The country around Newbern was originally moderately fertile, but much of it has become exhausted by reason of improper tillage. The forests which were once a vast extent of stately pines, and from which great quantities of turpentine and tar were for a century and a half exported, are now little better than barren fields. Pine lumber and staves have long been a large article of export, which with corn and cotton make up nearly all the articles sent abroad. But the pines are now nearly exhausted, the trade in naval stores and lumber lessened, and in consequence a better state of agriculture has commenced. It is found that by the aid of fertilizers good crops of cotton can be raised on the pine lands and the fields kept in an improving condition. For the last thirty years it can hardly be said that the town has improved; indeed, as a whole it has hardly held its own. Still it is a place of wealth and comfort. There is an air of respectability in its ancient and stately buildings, its wide streets, and abundant shade-trees, and it is as healthy as any Southern town can be.
Some twenty years ago Newbern had what no other Southern town possessed, a commerce of its own, that is, vessels built, owned, and sailed by its own people. Many of these—then engaged in the West-India trade—were partly manned by slaves who belonged to the proprietors of the vessel or its captain, and at times, when other seamen could not be procured, these slaves were allowed to make a voyage to a Northern port, but as their value yearly augmented, and the risk of their suddenly disappearing, not again to visit 'Dixie,' increased in a corresponding ratio, they gradually retired to other duties where their services were less precarious.
And here I will relate an anecdote which an old salt once told me when I was strolling along the wharves of this ancient town in his company.
In consequence of a bar, or 'swash,' which stretches inside Ocracoke Inlet, (at that time the only passage to the sea,) the vessels take in but a part of their cargoes at Newbern, while lighters with the remainder accompany them across the 'swash,' where the lading is completed. Quite a number of small craft are thus constantly employed, and they are generally manned and commanded by slaves. In this trade was once engaged 'Jack Devereaux,' an intelligent black man who formerly belonged to the Devereaux family—one of the F.F.s of Newbern—but who had latterly become the property of H—— & C——, a mercantile firm then doing a flourishing business there. He was captain of a famous lighter, which for its enormous carrying capacity had received the cognomen of 'Hunger and Thirst.' In due time the firm of H—— & C——dissolved, and C—— 'moved West,' leaving an undivided half of Captain Jack in the hands of his attorney. Jack had sailed the craft 'on shares,' and compromised his services by monthly wages to his masters, and so had gradually accumulated some hundreds of dollars. Not fancying his new share-holder, he concluded to invest his hard-earned dollars in his own bone and muscle, or in other words, buy half of himself. After considerable higgling, he made the bargain, paying five hundred dollars for the share. On the next trip to the bar, as the entrance to the sea is usually called, there came up one of those sudden hurricanes known as a Southeaster, whose force nothing can withstand. The small craft was foundered, and Jack, after floating for a long time on a plank, finally drifted on to a sand-spit, and was saved.
Finding a passage home, he landed on the 'old County Wharf,' a melancholy, disheartened, and depressed individual, and without conferring with a single person, made his way to the attorney, from whom he had so lately purchased himself, and by dint of persuasion succeeded in having the trade canceled and his money returned. Jack was then himself again. He recounted over and over his adventures by flood and field to his wondering friends, and said no man, white or black, could imagine the trouble he felt when floating on that plank, the waves breaking over him every moment, when he considered he had just bought half of 'dat nigger' that was now going to destruction, and paid all the money he had for him. But he had 'traded back,' and then if he was drowned, 'he wouldn't lose a cent by it.' It was long after this event when he told me he would never again risk a cent in 'nigger' property, it was too 'onsartin' entirely. Jack was a good deal of a wag, and told this story with a gusto I can not describe.[A] But if Captain Jack is still on this 'side of Jordan,' he has doubtless ere this found 'nigger' property still more 'onsartin.'
Let us, however, turn from the past to the present condition of affairs in Newbern. Secession would never have originated there. When South-Carolina passed its act of folly and madness, it met with a firm opposition from the old Whig party, which still had here a vital existence. Every exertion was made throughout the State to repel the insidious influences of the demagogues of South-Carolina and Virginia, and but for the Jesuitical management of the politicians at Richmond, the 'Old North' would have remained loyal. But all the efforts of the true Union men could not avail in warding off the storm that swept over the South; and the Convention at Raleigh passed, or rather was forced to assent to, the Act of Secession, on the twentieth of May, 1861. In August the fortifications below Newbern were commenced, and continued for some months, and well garrisoned, till they were supposed capable of defending the town against any force that might be brought against it. General Burnside, however, attacked them on the fourteenth of March, 1862, and after a sharp battle the rebels fled, and he occupied the old place as a military conquest. All the wealthy and prominent citizens fled, and have not returned.
The present condition of things will not long continue; a more permanent government, either civil or military, will soon be established, and with it must come a new era which will settle for all time the destiny of Newbern.
Should the leading men of the town and all Eastern North-Carolina make an effort and throw off the incubus that slavery has for a century placed over it, a bright career of prosperity would open before them. A new emigration, bringing energy and industry, would restore their worn-out lands, drain their swamps, educate their youth, and make Newbern echo with the hum of manufactures and commerce. The enterprise of such a people would soon open a channel from the Neuse to Beaufort harbor, and so avoid the shoals and dangers of Ocracoke and Hatteras, and with the present railroads, make it the port of exchange for a wide extent of country. The times are propitious; already the true men of the State—and their name is legion—are anxiously awaiting the fall of Richmond, when they will decide for the old flag and the Union, never again to repudiate it.