
unsuccessful, and perhaps were not even generally known. In February of
that year, two separate delegations left the State, appointed by her
Legislature, each consisting of selections from her best citizens--one
for Washington City and the other for Montgomery, Alabama. Judge
Ruffin, Governor Morehead, Governor Reid, D.M. Barringer, and George
Davis were accredited to the Peace Convention at Washington; Governor
Swain and Messrs. Bridgers and Ransom to the Convention at Montgomery,
to meet the delegations expected to convene there from the other
Southern States.
Neither of these delegations, however, were able to effect any thing.
They were received with courtesy, respect, and attention on each
side, but nothing was done. The Peace Convention at Washington was a
failure--why or how, has never been clearly shown. If one or other of
the distinguished gentlemen who formed the North-Carolina delegation
would commit an account of the mission to writing, he would be doing
the State good service. I would venture to suggest it to Judge Ruffin,
whose appearance there was said to have been in the highest degree
venerable and impressive, and his speech _for the Union_ and for the
Old Flag most eloquent and affecting.
The expected delegations from the other Southern States to Montgomery
failed to arrive, and North-Carolina was there alone, and could only
look on. The provisional government for such of the States as had
already seceded was then acting, and the general Confederate government
was in process of organization. Our delegates were treated with marked
courtesy, and were invited to attend the secret sessions of the
Congress, which, however, they declined. North-Carolina stood there
alone; and as she maintained an attitude of calm and sad deprecation,
she was viewed with distrust and suspicion by all extremists, and was
taunted with her constitutional slowness and lack of chivalric fire.
The moderation and prudence of her counsels were indeed but little
suited to the fiery temper of that latitude. Too clearly, even then,
she saw the end from the beginning; but what was left for her, when
the clouds lowered and the storm at last broke, but to stand where the
God of nature had placed her, and where affection and interest both
inclined her--_in_ the South and _with_ the South? To that standard,
then, her brave sons flocked, in obedience to her summons; for them
and for their safety and success were her prayers and tears given; for
their comfort and subsistence every nerve was strained in the mortal
struggle that followed; and their graves will be forever hallowed--none
the less, I repeat, that from the first the great body of her people
and the best and most clear-sighted of her public men deprecated the
whole business of secession, and with sad prevision foretold the result.
If history shall do her justice, the part played by North-Carolina all
through this mournful and bloody drama will be found well worthy of
careful study.
The quiet and self-reliant way in which, when she found remonstrance
to be in vain, she went to her inevitable work; the foresight of
her preparations; the thoroughness of her equipments; the splendor
of her achievements on the battle-field; her cheerful and patient
yielding to all lawful demands of the general government; her watchful
guard against unlawful encroachments, as the times grew more and
more lawless; her silence, her modesty, and her efficiency--were all
strikingly _North-Carolinian_. Not one laurel would she appropriate
from the brow of a sister State--nay, the blood shed and the sufferings
endured in the common cause but cement the Southern States together in
dearer bonds of affection. No word uttered by a North-Carolinian in
defense or praise of his own mother, can be construed as an attempt
to exalt her at the expense of others. But I am speaking now of
North-Carolina alone, and my principal object will be to present the
closing scenes of the war, as they appeared within some part of her
borders, and to make a plain record of her action therein--a sketch
which may afford valuable memoranda to the future historian.
Much of the energy and the efficiency displayed by the State in
providing for the exigencies of war, were due to the young man whom
she chose for her Governor, in August, 1862. Governor Vance was one
of the people--one of the soldiers--and came from the camp to the
palace undoubtedly the most popular man in the State. A native of
Buncombe county, he had been in a great measure the architect of his
own fortunes. Possessing unrivaled abilities as a popular speaker,
he had made his way rapidly in the confidence of the brave and free
mountaineers of Western Carolina, and was a member of the United States
House of Representatives for the term ending at the inauguration of
President Lincoln. He used all his influence most ardently to avert the
disruption of the Union, down to the time when the Convention of May,
1861, passed the ordinance of secession. Then, following the fortunes
of his own State, he threw himself with equal ardor into the ranks of
her army. Volunteering as private in one of the first companies raised
in Buncombe, he was soon elected captain, and thence rose rapidly to
be Colonel of the Twenty-sixth regiment. His further military career
was closed by his being elected Governor in 1862, by an overwhelming
vote, over the gentleman who was generally considered as the candidate
of the secession party. We were, indeed, all secessionists then; but
those who were defined as "_original secessionists_"--men who invoked
and cheered on the movement and the war--were ever in a small minority
in this State, both as to numbers and to influence. Governor Vance was
elected because he _had been_ a strong Union man, and _was_ a gallant
soldier--two qualifications which some of our Northern brethren can not
admit as consistent or admirable in one and the same true character,
but which together constituted the strongest claim upon the confidence
and affection of North-Carolina.
Governor Vance's career from the first was marked by devotion to the
people who had distinguished him, and by a determination to do his
duty to _them_ at all hazards. This is not the place, nor have I the
material for such a display of Governor Vance's course of action as
would do him deserved justice; but this I may say, that his private
correspondence, if ever it shall be published, will endear him still
more to the State which he loved, and to the best of his ability served.
His employment of a blockade-runner to bring in clothing for the
North-Carolina troops was a noble idea, and proved a brilliant
success.[1] If he had done nothing else in his official career
to prove himself worthy to be our Governor, this alone would be
sufficient. It matters but little as to the amount, great or small,
of Confederate money spent in this service. It is all gone now; but
the substantial and incalculable good that resulted at the time from
this expenditure, can neither be disputed nor forgotten. For two years
his swift-sailing vessels, especially the A.D. Vance, escaped the
blockaders, and steamed regularly in and out of the port of Wilmington,
followed by the prayers and anxieties of our whole people. "The
Advance is in!" was a signal for congratulations in every town in the
State; for we knew that another precious cargo was safe, of shoes, and
blankets, and cloth, and medicines, and cards. And so it was that when
other brave men went barefoot and ill-clad through the winter storms
of Virginia, our own North Carolina boys were well supplied, and their
wives and little ones at home were clothed, thanks to our Governor and
to our God.
I have seen tears of thankfulness running down the cheeks of our
soldiers' wives on receiving a pair of these cards, by which alone they
were to clothe and procure bread for themselves and their children. And
they never failed to express their sense of what they owed to their
Governor. "God bless him!" they would cry, "for thinking of it. And God
_will_ bless him."
One striking evidence of the fullness and efficiency of these supplies
I can not refrain from giving, as it occurred at the close of the war,
when our resources, it might be supposed, were utterly exhausted. It
will also serve to show what manner of man Governor Vance was, in more
ways than one.
In February, 1865, the attention of our people was called to the
condition of the Federal prisoners at Salisbury. The officer in charge
of them may or may not have been as he is represented. Time will bring
the truth to light. But it was alleged against him, that he would not
only do nothing himself for the unhappy prisoners under his care, but
would allow no private interference for their comfort. The usual answer
of all such men, when appealed to on the score of common humanity, was,
"What business have these Yankees here?" This was deemed triumphant
and unanswerable. That their food should be scanty and of poor quality
was unavoidable when our own citizens were in want and our soldiers
were on half-rations; but sufficient clothing, kind attendance, and
common decencies and comforts were, or might have been, extended to
all within the bounds of our State. How far the Federal Government
was itself responsible and criminal in this matter, by its refusal to
exchange prisoners, future investigations will decide. The following
extract of a letter from a prominent member of our last Legislature to
a distinguished citizen, shows what the State of North-Carolina could
and would have done for their relief:
"I called at Governor Vance's office, in the capitol, and found him
sitting alone; and though his desk was covered with papers and
documents, these did not seem to engage his attention. He rather seemed
to be in profound thought. He expressed himself pleased to see me,
and proceeded to say that he had just seen a Confederate surgeon from
Salisbury--mentioning his name--and was shocked at what he had heard
of the condition of the Federal prisoners there. He went on to detail
what he had heard, and testified deep feeling during the recital. He
concluded by saying that he wished to see the State take some action on
the subject. I assured him immediately how entirely I sympathized with
him, and asked what relief it was in our power to bestow. He replied
that the State had a full supply of clothing, made of English cloth,
for our own troops, and that she had also a considerable quantity made
of our own factory cloth. And further, that the State had also a very
large supply of under-clothing, blankets, etc.; a supply of all which
things might be dispensed to the prisoners, without trenching upon the
comfort of our own troops. I told him that a resolution, vesting him
with proper authority to act in the matter, could, I thought, be passed
through the Legislature. That I thought it very desirable that such a
resolution should be passed unanimously; and with a view to obviate
objections from extreme men, it was better so to shape the resolution
as to make it the means of obtaining reciprocal relief for our own
prisoners at the North. This was done. The resolution requesting
Governor Vance to effect an arrangement by which, in consideration of
blankets, clothing, etc., to be distributed by the Federal Government
to prisonners of war from North-Carolina, blankets, clothing, etc.,
in like quantity, should be distributed by the State of North-Carolina
to the Federal prisoners at Salisbury, passed both houses, I think,
without one dissentient voice, within the next day."
The letter-books of Governor Vance, it will be remembered, passed into
the hands of the military authorities in May, 1865; and, under the
order of General Schofield, were transmitted to the State Department
at Washington. Whether they have been or are to be returned to the
Executive Department of this State, to whom they properly belong,
remains to be seen. A correspondent of the New-York press, who was
allowed to examine them, remarks that "among much evil they exhibited
_redeeming traits of character_!" that "the letters of Governor Vance
to Mr. Secretary Seddon, of the War Department of Richmond, and to
General Bradley Johnson, who had control of the prisoners at Salisbury,
_urged_ upon both these functionaries the immediate relief of the
suffering prisoners, as alike dictated by humanity and policy." This
correspondence, when it shall come to light, will show that the action
of the executive was as prompt and decided as that of the legislative
department of the State. Whatever may be said of the treatment of
prisoners at Andersonville and elsewhere, it is certain that no efforts
were spared on the part of the public authorities of North-Carolina,
nor, we may add, of the community around Salisbury, to mitigate, as far
as was possible, the inevitable horrors of war; and that our Governor,
especially, exerted all the power and influence at his command to
render immediate and effectual relief.
Governor Vance received no reply to his application to the Federal
authorities. From General Bradley Johnson, at Salisbury, he received in
reply a list of clothing and provisions then being received from the
North for the prisoners; and a statement that they needed nothing but
some tents, which Governor Vance was unable to send them.
The investigations of the Gee trial, held at Raleigh since the above
was written, have served to substantiate all that I have said. What
we could do, we were willing to do for our unhappy prisoners. But our
own people, our own soldiers, were on the verge of starvation. Every
effort was made by our authorities to induce the Northern Government
to exchange, without effect. Their men died by thousands in our
semi-tropical climate, because we were powerless to relieve them with
either food or medicine. No one can read the testimony given at the
Gee trial without a deep impression of the awful state of destitution
among us. The country around Salisbury was stripped bare of provisions,
and the railroads were utterly unfit for service. One of the witnesses
stated that they had to take up the turn-outs to mend the road with.
"Writing now, at a distance of nearly two years, I can not recall
the dark and hopeless days of that winter without a shudder. We knew
the condition of those prisoners while we were mourning over the
destitution of our own army. The coarse bread served at our own meagre
repasts was made bitter by our reflections. A lady, writing from
Salisbury, said: I am much more concerned at the condition of these
prisoners than at the advance of Sherman's army."
That North-Carolina had at least clothing to offer them was more than
could be said for any other Southern State in that respect. She was
probably worse off for provision than those south of her. She gave what
she had. She did what she could.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Since the publication of the above, I have been informed
by Governor Vance that the first suggestion of this plan was due to
Gen. J.G. Martin alone. He was at that time Adjutant-General of the
State, and at a consultation held by Governor Vance soon after his
entrance upon office, to devise ways and means for providing for our
soldiers, Gen. Martin suggested and advocated the employment of a
blockade-runner. It was a bold and happy thought, and as boldly and
happily carried out by Governor Vance.]