Volume XII
Number 26
November 25
1944
THE STATE
A Weekly Survey of North Carolina
Entered
»
MCond-clM* matter. June 1. 1933. at the
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tofflee at Ralelfh. North Carolina, under the Act of March 3. 1979
eroine of Fort Fisher”
Few women rendercMl more loyal service to
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Southern causes made greater sacrifices
or endured more severe hardships than did
Daisy bimh at Fort Fisher.
OF the many thrilling chap¬
ters which marked the an¬
nals of the Southern Con¬
federacy in the stormy days of
1861-65. there is none that sur¬
passes the romantic story of the
"Heroine of Fort Fisher."
She was Mrs. Sarah Annie
Chaffee Lamb, who was a veritable
angel of mercy to the sick and
wounded Confederate soldiers: a
brave and fearless woman who
elected to spend the last two years
of the war in a lonely hut just north
of the fort.
Miss Chaffee, who was always
called "Daisy," was the lovely
brunette daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Edwin Marcus Chaffee of Prov¬
idence. R. I. In the fall of 1857
she married William Lamb, a gal¬
lant young Southerner, who had
just been made a major. He took
her to his home in Norfolk, where
she quickly fell in love with her
environment and soon forgot the
Northern surroundings in which
she had been reared.
After John Brown’s raid, her
husband was ordered to Harper’s
Ferry. Secession came in the early
days of 1861. It brought with it a
four-year period of civil war and
strife. From that time on, there
was not a more enthusiastic sup¬
porter of the Southern cause than
Mrs. Lamb.
Visited in the North
Shortly after the states started
seceding from the Union, she de¬
cided to visit her parents in
Providence. They, of course,
wanted her to remain at their home
in comparative safety and comfort.
Despite their urging, she told
them she would rather be with her
Hi/ LOUIS T. MODI' L
husband, and so she set out for the
South. The Union authorities
would not permit her to travel
with a nurse; so she was forced to
leave one of her three small chil¬
dren in Providence with her
parents.
Starting her journey with the
other two children, her troubles
had just begun. The inspectors
ruthlessly threw aside her personal
property and effects and permitted
her to cross the line with only
a scanty supply of clothing and
other necessities.
Upon her arrival in Wilmington.
Mrs. Lamb was offered a spacious
house in the city or the use of
"Orton," the splendid Colonial
mansion in Brunswick County al¬
most opposite Fort Fisher. She
refused both offers, however, and
elected to take up her abode in a
pilot’s shanty near the Fort. Here
she remained until the Confederate
soldiers could build a crude cabin.
In this quaint structure, built in
primitive style with three rooms
around one chimney, the "Heroine
of Fort Fisher," spent almost two
years from 1863 until the end of
the war in 1865. She was the only
white woman living in the vicinity
of the fort and her spirits were
often weighed down by loneliness
and hardship. Never an op¬
portunity arose, however, that she
neglected to serve the sick and the
wounded Confederate soldiers.
These men, many of them mortally
wounded, were the objects of her
most tender care. There was noth¬
ing she could possibly do for their
convenience or comfort that was
left undone. Her presence, the
touch of her hand, her words of
cheer and comfort, proved verita¬
ble healing elements to many of
the wounded and sick soldiers
during the dark and troublous days
rior to the capitulation of the fort
у
a fatigued and wornout corps of
1,600 gallant defenders.
Mrs. Lamb was satisfied with
the crudest fore, such os corn,
bread, pork, |>olatoesand rye-coffee
with sorghum molasses sweeten¬
ing. Later when the blockade run¬
ners established connection with
the port of Wilmington and with
the fort, she was showered with
gifts of provisions.
While filled with hardships and
exactions. Mrs. Lamb's life at the
fort had an exciting atmosphere
in witnessing the narrow escape of
friendly vessels running the block¬
ade, in being near the scene when
spies were occasionally executed,
and in watching the occasional
bombardments of the Federal fleet
off-shore.
The death of an infant son one
summer’s night, while she still
lived in the cabin, was an exceed¬
ingly sad chapter in her life. It
occurred at a time when heartache
and loneliness made it especially
hard to bear.
Letters left by Mrs. Lamb are
of the most intimate family nature.
These were written to her parents
during the fateful days of 1863-65.
They reveal the intense love which
she had for her husband and chil¬
dren and also constitute a valuable
historical picture of the story which
featured the concluding months of
the Civil War. In spite of the hard-
( Continued from page 21)
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