Henry A. London
Tlie Major was a I rue sou of the
South, and rendered distin¬
guished service to his state* as at
soldier, legislator, churchman,
editor, and useful citizen.
By
И.
C. LAWRENCE
FOK ii sketch of
и
distinguished
Carolinian who served tin* cause of
the South. I hail a large number of
names from whom to rhoose. I could
have selected tin- desperately wounded
but high minded Colonel William I..
Saunders, who became Secretary of
State and rendered such signal service
in a desperate hour as head of the
Invisible Empire; I could have chosen
(icneral James Johnston Pettigrew,
hero of (Gettysburg, who fell at Fall¬
ing Waters; and then there was the
severely wounded Captain Thomas
Л.
Jarvis, who became Governor: also
Captain Samuel A. Ashe, aristocrat,
editor and author. Inst surviving offi¬
cer of Southern arms; and the ehiv-
fllric Major t'harles M. Stedmau, law¬
yer and Congressman. last wearer of
the grey in the halls of Congress. Rut,
as we lawyers say. for many and divers
good and valuable considerations. I
have gone to the county of Chatham
for the figure of Major Henry Arniand
London, soldier, lawyer, editor, legis¬
lator. churchman, son of the old as
well as of the new South, who rendered
his state constructive service upon a
wide field of useful effort.
Born in 1846
The Major, sprung from the lower
Cape Fear ancestry, was born at Pitts-
horo in He was a member of
the senior class at the Fniversity
when the South was so sorely pressed
in 1864, that even her youth had to
be impressed into her service. The en¬
tire senior class left the University to
enter Lee's army, and Major London
became courier at the headquarters of
Carolina’s Major General J. Bryan
Grimes, serving in the trenches and
undergoing all the hardships attend¬
ant upon the siege of Petersburg.
When the fateful day of Appomat¬
tox came, it fell to Major Loudon t»
carry the message calling on Cox’s
Carolina brigade to make the last of
the many charges made by the sons of
the South; and from these headquar¬
ter* Major London also carried tin-
last order ever given in Lee's army
the order to reuse firin'/ : as
!.«•«>
had
surrendered.
In the Spring of
186'».
President
Swain of the University notified the
former members of the class of I MI.»
that all who would return and deliver
their coiiiineneeuieut orations would
Itc given their diplomas. Major London
went, and as the distance was only
eighteen miles, he ii4ill.nl there and lie
iralkeil hark. Rut lie got his degree,
and then he and hi- fellow Chatham-
itc Major Charles M. St.dman. at
Pittsboro U*gan the study of law un¬
der Dr. John Manning. These were his
first Students, and the following year
they received their law licenses. Major
London got his M.A. degree in IS»!**.
The Major was a small man physi¬
cally. for he weighed not much more
than a hundred pounds — hut Lieu¬
tenant General Joseph Wheeler of the
Confederate Cavalry, and Major Gen¬
eral of the U. S. A., in the war with
Spain, was also a small man physi¬
cally, and so also was Alexander Ste¬
phen* of Georgia, vice president of
the Confederacy, considered by Lin¬
coln as the ablest of Southern men iu
public life. W lien Stephens, as one of
the Peace Commissioners, met with
Lincoln to see if the war could he
stopped, the weather was cold and
Stephens wore a large overcoat. When
he took his overcoat off. Lincoln re¬
marked with his dry. whimsical hu¬
mor. "Stephens, you are the smallest
nubbin I ever saw to come out of such
a large shuck." Major London was like
that — frail of body, but lie bad the
heart of n lion ami he fought even
more battles iu peace than he fought in
the time of war.
Founder of "The Chatham Record"
lie became the foremost lawyer and
editor, the greatest political force of
his section. lie married Miss Reltic
L. Jackson in 1ST.*», and founded the
influential country newspaper, the
Chatham Ifrranl iu l>7>. and eontin
nod as it- owner and editor until his
death ill 1918 -forty years, deserved
equally long as member of the State
Democratic Executive Committee. I
was a charter moinl«or of the Stale
Bar Association, and on ii- executive
committee. In 1883 lie was President
of the State Press A-sociation. He wa.
President of the State Literary and
Historical Association. Joseph P.
Caldwell and K. R. «'lark rendered the
•fate signal serv ice a* editors of the
Slalexeille Lamhnark. London ren¬
dered a similar service with tin* Chat¬
ham Itronl. There was no more influ¬
ential character in any field of life in
eastern Caroliua than the Major. Was
help . . led along any line religious.
educational, political, publicity —
among the first questions asked wn-
always: "Have yon «ecu Major Loll
don?"
The Major was n member of tin
Senate in 1901. when he also served as
President pro Inn. and he served again
in 1903. It was a time of intense po
{Continual "a iniQc I let
i n-i iro i
