Minutes of the annual meeting of the State Literary and Historical Association

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NINETEEN HUNDRED AND NINE
TENTH ANNUAL SESSION
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v5^A TENTH ANNUAL MEETING ^
OF THE
State Literary and Historical Association
RALEIGH, N. C, THURSDAY, NQV. 4, 1909
COMPILED BY
CLARENCE H. POE
Secretary -Treasurer.
RALEIGH
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Mutual Publishing Company
1909
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OFFICERS, 1909-1910.
President Piatt D. Walker, Charlotte.
First Vice-President Mrs. E. E. MoflBtt, Raleigh.
Second Vice-President. . . . J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Chapel Hill.
Third Vice-President Mrs. James Sprunt, Wilmington.
Secretary-Treasurer Clarence H. Poe, Raleigh.
E.vecutive Committee.
D. H. Hill, Chairman West Raleigh.
W. L. Poteat Wake Forest.
J. Bryan Grimes Raleigh.
W. J. Peele Raleigh.
Edwin Mims Chapel Hill.
Piatt D. Walker, ex-officio Charlotte.
Clarence H. Poe, ex-officio. Raleigh.
PURPOSES OF THE ORGANIZATION:
"The collection, preservation, production and dissemination of
our State literature and history; the encouragement of public and
school libraries; the establishment of an historical museum; the
inculcation of a literary spirit among our people; the correction
of printed misrepresentations concerning North Carolina; and the
engendering of an intelligent, healthy State pride in the rising
generation."
ELIGIBIIilTY TO MEIVIBERSHIP—MEMBERSHIP DUES.
All persons interested in its purposes are invited to become
members of the Association.
There are two classes of members: "Regular Members," pay-ing
$1. a year, and "Sustaining Members," paying $5 a year.
PRESIDENTS OF THE STATE LITERARY AND HISTORI-CAL
ASSOCIATION.
1900—1901 Walter Clark, Raleigh.
1901—1902 Henry G. Connor, Wilson.
1902—1903 . William Louis Poteat, Wake Forest.
1903—1904 C. Alphonso Smith, Chapel Hill.
1904—1905 Robert W. Winston, Durham
1905—1906. , Charles B. Aycock, Goldsboro.
1906—1907. , W. D. Pruden, Edenton; A. M. Scales,
Greensboro.
1907—1908 .Robert Bingham, Ashevilie.
1908—1909 Junius Davis, Wilmington.
1909—1910 Piatt D. Walker, Charlotte.
AWARDS OF FxlTTERSON MEMORIAL CUP.
1905—John Charles McNeill, for poems later reprinted in
book form as "Songs, Merry and Sad." (Pre-sentation
by Theodore Roosevelt.)
1906—Edwin Minis, for "Life of Sidney Lanier." (Pre-sentation
by Fabius H. Busbee.)
1907—Kemp Plummer Battle, "History of the University."
(Presentation by Francis D. Winston.)
1908—Samuel A'Court Ashe. "History of North Carolina."
(Presentation by Thomas Nelson Page.)
1909—Clarence Hamilton Poe, "A Southerner in Europe."
(Presentation by Ambassador James Bryce.)
THE RIGHT HONORABLE JAMES BRYCE.
The distinguished guest of the Literary and Historical Association
al its tenth annual meeting.
"The value of such a Society as yours as the organ of the
State's intellectual life seems to me to be very great."
State Literary and Historical Association.
TENTH ANNUAL SESSION.
N
RALEIGH, N. C, Nov. 4, 1909.
EVER BEFORE IN ITS HISTORY had the Literary and
Historical Association so interesting a session as that
which began in the Raney Library Hall at 3:30 on the
afternoon of this date, and with which it entered upon its
tenth year of activity. Having grown steadily in strength, use-fulness,
membership and influence, the 1909 meeting of the As-sociation
was notable for the excellence of the papers presented,
the presence of an unusual number of distinguished guests, and
an attendance so large that the most spacious hall in Raleigh was
taxed far beyond its capacity.
SKETCH OF MAJOR JOHN WALKER OF WILlVnXGTOX, N. Cm
1741—1813.
At the afternoon meeting the first number on the program was
the annual address of President Junius Davis, of Wilmington,
who spoke as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen:—To have been selected by this Asso-ciation
as its President gave me very great pleasure and pride.
For there is no man in the State whose heart would not beat fast
to the honor of being elected to its highest office by the mem-bers
of such an illustrious body. It came to me—so I took it
—
as an earnest of your belief, that I was, in some slight degree,
worthy of your choice, because of my deep interest in the preser-vation
of the history and traditions of my State and her people.
I have always believed that any contribution to the history of
our State, however slight—always provided that it be true and
authentic—is an inducement to others to follow in the same
path. The work of this Association, of the State Historical Com-mission,
and others, has produced striking proof of this asser-tion.
But my election brought with it the disturbing knowledge that
I was expected, and in duty bound, to address you on some his-torical
or literary subject. In casting about for the subject, a
thing not easy to be found in an emergency, I finally consoled my-self
by the recollection, that I had been for some time desirous of
attempting a short sketch of my native country, the lower Cape
Fear, and had accumulated a good deal of material toward it.
So with the subject chosen and the manner of its treatment
mapped out, I felt, in some degree, relieved and assured.
But a comparatively short while ago I learned that my friend,
6 State Literary and Historical Association,
Col. Alfred M. Waddell, of Wilmington, a learned scholar, a pol-ished
and graceful writer, and an accurate narrator of historical
events, one infinitely better fitted for the work than myself, had
for some time been engaged in writing a book upon the same
subject—a book which will be of far greater scope, interest, and
value than I could have produced. After recovering from this
shock, I found myself still determined to prepare some memo-rial
of that part of our State where my people have lived for gen-erations
and which I so dearly love.
There was a man, John Walker by name, but commonly called
"Major Jack," who made no common mark upon the history and
traditions of the lower Cape Fear. He was in all respects a power
in that country during the troublous times which preceded" the
Revolution, lasted throughout it, and followed it. He was born
December 10, 1741, at Wooler, in the parish of Reverly, North-umberland,
the home of the Percys, near Alnwick Castle, and
under the shadow of the Cheviot Hills. On both sides of his
house his ancestors were land-owners, of independent means, and
of good lineage. His grandfather, James Walker, had been high
Sheriff of Northumberland. He came to America in 1761, a
youth of twenty years, landing at Old Brunswick, on the Cape
Fear, then the Port of Entry on that river. He had some means,
and casting about him with a shrewd eye for a resting place, he
selected the rising town of Wilmington, and settled there, begin-ning
life as a merchant.
It is well here in the outset to say something of the man and
his character. He was a little over six feet, four inches in height,
proportionately broad and of enormous strength. There was no
man in the Cape Fear country that could match him in strength.
The voice of tradition, recorded by a very accurate writer, tells
that on one occasion, when a maddened bull was dashing wildly
about the streets of Wilmington to the great terror and danger
of the passers-by, he rushed up and, seizing the bull by the
horns with both hands, threw him to the ground and held him
there until fear had conquered his fury. It was also said of him
by the old people that he had killed an ox by a single blow of
his fist.
I said he brought means with him. In business he was wise,
active and shrewd, fair dealing, closely attentive to his own in-terests
and economical; and with these means and by these qual-ities
he had made himself one of the wealthiest men in Wil-mington
at the breaking out of the Revolution. He lived in
Wilmington but owned a summer place on the sound called
"Prospect Hall." He afterwards owned, to the time of his
death, "Prospect," a rice plantation on the Cape Fear, which is
still held in the family, and on Rocky Point, now in Pender
County, "Green Hill," "Red Hill," "Moorefields," and the "Oliver
Place." He owned several saw mills and a "pounding mill," and
grist mills, notably one on Mill Creek, a stream just outside of
Wilmington, which now almost encircles Oakdale Cemetery, that
Tenth Annual Meeting. 7
beautiful and picturesque resting-place of the dead. He also
owned lands in other counties. On one of these tracts, now in
Brunswick County, just a short distance outside of the old vil-lage
of Smithville, at Deep Water Point, on the west bank of the
Cape Fear River, the Legislature of 1784, established a town
called Walkersburg, which, for reasons unknown to me, died
in its birth. Smithville, then unborn, is now living, but suffering
under 'the name of Southport—an affliction forced upon it by
some enterprising spirits from the Northwest, who came South
with an ardent and philanthropic desire to change our so-called
"old ways" and teach us enterprise and business habits. Their
lesson began and ended with the alteration of the name of the
old town, so-called for one of our former Governors and most
prominent men—a man who gave 20,000 acres of land to our
State University when it was in its infancy. I cannot force my-self
to any liking or respect for this species of iconoclasts.
Walker had been well educated, and the few letters of his,
which are preserved in the State Records, will compare most
favorably in spelling and diction with those of his contemporaries.
He was bold, utterly without fear, aggressive to a fault, bitter
in his prejudices, and violent and unrelenting in his hates. He
did not know the meaning of the words "like" and "dislike." In
all things he was an extremist. With him the one was affection
and the other hatred or contempt. He had little regard or liking
for the conventionalities of social life. But he had a warm heart
and an open hand. He compelled the respect of all men, and
held the esteem and affection of a large majority of the people
of his section, including the most prominent families. So greatly
did his personality and character impress themselves upon the
people, that they, one and all, called him "Major Jack"—not Mr.
Walker, or Major Walker, or Colonel Walker, but simply and af-fectionately
"Major Jack." In the olden days, and even now to
those who know of him, the mere words "Major Jack" will tell
the hearer who is meant. It is something for a man to have won
among his neighbors such a distinctive personality. With such
a nature, rugged as the hills of his native Northumbria, it was
but natural that he should have enemies. The most bitter of
these was Archibald MacLaine, of Wilmington, an eminent law-yer
and an ardent Whig whose letters to Iredell, Hooper, and
others, fill many pages of McRee's book and the Colonial and
State Records. I will later on allude to this enmity and the
cause of it.
In April, 1764, on account of the ill health of Governor Dobbs,
Tyron was appointed Lieutenant-Governor and landed at Old
Brunswick in October, 17 64. At this time Dobbs was living at
his home, called Russellborough, just outside of Brunswick, and
Wilmington was regarded as the seat of government in the
State. Dobbs died at Russellborough in March, 1765, and Tyron
succeeded him.
England was now, for the first time, proposing to tax her
8 State Literary and Historical Association.
colonies in America for revenue, of which she was badly in need.
As Ashe well says, "the power to tax was the power to destroy,
and America became enshrouded in a turmoil of anxious
thought." The exactions of the rent agents, the oppressions of
the tax collectors, and the vagaries of the different Governors,
had already stirred up a spirit of restlessness and vague dis-content,
and to these was now added the overlying and all-important
principle of taxation without representation. The
Parliament had resolved that it was expedient to levy stamp du-ties
on the colonies, and a crisis had conxe.
At this time, 1765, John Walker, although he had been in the
colony a little over four years, and was only some twenty-four
years of age, had become prominent among the patriots, who
were already enlisted in the cause of liberty.
Jones says: "During the year 1765 meetings were held in
various sections of the province to consult for the public good.
In New Bern Richard Cogdell, and on the Cape Fear, John Ashe,
John Walker, and Hugh Waddell were the prominent leaders."
It was a high tribute to the worth and character of Walker, a
young man, and but hardly settled in this country, to be classed
with Ashe and Waddell, who so pre-eminently represented the
men of this section. It is the strongest evidence we could have
of the force and manner in which he had impressed himself upon
the people. He now and henceforth stands among the leaders of
the men of the lower Cape Fear.
I cannot review at length the brief life and death of the Stamp
Act in North Carolina. Its story illustrates a glorious page in
the history of our State, of which scant notice has been taken be-yond
her borders. To one, who reads the story aright, in the
light of the history of the time, it is a striking illustration of
the extreme degree of desperate boldness to which fearless and
determined men can be carried when animated by an inspiring
belief in the righteousness of their cause. These men fully real-ized
and fully expected that their lawless actions would bring
down upon them the wrath of England and punishment dealt
with a heavy hand. Beside it, the destruction of the tea in Bos-ton
Harbor, committed by a few men in disguise and under the
cover of darkness, which history has so glorified, sinks into the
insignificance of a mere midnight trespass. In the acts which
followed, when Tryon in his palace at Brunswick, supported by
two British men-of-war, was bearded, in the broad light of day
by armed men of the lower Cape Fear, in open rebellion against
their King, and forced to surrender the Comptroller Pennington;
when the fort at the mouth of the river was forcibly seized and
held; when the public offices were invaded and the papers of the
two vessels, which had been seized for violation of the Stamp
Act, forcibly taken; when the vessels themselves were surrender-ed
to a peremptory demand, and all purpose on the part of Tryon
to enforce the Stamp Act publicly renounced, John Walker took
an active and prominent part. This was, I believe, the first time,
Tenth Annual Meeting. 9
certainly in, America, that an act of the Parliament of Great
Britain was nullified, not under the guise of law, but by the
violent force of open and armed resistance. We should cherish
it in remembrance. And now for awhile seeming peace and quiet
came to the Cape Fear. No notice was taken of these bold deeds,
or of Tryon's letters to England, partly in weak apology for the
course he was forced to take and partly in fierce denunciation of
the leaders of the movement. After a short' time however spent
in sullenness and bitterness of spirit, Tryon concluded to over-look
the past and endeavor to ingratiate himself with the peo-ple.
But the mad joy of that bloodless victory over the officers
of the Crown could not be forgot by the people, and the memory
of it lingered to stimulate and inspire them to still bolder ac-tions
and braver deeds in those days when the Revolution came.
During this interlude there occurred nothing noteworthy in the
life of Walker except the war of the Regulators. He gave his
time and attention to his business and the management of his
lands and abided the future.
In 1771 came the rising of the Regulators, and on May 16,
1771, the battle of Alamance, so often, and, I believe, so erroneous-ly
cherished by many as the first blow for liberty in America. In
this and one other of the most important and disputed events
of the history of our State I have found that my convictions
have forced me to differ with two men whom I have dearly loved.
I cannot agree with Col. Wm. J. Saunders as to the Regulators.
Though much younger than he, I enjoyed the inestimable privi-lege
of knowing him well, and for some years very intimately.
He was one of the bravest and cleanest men, one of the truest
gentlemen, and one of the wisest leaders that ever adorned
North Carolina. In the days of Reconstruction, the days of
darkness, of sadness, and great travail, the State turned to him
for advice and guidance. Those stern and steadfast words of
his—^"I decline to answer"—struck home to the hearts of his
crushed and dispirited people and cheered and embravened
them to front the storm with braver heart. To be admitted to
his friendship was a benediction, and to sit at his feet and heed
the words of wisdom and statecraft that fell from his lips was
an education. His creed was all for his State, nothing for him-self.
In every station of life to which he was called, as citizen,
soldier, and official, he fulfilled his highest possible duty and well
earned the undying love and gratitude of his people. In the
words of Sir Ector: "He was a good knight, a true gentleman.
Knowing this, let us leave him with fame and posterity—with the
rest, the resurrection and the life."
If as Fitch says, "The struggle for American liberty and inde-pendence
began at the Battle of Alamance," why was it that, when
that struggle reached its height in the Revolution, we find Gover-nor
Martin looking so confidently to the support of the Regula-tors,
of whom he said he had some 1,500 enrolled in the King's
cause, while all the leaders and prominent men, who marched
lO State Literary and Historical Association,
under his banner to Alamance, were sturdy Whigs and patriots?
But I have no space to pursue that subject.
In this campaign John Walker was a captain, in command of
a company of artillery, composed almost entirely of sailors,
which he had raised in Wilmington. In those days when every
merchant ship that sailed the seas was armed with cannon,
nearly all sailors were expert in the management of them. He
had "one brass field piece and several half-swivel pieces."
On the evening.of May 13, a few days before that most singular
action, which the historians dignify into a battle. Captain Walker
and Lieutenant Jno. B. Ashe, while out on a reconnoitering ex-pedition,
were captured by the Regulators, stripped, tied to a
tree and most inhumanly and severely flogged. And this brutal
and wanton dead was accomplished while Tryon and his Council
were actually considering a petition from the Regulators for a
redress of their grievances—was committed during an armistice
and suspension of hostilities. The degradation and humiliation
of this barbarous cruelty bit deep into the proud heart of Walker;
it walked with him by day, slept with him by night, and abided
with him even unto the day of his death.
After the battle, Tryon marched to the westward to join Gen-eral
Waddell, which, being accomplished, the entire army went
into camp in the Moravian settlements on June 4, 1771. Appre-hending
still further trouble west of the Yadkin, Tryon dispatch-ed
General Waddell on June 8th, with a large body of troops,
including the Wilmington company of artillery under Captain
John Walker, to that section with orders to disband his troops
when he had accomplished his object. As the Regulators were
utterly crushed at Alamance, and no further outbreaks occurred,
we can, in the absence of authentic light, only assume that Gen-eral
Waddell carried out his orders and disbanded his command
on the Yadkin.
In 1774 the threatening condition of affairs produced the local
Safety Committees. The first meeting of the New Hanover Com-mittee
was held in Wilmington, November 23, 1774. It is stated
by McRee, in his life of Iredell, that John Walker was a member
of this committee. But 1 have-not been able to verify this. It
is curious and interesting to follow the acts and proceedings of
this body briefly. Acknowledging no master and no superior au-thority
save only the Provincial Congress, it administered law to
that section of the State with a stern and impartial hand, looking
only to the public good and safety. The ready-made law of the
committee was the law of the land. It collected and stored pow-der,
lead, saltpeter and brimstone, manufactured powder and
made cartridges, gathered money for the public defense, seized
and appropriated all fire-arms, forbade and stopped the importa-tion
of tea and negroes, sternly suppressed all public amuse-ments,
horse racing, public and private dances, etc., barred bil-liard
tables, established patrols, compelled suspects to take the
oath of allegiance, imprisoned and deported men at its will, re-
Tenth Annual Meeting. ir
leased debtors confined in jail under civil process, ordered sales
of property to pay debts, established and supported a newspaper,
laid an embargo against tne clearance of vessels from the Cap^
Fear, arrested and placed in custody of Colonel James Moore all
of the pilots of the section for fear of their being taken or be-guiled
by the British, assigned them to particular duties and lo-calities,
enrolled in the militia and ordered out under arms all
males capable of bearing arms, established a hospital and pro-vided
nurses for the sick of the first Continental line—Moore's
regiment—forbade Governor Martin to hold any intercourse with
the land, not even with his Council, and took steps to arrest him
if he landed; prohibited the provisioning of the Governor's kitch-en
and the ships of war at the mouth of the river and raised and
lowered the prices of merchandise, provisions, rum, and all other
necessaries of life. It was the stress of the times which made^
such a rule necessary, and the people submitted to it cheerfully
because, and only because, it was for the public good. I wish to
note right here, in these days of rampant and fanatical prohi-bition,
one fact. There was then in Wilmington but one still
house or distillery for the manufacture of rum, the only demo-cratic
liquor in this Province at that time. It was owned and
operated by two partners, and the partner owning the largest
and controlling interest was Cornelius Harnett, "the pride of the
Cape Fear," the "Samuel Adams" of North Carolina.
"Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis."
It is also worthy of note that later on a few, very few, however,
of the Committee, who were then ardent and even violent in their
patriotism, in the stress of after times and under the bayonets of
the British, became faint-hearted and strayed into the Tory camp.
Governor Martin, in May, 1775, fled from New Bern and, tar-rying
not in Wilmington, sought a refuge from the coming storm
in Fort Johnson, at the mouth of the Cape Fear, under the guns
of the British men of war. Ashe, Moore and Howe were the
most prominent leaders in New Hanover and Brunswick, but with
them were associated others equally as active and resolute. Pur-viance.
Walker, Lillington, Swann, Jones, Grainger and others;
in fact, we may say the entire section. And, as early as March,
1775, in advance of any action of the Provincial Congress, they
began to raise troops and drill them for the protection of the
Cape Fear section. This was at that time the extent of their
plans. Howe was at the head of the Brunswick men; Ashe in
command of those of New Hanover. Jno. Walker was a captain
under Ashe. Tradition in the family and with the older genera-tion
of his section of the State tells us that he raised and
equipped his company at his own expense. I do not know this as a
fact, but only as the voice of tradition. It is not unreasonable,
however, to believe in the truth of it. He was rich, a bachelor
with no one dependent upon him, his kin were all across the sea
and in comfortable circumstances, and he had already openly and
boldly adopted the cause of the Colonies as his own. He had
12 State Literary and Historical Association,
staked his fortune on the issue, to win or lose it all, and why
should he not have devoted a part of his estate to that cause in
which he was hazarding his life?
These bodies were the nucleus upon which, in September, 1775,
the First and Second North Carolina Continental, or Regulars as
I shall call them, were formed. Everything was at sea, and there
was no head of authority to which they could look for orders.
They were, in a measure, isolated from the other sections of the
State, and, forced to rely upon themselves. They met it early
with a brave and resolute front. They were well informed of
Martin's plans to organize the Regulators and Highlanders, some
3,000 strong as he boasted, and march them to Wilmington leav-ing
ruin, desolation, and tragedy in their path. On July 3, 1775,
the Safety Committee wrote Allan McDonald, of Cumberland,
husband of the celebrated Flora McDonald, demanding that he
inform it, whether it were true, as reported, that he was raising
troops to support Governor Martin and the British Government.
On July 15, 1775, Howe, with the Brunswick men, and on the
16th, Ashe with those of New Hanover, including Captain Walker
and his company, marched for Fort Johnson at the mouth of the
Cape Fear. The Fort was a great menace to the safety of the
people, and its destruction was necessary. Captain Collett in
command, on hearing of the approach of Howe and Ashe, hastily
dismantled the fort, removed all of the arms, guns and stores, ex-cept
a few cannon, and with his feeble garrison fled to the man-of-
war. The buildings in and around the fort were burned, the
fortification destroyed as far as possible, and the New Hanover
men returned to Wilmington.
On August 31, 1775, the Provincial Congress ordered the raising
of two regiments of Regulars of five hundred men each; and on
September 1st, elected the officers. James Moore was elected
Colonel; Francis Nash, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Thomas Clarke,
Major of the First Regiment, and John Walker, one of its Cap-tains.
Robert Howe was elected Colonel of the Second Regulars.
Howe was a man of misfortune and has never been givien his
true place in history. • Colonel Saunders, while compiling his
Colonial Records, once spoke of him to me in words of highest
admiration. . He said that Howe was the most accomplished
scholar, and one of the ablest men in the State. James Moore
came of a line of illustrious soldiers and was born a soldier. His
splendid planning and management of the campaign, which ended
at the Widow Moore's Creek, is speaking evidence of this fact.
He was made Brigadier General in the Regular line, March 1,
177 6, but died before he had a greater, or rather, I should say,
another opportunity to show his military talents. He was suc-ceeded,
by Nash, who was promoted February 5, 1777, and was
Wiled in the full flush of victory at Germantown, and he, by
Thomas Clarke, brother-in-law of William Hooper, who was made
Brevet Brigadier in September, 1783.
And now we come to one of the most critical times, and one of
Tenth Annual Meeting. 13
tlie most glorious achievements in the history of our State. I
have already spoken of the designs of Governor Martin. ; He has
been for some months, and still was pushing his cherished plans
for the occupation and subjugation of the lower Cape Fear. The
First North Carolina Regulars had been for some months station-ed
around Wilmington, on both sides of the river, and its officers*
had been engaged in keeping close watch on Governor Martin,
and in drilling twice a day we are told, and disciplining their men
into soldiers. Captain John Walker, with his company was in
November, 1775, stationed below Wilmington at Bernard's Creek
on the river in New Hanover County. About this time, November,
1775, Howe with his Regulars was sent from New Bern to Vir-ginia
to assist that State in repelling the British, who were men-acing
Norfolk.
Early in February, 1776, General McDonald had raised his flag,
men from the central part of the State to the number of from
3,000 to 5,000, so it was reported, had gathered to him, and he
was ready for his descent on Wilmington. Colonel Moore had
matured all his plans for the coming campaign, and was in close
and constant touch with the oflScers of the Militia and minute
men of the east, who were to co-operate with him. On the 15th,
we find him with 500 Regulars and some of the Bladen men,
who had joined him on his march, in possession of the bridge
over Rockfish, about seven miles below Cross Creek, entrenching
himself, and determined to hold his position to the last extremity.
At all hazards he must delay McDonald's march until the troops
below had time to concentrate. He was far too weak to attack,
but if the enemy brought on the battle, he was resolved to sacri-fice
his command to ensure the needed delay. If McDonald
changed his route, then Moore would hang upon his rear or flank
while Lillington, Ashe, Caswell, and others, would be in his front.
His cool audacity and his splendid strategy compel our warmest
admiration and his services our undying gratitude. It must be
remembered, however, that his victory was largely owing to the
ability and bravery of his subordinate officers, and the prompt-ness
and implicit obedience with which they executed his orders.
It must have been a bitter disappointment to Moore, who had led
the hunt so long and so far, that he was not in at the death.
The victory was far-reaching in its results. If McDonald had
won the battle and marched through to Wilmington, he would soon
have been joined by the forces under Clinton, seven fine regi-ments,
supported by the fleet under Parker, and North Carolina
would have been conquered, crushed and forever lost to the
American cause. South Carolina and Georgia, cut off from help
from the northward, would have been supine and the subjugation
of Virginia quickly and easily accomplished. Washington would
have lost those splendid regiments, which fought so bravely at
Brandywine, were decimated at Germantown, suffered so patienly
at Valley Forge, stood so steadfastly at Monmouth, charged so
gallantly at Stony Point, and were vainly sacrificed at Charles-
^^4 State Literary and Historical Association,
town. But this is a digression from my subject, and my otily
'-excuse is, that John Walker followed Moore through these cam-paigns
like a true soldier, and partly, I confess, because I was
•-eager for an opportunity to say it.
Moore returned to Wilmington, and his command went into
-camp about that place. On March 1, 1776 he was appointed
Brigadier-General in the Continental line and Francis Nash suc-
^ceeded him.
Early in May, 1776, Parker's fleet, with Clinton and his troops
-on board, sailed into the Cape Fear and anchored in the harbor
near its mouth. Here Clinton heard of the annihilation of
McDonald's command, and the complete frustration of his in-tended
movements. After landing some of his troops on several
occasions and committing the usual ravages and outrages, which
in those days were deemed so essential a part of war, Clinton re-embarked
his men and sailed for Charleston, where he arrived
• on June 7th. His movements were so closely watched that Nash,
with the First North Carolina Regulars, reached Charleston
on the 11th, only four days later. Some 200 of the Regiment,
under Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Clarke, were stationed on
Sullivan's Island, and the remainder under Nash, were assigned
to the defense of the rear of Fort Moultrie, which was then un-finished.
Captain Walker was w^ith one of those detachments,
but which one I do not know. The British were repulsed at
every point and the North Carolina troops were most highly
commended for their steadiness and gallantry.
In the fall of 1776, the First Regiment, except a small de-tachment
detained under Howe in Georgia, was again at Wil-mington
under General Moore, who had remained there to pro-tect
the lower Cape Fear against the British; for Governor Mar-tin
still held the harbor with some fifteen ships and a body of
troops.
In November, 1776, the Regulars under General Moore, were
ordered North to join Washington, but upon reaching Halifax,
N. C, they were turned to Charleston, S. C, to meet a threatened
attack by the British from Florida.
In April, 1777, they were again in Wilmington on their march
northward to reinforce Washington. Here on April 15th, General
Moore died, and the services of that brilliant soldier were lost
to his State and country.
Delayed by sundry mishaps, the entire Brigade was united
under Washington at Trenton, July 1, 1777. In the meantime
Capt. Jno. Walker was twice promoted. On February 17, 1777,
he was appointed an Aide upon the staff of Washington, with
the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and on the 2 6th of April he was
promoted to the Majority of his regiment.
I have made most diligent search in every likely quarter open
to me, but have not been able to get any information as to his
services as Aide. When he joined Washington's family; how
:>long he remained with him, and when he resigned to rejoin his
Tenth Annual Meeting, 15
regiment, are all wrapped in the mist of the past. It seems sin-gular
that his appointment to the Staff antedated by some five
weeks his position to the Majority of his regiment. I cannot ex-plain
this. But there seems to be no doubt as to the fact of the
appointment. I give it on the authority of Colonel Davis in his
admirable little history of the North Carolina Continental Line,
of Haywood in his Life of Tryon; of Heitman, in his Historical
Register of Officers of the Continental Line, and other writers.
Heitman's work, while not official, is considered reliable and
authentic by the Government, Major Walker was certainly with
his Regiment, acting as Major, during the fall and part of the
winter of 1777. While in camp near Brandywine, on September
2, 1777, he with other Field Officers of the Brigade, recommend-ed
to Washington the promotion of Capt. Henry Dixon to the
Majority of the Third Regiment, then vacant. This was that
glorious Hal Dixon, who with his regiment of North Carolina
Militia, so bravelj'' sustained the fight on his front and flank at
Carrtden, when Gates and the greater part if his army had fled
the field in the wildest confusion. Again we find in the State Re-cords,
(Vol. 11, page 7 50) a letter dated at Trenton August 12,
1777, signed by the Field Officers of the .North Carolina Brigade,
ii'CiUding Major Walker, and addressed to our delegates in the
Congress, protesting most vigorously and righteously against the
appointment of—I quote from the paper: "A certain Dr. Hand,
resident in Pennsylvania," to be "a Brigadier General for the
troops of North Carolina in the room of General Moore, de-ceased."
Their indignation and resentment at such an injustice to
the gallant officers of our State, was aggravated by tlie fact that
this appointment was advocated by Dr. Burke, one of our dele-gates
who had said that the "State might think itself very happy
in such an appointment." These things no doubt inspired those
biting words: "A certain Dr. Hand, resident in Pennsylvania,"
and "we believe him almost unknown to every person in North
Carolina except Dr. Burke." Of the personal part which Major
Walker took in those battles in which his regiment was engaged,
we have now no authentic account. The records and reports
of the army do not tell us, and there were no war correspondents
in those days and few papers. On the 22nd December, 1777,
Major Wfdker resigned and left the Continental Line. I take it
that owing to the weakness of the North Carolina Brigade at that
time, and the utterly defenceless condition of the Cape Fear sec-tion,
he felt he could be of more service at home than with the
army. Writing from York to Governor Burke, under date of
November 2 0, 1777, Harnett says: "We have too many officers
for the number of men. You know Congress catches at resignations
with great eagerness." The General Returns of the Army for
November 10, 1777, then in camp at White Marsh, tells this piti-ful
story of the nine regiments composing the Brigade: Present
fit for duty, 27 8 com.missioned and non-commissioned officers, and
520 privates. The Ninth Regiment had a captain and five ser-
1 6 Slate Literary and Historical Association,
geants, but only sixteen privates; the Eighth, a major, a captain,
four lieutenants, two ensigns, and two sergeants to command
seventeen men, and the First, a colonel, three captains, six lieu-tenants,
seven sergeants and nine drums and fifes for fifty-two
men. How strikingly this reminds us of that later time, when a
North Carolina regiment would go into battle full strong, and
come out but a weak company.
At the January term, 1779, of the Court of Pleas and Quarter
Sessions of New Hanover County, Major Walker, being then a
Justice of the Peace, was with two others, appointed by that
Court to cite all suspected persons to take the State oath or give
bond with surety to leave the State in sixy days. At the October
term of the same court, he, William Hill, and Henry Toomer,
were appointed Commissioners to take possession of the estates
of Loyalists forfeited under the Confiscation Acts. In 1780 the
Legislature passed an act directing the Courts of Pleas and
Quarter Sessions in the State to appoint for their respective coun-ties,
three or more persons to inspect all bills coming to their
knowledge and to write "counterfeit" in large letters across the
face of all they adjudged bad. Major Walker was appointed one
of the inspectors for New Hanover County at the July term of the
court.
On the 29th of January, 1781, the British, under Major Craig,
occupied Wilmington without meeting the slightest resistence.
And then war in its direst form swept over the Wilmington and
New Bern districts with sword and torch. ^
These sections of the State were left utterly without help or
the means of defense. The State Continentals and near 1,000
militia v/ere lost at Charleston. Another draft had been armed
and sent to reinforce Gates. These, too, had been exterminated
at Camden, S. C.,, and large quantities of arms and ammunition
lost. Their Commander-in-Chief, forgetful of all save his own
person, had abandoned them while the battle was still on, and
plying whip and spur, had tarried not until he had put several
hundred miles between himself and the remnants of his scatter-ed
army. The State government was exhausting all its resources
to strengthen Greene, and seemingly oblivious to the calls for
help which came from the east. And so Craig, with scarce 500
men, was left free to ravage and despoil as it pleased him. It is
true that Lillington, Kenan, Caswell and other zealous officers
were afield, but they had no means to arm and equip even a small
force, without aid from the State, which came not. Some slight
idea of the situation may be had from the letters of Lillington and
Kenan. On July 15, 1781, Kenan writes Governor Burke that the
enemy had moved out of Wilmington with one hundred well
equipped light horse and about 470 men, for Duplin Court House;
that he had no ammunition and did not know where to get any,
and did not hear of any assistance coming. Lillington wrote him
on July 24, 1781, that the enemy was on the march; that he had
not three rounds of ammunition to the man, and could not get any;
ftftfdigh
Tenth Antrnal Meeting. 17
that Kenan was complaining of the want of ammunition. No help
came to them and Craig marched through to New Bern, meeting
with but slight resistance and subsisting of necessity on the coun-try.
Some few Tories marched with him for the sake of plunder,
and these were far more ruthless than the British. They spared
neither dwellings, provisions, cattle nor life, and their deeds
remind us of the raids in olden times upon the Scottish Border.
It was these things that inspired the spirit of vindicativeness and
retaliation, which marked the acts of the Whigs during the latter
part of the Revolution. Let me give one instance: While Craig
and his army were near New Bern the dwelling of the Bryans,
Heritage and the Coxes' were burned, their families abused and
plantations destroyed. Scarcely had the drums and fifes of Craig
grown faint in the distance, when Bryan, Heritage and Coxe
burned the houses and wasted the lands of every Tory in that
section.
In the letter from Lillington, then on the Trent, to Governor
Burke, above-referred to, he says: "* * * I am sorry to say
that I see nothing to hinder them (meaning the enemy) from
going where they please. I have lost great part of property and
I see I am in a fair way to lose all; but if that should be the case
I should not regard it, or at least as little as most men, provided
we had that justice shown us from other parts of the State, which
protection we have an undoubted claim to. * * * * Had it
not been for the want of money I should have done myself the
pleasure to have waited on Your Excellency, as I see there is no
prospect of driving the enemy back into town, so that we might
get to our homes. I cannot see with what justice our country can
blame us to make the best terms we can." The touching pathos
of this letter vividly portrays the gloom and despair which was
then overwhelming even the sturdiest patriots.
We of these days of peace, comfort and luxury, cannot appre-ciate
the dire privations, sufferings, sacrifices and bloody scenes
through which our forefathers won their way to liberty.
Major Walker had left Wilmington upon the coming of Craig
and sought refuge in the Avoods with others of his Whig friends.
For a while, at least, he was with Gen. Wm. Caswell, but in what
position I cannot say. Indeed I cannot closely follow him during
this most critical period. Justice Clark in his prefatory notes to
the 16th Volume of State Records, says: "It is to be regretted
that the original records throwing light on the important events
of the years 1781-'82 are so few and meagre. The utmost dili-gence
has not availed to secure many that should be in existence.
The journals of the Assembly are missing; and indeed, the paucity
of material covering this interesting and important period is de-plorable."
So that while we know he was active in the field
against the enemy, we cannot chronicle his services to his coun-try.
The only remnant of his correspondence which has been
preserved in the family is a letter to him from Gen. Wm. Cas-
2
1
8
State Literary and Historical Association,
well, and as it is short and has never been published, I give it
here in full. It is as follows:
"Kingston 2'd May 1781.
"Col. John Walker,
Trent.
"Dear Sir:—
"I am happy to have it in my power to acknowledge the rec't
of your favor of yesterdays date, though nothing New is of the
movements of the Enemy, I have an Express just come into
Kingston, who was in the rear of the Enemy yesterday & this
morning saw them Encamped at Capt'n John Taylors mill on
Goshen, and they moved this way this morning. The remainder
of Genl. Lillington's Brigade left yesterday for Pitt. By an Ex-press
from Gen'l. Greene of the 21st April He says that He lays
before (the enemy at Camden), that he has not a sufficient force
to storm the place, nor has he battering cannon to beat down
their works, and the only way He can take the place will be by
starving them.
"I am in haste
"Yours, &c., W. CASWELL."
When Craig evacuated Wilmington on November 18, 1781, the
exiled Whigs marched in with Rutherford.
George Hooper was a wealthy merchant in Wilmington. He
liad been a pronounced Whig before the fall of that town, but he
was not of that stern metal which can sacrifice wealth on the altar
of liberty rather than betray its cause. So he welcomed the
British with open arms and grew rich and waxed fat while his
old friends and neighbors starved in the swamps. He had
married the only daughter of that splenetic old Scotchman. Arch-ibald
Maclaine. Hooper fled with the British, leaving his family
and possessions in care of Maclaine, and went to Charleston where
he openly proclaimed himself a British merchant. Maclaine was
an able man and a devoted Whig, but all his talents and energies
were now bent to the pardon of Hooper and the preservation of
his estate from the Confiscation Acts. Walker was, as I have said,
one of the Commissioners to enforce the Confiscation Acts, and it
was his duty under the law, as I have no doubt it was his pleasure
also, to sequestrate Hooper's estates. Hence, the enmity of Mac-laine
for him and the cause of all of his vituperation and abuse.
But Walker was not the only one to whom Maclaine lent the
rough side of his tongue. He abused with equal impartiality
Governors Caswell, Nash, and Martin, and many others of our
best and most prominent men. Martin fell under his displeasure
because, when on a visit to Wilmington in February, 1783, he
was a guest of Major Walker. Of Geoeral Rutherford he said
these gentle words: "If that precious scoundrel is not hanged,
there is not a scruple of virtue in the State." But it may be said
that these things should have no place in this paper. Why so?
Long after Walker's lips had been sealed in death, these abuses
Tenth Annual Meeting. 19
and aspersions of his character were writ into the history of the
State through the letters of Maclaine in McRee's Iredell and the
State Records. And shall no one dare to vindicate his memory
and character, even though it be at the expense of his calumni-ators.
In February, 1782, Major Walker was Commanding Officer at
Wilmington. On April 22, 1782, he was elected by the Legisla-ture
Naval Officer of the Port of Brunswick, which office he held
for sonue seven or eight years, and on the 17th of May, 1782, he
was appointed by the same body Commissioner for that port, to
receive the tonnage on vessels arriving there. On October 3,
1782, Governor Martin writes to him, and I extract the following
from that letter:
"These things I beg leave to suggest to you, not that I have
heard you have countenanced disorder, but the contrary, as a
gentleman who has stood foremost in the Cause of your Country
through all opposition and to whom for whose firmness and for-titude
your Neighbors may look up for support in Constitutional
Liberty."'
In 1782-'83 he was a member of the Legislature from the Town
of W^ilmington.
He was a justice of the Peace in New Hanover for many years,
and his seat upon the Bench of the Court of Common Pleas and
Quarter Sessions was seldom vacant during a term. It was an
honor in those days to be a Justice, for only gentlemen of high
character and good estates were chosen to that important office.
After the Peace he devoted himself to the management of his
affairs and the recuperation of his wasted estate, and so suc-cessfully
that in the first Federal census of 1790, he is given as
having in his family eight free whites and sixty-one slaves. For
his military services he was granted several thousand acres of
land in Tennessee, then a part of this State—I find an old deed in
the records of New Hanover County dated in 1812, for 1,700 acres
on a creek of Duck River in Davidson County, Tenn., which re-cites
that "said tract was granted to Maj. John Walker for signal
bravery and persevering zeal in the American War by Patent
March 14, 1786." I have been unable to find the Patent itself.
Major Walker never married. After the strife of war had
passed from the country, in the loneliness of his home life, his
affection for his kin across the ocean, whom he had never forgot,
awoke a yearning for companions of his blood. He brought over
to Wilmington several of his nephews and started them in busi-ness.
The latter part of his stormy life was lived in peace and
comfort, cheered by the presence and affection of his nephews.
One of them, Maj. Jno. Walker, of Wilmington, succeeded to his
estates, and one of his grandsons at this time fills one of the
highest and most important offices in the State.
The Raleigh Register of September 17, 1813, contains the
following notice:
"Died.—On the 7th inst. after a few days' illenss, Maj. John
20 State Literary and Historical Association,
Walker, aged 72 years, a native of Northumberland upon Tweed,
but for fifty years past a resident of Wilmington."
He was buried in the old grave yard of St. James Episcopal
Church in Wilmington.
It can be truly said that he served his State and Country well
in every position to which he was called. Let that be remembered
of him.
NORTH CAROMNA BIBMOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR.
Following President Davis, Dr. D. H. Hill, President of the
A. & M. College, presented his usual review of the books pub-lished
by North Carolinians during the preceding twelve months.
D?. Hill said:
In the yearly bibliography for this Society, only books are re-ported.
Fugitive articles, pamphlets, addresses, etc., no matter
how scholarly or interesting, are, therefore, necessarily excluded.
I hope that hereafter the Society, through some of its industri-ous
members, may undertake the yearly collection of these scat-tered
articles. If the authors of all books, pamphlets, mono-graphs,
orations, etc., would send printed copies to the State
Library and to the Secretary of this Society, the labor of col-lecting
would be greatly lightened and, of course, greater accu-racy
would be secured.
The books for the year, so far as I have been able to ascer-tain
them, are classified under the following headin£:s:
I.—HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.
(1) The Correspondence of Jonathan Worth. Two volumes.
Compiled and edited by Dr. J. G. deR. Hamilton of the
State University. Printed by Edwards & Broughton
Printing Company.
These two volumes of the letters of Governor Worth were pub-lished
by the State Historical Commission. The first volume
contains a sketch by Dr. Hamilton, of Governor Worth's life and
his correspondence from February 2 5, 1841, to June 29, 1866.
The second volume comprises the letters to February, 1868. The
two volumes contain 1,313 pages, and are provided with indexes
and catalog of letters.
( 2 ) Pnblic Education in North Carolina : A Documentary History.
Compiled and edited by Supt. Charles L. Coon, Wilson.
Two volumes; cloth. Edwards «& Broughton Printing
Company.
These two volumes are also publications of the State Historical
Commission. The first volume contains the editor's introduction,
forty-seven pages, and covers the period from 1744 to 1832.
Through wills, public documents, both printed and unprinted,
memorials and petitions, old files of newspapers, documents
lenth Annual Meetnig. 21
printed in other books, magazines and pamphlets, the editor
traces the beginnings of public education in North Carolina.
Through the same first-hand sources, the second volume takes
up the story in 1832 and carries it on until the ratifying vote
in 1839. The two volumes contain 1,077 pages, and both are
admirably indexed.
(3) Forget-Me-Nots of the Civil War. By Laura Elizabeth Lee
(Mrs. Jesse Mercer Battle); illustrated; cloth; 3 55 pages.
A. R. Fleming Company, St. Louis, Publishers.
The first 133 pages of this book are made up of war letters
from two young Confederate soldiers. The remaining pages tell
the family story during the war with an element of romance in-terwoven.
(4) A Brief History of the Moravian Church. By the teachers
and friends of the Salem Home Sunday School; cloth; 146
pages. Edwards & Broughton Printing Company.
This book gives in five chapters the rise and development of
the Moravian Church. The narrative begins with the Apostolic
Church and closes with the modern church.
(5) Flora McDonald in America. By J. P. MacLean, Ph. D. ; il-lustrated;
cloth. Printed by the author.
The author of this book is not, I think, a native North Caro-linian,
but as Flora McDonald's American career centers in North
Carolina, it seems best to include it. After a sketch of the
Scotch heroine's early life, the author follows her to America
and gives a full account of the Highland Rising in North Caro-lina
and the battle at Widow Moore's Creek Bridge.
(6) The Perry Family. By B. B. Winborne, of Hertford County;
cloth; 122 pages. Edwards & Broughton Printing Com-pany.
(7) The Vaughan Family. By B. B. Winborne; illustrated;
cloth; 104 pages. Edwards & Broughton Printing Com-pany.
In these two volumes Judge Winborne has presented the his-tory
of two North Carolina families.
(8) The Diary of Mrs. Jane Evans Elliott. Edited by Mrs. Jen-nie
E. McNeill; cloth; 158 pages. Edwards & Broughton
Printing Company.
These letters from a pious and cultivated woman incidentally
throw interesting light on the manners and customs and beliefs
of the times from 1837 to 1882.
(9) History in the Public Schools. This report, published by
the Scribners, New York, was prepared by a commmittee
from the American Historical Society. Prof. B. C. Brooks,
of Trinity College, was a member of the committee.
22 State Literary and Historical Association,
(10) History of Haywood County. By Supt. W. C. Allen, of
Waynesville; paper; 184 pages. Courier Printing Com-pany.
Forty-eight pages of this book are devoted to a history of the
county. The remaining pages include biographical sketches of
the makers of the county, and other information.
(11) Who Are the Baptists? By Elder Henry Sheets; cloth; 96
pages. Edwards & Broughton Printing Company.
I presume this little volume may be classed as historical—re-ligious
controversy.
(12) Reminiscences of the Civil War. By P. L. Ledford; paper;
12 chapters. News Printing Company.
(13) History of the Negro Baptists of North Carolina. By J. A.
Whitted, D. D. ; cloth; illustrated; 212 pages. Ed-^ards
& Broughton Printing Company.
This history traces the rise of the Negro Baptist Church from
slavery days down to the present.
(14) The North Carolina Booklet, under the editorship of Miss
Mary Hilliard Hinton and Mrs. E. E. MoflStt, has published
the following historic articles:
Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, by A. S. Salley, Jr.
Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, by Supt. Bruce
Craven.
Battle of Kings Mountain, by Prof. W. K. Boyd.
Schools in Colonial Times, by Dr. Charles Lee Smith.
Some North Carolina Heroines of the Revolution, by Dr. Rich-ard
Dillard.
Indians, Slaves, and Tories, by Editor Clarence H. Poe.
Thomas Person, by Dr. S. B. Weeks.
Sketch of Flora McDonald, by Mrs. S. G. Ayer.
General Joseph Graham, by Mrs. Walter Clark.
State's Rights in North Carolina, by Prof. H. M. Wagstaff.
Nag's Head Picture of Theodosia Burr, by Miss B. F. Pool.
(15) Publications of the Guilford County Literary and Historical
Association. Volume 1; paper; pages 91. Stone & Cvom-pany,
Greensboro, Printers.
II.—POEMS.
(1) A re-print by Stone & Barringer Company of John Charles
McNeill's "Lyrics of Ctotton Land»" and "Bandanna Bal-lad."
(2) Castle Gates. By James Larkin Pearsons; cloth; 108 pages.
Pearson Printing Company.
III.—LITERATURE.
(1) In a 12 volume series, entitled "The South in the Building
of the Nation," published by the Southern History Pub-lishing
Society, of Richmond, Va., one volume, namely:
"History of Southern Fiction," was edited by Dr. Edwin Mims
Tenth Annual Meeting. 23
of the State University. In addition to the editorial work. Dr.
Mims contributes an introduction of 65 pages. The whole volume
contains 44 4 pages.
The following articles in this same series are written by North
Carolinians:
North Carolina as a Proprietary, by Mr. R. D. W. Connor.
North Carolina as a Royal Province, by Dr. E. W. Sikes.
North Carolina in the Federal Union, by Dr. W. K. Boyd.
North Carolina in the Confederacy, by Judge Walter Clark.
North Carolina From 1S66 to the Present, by D. J. G. deR.
Hamilton.
The South in Interstate Controversies, by Dr. W. K. Boyd.
Southern Poetry Since War of Secession, by Dr. Edwin Mims.
The South's Contribution to Physical Science, by Dr. F. P.
Venable.
Southern Magazines, by Dr. Edwin Mims.
European Influences in the South, by Dr. Edwin Mims.
IV.—RELIGIOUS BOOKS.
(1) Selected Old Testament Studies. By Dr. J. B. Shearer, LL,
D., of Davidson College; 12 mo.; cloth; 223 pages; Pres-byterian
Committee of Publication, Richmond.
(2) Bible Study. By Prof. Henderson Weaver, of Rutherford-ton
College; Boards; 2 65 pages.
(3) Lives of Christian Ministers. By Prof. P. J. Kernodle, of
Elon College; cloth; 408 pages; Central Publishing Com-pany,
Richmond,
(4) Religion and Health. By Rev. L. G. Broughton. D. D. ; cloth;
63 pages; Fleming H. Revell, New York.
V.—TEXT BOOKS.
(1) Corneille's "Le Cid." By James D. Bruner, Ph. D., of
Chowan Institute; cloth; 2 56 pages; American Book Com-pany,
New York.
(2) A Practical Arithmetic. By Dr. and Mrs. F. L. Stevens and
Dr. Tait Butler; cloth; 386 pages; Scribners, New York,
(3) Military Map Reading. By Capt. Clarence O. Sherrill, of the
United States Army; cloth; 50 pages; Tehoran Publishing
Company.
(4) Preparing the Teacher. Published by a Committee from
the Southern Christian Convention. The Committee was
composed of Messrs. J. O. Atkinson, W. A. Harper, W. C.
Wicker, and W. P. Lawrence; cloth; 236 pages; printed
by the Christian Sun.
(5) The Science of Accounts. By Mr. George Allen, of Raleigh;
cloth; 138 pages; Edwards & Broughton Printing Com-pany.
2 4 State Literary and Historical Association.
(6) School History of the Negro Race in America. By E. A.
Johnson, LL. B.; illustrated; cloth; 34 chapters; second
editon.
VI.—MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS.
(1) A Southerner in Europe. By Mr. Clarence H. Poe; cloth; 14
chapters; 162 pages; Mutual Publishing Company, Ra-leigh.
(2) Black Bass and Other Fishing. By A. V. Dockery; 17 chap-ters;
cloth; 171 pages; Commercial Printing Company,
Raleigh.
(3) Annotated Reprints of Noi*th Carolina Supreme Court Re-ports.
By Chief Justice Walter Clark; 18 volumes.
( 4 ) Mental Discipline and Educational Values. By W. H. Heck,
Professor of Education, University of Virginia; cloth; 17 4
pages; John Lane Company, New York.
HISTORICAL ACTIVITIES IN NORTH CAROLINA DURING
THE PAST YEAR.
Almost since its beginning the President has had at each an-nual
meeting a catalog of the books published by North Carolina
writers, the more important literary activities of the year, but it
was only in 1908 that the custom began of having a review of
the historical activities of the year. This review is prepared
each year by the man who of all men in the State is best quali-fied
for the task—Mr. R. D. W. Connor, the efficient Secretary of
the State Historical Commission. Mr. Connor's 1909 review is
as follows:
All the resources of a State are not included in its soil and
climate, its fields and forests, its rivers and mountains, and all
the wealth of a people can not be expressed by the dollar-mark.
A book is as much the evidence of wealth as a bale of cotton.
Mental and moral resources, as well as material resources, must
be counted in arriving at any true estimate of the wealth of a
community, and no community that fails to develop the former
may be called wealthy, though it may place the value of the
latter ten places to the left of the decinal point. Intelligence,
character, and patriotism, not hills and valleys, rivers and forests,
fields and factories, are the things which differentiate one com-munity
from another. These are what give to North Carolina a
personality of her own, easily distinguishable from the personal-ities
of Virginia and of New York, of South Carolina and of Mas-sachusetts.
These are her mental and moral resources, and she
can not neglect to develop them without losing something out of
her life which leaves her poorer for her negligence, and lower in
Tenth Annual Meeting. 25
the scale of civilization. These resources, I think, are best de-veloped
among any people, in their organized capacity as a State,
by the study of their history and the cultivation of their histori-cal
consciousness. Such study broadens their intelligence, strength-ens
their character, and confirms their patriotism; and when the
days of trial and stress come, these things become the chief assets
especially of a democratic people.
It has taken many a weary year for anything like a consider-able
number of our people to realize this truth, but I believe
they have come to it at last. During the last decade there has
been a remarkable increase of interest among the people of
North Carolina in all that pertains to them and their history;
and the most encouraging aspect of this awakening is the fact
that it is not the result of a sudden impulse. It is not a mush-room
growth. It is the result of the intelligent and patriotic
work of intelligent and patriotic men for many generations,
working in what often seemed a sterile field, but working always
with courage, foresight, and hope. I need mention only the
aames of Davie and Murphey, of Hawks and Swain, of Saunders
and Clark, of Battle and Ashe, to remind you that for a century
or more our cause has not lacked eminent names and eloquent
advocates. They sowed the seed, we are reaping the harvest
—
a harvest of portraits and monuments, of patriotic societies and
historical museums, and of historical activities in a dozen forms.
It is my duty this afternoon to summarize as briefly as possi-ble
such historical activities in North Carolina during the past
year. In the preparation of this report, I have carefully scanned
the newspapers from day to day, have read the reports of his-torical
societies, have examined the acts of the Legislature, and
have addressed letters of inquiry to the officials of the following
organizations:
The United Confederate Veterans of North Carolina, the Unit-ed
Sons of Confederate Veterans, the United Daughters of the
Confederacy, the North Carolina Society of the Colonial Dames of
America, the North Carolina Library Association, the State Liter-ary
and Historical Association, the Society of the Cincinnati, the
Sons of the Revolution, the Daughters of the Revolution, the
Daughters of the American Revolution, the Hall of History, the
State Library, the Guilford Battle Ground Company, the Wa-chovia
Historical Society, the North Carolina Historical Society
at the University, the Trinity College Historical Society, the
Alamance Battle Ground Company, and the Moore's Creek Battle
Ground Company.
Unfortunately only a few, a very few, of the oflScials to whom
these communications were addressed have found time to reply
to my inquiries. Nevertheless the information which has been
gathered, is sufRcient to show that we have had a year of real
progress. In explanation of my task, let me repeat what I said
a year ago, that the activities embraced in this report do not
include the books of the year. The duty of compiling the bibli-
26 State Literary and Historical Association.
ography falls to another. But there are more ways of writing
history than in the printed volume. Every historical document
rescued from destruction, every record brought to light, every
historic spot marked with suitable memorial, every monument
erected, every portrait painted, is a record written on the page
of history.
NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY IN THE SCHOOLS.
Most encouraging of all the activities of the year is the in-creased
interest manifested in the history of North Carolina by
the schools of the State. Ten years ago probably not a school in
North Carolina included the subject in its course of study: they
were too busy with the history of Egypt and Greece, of Rome
and England, of Massachusetts and Virginia (dignified under the
appellation of "History of the United States"). Every North
Carolina child was taught the story of Jamestown and Plymouth
Rock, and remained in ignorance of the stories of Roanoke Island
and Albemarle; they were familiar with the names of John Han-cock
and Richard Henry Lee, but they knew nothing of John
Ashe and Richard Caswell; they declaimed with great gusto-
Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death," but they
never heard of Cornelius Harnett's 12th of April Resolution; and
so the story runs through all the names and epochs of our
history. No North Carolina child would have suspected that
North Carolina had any history worth studying, or, if there
were any, that it was an organic part of the history of the
United States.
It is, of course, right and proper that the children of North
Carolina should be familiar with the great names and the great
events in the history of Massachusetts and Virginia, for they are
great American names and great American events, and every
American citizen should be familiar with them. But it is also
right and proper that the great names and great events in the
history of North Carolina should be taught, not to the children
of North Carolina, but to American children everywhere, for they,,
too, are great American names and great events in American
history. The Mayflower, Plymouth Rock, the Boston Tea Party,
Lexington, Bunker Hill, are all part of the heritage of the North
Carolina boy as well as of the Massachusetts boy, but no Massa-chusetts
boy can refuse his share of the glory of Roanoke Island,,
of Moore's Creek Bridge, of Halifax, of Kings Mountain, of Guil-ford
Court House, without being the poorer for his provincial-ism.
To-day, no public school in North Carolina can omit North
Carolina history from its course of study without disobeying the
law of the Stiite. In order to ascertain to what extent and with
what results this law is being obeyed, I addressed a letter of
inquiry to the superintendents of our city schools, asking:
(1) What work was done in North Carolina history during the
past year; (2) how it compared in amount, in the time devoted
Tenth Annual Meeting. 27
to it, and in the interest manifested by pupils with the work of
previous years; (3) how it compared with the work planned for
the present year. The superintendents of twenty-seven towns
and cities replied. Their replies are interesting and encourag-ing.
Let me summarize them briefly as follows:
The city of Asheville alone reported that the subject was not
included in the course of study. Newton reported that interest
in North Carolina history among the pupils is "increasing";
Stony Point, that it is "encouraging"; Kenly that "last year's
work [was] far more satisfactory than that done any previous
year." Waynesville reported "good results." Greenville found
the work last year "very much more satisfactory than it has
heretofore been." Morganton has a course in North Carolina
history extending through three years. Maxton increased the
amount of work done over the previous year by the addition of
work in local history. Gastonia has entered upon "an era of in-terest"
in our history. At Edenton the "children take a lively
interest" in North Carolina hisTory, while those of Ashboro find
it both "interesting and profitable," Randleman included North
Carolina history in the course of study. At Statesville the sub-ject
is studied "more and more from year to year with increas-ing
interest." The pupils of Elizabeth City manifested an "en-thusiastic
love" of the work, and formed a County Memorial So-ciety
for the purpose of marking historic spots in Pasquotank
County and of collecting an historical museum. Last year
Marion "devoted more time to North Carolina history than form-erly,"
and during the present year has offered a medal for the
best work on the subject. Scotland Neck reports: "The interest
in North Carolina history has grown from year to year, and we
have secured better results every succeeding year." During the
present year, Jonesboro has increased the work over that done
last year. Durham has done likewise. Weldon has increased
th6 work every year since the organization of the school, secur-ing
increased interest each year. The pupils of Monroe last year
"took an extraordinary interest in their North Carolina history
work, and appeared really to enjoy the history period." They
found the settlement maps, showing in different colors the sec-tions
of the State settled by the English, the Scotch, the Ger-mans,
and the Scotch-Irish, with small pictures of log-cabins
pasted on the sites of the oldest towns, exceedingly instructive.
Within the past year Roxboro "doubled our [her] efforts to
stimulate the practical study of North Carolina history." Hert-ford
confesses that she is by no means doing what she could do,
but as an honest confession is said to be good for the soul, we
feel encouraged to hope that next year progress may be reported.
Such at least proved to be the case with High Point, for High
Point confessed that last year "practically nothing was done of
a serious nature," but this year "a fairly good course in the his-tory
of our State has been inaugurated." The children of La-
Grange like North Carolina history when presented by live, com-
28 State Literary and Historical Association,
petent teachers. Pilot Mountain found that the pupils were in-terested,
and declared that the prospects for good work during
the coming year are encouraging. The work at Belhaven last
year was "not satisfactory," but more time will be given to it
during the coming year. Hickory last year devoted twice as
much time to it as during any previous year, and found that
the pupils manifested "much more interest in the history of our
State." It is evident, I think, from these reports, that the chil-dren
of the State have at last taken hold of the subject, so that
the future is secure.
MONUMENT BUILDING.
During the past year we have written an encouraging chapter
in the history of monument-building in North Carolina,—certain-ly
one of the most important forms of history-writing.
Three of these monuments, two of which were completed and
the third begun, commemorate important events of the Revo-lution;
one was erected in honor of a naval hero of the War of
1812; and seven, four completed and three begun, were erected
to the North Carolina soldiers of the Confederacy. While we
may well congratulate ourselves on these achievements, it is to
be regretted that they lay the chief emphasis upon military prow-ess
rather than upon achievements in civic progress.
LIBERTY POINT MONUMENT.
On June 21st, at Liberty Point, in Cumberland County, a
movement was inaugurated for the erection of a monument to
'Commemorate the signing on June 20, 1775, of what is known
as the "Cumberland County Association," or the "Liberty Point
Declaration of Independence." This document was a test, origi-nally
drawn up by the Council of Safety of South Carolina, and
signed at Charleston, June 3, 1775. Afterwards a copy was sent
to Wilmington, N. C , where it was signed June 19, 1775; and
another copy to Cross Creek, in Cumberland County, where it
was signed by the Whigs of the Cross Creek section, on June
20, 1775. Those sturdy patriots lived in a district dominated
l)y the Scotch-Highlanders, who were Loyalists almost to a man,
and their boldness in signing such a test under such circum-stances
well deserves to be fittingly commemorated by their
descendants.
MOORE'S CREEK BRIDGE.
In 1857 the Moore's Creek Battle Ground Association erected
•a monument on the battlefield of Moore's Creek Bridge dedicated
to the valor of the victors in that struggle. On the 2 9th of July,
1909, within the shadow of that monument, a second monu-ment
was unveiled and dedicated to the valor of the vanquished.
These two monuments commemorate neither the victory of the
one, nor the defeat of the other, but rather the courage, the
loyalty to their respective causes, and the devotion to their duty.
Tenth Annual Meeting. 29
so pre-eminently displayed by both sides on that memorable
field.
The monument to the Highlanders bears the following appro-priate
inscription:
"Here fell
Captain McLeod, Captain Campbell,
and
about fiifty Highland Scots, Loyalists,
who, with splendid courage,
assaulted with claymores
the American entrenchments.
They were Heroes who did
their duty as they saw it, and are worthy of
this tribute from the descendants of the
equally brave men whom they fought.
Peace to their ashes!"
"Erected by
The Moore's Creek Memorial Association.
1909."
KINGS MOUNTAIN MONUMENT.
A notable event of the year was the erection by the United
States Government of an imposing monument on the site of the
battle of Kings Mountain. Though this monument stands on the
soil of South Carolina, the battle which it commemorates and the
erection of the monument itself were, to a very large extent,
achievements of North Carolinians. The monument, erected at
a cost of $30,000, is made of North Carolina granite, and rises to
a height of eighty-three and one-half feet above the ground. It
rests on a foundation of solid rock beneath the earth. The
north or front face bears the following inscription:
"Erected by the
Government of the United States of America,
to the establishment of which
the heroism and patriotism of those
who participated in this battle so
largely contributed."
On the west front is inscribed:
"To commemorate the victory of
Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780."
The east front perpetuates the names of the killed and
wounded.
The monument was unveiled on the anniversary of the battle,
October 7, 1909, in the presence of the Governors of North Caro-lina
and South Carolina, and of a vast assemblage of interested
spectators.
CAPTAIN OTWAY BURNS.
The War of 1812 was commemorated during the year by the
30 State Literary and Historical Association*
erection at Burnsville of a statue to the memory of Captain Ot-way
Burns, of the privateer "Snapdragon." The statue was un-veiled
on July 5th, in the presence of five thousand people, the
address of the occasion being delivered by the Chief Justice of
North Carolina. It represents Captain Burns in full uniform, is
of bronze, life-size, and mounted on a granite base of four sec-tions.
On a bronze tablet is the following inscription:
"Otway Burns.
Born in Onslow County, N. C, 1775.
Died in Portsmouth, N. C, 1850.
Sailor—Soldier—Statesman.
North Carolina's foremost son in the War of 1812-15.
For him, this town was named.
He guarded well our seas.
Let the mountains honor him."
The statue was erected by Captain Burns's grandson, Mr. Wal-ter
Francis Burns, of the city of New York.
If monument-building is any evidence of the sentiment of the
builders, the Confederate soldier still holds first place in the
hearts of our people. The year just past has witnessed the com-pletion
of four monuments to his memory and progress on the
work of three others. This work has been chiefly, but not en-tirely,
done by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
VANCE COUNTY CONFEDERATE MONUMENT.
The Vance County Chapter, United Daughters of the Confed-eracy,
have about raised the necessary funds for the erection of
a Confederate Monument in the city of Henderson to the sol-diers
of Vance County. When the Chapter has raised $1,000 the
city and county will each appropriate a like amount. The funds
will be ready during the coming year and the corner-stone will
probably be laid at an early date.
FRANKLIN COUNTY CONFEDERATE MONUMENT.
The Franklin County Chapter, United Daughters of the Con-federacy,
have begun a movement for the erection of a monu-ment
to the Confederate soldiers of Franklin County. About
$600 have been raised. The monument will be erected when
$3,000 have been secured.
GATES COUNTY CONFEDERATE MONUMENT.
A movement for the erection of a monument to the Confed-erate
soldiers of Gates County was inaugurated last June, by the
organization of a "Confederate Monument Association." When
$3,000 have been raised the monument will be erected.
CHOWAN COUNTY CONFEDERATE MONUMENT.
Six years ago the Bell Battery Chapter, United Daughters of
the Confederacy, of Chowan County, began a movement for the
-erection of a Confederate monument at Edenton. The first con-
Tenth Annual Meeting, 31
tribution was made by W. D. Pruden, Jr., aged nine years, who
contributed two cents to the enterprise. His pennies grew rap-idly
until by July, 1904, they had grown into a sum sufficient to
erect a granite shaft nineteen feet high. Later this shaft was
surmounted by a bronze figure of a Confederate soldier seven
feet in height. The completed monument was unveiled. May 10,
1909. It bears the following inscriptions:
"To Our Confederate Dead.
1861—1865."
[Reverse.]
"Gashed with innumerable scars,
Low in Glory's lap they lie.
Though they fell, they fell like stars,
Streaming splendor through the sky."
GRANVILLE COUNTY CONFEDERATE MONUMENT.
In September, 1904, the Granville Grays Chapter, United
Daughters of the Confederacy, was organized for the purpose of
erecting a monument to the soldiers of the Confederacy of Gran-ville
County. The movement was inaugurated in 1904; the
corner-stone was laid May 10, 1909, and the monument was un-veiled
with appropriate ceremonies October 30, 1909. The monu-ment
is of gray granite, twenty-six feet in height, and is sur-mounted
by a bronze statue of the Confederate soldier.
MACON COUNTY CONFEDERATE MONUMENT.
The Macon County Confederate Monument was unveiled Sep-tember
30, 1909. I regret that I have been unable to secure any
details in regard to it.
ROWAN COUNTY CONFEDERATE MONUMENT.
The most notable event of the year, indeed the most notable
event in the entire history of Confederate monument building in
North Carolina, was the completion and unveiling at Salisbury,
on May 10th, of the monument to the Confederate soldiers of
Rowan County, This monument deserves something more than
a mere passing notice. The movement for its erection was in-augurated
by the Robert F. Hoke Chapter, United Daughters of
the Confederacy, of Rowan County, January 19, 1901. When
sufficient progress had been made to consider the question of what
design should be selected, the Chapter decided that it would
"erect a memorial which should have an artistic value, as well as
a patriotic significance." Such a monument was found in the
magnificent group of Mr. Frederick W. Ruckstuhl, an eminent
sculptor of New York, the original of which is in the city of
Baltimore. This group Mrs. Frances F. Tiernan describes as
"the finest expression in plastic art of the valor, endurance, and
heroic qualities of the Confederate soldier." Ascertaining that
one replica, and only one, of this beautiful monument, could be
32 ' State Literary and Historical Association.
made, the Chapter at once opened negotiations with the sculptor,
who offered the replica to the Rowan Daughters for the sum of
$10,000. At first flush, this seemed hopeless, but, as Mrs. Tier-nan
says: "Knowing that such an opportunity once lost could
never be regained, the Chapter, gathering up its courage, rather
than listening to the dictates of its fears, closed with the offer,
and the contract with him was signed in April, 1903." Then
began the long, hard struggle to raise the necessary money, and
though at times the outlook was dark enough, the Chapter's en-thusiasm
never abated for one moment. Its splendid faith was
finally justified, when, on May 10, 1909, it had the proud distinc-tion
of unveiling what is certainly the most beautiful and signifi-cant
monument to the Soldiers of the Confederacy that has been
erected on Confederate soil.
A group of bronze surmounts a pedestal of pink Rowan gran-ite,
which is not only beautiful in itself, but harmonizes ad-mirably
with the bronze. The pedestal bears the following in-scriptions:
[Southeast Side.]
"In Memory
of
Rowan's Confederate Soldiers,
that
Their Heroic Deeds, Sublime Self-Sacrifice
and
Undying Devotion to Duty and Country
May Never Be Forgotten.
1861—1865."
[Northeast Side.]
"They Gave
Their Lives and Fortunes
For Constitutional Liberty
and
State Sovereignty in
Obedience to the Teachings of the Fathers
Who Framed the Constitution and Established the
Union of These States."
[Southwest Side.]
"Soldiers of the Confederacy:
Fame Has Given You
An Imperishable Crown,
History Will Record Your Daring Valor,
Noble Sufferings
and
Matchless Achievements
To the Honor and Glory of Our Land."
[Northwest Side.]
"Deo Vindice.
R. L P."
Tenth Annual Meeting, 33g^;
The bronze group "expresses in the noblest possible form ther
splendid valor of the Confederate soldier, his heroic endurance:
of suffering and privation and his steadfast devotion to duty
even unto death. • He is exhibited as falling mortally wounded^
after his long and desperate fight against overwhelming odds»
when Fame, descending from the skies, supports his sinking
form, while she holds aloft the crown of glory which History will
place upon his brow."
A writer who was present at the scene describes the; unveiling •.
as follows:
'Back rolled the monument's drapery. In its place stood a,
striking figure—yes, two, but for the first instant the people •
saw but one. No proud-spirited Napoleon of war was this whicli\
met their gaze. No self-vaunting Alexander sorro-wing at the;
seeming seizure of ambition's farthest goal; not even an eques-trian
Washington, self-composed in knowledge of victory won..
The key-note sounded is on a different pitch. War in its bittex-pitilessness
rather finds reflection in the sculptor's work. It is.-
a young man one sees with face betokening sturdy, even gentle
blood, fatigued to exhaustion, even dying, his clothes torn and
rent in hopeless disarray; his gun has been broken in the on-
-
slaught of his stronger antagonist. Then up steps Fame, impar- ^
tial appraiser of human worth, and places upon his brow theL
laurel wreath of moral victory."
The erection of this statue is the most notable" event in the: -
history of monument-building in North Carolina. The statues\
which have been heretofore erected are expressions af the love
of his people for the Confederate soldier, and of their loyalty ta^
his memory, but one can hardly call them artistic or graceful, or
find in them interpretations of the spirit of the Confederacy. In-deed
most of them are cut from a pattern that may be- purchased:
by the gross. But the Rowan Monument expresses all the love
and all the loyalty to the memory of the Confederate soldier that
the others do, and expresses infinitely more. It is the embodi- .
ment of the spirit of the Confederacy, and in it may be read
the tragedy of the Lost Cause. It is neither stilted, nor stereo-typed.
It is art, real, enduring, inspiring art; for the genius oj: ^
a true artist has. caught in a remarkable degree the spirit of the...
Confederacy and has given it expression in a work of art as in-*-
spiring as the valor that it commemorates.
MONUMENTS TO UNION SOLDIERS.
Besides these -monuments to the soldiers of the Confederacy, ,
two monuments have been unveiled during the year to soldiers,
of the Union. Both are in the Federal Cemetery at New Bern^^
one, unveiled November 11, 1908, was erected to the soldiers of-
Massachusetts; the other, unveiled October 7, 1909, to the soK
diers of Rhode Island.
34 State Literary and Historical Association.
WILLIAM L. SANUDERS.
During the year a large headstone has been placed over the
liitherto unmarked grave of Colonel William Lawrence Saunders
>a,t Tarboro. The stone bears the following inscription:
"William Lawrence Saunders,
1835—1891.
Soldier—Editor—Historian—Statesman—Patriot.
Colonel 46th N. C. Troops.
Secretary of State 1879—1891.
Distinguished for Wisdom and Courage.
For twenty years he exerted more power in
North Carolina than any other man."
"I decline to answer."
PORTRAITS.
During the past year several portraits of more than ordinary
interest have been added to the various collections of the State.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE.
The Sons of the Revolution on November 16, 1908, presented
to the Executive Office a portrait of Alexander Martin, distin-
.guished as a soldier of the Revolution, and five times elected
"Governor of North Carolina, 1782-1784 and 1789-1792. The pre-
'sentation address was prepared by Mr. Frank Nash, of Hillsboro.
DAVID PATON.
On March 12, 1909, in the Senate Chamber of the Capitol,
'-Capt. S. A. Ashe presented to the Executive Office a portrait of
IDavid Paton, architect of the State Capitol. The portrait was the
^gift of Mr. Paton's granddaughters. If he had done no other
anotahle w^ork in his profession, the designing and construction of
this building alone would entitle him to rank as a genuine ar-
Ttlst, and his portrait well deserves a place on the walls of the
Ibeantiful structure which his genius created.
JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT.
The collection of portraits of the Supreme Court has received
Tfour notable additions. On October 2 7, 1908, a portrait of
Juc[ge Archibald D. Murphey was presented to the Court by
Major John W. Graham, in behalf of the Murphey family. Judge
-Murphey, though never a Justice of the Supreme Court, sat by
special commission from the Governor, at the November Term,
J.'813, and at the June Term, 182 0, in place of Judge Henderson
who liad been of counsel in cases then pending before the Court.
'lA portrait of Judge John D. Toomer, Associate Justice of the
'Supreme Court in 182 9, by appointment of the Governor, was
l)resented, March 9, 1909, by Major E. J. Hale, in behalf of Judge
; roomer's granddaughters. On April 20, 1909, Hon. RobcH W.
Tenth Annual Meeting. 35
Winston, in behalf of Judge Henderson's family, presented a
portrait of Judge Leonard Henderson, Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court, 1819 to 1829, and Chief Justice from 1829 till
his death in 1833. Hon. William P. Bynum on May 11, 1909,
presented the portrait of Judge David M. Furches, Associate Jus-tice,
1894-1901, and Chief Justice, 1901-1902. These portraits
preserve the features of four of North Carolina's most eminent
Bons; the addresses of presentation are distinct additions to the
historical literature of the State.
WORK OF PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES.
I regret that I am unable to make a complete report of the ac-tivities
of the various patriotic societies of the State. As I have
already said, many letters of inquiry to the officials of these or-ganizations,
received no answers, hence I am unable to submit a
full report of their work. The others I shall summarize as
briefly as possible.
NORTH CAROLINA SOCIETY OF THE COLONIAL DAMES OP
AMERICA.
A year ago I reported that the North Carolina Society of the
Colonial Dames of America had made an extensive list of historic
spots in North Carolina that were unmarked in any way. Dur-ing
the past year the Society has erected a handsome marker at
one of the most interesting of these places—Russelborough—the
Cape Fear home of Governor Arthur Dobbs and of Governor Wil-liam
Tryon, near Brunswick. Russelborough was the scene of the
resistance to the Stamp Act on the Cape Fear. It was here that
the Minute Men of Brunswick, Wilmington and the surrounding
counties, led by Ashe and Waddell and Moore and Harnett, de-fied
the power of the British Government by successfully prevent-ing
the enforcement of the Stamp Act in North Carolina. The
monument erected by the Colonial Dames on May 5, 1909, is
about six feet high and four feet square at the base, tapering
from top to bottom about forty degrees. It is composed of stone
and brick taken from the Governor's house, which was known in
1766 as Tryon I'alace. The monument stands on a bluff, over-looking
the Cape Fear River, with a large white tablet facing the
liver, making a coi}spicuous mark which will endure for many
generations in commemoration of those who saw the right and
fearlessly pursued it. The tablet bears the following inscription:
"RUSSELBOROUGH.
"Erected by Captain John Russell, Commander of
His Britannic Majesty's Sloop of War 'Scorpion,' who
gave his name to this residence and tract of fifty-five
acres of land adjacent to the town of Brunswick.
"Subsequently owned and occupied by the British
Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Arthur Dobbs, aiid
36 Slate Literary and Historical Association.
later conveyed to His Excellency, William Tryon, Gov-ernor.
"On the 10th of February, 1766, this building,
known as Tryon's Palace, was surrounded by one hun-dred
and fifty armed men of the Cape Fear, led by
George Moore, of Orton and Cornelius Harnett, who
resisted for the first time on this continent the author-ity
of their sovereign lord the King, by demanding-from
Governor Tryon the person of Captain Lobb, com-mander
of the Sloop of War 'Viper,' and the surrender
of the odious emblems of the British Parliament's
Stamp Act committed to his care, which had been
brought to Brunswick by Captain Phipps in the Sloop
of War 'Diligence.'
"Subsequently, on the 21st day of February, 1776,
at 10 a. m., a body of four hundred to five hundred
Cape Fear men, in arms, under Cornelius Harnett and
Colonel James Moore, surrounded this house and de-manded
the surrender of His Majesty's Comptroller,
Mr. Pennington, and required of him an oath that he
would never issue any stamped paper in this province
of North Carolina.
"This monument, erected May 5, 1909, by the North
Carolina Society of the Colonial Dames of America, is
composed of stones from the original foundation of
Tryon's Palace on this spot."
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
The North Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution
during the year placed markers and tablets at several places of
historic interest. The Mecklenburg Chapter placed a granite
marker on the wall of the old Sugar Creek Burying Ground,
where many of the early pioneers of Mecklenburg are buried.
The tablet bears this inscription:
"Sugar Creek Burying Ground.
1750—1825.
Erected by the Mecklenburg Chapter
Daughters of the American Revolution.
1909."
The Joseph Winston Chapter, of Winston-Salem, on Novem-ber
2 8, 1908, placed two bronze tablets in the old Salem Tavern
to commemorate the visit of President Washington in 1791. The
same Chapter has begun the erection of a monument over the
grave of the famous Cherokee Chief, Junaluska, in Graham
County. This monument will be unveiled sometime during the
present year.
The Statesville Chapter during the present year will place a.
Tenth Annual Meeting, 37
suitable marker on the site of Fort Dobbs, which played an im-portant
part in the French and Indian War.
NORTH CAROLINA DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION.
On October 2 4, 1908, the North Carolina Daughters of the
Revolution saw the consummation of their efforts to erect a suit-able
memorial to the Edenton Tea Party, by the unveiling of a
handsome bronze tablet on the wall of the rotunda of the State
Capitol. The tablet bears the following inscription:
"Erected by the North Carolina Society of the
Daughters of the Revolution to the
Fifty-one Ladies of Edenton, Who, by Their
Patriotism, Zeal, and Early Protest Against British
Authority Assisted our Forefathers in the
Making of this Republic and
s Commonwealth."
The funds for this memorial were raised by the publication of
the North Carolina Booklet. Of this publication, I can only re-peat
with increased emphasis what I said in my report of a year
ago. The North Carolina Booklet is the only publication in the
State devoted exclusively to North Carolina history, and has con-tributed
largely to the revival of that interest in our history on
which I have already commented. The continued publication
of this periodical is the most notable achievement of the Society.
It well deserves the continued support of all those who are in-terested
in that large part of American history contributed by
North Carolina and her people.
The Society also presented three medals for the best essays on
some subject of local history to the public schools of Raleigh,
Edenton and Elizabeth City. No little interest was thus stimu-lated
among the pupils in the history of their communities.
THE GUILFORD BATTLE GROUND COMPANY.
The Guilford Battle Ground Company continues to hold a
foremost place among the patriotic organizations of the State.
Its work in converting that notable Revolutionary battlefield in-to
an historic park is entitled to all praise. In October, 1908,
under the auspices of the Battle Ground Company, the battle of
Guilford Court House was fought anew by Regulars detailed for
the purpose from the United States Army, representing the
British under Lord Cornwallis, and militia from the North Caro-lina
National Guards, representing the Americans under General
Greene. Fully 15,000 interested spectators witnessed the ma-noeuvres.
During the year two monuments were erected, which
were unveiled July 3, 1909. One is to Clio, the Muse of History.
The statue is a Greek figure in bronze, resting on a massive
block of granite which bears on one side a bronze tablet in-
38 State Literary and Historical Association,
scribed with the following lines, written by Major Joseph M.
Morehead, President of the Guilford Battle Ground Company:
"As sinking silently to night,
Noon fades insensibly.
So truth's fair phase assumes the haze
And hush of history.
"But lesser lights relieve the dark
Dumb dreariness of night.
And o'er the past historians cast
At least a stellar light."
The other monument was erected to the memory of David
Caldwell. It bears on its face the following inscription:
"Dr. David Caldwell.
Born 1724—Died 1824."
On the four sides of the base are the following words:
"Preacher"—"Teacher"—"Physician"—"Patriot."
A third monument has been begun, but has not yet been com-pleted.
In addition to these activities, a large force of road-v/
orkers made extensive improvements on the grounds, cutting
down hills, and putting avenues and carriage-ways into good
shape. The grounds are now in excellent condition. The Battle
Ground Company has continued its efforts to induce the United
StateK< to accept the field as a gift and to convert it into a
National Park. Bills for that purpose have more than once
passed the Senate, only to meet defeat in the House by the hos-tility
of an eminent native of Guilford County, who happens
to hold high place in the National Congress.
ALAMANCE BATTLE GROUND COMPANY.
The Alamance Battle Ground Company, incorporated by the
Geiieral Assembly of 1909, met at Burlington on April 14, 1909,
and organized by the election of the proper officers and the ap-point
nent of committees to draft by-laws and outline the work
to be done.
DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY.
I have been unable to secure a report of the activities of the
United Daughters of the Confederacy, except the reports of the
local Chapters which I have already given. The newspapers re-port
that on October 15, 1909, the Society laid at Wilmington,
the corner-stone of a monument to the late George Davis, Attor-ney-
General of the Confederacy. The monument will probably be
completed during the coming year.
Through the instrumentality of Miss Rebecca Cameron, sev-eral
of the local Chapters of the Daughters of the Confederacy
have secured from surviving Confederate soldiers written ac-
lenih Annual Meeting, 3g&'
counts of their personal reminiscences and experiences during':
the Civil War. These have been filed among the collections of
the North Carolina Historical Commission where they form isfe.
valuable addition to the historical sources of the State. It is re^
spectfully suggested that the Chapters of the Daughters of the
Confederacy increase their activities in this respect, and en-deavor
to procure from every surviving Confederate veteran
such a statement, however brief, of his career in the Confederate
Army. How important such statement will some day be, we caa
judge by what we have lost in not having such personal accounts;
of our soldiers of the Revolution.
MEMO-RIAL TABLETS.
At the University of North Carolina, memorial tablets to Mrs:.-
Cornelia Phillips Spencer and to the late Thomas N. Hill were-erected
in Memorial Hall.
HISTORICAL SOCIETIES.
My efforts to procure reports of the activities of the Historical'
Societies of the State have not been very successful. Two no-table
exceptions to this statement must be noted—the Historical}'
Society of Trinity College and the Wachovia Historical Society.
TRINITY COLLEGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
The Trinity College Historical Society during the past year-has
directed its activities along three lines, viz., literary exer-cises,
collection of Caroliniana, and the raising of an endowment
fund for publication purposes. Of the literary exercises, one.
commemorating the centenary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln^,
and two commemorating important events in the history of Trin-ity
College, were of especial interest. The most important ad-ditions
made to the Society's collections of Caroliniana were^
copies of letters of Nathaniel Macon; the Autobiography of Dr..
Brantly York; the History of Front Street Church, Wilmington^,
in 186 5, by Rev. L. S. Burkhead; Mem.oirs of Governor W. W-Holden;
letters and other manuscripts relating to Reconstruc-tion,
and numerous deeds and other legal documents containing
valuable autographs. A number of volumes from the library of
Governor Jesso Franklin were also secured, and copies of unpub-lished
letters v.
' Sidney Lanier and other Southern writers, and
of James Fennimore Cooper. Of the endowment of $1,000^.
something over $200 has been raised.
WACHOVIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
The Wachovia Historical Society assisted the Daughters of the
American Revolution in placing two tablets in the old Salenss
Tavern in commemoration of Washington's visit in 1791. Mem-bers
of the Society read interesting papers relative to that events
The Society hap added to its splendid collections a number €£.'
4J.O State Literary and Historical Association,
Valuable articles. It also reports that during the year the
Moravian town of Bethania, six miles north of Winston-Salem,
lias celebrated the one-hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its
^lounding.
STATE ACTIVITIES.
Through three agencies, other than those already mentioned".
^the State in her official capacity, has manifested unusual activity
-In historical matters—through the Hall of History, the North
^Carolina Historical Commission, and the General Assembly.
HALL OF HISTORY.
The Director of the Hall of History reports that about 1,20
"•objects have been added to the collection during the past year,
making the total number of objects now in the Hall of History
7,200. Among the most interesting of the articles recently add-
' ed are portraits of Sir Walter Raleigh and of Queen Elizabeth,
the gift of Mr. James Sprunt, of Wilmington; photographs of St.
Phillips Church, Brunswick, and of O'rton, the finest type of co-lonial
mansion now standing in the State; portraits of Penelope
Barker, and the tea caddy used at the Edenton Tea Party; the
ILiafayette coach, used by Lafayette upon his visit to Fayetteville
-in 1825, and the badge worn by him on the same occasion;
l)hotographs of old Fort Macon and Fort Caswell; photographs
'"of two North Carolina Presidents, Andrew Jackson and Andrew
Johnson; the original design of the North Carolina State flag,
adopted by the State Convention, May 28, 1861; relics of the
commanding officers of the Twenty-sixth North Carolina Regi-
^^ment. Colonels Vance, Burgwyn, and Lane; a number of arms
-mud wearing apparel of the Civil War period; photographs illus-s4aratiiig
the great fisheries and wild ponies on the coast; pano-
'srami^ views of the city of Raleigh; flags used by the United
•States cruiser North Carolina at the Battle of Manila Bay; ob-
- 3ects and photographs illustrative of Cherokee Indian life in
ISiorth Carolina of present day; an Indian god of stone taken
from Cherokee burial ground; whiskey still, captured in Scot-land
by Robert Burns, the poet, while a Government gauger,
-and later brought to Fayetteville; and a fine collection of pic-tures
of the seals of North Carolina. Besides these, numerous
autographs and early prints have been secured; the collection of
photographs of State institutions has grown considerably and
Important additions have been made to the collections of wearing
^apparel. Arrangements have been made to install the figure-lieads
of the cruisers North Carolina and Raleigh, and to fill two
-^ases with objects illustrating the old ante-bellum plantation life
•«Df the South.
THE NORTH CAROLINA PIISTORICAL COMMISSION.
Tlie North Carolina Historical Commission has continued its
t^ifork along the lines outlined in my last report. The principal
Tenih Annual Meeiif?g, 41
activities of the Commission have been in the collection, classifi-cation,
filing and indexing of manuscripts. The following have
been added to the collections of the Commission:
Documents.
L. O'B. Branch collection, embracing 48
Hayes Transcripts, embracing 82
Lord Dartmouth Transcripts, embracing 63
Copies from the Virginia Gazette, embracing 147
Miscellaneous Transcripts, embracing 9
Swain and Spencer Transcripts, embracing. 875
Total i>115
The Commission has also secured an index to the North Caro-lina
items in the Colonial and Revolutionary newspapers of
South Carolina, which in the absence of North Carolina news-papers
of those periods, form a valuable source of historical in-formation.
The index embraces the following papers published
at Charleston:
The South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, 1732 to
1775, inclusive.
The South Carolina and American General Gazette, 176 6 to
1772, inclusive; 1774 to 1780, inclusive.
The Royal Gazette, 1781 and 1782.
The City Gazette, or Daily Advertiser, 1789 and 1790.
The State Gazette of South Carolina, 1786 to 1788.
The Gazette of the State of South Carolina, 1777, 1783, 1784,
1785.
The Charleston Morning Post, 1787.
The publications of the Commission during the year have been
as follows:
Bulletin No. 3. The Second Biennial Report of the North
Carolina Historical Commission, 1906-1908. Prepared by the
Secretary.
Bulletin No. 4. David Paton, Architect of the North Carolina
State Capitol. An address by S. A. Ashe, delivered in the Senate
Chamber of the State Capitol at Raleigh, March 12, 1909, upou
the presentation of the portrait of David Paton to the State,
and its acceptance by Governor W. W. Kitchin.
Bulletin No. 5. The Great Seal of the State of North Caro-lina,
1666-1909. Illustrated. By J. Bryan Grimes.
Bulletin No. 6. The Significance of History in a Democracy.
An address by C. Alphonso Smith, delivered at the unveiling of
a monument to the Muse of History on the Guilford Battle
Ground, near Greensboro, N. C, July 3, 1909.
Public Education in North Carolina: A Documentary History,
1790-1840. Edited by Charles L. Coon. Two volumes.
Correspondence of Jonathan Worth. Edited by J. G. deR.
Hamilton, Two volumes.
42 State Literary and Histor'cal Association,
Pocket Manual of North Carolina for the use of the members
of the General Assembly of 1909.
The most encouraging feature of the Commission's work i8
that students are beginning to find their way to its collections,
and to make use of them in their investigations into our history.
During the year the following have made use of this source:
Dr. J. G. deR. Hamilton, in his investigations into the history
of Reconstruction in North Carolina; Mr. William H. Hoyt, of
New York, in his investigations into the career of Judge Archi-bald
D. Murphey; Dr. W. K. Boyd, in his investigations into the
history of the Convention of 1835; Mr. Gilmer Korner, of Trin-ity
College, in his investigations in the history of railroads in
North Carolina; Mr. J. A. Morgan, of Cornell University, in his
investigations into the history of internal improvements in North
Carolina; and Dr. Edmund C. Burnett, of the Carnegie Institu-tion
of Washington, examinations of the letters of the North
Carolina delegates in the Continental Congress for a series of
delegates' letters to be published by the Carnegie Institution.
In addition to these who have visited the rooms of the Commis-sion
in person, numerous others have availed themselves of the
collections of the Commission through correspondence with the
Secretary.
In connection with the work of the Historical Commission, I
wish to report three historical activities of a nature entirely dif-ferent
from any heretofore reported. I report these because
they serve to point a moral, which I wish to drive home with all
the force of which I am capable. Sometime ago a distinguished
son of one of North Carolina's eminent men, learning that there
was quite a collection of his father's papers in possession of a
certain family, immediately made application for the privilege
of using them in the preparation of a biography of his father
on which he was then engaged. He received the astounding reply
that only a few days before his request was received, the papers
of this legislator. Governor, United States Senator, Confederate
States Senator, and United States Cabinet officer, had been
thrown on a trash heap and burned as rubbish!
During the early part of the present year, the newspapers
announced the complete destruction by fire of the house of
Major James H. Foote, of Wilkes County. Major Foote was not
only a brave Confederate soldier; he was much more than that,
for he was Custodian of the Roll of Honor of the Confederate
troops of North Carolina. The fire which destroyed his house
completely consumed his library and all his papers.
The third historical activity of this nature is told by the
papers of the State in the following dispatch, dated at Fayette-ville,
September 4, 1909:
"Three very mysterious fires occurred today at the home, ok
Ilaymount, this city, of Major E. J. Hale, editor of the Fayette-ville
Observer. All three of the fires, which were of distinct
Tenth Annual Meeting. 43,
origin, being among valuable papers and files. The first blaze
was discovered by servants, in a storage room containing, besides
other records, files of the Fayetteville Observer from 182 5. This
fire was extinguished after the loss of many valuable records,
and considerable injury to the building. Some hours later two
fires were discovered, one in a closet on the second floor, and
the other among papers in the study. The files of the Observer
have passed through several fires, including the burning of the
Observer office by General Sherman during the Civil War."
LEGISLATION.
Since the last session of this Association the General Assembly
of North Carolina has been in session. The Assembly was
generous toward the historical activities of the State. Acts
were passed authorizing Jackson, Macon and Rutherford coun-ties
to donate land for the sites of Confederate monuments.
The city of Henderson and the county of Vance were authorized
to appropriate $1,000 each towards the Confederate monument
to be erected in Henderson to the soldiers of Vance County. The
town of Rockingham was authorized to appropriate $2 50, and
the county of Richmond to appropriate $500, and a site, for
a monument to the soldiers of Richmond County. From
the State Treasury $2,500 were appropriated toward the pro-posed
monument to Henry L. Wyatt. The Alamance Battle-
Ground Company was incorporated for the purpose of erecting
suitable memorials on the battlefields of Alamance and Pyle's
Hacking Match, and for caring for the grounds, and $2 00 were
appropriated by the State as an aid in the work. An act of
especial importance was one creating the State Library Commis-sion,
for the purpose of encouraging the establishment of libra-ries
in North Carolina, of giving aid and advice to those already
in existence, and of collecting data bearing on the work of libra-ries.
An annual appropriation of $1,500 was made for the sup-port
of the Commission. Another act which will be welcomed
by students of our history authorized the Secretary of State to-have
the warrants, plats and surveys on file in his office, on
which the lands in North Carolina and much of that of Tennes-see
were granted, classified, filed and indexed. A perfect mine
of information into the early history of the State will thus be
opened. For this work, $3,000 were appropriated. An act
which will appeal especially to the interest of this Association
was the incorporation of the John Charles McNeill Memorial
Society "for the purpose of perpetuating the memory of the late
John Charles McNeill, and for the moral, intellectual and social
improvement of the community which gave him birth." Three
other acts deserve more extended notice.
The preamble of Chapter 496, of the Public Laws of 1909,
recites the fact that:
"Whereas, it is a well-known historical fact that the noted-
44 State Literary and Historical Association,
pioneer, Daniel Boone, lived for many years in the State of
North Carolina, and that his infancy and young manhood were
spent in what was at the time Rowan County and is at present
the County of Davidson; and whereas it is desirous that his
memory should be perpetuated among us"
—
Therefore, the "Daniel Boone Association" was incorporated
for that purpose, with authority to erect memorials, to collect
historical material, and to do such other things as may tend "to
perpetuate the memory of the life of Daniel Boone in North
'Carolina."
Another act (Chapter 2 63, Public Laws 1909), which looks to
the celebration of one of the really great events in the history
-of North Carolina, in which all the people of the State should
join, recites that:
"Whereas, the people of the town of New Bern desire to com-memorate
the bicentennial of the founding and incoporation Oi
the ancient Colonial capital of this great State by holding a
"home-coming week" in the year one thousand nine hundred
and ten, upon which occasion fitting and appropriate ceremonies
will be had in celebration of the founding and incorporation of
the town; and whereas the town of New Bern, founded in March,
one thousand seven hundred and ten, has contributed no small
part to the history of this State, and her great sons, William
Gaston, George E. Badger, John Stanley and others have held
high place in the State and nation, always worthily and in honor
to the State and to their native town, whose people desire to do
honor to their memory on this occasion; and whereas it is neces-sary,
in order to appropriately commemorate the event and to re-ceive,
welcome and entertain the home-coming of her sons and
the descendants of her sons now living in this State and other
States," therefore—
•
The city of New Bern and the county of Craven were author-ized
to appropriate the sum of $2,500 each, to be used for that
purpose. The State herself might well have appropriated a like
sum toward this event, for it is an event in which the State is
interested and in which all her people should join.
"North Carolina was the first colony to vote explicit sanction
to independence," declares the historian Bancroft. "Thus," de-clares
a distinguished historian of Massachusetts, "the popular
party carried North Carolina as a unit in favor of independence,
when the colonies from New England to Virginia were in solid
array against it." The 12th of April, 1776, is the proudest date
in the annals of North Carolina, and in recognition of this fact
the General Assembly passed an act making April 12th a legal
holiday. That act deserves to be quoted in full:
"Whereas, the Provincial Congress which met at Halifax, in
this State, in April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six,
after providing for the military organization of the State,
•did on the twelfth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and
Tenth Annual Meeting, 45
seventy-six, adopted the following resolutions, generally known as
the Halifax Resolutions, to-wit:
" 'Resolved, That the delegates from this colony in the Conti-nental
Congress be empowered to concur with the delegates from
the other colonies in declaring independence and forming foreign
alliances, reserving to this colony the sole and exclusive right of
forming a constitution and laws for this colony,'
"And, whereas, said resolution is the first declaration in favor
of independence by the people of the whole State, through their
duly authorized representatives, and was adopted more than
two months before the Declaration of Independence by the Con-tinental
Congress; and whereas an occurrence so momentous in
the history of our State and Nation, and so illustrative of the'
patriotism and wisdom of the whole people of North Carolina,
should be commemorated; therefore
—
"The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
"Section 1. That the twelfth day of April in each and every
year be and the same hereby is made a legal holiday in North
Carolina.
"Sec. 2. That this act shall be in force from and after its
ratification."
Ratified this the 9th day of March, A. D. 1909.
SUMMARY.
Summarizing this report, we find the following evidences of
historical activity during the year that are worthy of especial
note:—
•
(1) The schools of the State have introduced the study of the
history of North Carolina to an extent never known before;
(2) Twelve monuments have been erected at a cost exceeding
$50,000;
(3) Seven monuments have been begun;
(4) Six memorial tablets have been set up;
(5) Ten portraits of persons eminent in the history of the
State have been presented to the State;
(6) Twelve hundred objects have been added to the collec-tions
of the Hall of History;
(7) One thousand two hundred and twenty-four manuscripts
have been added to the collections of the North Carolina Histori-cal
Commission, and seven publications issued;
(8) Three patriotic societies have been incorporated for his-torical
purposes;
(9) Prom the State treasury, $7,200 have been appropriated,
and from city and county treasuries, $7,750 have been author-ized
for hisorical purposes;
(10) The anniversary of the most signinficant event in the
Revolutionary history of the State has been set apart as a legal
holiday.
Surely there are good grounds for the assertion made above
46 State Literary and Historical Association,
that we are in the midst of an awakening of interest in the his-tory
of our State.
During Mr. Connor's speech Ambassador Bryce entered the
liall and was enthusiastically received. The next speaker was
Mrs. John van Landingham, of Charlotte, whose subject was
"The Encouragement of Art as an Aid to North Carolina History
and Literature." The women of the State have always given
the Society its support and have from the first been recognized
in the distribution of offices and committee assignments, but Mrs.
van Landingham was the first woman to make a formal address
at an annual meeting. She said:
THE ENCOURAGMENT OF ART AS AN AID TO NORTH CARO-lilNA
HISTORY AND LITERATURE.
Probably the best way to approach this subject is to ask our-selves
these questions: What has art done for the history and
literature of nations? What have been the incentives to art
production? How can the lessons of the past be applied to our
own conditions?
Among very ancient nations art was not only an aid to history,
but it was history's chief record. We are told that 450 years be-fore
Christ Herodotus visited Egypt and there was taken to the
temple of Thebes and shown 345 wooden effigies of those who
had held the highest priestly office during the reigns of Kings
from Menes to Seti. Each, during his life, had there placed his
statue. From this the "Father of History" computed the various
dynasties for hundreds of years back, and endeavored to corrobo-rate
their records. Four centuries afterward Deodorus was in
Egypt, and the same legends were rehearsed and the same book
of records proven by means of this crude Egyptian art.
ART OUR OLDEST HISTORIAN.
You will recall that Menes built Memphis. He adorned the
temple of Ptah, and here, says a modern historian, "were the
first recorded triumphs of Egyptian civilization." As regal pow-er
expanded and population increased the kings found it neces-sary
to give employment to thousands. They gratified their per-sonal
vanity, their religious theories and governmental exer-gencies
by the construction of magnificent sepulchres for royalty.
The pyramids were the results of this monumental impulse.
Though built twenty-five centuries before the Christian era, it is
to the art which depicts upon the walls of their inner chambers
the story of ancient kings that history to-day tells to the world
the tale of Khufu, Khafra and Menkera. Time has obliterated the
results of their wars and their conquests, their private lives and
public services, but their pyramids and that "great ^^^j hewn
Tenth Annual Meeting. 47
from solid rock which, with solemn visage, still looks toward the
Nile," testify to the world the civilization of their day and the
glories of their country.
Besides these monumental works, and the picturesque obelisks
which adorn the land, it is to the carvings, the statues, the deco-rations
of temples and sepulchres that the historian goes for the
true history of the people. We are told that in the tomb of Beni
Hassan "five varieties of plows are depicted, and farming life is
shown in detail; sheep and goats treading the seed into the
ground; wheat gathered into sheaves, threshed, measured, car-ried
in sacks to granaries; flax bundled on the backs of asses,
figs gathered, grapes thrown into the press, wine carried to the
cellar, the overseer and the hands in the fields and gardens; the
bastinado laid on the backs of laggards." In other sculpture
are spinners and weavers, potters and painters, masons and
shoemakers, glass blowers and metalsmiths. There are interiors
of homes and kitchens; there are domestic animals and their
uses; there are soldiers and battles, wrestlers and jugglers, mu-sicians
and dancers, and every phase of life depicted in imper-ishable
tablets of stone.
The ruins of Thebes and Komombo, the temples of Abydos and
Dendera, the columns of El Karnak, the mammoth statues of
kings, the sphinxes of Ammun-ra, the pictorial delineations of life,
of religion, and of battles on walls and native cliffs, on granite
obelisks and buried stone tell the religion and the history of a
great and an ancient people. Art, then, is the real historian of
that period and all the later ages have been heirs of its industry.
The same guide as an aid and delineator of history conducts
us through Chaldea and Assyria, through Babylon, Medea and
Persia, unto Greece and Rome.
All the pagan religions with their attractive myths, however
told in poetry and in prose, would be but little known and less
remembered, were it not for the art that has perpetuated them.
The Greeks loved the beautiful. They were surrounded by it.
Their cerulean skies and lovely landscapes were a fit setting for
the most beautiful of the races of men. "No people were ever
gifted with so great personal beauty, and none ever so much
adored the gift." This homage was universal. Most naturally,
then to the Greek "thought became Apollo, and his dream was
transformed into Psyche."
That, though, was the age of courage as well as beauty, of
love of liberty and of patriotism, of poetry, history, oratory and
philosophy. It also was the age of highest development of art.
What Homer related in the Iliad and Odyssey, what Hesiod sung,
what Sophocles, ^schylus, and Euripides portrayed in drama,
what Aristophanes satirized or historian recorded, were illustrat-ed
in statue, in frieze and on temple walls.
48 State Literary and Historical Association,
INPUENCE OF SCULPTURE AND ARCHITECTURE.
Sculpture followed literature. "Only when refinement and
leisure had been attained by the industrial pursuits, only when
war had aroused and poetry had soothed the spirit of Hellas, did
she begin to give form to fancy and make her thought imperish-able
in marble." As her sculpture has been the most perfect in.
the world, so her architecture has been the model for all nations,,
reaching during the ages of Pericles the climax of its development.
What is Greece to-day separated from its literature, its archi-tecture
and its sculpture? With these it remains a great fountain
of inspiration and the shrine where the whole world has sent in-numerable
votaries.
Painting reached under the Greeks marvelous advancement,
yet none of their best productions have been preserved. It is,
therefore, to the dual arts, architecture and sculpture, that w&
chiefly look as guides to history and literature down to the four-teenth
and fifteenth centuries. We follow these through Greece,
Italy, and the Byzantine Empire, through the Romanesque art of
the Middle Ages as it was developed in Germany, in France and
again in Italy; through Norman architecture in England and
Gothic art in France, England, Germany, and Italy, unto the fif-teenth
century. We find the Church, prior to the printing press
used these arts as a very Bible of the people. Within a building^
the sacred story was told in carvings and statues, in inscriptions
and illuminated windows; while without the necessary conditions
adapted their uses to figures of saints, historical characters and
personifications of virtues, so grouped and arranged as to adorii
the structure yet symbolize all the essentials of Christian faith.
Of the carved stalls of the choir of Amien's Cathedral—begun in
122 —Ruskin says: "Sweet and young grained wood it is, oak
trained and chosen for such work; sound as four hundred years
since. Under the carver's hand it seems to cut like clay, to fold
like silk, to grow like living branches, to leap like living flame,
canopy crowning canopy, pinnacle piercing pinnacle it shoots and
wreathes itself into an enchanting glade, inextricable, imperish-able,
fuller of leafage than any forest, and fuller of story than
any book." The very object and aim of the cathedral was to tell
the story of Christ, as well as to furnish a place for worship. "In
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries no one built a Gothic
window without intending that it should ultimately be filled with
stained glass, telling some sacred history."
HOW CAN ART BE ENCOURAGED?
During the fifteenth century painting, the last of the trinity^
of arts, came in its fullness to further illuminate history and lit-erature.
What we owe to it would require hours to relate. Suf-fice
it to say that many of the treasures of the world were pro-duced
at this period. In their creation comes the answer to the
question, "What have been the incentives to art production?"'
Tenth Annual Meeting. 49:^
The primary incentive has been to teach and to perpetuate his-tory-
In the ancient world the kings and priests had the work
executed. During later pagan periods emperors commemorated
their own achievements, and priests celebrated their mythological
beliefs. Then the church used art to teach in enduring form the
sacred history and religion. Individuals gave employment to ar-tists
that they might preserve their own achievements, and also
their own images. Then guilds and corporations, cities and gov-ernments
began to see the value of art as an aid to history and
memorials were built and events commemorated by costly monu-ments.
Had it not been for Pericles there would have been no;
Parthenon. Augustus Caesar said he found Rome a city of bricks-and
left it one of marble. But for Cosmo de Medici there would
have been no San Marco. But for Lorenzo the Magnificent and
Pope .Julius IT., Michael Angelo would not have had opportun-ity
in Florence and in Rome for his great genius as a sculptor^
architect, and painter, nor would Raphael have made his wonder-ful
frescoes. Had not the governors of the city invited painters;
to Florence to develop art unto Grecian ideals there would not
have been formed that great Florentine circle with Cimabue and
Giotto as morning stars and De Vinci, Fra Angelico and a whole
galaxy of luminaries. When the Guilds of Merchants determined
to place bronze doors at San Giovanni many artists flocked to the.
city. Among the thirty-four competitors Lorenzo Ghiberti ob--
tained the order, and because of it has left to the world a mar- -
velous conception of sacred history interpreted by art. So, too,
in Venice and Rome, in Spain and France, there has ever been \
those who took the initiative and encouraged art.
THE THREE THINGS NEEDED.
Prom this let us take a lesson. The essentials to art produc--
tion are a history and a literature to depict, a patron to encour-age,
and an artist equal to the undertaking.
In our own country Massachusetts has had more of its history
preserved and its literature made familiar through art than has .
any other State.
In address by Judge Walter Clark in 1901 before the Teach-ers'
Assembly at Wrightsville on the topic, "How Can In-terest
Be Aroused in the Study of History in North Carolina"? he
so fully pictured the condition in our State in regard to art that
I wish to quote him in part. He said:
"The eye should be appealed to by paintings and engravings^.
In every Massachusetts school book, in every Massachusetts li-brary
and public building, you will find engravings of the nota-ble
events in her history and of the great men who have led her
people on all great occasions. There you will find placed before
the eyes of childhood the representation of the 'Landing from the
Mayflower' upon the rock-bound coast, in the depth of winter,
the flight of the British from Lexington; the death of Warren;
4
~5o State Literary and Historical Association,
the scenes in her Indian wars; the pictures of Adams, of Han-cock,
and of Webster.
"They have the landing of the pilgrims of 162 0. What North
'Carolina school-room or public building impresses upon the mind
of childhood that other scene thirty-five years earlier when the
first Englishment settlement on this continent was made upon
' ^ur own shores at Roanoke Island? Not amid the snows of a
Isarren coast, as at Plymouth Rock, but in the middle of a semi-tropjcal
, summer, with the great cypresses hung with moss, as
sentinels of the historic scene, and the odors of Araby the blest
"wafted to sea-worn wanderers from the shores of this new land
«^©f hope and plenty."
There follows a comparison of great events in the two States:
'Of the Boston tea party, and its counterpart*^"the Wilmington re-sistance
to the stamp act; of Paul Revere's ride and Captain
•Jack's horseback trip to Philadelphia after the memorable 20th
'of May; Attucks riot in Boston and the battle of Alamance in
"NTorth Carolina; Bunker Hill and Moore's Creek; the Fourth of
J'uly at Philadelphia and the 12th of April at Halifax; Indian at-
'tacks. Revolutionary skirmishes and Civil War battles. In one
'State everything is depicted by pen, by brush, by chisel; in the
"Other, even the faint