Froi
Each War Two Warriors
From the Revolutionary War through the
Spanish-Anierican War. Mr. Lawrence has
selected two Xortii Carolinians whom he
considered to be particularly outstanding.
OUR STATE has long had
the reputation of producing
fighting men and holds pri¬
macy on that field to a greater ex¬
tent than perhaps any other South¬
ern State. From our soil came the
first American Admiral: the first
Southern battle of the Revolution
was fought at Moore's Creek
Bridge; in the Civil War the first
Southern soldier to fall was Henry
L. Wyatt of Edgecombe; in the
Spanish-American War the first
officer to fall before the foe was
Ensign Worth Bagley; and in the
recent global strife the first Ameri¬
can to be killed in Africa was a
Carolina Negro.
During the war in which our
State sustained the greatest loss-
the Civil War — our State sent into
that conflict a larger number of
soldiers than it possessed voters,
recruiting regiments consisting^ of
mere lads in their ‘teens. At Get¬
tysburg our 26th regiment suffered
the heaviest loss sustained by any
regiment on either side, losing
eighty-eight per cent of its strength
on the third day of that famous
battle. Of the ten Confederate
regiments which suffered the heav¬
iest per cent in losses, four were
from North Carolina — yet there
were eleven States in the Confed¬
eracy!
The Revolutionary War
For two Revolutionary heroes I
select General Nash and Colonel
Edward Buncombe. Nash was a
member of a famous family which
furnished our State a Governor,
a Chief Justice, and other men
who held high public office. The
outbreak of the Revolution found
him Clerk of the County court at
Hillsboro, and an officer in the
State Militia. Upon the organiza¬
tion of our troops for participation
in the war, Nash was one of those
elected by the Legislature as Briga¬
dier General; and within a short
time his brigade was on its way
north where it was attached to the
army under Washington. At the
battle of Germantown near Phila¬
delphia, Nash gallantly led his
brigade in a charge against the
enemy position, when he was
Bi
/
R. €. LAWRENCE
struck by a British shell which
inflicted a ghastly and a mortal
wound, but notwithstanding his
agony he requested his officers to
pursue the enemy, saying “I’ve
had a nasty tumble, but do not
mind me; follow the enemy." Our
State has preserved his memory
in a county and its county seat,
and the capital of Tennessee also
preserves his name; but it is a
reproach to our people that the
remains of this gallant soldier
rests on foreign soil and that
even the monument at his grave
was erected by the people of
Pennsylvania. His remains should
be brought back to our State; re¬
interred at Guilford Battleground;
and a monument in keeping with
his fame should be erected at the
cost of the State.
Edward Buncombe was a native
of St. Kitts, one of the West Indies,
but his uncle having died and left
him a large estate in Tyrrell
County, he removed thither, and
upon the outbreak of the Revolu¬
tion in 1776 he was appointed
Colonel of the 5th North Carolina.
As the State had no funds where¬
with to arm and equip this regi¬
ment, its patriotic Colonel fur¬
nished the arms and equipment
at his own expense, and proceeding
north to the assistance of Wash¬
ington's hard-pressed army, his
regiment formed a part of the bri¬
gade of General Nash, and was
heavily engaged at the battle of
Germantown. Colonel Buncombe
was on his horse within but few
feet from General Nash when that
officer received his mortal wound.
Heeding the injunction of his com¬
mander to follow up the enemy,
he was leading forward his men
with great gallantry when he too
received a desperate wound and
fell prisoner into the hands of the
enemy. His wound proved mortal;
and his body also was interred upon
the field where it fell; and when
next a Carolina county was estab¬
lished it was given his honored
name. . .
For two warriors of the war of
1812. let us turn entirely to the
navy. Upon the outbreak of that
conflict Ottway Burns, veteran leg¬
islator from Carteret County, se¬
cured "letters of marque and repri¬
sal,” and fitting out his famous ship
Snapdragon, he lurked along the
Carolina coast, preying upon
British shipping, capturing numer¬
ous prizes and bringing his booty
into port. It is said that he in¬
flicted greater damage to British
commerce than any other Ameri¬
can privateer. His memory is pre¬
served in Burnsville, countv seat
of Mitchell.
Captain Johnstone Blakeley was
another hero of 1812. Faring forth
seeking the enemy in the sloop of
war Wasp, neither he nor his ves¬
sel were ever heard of again, and
there is every reason to believe
that he engaged the enemy and
went down with his ship. Our
legislators evidently so believed,
and a statute was enacted provid¬
ing that the only daughter of the
gallant Captain should be adopted
as a ward of the State and edu¬
cated at public expense — the only
such instance in our history.
The Mexican War
The Mexican War was not pop¬
ular in Carolina, but notwithstand¬
ing this our State met every requi¬
sition of the national government.
Louis D. Wilson of Edgecombe re¬
cruited a regiment of which he
became the Colonel, and which
he led with conspicuous valour
until he fell victim to the scourge
of yellow fever, dying of this dread
malady before the victory had
been won. His memory is pre¬
served in our county and city
which bears his name. Our State
also sent to Mexico a man who,
during the Civil War. became the
only General of full rank our State
has produced— General Braxton
Bragg, whose name is commemo¬
rated in the great artillery fort
which bears his name. At the
battle of Chapaul tepee, Bragg was
Captain of Artillery, and the man¬
ner in which he handled his battery
< Continued cn page 20)
THE STATE. January 5. 1946
7
