North Carolina State Library
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DOCKERY.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF OLIVER HART DOCKERY—
A COLORED NARRATIVE.
It is well, now and then at least, to trace the careers of men who have, attained
eminence, good or bad, that ambitious youth may learn therefrom how to reach
fame on the one hand or avoid shame on ihe other. Imbued with this patriotic
purpose, we give a brief .sketch of the principal events iu the life of a man whose
name is now upou every one's lips. That man is
OLIVER HART DOCKERY.
To begin with, our hero is no slouch, no horny-handed son of toil, no poor
bockra of any sorl, but a son of a leading politician, a rich man’s son, with means
as well as the inclination to gratify his every whim. Horn with a silver spoon iu
his mouth, as the saying is, and clothed in purple and fine linen, he began his
earthly existence about the year 1826 in the county in which he now lives. Sur¬
rounded by every comfort and luxury that wealth could command, with slaves to
do his every bidding, he grew apace. Iu time, like other rich men’s sons, he
went to school and learned a little Latin and less Greek. In 1846 he went to
Chapel Hill; what his career was there tradition doth not tell, as in the case of
Johnston Pettigrew and Matt. Ransom, who were his seniors by a year. Suffice
it to say, however, that he graduated in 1818 by the skin of his teeth, or the
toughness of his- cheek, or in some other way, and proceeded to study law under
that good man, Judge Battle. Of his career at the bar that treacherous jade,
tradition, again fails to say anything. With his great voice and his unlimited
cheek he ought to have succeeded, but there is no evidence that he did.
And then iie became a “planter.” They were planters, not farmers, in those
days, and, indeed, planting was. not such a bad thing with a lot of negroes,
wenches included, and a pushing overseer to drive them. The science of plant¬
ing was mainly in picking out the overseer, and it. may be that our hero, with
the help of his father, was successful in that. Tradition, however, still treacher¬
ous, throws no light on the situation.
In the winter of 18~>8-’59 he went to the Legislature and distinguished himself
there by his efforts to compel free uegroes to leave the State or become slaves.
And then the war came on. Now, though a valiant man, our hero was not
eager for the fray. He feared from the beginning he would lose his “niggers,”
and he was fond of negroes then as he is now, but with this difference, note: as
slaves then, as voters now. But emancipation and the surrender were a long way
off at the beginning of the war, and our hero, with a company of his young
friends and neighbors, became a part of the S8th Regiment of North Carolina
Troops, and a very line regiment it was, especially after our hero left it. Hud
not circumstances compelled him to leave the service just before the fighting be¬
gan the war might possibly have ended differently. Possibly Meade and Grant
would have suffered the fate of McClellan, Hooker and Burnside, and -Appomat¬
tox be still.unknown. But however that may be, our hero’s commission as cap¬
tain in the Confedevwt.e army bore date 30th October, 1801, and then, at a single
lean
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, he went to the lieutenant colonelcy of the regiment on the 17th
Jflnuary, 1802; and there he stayed until the spring was well advanced and the
fighting about to begin in earnest, when he failed to be re-elected as was re¬
quired. Leaving his young friends and neighbors to stop Yaakec bullets, he
once more hied him home to the shades of private life and the protection, we
