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.
As to the State University, perhaps more than a mere reference to its
condition at the close of the war may not unjustly form part of a
contribution to our State history, since its influence and reputation
have been second to those of no similar institution in the country,
and its benefits have been widely diffused through every State of the
Confederacy. Its Revolutionary history is not uninteresting in this
connection. At the very time when all our State interests lay prostrate
and exhausted from the Revolutionary struggle, the very time when
a superficial observer would have thought it enough for the people
to get bread to eat and clothes to wear, our far-seeing patriots,
who knew well that without education no state can become great,
and that the weaker we were physically the more need there was for
intellectual force and power to enable us to maintain our stand among
the nations--these wise men projected and laid the foundations of a
State literary institution, which, uncontrolled and uncontaminated by
party politics or religious bigotries, should be an honor and a benefit
to the commonwealth through all future generations. General Davie may
be said to have been the father of the University, though every man of
distinction in the State at that time manifested a deep and cordial
interest in its establishment.
Most of my readers are sufficiently familiar with the history of the
State to be aware that, before the Revolution, the mother country
would permit no college or university or school to be established
but upon certain conditions utterly repugnant to principles of civil
and religious liberty. The charter of Queen's College, at Charlotte,
Mecklenburg county, (the college, town, and county, all three being
named in loyal compliment to his queen,) was disallowed by George
III., because other than members of the Established Church of England
were appointed among the trustees. This act of tyranny did more to
arouse the revolutionary spirit than the Stamp Act and all other
causes combined. The money that belonged to the common-school fund was
squandered by the mother country in the erection of a palace for the
royal governor--the most splendid edifice of the time on the continent.
And at the close of the war for independence, so impoverished was the
country that the General Assembly could contribute nothing toward the
establishment of the University, beyond endowing it with doubtful
debts, escheats, and derelict property. So that if aid had not
been given from private sources, it would never have struggled into
existence. At the first meeting of the trustees, Colonel Benjamin
Smith, the aide-de-camp of General Washington and subsequent Governor
of the State, made a donation of twenty thousand acres of Chickasaw
lands. Major Charles Girard, who had served throughout the perils of
the war, childless in the providence of God, adopted the newly-born
University, and bestowed on it property supposed to be equal in value
to forty thousand dollars. General Thomas Person, the old chief of the
Regulators, gave in cash ten hundred and twenty-five dollars[21] to
the completion of one of the buildings; and Girard Hall, Person Hall,
and Smith Hall, preserve in their names the grateful remembrance of
the earliest and most munificent patrons of the institution. It is a
striking evidence of the poverty of the times that the ladies of the
chief city of North-Carolina were able to present only a quadrant in
token of their interest in the new undertaking, and the ladies of
Raleigh a small pair of globes.
In 1795, the first student arrived, and from that day to this the whole
course of the University has been one of great and steadily increasing
reputation and usefulness. Dr. Joseph Caldwell was president from 1796
to 1835, (with the exception of four years, when Rev. Dr. Chapman
presided,) when the Hon. David L. Swain was appointed his successor,
and he still remains at the head, the oldest college president in the
United States, and one of the most successful. It is a remarkable fact,
and one strongly illustrative of the conservative tone of our society,
and of our North-Carolina people in general, that for the long period
of seventy years there have been virtually but two presidents--that two
of the senior professors have remained for forty years each, one of
them occupying the same chair for that whole period. Another professor
has held his chair for twenty-eight years, another for twenty-four,
another for seventeen years. I doubt if any other college in the
country can show a similar record. During the five years immediately
preceding the war, the average number of students was about four
hundred and twenty-five--a larger number than was registered at any
similar institution in the Union except Yale. The average receipts for
tuition exceeded twenty thousand dollars per annum; and it is another
circumstance which probably has no parallel in American colleges, that
with a meagre endowment, the munificent patronage of the public enabled
the authorities of the institution to make permanent improvements in
the edifices and grounds, and additions to the library and apparatus,
amounting in value, as exhibited by the reports of the trustees, to
the sum of more than a hundred thousand dollars! This was effected
by skillful financiering, and by giving the faculty very moderate
salaries, and is a striking illustration at least of North-Carolina
thrift and careful management. Since 1837, moreover, the faculty have
been authorized to receive without charge for tuition or room-rent, any
native of the State possessed of the requisite endowments, natural
and acquired, whose circumstances may make such assistance necessary.
About ten young men annually have availed themselves of this privilege,
and these have in numerous instances won the highest honors of the
University, and attained like distinction in the various walks of life.
Two remarkable cases of this character, presented during the discussion
of the proposition to extend temporary relief to the University, in the
last General Assembly, must be fresh in the remembrance of many of my
readers. In addition to the beneficence of this general ordinance, the
two Literary Societies of the institution have each annually defrayed
the entire expenses of one or more beneficiaries, during the time
referred to, and these recipients of their bounty have rendered service
and occupy positions of eminence and usefulness which offer the highest
encouragement to perseverance in such benefactions. An account current
between the State and the University for the past quarter of a century,
will show the amount of the tuition and room-rent of those young men,
added to the benefactions of the Societies, is greatly in excess of
all the direct contributions for its support derived from the public
authorities. Nay, more, that these sums, added to the hundred thousand
dollars resulting from the net earnings of the institution, were
quite equal in amount to the entire endowment now annihilated by the
repudiation of the war-debt, and the consequent insolvency of the Bank
of North-Carolina, in the stock of which more than the entire endowment
was invested.
Can any other College in the United States say as much?
At the opening of the war, the ardor with which the young men rushed
into the military service may be inferred from the fact that of the
eighty members of the Freshman class, but _one_ remained to continue
his education, and he was incapacitated by feeble health from joining
his comrades in the field. Five members of the faculty volunteered for
the war; and those who remained in their chairs, being incapacitated by
age or by their sacred profession from serving their country otherwise
than as teachers, resolved to keep the doors of the University open as
long as a dozen boys could be found amid the din of arms who might be
able to profit by it. When conscription was resorted to, to fill up
the depleted armies of the South, the trustees resolved to appeal to
President Davis in behalf of the University, lest it should be entirely
broken up by too rigid an enforcement of the law. The results were an
important part of our State history during the war, and embodied facts
which had a significant influence at the close.
"RALEIGH, October 8, 1863.
"At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the University this day,
present: His Excellency Governor Vance, President; W.A. Graham,
Jonathan Worth, D.M. Barringer, P.H. Winston, Thomas Ruffin, J.H.
Bryan, K.P. Battle, Charles Manly.
"_Resolved_, That the President of the University be authorized to
correspond with the President of the Confederate States, asking a
suspension of any order or regulation which may have been issued for
the conscription of students of the University, until the end of the
present session, and also with a view to a general exemption of young
men advanced in liberal studies, until they shall complete their
college course.
"That the President of the University open correspondence with the
heads of other literary institutions of the Confederacy, proposing
the adoption of a general regulation, exempting for a limited time
from military service the members of the _two higher classes_ of our
colleges, to enable them to attain the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
"Charles Manly, Secretary."
In accordance with this resolution, Governor Swain addressed the
following letter to President Davis, which will be read with interest,
as presenting some very remarkable statements in regard to the
University and the village of Chapel Hill:
"UNIVERSITY OF NORTH-CAROLINA, }
CHAPEL HILL, Oct. 15, 1863. }
"_To His Excellency, Jefferson Davis, President of
the Confederate States_:
"Sir: The accompanying resolutions, adopted by the trustees of this
institution at their meeting in Raleigh, on the eighth instant, make
it my duty to open a correspondence with you on the subject to which
they relate.
"A simple statement of the facts, which seem to me to be pertinent,
without any attempt to illustrate and enforce them by argument, will,
I suppose, sufficiently accomplish the purposes of the trustees.
"At the close of the collegiate year 1859-60, (June seventh, 1860,)
the whole number of students on our catalogue was four hundred and
thirty. Of these, two hundred and forty-five were from North-Carolina,
twenty-nine from Tennessee, twenty-eight from Louisiana, twenty-eight
from Mississippi, twenty-six from Alabama, twenty-four from
South-Carolina, seventeen from Texas, fourteen from Georgia, five
from Virginia, four from Florida, two from Arkansas, two from
Kentucky, two from Missouri, two from California, one from Iowa, one
from New-Mexico, one from Ohio. They were distributed in the four
classes as follows: Seniors eighty-four, Juniors one hundred and two,
Sophomores one hundred and twenty-five, Freshmen eighty.
"Of the eight young men who received the first distinction in the
Senior class, four are in their graves, (soldiers' graves,) and a
fifth a wounded prisoner. More than a seventh of these graduates are
known to have fallen in battle.
"The Freshmen class of eighty members pressed into the service with
such impetuosity that but a single individual remained to graduate at
the last commencement; and he in the intervening time had entered the
army, been discharged on account of impaired health, and was permitted
by special favor to rejoin his class.
"The Faculty at that time was composed of fourteen members, no one of
whom was liable to conscription. Five of the fourteen were permitted
by the trustees to volunteer. One of these has recently returned from
long imprisonment in Ohio, with a ruined constitution. A second is a
wounded prisoner, now at Baltimore. A third fell at Gettysburgh. The
remaining two are in active field-service at present.
"The nine gentlemen who now constitute the corps of instructors are,
with a single exception, clergymen, or laymen beyond the age of
conscription. No one of them has a son of the requisite age who has
not entered the service as a volunteer. Five of the eight sons of
members of the faculty are now in active service; one fell mortally
wounded at Gettysburgh, another at South-Mountain.
"The village of Chapel Hill owes its existence to the University, and
is of course materially affected by the prosperity or decline of the
institution. The young men of the village responded to the call of
the country with the same alacrity which characterized the college
classes; and fifteen of them--a larger proportion than is exhibited in
any other town or village in the State--have already fallen in battle.
The departed are more numerous than the survivors; and the melancholy
fact is prominent with respect to both the village and the University,
that the most promising young men have been the earliest victims.
"Without entering into further details, permit me to assure you, as
the result of extensive and careful observation and inquiry, that
I know of no similar institution or community in the Confederacy
that has rendered greater services or endured greater losses and
privations than the University of North-Carolina, and the village of
Chapel Hill.
"The number of students at present here is sixty-three; of whom
fifty-five are from North-Carolina, four from Virginia, two from
South-Carolina, and one from Alabama; nine Seniors, thirteen Juniors,
fourteen Sophomores, and twenty-seven Freshmen.
"A rigid enforcement of the Conscription Act may take from us nine or
ten young men with physical constitutions in general better suited to
the quiet pursuits of literature and science than to military service.
They can make no appreciable addition to the strength of the army;
but their withdrawal may very seriously affect our organization, and
in its ultimate effects compel us to close the doors of the oldest
University at present accessible to the students of the Confederacy.
"It can scarcely be necessary to intimate that with a slender
endowment and a diminution of more than twenty thousand dollars in
the annual receipts for tuition, it is at present very difficult and
may soon be impossible to sustain the institution. The exemption of
professors from the operation of the Conscript Act is a sufficient
indication that the annihilation of the best established colleges
in the country was not the purpose of Our Congress; and I can but
hope with the eminent gentlemen who have made me their organ on this
occasion, that it will never be permitted to produce effects which I
am satisfied no one would more deeply deplore than yourself.
"I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, your obedient
servant,
D.L. Swain."
The result of this application was that orders were issued from the
Conscript Office to grant the exemption requested. President Davis
is reported to have said in the beginning of the war in reference to
the drafting of college boys, that it should not be done; "that the
_seed-corn_ must not be ground up."
But as the exigencies of the country became more and more pressing, the
wisdom of this precept was lost sight of. In the spring of 1864, in
reply to a second application in behalf of the two lower classes, Mr.
Seddon returned the following opinion to the Conscript Bureau:
"I can not see in the grounds presented such peculiar or exceptional
circumstances as will justify departure from the rules acted on in
many similar instances. Youths under eighteen will be allowed to
continue their studies. Those over, capable of military service, will
best discharge their duty and find their highest training in defending
the country in the field.
"March 10, 1864."
In compliance with this opinion, the Conscript Act was finally enforced
at the University; the classes were still further reduced by the
withdrawal of such as came within the requirements of the act, or who
were determined to share at all hazards the fate of their comrades in
the army. The University, however, still struggled on; and when General
Sherman's forces entered the place, there were some ten or twelve boys
still keeping up the name of a college. The bell was rung by one of the
professors, and morning and evening prayers attended to during the
stay of the United States forces. The students present, with two or
three exceptions, were those whose homes were in the village. The two
or three who were from a distance, left on the advent of the Federals,
walking to their homes in neighboring counties, there being no other
means of locomotion in those days. But one Senior, Mr. W.C. Prout,
graduated at the ensuing commencement, having taken the whole course.
There were three others who received diplomas at the same time. For
the first time in thirty years, the President was absent from these
exercises, having been summoned by President Johnson to Washington
City, to confer with him and with other North-Carolina gentlemen on
the condition of affairs in the State. Not a single visitor from
abroad attended the commencement, with the exception of some _thirty
gentlemen dressed in blue_, who had been delegated to remain here and
keep order. The residents of the village were the only audience to hear
the valedictory pronounced by the sole remaining representative of his
class. Where were the hundreds who had thronged these halls four years
before? Virginia, and Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, and
Georgia were heaving with their graves! In every State that had felt
the tread of armies, and wherever the rough edge of the battle had
joined, there had been found the foster-children of North-Carolina's
University;[22] and now, sitting discrowned and childless, she might
well have taken up the old lamentations which come to us in these later
days more and more audibly across the centuries, "Oh! that my head were
waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and
night for the slain of the daughter of my people!"
There is not a prettier village in the South than that which lies
around the University, and has grown up with it and has been sustained
and elevated by it. And not a village in the South gave more freely of
its best blood in the war, not one suffered more severely in proportion
to its population. Thirty-five of our young men died in the service.
Some of them left wives and little ones; some were the only support
and blessing of aged parents; all were, with very few exceptions, the
very flower of our families, and were representatives of every walk
and condition of life. The first company that left the place in May,
1861, commanded by Captain R.J. Ashe, was attached to the famous First
North-Carolina regiment, which so distinguished itself at the memorable
battle of Bethel, June tenth of that year. Upon the disbanding of this
regiment, the members of the Orange Light Infantry attached themselves
to other companies--for no fewer than four were raised here and in the
vicinity--and many of them were among those who dragged themselves home
on foot from Lee's last field.
The decline of the University threw many of our citizens out of
employment, and the privations endured here tell as sad a story as
can be met with anywhere. There was some alleviation of the general
distress for those who had houses or furniture to rent; for every
vacant room was crowded at one time by refugee families from the
eastern part of the State, from Norfolk, and latterly from Petersburg.
And this was the case with every town in the interior of the State.
Some of these settled here permanently during the war, attracted by
the beauty and secluded quiet of the place, and by the libraries--best
society of all! Some of them merely alighted here in the first hurry of
their flight, and afterward sought other homes, as birds flit uneasily
from bough to bough when driven from their nests. These families were
generally representatives of the best and most highly cultivated of our
Southern aristocracy. They fled hither stripped of all their earthly
possessions, except a few of their negroes. Many came not only having
left their beautiful homes in the hands of invaders, but with heads
bowed down with mourning; for gallant sons who had fallen in vain
defense of those homes. Some of them, the elders among them, closed
their wearied eyes here, and were laid to rest among strangers, glad to
die and exchange their uncertain citizenship in a torn and distracted
country for that city which hath foundations.
The benefits of the war in our State should not be overlooked in
summing up even a slight record concerning it. It brought all classes
nearer to each other. The rich and the poor met together. A common
cause became a common bond of sympathy and kind feeling. Charity was
more freely dispensed, pride of station was forgotten. The Supreme
Court judges and the ex-governors, whose sons had marched away in the
ranks side by side with those of the day-laborer, felt a closer tie
henceforth to their neighbor. When a whole village poured in and around
one church building to hear the ministers of every denomination pray
the parting prayers and invoke the farewell blessings in unison on the
village boys, there was little room for sectarian feeling. Christians
of every name drew nearer to each other. People who wept, and prayed,
and rejoiced together as we did for four years, learned to love each
other more. The higher and nobler and more generous impulses of our
nature were brought constantly into action, stimulated by the heroic
endurance and splendid gallantry of our soldiers, and the general
enthusiasm which prevailed among us. Heaven forbid we should forget the
good which the war brought us, amid such incalculable evils; and Heaven
forbid we should ever forget its lessons--industry, economy, ingenuity,
patience, faith, charity, and above all, and finally, humility, and a
firm resolve henceforth to _let well alone_.
That North-Carolina has within herself all the elements of a larger
life and hope, and a more diffused prosperity than she has ever known,
is not to be doubted by those who are acquainted with the wealth of her
internal resources and the consummate honesty, industry, and resolution
of her people. Time will heal these wounds yet raw and bleeding; the
tide of a new and nobler life will yet fill her veins and throb in
all her pulses; and taught in the school of adversity the noblest of
all lessons, our people will rise from their present dejection when
their civil rights have been restored them, and with renewed hope in
God will go on to do their whole duty as heretofore. Silently they
will help to clear the wreck and right the ship; silently they will do
their duty to the dead and to the living, and to those who shall come
after them; silently and with the modesty of all true heroism they will
do great things, and leave it to others to publish them. Remarkable
as North-Carolinians have ever been for reticence and sobriety of
speech and action, it is reserved for such epochs as those of May
twentieth, 1776, and May twentieth, 1861, and for such great conflicts
as succeeded them, to show what a fire can leap forth from this grave,
impassive people--what a flame is kindled in generous sympathy, what
ardor burns in defense of right and liberty. They are now to show the
world what true and ennobling dignity may accompany defeat, surrender,
and submission.
I close these slight and inadequate sketches of a memorable time with
the words of my first sentence. The history of the great war is yet
to be written, and can scarcely be fairly and impartially written by
this generation. But it is our imperative duty to ourselves and to our
dead to begin at once to lay up the costly material for the great work.
Every man should contribute freely according to his ability, gold and
silver, precious stones, iron and wood; and with this motive, I have
ventured to present such an outline of events in the last ninety days
as circumstances would permit me to gather.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 21: There was then, as now, no money in the country, and this
was the largest cash donation ever received by the University.]
[Footnote 22: It is stated upon good authority, and is confidently
believed, that there was not a single regiment in the entire
Confederate service in which could not be found one or more old
students of Chapel Hill.]
APPENDIX.
I.
"_More than a seventh of the aggregate number of graduates are known to
have fallen in battle._"
This was written in October, 1863. When the war was closed, the
proportion was much greater.
It is hardly consistent with the slight character of these sketches
to enter deeply into questions of constitutional law, involving the
rights of belligerents and insurgents in time of civil war. I had no
intention of attempting more than a plain, unvarnished statement of
facts; with some hope, I confess, that a faithful narrative of the
losses and the sufferings of the vanquished might do something at least
toward arousing a generous remorse and regret in the breasts of the
victors. This volume will produce an effect altogether contrary to what
is intended if it serves only to prolong the remembrances which excite
sectional animosity.
The records of our literary institutions all over the South will be
found especially valuable in making up the estimate of our losses on
the battle-field; for they will show unerringly that it was the _best_
blood of the South that was poured out like water; that her educated
young men were the first to offer themselves in what they deemed a
glorious cause, and were among the first to fall. And North-Carolina,
in particular, may point with pride to her University for an example of
patriotic devotion unsurpassed by any other institution in the South.
I had hoped to be able to exhibit in this Appendix a collection of
statistical details in connection with our University, of a deep and
melancholy interest; and have taken much pains and made numerous
inquiries to ascertain what proportion of the living Alumni had
participated in the contest, and what number had fallen in battle.
It is, however, impossible to accomplish this design at present, and
a complete record, if it can ever be obtained, must be reserved for
future publication. I must content myself with a general view in
relation to the actors of one particular era; judging by which we may
form some estimate of the whole number of those, who, having enjoyed
the best advantages of education, and representing the best classes of
society, counted not their lives dear in the service of their country.
Let me here present one scene at the University as it occurred in the
days when the Almighty was yet with us, when His candle shined upon our
head, and our children were about us.
The annual commencement of 1847 was rendered a literary festival
of unusual interest, by the attendance of President Polk, and the
Secretary of the Navy, Judge Mason, both of whom were alumni of the
University.
The commencement of 1859 was rendered no less memorable by the visit
of President Buchanan, and the Secretary of the Interior, Hon. Jacob
Thompson, who was not only a graduate, but had been at one time a tutor
in the Institution. How vivid is the recollection of those scenes in
the minds of all who witnessed them! How interesting and imposing the
assemblage of all that could give dignity or influence to a State, or
shed the light of beauty and grace on these venerable cloisters and
schools of learning. In 1859, apprehensions of the permanency of the
Union were beginning to be excited by symptoms of dissatisfaction in
the neighboring States. Secretary Thompson, in reply to the welcome
addressed to him at his reception in front of Governor Swain's
residence, referring to these ominous indications, congratulated the
assembly on the steadiness of attachment to the Union everywhere
manifested by the people of his native State. He was applauded with
a vehemence which gave full assurance of the deep and universal
loyalty of his hearers. President Buchanan repeatedly expressed his
pleasure at these evidences of feeling which were reïterated whenever
occasion offered. How little did he, how little did any one, foresee
what changes a single year was to effect. On the evening preceding
commencement-day, President Buchanan appeared upon the rostrum and
performed an interesting part in the exercises. At the request of the
Rev. Dr. Wheat, the then Professor of Rhetoric, he delivered the prize
awarded to the best English writer in the Sophomore class, Eldridge E.
Wright, of Memphis, Tenn., who afterward graduated with the highest
distinction, and the most flattering hopes and promises of future
usefulness. He fell, a captain of artillery, in defense of his battery
at the battle of Murfreesboro. The two eldest sons of Dr. Wheat both
fell in battle--one at Shiloh and the other in Virginia. Of the six
college tutors then present but one survives. Of the crowd of trustees
and distinguished North-Carolinians who surrounded that rostrum, time
would fail me to tell of the prostrate hopes and darkened hearths; but
in brief, I may say, that of the four hundred and thirty young men then
listening with intense eagerness and prolonged applause to words of
wisdom and affection from their chief magistrate, more than a fifth, in
less than five years, fell in fratricidal strife on every battle-field
from Pennsylvania to Texas. Could the curtain that in mercy vailed
the future, have been that day withdrawn, what would have been the
emotions of the audience? Could they have seen one hundred of those
four hundred and thirty gay and gallant boys lying in all the ghastly
and bloody forms of death on the battle-field; a like proportion with
amputated limbs, or permanently impaired constitutions; and all, with
few exceptions, seamed with honorable scars, would they not have
recoiled horror-stricken from such a revelation of war as it really is?
What would have been the effect on that veteran statesman could he have
seen all this--seen his friend and associate in the councils of the
nation an exile, wandering in foreign lands, and all the wide-spread
havoc, ruin, and woe of a four years' merciless war darkly curtaining
the broad and smiling land? In the providence of God he was childless.
How many fathers of that goodly throng have gone down to the grave
sorrowing--for sorrow slays as well as the sword; how many mothers,
sisters, and wives refuse to be comforted, and long for the grave, and
are glad when they find it!
I have selected the catalogue of 1859-60 referred to in the letter
from Governor Swain to President Davis, as best calculated to show the
results of the fearful change produced among us in the brief interval
preceding the civil war.
The Senior class of 1860 consisted of eighty-four members. The
subjoined table will show that every one of these able to bear arms,
with perhaps a single exception, entered the service, and that _more
than a fourth_ of the entire number now fill soldiers' graves. The
proportion of the wounded to the killed is ordinarily estimated as not
smaller than three to one; and judging by this rule, it appears and
is believed to be the fact, that very few of the whole class remained
unscathed. Of the younger classes, my information is not sufficiently
complete to justify the giving a list; but enough is ascertained to
make it certain that the sacrifice of life among them was in very
nearly the same proportion as among the Seniors. As a matter of undying
interest to the people of my own State, and significant enough to those
of others, I present this record of the sons of her University.
Adams, Robert B. In service from South-Carolina.
Alexander, Sydenham B., Capt. 42d N.C. Regt.
Anderson, Lawrence M., Lieut. Killed at Shiloh.
Askew, George W., Capt. Miss. Regt.
Attmore, Isaac T. Killed in Virginia.
Baird, William W., Lieut. N.C. Regt.
Barbee, Algernon S., Lieut. Com. Dept. Army of the West.
Barrett, Alexander, Lieut. 49th N.C. Regt.
Battle, Junius C., Killed at Sharp's Mountain.
Bond, Lewis, Chief Ord. to Gen. Jackson.
Borden, William H., Lieut. 50th N.C. Regt.
Bowie, John R., Sergt. Signal Corps, Louisiana.
Brickell, Sterling H., Capt, 12th N.C. Regt. Resigned from wounds.
Brooks, William M., 3d N.C. Cav.
Bruce, Charles, Jr. Killed at Richmond.
Bryan, George P., Capt. 2d N.C. Regt. Killed.
Bullock, Richard A., Com. Sergt. 12th N.C. Regt.
Butler, Pierce M., 1st Lieut. 2d S.C. Cav.
Cole, Alexander T., Capt. 23d N.C. Regt.
Coleman, Daniel R., 20th N.C. Regt.
Cooper, Robert E., Chaplain Cobb's Legion.
Cooper, Thomas W., 1st Lieut. 11th N.C. Regt. Killed at Gettysburgh.
Daniel, S. Venable, 1st Lieut. 17th N.C. Regt.
Davis, Samuel C., Lieut. 4th N.C. Regt.
Davis, Thomas W., Lieut. 8th N.C. Regt
Drake, Edwin L., Col. Tenn. Regt. Cav.
Fain, John H.D., Capt. 33d N.C. Regt. Killed at Petersburg,
2d April, 1865.
Ferrand, Horace, Louisiana Regt.
Fogle, James O.A., Medical Dept. Richmond.
Franklin, Samuel R. Died in service.
Garrett, Woodston L., Lieut. 8th Ala. Cav.
Gay, Charles E., Lieut. Miss. Artillery.
Graham, James A., Capt. 27th N.C. Regt.
Haigh, Charles, Sergt.-Major 5th N.C. Cav.
Hale, Edward J., Jr., Capt. A.A.G. to Gen. Lane.
Hardin, Edward J., Lieut. and Adjt. Conscript Bureau.
Hays, Robert B., Forrest's Cavalry.
Headen, William J., Lieut. 26th N.C. Regt. Killed.
Henry, William W., Capt. Artillery, Army of the West.
Hightower, Samuel A., 26th Louisiana Regt.
Holliday, Thomas C., Capt. A.A.G. to Gen. Davis. Killed.
Houston, R. Bruce B., Lieut. 52d N.C. Regt.
Jones, H. Francis, Lieut. A.D.C. to Gen. Young. Killed.
Jones, Walter J., Heavy Artillery. Afterward 40th N.C. Regt.
Kelly, James, Presbyterian clergyman.
Kelly, John B., 26th N.C. Regt.
King, William J., Medical Dept. Richmond.
Lutterloh, Jarvis B., Lieut. 56th N.C. Regt. Killed at Gum Swamp.
Martin, Eugene S., Lieut. 1st Battery Heavy Artillery.
Martin, George S., Capt. Tenn. Art'y. Killed by bushwhackers.
McCallum, James B., Lieut. 51st N.C. Regt. Killed at Bermuda Hundreds.
McClelland, James C. Died in 1861, in Arkansas.
McKethan, Edwin T., Lieut. 51st N.C. Regt.
McKimmon, Arthur N., Q.M. Dept. Raleigh.
McKimmon, James, Jr., Lieut. Manly's Battery.
Mebane, Cornelius, Adjt. 6th N.C. Regt.
Mebane, John W. Capt. Tenn. Artillery. Killed at Kenesaw Mountain.
Micou, Augustin, Lieut. and A.A.G. Drew's Battalion.
Mimms, Thomas S., Western Army.
Nicholson, William T., Capt. 37th N.C. Regt. Killed.
Pearce, Oliver W., 3d Regt. N.C. Cav.
Pittman, Reddin G., 1st Lieut. Eng. Dep.
Pool, Charles C.
Quarles, George McD. Died in service.
Ryal, Tims, Louisiana Regt.
Royster, Iowa, Lieut. 37th N.C. Regt. Killed at Gettysburgh.
Sanders, Edward B., Sergt.-Major 35th N.C. Regt.
Saunders, Jos. H., Lieut.-Col. 33d N.C. Regt.
Scales, Erasmus D., Capt. and Com. Sub. 2d N.C. Cav.
Smith, Farquhard, Jr., 3d N.C. Cav.
Smith, Norfleet, 1st Lieut. 3d N.C. Cav.
Smith, Thomas L. Killed at Vicksburgh.
Sterling, Edward G. Died in service.
Strong, Hugh. In South-Carolina service.
Sykes, Richard L. In Mississippi service.
Taylor, George W., Ass't. Surgeon, 26th La.
Thompson, Samuel M., Colonel Tenn. Regt.
Thorp, John H., Capt. 47th N.C. Regt.
Vaughan, Vernon H. In Alabama service.
Wallace, James A., 44th N.C. Regt.
Wier, Samuel P., Lieut. 46th N.C. Regt. Killed at Fredericksburgh.
Whitfield, Cicero, Sergt. 53d N.C. Regt.
Wilson, George L. Died.
Wooster, William A., Capt. 1st N.C. Regt. Killed at Richmond.
Of field-officers in the Confederate service, at least thirteen
illustrious names are among the Alumni of the University, namely:
Lieut.-General Leonidas Polk,
Brig.-Generals Geo. B. Anderson,
Rufus Barringer,
L. O'B. Branch,
Thomas L. Clingman,
Robert D. Johnston,
Gaston Lewis,
James Johnston Pettigrew,
Matt. W. Ransom,
Ashley W. Spaight; and
Adjutant-Generals
R.C. Gatlin,
John F. Hoke.
Generals Polk, Anderson, Branch, and Pettigrew were killed, and all
the others (with the exception of the two bureau officers) severely
wounded, and most of them more than once.
I regret that my information in regard to many other gallant
field-officers is at present too imperfect to justify the enumeration;
much less am I able to give a correct list of subaltern officers,
and the unrecorded dead. It will be a labor of love to continue my
inquiries, in the hope of being able at some future day to present a
suitable memorial of all our loved and lost.
Beloved till Time can charm no more,
And mourned till Pity's self be dead.
In looking over the list of even so few as are recorded above, one
is struck with the number of those killed, of whom interesting and
touching obituary memorials might be written. Nearly all of them
were men of rank. One of the most widely read and admired and useful
religious biographies of the day has been Miss Marsh's Life of Captain
Hedley Vicars of the English Crimean Army. We had many a Captain Vicars
in our Southern Confederate army, whose life, if written as well, would
be quite as striking, quite as valuable--many pure and noble Christian
young men, the beauty of whose daily lives still sheds a glow around
their memories. It was in fact a common remark, during the war, that it
was the best who fell. I am sure that North-Carolinians, at least, will
not be displeased with particular mention of a few of their dead in
this place.
Of the six tutors connected with the University at the opening of
the war, all of whom volunteered at once, _five_--namely, Captains
Anderson, Bryan, Johnson, Morrow, and Lieutenant Royster--fell on the
battle-field, and they were all, without one exception, young men of
more than ordinary promise.
Captain Anderson, of Wilmington, was a brother of General George B.
Anderson. He graduated with the highest distinction in the year 1858.
His class consisted of ninety-four members, nearly all of whom it
is believed entered the army. Two of the seven who shared the first
distinction with him--one subsequently tutor in the University, W.C.
Dowd, the other Captain W.C. Lord, of Salisbury--are in their graves.
Captain William Adams, of Greensboro, whose name occurs first on
the roll of his classmates, was killed at Sharpsburgh. Captain Hugh
T. Brown, (half-brother to General Gordon,) fell at Springfield;
and Lieutenant Thomas Cowan, at Sharpsburgh. Among those who have
survived the perils of the battle-field and the hospital, are
Lieutenant-Colonels H.C. Jones, A.C. McAllister, and J.T. Morehead,
Colonels John A. Gilmer and L.M. McAfee, and General Robert D. Johnston.
Captain Anderson was a candidate for orders in the Episcopal Church,
but believed it his duty to contribute his share to the vindication
of the rights of his country. He served with continually increasing
reputation, and fell in the battle of the Wilderness Creek.
Captain George Pettigrew Bryan, of Raleigh, was another most rare
spirit. Belonging to the class of 1860, enumerated above, he was the
youngest of eight who received the first distinction. During his
college life, and throughout the whole of his brief but brilliant
career, he was as conspicuous for his fidelity to duty as for his
intellectual attainments. He, too, was to have consecrated his rare
gifts to the ministry of the Church. He fell, while leading a charge
on the enemy's works, ten miles east of Richmond. Mortally wounded in
the breast, he said, "Boys, I'm killed, but I wish I could live to see
you take those works." In a few moments the works were carried and the
enemy routed. In half an hour after, he died peacefully and calmly: his
promotion to lieutenant-colonel arriving just after his death.
Captain George B. Johnson, of Edenton, a graduate of 1859, bearing away
the highest honors, died in Chapel Hill of a decline brought on by the
hardships of prison life at Sandusky, Ohio. One of his professors wrote
of him: "His powers of mind were unusual, his energy of character very
marked, his tastes all scholarly, and his attainments extensive and
accurate. Always pure and upright and truthful and unselfish. Never was
a whisper of reproach or censure uttered against him."
Lieutenant I. Royster, of Raleigh, was one of the graduates of this
University who would have shed a lustre on its name had he lived. One
of the eight of 1860 who received the first distinction, he was in many
respects a remarkable genius--intellectually one of the most gifted
young men who ever left these halls. He fell at Gettysburgh, advancing
to the charge considerably in front of his company and singing "Dixie"
as he met his instant death.
Captain E. Graham Morrow, of Chapel Hill, fell at Gettysburgh.
Another noble, modest, gallant, and true young man. He was a son
of North-Carolina in a particular sense, for he came of fathers,
grandfathers, great-grandfathers and ancestors even more remote who
had been an honor to the same soil before him. On these six slight
memorials there is yet a crown to be placed. These young men were all
Christians. That light above any that ever shone by sea or shore falls
upon their graves.
In the list of the Seniors of 1860 given above, of the eight who
received the first honors of the University, but three survive; of the
_twenty-seven_ distinguished (more than a third of the whole number)
ten are no more. Of the twenty-four dead, who shall estimate the loss
to their country, and to their families of even these? Of one of the
fairest and best, Captain John Fain, of Warren, who was the only child
of his mother, and she a widow; killed after passing safely through
four years of peril and suffering, and falling in the last day of
the last fight before Petersburg, April 2d, 1865. Another of the
first eight was Junius C. Battle, of Chapel Hill, fourth son of the
Law Professor, Judge Battle. Having suffered amputation of the left
leg, after the battle of South-Mountain, he occupied such of the few
remaining hours of his life as he could redeem from his own sufferings,
in reading to the crowd of Confederate and Federal wounded around him.
We can well imagine, wrote a friend, how eloquent such reading was to
such an audience. The reader's own eye was fast glazing, and the pains
of death among strangers were upon him, but he rallied the remnants of
his vision and self-control, and spent them in directing the fading
eyes around him to that WICKET-GATE and SHINING LIGHT. Surely it was
a cup of cold water given in the name of his Master, and even now is
abundantly rewarded.
Of William A. Wooster of Wilmington, and of George L. Wilson of
New-Berne, of whom, standing before him to say farewell, Gov. Swain
said that he never had under his care, never had known two young men of
higher character, purer faith, or more gifted intellect than these two
beloved pupils.
I am tempted to go on with this list, but am reminded that I shall
exceed my limits. Some abler hand, I trust, will some day gather up for
preservation all these records of our noble boys; worthy, all of them,
of that glorious epitaph once to be seen at Thermopylæ: "Tell it in
_North-Carolina_, that we lie here in obedience to HER laws."
Of our Generals much might be said that would be of deep and permanent
interest. In General Pettigrew, North-Carolina was universally and
justly considered to have lost one of the most remarkable men that
this continent has ever produced. He graduated in 1847, when he and
General Ransom received the first distinction in their class. The
latter delivered the Salutatory of his class to President Polk, and
fortunately survives the perils of many a battle-field still further
to honor and receive honor from his native State. Of General Pettigrew
I append a biographical sketch, which originally appeared in the
_Fayetteville Observer_, by a hand fully competent to do him justice,
and which presents him not overdrawn nor too highly colored. Of none
of the thousands of the flower of this Southern land who fell in her
defense can it be said more justly than of James Johnston Pettigrew:
"_Felix non solum claritatê vitæ, sed etiam opportunitatê mortis._"[23]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 23: Fortunate not only in the renown of his life, but also in
the opportunity of his death.]
II.
GEN. JAMES JOHNSTON PETTIGREW.
From The Fayetteville Observer.
James Johnston Pettigrew, late a Brigadier in the army of the
Confederate States, was born at Lake Scuppernong, in Tyrrell county,
North-Carolina, upon the 4th day of July, 1828. His family is
originally of French extraction. At an early period, however, one
branch of it emigrated to Scotland, where it may be traced holding
lands near Glasgow about the year 1492. Afterward a portion of it
removed to the northern part of Ireland. From this place James
Pettigrew, the great-grandfather of the subject of this notice,
about the year 1732, came into Pennsylvania, and, some twenty years
afterward, into North-Carolina. About 1770, this gentleman removed
to South-Carolina, leaving here, however, his son Charles, who was
a resident successively of the counties of Granville, Chowan, and
Tyrrell. Charles Pettigrew was subsequently the first Bishop-elect of
the Protestant Episcopal Church in this diocese. He died in 1807, and
his memory survives, fragrant with piety, charity, and an extended
usefulness. His son Ebenezer succeeded to his estates and reputation.
Devoting his life to the successful drainage and cultivation of the
fertile lands which he owned, and to the government of the large family
of which he was the head, Mr. Pettigrew resisted every solicitation
presented by his neighbors for the employment of his talents in public
service. Upon one occasion alone was his reluctance overcome. In 1835,
he was chosen by a very flattering vote to represent his District in
the Congress of the United States. At that election he received the
rare compliment of an almost unanimous vote from his fellow-citizens
of Tyrrell, failing to obtain but three votes out of more than seven
hundred. He could not be prevailed upon to be a candidate at a
second election. Mr. Pettigrew married Miss Shepard, a daughter of
the distinguished family of that name seated at New-Berne. She died
in July 1830, when her son James Johnston was but two years of age.
Ebenezer Pettigrew lived until July, 1848, having witnessed with great
sensibility the very brilliant opening of his son's career among the
cotemporary youth of the land.
After his mother's death the child was taken to the home of his
grandmother at New-Berne, and there remained until he was carried
into Orange county, to pursue his education. Owing to an unfortunate
exposure whilst an infant, young Pettigrew was a delicate boy, but by
diligent and systematic exercise he gradually inured his constitution
to endure without harm extraordinary fatigue and the extremes of
weather. He was a member of various schools at Hillsboro from the year
1836, enjoying the advantages of instruction by Mr. Bingham for about
four years previously to his becoming a student at the University.
During this period the state of his health required him to be often at
home for several months together. He was a member of the University of
North-Carolina during the full term of four years, graduating there
at the head of his class in June, 1847. From early childhood young
Pettigrew had been noted as a boy of extraordinary intellect. At all
the schools he was easily first in every class and in every department
of study. He seemed to master his text-books by intuition. They formed
the smallest portion of his studies, for his eager appetite for
learning ranged widely over subjects collateral to his immediate tasks.
Nor did they always stop here. His father was amused and gratified
upon one occasion to observe the extent to which he had profited by
his excursions among the medical books of an eminent physician at
Hillsboro, of whose family he was an inmate at the age of fourteen.
In the class-room at the University he appeared in reciting rather
to have descended to the level of the lesson, than to have risen up
to it. Student as he was, and somewhat reserved in demeanor, he was
nevertheless very popular with his fellows, and the object of their
enthusiastic admiration. Anecdotes were abundant as to the marvelous
range of his acquirements, and the generosity and patience with which
he contributed from his stores even to the dullest applicant for aid.
Nor was it only in letters that he was chief. A fencing-master, who
happened to have a class among the collegians, bore quite as decided
testimony to his merits as he had obtained from the various chairs of
the faculty.
The commencement at which he graduated was distinguished by the
attendance of President Polk, Mr. Secretary Mason, and Lieutenant
Maury of the National Observatory. Impressed by the homage universally
paid to his merits, as well as by the high character of his graduating
oration, these gentlemen proposed to him to become an assistant in
the Observatory at Washington City. After spending some weeks in
recreation, Mr. Pettigrew reported to Lieutenant Maury, and remained
with him for some six or eight months. In the occupations of this
office he fully maintained his earlier promise; but soon relinquished
the position, inasmuch as the exposure and labor incident to it were
injuriously affecting his health.
After an interval of travel in the Northern States, Mr. Pettigrew, in
the fall of 1848, became a student of law in the office of James Mason
Campbell, Esq., of Baltimore, where he remained for several months. At
the close of this period, by the solicitation of his kinsman, the late
James L. Petigru of Charleston, S.C., he entered his office with the
design of being subsequently associated with him in the practice of his
profession. Upon obtaining license, Mr. Pettigrew, by the advice of
his kinsman just mentioned, proceeded to Berlin and other universities
in Germany in order to perfect himself in the civil law. He remained
in Europe for nearly three years. Two years of this time he devoted to
study, the remainder he spent in traveling upon the Continent, and
in Great Britain and Ireland. He availed himself of this opportunity
of becoming acquainted with modern European languages so far as to be
able to speak with ease in those of Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.
During this tour he contracted a great partiality for the Spanish
character and history, having had considerable opportunity for studying
the former not only as a private gentleman, but also as Secretary of
Legation for a short while to Colonel Barringer, then Minister of the
United States near the Court of Spain. It may be proper to add here,
that among the unaccomplished designs of Mr. Pettigrew, to which he had
given some labor, was that of following Prescott in further narratives
of the connection of Spain with America, and as a preliminary to this
he had formed a collection of works in Arabic, and had made himself
acquainted with that language.
Mr. Pettigrew returned to Charleston in November, 1852, and entered
upon the practice of law in connection with his honored and
accomplished relative. He profited so well by his studies in Europe and
by his subsequent investigations, that in the opinion of his partner,
who was well qualified to judge, he became a master of the civil law
not inferior in acquisition and in grasp of principle to any in the
United States. His success at the bar was brilliant. In 1856, he was
chosen one of the representatives of the city in the Legislature,
holding his seat under that election for the two sessions of December,
1856, and December, 1857. He rose to great distinction in that body.
His report against the reöpening of the Slave Trade, and his speech
upon the organization of the Supreme Court, gave him reputation beyond
the bounds of the State. He failed to be reëlected in 1858.
Mr. Pettigrew persistently refused to receive any portion of the income
of the partnership of which he was a member. Independent in property,
and simple in his habits of personal expenditure, he displayed no
desire to accumulate money. Noble in every trait of character, he held
the contents of his purse subject to every draft that merit might
present.
For some years previous to the rupture between the North and the South,
Mr. Pettigrew had anticipated its occurrence, and believing it to be
his duty to be prepared to give his best assistance to the South in
such event, had turned his attention to military studies. Like many
other rare geniuses, he had always a partiality for mathematics, and
so very naturally devoted much time to that branch of this science
which deals with war. Even as far back as 1850 he had been desirous of
becoming an officer in the Prussian army; and negotiations for that end
set upon foot by military friends whom he had made at Berlin, failed
only because he was a republican. Afterward he became Aid to Governor
Alston of South-Carolina, and more recently to Governor Pickens. Upon
the breaking out of the war between Sardinia and Austria, Colonel
Pettigrew at once arranged his private business and hastened to obtain
position in the army under General Marmora. His application to Count
Cavour was favorably received, but after consideration his offer was
declined on the ground that the event of the battle of Solferino had
rendered further fighting improbable. He was greatly disappointed, as
his reception had inspired him with hopes of seeing active service in
the Sardinian army with rank at least as high as that of a colonel.
Availing himself, however, of his unexpected leisure, he revisited
Spain, and after a stay of a few months returned to South-Carolina.
The fruits of this second visit were collected by him into a volume
entitled Spain and the Spaniards, which he printed for the inspection
of his friends in 1860. It will be found to be a thoughtful, spirited,
and agreeable record of his impressions of that romantic land.
At the opening of the present war, Colonel Pettigrew, as Aid to
Governor Pickens, took a prominent part in the operations of
Charleston. He was at that time also colonel of a rifle regiment in
which he was much interested, and which became conspicuous amongst the
military organizations around Charleston in the winter of 1860-1861. As
commander of this body he received the surrender of Castle Pinckney,
and subsequently held himself in readiness to storm Fort Sumter, in
case it had not surrendered after bombardment. Later in the spring,
having failed to procure the incorporation of his regiment into the
army of the Confederate States, and believing there was little chance
of seeing active service in South-Carolina, he transferred himself as
a private into Hampton's Legion, and early in the summer accompanied
that corps into Virginia. A few days afterward he was recalled to the
service of his native State by an unsolicited election as Colonel of
the 12th Regiment of North-Carolina Volunteers, now the 22d Regiment
of North-Carolina Troops. It had been Colonel Pettigrew's earnest
wish to become connected with the North-Carolina army, and so he at
once accepted the honorable position, and repaired to Raleigh where
his regiment was stationed in its camp of instruction. He devoted his
attention to its discipline with great assiduity, and in the early
days of August was ordered into Virginia. The fall and winter of 1861
were spent by him near Evansport, upon the Potomac. He gave his whole
time and attention to the perfecting of his regiment, in the duties of
soldiers. He fully shared in every hardship that was incident to their
situation. In this new position Colonel Pettigrew became conspicuous
for another characteristic necessary to eminent success in every
department, but especially in that of military life. The men under
his command became devotedly attached to him. Their enthusiasm knew
no bounds. Their confidence in his administration of the police of
the camp was perfect, and their assurance of his gallantry and skill
unqualified. He soon felt that he might rely upon his brave men for
all that was possible to soldiers, and his attachment to the regiment
became marked. Being offered promotion to the rank of brigadier, he
declined it on the ground that it would separate him from his regiment.
Some time later in the spring of 1862, an arrangement was made by which
the 12th Regiment was included in the brigade that was tendered to him,
and he no longer felt any difficulty in accepting the promotion.
General Pettigrew shared in the march under General Johnston into the
Peninsula, and afterward in the retreat upon Richmond. On the 1st day
of June, 1862, in the battle of Seven Pines, he was severely wounded
by a ball which passed transversely along the front of his throat and
so into the shoulder, cutting the nerves and muscles which strengthen
the right arm. This occurred in a charge which he had headed with
great gallantry. He was left upon the field for dead, and recovered
his consciousness only to find himself in the hands of the enemy. Some
weeks later his exchange was effected, and, being still an invalid,
he was placed in command at Petersburg. The exigencies of the service
having required his regiment to be transferred to another brigade, he
found, upon his return, that it had been placed under the gallant--and
now, alas! lamented--General Pender. By degrees a new brigade assembled
around General Pettigrew, and such was his pains in its instruction,
and such the desire among the North-Carolina soldiers to make part of
his command, that by the close of the year he was at the head of a
brigade which, in point of quality, numbers, and soldierly bearing,
was equal to any in the army. He commanded this brigade in repelling
the Federal raid into Martin county, late in the fall of 1862, and
again in General Foster's expedition against Goldsboro, in December,
1862, and although the quick dexterity of the enemy in falling back did
upon neither occasion afford him and his associates an opportunity of
trying conclusions with them, yet upon both occasions the magnificent
appearance of Pettigrew's Brigade tended greatly to revive the spirit
of a community recently overrun by the enemy. He was also with
General D.H. Hill during the spring of this year, in his attempt upon
Washington in this State; and in the very brilliant affair at Blount's
Creek gave the public a taste of what might be expected from his
abilities when untrammeled by the orders of a superior.
At the time of General Stoneman's raid on the north of Richmond,
General Pettigrew was ordered to the protection of that city, and
shortly afterward took position at Hanover Junction. His brigade
subsequently made part of the Army of Northern Virginia, and
accompanied General Lee into Pennsylvania. At the battle of Gettysburgh
he was in command of General Heth's division, and won many laurels. His
division was greatly cut up. The loss of his brigade in killed and
wounded was so heavy as almost to destroy its organization. He himself
was wounded by a ball which broke one of the bones of his hand. He
regarded it so little as not to leave the field. Moving afterward with
General Lee to Hagerstown and the Potomac, it devolved upon General
Pettigrew, on the night of the 13th and the morning of the 14th of
July, to assist in guarding the passage of that part of the army which
recrossed at Falling Water. About nine o'clock in the morning of the
latter day, having been in the saddle all night, General Pettigrew and
other officers had thrown themselves upon the ground for a few moments'
rest, when a party of Federal cavalry rode into their midst. In the
_mêlée_ which ensued General Pettigrew was shot--the ball taking effect
in the abdomen and passing through his body. When the enemy had been
repulsed, he was taken up by his sorrowing soldiers and carried across
the river some seven miles into Virginia, along the track of the army.
Upon the next day he was carried some fifteen miles further, to the
house of Mr. Boyd at Bunker Hill, where he received every attention of
which his situation allowed. Upon General Lee's expressing great sorrow
for the calamity, he said that his fate was no other than one might
reasonably anticipate upon entering the army, and that he was perfectly
willing to die for his country. To the Rev. Mr. Wilmer he avowed a firm
persuasion of the truths of the Christian religion, and said that in
accordance with his belief he had some years before made preparations
for death, adding, that otherwise he would not have entered the army.
He lingered until the 17th, and then at twenty-five minutes after six
in the morning, died, quietly and without pain. The expression of
sympathy for his sad fate was universal. Private soldiers from other
commands and distant States, vied with his own in repeated inquiries
after his condition. Upon its way to Raleigh his body was received
by the authorities and by the citizens everywhere with all possible
respect and attention. On the morning of Friday, the 24th of July, the
coffin, wrapped in the flag of the country, and adorned with wreaths
of flowers and other tributes of feminine taste and tenderness, lay
in the rotunda of the Capitol, where, within the year, had preceded
him his compatriots Branch and Anderson. Later in the day the State
received his loved and honored remains into her bosom.
It was a matter of great gratification to North-Carolina when this
son, after an absence of a few years, gladly returned to her service.
She views his career in arms with a just pride. She will ever reckon
him among the most precious of her jewels; and will hold him forth as
the fittest of all exemplars to the coming generations of her young
heroes. Chief among his triumphs will it be reckoned that in the midst
of his elevation and of the high hopes which possessed his soul, he so
demeaned himself as to secure a place, hallowed by grief, in many an
humble heart throughout North-Carolina. His name is to be pronounced
reverently and with tears by the winter fireside of many a hut; and
curious childhood will beg to have often repeated the rude stories in
which soldiers shall celebrate his generosity, his impartiality, his
courtesy, and his daring. It is true that many eyes which flashed with
enthusiasm as their favorite urged his gray horse into the thick of the
battle, are forever dull upon the fatal hills of Pennsylvania; but this
will render his memory only the more dear to the survivors; what of his
fame was not theirs originally, they will claim to have inherited, from
the dead around Gettysburgh.
If this story has been properly told, little remains to be said by
way of comment. A young man of very rare accomplishments and energy,
fitted equally for the cloister of the scholar and for the field of
battle, has been snatched from our midst. Admirably qualified to be
of assistance to the country as a soldier or as a statesman, General
Pettigrew has been suddenly removed at the very commencement, as it
were, of his career.
_Ostendent terris hunc tantum fata, neque ultra
Esse sinent._
Although what he has achieved is sufficient for fame, that which
impresses the observer most forcibly is that such vast preparation
should, in the course of Providence, be defeated of an opportunity
for display at all commensurate with what seemed its reasonable
requirements. Under the circumstances his death looks like a prodigious
waste of material. It adds a striking illustration to that class of
subjects which has always been popular in poetry, and in morals whether
heathen or Christian. It appears very clearly that the Ruler of all
things is under no necessity to employ rare talents and acquirements
in the course of His awful administration, but in the crisis of great
affairs can lay aside a Pettigrew with as little concern as any other
instrument, even the meanest.
Upon some fitting occasion no doubt his friends will see that the
public is furnished with a more suitable and detailed account of the
preparation he had made to do high service to his generation. It will
then be better known that no vulgar career of ambition, and no ordinary
benefit to his country, had presented itself to him as worthy of the
aims and endowments of James Johnston Pettigrew.