WHEN I reached Wilmington I found everything in a stir. Everybody
wore a cockade, a miniature flag, or a uniform. Officers, with waving
plumes, rode furiously up and down the streets; the roll of drums, as
companies marched in from the camps, was heard at all hours of the
day; and with every whistle of the train arose the thrilling shout of
legions, passing on to the front. Ladies pricked their tender fingers
sewing the stout gray cloth, or thronged the balconies to wave their
dainty handkerchiefs at their favorites in the ranks.
War was in its youth; the scowl of battle had not yet gathered on its
brow, and the flowers with which Beauty strewed its pathway were not
yet bedewed with the red drops of carnage, nor withered in the smoke
and heat of conflict.
Father had already raised a company, up at the plantation in Wayne, and
they were now out at the camp of instruction near town. When I joined,
they complimented me by electing me second lieutenant, and I felt as
proud of the little yellow bars on my collar as Lord Dreddlington did
of his Garter.
What a pastime was soldiering then; sleeping in tents for the first
time, cooking our own meals, going out with a new gun to play sentry,
marching through the dress parade in the evening, before the long line
of carriages, filled with our sweethearts from the town!
I had moved out to the camp, and though it was very near town, I had to
get a pass whenever I wished to see Carlotta. The very novelty of this,
however, rendered it pleasant, and I no doubt wearied the commandant by
my frequent applications. Our marriage had been fixed for the 15th of
June, but as our company expected to leave for Richmond by the 12th,
we made the appointment nearer by ten days, and on the 5th of June,
1861—a fair, cloudless morning—we were married. It was a plain,
unostentatious wedding—different, indeed, from what I had anticipated.
Only a few friends with us, a slight collation in the parlor, a short
excursion to Smithville, and it was all over. Yet Carlotta was dearer
to me, in her simple Swiss muslin, than she would have been in satin
and lace; and I felt, as she looked up radiantly into my face, that she
was prouder of me, in my suit of gray, than if I had worn the finest
cloth.
On our return from Smithville I found a short letter from Ben, who had
enrolled his name with our company, but had not yet come down to join
us:
“Dear john,” he wrote, “when Curnal Smith was up here, I couldent
leave on account of Viny, but it’s come now, and a fine one it is,
and Viny is doin’ well; so I’ll be down sum’ers about the last of
the week. i hate orful to leave Viny and the baby, and it’ll be mity
lonesome at night, not to trot him on my nee, but I be dogged if ime
goin’ to see the yankeys get into north Carolina if my carciss will
help to stop ’em. Less me and you git together when we fight, cause I
want somebody ime cwainted with to see me ‘mongst the balls, and it’ll
help me to keep game.
“if i don’t git to Wilminton in time, i’ll meet you at Goldsboro’.
Till Death, yours,
BEN.”