Colonel Andrews
By R. C. LA Hit
ИКСЕ
WHKX I was a boy. all tb«* biu
folks in Raleigh lived on
cither Blount or Hillsboro
streets. (In Blount Street live* I Col¬
onel Alexander I?. Andrews, and just
across l he street lived Dr. W. .1. Haw¬
kins. of whom you will hear more a
lit I lc later on.
Colonel Andrews was Imrn in
Franklin County in Lsil. his mother
hoiiiK Virginia, a daughter of
Col. John l>. Hawkins, of the famous
Warren County family of that name,
a family which furnished our state
I uited States senators, governors,
anil other state officers, congressmen,
generals, and a succession of uuuier-
oils legislators for more than half a
century. The outbreak of hostilities
in I Si; I found him superintendent
for his uncle. General Philemon B.
Hawkins, who was building the Itlue
Ridge Railroad.
In 1861 he heard the call of the
South and enlisted as a private in the
First North Carolina Cavalry, com¬
manded by Robert Ransom, who later
rose to the rank of Major General.
One of the truly great
builders of INorlli Caro¬
lina: a man who really
loved his State and ex¬
ulted in being of service
in connection with its
progress and develop¬
ment.
Young Andrews was promoted to
Lieutenant, and became a Captain
during his first year of service, lie
fought with the cavalry until 1863
when, near GordoiiHville, a Federal
bullet Ion* its way through his left
lung, injuring his spine also, lie lin¬
gered between life and death, and
many months of weary suffering en¬
sued before his recovery was assured.
He never lost interest in his Con¬
federate comrades, and not the least
of his fine services to his native state
was when he took the initiative in the
establishment of the Confederate Sol¬
diers Home at Raleigh of which he
was president from its founding un¬
til his death. He rendered this insti¬
tution quite as excellent service ns
lie rendered his railroads. During the
administrations of Governor Jarvis
he served as member of his staff with
the rank of Colonel.
After the war he married a daugh¬
ter of Colonel William Johnston, rail¬
road executive of Charlotte, who was
a candidate for Governor against
Vance in 1862: from which it will be
seen that he not only came from a
railroad family and but also married
into a similar family.
Rebuilding the Railroads
Naturally the era of reconstruction
found the few existing lines of rail¬
way in deplorable condition — rails
rusted ; cross ties rotten ; rolling stock
dilapidated; treasury empty. An¬
drews became a builder, and no man
of his generation rendered his state a
more lasting service than he. He start¬
ed his great building earccr at super¬
intendent of the Raleigh and Gaston
Railroad, of which his kinsman, I)r.
W. J. Hawkins, was president. His
energy rehabilitated that line; and
lie also superintended the extension
of its affiliated line, the Raleigh and
Augusta Air Line, southward to
Hamlet, where a junction was formed
with the Carolina Central Railroad
running from Wilmington to Char¬
lotte.
In 1875 he entered the service of
the Richmond and Danville which