ellne
Pigott
Л
Millions Soul ll€b 1*11 spy who rcn-
ilorcMl valuable service lo llie
Confederacy in I lie eoasl coun¬
try of IVorlli Carolina «luring* I lie
War Helween tli«k Stales.
By C. C. IIFOGFPFTII
ONE sometimes wonders liow
пишу
people in l lie Old North
Stjit,- today know that Emelin,*
Pigott, famous Southern spy during
ih** War Between the States, was a
North Carolinian.
Miss Pigott was born in Marlowe
Township, Carteret County, December
15, I S!HI, and was only 25 years of
age when the war l--gan. It was about
this time that her father moved
from his Marlowe plantation to his
farm on Calico Creek and north of
the present town of Morelu-ad City
which at tlint time was a very small
village.
Like all other Southern women she
loved the South and at once dedicated
her talent- to the cause of the South*
orn Confederacy. -lust across the
creek (now Bay View Cemetery,
Morehcad City) was a garrison of
gallant soldiers who had been sent to
the coast to defend the people of the
•State. She witnessed their privations
and sufferings and sought every op¬
portunity to nurse the sick and wound¬
ed among them — some of them in her
father’s farm home.
A Tragic Love Affair
Twenty-five years of age at the
lime; pretty, attractive and |Mipular,
she had many admirers. One of these,
Stoke' MeKac, fell desperately in
love with her, and she with him. Often
invited to the officer’s halls she always
declined for the good reason that her
lover was a private in the army. With
her own hands she made for him a
Confederate Hag of silk mounted on a
gold staff, which he carried with him
until the Battle of New Bern, where
it was lost. Young McRae was later
killed in the* Battle of Gettysburg.
\\ hen the* ne*ws reached "Miss Eme-
line” of her lover's death, she is -aid
to have re-dedicatcd her life* to the*
cause of the* Southern Confederacy.
Her places »>f activity were many —
the farm on Calico Creek, Morehead
City. Beaufort, Marlowe, New Bern,
Kinston and Concord. She bud fisher-
men meet Northern vessels in Hogue
Sound and Beaufort Inlet. While pre-
temliiig to sell fish, they were really
working to find out about the tonnage
of each vessel, what cargo they were
carrying, and to what port they would
next sail. All this information is said
lo have been passed on to Miss Emelinc
who relayed it to tin* proper civil and
military authorities.
The Battle of New Bern
Miss Emelin,* was present at the
Mattie of New Bern, and witnessed
the capture of that city by the Fed¬
eral*. She refused to leave the Craven
capital until the last train, which was
made up mostly of Hat ears, carrying
the wounded soldiers to Kin-ton. There
she spent, many weeks nursing the
-iek and wounded and when the town
was evacuated she went out with the
Confederates and finally lauded in
Concord.
It was during her stay in Concord
that she met a Mrs. Brent — the widow
of a deceased chaplain in the Federal
army who was trying to get hack to
her people in the North. The two
women somi bream,* great friends and
together worked their way through the
Federal lines, finally reaching the lit¬
tle farm on Calico Creek near More-
head City.
Back home, Miss Emeline con-
tinned to aid the Confederate soldiers
and was ever alert to do everything in
her power !<• this end. With tin* aid of
her brother-in-law, Rufus Bell, she
run a blockade service. Bv this time
the Federal* had occupied Morehead
City. Fort Macon, Beaufort and New¬
port. The work was becoming more
difficult and yet she was more de¬
termined than ever to carry on. On
certain day* in tin* week mail was
distributed under logs in the woods,
ami to a well-known tree food, cloth¬
ing and quinine was carried — and by
means of special signals the boys in
gray uniforms were notified.
It is said that while Federal offi¬
cers were occupying her home it was
her nightly occupation to entertain
them so that her brother-in-law could
carry food from the pantry to the
Confederate soldiers who were in hid¬
ing only a short distance away.
By this time a number of strangers
had moved to Beaufort from other
sections of the country — jicoplo who
had come to the coasts in order to
profit by the unusual conditions which
the war had brought on. Among this
number were two Northern men. With
their help Miss Emeline was able to
carry through the Federal lines to the
Confederate soldiers a short distance
away such articles as food, clothing
and medicine— articles which she
could hide beneath her hoop-skirt.
Finally Arrested
“One day,” wrote the late Miss
Mildred Wallace, in a paper prepared
for the Emeline Pigott chapter of the
U.D.C. of Morehead City, “there
dropped from these Northern men
some very valuable information, as
she thought, to the Southern cause,
and she Jicrsunded them to give it to
her in writing. With this information
hid next to her heart and her hoop-
skirt loaded she started with Rufus
Bell on her regular rounds. This day,
however, they didn’t pass the linos so
easily. Already under suspicion the
two were arrested and sent to jail in
Beaufort. Mr. Bell was searched first.
Finding no writ ing of a suspicious un¬
itin' he was released. The order was
now given lo search Miss Emeline.
A Negro woman was delegated to do
the job. Mnt Miss Emeline, protest¬
ing, told her if she came near she
would ‘shoot and shoot to kill.’ She
then stated that if they would send
a white woman she would not object to
being searched. Sin* was really fighting
for time to destroy the note next to
her heart. While the officers were look¬
ing for some one to do the searching.
Miss Emeline chewed the memoran¬
dum of information and swallowed
it. She also tore tin* mail she ha, I
gather, *d for distribution into small
bits. When tin* searching party finally
arrived and found the scattered mail
torn to hit* they were mad but pro¬
ceeded with the search and found con¬
cealed under her hoop-skirt almost
everything from a fine tooth comb to
a suit of clothes.”
Miss Emeline was ordered to pris¬
on in New M,*rn. Inn was permitted to
spend the night with her parents on
the Calico Creek farm near Morehead
City. On,* of her cousins was allowed
to go to prison with her the next day.
It was during this imprisonment that
( Continued on page twenty-six)
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