The Little Giant’s
Tar Heel Bride
Southern exposure had a profound
influence on Stephen A, Douglas* his¬
toric career.
By KATHERINE HOSKINS
When, about 1845, Colonel Robert
Martin of Rockingham County, took
his daughters, Martha and Lucinda,
to Washington on a visit to their
cousin, Senator David Settle Reid, none
of them suspected that the family visit
would bear consequences of even the
slightest note in history.
Accustomed to every luxury of the
day, the two girls were trained in all
the social graces at Salem Academy
and at a Philadelphia finishing school.
Now they wished to enter the world
of fashion at the national capital.
Equipped with personal maids, ex¬
tensive wardrobes, and carriage with
coachman, footmen, and outriders,
followed by a baggage wagon, the
journey took on somewhat the ap¬
pearance of a royal progress with
stops along the way to rest at the
homes of numerous relatives and
friends.
Launched in Washington society,
seventeen-year-old Martha met her
cousin’s friend and seatmate in the
Senate, Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois,
already known to fame as The Little
Giant. The young New Englander who
had pioneered in what was then known
as the Far West, was greatly attracted
to the Southern girl whose background
was so different from his own.
Followed Martha Home
When the visit was over, Douglas
followed Martha to her home on Dan
River in Piedmont North Carolina.
After an ardent courtship in the cere¬
monious fashion of the day, the two
were married April 7, 1847, amid a
round of balls, dinners, and parties
attended by all the close-knit horde of
relatives and friends of the Martin
family.
The bride’s influence was quickly
noted in her devoted husband’s new
attention to dress, and evidence of the
courtly manners for which lie became
noted. Exposure at first hand to South¬
ern culture and point of view had an
THE STATE, MARCH 15, 1968
equally great effect on his political
career.
Though the two were welcome
members of the brilliant Washington
society dominated at that time by her
friends, Mrs. Douglas confined her
activities largely to her home and
family, which soon included two sons,
Stephen and Martin. Always frail, she
died in childbirth after a marriage of
only six years.
Her last request was to be brought
home to her kindred. Sealed in a
leaden casket and accompanied by her
stricken husband, she made the last
journey home o%'er the frozen winter
roads by coach to the Dan. Here she
rests with her kinsfolk in the tree-
shaded, ivy-covered cemetery near
Reidsvilie, surrounded by the blatant
encroachments of a modern day.
Her death is said to have shaken
Douglas emotionally more than any¬
thing in his crowded life, and to have
permanently changed his personality.
Grief gave him a depth of understand¬
ing. sympathy and human insight pre¬
viously lacking in his character.
Opposed to slavery, though not an
Abolitionist, Douglas refused his
Mortho Martin Douglas, of Rockingham County.
Original of picture is in the Douglas Collection,
Chicago Museum.
father-in-law’s gift of a great slave
plantation in Mississippi because he
“could not own such property.” While
passionately defending the Union, and
unalterably opposed to Secession, he
maintained that the States must de¬
cide on the slavery question without
interference from Congress. Actively
struggling to extend the United States
to the Pacific, maintain the Union, and
also defending States Rights, his am¬
bivalence caused him to become
known as The Great Compromiser.
Lincoln’s Opponent
His giant intellect, bis brilliant ora¬
tory combined with inherent honesty
and personal charm, and his devotion
to the Union, would probably have led
him to the Presidency had not destiny
made Lincoln his opponent. Defeated,
he showed the intrinsic greatness of
his character by his loyalty to the vic¬
tor, declaring “In our firm support of
the Union we never differed. This must
not be destroyed.”
Worn with a life of mental, physi¬
cal, and emotional effort, Douglas
died June 3, 1863, aged 48. His last
coherent words expressed his fervent
wish for the preservation of the Union.
His dying message to his two young
sons was to “obey the law and uphold
the Constitution.” Illinois asked that
her famous citizen be brought there
for burial in Chicago. The only ma¬
terial evidence in North Carolina of
the love of his youth is the inscription
on the tomb of his young wife.*
“The memory of the just is
blessed
They are like unto the angels
ministering spirits.
Died
At Washington D.C.
Jan. 19, 1853
In the 25th year of her age
MARTHA MARTIN DOUGLAS
wife of
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS
OF I L LION IS
Yes, loved one, while in Heaven
supremely blessed
Thou art more than wife and
mother to us here.
Thy memory woos us upward and
is blessed
And thou, our angel guardian,
still art near.”
* Located near Reidsvilie, the cemetery
containing graves of the Martins, Reids, and
Judge Settle, was said to have been used by
bootleggers to hide their product during pro¬
hibition days; and legend says Martha Doug¬
las’ grave was searched for jewels, then
later rebuilt. The tomb is intact save for a
cracked surface. -■
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