A little while before day on Sunday morning, while resting quietly, but not sleeping, he heard the sound of wood being put on the fire in the adjoining room, and remarked: "It must be near day; I hear them making a fire in the next room." A few minutes after this he straightened himself in bed, placed his head on a line with his body, folded his arms across his breast, and in a little while was dead. It was on Sunday morning, January 21, 1872, about the hour of five o'clock, that he thus peacefully passed away in the sixty-second year of his age. He left a wife and seven children—three sons and four daughters. The wife and two sons have since "passed over the river" and entered the vale of the future and into the "deep, dark mystery."
He was buried the next day in Oakwood Cemetery, near the city of Raleigh. Both Houses of the Legislature and the Superior Court of Wake, then in session, adjourned for the day, and all the business houses of the city closed their doors to show their respect for his character and worth. On the following day a large meeting was held in the Supreme Court-room to do further honor to the life and services of the distinguished dead.
He was a man of kind heart, tender sympathies and noble impulses; a devoted husband and an indulgent father; and though he was not demonstrative, yet his friendship was valuable, because it was consistent and true. He was as true a man as ever trod the soil of his native land.
The younger members of the bar will recall with pleasure his courteous bearing to them, the delight it seemed to give him to render them assistance, and the painstaking aid he would bestow when his legal advice was solicited. The older members will long remember his quiet and dignified demeanor, his social intercourse, his manliness of character and his integrity, merit and worth.
He possessed those qualities which adorn and elevate society and exalt and ennoble human character. He has left a high and noble name, a reputation unspotted and untarnished—a priceless legacy to his posterity, and an enduring heritage to his State and country. It will not be dimmed as time proceeds.
The account of the discussion at Murphy, Cherokee county, previously referred to, is reproduced, and appended hereto, as interesting matter, showing the impartiality with which it was done, and calling to mind some of the issues of former and better days. This was Mr. Gilmer's first appointment, and Governor Bragg, seeing it announced in the Raleigh Register, went there to meet him. Desiring to put him on record, and have the East apprised of his position, he wrote the account of the discussion as given in the Standard of May, 1856, and sent it to the writer to deliver to Mr. Holden, with request that no intimation be given as to the writer of the article. No mention of this was made until after Governor Bragg's death, and upon the publication of this sketch.
The Bragg and Dockery campaign closed on the day of election at Murphy in August, 1854, and the Bragg and Gilmer campaign opened there in May, 1856.