School History of North Carolina : from 1584 to the present time

by John W. Moore

CHAPTER LV.

THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES.

A. D. 1861.

The people of North Carolina loved the Union of States that had been in such large part constructed by the heroism and wisdom of their own fathers. They well knew its value to themselves under an unbroken Federal Constitution; they knew, too, the danger incurred in the attempt to absolve them selves from further Federal connections. But they knew, also, their rights under the Constitution, and were fully determined neither to surrender them nor to aid in the subjugation of their sister States. As the State had entered the Union by action of a convention of her own people, she now resolved to leave it in the same manner.

2. For more than a month before the memorable 20th day of May, 1861, when the secession ordinance was passed, troops were volunteering and being received by Governor Ellis from many portions of the State. The first ten companies were embodied in a regiment, of which Major Daniel H. Hill was elected colonel by the commissioned officers. They were at once sent to Yorktown, in Virginia.

3. On June 9th, General Benjamin F. Butler, who was in command of the United States forces at Fortress Monroe, in Virginia, sent a column of troops up the peninsula for the purpose of ascertaining the possibility of reaching Richmond, which city had recently become the Capital of the Southern Confederacy. Early the next morning the Federal advance became confused in the darkness and two of their regiment, fired upon each other.

4. At Big Bethel, on the 10th, they found the regiment of Colonel Hill supporting a battery of the "Richmond Howitzers." There were also present two infantry and three cavalry companies belonging to Virginia. This force was assailed by the Federal army, but the attack was repelled and the assailants retired in disorder to Old Point Comfort. Only one Confederate soldier was killed in the action, and that was private Henry Wyatt, of Edgecombe county. He belonged to Captain J. L. Bridgers' company, and was the first Southern soldier slain in the war between the States.

5. The whole affair was insignificant, both as to the number engaged and the results achieved, but was hailed as a happy omen by the South. North Carolina, with all her deliberation in taking part in the struggle, was thus to afford the first martyr of the South, and was present with her troops to arrest the first Federal invasion of Southern soil.

6. On the 18th and 21st days of July occurred much greater and more serious conflicts at Manassas and Bull Run, also in Virginia. Another Federal army, commanded by General Irvin McDowell, and numbering more than forty thousand men, left Washington with orders to attack the Confederates under General G. T. Beauregard. The Fifth, Sixth and Twenty-first Regiments of North Carolina troops were present, and gallantly aided in the Federal defeat.

7. Colonel Charles F. Fisher was especially valuable in the aid he rendered in restoring a ditched train to the track, and thus making possible the timely approach of the reinforcements under General E. Kirby Smith, which so speedily resulted in the flight of General McDowell's army. It is mournful to add, that, after performing this signal service, and after gallantly capturing the celebrated Rickett's Battery, Colonel Fisher was slain in the battle. He fell at the head of his regiment, beyond the battery and still in pursuit of the enemy. This memorable victory was very grateful to the South, but it did not delude the people into the belief that the war was at an end; it was useful, too, in that it gave them time to prepare for the greater conflicts still to come.

8. It had been hoped by Mr. Lincoln and his advisers that all Southern opposition would be overcome in ninety days, but at Bull Run and Manassas they were convinced that only by a great and prolonged struggle were such adversaries to be subdued. The short periods of enlistment were abandoned by both sides, and the winter was spent in preparation for a gigantic struggle in the spring.

9. It was early seen in North Carolina that fortifications were necessary at Hatteras for the defence of the many broad waters covering so large a portion of the eastern counties. A small sand-work, known as Fort Hatteras, with an outlying flank defence, called Battery Clark, was the only reliance for the protection of Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds.

10. Before these weak defences a large Federal fleet appeared on August 27th, 1861, and by means of its superior armament, lay securely beyond the range of the guns mounted in Fort Hatteras, while pouring in a tremendous discharge of shot and shell. The Federals having effected a landing on the beach, and most of the caution being dismounted in the fort, it was thought best by Colonel W. F. Martin, on the 29th, to surrender the fort.

11. In two days' operations the whole tier of eastern counties was thus laid bare to the incursions of Federal troops and cruisers. There was great sorrow for the captured garrison, and general alarm and uneasiness; but the spirit of resistance was undaunted, and troops continued volunteering by thousands.