Volume XIV THE STATE November 9
Number 24
д
Weekly Survey of North Corolino 1946
KnloreU at tacoitd-clau matter. June I,
ИШ.
at the Poslofflce at Raleigh. North Carolina, under tho Act ot March 3, 1070.
Senator Lee S. Over
He was active for many years in the po¬
litical life of .\ortli Carolina. Graduating
to higher places, he represented the state in
the II. S. Senate with distinction for a long
period of time.
SALISBURY is one of the an¬
cient landmarks of our state,
and it has been the scene of
many stirring events. Hither came
the roistering, swashbuckling
young Andrew Jackson to study
law under Judge Spruce Maekay,
who did not think so much of the
ability of his pupil. It was the home
of John W. Ellis, Governor when
the war drums throbbed in sixty
one, who responded to President
Lincoln’s call upon the State for
three regiments of troops to put
down the ‘‘Rebellion" with the la¬
conic message: "You will get no
troops from North Carolina." Salis¬
bury was the home of Charles F.
Fisher, President of the North
Carolina Railroad, so full of fiery
patriotism that on the outbreak of
the Civil War he recruited a regi¬
ment of the employees of his rail¬
road, of which regiment he was
elected Colonel; and in this capac¬
ity his regiment participated in the
battle of Bull Run, the first great
battle of the war, where Colonel
Fisher was instantly killed at the
head of his men. the first Carolina
Colonel to give his life for the cause
of the South. It was his daughter.
Francis Fisher Tiernan. who be¬
came distinguished as a novelist
and who bestowed upon western
North Carolina the sobriquet "land
of the sky." From Salisbury the dis¬
tinguished lawyer Burton Craige
went to Raleigh where he intro¬
duced into the Convention the
Ordinance of Secession which took
the State out of the Union.
In this county was laid out the
first Rural Free Delivery route in
the Nation, the county being se¬
lected because Salisbury's out-
THE STATE NOVIMIIR 9. 1940
К» К.
C. LA WH ■;>('!
standing lawyer. Colonel John S.
Henderson, was then a member
of Congress and Chairman of the
Committee on Postoffices and Post¬
roads. It has been the home of
prominent lawyers and legislators
from the days of the Revolution
down to the present day of the
late Walter Murphy.
Overman Born in 1854
At Salisbury in 1854 was born
Lee Slater Overman, destined to
have a more intimate acquaintance
with the United States Senate and
with United States Senators than
any other Carolinian. As became
a good Methodist, he attended
Trinity College I Duke) where he
sat at the feet of the famous Brax¬
ton Craven, taking his academic
in 1874. Then, as have so many of
our famous men in their young
manhood, he turned pedagogue,
and for two years he taught in the
rudimentary public schools of the
period.
Eighteen seventy-six witnessed
the greatest political campaign
in the history of our State, the
peerless Zebulon B. Vance seeking
to redeem the State to the Democ¬
racy; his opponent, the brilliant
jurist Thomas Settle, ablest leader
of his party, seeking to hold the
reins of power for the Republicans
who had controlled the State since
the close of the Civil War. Vance
was elected and assumed office in
1877, beginning his inaugural with
his famous phrase: "There is retri¬
bution in history."
Young Overman was one of the
handsomest of men; he looked the
United States Senator more so than
any man who has ever filled that
high office from our State. He
possessed an attractive personality,
an engaging manner, he was a
gifted political spellbinder and
stump speaker, and highly popular
even in his young manhood in his
section of the State where he was
well known. Upon his election os
Governor. Vance immediately ap-
l>ointed the popular young Over¬
man as his private secretary, and
thus my subject entered upon the
public career which was to bring
him to prominence on the field of
the nation.
Widening His Acquaintanceship
In the office of Vance, Overman
became intimately acquainted with
the political figures in the state as
they thronged the office of the fa¬
mous war and postwar Governor,
and here the young man gained
much of the political insight and
wisdom which was to stand him
in such good stead in his later
years. He continued to serve Vance
as secretary until that statesman
was elected to the Senate. Vance
was succeeded as Governor by
Thomas J. Jarvis, who was later
to become United States Senator
and Minister to Brazil; and he con¬
tinued Overman as his private
secretary until the young Salis¬
bury man resigned in 1879 to re¬
turn to his native city and engage
in the practice of the law.
The rising young lawyer imme¬
diately entered the field of local
Clitics, taking part first in the
al campaigns, then in those of
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