General James Green Martin, his mother and his young son, who later
was Judge W. B. Martin, of Norfolk.
General Martin
General James Green Martin was
born at Elizabeth City. February 14,
181».
Ho was the eldest son of Dr.
William Martin, physician, planter,
and shipbuilder, and Sophia Dauge
Martin, who was a descendant of
General Fetor Dauge, of the Rcvolu-
t ionary War, largely responsible for
the defeat of the British around Nor¬
folk. His grandfather, another James
Green Martin, was a Methodist min¬
ister. whose wife was Susanna Bruce,
connected by family ties with the
fighting Bruces of Scotland.
After attending St. Mary's School
in Raleigh, then a select school for
boys, James Green Martin entered
West Point in lSHfi. when* he grad¬
uated four years later. It was while
in school that he acquired the friend¬
ship of many prominent |>eoplc in
both army and civil life.
In 1S42, the young soldier saw his
first service in the field on the Cana¬
dian frontier. Troops were stationed
there following a controversy with
England over the Maine and New
Brunswick boundaries. Vast areas of
timber, which had l»s*ome of impor¬
tance to both the Foiled States and
England, together with lines of boun¬
dary hut imperfectly defined, had been
the cause of repeated collisions be¬
tween the border inhabitants.
When the uncertainty regarding
the boundaries, specified in the Treaty
of Paris (which really never existed),
was settled by the patient forbear¬
ance of Daniel Webster and Lord
Ashburton, British plenipotentiary, in
a manner satisfactory to Maine and
Massachusetts, the states most inter¬
ested, James Green Martin returned
from the border, and was married to
Mary Anne Read, July 12, 18-11, a
granddaughter of George Bead of
Delaware, signer of the Declaration
of Independence.
War With Mexico
Full crcclif never has been given
(itMioral Marlin for his splentlid
service to the slate and nation,
and only few of tlw present gen¬
eration are acquainted with his
name.
By HARRY Z. TUCKER
ТП
ERE are those who will say that
North Carolina has produced no
soldier equal in brilliance to Hoke
and Pender. They wore magnificent,
it i< true; hut time has taught us that
it may he doubted if with all the
splendor of their records they rendered
more efficient service than did Gen¬
eral .lames Green Martin, who
brought into service, drilled, and dis¬
ciplined the soldiery with which these
officers won their battles.
The soldier remained in garrison
until 1846, when war with Mexico
was declared. He was then dispatched
with his battery to join General Zach¬
ary Taylor at Brownsville. Texas. In
flu* hard-fought battle of Monterey
a low’ll regarded as almost uncon¬
querable, he came across bis old
friend, Braxton Bragg, who told in
Inter years how Martin distinguished
himself and battery by clearing the
houses of Mexican riflemen.
James Green Martin conducted
himself with such outstanding brav¬
ery that his battery was sent around
to reinforce General Scott at Vera
Cruz. He was henceforth known as
the "Man of Monterey."
While Lieutenant Martin partici¬
pated in almost every major engage-
