LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 764 453 8 ^ '^\ pcRmaliPie* E 573 .3 .N88 Copy 1 f. O. Department of the Confederate States. — Reagan. 327 Chief of the Appointment Bureau, and Chief of the Finance Bureau. I will not forego the suggestion that I think the study of these reports would do much to suggest economy in the Post- office Department of the United States. I found that by twice going over the revision of the mail routes, and the dropping of unnecessary routes, some of them parallel routes,, some of them unnecessary cross routes, &c., much unneces- sary expense was avoided. I venture the suggestion that this is greatly needed in the Department at Washington. My information is that this sort of an overhauling and re- vision of mail routes in the United States was never done but twice, once by Dr. Franklin, and once by Postmaster Gen- eral McLean. It would be a considerable undertaking, but if gone through with carefully and efficiently it would prob- ably reduce the expenditures of the Postoffice Department millions of dollars annually. I ^p2 NORTH CAROLINA IN THE CIVIL WAR.^ The State of North Carolina has been called often by her own sons and others a laggard and a Rip Van Winkle. She has been accused time and again of living only in the pres- ent and neglecting and forgetting the glorious deeds of the men from whom her citizens are sprung. But this is an ac- cusation intended mainly for home consumption with the hope of inspiring to greater activity a body politic which is exceedingly slow to move, but which when it once goes for- ward does not retreat until the last man has died in the last ditch. Witness the record of that State in the Civil war ; with a voting population of less than 115,000 in i860 it fur- nished to the Confederacy more than 127,000 troops, (Judge Clarke says 133,905), of whom, according to Colonel Fox's Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 40,275 filled soldiers' graves out of a total loss to the Confederacy of 140,- ^ Histories | of the [ several regiments and battalions | from North Carolina | in the | great war 1861-65. | Written by members of the respective commands. | Edited by | Walter Clark, | Lieut.-Colonel Seventieth Regiment, N. C. T. | Vol. i [v]. | Published by the State. I Raleigh [Goldsboro]: | E. M. Uzzell [Nash Brothers]; Printer and Binder | igoi. O. Vol. I, pp. xiv+783; portraits, 199; maps, 5. Vol. II, pp. 807; portraits, 288; maps, 3; illus., i. Vol. Ill, pp. 761; portraits, 253; maps, 9; illus., i. Vol. IV, pp.772; portraits, 188; maps. 5; illus., I. Vol. V, pp. xxvi+859; portraits, 61 ; maps, g; illus., 11. Total, pp. 4022 ; portraits, 989 ; maps, 31 ; illus., 14. Cloth, $5.00 net, to be had of the State Librarian, Raleigh, N. C. Tales of the Cape Fear Blockade, by James Sprunt N. C. Booklet, Feb., 1902. D. pp. 112, I ill. The Charge of Gettysburg, by S. A. Ashe. Ibid., March, 1902. D. pp. 28. The Conditions that Led to the Ku Klux Klans, by Mrs. T. J. Jarvis. Ibid., April, 1902. D. pp. 24. Subscription for the Booklet, $1.00 per year, monthly, Raleigh, N. C. Roster of North Carolina troops in the war between the States. Prepared, by order of Legislature of 1881, by John W. Moore, late major, commanding third battalion, light artillery. Raleigh: Ashe & Catling, 1882. O. cloth. Vol. I, pp. x-f58i ; II, 4+743; III. 4+741; IV, vii+458; total pages, 2548. Brief Sketches of North Carolina State Troops in the War between the States. Compiled by J. C. Birdsong, Raleigh, 1894. O. pp. 213. 0^ North Carolina in the Civil War. 329 821. The loss suffered by North Carohna was more than twice as heavy as that of any other Southern State; those who died in Federal prisons and from disease are more than 20,000 in number. The writer of this note has l>een inform- ed by at least one veteran, Rev. Joseph H Armstrong, of the Baltimore Conference, M. E. C. S., whose chaplaincy brought him into contact with men from all States, that North Carolina soldiers, when attacked by disease, showed less ability to rally, were more easily discouraged by sickness and died sooner than those from other States. Was this the observation of others and if so what was the cause ? The writer has recently heard from officers returned from the Philippines that American soldiers fight there like dare- devils, but when stricken down by wounds or disease they lack vitality and lose all power of resistance. The fight- ing capacity of North Carolina troops was well known. Does their reckless bravery in battle explain their apparent loss of moral fibre under the inroads of disease and of wounds ? But in matters of history North Carolina has been as faith- ful as she was in war. Witness the noble series of Colonial and State records, on which she has been engaged for twen- ty years, now extending to twenty volumes and intended to include all available material dealing with her history from the earliest times down to 179 1. To this valuable series of Colonial and Revolutionary papers are now to be added an- other series in five volumes dealing with the Civil war — his- tories of the several regiments and battalions from North Carolina in the great war, 1861-65, written by members of the respective commands and edited by Walter Clark. The history of this work is quickly told. At a meeting of the State Confederate Veterans' Association in Raleigh, in October, 1894, on a motion presented by Hon. A. C. Avery, it was resolved that a history of each regiment and organiza- tion from North Carolina which served in the Confederate army should be prepared by a member thereof and that Judge Walter Clark should be requested to select the his- 330 Southern History Association. torians from each command, to supervise and edit the work, the whole to be pubhshed at the expense of the State. The duties thus devolved on Judge Clark were neither small in number nor trivial in character. Many of the lead- ers in the events to be described had passed away; of the survivors who promised assistance some died and others procrastinated — the twin evils of history. But the work is now completed and will help to make better known to future generations the heroic period of a great State. The work takes up the various organizations and treats them in order. Volume I. gives chapters on the organiza- tion of the various departments of the service ; then follow histories of the various regiments, the Bethel regiment, the First regiment and up to the i6th; Vol. 2, 17th to 426. regi- ments ; Vol. 3, 43d to 69th regiments ; Vol. 4, 70th to 83d regiments, loth and i6th regiments, supplemental, ist to 25th battalions, 14 brigade histories, chaplain and medical ser- vice, with histories of the Federal prisons in which North Carolina troops were confined, and of the Salisbury prison, the only Confederate one in North Carolina. The fifth vol- ume is the largest and unquestionably the most interesting, besides much material in shape of additions and corrections to previous volumes, there are official reports and contem- porary publications dealing with many events of interest and importance, nearly 200 pages of indexes, an account of the financial operations of North Carolina in England, an exten- sive history of the navy and of blockade nmning to Wil- mington by James Sprunt, fuller than that given in the A^. C. Booklet mentioned elsewhere, and a complete roster of the North Carolinians who surrendered at Appomattox. The work naturally and necessarily shows the limitations under which it has been produced. There are in the series 254 contributions from 180 different writers. In the army these men represented every rank from lieutenant general to private ; in civil life they have occupied every position from U. S. Senator and Governor to constable and have filled all y North Carolina in the Civil War. 331 professions, callings and trades. They are among the best men that the State has produced, but of them all only a few have had experience in writing of any kind, while only a very few can make any pretense to historical training. Many of the contributors were privates or minor officers ; they were not in position for extended or general observa- tion and the perspective from which the chapters have been written is not a broad one. Further, these narratives have been produced a generation after the war was over, many of the actors and many of those best suited by training to tell of their deeds have crossed over the river and it is safe to say that the actual authors have not always been able to consult surviving comrades nor to examine official reports of the events which they describe. These are objections and weaknesses which naturally arise in the mind of the critical historical student, but while com- manding his attention they are far outweighed by the service which these volumes promise to the cause of history in the South. They are the words of participants, and while not absolutely contemporary with the events which they describe, must be classed as original sources ; they are the work of men of undoubted honesty, of a high degree of intelligence, of much common sense, and training in practical afifairs, and are not intended as formal history, but as materials, memor- abilia, contributions towards the work of the coming master. The unit used as a basis for the work, — the regiment, — be- ing small, it is possible that minor officers and privates would be generally well acquainted with the movements of the or- ganization of which they were writing. While of unequal fulness, accuracy and general merit, it is probable that few serious blunders have crept into the work, since many of the sketches were first published in newspaper, magazine or other form, and in this way submitted to comrades for criticism and correction. That these volumes make a substantially accurate and most valuable addition to the war history of North Carolina 23 332 Southern History Association. there can be no doubt. That this history is highly honorable to the State is evidenced by the proud claim printed on the cover to each volume and more than made good by the mul- titudinous deeds of heroism and reckless bravery recorded in their glowing pages: "First at Bethel; farthest to the front at Gettysburg and Chickamauga; last at Appomat- tox." The total number of pages in the series is 4022; maps, 31 ; full page illustrations, etc., 14; separate portraits, 989. The portraits were engraved under the supervision of Maj. C. L. Patton, of the University Publishing Company, and repre- sent all ranks, the only requirement for admission being hon- orable service. The printing has been well done with large, clear type, on good paper. The binding is cloth, on which are stamped in gold and in colors the North Carolina and Con- federate flags. There are 177 pages of indexes divided into twenty-one alphabets ! A great pity it is that words of praise cannot be as generous and hearty for this conclusion of the work as they have been for other parts. The three vices of index making, says a recent reviewer of the index to the new set of the Jesuits Relations, are lack of general intelligence, lack of system, and unscrupulous haste. The indexer of this se- ries is guilty of all. People generally and most authors, judging by the things they furnish to their books and called indexes, think that an index is both easy in the making and unimportant in the use. It is neither. In the particular case in hand the labor of consultation is multiplied twenty- one fold by failure to condense the whole into a single al- phabet; nothing is given except the bare page reference, while an index is to tell enough to differentiate the particular matter in question. It would be tiresome to wade through the 61 references under Z. B. Vance to find a given item. The names are far from alphabetical order ; many in the text are omitted and the indexer is possessed with the brilliant idea that it was within his province to say what names should .^ North Carolina in the Civil War. 333 be admitted to the index at all. An index is like religion, it must be complete and all inclusive or it is valueless. Un- fortunately the crown of this noble series is its most unworthy part. The: North Carolina Booklet, with the number for May, enters upon its second volume. While doing nothing to increase the knowledge of North Carolina history, it has been and is contributing materially to make the history of the State better known to its people and has been so well re- ceived that some of its monthly issues have passed through several editions. The scheme of publication is to present a popular survey of some selected event, — "Great events in North Carolina history," — which is made independent of all others in the series. The first series treated events from the Roanoke colony of 1587 to the Civil war. The series prom- ised for 1902-3 in detail is as follows: Ku-Klux, by Mrs. T. J. Jarvis, reprint from Lawson; Indian Massacre and Tuscarora War, by Hon. Walter Clark ; Old Charleston on the Cape Fear; Our Pirates, by Capt. S. A. Ashe; The Revolutionary Congress of N. C. ; Whigs and Tories ; The Battle of Guilford Court House, by Prof. D. H. Hill ; His- toric Homes in N. C, — the Grove and others; Raleigh and the old town of Bloomsbury, by Dr. K. P. Battle ; Moravian Settlement in N. C, by Dr. J. H. Clewell; The Story of the Albemarle, by Major Graham Daves. The last three numbers of Volume I. deal with the Civil war. In his Tales of the Cape Fear Blockade, Mr. James Sprunt brings together a number of detached and indepen- dent stories of blockade running from Wilmington, N. C, the chief port of the Confederacy for this work, since it was one of the most difficult for the Federals to blockade and one of the last great ports to fall, lln fact blockade runners entered the port after the fall of Fort Fisher. To Wilming- ton resorted adventurous spirits from all parts, attracted by the spice of danger and the immense profits coming from a 013 764 453 8 334 Southern History Association. successful trip ; hither came, too, speculators and Jews to at- tend blockade auctions, thugs, gamblers, toughs and many- soldiers on leave. Mr. Sprunt was purser of the blockade runner, Lilian, and writes of things which he saw and of which he was a part, "of war and pestilence and famine ; of indomitable courage and heroic fortitude ; of privations and sufferings ; and of a strange traffic through a beleaguered city which supplied the sinews of war long after the re- sources of the South had been exhausted; a traffic which will be unique in our history." In his Charge at Gettysburg Capt. Ashe reviews the work of the third day, devoting himself particularly to the share of the North Carolinians. The chief loss was borne by the three North Carolina and the three Virginia brigades that participated in the assault. Mrs. Jarvis's paper is a poor summary of political history from the beginning of the anti- slavery agitation. \ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 764 453 8 peRmalif^*