i h- 
 
 ^w t 
 
 \^ 
 
A 
 
 /J£ 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 OF 
 
 A REPLY TO A PAPER, 
 
 Which Included 
 
 The Sketgh of Two Lives. 
 
 
 
 NOBFOLK, VA. 
 1883. 
 
AN EXPLANATION. 
 
 On October 10, 1882, in a brief card, I stated that at my earliest conven- 
 ience I would review, "a Reply to a sketch of Two Lives, issued the day 
 previous, and I asked those who received copies of the " Reply " to preserve 
 them, that they might judge for themselves, when I answered '* the forced 
 concessions of and the deliberate attempts to conceal the truth, " by the 
 author of the reply. 
 
 Various causes have delayed the publication of the " Review," principally 
 the tax on my time required by my business duties, and the pressure of 
 •work in my job department, preventing its printing. I had hoped to issue 
 it on the 18th anniversary of the fall of Fort Fisher, 15th January last, be- 
 cause of the associations connected with that date, and the period of eight 
 years preceding it, relating to the writer of this paper and the author of the 
 Reply— a period in the history of two lives, that is rich with the devo- 
 tion of a youth towards a man, who afterwards repaid that devotion with 
 the basest ingratitude. • 
 
 With this explanation — necessary in order that the delay in publication 
 may be understood-^I rest satisfied, confident that the conclusion the reader 
 will draw, after a perusal of the " Review," will not be prejudicial to the 
 writer. M. GLENN AN. 
 
 ^3 3* 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 In Dr Bledsoe's letter (italic portion), page 13, the words '-rather to the 
 ,.„„;,<„■„," should follow, "is no proof that they are untrue." 
 
 For ■< <dont," at end of third line in paragraph after quotation from D>. 
 "Bledsoe's letter, page 13, read "doesn't." 
 
 iead ' have " instead of - has - in the fifth line of concluding paragraph, 
 
 page 25. 
 
 o -r™ ^xiuivcisury or tne Capture of Fort Fisher. 
 
 The task I find myself compelled to enter upon and discharge in reviewing 
 the reply of Wiliam Lamb, is to me a most disagreeable one, and yet a duty 
 that I owe to myself requires its performance. I sincerely regret it. To 
 the man who basely and gratuitously attempted to degrade me I bear no 
 malice. Aside from differing from him in politics, and attacking his course 
 in public matters, which I felt my duty as a journalist required, — every 
 act of my life towards him was of friendship, although his ingratitude to the 
 youth, who had demonstrated for eight years towards him an affection, de- 
 votion and love, never equalled-— had been such as to warrant and justify a far 
 different course. In reviewing his reply, I shall content myself with sustaining 
 the assertions made in my "paper" published in the Virginian of the 10th 
 of Ootober. For although I have abundant material at my disposal to add to 
 the discreditable record of the man whose reply I review, I have neither the 
 will nor the inclination to use it. I shall simply confine myself to carrying out 
 what I promised in my card of October 10, 1882, viz: exposing, in his reply to 
 my paper, William Lamb's "forced concession of," and his "deliberate at- 
 tempts to conceal the truth" And now to the work. 
 
 In opening his reply, he attempts to create sympathy and secure credit by 
 asserting, that while I was employed in the establishment of which he was a 
 proprietor, ' 'he took a deep interest in the lad. He was a native of Ireland 
 and of the Catholic faith, and I began my public career ardently battling for 
 the equal rights and privileges in our land for his race and his church." 
 How much like the demagogue is this ? But he continues, stating, ' 'my 
 partner knew my friendship for him and my desire for his promotion, and 
 / distinctly remember that he was promoted. * * I know that it was my pleas- 
 ure to do all I could to stimulate his ambition and to improve his mind, and 
 if my partner did not pay him higher wages than other lads of his age were 
 receiving, my means would have been cheerfully at his disposal for the 
 asking." 
 
 In his infamous card, I had been denounced as an ingrate. I knew the 
 object and intention of the use of this term, I had heard it intimated for 
 years that this man had educated me, and that he had established me in 
 
business. The report had been insiduously circulated, to a far greater extent 
 than I had knowledge of, and with as I believe, the approval of William 
 Lamb. My reason for stating the amount of salary I received while in the 
 employment of the establishment of which he was a proprietor, (four dollars 
 a week) was to show the hypocrisy of the charge of his assisting my educa- 
 tion. I was given employment by his partner, A. F. Leonard Esq.* 
 William Lamb was not in Norfolk at the time. The nature of my 
 employment was mailing clerk.. The assertion of Lamb, that U I 
 distinctly remember that he was promoted," is wholly without foun- 
 dation. I was never employed in any other position than that of mailing 
 clerk. Therefore I was never promoted. If he took a deep interest in me at 
 the tiihe,and exhibited a pleasure to do all he could to ' 'stimulate my ambition 
 and to improve my mind," he never demonstrated it in the gift of a single 
 book, or the benefit of advice as to what I should do to advance myself. The 
 littleness of his apparent intent, and the smallness of his nature, is well por- 
 trayed when he sketches his idea of generosity, in remarking "my means 
 would have been cheerfully at his disposal for the asking." — W T here is his 
 blush ? Is it in the attempt to reflect on his partner, " who attended exclu- 
 sively to the finance, ' ' for not paying me higher wages. In my paper, I made 
 no complaint of my pay, I simply wished to point out that the amount of 
 William Lamb's deep friendship and interest for me was the payment, for 
 services faithfully rendered, his share of my salary, viz: two dollars a week, 
 for nearly four years. This was the total of it. 
 
 He is forced to admit that during the war he was proud of my patriotism, 
 He lauds himself with awarding me as soon as he was in position, with the 
 highest place in his gift, which was, that as soon as he assumed command of 
 Fort Fisher and the adjacent camps, that, although I was a mere boy, he made 
 me "Quatermaster Sergeant in command of the teams and transportation. 
 much to the surprise of the men who were put under him." "Such was my 
 attachment to him," he continues, "that had it been possible, I would have 
 obtained a commission for him. In appointing a Sutler for the Post, unsolic- 
 ited by him, I required the appointee, while supplying all the capital, to 
 agree to give Glennan half." 
 
 The one act, (I do not allude to intentions) of generosity in his life, in rela- 
 tion to myself, which I believe to have been thoroughly sincere and which 
 was unsolicited and unknown to me, was in his appointing a Sutler for the ' 
 Post of Fort Fisher,. the requirement on the part of the Sutler, to share half 
 the profits with me. It is true that there were in the end no profits to share, 
 and it is true that I gave my assistance to the Sutler. Yet these facts made 
 the act of Col. Lamb's none the less sincere, and I do not hesitate to make 
 due acknowledgment of the same. My regret in this connection however 
 is, that the paragraph in which this act is recorded is not equally as rorrect 
 in all its statements. He states that when he assumed command of Fort 
 Fisher and the adjacent camps he made me, although a "mere boy," "Quar- 
 termaster Sergeant in command of the team* and transportation, much to 
 the surprise of the men who were put under him." 
 
 When William Lamb was in command of Fort St. Phillip, previous to his 
 
taking command of Fort Fisher and the adjacent camps, I was the Quater- 
 master Sergeant, by his appointment of that Post, and when he assumed 
 command of Fort Fisher and the adjacent camps, I was the Quatermaster 
 Sergeant, not of l 'teams and transportation" but of Fort Fort Fisher and the 
 adjacent camps, in all that appertained to the duties of the position. During 
 the frequent illnesses of the Quatermaster, necessitating his absence, even 
 during the two great battles, (1 think he was absent on both occasions, 
 certainly he was during the last), I discharged the duties of Quatermaster, 
 as well as the duties of a soldier, one of my last acts being the distribution of 
 blankets to the soldiers in the trenches, outside the Fort, on the night pre" 
 vious to its capture, and during the shilling from the fleet. If there was 
 surprise at my occupying the position, I never knew it, except it was 
 surprise that on account of my youth, and my lameness, the duties of the 
 position, heavy and onerous on account of the extent of the Post, were 
 thoroughly and faithfully discharged. I was never absent from my post but 
 once, then on a ten days furlough, from the time of my enlistment to that 
 of my capture. The following letters in this connection will speak for 
 themselves. The first is from Col. Geo. Tait. 
 
 Norfolk, Nov. 12, 1882. 
 M. GLENNAN Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir: — In reply to your enquiry, I would state that during the pairof 
 my service passed at Fort St. Phillip and Fort Fisher, you performed the 
 duties of post Quatermaster Sergeant, in a thorough and soldierly manner, 
 and enjoyed, as you deserved, the confidence, respect and esteem of the entire 
 garrison from the commanding officer down. 
 
 GEO. TAIT. 
 
 The second is from Capt. Geo. D. Parker, who was the Post Adjutant at t 
 Fort St. Phillip and Fort Fisher. 
 
 Norfolk, Nov. 15, 1882. 
 M. Glenn an Esq, 
 
 Dear Sir: — Your communication of Nov. 10th, recieved, in which you ask 
 me to "state my impression as to the manner in which you discharged the 
 duties of the position of Quartermaster's Sergt. of the forces stationed at 
 Fort Fisher and the adjacent camps, and with what satisfaction to the forces 
 alluded to." 
 
 No forces in any fort or garrison, ever had a more faithful and efficient 
 Quartermaster, than the soldiers of Fort Fisher and adjacent camps had in 
 you, nor do I believe there existed in the Confederate State?, a command, 
 more universally satisfied with their Quartermaster, than were the officers 
 and men of Fort Fisher and adjacent camps, with Sergt. Glennan. The com- 
 pletion and strength of that strong fort, owes much to your excellent man- 
 agement of the Quartermaster's department. 
 
 Respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 Geo. D. Parker. 
 
 If there was complaint or surprise expressed by the men of Fort Fisher, 
 it may have been from Col. Lamb's partiality for me in another matter, the 
 solution to which may be found in the following paragraph, from a letter 
 received from Lieut. John N. Kelley, the same officer quoted by Col. Lamb 
 in his reply, a letter I shall have occasion to refer to again. Lieut. Kelley 
 writes: 
 
 "Did you know the "Boys" used to complain a litt?e ; among ourselves 
 
at what we called the Col.'s "great partiality" to you, in letting you go with 
 him in so many of his bold and gallant attacks on the enemy, while our 
 times had to be less frequent. " Possibly it was great "partiality " of this 
 kind, on the part of William Lamb, that caused him to term me an in- 
 grate. 
 
 For the present I will pass from reviewing his implied kindness to me 
 since the war, (which is next in the order of his reply,) so that in keeping in 
 the regular order of my sketch, I may show up his base attempt to deny the 
 assistance I rendered him, not only in helping him from the field after he was 
 desperately wounded, but also my assertion,- "and when a separation after- 
 wards took place, and the next day, he found his commander on the desolate 
 beach, without shelter or assistance, unnoticed, and uncared for, he secured 
 through the assistance of Surgeon General Bizzell, of General Terry's Staff. 
 a detail of men from the Federal Army, a detail that was put under his 
 cl uirge, and carried his "hero" to the hospital, several miles away, where for 
 three days and nights, without rest or relief, he watched by his side, attend- 
 ing every want, until Maj. % General Whiting, who was also lying wounded 
 in the room, commanded, (I should have written requested) one of his* aids 
 (Lieut, Gadsden Hazell) to give relief to the boy," 
 
 £ Conscious as I am of William Lamb's knowledge of the correctness of the 
 facts thus briefly stated, I must confess amazement at his daring to deny 
 this part of my sketch. Low as the man has fallen I had not concieved that 
 he would attempt to deny this proof of my affection and devotion for him, 
 demonstrated during that period of his life when desperately wounded in 
 gallantly defending his Fort he won the proud title of the hero of Fort Fish- 
 er, a title that knave on all occasions defended his right to. With skillful and 
 insinuating plausibility he attempts a task in his effort to deny my asser- 
 tions, that to even his own debased nature must have been extremely nause- 
 ating. In reviewing this portion of his reply I am compelled to make pub- 
 lic an incident with which I was connected, that occurred during the 
 desperate fighting that resulted in the capture of the Fort, and but for which 
 I could not have been enabled, much as I might have desired, to have been 
 constantly at the side of my wounded commander, from the time I found 
 him on the beach, until I was forced to part with him on the steamer, 
 Before relating the incident I will first summarize his reply so far as it 
 directly affects my statement of the facts in this case. He unqualifiedly 
 denies my helping him from the field after he was wounded, stating that 
 after he was rendered helpless, a soldier assisted him to rise "and putting 
 my arm around his neck, led me to the hospital. I was met by Glennan 
 and others on duty there and laid on a couch. They did all that soldiers 
 could do for their wounded commander * * * more than one manly face was 
 suffused with tears at the sight of the blood gushing from my side. Only 
 Glennan regrets what he did for me. * * In the hope Of saving me from cap- 
 ture I was carried on a stretcher through a tempest of bullets and 
 shells, to Battery Buchanan, by some of the officers. * * * At mid- 
 night I .was placed in a small house at Battery Buchanan, and, ex- 
 hausted from the loss of blood, I Ml into a fevered sleep, surrouimed 
 
by a few devoted friends. Glennan was not with me. " (I italicize). He then 
 gives his version of being carried on a stretcher to Genl. Terry's Head Quar- 
 ters — and his interview with that gallant officer, and his request ' 'to be sent 
 where Genl. Whiting was lying wounded. After quite a journey in search of 
 the General I was laid by his side in a hospital near Camp Wyatt. This was 
 Monday, the day after the fall of the Fort. From this time until I embarked 
 on shipboard, some two days after, Glennan may (I italicize) have been con- 
 stant and unremitting in his attentions, but not alone and unassisted. My 
 Surgeon, Dr. Singleton, and my assistant Surgeon, Dr. Bledsoe, were constant- 
 ly by my side, as well as some of the Medical Staff of the Federal Army, who 
 seemed sincerely solicitous for my comfort. When I embarked I parted 
 company with Glennan." 
 
 It would seem, by reference to this part of his reply, that he has a wonderful 
 recollection of certain details, even of those connected with John 
 Vanderhorst, his negro servant, who is deserving of all he says of 
 him, — but of those which relate to myself, the ''mere" Irish boy, 
 his memory is deficient. He closes by quoting from a letter from 
 Dr. Powhatan Bledsoe, who was the assistant Surgeon at Fort Fisher, 
 a man who is, as William Lamb says of him, the embodiment of truth 
 and sincerity. Of the extract from Dr. Bledsoe's letter, except in some minor de- 
 tails, I have not one word of objection as to its correctness. Nor does it in the 
 least affect the correctness of my statement, as will be seen further on. Those 
 parts af the extract from Dr. Bledsoe's letter, which on their face would im- 
 ply a direct contradiction of my account, are where Dr. Bledsoe states that 
 finding CoULambin the rear of the Federal lines, as comfortably situated as 
 could have been expected, on a litter under a tent, "you (Col Lamb) request- 
 ed me to see the Federal Surgeon in command (pointing him out to me in 
 sight of your tent), and ask for a detail of men with permission to take you 
 down to the hospital. I did so, and your request was complied with. I ac- 
 companied you to the hospital, wiiere we met with Major Hill, and probably 
 others of our staff. Surgeon Singleton and ^myself remained hourly with 
 Genl. Whiting and yourself, from the time I met with you on the beach, 
 until we parted at Fort Monroe. * * You will notice that we were only sepa- 
 rated for a few hours from the time I examined your wound in the Fort, say 
 six or eight in the evening, until the following day. *.*.I have no recollection 
 of any one giving you undivided and unremitting attention, save your medi- 
 cal officers." 
 
 To those unacquainted with the facts, the letter of Dr. Bledsoe, would 
 have unquestioned weight in antagonizing my account, but the simple nara- 
 tion of facts that I will' now present in connection with the proof I will 
 furnish as to their' correctness, will crushingly expose the plausible, and 
 ingenious attempt of William Lamb, to deny what it would have been cred- 
 itable and manly for him to admit. 
 
 A week or ten days previous to the second and successful attack of the 
 Federals on Fort Fisher, I had, while in company with Lieut. Daniel, suffered 
 severe injuries by my horse falling upon me, while going through a swamp 
 in the vicinity of the beach where General Butler landed his troops on the 
 
8 
 
 occasion of the lirst attack. I had not recovered from the injuries when the 
 fleet made its second appearance. I was also suffering very greatly from 
 rheumatism. Notwithstanding this, and although permission was given to 
 all who were sick or incapaciated for duty, to retire to Wilmington, I remained 
 in order to attend to the duties of the Quartermaster's Department, (the 
 Quartermaster being absent), and to be with my commander. The duties of 
 my office I discharged, even, as stated previously, to personally supervis- 
 ing, at night, and during the shelling from the fleet, the distribution of 
 blankets to the soldiers in the trenches. When the attack by the Naval 
 Brigade was made, I shouldered a musket and performed the du- 
 ties of a soldier, assisting in the repulse of the gallant men who 
 attempted to "board the Fort." Shortly after the repulse of the 
 Naval Brigade, and when I believed, with many others of our com- 
 mand, that we had secured a glorious victory, I was surprised to dis- 
 cern the flags of the enemy floating from the extreme left of ihe Fort. Short- 
 ly afterwards I met Col. Lamb, who was gallantly leading reinforcements 
 from Battery Buchanan, for the purpose of capturing and dislodging the enemy 
 The. men were straggling under the terrific fire, and Col. Lamb, as he rushed 
 by, called on me to rally all stragglers I saw. After obeying his command 1 
 met him returning wounded, assisted by a soldier. I immediately went to his 
 assistance, and with the soldier helped him, not to the hospital, where he 
 says I met him, but to Head Quarters, adjoining the hospital. Here I re- 
 mained until his wound was dressed, being the first to my recollection to 
 tenderly wash or sponge it, while his Surgeons examined, probed and dressed 
 it. In the tears that were shed, mine mingled, and when he claims in 
 his "reply," that I regret what I did for him, he is guilty of a. base calumny. 
 "Glennan was not with me," he says, when "at midnight I was placed in 
 a small house at Battery Buchanan, and exhausted with the loss of blood, I 
 fell into a fevered sleep surrounded by a few devoted friends. ' ' Oh no, I 
 was not. Why does he not remark that his Surgeons were not with him. I 
 was not with him because, a^ter his wound was dressed, and his present 
 wants attended to, I returned to the field, and afterwards when I visited 
 Head Quarters, previous to the capture of the Fort, I was surprised to learn 
 that Gen. Whiting and Col. Lamb had been removed to Battery Buchanan 
 for the purpose of securing their escape to Wilmington, by means of boats at 
 that point. Their escape I felt confident had been effected, and when the 
 next morning I found Col. Lamb on the bea c h, I was as much astonished 
 as I was rejoiced; astonished that he had not escaped ; rejoiced that I could 
 attend and watch by his side. 
 
 In order that it may be understood why a "mere" Quatermaster Sergeant 
 of "teams and transportation" was enabled to render the aid to his Comman- 
 der that he claims he rendered, after finding him, to his belief, "without 
 shelter and assistance, unnoticed and uncared for, ' ' it will be necessary for 
 me at this point to relate the incident that I have previously alluded to, and 
 which I should, but for the necessity of reciting it here, have much preferred 
 confining to the conversation of friends. The incident was this : 
 
 During the attack of the Na* 1 ! Brigade, while they were attempting to 
 
"board the Fort," I had fired twice with deliberat3 aim, on a gallant Federal 
 officer who was attempting to rally the broken ranks of his men. I was 
 about firing on him the third lime, when my conscience reproached me for 
 attempting to shoot down a man who was so splendidly brave, and I re- 
 frained. He was a conspicuous figure, standing ereet in the bright light of 
 the evening sun, on a small sand hifi on the inside of our line of pallisades. 
 He Avas dressed in full uniform, with a military cape the red lining of which 
 was exposed as he waved his sword in his vain effort to Steady his men. It 
 was beyond the power of men to stand the terrine fire, such as was rained 
 upon his devoted command, and when our men saw them retreat in confu- 
 sion, a loud cheer of victory went up. 
 
 After my capture that night, I fell into the hands of some officers of New 
 York and Connecticut Regiments who on account of my youth treated me 
 very kindly. The *opic of conversation was about the fight, and each told 
 his experience during the hard fought struggle. I related the incident 
 above stated, describing the personal appearance of the officer, his position 
 &c, and on concluding, I was apparently roughly slapped on the shoulder 
 by some one from behind, and asked '^Yhat right had I a surgeon, to 
 participate in the fight." I quickly responded, turning around, "That 
 I was no Surgeon, but a Sergeant, and I fought because of my right as a 
 'soldier." Looking at my interrogator, I recognized at once the man I 
 fired at, and he, who had happened to come up while I was relating 
 the incident recognized himself from the description I had given. 
 
 He at once grasped me by the hand, and told me that any request I had to 
 make that could be granted, would be. He asked my name and where I was 
 from, and when I told him, he remarked that the Surgeon General of Terry's 
 army, Dr. Bizzell, had been raised in the neighborhood of Norfolk, and ex- 
 pected to make a visit there in a few days, and that he would go out at once 
 and find him, which he did, returning with him and introducing me. I was 
 again asked if I had any request to make. I replied that I would be very 
 glad if I could have a letter sent to my mother and also a package containing 
 my daguerotypc I further requsted to be permitted to see if I could discover 
 the remains of a companion named Murphy, son of Dr. Murphy, of North 
 Carolina, in order to bury them, and also, if I could send a message to Mrs. 
 Lamb, who was on the other side of the River, to inform her of the nature of 
 Col. Lamb's wounds. The letters and package were carried to Norfolk by Dr. 
 Bizzell and delivered to my mother by the late Jno. D. Gammon. In com- 
 pany with theCharftain of a Connecticut liegiment, I searched lor the remains 
 of my friend. I had no knowledge that my message to Mrs. Lamb had ever 
 been delivered, and I had forgotten the circumstance, until some eight or 
 ten months ago, possibly later, when conversing with Col. Lamb in my 
 office, on his reply to Gen. Bragg's Strictures on the Defense of Fort Fisher 
 he informed me, that besides being indebted to me for saving his diary 
 containing his record of the fight and other matters, which assisted him in 
 making his reply to Gen. Bragg's letter, that the first message as to his con- 
 dition that Mrs. Lamb received, was mine. Yet I am an ingrate. 
 
10 
 
 The incident I have related William Lamb has full knowledge of. But its 
 correctness by others, might be doubted. By a most fortunate, I might say 
 remarkable occurrence, I am enabled to furnish conclusive proof of the truth 
 of my assertion. The name of the officer alluded to I had forgotten 
 — until on the very morning that William Lamb's reply was circu- 
 lated, (Monday, Oct. 9th) \ I again c^me into the possession of it by 
 the following circumstance. I was conversing in front of the Academy 
 of Music with Capt. W. R. Mayo, (who was a gallant participant 
 in the defence of Fort Fisher), on the subject of Col. Lamb's reply, 
 and had related to him the incident, expressing regret that I had 
 forgotten the name of the Naval officer I had fired on. Happening to look 
 up the street, he remarked, "Why here eomes an old Fort Fisher man now." 
 I turned in the direction of his gaze, and saw a gentleman approaching, who 
 on coming up to us, I was introduced to by Capt. Mayo as Capt. R. D. Evans, 
 U. S. Navy, and present Light House Inspector Fifth District. Capt. Mayo 
 remarked that we had just been talking about the capture ©f Fort Fisher- 
 and then passingly alluded to the incident I had mentioned to him. Capt. 
 Evans had participated in the attack of the Naval Brigade and had been des- 
 perately wounded. He knew the officers who p irticipated, and on my relating 
 to him the incident, describing the officer, he remarked that he knew well 
 whom I alluded to. The officer was Lieut. Commander, K. Randolph 
 Breeze, who had lately died. That he, (Evans) had been shot down by his 
 side, and that when Breeze visited him the next day, he told him of meet- 
 ing with a soldier who had fired upon him, and that the story was well 
 known among Breeze's friends in the Navy. 
 
 Am I not justified in saying, that in thus discovering the name of one who 
 was so kind to me, the circumstance at this time, and on the very day that 
 an attempt was made to discredit a truthful narative of mine, was both for- 
 tunate and remarkable. But it is not the only remarkable circumstance in 
 connection with this controversy. 
 
 The following letter from Captain Evans, which he has kindly furnished 
 me with, gives testimony to what I have stated. 
 
 Office of Light House Inspector, Fifth Dist., 
 
 Baltimore Md., Oct., 16, 1882. 
 Me. M. GLENNAN, 
 
 NOBFOLK, VA. 
 
 Dear Sib : — I take pleasure in acknowledging your letter of Oct., 10th. 
 — In reply I would say that shortly after the second fight at Fort Fisher, 
 Commauder K. R. Breese, who commanded the assaulting column of Sea- 
 men and Marines, told me that after he entered the Fort he heard some one 
 relating how he had fired at a certain officer in the assault or while we 
 were preparing to make the assault, and recogniziug the discription of him- 
 BeV, made himself known to the Confederate soldier, or officer, who was 
 relating the story. I have heard many officers since mention the cirenm- 
 stance. 
 
11 
 
 Capt . Breese was a particular friend of mine, and one of the noblest and 
 best men it has ever been my good fortune to know. With thanks for your 
 kindly feelings for him, as well as your politeness to me, . ^ 
 
 I remain yours very truly, 
 
 B. D.*EVANS, 
 
 Commander, U. S. N. 
 
 I never met with Capt. Breese* but the night of the capture of the 
 Fort, and it was always my regret that I had forgotten his name. Would that 
 he were living. I can never forget his kindness — nor his bravery. I did maet 
 Dr. Bizzell again, I met him the next morning, after 1 found Col. Lamb on the 
 beach, audit was through his assistance, (with no knowledge previous to the 
 publication of Dr. Bledsoe's letter, that any other had applied, that this 
 same aid be rendered), that I believed I alone secured the detail of men 
 from the Federal Army, "a detail that was put under my charge, and by 
 which I conveyed my 'hero' to the hospital, several miles away, where 
 without rest or relief I "watched by his side, attending to his every want, 
 until Maj. Gcnl. Whiting, who was also lying wounded in the room, com- 
 manded one of his aids to give relief to the boy." 
 
 In reviewing the attempt of William Lamb to deny the truth of the above 
 statement, I shall present facts that he has full knowledge of, so far as they 
 are connected with the time of my finding him on the beach, up to the time 
 I was parted from him in his state room on board the California. The appa- 
 rent conflict of Dr. Bledsoe's statement with my own, will by the recital of 
 the same facts be also fully explained. It will be well, however, to state here 
 the discrepancy between the statements of William Lamb and Dr. Bledsoe: 
 Lamb claims that he was carried to General Terry's Head Quarters, and that 
 in a conversation with General Terry, he requested to be sent whore General 
 Whiting was lying wounded, and that after quite a journey in search of the 
 General, he was laid by his side in a hospital near Camp Wyatt. Dr. Bledsoe 
 states that he found him, not at General Terry's Head Quarters, but "soon 
 after we halted in the rear of the Federal lines, * * on a litter, under a 
 
 *Note. — Captain Breese was selected hi September, 1804, by Admiral Por- 
 ter who had command of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron as his fleet 
 Captain, and as such was in both engagements at Fort Fisher. He comman- 
 ded the sailors and marines in the Naval assault on Fort Fisher, and was re- 
 commended by Admiral Porter for immediate promotion for services on that 
 occasion. Admiral Porter in his commendatory dispatch of January 2*th, 
 1865, thus alludes to his services, "Lieut. Commander K. R. Breese, was my 
 fleet Captain, has been with me nearly all the time since the rebellion broke 
 out * * *, At Fort Fisher he led the boarders in the assault, and though 
 we were not successful in getting into the fort in the face of equal numbers, 
 yet that assault gained the day, as it is generally Admitted on every side. 
 Lieut. Commander Breese did all he could to rally his men, and made two or 
 three unsuccessful attempts to regain the parapet, but the marines having 
 failed in their duty to support the gallant officers and sailors, who took the 
 lead, he had to retire to a place of safety. He did not, however, lose tke ground, 
 but remained under the parapet in a rifle pit, using a musket until night fa- 
 vored escape. He is a gallant officer, and I strongly recommend his imme- 
 diate promotion to a Commander" — Hamersley's Naval Encyclopaedia 1881. 
 
12 
 
 tent." Again, Dr. Bledsoe, wrote Col. Lamb, "you requested me to see 
 the Federal Surgeon, in command, (pointing him out to me in sight of 
 your tent) and ask for ^t detail of men with permission to take you down 
 to the hospital, I did so, and your request was complied with." Thus it 
 will he seen, that it was not the request of Lamb to General Terry that was 
 complied with, but the request of Dr. Bledsoe as he says, to the Surgeon 
 General that met with a response. 
 
 • As to the correctness of my statement, the following are the facts. As 
 previously stated, I was under the impression on the night of the capture of 
 the Fort, that Genl. Whiting and Col. Lamb had, with the assistance of their 
 officers, effected their escape to Wilmington, Such was the general impres- 
 sion. The next morning, as Dr. Bledsoe correctly states it, after the great 
 explosion, the Confederate officers remaining in the Fort, were marched out 
 of the Fort and about three miles up the beach, and halted in the rear of the 
 Federal lines. I was inarched out with them. Owing to lameness, rendered 
 more severe by rheumatism, and the injuries received by the fall of my horse 
 upon me, as previously stated, I made very slow progress, in the match of 
 three mihs, and I arrived at the halting place some time after the others. 
 On 'arriving there, to my astonishment, I heard that Col. Lamb was on the 
 beach, and I immediately sought anel found him not a son! was with him. 
 He was as Dr. Bledsoe says, on a litter, but not under a tent, unless what 
 was known as a "fly" may be called a tent. He was suffering great pain, 
 and as soon as I spoke to him, he asked me to have him taken to where 
 Genl. Whiting was. I asked him where Genl. Whiting Was, and he replied 
 at Camp Wyatt Hospital. He never mentioned that he had made this re- 
 quest of Genl. Terry. He never mentioned that he made it of Dr. Bledsoe. 
 Finding him as I did, without a soul present with him, and never knowing 
 until the publication of his reply, and Dr. Bledsoe's letter, that the request 
 had been made to Genl. Terry or Dr. Bledsoe, I could but conclude that "he 
 had been unnoticed and uncarcd for, witbout shelter or assistance, on the 
 desolate beachi." Jf he had been cared for — if lie had been attended to, 
 Why was it that <he had been carried three miles from Fort Fisher or four 
 miles from the "small house at Battery Buchanan, exhausted with the loss 
 of blood," and placed under a common "fly," open on all sides, while G< nl. 
 Whiting had been provided for, in being carried , to the Hospital at Camp 
 Wyatt? There must have-been some grievous error in this treatment.: I 
 cannot conceive that it was intentional — but I am conscious that it was 
 Lamb's knowledge that his treatment was not that accorded to Genl. Whit- 
 ing, anel the discomforts and desolateness of his position that caused him to 
 ask Genl. Terry, Dr. Bledsoe and myself, and probably others, to have -him 
 removed from the beach to the Hospital. 
 
 As I have remarked, I had no knowledge that he had made the request 
 of others than myself. I told him that 1 would at once sec what could be done 
 and starting oil', I bad not gone far, when I met Surgeon General Bizzell, ■ 
 approaching. He recognized me, and 1 told him my Colonel wasthere, w< r.n- 
 ded and exposed, and that he wanted to be carried to the Hospital at ( amp 
 
13 
 
 Wyatt, where Genl. Whiting was. He immediately accompanied me to 
 where Col. Lamb was lying, -inquired as- to his condition, and promised to 
 go at once and get a detail. lie returned shortly afterwards, stated that tho 
 detail would report in a little while, and that it would be under my guid- 
 ance, for the removal of Col. Lamb to the Hospital. The detail shortly re- 
 ported, in charge of a Corporal or Sergeant, and I guided it to Camp Wyatt 
 Hospital, where we arrived late in the evening. Col. Lamb was placed by 
 the side of Genl. Whiting. The two men uttered not a word, they simply 
 stretched out their aims, and quietly clasped hands. I had marched over 
 six miles, over rough roads, that day, suffering pain. I laid down on the 
 floor, among the wounded and dying, (for the Hospital was crowded), and 
 awoke the next morning finding a -companion on either side of me, "sleep- 
 ing his last sleep." Early that morning Genl. Whiting and Col. Lamb 
 were removed to a small house, not far from the Hospital, where I remained 
 with Lamb night and day, attending to his wants, until Genl. Whiting on 
 the second or third night, asked his aide to relieve me. Yet I am an ingrate. 
 Now as to the proof. After the appearance of William Lamb's reply, I 
 wrote to Dr. Bledsoe, giving n^v recollections almost similar to what 1 have 
 above written. I am in receipt of a reply from him, under date of Hanover 
 Co., Oct. 18th., in which he wrote. 
 
 "I wish it understood that, my statement [to Col. Lamb] was not in- 
 tended to refute what yon had written. You well remember the confusion, 
 suffering, ♦ and fatigue, through which we had passed, and I am sure, 
 under the circumstances you might have done a great deal for Col. Lamb 
 without it making any lasting impression^n me. As to his being under a 
 tent when I met up with him on the beach, it is my recollection of the 
 fact, but my recollection may, possibly be at fault, as it has been a long 
 time ago. As to carrying him from the beach to the Hospital, your state- 
 ment in your letter to me as to the hour of the day, accords with my mem- 
 ory of it, but I can't for my life, remember that you were ale>ng with us. 
 You are also right as to our removal from the fcfospital to a small house near 
 by, before taking the steamer, alt of uhieh (jot* to prove that your stuic- 
 mjnt t fras far is correct. Nor have I any good reason to say that you were 
 not, during those days of suffering and trial, as kinel and as attentive to 
 Col. Lamb as you could be, under the circumstances. My not remembering 
 those things, is no prvoffhat tiny Ore wdme, for my impression i«, if you had 
 ahs<vt(ci yourself fnm us Uny at a time, tome inquiry would have been made as 
 ip the' cause of your absence, which would have probably made, an impression. 
 Now, Mike, (1 address you thus, for I still remember you as the brave, hon- 
 orable lad who bore that name at Fort Fisher), 1 have made my statement, 
 and have seen yours, and the only difference is that I "don't remember you 
 as the watchful, untiring nurse you claim to have been." • 
 
 Frank — open, and couscicncious, I would be perfectly willing to rest 
 judgement on this letter of Dr. Bledsoe's, without fear, as to the conclusion. 
 The only difference he fnels in my statement and his own, is that he elon't 
 remember me, as ihe watchful and untiring nurse, I claim to have been, 
 but he says, "my not remembering these things is no proof that they are 
 niitrue, rather to the contrary" and, he gives his reason, which is that, "had 
 
14 
 
 have probably made an impression." There is one, however, who has a 
 recollection and knowledge of my watchfulness, attention, and devotion to 
 Col. Lamb, while he was in the Hospital, and up to the time I was parted 
 from him on board the steamer California. I allude to Maj. Joseph H. Hill, 
 Chief of Staff, of Genl. Whiting, who with Lieut Gadsden Hazel, also of 
 Genl. Whiting's Staff, watched by the bedside of that chivalrous and noble- 
 soldier, alternately relieving each other, and who was an eye witness of my 
 services ' 'as a watchful and untiring nurse. ' ' 
 
 The following is a letter I received from Maj. Hill, in reply to a note ad- 
 dressed to him, asking him to state his recollection of my services to Col. 
 Lamb, from the time of our capture to our separation on the Steamer Califor- 
 nia. 
 
 Richmond, Va., Nov. 14, 1882, 
 M. GLENNAN, 
 
 Norfolk, Va. 
 
 Dear Sir : — In reply to yours of this date, I beg to say that my recol- 
 lection of your attention to Col. Lamb, after our capture at Fort Fisher, was 
 all that one could have been to another, and I do not know that 1 can use 
 stronger language, than to add, it was, in my opinion, equal to my own, to 
 Genl. Whiting, my brother-in-law, and whose Adjutant General I was. 
 
 Yours most truly, 
 
 James H. Hill. 
 
 Yet William Lamb, accuses me of impudence for stating the truth — and 
 he who was the recipient of such devotion, — a devotion compared to that of 
 u brother's, has no recollection, but says, that Glennan may have been con- 
 stant and unremitting in his attention, yet he seeks with insinuating plans- 
 ability to show that Glennan was not. Who is the ingrate ? 
 
 At this point it will be appropriate for me to notice the postscript to Wil- 
 liam Lambs' reply, consisting of an extract, from a letter written by Lieut. 
 John N. Kelly. This letter of Lieut. Kelly was written under an impres- 
 sion on his part, as will be shown, that I had slandered the brave men who 
 fought at Fort Fisher in an attempt to show that they were not devoted to 
 their commander, and from a misconception of the meaning of my words, 
 that from the time I enlisted in one of the companies of the regiment (36 
 North Carolina) of which William Lamb was Colonel "in every skirmish 
 with the enemy, in the great battles that were fought, the youth was at the 
 side of the man." No man in all his command, has ever defended the 
 bravery of William Lamb, at Fort Fisher, as I have, and no man has ever 
 written (ft spoken in prouderterms of the devotion of soldiers to their com- 
 mander, than I have written and spoken of the devotion of the brave men of 
 Fort Fisher for their commander, and no man knows this better than Wil- 
 liam Lamb. My assertion that I found my commander "on the desolate. 
 b?ach, without shetler or assistance, unnoticed and uncared for," was no 
 reflection on his officers or men. I believe, that aside from their personal 
 consideration of their condition and the condition of their loved ones at home, 
 unquestionably their anxiety for him, for his condition, for his comfort, 
 on that day, was uppermost in their hearts, but they could do nothing, 
 
15 
 
 they were prisoners. And this was demonstrated by the fact, that save his 
 Surgeons, Drs. "Singleton and Bledsoe, and the "mere boy," the "Quarter- 
 master Sergt. , in charge of Teams aud transportation," none were permitted 
 to remain with him. Not a member of his Staff, nor one of his officers^ #ave 
 his Surgeons and his Quartermaster Sergt. , and his servant, was granted an 
 opportunity to render him assistance ! And was it not strange that this 
 mere ' 'Quartermaster Sergt. of Teams and transportation' ' was permitted to 
 be by his side, until parted from him on the steamer? It was, — but the 
 reason has been previously given. When I claimed that I was by the side 
 of Col. Lamb in every skirmish with the enemy, and during the two great 
 battles, I did not intend to imply that I was touching elbows with him, but 
 expecting the language would be construed in the ordinary sense of the term, 
 as understood by soldiers, when they say they fought side by side with each 
 other, in the same cause and under the same banner. Literally in this sense 
 my assertion was correct, for although I occupied a position that relieved me 
 from participating in any engagement, yet, I think I can affirm without con- 
 tradiction, that I participated in every skirmish and engagement that Col. 
 Lamb participated in. I participated in the capture of the officers and 
 men of the United States Steamer Columbia, beached at the head of Masan- 
 boro Sound; I participated in the effort to capture the brave and daring 
 Lieut, Commander, Cushing; I partipated in the capture of the Steamer Kate, 
 beached at Smith's Island, (Frying Pan Shoals) from the Federal Blockading 
 fleet; I was one of a boat's crew, who, in the face of the Blockading fleet, and in 
 the midst of a terrible sea, crossed New Inlet, and secured a small schooner 
 that had been beached in the breakers during the night. To be present at my 
 post of duty, I left Wilmington, where I was attending to official business, 
 on the evening of the first daj of the first fight at Fort Fisher, and that night 
 risked the fire of friend and foe, to reach the Fort, a comrade who was with 
 me, being captured by the enemy. I participated in the last fight, and was 
 taken prisoner. Confident that Lieut Kelly had written under an erroni- 
 ous impression, I wrote to him to do me the justice to correct any wrong his 
 letter might have created. In a reply,d ated Clarkton, N. C, Oct. 30th., 1882, 
 he writes/— * 'I am glad you say you did not use ' 'at the side of the man, ' ' in 
 the sense I thought you did, but used it. in the sense soldiers do, when they 
 say they fought side by side with each other. In this sense, I would do you, 
 myself, and truth, the greatest injustice and injury, to contradict you; nor 
 would Col. Lamb allow me to do so unrebuked. I did not intend to con- 
 tradict that you were with Col. Lamb in every skirmish, you may have 
 been * * Did you know tbe "Boys" used to complain a little among them- 
 selves, at what we called the Col's "great partiality" to you, in letting yon 
 go with him in so many of his bold and gallant attacks on the enemy, while 
 our turns had to be less frequent. That you did your whole duty at Fisher, 
 I have never questioned, nor has Col. Lamb, to my knowledge ever in- 
 timated such, — indeed I feel sure he would never suffer such intimations 
 to be made in his presence, without flatly contradicting it. I know you 
 were a good Quartermaster Sergt, and a brave and gallant young soldier." 
 
16 
 
 After stating his reasons for const racing my language of finding Col. 
 Lamb "on the desolate beach, without shelter or assistance, unnoticed and 
 uncared for" as a reflection on his officers and men, (a matter which has al- 
 ready been thoroughly explained so as to render it unnecessary for me to 
 make any further comment on the subject). Lieut, Kelly remarks, "nothing 
 was more foreign from my heart, than the wish or desire to do you a wrong 
 or injustice." From the foregoing narative, the reader can readily determ- 
 ine whether or not I was at all extravagant in my statement of assistance, 
 (based on a boy's fidelity to his commander,) when I found him unnoticed on 
 the beach near Fort Fisher. How that devotion and love was repaid I have 
 st ited in my Sketch of Two Lives. The accuracy of that statement has 
 been questioned, with what truth we shall see. 
 
 AFTER THE WAR 
 
 Col. Lamb was put off at Fortress Monroe, while with Genl. Whiting and 
 the rest of the officers, captured at Fort Fisher, I was carried to Governor's 
 Island, New York Harbor. While' there, Genl. Whiting, who with his 
 Staff had been placed in seperate quarters, notified me through one of his 
 Aids of his intended recommendation of my promotion, to a Lieutenancy 
 for services rendered. It was about the last act of this noble and chivalrous 
 soldier, for shortly afterwards he died from the effects of his wounds. After 
 remaining in prison a few months we Avere paroled, and on arriving in Rich- 
 mond I was ordered to Greensboro. Here I remained until the surrender of 
 Genl. Johnston, wherfl returned home. The morning after my return, I visi- 
 ted Mr. Francis Decordy, to know the condition and location of Willam Lamb. 
 .Notwithstanding the nature of my mission, he at that time, gruffly rebuked 
 me for being a rebel, and I secured no in formation. A few weeks later I met 
 him again, when he was exceedingly kind in his manner, and furnished me 
 with all information, I learned that Col. Lamb was in Providence, and was 
 improving. I wrote him and a correspondence ensued. He was kind in his 
 enquiries as to what I was doing, and it was in one of his letters, unsolicited 
 on my part, that he wrote me, in substance, "If I can do anything for you — 
 if I have in my old home any friends with whom I have any influence — I 
 I shall see that your attachment to me is not forgotten. I shall be home soon 
 myself, for the purpose of entering upon business, and I shall want you with 
 me. ' ' Could language be stronger, ' 'I shall see that your at tachment to me is 
 not forgotten." and further, "I Shall be home soon myself ibr the purpose of 
 entering upon business — and I shall want you with »ir." This is the language 
 of a man to a youth — unsolicited, and the youth was gratified. How were 
 these unsolicited promises fulfilled? We shall sir. 
 
 On his return home, (with far greater wealth than heliad when the war had 
 opened,) I called to see him, at, his residence. He was cordial in his greetings 
 I was rejoiced at meeting him. Here, under his roof, unsolicited, (fdr I never 
 asked him a favor in my life), he reiterated hi* written promise, positively stat- 
 ing that he wanted my services, mentioning the place he had selected for his office, 
 telling me the day he proposed commencing, and making it a point, that I should 
 
17 
 
 arrange to he tcith him. On the day he named, and at tin- place, I called, and 
 as I have stated in my sketch, I had no sooner entered his office, than I found 
 that the man's profession of gratitude was false. I was politely asked to take 
 a seat, and in a lew minutes afterwards, with my face flushed with expected 
 disappointment, I listened to him express his regrets "that hnsiness would 
 not at present admit of him giving me employment, hut lie hoped he would 
 soon be able to do so." I left his office and I never entered it again. 
 
 What reply does William Lamb make to this ? He states that his letter to 
 me. and the interview tit his home, "shows that his (my) welfare was still up- 
 permost in my (his) mind. " True it looked that way. hut notwithstanding the 
 fact that he wrote that he wanted me with him, and in his subsequent inter- 
 view he made it a condition upon me that I should arrange to he with him, 
 yet he states, "it was impossible to find a place for my young friend, from his 
 physical inability and his want of commercial training. 1 ' Did he not know 
 of my physical inability and my want of commercial training a few weeks 
 before? That physical inability did not prevent the lad of fifteen years from 
 serving for four years in the Confederate Army, by the side of William 
 Lamb, and his lack of commercial training, did not prevent him front faith- 
 fully discharging the duties of Quartermaster Sergt. (or Quartermaster, 
 when the occasion required it,) of Fort Fisher and adjacent camps, where at 
 times he had to look after the wants of thousands of men, duties which he 
 discharged in a maimer that gave complete satisfaction. 
 
 But he states that, "I did not forget him. I thought him eminently 
 qualified for the newspaper business, and without letting him know until I 
 could perfect matters, I purchased the Daily Post newspaper, intending to 
 give it in charge of one of my brothers and himself. So soon \s I consum- 
 mated the purchase I sent word to him to come and see me, that I wanted to 
 gire him a place on the paper ; I received his indifferent answer, and I then 
 found out that unintentionally, I had lost his friendship. ' ' Now either this 
 is a direct and wilful falsehood, or the person whom he entrusted with this 
 message to me never delivered it. Certain it is, I never heard of this act of 
 kindness on his part before I read it in his reply. Let him name the person 
 who he entrusted with this message, and who he says returned to him from 
 me ''an indifferent answer." Why, I would have been only too glad to have 
 acknowledged from this act, that I had judged rashly the man from whom I 
 had every reason to expect friendship. If I, at that time, at the age of 21, 
 was eminently qualified for the newspaper business, I was ignorant of it. The 
 only experience I ever had up to that time, was that of mailing clerk for the 
 Argus, five years before, and when in January 1867 I was asked by Mr. Theo. 
 B. Ruffin to take a place on the Virginian as manager I accepted it with 
 thanks, but also with 'Tear and trembling." 
 
 Col. Land) goes on to state that subsequently he tried to quietly win back 
 my confidence, but failed, and found that "as the years rolled on, the youth 
 who could have commanded anything I had, was becoming an enemy." 
 Continuing, he remarks, that as he had done nothing to justify such con- 
 duct "self-respect made me leave him (me) alone, but I never tailed when oc- 
 
18 
 
 casion offered to speak a kind word in his (my) behalf. I caused his election as 
 Secretary of the Merchants and Mechanics Exchange, and although I could 
 not give him my job printing, not because his office was out of the way, but 
 because I was a large Stockholder and Director in a Newspaper and Job 
 
 Printing office, established before he went into business. I never failed to 
 send him advertising when I could do so with justice to my own company " 
 I think I can truly say, that it was nearly two years after I parted with 
 Col. Lamb at his office on Commerce street, before I met him again to have 
 any conversation with him, and I can with equal truth, say, that except in 
 a political sense, I have never been his enemy. l T p to the time that he, as 
 agent of the Lorillard Line of Steamers, used the expression, that "the papers 
 of Norfolk were all under the influence of Gen'l Mahone" and, at the same 
 time in a reply to a solicitor of the Norfolk Journal, who was seeking Job 
 printing patronage from him, said, "that his preference was to give his work to 
 Glennan, but that his office was out of the way ;" I had not mentioned 
 to a dozen persons his treatment to me. At my home, I simply alluded to 
 my disappointment, and although for years I suffered intensely from the 
 thought of his ingratitude, yet I never harbored a thought shaded with 
 the slightest malice against him. I had resolved, at the moment I left 
 his office never to ask him a favor or to complain to him of his treat- 
 ment, and also, to prove to him, that I would strive to succeed. It was 
 only when I heard that he had used the language quoted above, that, meet- 
 ing him a day or two afterwards at the office of the Virginian, then on Roan- 
 oke Square, I indignantly denounced his charge of the Virginian being under 
 the influence of Mahone or any other man, as false, and that none ought to 
 know this better than he, who had known me so long. I rebuked him for his 
 excuse to the solicitor, that while his preference was to give me his Job 
 work, he was prevented from doing so, "because my office was out of the 
 way." I told him then that I bad never solicited his work, and gave my rea- 
 sons ; I told him that during the war he had never found me out of the 
 way, and I called up to his mind his unsolicited pledge to give me employ- 
 ment, and how he had disregarded it. At that time William Lamb, was not 
 interested either as a Director or Stockholder, in any newspaper or Job 
 Printing office. This was the first and only time that I ever made an allu- 
 sion to him of his treatment, and the only explanation he gave Avas that he 
 had been misunderstood, and that he had always been my friend. I told him 
 that he had a singular way of showing it. Yet after that interview, as 
 before it, I demonstrated friendship for him on numerous occasions 
 There was no business enterprise that he engaged in that I did not seek to 
 advance by kindly reference. When he represented in an official capacity the 
 business and commercial interests of the city, I looked to it that his action 
 had full prominence. When he re-entered politics, in the Democratic party, 
 I sought to push him forward. It was through my assistance that he was 
 elected a delegate to the St. Louis Convention. Through my assistance he 
 was made temporary chairman of the Convention that nominated Goa . Holli- 
 day, and on every occasion that I could, without sacrifice of previous pledges, 
 
19 
 
 help him politically, I extended my aid. Since we have differed in political 
 issues, I sustained his right to the claim of being in command of Fort 
 Fisher. While I have condemned his course as Mayor of the City, when 
 ever I thought it deserved condemnation,- he has always had the use of the 
 columns of the Virginian to defend himself, and it has been rare that any act 
 of his, that deserved favorable mention, has not received it. Before a com- 
 mittee of business men at the Cotton Exchange, in December '81. I ad\ oca- 
 ted .strongly his appointment as delegate to the Atlanta Exposition, — and 
 when on the streets he was charged with a defalcation of the money re" 
 ceived for tines, &c, I extended to him the use of the columns of the 
 Virginian to make his defence against the charge, a courtesy that he 
 availed himself of. Further than that, on the very night that he penned his 
 infamous card — in which he sought with cold blooded malice to degrade me — I 
 penned a complimentary notice of his efforts to secure the erection of a Light 
 House, a notice that appeared in the Virginian on the morning that his Card 
 appeared on the streets. How kindly I have always felt towards him and 
 his, the columns of the Virginian will amply show, for in addition to my 
 repeated friendly allusions to himself and his enterprises, I have lost no op- 
 portunity to write kind words of his sons in order to bring them into public 
 notice, that their future interests might be advanced. My motives were mis- 
 construed by many, and the belief prevailed, that I was indebted to him for my 
 education and my establishment in business — a belief that he and his friends 
 gave currency to, and which had greater circulation than I imagined. This 
 can be readily seen, from the following extract from a letter I received, con- 
 gratulating me on my course in the matter of his card. The writer says, 
 "I can't help repeating my endorsement. I was particularly pleased with 
 the exposure of the baseness of Lamb's pretentions to have raised and made 
 you — and your disavowal of the Code. I don't know that he ever said this. 
 But this is what I have often caught from the public, I thought from y«ur 
 fidelity— your attachment, your tender care of him since the war, the ex- 
 ceeding kindness of the Virginian, from all public acts, — that perhaps there 
 was a debt of gratitude that you were trying to pay. I am glad to find it is 
 not so— that the boot is entirely on the other foot. The course of the Virgin- 
 ian towards him, (specially since 1878) ought long since to have paid every 
 personal and pecuniary debt. I don't care what it could have been, it would 
 have been paid. Of all the acts of his life the meanest will be regarded as 
 his ingratitude to you. You will be nobly repaid in the public appreciation 
 of your chivalrous fidelity — your almost Quixotic loyalty. " 
 
 His one act of friendship to me, in all the years since the war, notwith- 
 standing his assertion that I "could have commanded anything I (he) had" 
 was to use his influence in having me elected "Secretary of the Merchants 
 and Mechanics Exchange." (a position with no pay attached). I acknowl- 
 edge it, and in summing up his exhibition of friendship for me from the 
 time that I entered his office in 1856-7, up to the time of the appearance of 
 his card, in which he terms me an 'ungrate, " they can be briefly enumera- 
 ted as follows : 
 
20 
 
 I. Declarations of Friendship. 
 
 II. Acts of Friendship. 
 
 The Declarations have no doubt been many. The acts have been two. 
 
 I. His unsolicited request that I should receive half of the profits of the 
 Sutlership of Fort Fisher. 
 
 II. His influence in securing nie the position of Secretary of the Mer- 
 chants and Mechanics Exchange. 
 
 If my devotion to him as a youth, previous to and during the Avar, and my 
 friendship for him as a man since the war, as shown in the preceding pages, 
 have not repaid these two acts of his kindness to me. I am willing to stand 
 his charge of ingratitude. 
 
 HIS KECORD. 
 
 I shall now consider that portion of his reply, in which he seeks to refute 
 my summing up of his career — a career, that save his gallantry at Fort Fish- 
 er, through youth and through manhood, has been a lamatable failure. 
 
 1. And first in order is his career at William and Mary. In my sketch I sta- 
 ted upon the authority of a class-mate of William Lamb, at William and 
 Mary, that the lamented Judge Scarburg, who at one time was a Professor at 
 the College, publicly reprimanded' him for violating honor during his prepa- 
 ration for an examination. Lamb attempts to disprove the statement, 
 by citing the fact, that Judge Win. H. Burroughs, who was also a class-mate, 
 had no recollection of such an occurrence ; — and a letter from President Ewell 
 of William and Mary, is published, in which he states, that he is amazed at 
 the charge, because of his total ignorance of the alledged transaction, and he 
 considers, that it would have been impossible for any such thing to have oc- 
 curred without it coming to his ears. Therefore, he believes, that there is no 
 foundation, in truth, for the charge. President Ewell cites also as a reason, 
 that the charge is unwarranted, the fact, that William Lamb in July 1854, 
 delivered by appointment of the Faculty, a poem at the Commencement, 
 and in 1855 was made Valedictorian, and delivered the Valedictory at the 
 Commencement that year — that Judge Scarburg Was present at this appoint- 
 ment, and President Ewell believes he advocated the appointment. 
 
 The failure of Judge Burroughs to recollect the occurrence, and the belief 
 on the part of President Ewell that the charge is unfounded — are no proofs 
 that the charge is untrue. What are the proofs as to its correctness '. J I am 
 in receipt of a letter from one of William Lamb's class-mates, in which it is 
 asserted, that "The statement in your letter is substantially dorrect. Prof. 
 Ewell knows nothing ofit." The letter then goes on to give full particulars of 
 the affair, which occurred during the examination of the Law class, and when 
 altera pledge on the part of the class that they would receive no assistance 
 from persons or books,. William Lamb violated the same, presenting his writ- 
 ten answers, which, on being read by Judge Scarburg, he charged Lamb 
 with having consulted books, and Land) confessed to having done so. Judge 
 Scarburg then reprimanded and refused to allow him to pass. The writer of 
 th ■ letter not having expressed consent to the publication of the same, nor 
 indicated re usab 1 have thus brielly alluded to it. The letter, however, 
 can be seen by those who desire to read it. But convincing proof of the 
 
21 
 
 charge will be found below. During his visit to Norfolk in November last, 
 • Dr. Geo. T. Scarburg, son of the lamented Judge Scarburg, and who was a 
 student at William and Mary when the occurrence took place, voluntarily 
 and unsolicited, called on me, and said that I could use his name in asserting 
 that the statement of fact in my charge was correct. In order that I might 
 make no error in relation to his conversation, 1 asked him to give his recol- 
 lection of the circumstance in writing, which he cheerfully consented to, and 
 addressed me the following letter : 
 
 Norfolk, Va., Nov. 2nd., 1882, 
 M. GLENN AN, Esq. 
 
 Deae Sie. — In response to your inquiry in regard to the reprimand by 
 my father to Col. Lamb, I reply that 1 was a student at the College at the 
 time, and that my recollection is positive and distinct, that he did reprimand 
 him, in the presence of members of the class, for having gained assistance in 
 his examination in violation of his pledge not to do so. I heard it spoken 
 of by my father at his hoirse, in conversation with one or two members of 
 the class, who boarded with him. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 G. T. SCARBUKG. 
 
 The reason given by those who I have conversed with, and by Dr Scar- 
 burg, why "William Lamb was permitted to deliver the Valedictory, is. that 
 he had been appointed to deliver it, and it was too late to change. Besides 
 Judge Scarburg did not wish to make public the affair, and considered that 
 his reprimand was sufficient. This was in keeping with his generous and 
 affectionate nature. The Law class met in the office of Judge Scarburg on 
 the lot owned by him, and distant from the College nearly a mile. Col. Ewell 
 was not present. 
 
 2. In reply to my charge of his ingratitude to the men of Norfolk, whom 
 lie, more than any other man, influenced to leave their workshops, their 
 clerkships and other employments in order to take up arms in defence of the 
 Confederacy — an ingratitude, that permitted employment at the close of the 
 war to be given to the lately freed slaves, who were at that time demonstra- 
 ting their insolence to returned "rebels" — and who with barbarous brutality 
 had displayed their hate of the "White Seesesh" on Emancipation day, in 
 an awful massacre of a white family ; — he gives as a reason, that he gave his 
 work in charge of a friend, who had, when his father was in prison secured 
 his release, by leaving the bedside of a dying child to plead with Presi- 
 dent Lincoln ; and that if this friend employed negro mechanics, it was no 
 more than others were doing, for at that time, business and building were so 
 active that mechanics of any kind were hard to obtain. His recognition of 
 the services of this friend, is to be appreciated. He would have been an 
 ' 'ingrate' ' if he had overlooked him. But, was he not an ' 'ingrate' ' when at the 
 time alluded to, he, in opulence, with employment to give out, failed to re- 
 member the men who under his influence, parted with lather and mother, 
 wife and children, and for four long years as heroes, fought and bled for the 
 cause of the Confederacy, and when on their return home, wearing the tat- 
 tered grey, were taunted and insulted by insolent negroes, who were pro- 
 tected by the military of the United States ? At this time work was not 
 brisk— employment was not .plentiful— and the returned Confederate had 
 
22 
 
 a hard time in earning a subsistence for himself and his little ones. 
 I well recollect the indignation that was uttered at the course pursued 
 by William Lamb. — an indignation that expressed itself in the defeat of his 
 father for the mayoralty. His father was not unpopular. He was at that 
 time personally looked upon as the most popular man in the city. But the 
 people desired, by his defeat, to rebuke the action of his son after the waTj 
 as they rebuked the ''unpopular candidate" alluded to by Lamb in his reply, 
 for his reported actions during the war. The reprimand in this case was 
 crushing, and lor many years after, William Lamb, never participated in 
 politics, giving as his reason the excuse that he had no time to give from his 
 business. As to the letter of Mr. Henry J. Maigne, T had no knowledge of 
 what William Lamb's kindness was to the Confederate soldiers after the 
 period I referred to, and his exceeding generosity in the bestowal of favors to 
 them, amounting to the immense sum of $50,000 is "greatly to his credit. " 
 His gifts must hare been very quietly and unostentatiously distributed, and 
 we question if his right hand knew what his left hand did. If, however, the 
 greater part of his liberality or his losses, was the result of unwise security, 
 it was amply repaid in the losses that others incurred through the misman- 
 agement of William Lamb. As to his efforts to build up the trade of Nor- 
 folk, I have too often awarded him praise in the columns of the Virginian, 
 and would not detract in the slightest from what in this matter, is his just- 
 due. 
 
 3. I come now to the reply to my charge that William Lamb, as 
 President of the First National Bank, "knew its bankrupt condition, 
 yet, he allowed the reception of deposit*, well knowing that the Bauk 
 must break, and on the very day of its failure permitted the money of 
 confiding friends to be received, and that from the failure of the Bank 
 many sad results followed. We have heard of good honest English settlers 
 who, trusting the reputation William Lamb had in England, deposit- 
 ed their all in the keeping of his Bank, and who hearing of their loss 
 despared and died, away from the home of their childhood, in a strange 
 land ; and we knew of others, who endorsing for this man, or loaning him 
 their notes, lost all the possessions they had in the world." 
 
 On September the 13th, three days after the publication of my paper, I 
 learned that I was in error in stating that William Land) was President of 
 the First National Bank on the day of its failure, and in the Virginian of the 
 14th, 1 published a brief card correcting this mistake. I also, in justice to 
 the gentlemen who were at the time of the failure, the officers of the Bank, 
 stated, that the. deposits entrusted to the Bank "the day previous to the sus- 
 pension and on the day of suspension, were returned to the depositors." This 
 did not, however, affect my charge, that " William Lamb, an the President of 
 the Bank, knew its bankrupt condition, yet he allowed the reception of deposits, 
 well knowing that the Bank must break " This charge I made, and I now pro- 
 pose to prove it, from the testimony of William Lamb himself. 
 
 In his card published in the Virginian and other papers, July 1878, he 
 writes : 
 
S3 
 
 "I was connected (the italics arc mine) for a long time with the First 
 National Bank, which suspended shortly after my resignation as President. 
 When I entered this Bank its its stock was apparently worth par. I found out 
 fehen too late, that its foundation was sapped — if indeed it ever had any — it being 
 Ufa ally a fungus of the thoney plethora and speculation of the la*t days of the civil 
 war. I soon discovered a suspended debt, of same $40,000 and from one account 
 alone * " :: ~ there came * * a suit against the First National Bank, with 
 damages laid at $100,000. From that day to the end. it was a struggle 
 against ill fate and endless litigation, and nothing but the large business of 
 the bank, together with the credit I gave it, kept it from ruin." 
 
 - 
 
 Again, in a series of resolutions passed by the Norfolk Liberal Club, pub- 
 lished Sept. 16th, 1882, and which I believe- were instigated by, if not 
 written by him or at his dictation, appears the following : 
 
 "His unfortunate connection with a banking institution, which teas bank- 
 rupt when he assumed control, was a misfortune, from which he suffered more 
 than any one else 11 * * 
 
 From the above extracts, it is shown, that William Lamb, . (by his 
 own evidence) was for a long time President of the First National Bank, 
 how many ycarsl do not know, and that soon after his election, he 
 discovered a suspended debt from what sprung a suit with damages 
 laid at $100.000 — and from that day to the end, it was a struggle 
 against ill fate and endless litigation — or in the language of the resolu- 
 tions adopted by the Liberal Club, the institution was "bankrupt when 
 he assumed control." Is this not proof of what I charge, viz : that 
 William Lamb, as the President of the bank, knew its bankrupt condition, 
 yet, he allowed the reception of deposits, well knowing that the bank 
 must break. " What should have been his course ? Ought he not, in justice 
 to the depositors who trusted the stability of the bank and the "credit" of 
 William Lamb, have immediately made known its condition and thus saved 
 them from ruin. But did he do 'this? Oh no. For the long time he was 
 President of the bank, he drew the large salary of the office, (Three to Five 
 Thousand a year I am informed), too large for a bankrupt institution to pay, 
 and solicited deposits even as iate as January 1874, a few months previous to 
 the closing of the institution, soliciting them too, because of the "conserva- 
 tive and legitimate 1 '' manner with which it conducted business, as the fol- 
 lowing circular, signed by William Lamb, as President, and circulated on 
 postal cards, the first day of the new year of 1874, will indicate. I italicize. 
 
 FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF NORFOLK, 
 
 (Chauteked 1864.) 
 
 This Bank, the oldest Natiojial Bank in the Sotdh, solicits the accounts of 
 those whom the recent "panic" may have suggested the propriety of making 
 new arrangements. 
 
 It does a strictly conservative and legitimate banking business, and it will be 
 pleased to reply to any inquiries as to terms. 
 
 No interest has ever been allowed on daily balances. but accounts taken 
 by special agreement, bring 5 and 6 per cent interest, according to duration of 
 deposit. 
 
 Large "amounts deposited on interest are taken with the understanding that 
 a reasonable notice be given of intended withdrawal. 
 
24 
 
 Matured Bonds and Coupons collected, and U. S. Bonds and Gold sold for 
 customers free of commission. 
 
 Loans on real estate negotiated and interest collected thereon free of 
 charge. 
 
 WILLIAM LAMB, President. 
 
 January 187 f. 
 
 The above "Postal" Circular, that bears the Postoffice mark, January 1st, 
 it will be admitted, was a very strong paper to send out in the interests 
 of a Bank, whose foundation it had been discovered by the President was 
 "sapped— : if indeed — it ever had auy" — "which was literally a fungus of 
 the money plethora and speculation of the civil war''— and that had been 
 "struggling against ill fate and endless legislation" from the day that a 
 suspended debt had been discovered, to the end. 
 
 As to English settlers, who were depositors losing their means through the 
 failure of the bank, I had frequently heard that such was the case, and I had 
 read in one of the Virginia papers, shortly after the "closing of the institu- 
 tion, a pathetic account of the death of an English settler because of his 
 losses through the failure of the Eirst National Bank, and I know of men 
 who endorsing for this man, or loaning him their notes, lost all their possess- 
 ions, yet, who are to-day facing life boldly and resolutely. 
 
 5 and 6. It is hardly necessary for me to notice the peculiar way he treats 
 the charge that he wa.- elected Chief Magistrate under false colors, and that ho 
 had proved a tyrant, hated and detested, beginning his career by seeking re- 
 venge on two trusted Police officers who had opposed his election. Surely 
 he was elected Mayor, on the ground that he was an independent Jefferso- 
 nian Democrat, who had such anabhorence in the fall of 1880 for any Re- 
 publican, that in a discussion at Princess Anne Courthouse, during the bit- 
 ter canvass of that period, participated in by Lacy and Lamb against Goode 
 and Eitzhngh Lee. that he resented Gen. Lee's prophecy "that he Lamb 
 was going into the Republican ranks, " telling the crowd, "that he could stand 
 almost anything but being called a Republican and that he would not let Gen. 
 Lee or any man say that, if he was not under bonds to keep the peace.'' 
 That he has proved a tyrant, this community knows only too well, nor need 
 I notice his remarks upon my allusion to his record as a duelist. What I said 
 of his latest fiasco in that role in connection with the charge, is well known 
 as the truth, and my reasons for the allusion were well justified. The 
 lamented gentleman whose name he uses in this matter, was his warm 
 friend up to the conclusion of this affair. His friendship afterwards may be 
 expressed, by the word, "PITY." Lamb admits that his "house was sur- 
 rounded," and he, asserts that his ''honorable adversary's was not." His 
 unblushing denial of this established fact is in perfect keeping with his 
 
 record. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 And now a few words in conclusion and I am through with a subject that 
 tome has been both painful and distasteful, but into the discussion of which I 
 was, without warrant, provoked. It will be necessary for me to state here, 
 what before has not been made public. The letter of Dr. Holt's, published in 
 the Virginian of Sunday, September 10th, 1882, hail been received during my 
 
25 
 
 absence from the city, and had been opened by the business manager of the 
 Virginian, who on my return referred it to me, stating at the time, the purport 
 of the communication, viz : that it was a report of Lamb's speech at Surry 
 Courthouse, which the correspondent had denounced as infamous. I hurriedly 
 glanced over the letter, and not making out the signature of the writer I threw 
 it aside, in conformity with a rule, that I have always adhered to, never to 
 publish a communication, without a knoAvledge of the author and his respon- 
 sibility, Two days afterwards, having a curiosity to read the letter more 
 carefully, I picked it up, and then discovered that the author was Dr. M. Q. 
 Holt, an influential citizen of Surry county, a gentleman responsible for his 
 utterances. As the facts stated by him, were of such a character as to demand 
 a publication, I turned the letter over to the printers prefacing it with a few 
 lines, stating the delay of its publication, and alluding to it in a brief 
 editorial. It will thus be seen, that my desire in this matter was to protect 
 William Lamb from the attack of an irresponsible party, and that it was not 
 until I knew that the writer was responsible for what he wrote, that I pub- 
 lished the communication that brought forth from Lamb his infamous and 
 cowardly card. I say, inlamous and cowardly, for he well knew the author 
 of the communication in the Virginian when he penned his card, and if he 
 had not known him, he was well aware that by simply requesting his name 
 he could have secured it without a moment's hesitation. But such was not 
 his desire. He cunningly sought for cheap notoriety, by pocketing what he 
 admitted to be in effect a deliberate insult, and in return denouncing the 
 writer of the communication who lived fifty or sixty miles from the city, and 
 at the same time, aware that I was no duelist, in the maliciousness of his 
 cold-blooded nature, he coupled myself in his denunciations, who in boy- 
 hood, and youth, and manhood, had been his friend. He took this course, 
 w r ith the expectation, that 1 would attack him on the streets, when as a 
 result, an arrest would be made, and both would be put under bonds to 
 keep the peace. Then he would be safe from all responsibility to Dr. Holt, 
 and all attack on his record would be silenced. Seeing through his scheme, 
 I determined in defiance of his attroeious threat, (all the more so, because 
 coming from one who claims to be a Christian, and who is the Chief Magistrate 
 of a city,) upon the course I should pursue, and published "A paper, which 
 includes a sketch of two lives, and a reply to a card." 
 
 My action, I am gratified to know, has been approved by all right think- 
 ing men, irrespective of party' nationality or creed, for among those who 
 have been warmest in their kind words of approval are many who belong to 
 the party which William Lamb* not for principle, but for self, has allied 
 himself with. Most gratifying to me, also, has been the kind and friendly 
 letters received from all sections of the Commonwealth, and from various 
 sections of the country, approving my course. Need I remark, that these 
 evidences of generous approval shall be always treasured. With the decla- 
 ration that I have no malice to the man who had basely attempted to 
 defame me, I close my review of hig reply. 
 
 M. GLENNAN. 
 
* 
 
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