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(General ^att* ^. Ransom 
 
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 T some future time in a more enduring form we 
 may hope that the services rendered his State and 
 the Nation by the late Hon. Matt. W. Ransom, as 
 a civilian, will be transmitted to posterity. To- 
 day, in this historic chamber with hallowed mem- 
 ories crowding upon me, I would carry you back 
 some forty years and more and speak of General 
 Ransom as a Confederate soldier in the army of 
 Northern Virginia. 
 
 GENERAL RANSOM'S FIRST SERVICE TO THE SOUTHERN 
 CONFEDERACY 
 
 came about in this wise. On January 28, 1861, the General As- 
 sembly of North Carolina, of which body Mr. Ransom was a 
 representative in the House of Commons, from the County of 
 Northampton, passed the following joint resolution: 
 
 "That for the purpose of eflfecting an honorable and amicable adjust- 
 ment of all difficulties that distract the country .... and for the pur- 
 pose of consulting for our common peace, honor and safety, the Hon. 
 David L. Swain, M. W. Ransom and John L. Bridgers are appointed 
 commissioners to visit Montgomery, Alabama, for the purposes above 
 indicated." 
 
 Governor Swain was a pronounced " Union man, " as was his 
 colleague and former pupil, Mr. Ransom. Mr. Bridgers was classed 
 among the "Secessionists." At this time, the States of South 
 Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, 
 
(Beiteral ^att ^. Ransom 
 
 and Texas had seceded from the Union and delegates from said 
 States had met in convention at Montgomery, Alabama, a pro- 
 visional constitution for the Confederate States of America had 
 been adopted and Jefiferson Davis, of Mississippi, elected President 
 and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President. Gover- 
 nor Swain, clarum et venerabile nometi, was President of the 
 State University, was President when his associate, Mr. Ran- 
 som, graduated in June, 1847. 
 
 Mr. Bridgers was a member of the Legislature from the 
 County of Edgecombe, soon to distinguish himself as Captain in 
 the famous Bethel Regiment at the first battle and first victory 
 for the Confederacy in the war between the States. 
 
 On February 11, 1861, this Commission wrote to Governor 
 ElHs from Montgomery, Alabama, the practical failure of their 
 mission in these words : 
 
 "We regret to be constrained to state as the result of our inquiries 
 .... that only a very decided minority of the communities of these 
 States (those which had seceded) are disposed at present to entertain 
 favorably any proposition of adjustment which looks towards a recon- 
 cilement of our National Union." 
 
 Event followed event now in rapid succession. Mr. Lincoln 
 took his seat as President, on March 4, 1861. He did not 
 receive an electoral vote in any Southern State, and out of a 
 popular vote of 2,804,560 only 1,857,610 were cast for those 
 electors favorable to him. He carried but 16 of the 33 States 
 then in the Union. He was inaugurated as President, without 
 having received a majority of the popular vote either of the 
 States or the people. 
 
 An attempt by President Lincoln to reinforce the U. S. Garrison 
 at Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, 
 was resisted by the Confederate forces under General Beaure- 
 gard, and on April 14, 1861, after a bombardment lasting thirty- 
 six hours, the fort surrendered. 
 
 On the next day, April 15, President Lincoln issued his procla- 
 mation calling upon the several States to furnish their quota of 
 75,000 troops "to suppress combinations in the seceded States 
 too powerful for the law to contend with," and the same day 
 
 (4) 
 
(BcReral Mtatt. >J^. tJlansom 
 
 Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, telegraphed 
 Governor EUis, "Call made on you by tonight's mail for two 
 regiments of militia for immediate service." 
 
 Reclining on his couch in the executive office, a mortal disease 
 robbing his life's blood. Governor ElUs received the dispatch and 
 at once replied : "Sir: I regard the levy of troops made by the Ad- 
 ministration for the purpose of subjecting the States of the 
 South, as in violation of the Constitution and as a gross usurpa- 
 tion of power. I can be no party to this wicked war upon the 
 liberties of a free people. You can get no troops from North 
 
 Carolina." 
 
 Governor Ellis at once issued his proclamation calHng the 
 Legislature to meet in special session. On its assembling, the 
 Legislature issues a call for a convention of the people and author- 
 izes the enrollment of 20,000 volunteers. The Honorable Matt. 
 W. Ransom is among the first to respond and is commissioned 
 Lieutenant-Colonel of the First Regiment of Infantry; this com- 
 mission dates May 8, 1861. What about this yoimg civilian ap- 
 pointed to so high a rank in an army and without previous miU- 
 tary training ? 
 
 HIS BIRTH AND YOUNG MANHOOD. 
 
 Matt. Whitaker Ransom was born on his father's plantation, 
 near Warrenton, North Carolina, October 8, 1826. He was the 
 oldest son of six children, two boys and four girls. His father, 
 Robert Ransom, was a man of superior intelligence, the son of 
 Seymour Ransom, who was ahalf brother of Nathaniel Macon. 
 
 His mother was Priscilla Whitaker, of the well known Whita- 
 ker family, of Halifax County. General Ransom never tired of 
 speaking in the most reverential and affectionate manner of his 
 parents'' and attributed much of his success to their teachings 
 and examples. After making two visits south to Tuscombia, 
 Alabama, and Columbia, Tennessee, with his family, Mr. Robert 
 Ransom returned to Warren County about 1838, and lived with 
 his mother, who was Birchett Greene, daughter of Wm. Greene, a 
 wealthy planter of Warren County, who resided at her ancestral 
 home. Bridal Creek, near Warrenton. 
 
 Young Ransom was prepared for Chapel Hill by Mr. Robert 
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
iBeneral Mtalt W, !J\ansom 
 
 A. Ezell, a native of Virginia, who had a famous Academy at 
 Warrenton. He matriculated at the University January, 1844, 
 as a freshman half advanced and graduated in June, 1847. He 
 was conspicuous during his university career not only for his 
 studiousness, cleverness, courteous bearing, superiority in his 
 studies and eloquence in debate in the Philanthropic Society of 
 which he was a beneficiary, but he was exceptionally regular in 
 attendance upon his classes and at prayers. He did not miss a 
 recitation or fail to be present at prayers during his college 
 career. In those days morning prayers were held at sunrise in 
 summer, and in the winter at daybreak, the chapel was not 
 heated, and in winter time the hearers sat in the cold. 
 
 When Henry Clay visited Raleigh in 1844 the student body 
 from the State University, almost without exception, went to 
 hear him. Young Ransom remained at the Hill so as not to miss 
 any duty. The year he graduated, 1847, was the year President 
 Polk visited Chapel Hill. To James Johnston Pettigrew, brilhant, 
 versatile, a mathematical genius, afterward the brave and ac- 
 comphshed Confederate soldier, commanding a brigade in the 
 army of Northern Virginia, mortally wounded at Falling Waters, 
 Virginia, was given the valedictory. In honor of the President's 
 visit it was decided a salutatory address in English should be 
 delivered, and to young Ransom was given the distinction of 
 making it, the first and only time in the history of the University 
 tinder the old regime that a salutatory address in English was 
 allowed. The New York Herald had a special correspondent to 
 accompany the Presidential party and he thus writes of Mr. Ran- 
 som's address: 
 
 "Of the composition by the young disciples of Cicero, the salutatory 
 by Mr. Ransom was unquestionably the best. His welcome to the Presi- 
 dent of the United States was superior to anything of the kind through- 
 out the whole expedition. His welcome to the people at large was also 
 in fine taste, while the beauty and finished elegance of the welcome to 
 the ladies drew down upon his devoted head repeated rounds of 
 applause." 
 
 After graduation Mr. Ransom located at Warrenton, and hav- 
 ing studied law in his senior j-ear under the late Judge Wm. H. 
 
 ( 6) 
 
(Bdueral !Jttatt >iO, transom 
 
 Battle, as pure and upright a judge as ever adorned the Supreme 
 Bench of a State -he was prepared to take his place at the Bar 
 upon leaving the University. 
 
 His father was an earnest Whig and young Ransom was thus 
 a Whig bv inheritance. Warren County was overwhelmingly 
 Democratic, but with superior talents and attainments far be- 
 yond his vears, with the aid of a fine person, captivating manners 
 'and an eloquent tongue, he at once took high rank at the Bar. 
 In 1852 he was a presidential elector on the Whig ticket. At a 
 great meeting in Halifax County during the campaign, he had 
 arranged with a friend to fill a log with gunpowder, which, at a 
 given signal, was to be set ofi^and thus excite the enthusiasm of 
 his hearers, as he discanted on the praises of General Scott, the 
 presidential nominee of his party. Mr. Ransom appeared on the 
 platform dressed in a blue coat with brass buttons, buff vest and 
 straw colored pants, a splendid attire faultlessly made. 
 
 Everv'thing at first went as cottld be wished. General Scott 
 was the miHtary hero of the day. His brilHant successes in the 
 War of 1812; his invaluable services in peace afterwards; his 
 matchless victories in the war with Mexico then lately ended, 
 furnished the theme. As the speaker warmed to his subject and 
 began to recount the various successes of the American army 
 under Scott, the surrender of Vera Cruz, the battle of Cerro Gor- 
 do, the capture of Contrera and Cherubusco, and was leading up 
 to the climax in his flight of oratory, the storming of Chapultepec, 
 which was the agreed signal for the explosion, his friend ap- 
 peared on the edge of the crowd wildly gesticulating, and in 
 an impassioned tone heard above the voice of the speaker, cried 
 out, "Matt. ! Matt. !! hold on! the damned old log won't go off." 
 Forty-four years after this the young orator was to visit the 
 scenes he so eloquently described, the representative of his 
 Country as its Minister Plenipotentiary. 
 
 In December, 1852, following this brilHant campaign as a 
 Whig elector, Mr. Ransom was chosen by a Democratic Legisla- 
 ture, Attorney-General of the State in competition with Honor- 
 able WilHam Eaton, a Democrat and a lawyer of the highest 
 standing and character. 
 
 (7) 
 
(Beneral ^att. >it?, Maitsom 
 
 On January 19, 1853, Mr. Ransom was married to Miss Martha 
 Anne (Pattie) Exum, one of the two daughters of Joseph Exum, 
 Esquire, of Northampton County, a lady of rare excellence and 
 many accomplishments, who has blessed and adorned her hus- 
 band's household and been his inspiration through life. Six 
 boys and two girls blessed this union, all of whom with their 
 mother survive except the oldest girl (Pattie), who died when a 
 child, and Thomas, a brilliant young man, whose untimely death 
 in 1896, just as he was entering upon the practice of law with 
 every prospect of success, saddened his father's life to the end. 
 
 In 1856 Mr. Ransom, having resigned his position as Attorney- 
 General, moved from Warrenton to his wife's ancestral home at 
 Verona in Northampton County, and there he died. At his home in 
 Northampton County, Mr. Ransom devoted himself chiefly to 
 looking after his landed estates, not taking an active part in the 
 practice of his profession, but was elected to represent his county 
 as a member of the House of Commons in 1858 and again in 1860. 
 
 RANSOM AS A SOLDIER. 
 
 North Carolina's military record is altogether honorable. As 
 early as 1711, with the aid of troops from South Carolina, she 
 destroyed the power of the fierce Tuscaroras. Two ^'ears later 
 she sent an expedition under Colonel Maurice Moore to aid South 
 Carolina against the Yemasee Indians. In 1740 she sent 400 
 men on Admiral Vernon's ill-fated expedition to Cartagena, 
 South America, the same year she sent troops to aid Governor 
 Oglethorpe against the Spaniards in Florida. In 1754 she sent 
 a regiment under Colonel James Innes to Winchester, Virginia, 
 who took command of the expedition, outranking Colonel George 
 Washington, who then commanded the Virginia forces. The 
 next year she sent 100 men in the disastrous Braddock expedi- 
 tion to capture Fort DuOuesne, now Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 
 and three years later(1758) she had three companies under Major 
 Hugh Waddell in General Forbes' expedition which captured the 
 fort, the North Carolinians being the first to enter the fortress. 
 In 1756 she had four companies in the French War, and in 1759 
 and 1761 she sent a large force under Colonel Hugh Waddell 
 against the Cherokees. 
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
(Bciteral ^att. W. transom 
 
 Coming down to Revolutionary times we find women not less 
 patriotic and daring than the men ; and as eariy as October 25, 
 1774, fifty-one patriotic women met at the residence of Mrs. 
 Elizabeth King in Edenton, and had such a "Tea Party" in- 
 deed as will be ever memorable in the nation's history; and when 
 the city of Boston was under embargo for destroying the tea in 
 that harbor and her citizens were in distress for want of food, 
 the people of North Carolina declared "the cause of Boston is 
 the cause of all," and, from Wilmington and New Bern, ships 
 laden with supplies were sent as a contribution to their brothers 
 in want in Boston. 
 
 At Alamance, May 16, 1771, was spilt the first blood in re- 
 sistance to exactions of English rulers and oppressions by the 
 Home Government; and from Moore's Creek (February 22, 
 1776), where was had the first armed conflict between the Colo- 
 nists and the troops of the Mother Country in North Carolina, 
 until the battle of Guilford Court House (March 15, 1781), the 
 last battle in this State between the two, we have a long list of 
 brilliant and daring conflicts. North Carolina troops won the 
 brilliant victories at Ramsour's Mill, King's Mountain, Elizabeth- 
 ton, and participated in the battle of Camden Court House. Un- 
 der Rutherford's leadership, early in 1776, they crashed the Tories 
 in South Carolina, and later in the 3'ear the Indians in Tennessee. 
 North Carolina troops shared in the battles of Stono, Briar 
 Creek, the Cow Pens and in the defense of Charleston, and 
 under Davidson and Graham gallantly' resisted the passage of 
 the Catawba by the British under Tarleton and Cornwallis. In 
 the War of 1812 General Joseph Graham, a hero of the Revolu- 
 tionary War, commanded a brigade of North and South Caro- 
 lina troops that were sent to aid General Andrew Jackson in the 
 Creek War, and in the Mexican War (1846-47) there were two 
 regiments from North Carolina under Colonels Robert Treat 
 Paine and Louis D. Wilson, after whom Wilson County is named. 
 
 Her people were schooled in war from the beginning of the 18th 
 to the middle of the 19th century, and we are now to consider the 
 part her soldiers played in that most gigantic war of modern 
 
 (9) 
 
(BcncraX Mtalt >iP. yiansom 
 
 times, the din of whose conflict was heard all over the world, 
 and the people of all nations were spectators of the scene. 
 
 The General Assembly that met on May 1, 1861, in obedience 
 to Governor Ellis' proclamation, authorized the Governor to 
 raise ten regiments of State troops to serve during the war. 
 
 Mr. Ransom at once offered his services and was appointed 
 Lieutenant-Colonel of the First Regiment, and left his seat in the 
 Legislature to assume the uniform of a soldier in the Confederate 
 Army. The regiment was organized at the race track near 
 Warrenton and Mumford S. Stokes, a veteran of the Mexican 
 War, was appointed Colonel. In July (1861) its organization 
 perfected, the regiment was ordered to Richmond and assigned to 
 General Holmes' brigade, then in camp at Brooks Station near 
 the mouth of Acquia Creek, Virginia. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Ransom was no Martinet, but he believed 
 in discipline, and when in command required strict observance of 
 the army regulations. This at one time rendered him unpopular. 
 He was resolute not to give leaves of absence and while Colonel 
 Stokes was in Fredericksburg in attendance on a court martial, 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Ransom refused all applications for furloughs. 
 
 When his Colonel returned to camp he relaxed the stringent 
 orders of his subordinate, and this made the unpopularity of 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Ransom all the greater by contrast. Colonel 
 Ransom protested, but in vain. When Colonel Stokes resumed his 
 duties on the court martial and Lieutenant-Colonel Ransom was 
 again in command, he let it be known that his views had changed, 
 and in a brief space of time he had furloughed the larger part of 
 the regiment, and Colonel Stokes on his return to duty, found to 
 his dismay but a skeleton of the command in camp. 
 
 In a letter dated Acquia Creek, August 27, 1861, to his wife, 
 Colonel Ransom writes : 
 
 "It is very late at night. I just heard the lonesome sentinel cry out, 
 'It is twelve o'clock and all is well.' The camp is very silent, scarcely' a 
 sound breaks the solemn stillness. All here is peace, and yet each minute 
 may open on our ears the signal guns of death. There ! went a musket, 
 even while I wrote the last word. Doubtless some false alarm. Ah ! 
 there's another! I have waited five minutes and all is still again. Some 
 nervous sentinel shot a phantom and that's all. It is so strange how I 
 
 ( 10) 
 
(General Mtatt. W, Ransom 
 
 burn for the eager fray, I can hardly realize it. Tell dear Matt, that he 
 need not fear that his father will run. Bless his soul. War is very sav- 
 age. It soon fires the heart to daring and wescarcely think of the danger. 
 Heaven return us all to peace and virtue. How I do desire it when the 
 excitement is down. I am glad that you cannot see me in camp. There 
 are no charms around me. A large tent, almost furnitureless; a few 
 books, trunks and writing material, a pair of pistols, a sword, some 
 scattered clothing make up the scene. Of course I am right particular in 
 my dress and find tolerably good washing. The dull routine of camp 
 duty, and the stupid drill are very irksome. They engage small minds 
 very anxiously. I did not take the field for these. I hope that amid the 
 storm and strife of making armies, when men are needed, it may be 
 given me to be with a mind and soul equal to all the fortunes of the hour. 
 Then I think what genius I have would appear, then what spirit I have 
 shall be seen. But under all circumstances and amid every vicissitude 
 of triumph or defeat, nothing shall ever make me forget the holy duties 
 of humanity. The glory of victory is great, but how much greater is 
 the virtue of charity in the hour of victory. No ! I will give my life to 
 my countr}', but I will leave to my wife and children the memory of a 
 name unstained with the slightest speck of cruelty or revenge. Such are 
 my feelings and such shall be my action. I shall be equal to all the 
 reverses of the war and I will be superior to all of its successes if I share 
 in them. But enough of these things." 
 
 Nothing occurred of moment during this service on the Po- 
 tomac, and in the spring (1862) Colonel Ransom's regiment 
 was ordered to North Carolina, and stationed near Kinston, re- 
 inforcing the troops collected at that point after the battle of 
 New Bern (March, 1862). 
 
 Among the regiments engaged in the battle of New Bern, was 
 the Thirty-fifth North Carolina, then commanded by James Sin- 
 clair. Colonel Sinclair had been chaplain of the Fifth North Caro- 
 lina regiment, was elected Colonel of the Thirty-fifth regiment 
 at its organization at Camp Mangum, near Raleigh (Novem- 
 ber, 1861). The conduct of this regiment in the battle of New 
 Bern was, to say the least, disappointing to its friends. At 
 a critical time in the battle and while occupying what was 
 strategetically an important part of the line of defense, "it 
 quickly followed the example of the militia, retreating in the 
 utmost disorder." The regiment keenly felt its disgrace and 
 when the time of its reorganization for the war came around in 
 April, 1862, the officers elected Lieutenant-Colonel Ransom as 
 
 ( 11 ) 
 
(Beiteral ^alt 'W, Ransom 
 
 their commander. Colonel Ransom was doubtful as to his duty 
 in the premises. His own regiment was loath to part with him. 
 He consulted his personal friend and military superior, Major- 
 General Holmes, the Department Commander. General Holmes 
 advised Colonel Ransom not to accept, giving among other rea- 
 sons the prediction that the regiment would feel the demoraliza- 
 tion of its conduct at New Bern, and require its commander to 
 greatly expose himself in any subsequent battle with almost the 
 certainty of losing his life. To Colonel Ransom his duty now 
 seemed plain, and disregarding his commander's advice and that 
 of other friends, he notified the committee of his acceptance. 
 
 When it became known that Colonel Ransom was to leave 
 them, the officers of his old regiment presented him with a hand- 
 some sword. In his letter of acceptance, dated May 11, 1862, 
 Colonel Ransom says : 
 
 "I accept with emotions of pleasure and gratitude which I cannot ex- 
 press, the beautiful sword which the officers of the First North Carolina 
 regiment have been pleased, through you, to present to me. 
 
 "Certainly the bestowal of no honor could have brought with it more 
 gratification. The esteem of the chivalrous gentlemen with whom it 
 has been my happiness to have been so long associated in the service of 
 our country, so generously evinced, is a priceless attainment, and it will be 
 my sacred duty through life to preserve untarnished this bright token 
 of their confidence, and to transmit it as a sacred jewel to my sons. 
 Around it will ever cluster pleasant memories of the cherished friends, 
 the brave hearts, the patriotic spirits of that noble regiment, the gallant 
 First. Cherishing in common with 3'ourselves a holy purpose to assist 
 in maintaining at all hazard the independence of our Country and the 
 honor of our State, I remain, gentlemen, most sincerely yours." 
 
 RANSOM AS COLONEL. 
 
 The Thirty-fifth regiment, under its new commander, is now 
 brigaded with the Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth 
 and Forty-ninth North Carolina regiments and is placed under the 
 command of his brother, Brigadier-General Robert Ransom. 
 From now on until he gave his parade at Appomattox, three 
 years thereafter. Colonel and subsequently as its brigade com- 
 mander. General Matt. W. Ransom is ever associated with this 
 famous brigade, sharing its toils on march and in bivouac, lead- 
 
 ( 12 ) 
 
(Beneral Mtalt. W* Ransom 
 
 ing it in battle, rejoicing with it in victory, sympathizing with it 
 in defeat and yielding up his sword only when his noble men had 
 grounded their arms in surrender. 
 
 RANSOM'S BRIGADE. 
 
 What a record in war and in peace had this brigade. One of 
 its Colonels, three times Governor of his State, dies in the ser- 
 vice of his country as United States Senator after three successive 
 elections. Another Colonel, for twenty-three years United States 
 Senator, then United States Minister Plenipotentiary at the sis- 
 ter Republic of Mexico. 
 
 The Adjutant of one of the regiments, then a boy under seven- 
 teen years of age, afterwards a Judge of the Superior and 
 Supreme Courts of the State for twenty-two years, and now its 
 Chief Justice. 
 
 One of its regiments, though not at the time attached to the 
 brigade, made an unequalled record for the most heroic fighting 
 in open battle of all the commands in either array in the war, and 
 the brigade's last stand at Five Forks, April 1, 1865, was the 
 forlorn hope of the once proud and victorious army of Northern 
 Virginia. 
 
 The rigid discipline, instituted by its first commander, rapidly 
 welded the brigade into a well drilled and disciplined command, 
 ready and eager to see more active service at the great theater 
 of war then raging around the Capital of the Confederacy. Or- 
 dered to Virginia in June, 1862, the brigade was assigned to 
 Huger's division. From June 25 to 28 it was involved in some 
 sharp minor engagements with General Philip Kearney's division 
 on the Williamsburg road, the scene of the battle of Seven Pines, 
 and was part of Magruder's command, which assaulted Malvern 
 Hill at the close of the day, Jitly 1, 1862. 
 
 MALVERN HILL, 
 
 In this charge the Thirty-fifth regiment lost both its command- 
 ers. Colonel Ransom was twice wounded; first through the right 
 arm, rendering it powerless, and then in his right side by a piece 
 of shell. While he lay upon the field, Colonel Ransom hears 
 in a few minutes that his gallant young Lieutenant-Colonel is 
 
 (13) 
 
(Benatttl yCiatt >S0^ yiatisorti 
 
 killed; but the noble men of the regiment hold their ground till 
 night'settles down and shuts out from view the gory scene and 
 the combat ceases. Probably no regiment of Magruder's com- 
 mand suffered more in killed and wounded on this ever memorable 
 assault than the Thirty-fifth regiment; and in this its first bat- 
 tle since New Bern, the regiment then and there established its 
 reputation for unsurpassed fortitude and intrepidity in battle, 
 a reputation maintained from Malvern Hill to Appomattox. 
 
 SHARPSBURG. 
 
 When Lee's army left Richmond to meet the Federal General, 
 Pope, at the Second Manassas, Ransom's brigade remained with 
 the troops left behind to defend Richmond, but on August 27, 
 1862, we left en route to join the army of Northern Virginia, then 
 invading Maryland, and with the Twenty-seventh, Forty-sixth 
 and Forty-eighth North CaroHna regiments; Third Arkansas and 
 Thirtieth Virginia regiments, under command of Brigadier-Gen- 
 eral J. G. Walker, formed "Walker's Division" during this cam- 
 paign. 
 
 We reached the Potomac River September 7, 1862, and waded 
 through at Cheek's Ford, about a quarter of a mile wide and 
 waist deep. There was great enthusiasm. As the men would 
 step on the Maryland side of the river they gave the rebel yell- 
 marched to the Monocacy River, were ordered back to blow up 
 the aqueduct over the canal. On September 11, recrossed the 
 Potomac at Point of Rocks, occupying Loudon Heights on Sep- 
 tember 14, from which point our batteries shelled the enemy at 
 Harper's Ferry until their surrender on the 15th. Same day 
 marched twelve miles towards the Shenandoah and at one a. m. 
 on the 16th crossed into Maryland, wading the Potomac for the 
 third time within nine days. At three a. m., September 17, 1862, 
 we were aroused from our bivouac, and marched to take our posi- 
 tion in line for what was to be one of the great battles of the 
 war. 
 
 Ransom's brigade was firstmoved to the extreme right of Lee's 
 army, but about nine a. m., was ordered to the left to support 
 Jackson. We moved rapidly along the rear of our entire line of 
 battle, passing over the dead and meeting the wounded being car- 
 
 ( 14) 
 
AG E 26 
 
<^etteral Mtatt. ^. Ransom 
 
 ried to the rear, while the steady booming of cannon, whistling of 
 shells, pattering of the small arms and the hoarse yell of cheer 
 rising above the roar of battle, as some advantage was gained by 
 either side, filled our ears. 
 
 Marching by the right flank, as w^e neared our point of attack 
 the brigade was deployed into column of regiments, and as each 
 regiment uncovered the one preceding it, was wheeled to the 
 right and given the order to charge. "The crisis in the battle was 
 at hand," says a writer. "The second stage of the battle was 
 now reached. Hooker has retired. Mansfield has been brought 
 to a stand. Jackson, worn and exhausted, has rested. Hood's 
 brigade has been so cut to pieces, that when its dauntless com- 
 mander was asked, Where is your brigade? he answers, 'Dead 
 on the field.' D. H. Hill's three brigades have been drawn in 
 and only a small force guards the Confederate left, not enough 
 to stop a brigade, when Sedgwick, and Sumner in the lead with 
 his three brigades moved towards the Dunkard church." 
 
 "Ten minutes, five minutes," says Judge Walter Clark, "the 
 gallant boy Adjutant of the Thirty -fifth regiment, and our 
 army would have ceased to exist." Just then Walker, at the 
 head of his six North Carolina, one Arkansas and one Virginia 
 regiments charged headlong upon the left flank of Sedgwick's 
 lines. Taken at such disadvantage, and in spite of the heroic 
 bravery of Sumner and Sedgwick, the division was driven off to 
 the North with terrible loss. 
 
 In his official report General Walker says: "Ransom's brigade 
 having driven the enemy through and from the woods( west) with 
 heavy loss, continued, with his own brigade and Colonel Hall's 
 Forty-sixth North Carolina, to hold it for the greater portion 
 of the day. Notwithstanding three determined infantry attacks, 
 which each time were repulsed with great loss to the enemy, and 
 against a most persistent and terrific artillery fire, by which the 
 enemy hoped doubtless to drive us from our strong position, the 
 very key to the battle field, his hopes were not realized. True 
 to their duty for eight hours our brave men lay upon the ground 
 taking advantage of such undulations and hollow ravines as gave 
 promise of partial shelter while this fearful storm raged a few 
 
 ( 15 ) 
 
(General ^Jtlalt W, transom 
 
 feet above their heads, tearing the trees asunder, tossing off hugh 
 branches and fiUing the air with shells and explosives, realizing to 
 the fullest the fearful sublimity of battle. 
 
 "During this time, in the temporary absence of General Robert 
 Ransom to post the Twenty-fourth regiment, the enemy made a 
 furious attack with heavy masses of infantry upon that portion 
 of the line occupied by General Ransom, Colonel Ransom, of the 
 Thirty-fifth North Carolina, in temporary command of the brigade, 
 not only repulsed the enemy, but pursued him across the field as 
 far as the post and rail fences, inflicting upon him so severe a 
 punishment that no other attempt with infantry was made on 
 that position during the day." 
 
 The Thirty-fifth regiment nobly bore its part in this trying 
 ordeal. Early in the action, while advancing on the enemy, the 
 regiment had to surmount a strong post and rail fence, sub- 
 jected to a heavy fire of artillery and small arms, the regiment 
 was in confusion. Fearing his men were wavering, Colonel Ran- 
 som, who with his Adjutant were on horseback, spurred his 
 horse to the color bearer and called for the flag. Doubtless Gen- 
 eral Holmes' warning word came up to his mind, for when he 
 grasped the flag handed him by a young officer of the regiment 
 he calls out, "If I am killed, tell Mrs. Ransom I died leading ray 
 men, colors in hand." 
 
 In a letter to Mrs. Ransom, dated Camp near Winchester, Vir- 
 ginia, October 5, 1862 (18 days after the battle), he writes : 
 
 "This day makes me feel unutteraljly sad. All day I have been sighing 
 over our own jjrecious little angel (his only daughter recently dead) and 
 feel just as bad about the loss of our darling jewel as if it was only 
 yesterday. All during the terrible battle, her little soul seemed to be 
 with me, saving me. Let us trust it all to God. He knows and does 
 what is best. As soon as I join you again, I will with you publicly em- 
 brace His holy religion, and try with all my heart to live by His law. 
 
 "His great mercy tome in battle has conquered all the obstinacy I ever 
 had, and I feel from the bottom of my heart, that I ought to, and do 
 love God and our Merciful Saviour. 
 
 "If you could only have seen the dangers I passed that day. From 
 early dawn till nine at night, of all the men I saw on the field I was the 
 only one who did not at some time during the day go under cover. 
 But I am so proud, that not for one second during the fourteen hours of 
 
 ( 16 ) 
 
(General ^att. ^. Ransom 
 
 carnage diJ I seek the slightest shelter. My horse was shot under me, 
 but she is recovering. Several times I was hid from my men in the 
 smoke of the bursting shells, and over and over again the ploughing 
 shot covered me all over with dust, and at all times I was far in the lead; 
 far ahead, and yet I was not even scratched; not a thread of my cloth- 
 ing touched, and I felt all day that I would not be hurt. 
 
 "I proved myself a real soldier on that field. All the field officers of our 
 brigade the day after the battle waited on General Walker, who com- 
 mands this division, and represented my conduct to him and claimed 
 that he should do me justice in his report. He promised to do so. If he 
 does it is all ri^ht; if not, the praise awarded me by all the field officers 
 is compliment enough; certainly nothing like it has happened during the 
 war. It is a rare thing for all your brother officers to join in praising 
 and demanding promotion for one of themselves, but they did this for 
 me and I did not know many of them. 
 
 "I only wish to be done justice to, that our dear son may have 
 something to be proud of I hope, for myself, I care nothing for such 
 things. Rom's (his brother General Ransom) report of the battle did 
 not quite ignore me. I suppose, as he said, it would not seem right for 
 him to praise his brother. He no doubt means right, but if our cases 
 had been reversed, I would have put him in the stars. I know he means 
 right and have nothing to say. I know I am bound, if I am not killed, 
 to be distinguished in the army. But do forgive me for all this non- 
 sense." 
 
 It was not until June, 1863, General Robert Ransom having been 
 made Major-General, that Colonel Ransom received his merited 
 promotion. He was unanimously recommended to succeed his 
 brother in command of the brigade by the officers of the Twenty- 
 fifth, Thirty-fiftli, Forty-ninth and Fift3--sixth regiments over the 
 three senior Colonels. 
 
 GENERAL RANSOM'S FIRST INDEPENDENT COMMAND. ENGAGEMENT 
 AT BOONE'S MILL, JULY 28, 1863. 
 
 Twice in his military career, it was General Ransom's good 
 fortune to be able 
 
 "To strike for his altars and his fires, 
 To strike for the green graves of his sires 
 God ! And his native land." 
 
 One of these occasions was his defeat of the enemy at Boon's 
 Mill, in Northampton County, in their attempt to burn the 
 railroad bridge over the Roanoke River at Weldon. To destroy 
 
 ( 17 ) 
 
(Beneral Mtatt. "^. transom 
 
 this bridge would sever the chief means of provisioning Lee's 
 army and the troops around Petersburg and Richmond with 
 supplies from the South. The enemy made several attempts to 
 do this. The first was by way up the river from Plymouth, July, 
 1861, by a fleet of gunboats under the gallant and accomplished 
 Lieutenant-Commander Flusser, of the Union navy. This at- 
 tempt was defeated by Lieutenant A. B. Andrews, of the First 
 Cavalry, with forty-three of his company, who attacked the 
 gunboats with his men dismounted, and using their pistols at 
 close range inflicted such slaughter among the marines and 
 troops on board as caused the abandonment of the expedi- 
 tion. So far as I am advised this was the first and most sue- 
 cessful attack on gunboats by cavalry, unsupported by infantry 
 or artillery, recorded in the war. A second attempt to burn the 
 Weldon bridge, was in December, 1862, when General Foster, with 
 a large force of all arms of the service,' advanced from New Bern 
 upon Goldsboro, but was driven back by Clingman's, Pettigrew's 
 and other troops under General G. W. Smith. The third and 
 most unexpected attempt was defeated by General Ransom as 
 follows : 
 
 Injtxly, 1863, Ransom's brigade was stationed near Petersburg, 
 Virginia. On the evening of July 27, 1863, General Ransom 
 received a telegram from his friend and neighbor, Mr. John Long, 
 who Hved near Garysburg, that Colonel S. P. Spear, with a large 
 force of cavalry and artillery, was advancing from Winton (in 
 Bertie County) on Weldon. 
 
 Ordering the Thirty-fifth regiment to Garj-sburg on first train, 
 the General with his staff" preceded his troops on a locomotive, 
 pressed into service for the occasion, reaching Garysburg at day- 
 break on the 28th. Four companies of the Twenty-fourth North 
 Carolina regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Harris of the regi- 
 ment, and a section of two guns of the Macon light artillery, un- 
 der command of Lieutenant Vassar, were encamped near that 
 place and were ordered to march to Boon's Mill, distant seven 
 miles on the county road from Garysburg to Jackson, the county 
 seat. Leaving orders that all troops arriving at Garysburg 
 should follow him, early on the morning of July 28, General 
 
 ( 18 ) 
 
(Beneral yttalt ^. Ransom 
 
 Ransom \Yitli his staff proceeded to Jackson, ten miles, to obtain 
 information of the enemy's movements. Having no cavalry, 
 except such as he could improvise for the occasion, the General 
 had to do his own scouting. 
 
 Boon's Mill was a place of some strategic importance. It had 
 been partly fortified by the throwing up of some rifle pits com- 
 manding the bridge over the water way leading from the mill 
 pond to the grist mill. The county road led over this bridge, 
 which was about thirty feet wide. 
 
 Without stopping at his home, which was in plain view of the 
 road, as he hastened on to the mill about two miles distant, the 
 General reached Jackson to learn that the enemy were rapidly 
 approaching the town. Getting such information as he could, 
 about noon General Ransom left the town on his return to Boon's 
 Mill, where he intended to make the fight and had proceeded 
 about half a mile, when a great shout was heard from the di- 
 rection behind him, and stopping to ascertain the cause, the 
 enemy's cavalry were seen in pursuit, charging over the hill about 
 two hundred and fifty yards off. 
 
 It was now a question as to whose horses were the faster, as 
 two miles lay between the Confederate commander and his 
 forces, taking their enjoyment in the mill pond, ignorant of the 
 perilous situation of their General. 
 
 John Gilpin, of famous London town, would have been dis- 
 tanced in this race. The horses of the General and his staff were 
 rested; the thoroughbreds proved eqvial to the demands on them, 
 and General Ransom reaches the mill in advance of his pursuers, 
 unhurt, though subject to the enemy's fire during the race. 
 Dashing across the bridge he calls out to have the planks taken 
 up, the men to fall in ranks and gives orders in stentorian tones 
 easily heard by the enemy, that certain well known commands in 
 the army under Lee should take such and such positions in line 
 of battle. The pursuers halted to reform their command more or 
 less disorganized from the pursuit ; this gave the Confederates, 
 most of whom were bathing in the mill pond, time to get their 
 guns. 
 
 Colonel Spear now brought up his artillery, and for an hour or 
 
 ( 19 ) 
 
(General yttalt >^. !^aitsom 
 
 more shelled the Confederate position. Dismounting his cavalry 
 Colonel Spear attempted an advance down the road to the mill, 
 he was met by a quick fire and driven back. About this time 
 the two guns of the Macon light artillery arrived and opened 
 fire. The enemy now^ attempted to carry our position by a 
 simultaneous attack on both the flanks, and succeeded under 
 cover of the thick swamp undergrowth in getting their men 
 directly in our rear across the mill pond, which curves here 
 nearly at right angles. This movement was promptly met by 
 advancing the artillery to the front and shelling the woods wath 
 grape and canister, and by a brave fire of the infantry. The fight 
 had now lasted some five hours. Foiled in his expectation to 
 surprise the Confederates and reach Weldon bridge without 
 serious opposition, Colonel Spear late in the afternoon with- 
 drew, and during the night retreated through Jackson. 
 
 This repulse of Colonel Spear, whose force consisted of a bri- 
 gade of cavalry and nine pieces of artillery, with a supporting 
 force under General Foster at Winton, North Carolina, by not 
 more than two hundred infantry and two pieces of artillery, was 
 a briUiant achievement of the greatest moment. It saved the 
 railroad bridge at Weldon, prevented the occupation by the 
 enemy of a large section of the richest portion of the State, from 
 which the Confederate government largely drew its supplies, 
 when at times there were not ten days' rations in Richmond for 
 Lee's army. 
 
 The crops of 18G3 and 1864 were saved to the people in that 
 section of Eastern North Carohna as if war was not raging; and 
 the slave population remained quietly at work on the planta- 
 tions during the balance of the war. 
 
 The enemy never made another attempt on the Weldon bridge. 
 Ordering a pursuit. General Ransom now seeks his home to assure 
 his anxious wife and trembling little ones that they are safe. 
 This victory coming so soon after his promotion, was doubh' 
 gratifying to his friends and justified the high opinion formed of 
 his capacity for independent command. 
 
 In the winter of 1863-1864 Ransom's brigade was assigned to 
 the Department of North Carolina under General George Pickett, 
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
<Beneral ^att W, tJtansom 
 
 of Gettysburg fame. In January, 1864, the brigade was a part of 
 General Pickett's command in the unsuccessful attempt to capture 
 New Bern. On March 19, 1864, General Ransom, with his 
 brigade and a cavalry force, drove the Federals from Suffolk, 
 Virginia, capturing a piece of artillery and Quartermaster stores 
 of much value. 
 
 THE CAPTURE OF PLYMOUTH, APRIL 20, J 864. 
 
 Of all his military services, General Ransom was best pleased 
 with his own conduct and the gallantry of his soldiers at the 
 capture of Plymouth. With rare magnanimity. General Hoke, in 
 command of the expedition, assigned to his second in command 
 the chief honor, and most difficult task, that of assaidting the 
 defenses on the eastern side of the town, and the result fully 
 vindicated his confidence in General Ransom and his brigade. To 
 appreciate fully the important bearing upon the future opera- 
 tions of the war of this capture of Plymouth, a brief reference 
 to General Grant's strategy in the campaign of 1864 is neces- 
 sary. 
 
 When President Davis first met General Hoke on his return 
 from Plymouth, on the day of the battle of Drewry Bluff, May 
 16, 1904, after congratulating Hoke on his victory. President 
 Davis remarked that he had seen in the Northern papers that the 
 Washington authorities had given him (President Davis) credit 
 for having discovered and thwarted General Grant's plans for 
 the campaign by the taking of Plymouth. It now appears that 
 General Grant designed that the Confederates should be attacked 
 simultaneously at three points, when the campaign should 
 open. Grant was to attack Lee in the wilderness so soon in the 
 spring as the roads were passable. General Butler was to ad- 
 vance on Petersburg with an army collected at Fortress Monroe, 
 and disembark at City Point on the James River, and Burn- 
 side, who had been so successful in North Carolina in the first 
 part of the war, was to collect a third army at Plymouth, and 
 with the assistance of gunboats on the Roanoke River, was to 
 capture Weldon and thus cut off all reinforcements and supplies 
 for the Confederacy from the South. 
 
 (21 ) 
 
(b^ncral yUalt W. transom 
 
 Entirely ignorant of the enemy's plans, the Confederate author- 
 ities had decided that an attempt should be made to capture 
 some important place in Eastern North Carolina in possession of 
 the enemy. Plymouth, North Carolina, was the place selected, 
 and an Iron Clad (the Albemarle) built in a cornfield near Hahfax 
 and launched, when a freshet in the river made it possible, was 
 to be used with the land forces. Hoke and Ransom, both Briga- 
 dier-Generals from North Carolina, with their respective 
 brigades, Kemper's Virginia brigade, the Eighth North Carolina 
 regiment of Chngman's brigade, part of a cavalry force under 
 Colonel Deering and several batteries of artillery under Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel James Branch, constituted the attacking force, all 
 under General Hoke's command. 
 
 Plymouth was garrisoned by four regiments of infantry, two 
 companies of heavy and one battery of light artillery, two com- 
 panies of cavalry and two companies recruited in North Carolina, 
 aided by the gunboats Miami, Southfield, Whitehead and Ceres. 
 The town was protected from river attack from the direction of 
 Weldon by Fort Grey at Warren's Neck, manned by one one 
 hundred pound and two thirty-two pound cannon, and above 
 and below the fort the river was blockaded to prevent any 
 vessel from getting past. The town is flanked on the west end 
 by a woody marsh and on the east by a woody swamp, through 
 w^hich runs Conaby Creek, a narrow but deep stream. Fort 
 Wessells m the western, F'ort Williams in the central and Fort Com- 
 fort in the eastern part of the town command the approaches 
 from the west, south and east respectively; while a strong 
 breastwork with redoubts at intervals encircles the town. On 
 the west there is an entrenched camp close to the river with a 
 two hundred pound cannon in position at battery Worth, a 
 gun intended expressly for the Ram Albemarle, says Major John 
 Graham in his valuable account of the battle. These forts, 
 redoubts and breastworks were laid out after the most approved 
 military engineering skill, protected by moats and palisades and 
 chevaux de frise — while the fleet of gunboats defended the river 
 front of the town. Plymouth was a formidable fortress amply 
 
 ( 22 ) 
 
(Benerttl yttatt W, Ransom 
 
 garrisoned and provisioned, and with a fleet of gunboats to aid 
 the land defenses. 
 
 General Hoke assembled his forces at Tarboro and set out from 
 that place on April 15, 1864, arriving near Plvmotxth on the 
 afternoon of Sunday the 17th. Detaching Kemper's brigade 
 with Deering's cavalry and two batteries of artillery to attack 
 Fort Grey, Hoke's and Ransom's brigades circling around, ap- 
 proach the town from the south by way of the Washington 
 road, and about dark rest on their arms. Next day towards 
 evening. Fort Grey having been captured, Hoke's and Kemper's 
 brigades assault Fort Wessells. Ransom's brigade makes a 
 demonstration in aid of this assault with fourteen pieces of 
 artillery placed close to and threatening Fort Williams. 
 
 A correspondent of the Richmond Examiner thus graphically 
 describes the scene : 
 
 "The action couimenced about sunset; the night being perfectly clear 
 with a full moon, every object visible. The sight was magnificent. The 
 screaming, hissing shells meeting and passing each other through the 
 sulphurus air appeared like blazing comets with their burning fires, and 
 would burst with frightful noise, scattering their fragments as thick as 
 hail. The gunboats had come to the assistance of the besieged forts and 
 their fire added grandeur to the sight." 
 
 After repeated assaults, in which Colonel Mercer, leading Hoke's 
 brigade, is mortally wotmded, and Captain Macon, of the Forty- 
 third regiment, and many others were killed, the commander 
 of the Fort having been killed, it surrenders. This closes the sec- 
 ond day's fighting on the part of the land forces. Let us for a 
 moment see what the Ram Albemarle has been doing. On the 
 morning of Monday, April 18, she left her mooring at Hamilton, 
 under command of Captain James W. Cooke, a. native of the 
 State. 
 
 Forges were erected on her deck, blacksmiths and carpenters 
 were kept hard at work, as she floated down the stream going 
 stern foremost. The river was in a freshet; the proverbial in- 
 habitant quotes, Mr. Elliot, her builder, said afterwards, "such 
 high water had never before been seen in the Roanoke River." 
 This was providential. It gave ten feet of water over the tor- 
 
 ( 23 ) 
 
(General yttalt W, transom 
 
 pedoes, sunken vessels and piles that formed the barricade at Fort 
 Grey, and reaching these about two a. m., they were safely passed 
 under a fire from Fort Grey, which was not returned. Pro- 
 ceeding down the river, battery Worth, with its two hundred 
 pound cannon, was also safely passed, when the gunboats, 
 Miami and Southfield, lashed together, were met steaming up to 
 the defense of the town; Captain Cooke dashing his prow in the 
 side of the Southfield, she went down in less time than it takes to 
 tell the story. Entangled in the frame of the sinking vessel, the 
 Albemarle is in danger of sinking herself, and the Miami, seeing 
 her perilous situation, steamed up to her side and opened fire with 
 her nine inch one hundred pound Parrot rifles. So close were the 
 vessels that Captain Flusser, commanding the Miami, Lieutenant 
 Andrews' opponent in the Rainbow Bend fight in 1862, is killed 
 by one of his own shells that rebounded after striking the Ram 
 and exploding, tearing him all to pieces. The Albemarle now 
 turning upon the Miami, the latter is soon disabled and seeks 
 safet}^ in flight. Having cleared the river of the gunboats, the 
 Albemarle returns to Plymouth to assist in its capture. 
 
 As the result of the two days' fighting. General Hoke has cap- 
 tured Forts Grey and Wessells, completely invested the town, 
 the Albemarle has pitt hors de combat the fleet of gunboats in 
 the river, and now comes General Ransom's opportunity. 
 
 He is to assault at daybreak on the 20th (Wednesday) with his 
 brigade and artillery, the line of forts and breastworks on the 
 southern and eastern side of the town. In the afternoon of the 
 19th Ransom begins his movement. Protecting his men by a de- 
 tour through the woods, he arrives after dark at the banks of 
 Conaby Creek. By the uncertain light of the moon he drives the 
 enenn^ entrenched, at the bridge crossing Conaby Creek at the 
 Columbia road, from their strong position; he then pontoons the 
 stream and by midnight he has his command safely across, and 
 in line of battle to make the assault next morning. General Wes- 
 sells, the Federal commander, speaks of this passage of Conaby 
 Creek as a "great disaster," says it is "unexplained" and attri- 
 btites to it much of the misfortunes of the next day. Undoubt- 
 edly it was a tactical move on the part of General Ransom of the 
 
 (24) 
 
(Beneral ^att. ^. Ransom 
 
 greatest importance, effected with slight loss to his men and pro- 
 phetic of his greatest success next day. 
 
 During the night the Thirty-fifth regiment is taken from its 
 regular position in the brigade formation and placed near the 
 centre opposite Fort Comfort, the most formidable of the de- 
 fenses on the east side. 
 
 All arrangements made for the next day's battle, the men are 
 allowed to lie down and rest. 
 
 Says Major John W. Graham, of the Fifty-sixth regiment: "It is 
 now near midnight and the men lay down on the bare ground; the 
 air is sharp and piercing. The enemy keep up a shelling through the 
 night; our Iron Clad, the Albemarle, exchanges shots with the two hundred 
 pound gun at the upper end of the town (Battery Worth). The night is 
 perfectly calm and cloudless, with a full moon lending beauty to the 
 scene, the skirmishing is at times sharp and terrific. Just as the moon 
 is going down (and day breaks) a rocket shoots up in the air, and Hoke 
 is advised that Ransom is about to attack. " 
 
 On horseback with drawn sword, Ransom appears along his 
 line, and his ringing voice, says Captain Graham in the sketch of 
 his regiment, the Fifty-sixth, comes down the line, "Attention, 
 brigade. Fix bayonets. Trail arms. Forward march," and the 
 charge begins. Officers and men are animated with but one deter- 
 mination, to be the first to enter the enemy's works. On the right 
 the Fifty-sixth and Twenty-fifth regiments are impeded by a 
 swamp in places waist deep, but they flounder through and at- 
 tack and roitte a regiment posted at the outer line of the town. 
 The Eighth and Twenty-fourth regiments respectively capture re- 
 doubts on the left of the Columbia Road. It falls to the lot of 
 the Thirty-fifth regiment to assault Fort Comfort. Reaching the 
 deep ditch surrounding the fortification, the men rush in, climb 
 up its sides bristling with guns, crowd through the embrasures, 
 over the parapet and wherever they can find an entrance, and 
 are in possession of the work before the defenders recover from 
 the audacitj' of the attack. The enemy now retreat into the 
 houses, making barricades of them, and fire from the upper 
 stories. 
 
 Reforming his brigade. General Ransom successfulh' carries the 
 works on the river; then a fight from house to house takes 
 
 ( 25 ) 
 
(Beneral Mtatt ^. Ransom 
 
 place. The enemy at length driven from all their positions, losing 
 some two thousand prisoners, the balance flee to Fort Williams, 
 the main fortification of the town. Preparatory to assaulting. 
 General Ransom makes a reconnaissance of the fort, and finds it too 
 formidable for capture by infantry, and signals to the Albemarle 
 to open fire on the same. Hoke's troops on the west side of the 
 town having now united with Ransom's from the east side, they 
 surround the fort and General Ransom sends Colonel Deering, 
 then acting on his staff, to demand its surrender. 
 
 It is at first refused, but a few shots from the Albemarle 
 exploding inside the fort, about 10 a. ni., a white flag is seen 
 above the parapet, and sending for General Hoke, after a brief 
 interview, General Wessells surrenders. The latter admits a loss 
 of two thousand, eight hundred and thirty-four killed, wounded 
 and prisoners, and some three thousand stand of small arms. 
 In addition the armaments of the numerous forts and redoubts 
 and large quantities of commissary and quartermaster supplies 
 fell into the hands of the victors. 
 
 General Ransom at once telegraphed Mrs. Ransom as follows: 
 "I am safe, my brigade greatly distinguished itself" In a letter 
 he writes : 
 
 "I send you a short dispatch telling you of our victorj'. Thanks to 
 our Heavenly Father, I am safe without any injury. Today I am on 
 the gunboat Albemarle, and her gallant commander. Captain Cooke, 
 sends you some presents. I nmst tell you that ni^^ brigade has im- 
 mortalized itself. The charge and storming of the forts was the noblest 
 thing of the war. I wish you could have seen it. How merciful God 
 has been to me. I intend to be confirmed when the Bishop comes. We 
 are all well. Kiss the dear boys. God bless and preserve us and bring 
 us together in joy and love." 
 
 General Hoke was telegraphed by President Davis his con- 
 gratulations and promotion to be Major-General. Later, Colonel 
 Deering was promoted Brigadier-General. Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Gaston Lewis, commanding Hoke's brigade after death of Colonel 
 Mercer, was made Brigadier-General, and Matt. W. Ransom, the 
 hero of the third and last day's battle by which the town's sur- 
 render was brought about, received no promotion. 'Tis true the 
 General Assembly of the State at its next special session in May 
 
 ( 26 ) 
 
(Beiteral ^att W. Ransom 
 
 following, united his name with General Hoke's and Commander 
 Cooke's in joint resolution of thanks to the officers and men of 
 their respective commands for this brilliant victory, and the 
 Confederate Congress passed similar resolutions, but there was 
 no promotion of rank. Ransom planned and executed the day's 
 bloody work. He called his Colonels to give them their orders on 
 the night before the assault, but he asked no counsel from them. 
 A great general needs no counsel of war to advise him. Imagine 
 CjEsar asking what to do at Parsalia, or Hannibal while cross- 
 ing the Alps, or Napoleon at AusterHtz. 
 
 Stonewall Jackson once called his subordinates into council and 
 said he would never repeat the act, and General Lee assumed 
 alone the responsibiHty for the defeat at Gettysburg. General 
 Hoke gave Ransom a free hand at Plymouth and neither had 
 cause to regret it. 
 
 General Hoke halted at Plymouth only long enough to rest his 
 men. On April 25 he sets out to capture Washington, North Caro- 
 lina. He reached that town next day. During the night the 
 enemy evacuated the place. Pursuing the retreating enemy Gen- 
 eral Hoke has his command investing New Bern, and ready for 
 itjJljSsault on May 6, when he is peremptoril}- recalled to Peters- 
 burg by telegrams from President Davis and General Lee, and 
 making one of the most rapid marches on record, reaches Peters- 
 burg on the 10th, just in time to assist in repelling General But- 
 ler, who has advanced from City Point on that city. 
 
 On May 12 Ransom's brigade is on the extreme right of the 
 Confederate line defending Drewry's Bluif. The enemy concealed 
 by the woods get around his right flank and attack him from 
 the rear. His men jumping over the works make a brave defense 
 until night comes on, and they retire to an inner line of defense. 
 Here Captain Cicero Durham, commanding a battaHon of sharp- 
 shooters, known as the fighting quartermaster of the Forty- 
 ninth, was mortally, and Lieutenant Waverly Johnson, of Gen- 
 eral Ransom's staff, painfully wounded. On the 13th the brigade 
 is attacked with overwhelming force. After gallantly repulsing 
 the same, though flanked on the right and the enemy in its rear, 
 
 ( 27 ) 
 
(Beucral tJttatt. W. Ransom 
 
 the brigade held its own until night came on, and it falls back to 
 the main line of defense. 
 
 On the next da}^ (May 14) while ralljnng his line of sharp- 
 shooters, General Ransom is shot in the left arm hj a minnie ball. 
 The ball shattered both bones of the forearm and the surgeons 
 at first advised an amputation. Dr. Charles J. O'Hagan, the 
 surgeon of his old regiment and his personal friend, opposed am- 
 putation ; and cutting off the ends of the splintered bones, it was 
 left to nature to unite the separated parts, and in due time the 
 surgeon's prognosis was verified, and though shorter, the arm 
 became serviceable and the use of the hand preserved. 
 
 ]t is not tmtil the fall that General Ransom is able to join his 
 brigade, then in the trenches at Petersburg defending the line 
 from the Appomattox River eastwardly to the Jerusalem Road. 
 
 ASSAULT OF FORT STEDMAN, MARCH 25, 1865.; 
 
 Ransom's brigade, which had been continuously in the trenches 
 around Petersburg from June 17, 1864, except an occasional 
 detail as reinforcement to the troops on the right of the Confed- 
 erate line, such as the engagement at the Jones House, south of 
 Petersburg, June 22, the Crater, July 30, and the Davis Hoi|se, 
 August 21, was on March 16, 1865, ordered to the extreme 
 ri^ht of the Confederate line at Hatcher's Run. Ordered to 
 return to the trenches on the 24th, before day light on the 25th 
 the brigade finds itself on famihar ground near the line between 
 the City Point and the Norfolk Railroad, fronting the enemy's 
 stronghold. Fort Stedman, located at Hare's Hill. 
 ' Ransom is put in command of Wallace's South Carolinabrigade 
 in addition to his own. It now develops that the enemy's lines 
 are to be assaulted at Fort Stedman in the hope of cutting them 
 in two, and by the assistance of Pickett's division from our lines 
 north of the Appomattox to defeat that portion of Grant's army 
 investing Petersburg. To Major-General John B. Gordon is 
 assigned the honor of commanding the attacking forces. Gen- 
 eral Lee had consulted Generals Gordon and Ransom about this 
 movement. Gordon thought well of it. Ransom was doubtful. 
 Doubtless it was the dire necessitj' of the situation that dcter- 
 
 ( 28 ) 
 
(Betiaral tJttatt. ^. Ransom 
 
 mined General Lee to make the attempt. He would anticipate 
 Grant in the opening of the spring campaign. It was a forlorn 
 hope, but those brave men with bright muskets, but faded uni- 
 forms, who had carried the fortune of the Confederacy for four 
 years on the point of their bayonets 
 
 "Did not make reply. 
 Did not reason why, 
 But went to do and die." 
 
 Says Adjutant Thomas R. Roulhac : 
 
 "Just at daylight we advanced to the assault, Ransom's brigade di- 
 rectly in front of Hare's Hill (Fort Stedman). At the signal the sharp- 
 shooters of the Forty-ninth regiment, under First Lieutenant Thomas R. 
 Roulhac, following the storming party led by Lieutenant W. W. Flem- 
 ing, of the Sixth North Carolina regiment, moved across our works, 
 through the obstructions in our front, and the whole brigade with a 
 rush, climbed the chavaux de frise of the enemy, and clambering through 
 and over the deep ditches in their front, went over the enemy's works, 
 and captured them before they aroused from their slumbers. The sur- 
 piise was complete. 
 
 "Sweeping down their lines the Forty-ninth opened the way for other 
 troops, and Fort Stedman was in our hands. The expected assistance 
 from the troops north of the Appomattox did not arrive. The enemy 
 were given time to concentrate, and soon from both flanks and from the 
 front Grant moved overwhelming forces against the small number of 
 Confederates holding the captured works. Then one by one the Confed- 
 erate forces give way, and return as best they can to their <jwn defenses 
 — shattered, bleeding at every pore, decimated, but undismayed. The 
 enemy do not attempt to follow them, and with a loss of two thousand 
 nine hundred and forty-nine, killed wounded and captured, this 
 famous assault passes into history as one of the most brilliant, most 
 desperate in the annals of the war." 
 
 In his report of the battle. General Lee says : 
 
 "The two brigades commanded by General Ransom behaved most 
 handsomely. Ransom's brigade lost seven hundred men in all." 
 
 BATTLE OF FIVE FORKS. 
 
 Without resting Ransom is ordered to return to the extreme of 
 
 the Confederate right and oppose Sheridan in the latter's attempt 
 
 to turn the Confederate right flank, and get possession of the 
 
 Southside Railroad. Ransom is to unite his forces with Pickett's 
 
 (29) 
 
(B^aeral ^alt. ^. !^atisom 
 
 division in aid of the cavalry under Fitzhugh Lee, taking position 
 first at Burgess Mill on Hatcher's Run. On March 30, Ran- 
 som's brigade drove the enemy back into his entrenchments, and 
 uniting with Pickett they march down the White Oak Road to 
 Five Forks in Dinwiddie County, and on 31st of March engage 
 in battle with Sheridan's cavalry, driving them back in "discom- 
 fiture." Sheridan informs Grant this force is too strong for him, 
 and at ten p. m., Grant notifies him, "Warren's corps and Mac- 
 Kenzie's cavalry have been sent to his assistance." 
 
 The Confederates during the night retire to their works at Five 
 Forks, and Sheridan, reinforced by Warren's corps and Mac- 
 Kenzie's cavalry, begins at daybreak an advance, and on April 1, 
 1865, is fought the battle of Five Forks, the last organized bat. 
 tie between the armies of the Potomac and of Northern Virginia. 
 
 In 1895 I called to pay my respects to General Longstreet at 
 his home near Gains ville, Georgia. During the interview the Gen- 
 eral spoke most feelingly of the gallantry of the North Carolina 
 soldiers and desired me to convey to General Ransom his per- 
 sonal regards and high esteem; and requested me to say to him 
 that he (General Longstreet) had just completed his account of 
 the battle of Five Forks, to be published in the book he was 
 writing, and that the North Carolina soldiers had never, to his 
 knowledge, acted more gallantly than in that battle, so disas- 
 trous to the Confederate cause. 1 felt emboldened after this to 
 say to General Longstreet that I had read in some paper, that he 
 had replied in answer to an inquiry as to the respective gallantry 
 of the soldiers from the different States, that he found as the gen- 
 eral result of a battle there were more North Carolina soldiers 
 killed and wounded in proportion to their numbers engaged, and 
 more of the enemy killed and wounded in frontof where the North 
 Carolinians fought, than was the case with the troops from any 
 other State; and asked him if he had so stated. He answered me, 
 "substantially so, yes," such has been my experience with the 
 North Carolina soldiers I have had the honor to command." 
 A concluding word about this 
 
 ( 30 ) 
 
(Setieral Mlatt. W. Ransom 
 
 BATTLE OF FIVE FORKS, APRIL t, 1865. 
 
 The Confederate troops consisted of Corse's, Terry's and 
 Stuart's brigades of Pickett's Division, commanded by Major- 
 General George Pickett, and Wallace's South Carolina and Ran- 
 som's North Carolina brigade of Bushrod Johnson's Division, com- 
 manded by General Ransom, and the cavalry divisions of Rosser, 
 W. H. F. Lee and Fitzhugh Lee, commanded by the latter, a 
 total of about seven thousand men of all arms. 
 
 The Federal forces were the First, Second and Third Cavalry 
 Divisions, nine thousand men; First, Second and Third Infantry 
 Divisions of Warren's corps, five batteries of artillery, fifteen 
 thousand, seven hundred and eighty-seven men, andMacKenzie's 
 cavalry one thousand strong, all under command of General 
 Phil. H. Sheridan. 
 
 The Confederate forces were occupying the works along the 
 White Oak road at the junction of three roads; hence the name 
 Five Forks. They faced to the east. General Sheridan's plan of 
 battle, he writes in his report, was to make a feint with his cav- 
 alry to turn the Confederate right flank, and meanwhile quietly 
 move up Warren's fifth corps with a view to attacking the Con- 
 federate left flank, crush the whole force, and drive westward 
 those who might escape, thus isolating them from their army at 
 Petersburg. 
 
 The Confederate forces at the beginning of the battle were 
 posted as follows: / 
 
 On their right the cavalry under Fitzhugh Lee, in which was 
 Barringer's North Carolina brigade, which so distinguished 
 itself at the awful fight at Chamberlain's Run the day before. 
 Next on the left, Pickett's division, next to Pickett's, Ransom's 
 command, two brigades, and on his left, Mumford's cavalry con- 
 necting with Brigadier-General Roberts' brigade, which filled the 
 gap between our left and the right of our main army at Burgess' 
 Mills, several miles distant. 
 
 By two o'clock p. m.,the Federal cavalry, under Generals Mer- 
 rit and Custer, have the Confederate cavalry at Five Forks hard 
 pressed ; but the latter held their ground with a determination 
 and grim tenacity never surpassed. It is between four and five 
 
 (31 ) 
 
(Beneral Mtalt W, yiansoxa 
 
 o'clock before Warren advances. Sheridan complains of his 
 delay and that night relieves Warren of his command. Shielding 
 the movement of his infantry under the operations of the cavalry, 
 Warren's corps advances through the undefended lines on the 
 left of the Confederates ; getting completely in their rear. Deploy- 
 ing his columns Sheridan begins hisattack with Ayre's division on 
 Ransom's extreme left held by the Twenty-fourth regiment. At first 
 the enemy are successfully resisted, several distinct charges have 
 been repulsed, but Griihn's Federal division now appearing on the 
 scene, soon to be followed by Crawford's, the handful of Confed- 
 erates are swept away, and the Fifty-sixth, Twenty-fifth, Forty- 
 ninth and Thirty-fifth regiments are successively driven from their 
 works. They form from time to time these new lines of battle, 
 ignorant that Crawford's and Griffin's divisions have gotten en- 
 tirely around them and are attacking Pickett in the rear with 
 overwhelming force. General Ransom conceives it his duty to 
 make one final charge to break through the enveloping lines. One 
 horse has been killed under him. He sends for his favorite charger, 
 a thoroughbred stallion named Ion. Captain Steriing H. Gee, 
 his brigade Adjutant, has been killed, and Lieutenant R. B. 
 Peebles, the Adjutant ot his old regiment, is promoted on the field 
 to take Captain Gee's place. 
 
 Calling on his brigade to follow him, bareheaded, on his superb 
 war horse, who smelleth the battle at hand and is eager for the 
 fray, obeying the slightest command of its rider. Ransom leads 
 his brigade for the last time in a charge against the enemy. 
 Emerging from the woods, as he appears in front of his advanc- 
 ing line the enemy, who are in line of battle just beyond, open 
 fire. As the smoke clears away, rider and horse are seen on the 
 ground, the rider underneath. A cry runs down the hne, "Our 
 General is shot," and men rush to save him from capture. The 
 enemy see the act and a message is wired to Major-General 
 Thomas, of the Federal army, that his kinsman. General Ransom, 
 has been killed. 
 
 But not so— Captain Johnson, of the Thirty-fifth, and Captain 
 Sherrill, of the Forty-ninth regiments, rush forward and find the 
 
 ( 32 ) 
 
(General ^att. >>^. Ransom 
 
 General unhurt, but pinioned under his horse and in danger of 
 being crushed in the dying struggles of the noble animal. When 
 shot the horse reared high up in the air and fell backward on his 
 rider, who, with his wounded arm in a sling, is powerless to 
 extricate himself. 
 
 With the enemy now closing in on both flanks and from the 
 front, and no hope of assistance, there is no thought of sur- 
 render; sable night setting down on the gory scene favors the 
 few survivors, and General Ransom and the remnants of his com- 
 mand, in the langtiage of Colonel Rutledge, of the Twenty-fifth 
 regiment, "backed through the small loop hole left, emptying 
 into the enemy's faces the last cartridge we had." We are here 
 reminded of Marshal Ney firing the last musket in the retreat of 
 the grand army from Moscow. During the night General Ran- 
 som with the brave few left unites with General Anderson's corps 
 on the Southside railroad. The noble cavalry under Fitzhugh 
 Lee, and especially Barringer's North Carolina brigade, all that 
 was left of it, after their dreadful losses at the passage of Cham- 
 berlain's Creek the da\^ before, heroically breast the enemy's ad- 
 vance, and slowly falling back take position at Pott's Station, on 
 the Southside railroad, about two miles from the battlefield. 
 
 From April 1 until the surrender at Appomattox on the 9th, 
 the retreat of the Confederate army was one series of disasters, 
 until at the end, only seven thousand, eight hundred and ninety- 
 two organized infantry, sixty-three pieces of artillery, twenty- 
 one hundred eifective cavalrj-- remained of the once proud and 
 conquering army of Northern Virginia. Ransom surrendered at 
 Appomattox, forty-one officers and three hundred and ninety-one 
 enlisted men. Dating from his commision as Lieutenant-Colonel 
 of the First regiment, May 8, 1861, General Ransom served four 
 years, lacking twenty-nine days, as a Confederate soldier. 
 
 On his journey home from Appomattox, the brigade head- 
 quarter's wagon with all his belongings was lost, and when Gen- 
 eral Ransom joined his family at Warrenton, North Carolina, he 
 had to accept from his brother, the necessary garments for a 
 change of clothing. 
 
 General Ransom was not a Martinet. He was never known to 
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
(Betteral >ltatt. >>^. Ransom 
 
 court martial or put an officer under arrest, never had a private 
 punished or put on extra duty, never asked for a court martial in 
 any case, and never preferred a charge against an officer or pri- 
 vate, but the discipline of his command v^^as excellent. He 
 placed great confidence in young officers. He had many 
 such in his brigade. His Adjutant atSharpsburg and Fredericks- 
 burg, was a mere boy of sixteen years, the present eminent 
 Chief Justice of your State. On one occasion vsrhen a vacancy 
 in the Colonel cj^ of one of the regiments in the brigade 
 was to be filled, and the next in rank was a young man 
 under twenty-one years of age, the brigade commander op- 
 posed the promotion of the "boy," as he termed him; Colonel 
 Ransom did not sympathize with this view of his brother, the 
 General; and the heroic conduct of this young Colonel on the 
 battlefield of Gettysburg vindicated Colonel Ransom's better 
 judgment. 
 
 General Ransom was sympathetic with his soldiers in their 
 privations and misfortunes. I have this incident from General 
 Ransom's friend and i-elative. Dr. F. J. Picot. One day not far 
 from Petersburg General Ransom rode upon a file of soldiers tak- 
 ing a prisoner out to be shot. He stopped and enquired the 
 cause. The man having been refused a furlough for one night, 
 and encamped only a short distance from his home, ran away 
 for a few hours to see his wife and children, intending to return 
 to his command the next day, but somehow missed it on the line 
 of march, was arrested, tried and condemned as a deserter. The 
 poor fellow's narrative convinced General Ransom of his inno- 
 cence of intent to desert. 
 
 General Ransom ordered the escort not to shoot him before his 
 return, saying, as he wheeled his horse and spurring to the full 
 run, "I'll try my man. I'll try my poor fellow." In a brief 
 time he returned from General Lee's headquarters, his horse and 
 himself CO vered with mud, waving the reprieve above his head. 
 It is of pathetic interest to know that this soldier, the next day, 
 was killed by a musket ball through the heart received in the 
 fore front of battle. 
 
 (34) 
 
<Ben(tral ^att. W, transom 
 
 In Judge Montgomery's interesting account of "Appomattox 
 and the return home," I quote this passage: 
 
 "We heard of General Ransom along our road, heliring the tired and 
 footsore, often dismounting and placing such in his saddle, and speaking 
 to them words of hope and cheer. We greatly wished to come up with 
 him and to talk to him, for we had great interest and pride in him. We 
 had watched his career as a soldier, which had reflected honor on his 
 State and upon the South, and especially his strikingly brilliant conduct 
 at Five Forks a few days before." 
 
 General Ransom never became a master of tactics, the drill 
 was irksome to him. He probably undervalued the importance 
 of both, but as his rank increased and his perspective of a battle- 
 field enlarged, he instinctively seized upon the strategic points in 
 a fight and was always equal to the occasion. At Sharpsburg in 
 the temporary absence of his superior, and though junior in rank, 
 he commanded and handled his brigade in a way to excite the 
 admiration of his soldiers, and command the encomiums of his 
 superiors. 
 
 At Boon's Mill, when he had himself alone to rely upon, on 
 which occasion he was chased for two miles by the resolute and 
 confident enemy before he reached his own command, his pres- 
 ence of mind never left him, and he turns upon his pursuers and 
 defeats them with one-fifth the number of soldiers opposed to 
 him. At Plymouth he measures up to the capacity of a com- 
 mander of the first rank in storming and capturing the defenses 
 on the eastern side of the town and compelling the surrender of 
 its garrison. He was fortunate above his comrades in being a 
 commander in the only two victories gained in the State in the 
 four years of the war, and his good fortune did not desert him at 
 the end, for he was privileged to command in the last organized 
 battle of the armies in Virginia, and was with his soldiers when 
 they gave their paroles at Appomattox. 
 
 Time forbids us to extend this story. We reluctantly leave 
 this brief sketch of General Ransom's military career. Of all 
 North Carolinians I would liken him most to General William R. 
 Davie, the accomplished soldier of the Revolution, member of the 
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
(General Mtatt. ^. Ransom 
 
 United States Congress, representative of his Country abroad, 
 orator, statesman, patriot. 
 
 Listen to the story, ray countrymen. 
 Lest we forget. Lest we forget. 
 
 RANSOM IN CIVIL LIFE AFTER THE WAR. 
 
 To close the account of the Confederate soldier with his sur- 
 render, would not complete the record of his great services to his 
 country. For years after Appomattox the Confederate soldier 
 fought a harder fight and against greater odds in civil life than 
 when he confronted an armed enemy on the field of battle. 
 
 From 1868 to 1871, our homes, our property, our civilization 
 hung in the balance, with a National Government hostile, foreign 
 nations unsympathetic, our State Government in arms against 
 us and our former slaves, our legislators, and in charge of our 
 county affairs, any people but the white people of the South 
 would have given up. Not so the soldiers who had followed Lee 
 and Jackson and our own leaders. Hill, Branch, Grimes, Scales, 
 Fettigrew, Hoke, Ransom and Jarvis, and those in civil life. Gov- 
 ernors Graham and Bragg and Vance, Judges Merrimon and Bat- 
 tle, B. F. Moore and Josiah H. Turner, Jr. 
 
 JUDGE GEORGE W. BROOKS AND HABEAS CORPUS. 
 
 On July 1, 1868, Honorable W. W. Holden took the oath of of- 
 fice as Governor, under what is known as the "Canby Constitu- 
 tion." On March 7, 1870, Governor Holden declared the County 
 of Alamance in insurrection, and on July 8 following he likewise 
 declared the County of Caswell in insurrection. In June, July 
 and August Governor Holden organized some five hundred 
 soldiers under the command of George W, Kirk, of Tennessee, as 
 Colonel, and having suspended the w^rit of "habeas corpus" by his 
 proclamations, these soldiers under Colonel Kirk and his subordi- 
 nates arrested numerous citizens of the counties of Alamance and 
 Caswell, under charges of being members of the Ku Klux Klan 
 and guilty of the murder of J. W. Stephens and Wyatt Outlaw. 
 
 On July 15, 1870, Adolphus G. Moore, of Alamance, was arrested 
 by Kirk, and the next day he sued out a writ of "habeas corpus'' 
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
(General tJttalt. XO, yiansom. 
 
 before Chief Justice Pearson, Captain E. S. Parker and Judge A. 
 S. Merrimon, his counsel. The writ was delivered to A. C. McAlis- 
 ter, now of Graham, North Carolina, who on the following day, 
 which was Sunday, July 17, 1870, served the same on Colonel 
 Kirk as his command rested about nine miles from Company 
 Shops (Burhngton) on the road to Yanceyville, Kirk's reply 
 was, "Tell them such things are played out. I have my orders 
 from Governor Holden, and shall not obey the writ. I will sur- 
 render my prisoners as Governor Holden orders, but not other- 
 wise, unless they send a sufficient force to whip me." 
 
 This answer was reported to Judge Pearson on the 18th. The 
 Judge notifies Governor Holden that Colonel Kirk refused to 
 make return to the writ, and asked if Kirk was acting under the 
 Governor's orders. On the next day Governor Holden replies 
 that "Colonel Kirk made the arrests and now detains the 
 prisoners by my orders." The Judge thereupon announced as his 
 decision that the Governor had no power to disobey the writ of 
 "habeas corpus," and issued an order that Mr. Moore be brought 
 forthwith before him and directed the same to the Marshal of 
 his court with instructions to exhibit it and a copy of his 
 opinion to the Governor with this famous statement: "If he, the 
 Governor, orders the petitioner to be delivered to the Marshal, 
 well. If not, following the example of Chief Justice Taney in the 
 Merrimon case, I have discharged my duty. The power of the 
 Judiciary is exhausted, and the responsibility must rest on the 
 Executive." Governor Holden in reply, under date of July 26, 
 1870, gives his reasons at length for refusing to obey the writ 
 and Judge Pearson declines to take any further action. 
 
 The condition of those in confinement, the best and most influ- 
 ential citizens in their respective communities, now no hope of 
 release by the process of the law, a Court Martial organized to 
 try them ordered to convene in a few days, was so deplorable 
 that a few determined and able men came to the city of Raleigh 
 to consult as a committee of safety on the liberties of the people. 
 Governors Graham and Bragg, Honorable B. P. Moore, Judge W, 
 H. Battle and his two sons and others met at Judge Battle's 
 
 (37) 
 
(General ^alt ^. Ransom 
 
 office last of July. General Ransom was telegraphed to athishome 
 to attend, and he came at once. 
 
 The situation was laboriously and carefully gone over. It was 
 thought useless to apply to the United States civil authorities, as 
 Governor Holden had called upon President Grant for his aid, 
 and the State's representatives in the United States Congress 
 w^ere urging upon that body to pass a Federal statute suspend- 
 ing the writ of "habeas corpus" in North Carolina. 
 
 General Ransom asked for a copy of the fourteenth amendment 
 to the United States Constitution lately proclaimed; and relying 
 upon its words, "All persons born or naturalized in the United 
 States are citizens of the United States, and no State shall 
 deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due 
 process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction, 
 the equal protection of the law," he advised that application be 
 made to the United States District Judge, George W. Brooks, at 
 Elizabeth City, for a writ of "habeas corpus." His suggestion pre- 
 vailed, and General Ransom was requested to see Judge Brooks 
 in person and make the application, and Josiah Turner, Jr., was 
 to be the petitioner. Riding on a locomotive from Raleigh to 
 save time, General Ransom reached Elizabeth Citj, Saturday 
 afternoon about supper time, July 30, 1870. 
 
 At once seeking the Judge at his home, he opened the subject of 
 his visit. From then till late at night the matter was discussed, 
 but without avail. After breakfast the next morning General 
 Ransom again called upon His Honor, and remained to dinner, 
 and in the afternoon they took a walk along the shore of that 
 beautiful sheet of water, on which Elizabeth City is located. We 
 can well imagine General Ransom never ceased to plead his cause. 
 
 At dinner the Reverend Thomas P. Crowder, the Methodist 
 minister, now living near Suffolk, Virginia, joined the party, and 
 with his inimitable grace and unsurpassed diplomacy. General 
 Ransom proceeded to enlist Mrs. Brooks and the Divine on his 
 side. That he succeeded goes without saying. 
 
 During the dinner this took place. Bowing to Mrs. Brooks 
 and the clerg^nuan, General Ransom remarks, "I will have to 
 get Mrs. Brooks and Mr. Crowder to join me in my petition, as 
 
 ( 38 ) 
 
(Beneral !5ttatt W. tJ\ansom 
 
 we now stand one to one. The Judge on one side and I on the 
 other." Mr. Crowder is the first to respond, and turning to the 
 good lady he says, "Sister Brooks, I always believe in joining the 
 weaker side; we will have to help the General here and petition 
 the Judge; what say you?" What could the noble woman say 
 but, "Brother Crowder, I agree with you." 
 
 After all the General's arguments, eloquence and tact, His 
 Honor is not fully pursuaded and does not then issue the writ, 
 but when General Ransom left early the next morning for his 
 home, he carried this from Judge Brooks: "If I were satisfied I 
 had the power to issue the writ I would do so. These men ought 
 to have a fair and impartial hearing somewhere. Leave with me 
 your copy of the fourteenth amendment, which happily General 
 Ransom had brought with him, and I will let you hear from me." 
 We know the result. On August 6, 1870, Judge Brooks arrived 
 in Raleigh. Messrs. Moore, Battle, Graham, Bragg and Merri- 
 mon sign a petition on behalf of Josiah Turner, Jr., praying for 
 the writ, the same is sworn to by James H. Moore before Judge 
 Brooks himself, and the Judge issues the writ commanding Kirk, 
 in the name of the President of the United States, to produce his 
 prisoners before him at Salisbury on August 18, 1870. 
 
 Governor Holden dies game. On August 7 he writes President 
 Grant, denying Judge Brooks' right to interfere, and says, "It is 
 my purpose to detain the prisoners unless the army of the United 
 States under your orders shall detnand them." 
 
 The Attorney-General of the United States replies next day by 
 direction of President Grant and closes his letter as follows: "I 
 advise that the State authorities yield to the United States Ju- 
 diciary." At the trial in Salisbury, Colonel Kirk marches into 
 the court room with his prisoner under military escort. He is 
 indignantly ordered out of the room by the Judge. The trial pro- 
 ceeds, its record reads as follows: "No cause being shown for the 
 capture and detention of the prisoner, it is ordered by His Honor 
 that he be discharged and allowed to go without day, and that 
 George W. Kirk pay the cost of the proceedings to be taxed by 
 the clerk of this covirt." 
 
 Judge Brooks died in January, 1881, and his remains repose 
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
(General yttalt Xf?* Ransom 
 
 under a monument in Hollywood Cemetery, Elizabeth City, 
 erected by his wife. This upright Judge, this noble Christian 
 woman, his wife, the petitioner and his able and faithful 
 attorneys, the gallant soldier, accomplished statesman, orator 
 and diplomat, have gone to their rewards, but, "lest we forget," 
 
 "These are deeds which should not pass away 
 
 And names that must not wither tho' the earth, 
 Forgets her Empires with a just decay 
 The enslavers and enslaved; their death and birth." 
 
 RANSOM IN CIVIL LIFE. 
 
 From February, 1872, until March 4, 1895, General Ransom was 
 United States Senator. Time forbids me, at this late hour, to 
 attempt more than a reference to these twenty-three years of 
 service in that most august body of Representatives of Sovereign 
 States. General Ransom spoke but seldom in the Senate; for 
 this he has been censured by the thoughtless. But those who 
 saw beneath the surface, now realize the supreme wisdom of 
 this self-restraint, for who can doubt it was but self-restraint in 
 carrying out the great object of his political existence, "the 
 sacred purpose to reconcile the once divided people of his coun- 
 try," that he did not often speak in the Senate. He begins his 
 great speech on the "South Faithful to Her Duties," in these 
 words, which are the key note of his senatorial career: "For 
 nearly three years I have sat silently in this chamber with the 
 hope that by pursuing a course, as I thought, of impartial and 
 patriotic duty towards all and every part of the country, I might 
 have some influence in satisf3'ing Northern Senators that the 
 South desired peace with the North, and a restored and fra- 
 ternal union of all the States of the Republic," and this sacred 
 purpose remained to the end. But he was vigilant of all that 
 was going on. "General Ransom," writes a brother Senator in 
 1891, "regards nothing lightly" that transpires in the Senate; 
 his State is first above all in his thoughts and affections. 
 
 In respect of the Force bill campaign. Gen. Ransom looked as 
 nearly to the bottom of the gulf we so nearly plunged into as any 
 other man, and I was grieved to see how he was impressed in 
 mind and body, with fearful apprehensions of the danger. It 
 
 (40 ) 
 
<Ben<tral yttalX, W, yiansom 
 
 was on this crisis of the South's political fortunes that the wis- 
 dom of Gen. Ransom's course in the Senate became manifest. 
 Going to the Vice-President and to Senators Hoar and Aldnch, 
 he su'^ceeded, as probably no other Southern Senator could have 
 succeeded, in getting the journals of the Senate amended so as to 
 establish the exact history of the proceedings, "without which, 
 falsehood would have suplemented outrage, and our cause would 
 have been lost," says Senator Morgan. 
 
 If for the reasons above given Senator Ransom spoke but sel- 
 dom in the Senate, how different was his course in his own State. 
 What election was ever on in North Carolina, from 1872 to 1905, 
 that Ransom's clarion voice was not heard rallying his followers 
 from the mountains to the seas. Who having once heard one of 
 those campaign speeches ever forgot it. There was no anec- 
 dote telling, no vituperation, no misrepresentations; but he ap- 
 pealed to the patriotism of his hearers; to their love of home; to 
 their fidelitv to duty; to their inteUigent understanding of the 
 respective poHcies of the two political parties and with merciless 
 criticism and inexorable logic brought conviction to the hearers 
 of the wisdom of the course he advocated. 
 
 Of the effect of his oratory I ask your indulgence while I read 
 two letters written to the Senator after two of these speeches. 
 One bears date July 28, 1900, and is so characteristic of the 
 writer it is unnecessary to name him. 
 
 "I thank you most noble citizen for the beautiful and ^4se counsel 
 ffiven our veterans and young manhood. Full of years and laden with 
 honors, you put away all personal considerations and laid befo'-e our 
 people the beauty of duty well done, and patriotically accomplished. 1 
 open the secrets of my inner soul to you, and render homage to your 
 
 services. . , 
 
 "When I heard vou were coming, I framed an introduction to bespoken 
 in your presence! It happened that this agreeable task was taken over 
 by other and very capable hands. I coveted the privilege of setting the 
 audience aflame with my ardor if not vehemence. I know your taste and 
 refinement in this respect so well I could have added to your gratifica- 
 tion if not to your happiness by my zeal and directness. I had the images 
 in mind which I meant to rear and salute, and around these I hoped to 
 shed light. Even Ajax prayed for light." 
 
 ( 41 ) 
 
<B(^neral ^att. "W, ^ajtsom 
 
 The other letter was written on Christmas Eve, 1903. The 
 writer has since died. He was an upright man, an able lawyer, 
 an unselfish patriot. We may hope the two are again united in 
 those bonds of mutual friendship and esteem never to be severed. 
 
 ''Dear Senator, Soldier and Citizen : 
 
 "Thank God that I have lived in your day, and that your example has 
 been before me and my children, and will be long imitated by those as- 
 piring to good and noble deeds ; that your faithfulness shall be an ever 
 present example for the youth of the State you loved and served so 
 well ; that I'm permitted to tell you in the flesh how I appreciate you. 
 In this season of memorA- of all that is good, beautiful and true. Thou 
 example of courage, fortitude and noble life. I rejoice that I do you 
 reverence and homage." 
 
 Captain S. A. Ashe writes as follows: 
 
 "As an orator General Ransom was superb; his powers being of the 
 highest order. Some of his campaign speeches were masterful, so elo- 
 quent, so powerful that well informed men have declared that they 
 could not be equalled by any other living American." 
 
 On the one hundredth anniversary of the ratification by North 
 Carolina of the Constitution of the United States, held at Fay- 
 etteville, November 21, 1889, Senator Ransom was the orator of 
 the occasion. The Marine Band from Washington, D. C, came 
 down to honor the occasion and the speaker, and seldom if ever 
 before was there such a large gathering of representative men 
 and women of the State. Senator Ransom regarded his address 
 on this occasion as his greatest oratorical effort. The subject 
 matter of his discourse had for months occupied his thoughts, 
 and never before had he taken such labor in the preparation of a 
 speech. He was applied to for a cop}^ for publication, but with that 
 remarkable disregard of self which was so inexplicable at times, 
 he neglected to comply with the committee's request, and now 
 alas! the great intellect that created it and the noble patriotism 
 that inspired it are buried in the grave. 
 
 In 1902 Senator Ransom was invited by the Grand Lodge of 
 North Carolina to be their orator on St. John's Day, June 24-, 
 1902. Under date of September 2, 1902, Grand Secretary John 
 C. Drewry, in a letter transmitting the resolutions of thanks 
 passed by the Lodge, uses this language: 
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
(General ^att. ^. Ransom 
 
 "The noblest band of men in North CaroKna, numbering about four- 
 teen thousand of the best and purest citizens in our grand old Common- 
 wealth, desire to bear record of the noble life which you have led and the 
 love and esteem which we all bear for you. I am sending you by this 
 mail under another cover, a copy of the resolutions adopted by the 
 Grand Lodge, which I trust ^,vill reach you safely." 
 
 THE RESOLUTIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS: 
 
 "The Grand Lodge of North Carolina desires to place on record a testi- 
 monial of its gratitude to the Hon. Matthew Whitaker Ransom for his 
 presence and participation in the exercises of the Order at Oxford on St, 
 John's Day, June 24, 1902. 
 
 "His prompt response to our invitation, his cheerful endurance of the 
 fatigue of travel, his splendid presence, his cordial greetings, and his elo- 
 quent oration all touched our hearts and gave a richer glow to the love, 
 admiration and esteem, which we have so long cherished for his noble 
 character, his splendid talents, and his life-long patriotic deeds. 
 
 "Brave as a soldier, wise as a statesman, eloquent as an orator, and 
 useful as a citizen, he has rounded out a life of glory and true nobility 
 rarely equalled and never surpassed in the annals of our State. It is a 
 credit to our people that they have spontaneously conferred upon him 
 unexampled honors inevery field of public service, and equally creditable 
 to him that he has won worthily ever3' honor and performed nobly every 
 service. 
 
 "He stands among us today the foremost citizen of the State. Our Nes- 
 tor in w^isdom and eloquence. His life is a beacon light to the aspiring 
 youth of the land. 
 
 "He will be known as one who nobly served his people and his country 
 through long years of active labor, and in his old age remained a patron 
 of every manly virtue." 
 
 As evidence of the esteem and respect entertained for Gen. Ran- 
 som by his brother Senators, he was given the chairmanship of 
 important committees, and the only Senator from the South, 
 since the war, who was elected President pro tem of the Senate. 
 The traveler, as he enters or leaves the Capital of the Nation, lit- 
 tle thinks that he owes to Gen. Ransom, chairman of the com- 
 mittee on the Potomac River fronts, the beautiful grounds that 
 greet his eye, and the pure water over which he glides in his Pull, 
 man car. Senator Ransom secured the passage of the law estab- 
 lishing the committee on private land claims and Spanish grants 
 and was its chairman. While occupying this position of influence, 
 this incident occurred : Four Senators were enjoying an evening 
 
 (43 ) -: ;•■ 
 
(Beneral ytlaXt >X^» Ransom 
 
 at cards, at the home of one of them, when the Senator from 
 Ohio addressed the Senator from Kentucky this enquiry : "Sen- 
 ator, what kind of a man is your friend, Ransom, from North 
 Carolina ? I understand he owes everj-body, pays nobody, al- 
 ways is hard up, but he can't be induced by Col. I to intro- 
 duce a certain bill in the Senate, for which he could demand and 
 get thousands, and I want to know what sort of a man Ransom 
 is." The Kentucky Senator replied that it might be true all he 
 said about Senator Ransom's financial condition, he coidd not 
 
 say how this was, but he could tell him one thing. Col. I and 
 
 all the clients he represented did not have money enough to make 
 Gen. Ransom do an act as Senator which he thought wrong." 
 
 In the fierce light of 23 years' service in the Senate, no one has 
 ever had the temerity to suggest that Gen. Ransom was at any 
 time influenced to do a public service from pecuniary consider- 
 ations. As was once said by his illustrious colleague, Senator 
 Vance, on a memorable occasion, when he felt himself called upon 
 to vindicate his conduct as Senator, "These hands are clean," 
 there has never been a suggestion of graft or bribery against 
 Gen. Ransom in his long and conspicious public service. 
 
 As chairman of committee on commerce and rivers and har- 
 bors. Gen. Ransom was enabled to obtain for his State and the 
 South the most liberal provisions for the expenditure of pubhc 
 moneys in the improvement of its water-courses and harbors. In 
 a five minutes speech he got passed in the Senate a bill appropriat- 
 ing a half million of dollars for the erection of a light house at 
 Hatteras Inlet. "No such result ever before followed a five min- 
 utes speech," said Senator Edmunds, of Vermont. 
 
 Senator Ransom was untiring in looking after the interests oi 
 his constituents and getting them positions of honor and emolu- 
 ment. His first effort was to get Gov. Vance's disabilities re- 
 moved. When the Democratic party came into power in 1885, 
 his influence with the Democratic administration was great, and 
 he used it for the advancement of Southern men, notably the ap- 
 pointment of Gov.Jarvis to be Minister Plenipotentiary to Brazil. 
 
 For twenty years or more he was member from his State on the 
 NationalDemocraticCommittee, and his services, advice and pecu- 
 
 •"'. : ( 44 ) 
 
(Beneral yttalt "W. !Jlansom 
 
 niary assistance were always freely given to those In charge of the 
 State's political campaigns. More than once, when in dire need 
 of pecuniary help, the State chairman of his party would appeal 
 to him, and though sorely pressed himself, he never hesitated to 
 sell what cotton he had and at whatever prices he could get for 
 it, and turn over the money to those in charge of the political 
 fortunes of his party in the State. There is not a man in public 
 life today in the State who at one time or another has not had 
 the helping hand of Senator Ransom. 
 
 Most of Gen. Ransom's senatorial life was spent in Washing- 
 ton, without the societ}' of his wife and children. This fact has 
 subjected him to much criticism. I have reason to know this was 
 the decision of the joint counsel between wife and husband. Gen- 
 eral and Mrs. Ransom lost their property as the result of the 
 war. Theirs was a large and increasing family. Neither wished 
 their 3'oung children to grow up or be educated in a city. It was 
 decided Mrs. Ransom should remain at home and keep the fam- 
 ily together — the boys were to be taught in the private schools 
 of North Carolina, notably Horner's, and complete their educa- 
 tions at the State University. As each finished his college course, 
 he returned to the parent nest to look after the farms that each 
 year are added. The only son who studies a profession also 
 comes home to practice it ; and when the end comes to their hon- 
 ored father, all his boys are with or near him, managing their re- 
 spective plantations. General Ransom had a passion for owning 
 land. When he died he possessed some 25,000 acres, all arable, 
 capable of the highest cultivation. How did he get hold of so 
 much land, one may ask? By giving more for it when any piece 
 was for sale than any one else would give, I answer. How did 
 he get the money to buy the land? He bought largely on time. 
 His salary as Minister to Mexico, he saved and put into land. 
 The lands he bought were well timbered. He often sold the tim- 
 ber for more than the land cost. In his boys he had five good 
 farmers. For years, when prices were good, it was not unusual 
 for General Ransom to sell his cotton crop and cotton seed for 
 between $70,000.00 and $75,000.00. Does not this evince the 
 wisdom of the Senator's course which once subjected him to cen- 
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
(Beneral Mlalt. W, Ransom 
 
 sure? But I must hasten to the close. General Ransom's sena- 
 torial term was to expire March 4, 1895 ; the elections in 1894, 
 in his State, resulted in the defeat of his party. The seat of the 
 noble Vance had been vacated by death. Ransom's was now to 
 be vacated by change in the political fortunes of his party. The 
 members of the United States Senate, irrespective of party, unite 
 in a recommendation to the President to appoint their associate, 
 so soon to part from them, Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico. 
 This recommendation was unnecessary. The President, so soon 
 as he knew such a position would be agreeable to Senator 
 Ransom, had determined to offer him the place. There was not 
 a discordant note in the tone of approval that went abroad on 
 this appointment. A special to the News and Observer, under 
 date of February 26, 1895, says: 
 
 "An ovation was given Senator Ransom in the Metropolitan Hotel. 
 When the new Mexican Minister walked into the dining room, the ap- 
 plause and cheers that greeted him were deafening. The Metropolitan 
 Hotel is itself a landmark, having held a prominent rank among Wash- 
 ington hotels for forty years ; but Senator Ransom has been the one 
 thing to stand with the landmark. For twenty odd years he has made 
 it his home, and the Southern guests, for which it is noted, have been 
 brought there partly by his magnetism. When he leaves the Metropoli- 
 tan, the first pillow of the old hotel has fallen." 
 
 As voicing the sentiment of his own people, I quote from an 
 article written to his home paper by one of his neighbors. Dr. A. 
 R. Zolllcoffer: 
 
 "In your town a few days ago, it was my pleasure to meet and shake 
 the hand of a gentleman whom I consider the ablest of North Carolina's 
 living sons. He was on his way to Washington to attend a reception 
 and dining given complimentary to him by the Minister from Mexico. 
 From Washington General Ransom will go direct to Mexico to enter 
 upon the discharge of his duties. While holding his hand and bidding 
 him adieu, a feeling of sadness and sorrow came over me, but as Hooked 
 into his genial face, these vanished and I felt proud of the noble man 
 before me. I was proud that he and I were North Carolinians; that 
 North Carolina was the mother of such an endowed son, such an able 
 statesman, that this mighty nation would be represented in a foreign 
 country by a man of such magnanimity, learning and ability, such rare 
 diplomacy and statesmanship, a true and tried Democrat, a son of Old 
 
 (46 ) 
 
(Beneral ytlatl. W* Ransom 
 
 North Carolina. It is true that his mother State refused to honor him 
 longer, that she failed to remember or appreciate hisbeneficient works of 
 the past, and in her last political campaign, he, like C^sar and Monte- 
 zuma fell from the Senatorial chair by blows from the hands of his own 
 people and those whom he had served with ability and faithfulness for 
 23 years, even at the risk of his life. Yet I felt glad that I Uved in a 
 country and belonged to a magnanimous nation that could appreciate 
 his worth, could recognize his honor and influence and know how to 
 honor and reward the same." 
 
 GENERAL RANSOM'S DEATH AND BURIAL. 
 
 About one o'clock on Saturday morning, October 8, 1904, on 
 the 78th anniversary of his birth, General Ransom died at his 
 home, Verona, with his sons, Matt. W.,Jr., George and Joe, at his 
 bedside. Robert and Patrick arrived a few hours afterwards. 
 Mrs. Ransom and their only daughter. Miss Esther, were at Blow- 
 ino- Rock, their summer home, but reached Verona Sunday morn- 
 ing. The burial was on Monday afternoon. Who has not read 
 of the imposing funeral ceremonies at the obsequies of the great, 
 and had their patriotism kindled afresh as they dwell in imagi- 
 nation on the glorious deeds of the honored dead. 
 
 It was a great fleet that accompanied the remains of Ger- 
 manicus across the seas to be burned on thefuneral pile at Rome. 
 A national holiday celebrated the return of the bones of Napoleon 
 from St. Helena to France, and the funeral car of his great antag- 
 onist, Wellington, is still preserved in the city of London. We 
 have seen a mighty ship of war sent by one of the great empires 
 of the world, as an escort to the remains of a private citizen, as 
 George Peabody, dying in England, is to be buried in America. 
 Recently a fleet of battleships, tendered by a friendly nation, par- 
 ticipates in the re-interment of the great Admiral, John Paul Jones, 
 in his final resting place in the soil of his adopted country, and 
 the President of the United States takes part in the ceremonies. 
 
 Who of us has not read that noble oration pronounced in the 
 Senate of the United States, in the presence of that great gather- 
 ing of dignitaries of the land in memory of Zebulon B. Vance. 
 But it is not for Ransom to be thus honored. No funeral car 
 caparisoned with emblems of mourning and accompanied by rep- 
 resentatives of the great departments of the Government is to 
 
 (47 ) 
 
(Beneral yttalt >jt?, Ransom 
 
 bear Matt. W. Ransom to his last resting place. Listen to the 
 account of his burial, as given in a letter to his paper by its cor- 
 respondent, Mr. R. L. Gray: 
 
 "At the gate a wagon, with a negro driving a mule, took the coffin 
 and carried it for the hundred yards to the grave in the garden ; the 
 Masons, the pall bearers, his neighbors, the family, and the women with 
 their arms full of flowers, following slowly along the path, under the 
 long staves of the Masons, past the cabbages and the turnips to the 
 clump of trees at the bottom of the garden, where the grave was j^ng. 
 And then, with the throng standing about with lifted hats, the hundreds 
 of negroes in unobtrusive manners of ante bellum days, standing in the 
 rear, the white-robed rector, the reverend, and gallant Confederate 
 soldier. Major J. A. Weston, read the Episcopal services for the 
 dead, spoke some heartfelt words for his friend that was gone, and 
 all was over. While he was speaking, the level rays of the sinking sun 
 shown through the dust of the wide fields upon the homely scene ; horses 
 neighed in the 'lot,' and from a cedar in the yard a mocking bird twitted 
 its evening lay. There under the sturdy walnut and locust, in its strag- 
 gling dress, the Masons laid the Senator. And one knew that he was 
 placed in death as he would have wished ; in his own ground, near the 
 ivy-covered grave of his dead son, Tom, under a tree with the cotton 
 fields beyond the fence, in hearing distance of the spot where he fought 
 and defeated in battle the invaders of his State." 
 
 In this sequestered spot so beautifully spoken of above, a mon- 
 ument has been erected over the grave by the family. It is of 
 granite, about eighteen feet in heighth, a shaft surmounting a 
 square base. 
 
 On the east face appear these words : 
 
 Matt. Whitaker Ransom, 
 
 Born 
 
 October 8, 1826, 
 
 Died 
 October 8, 1904. 
 Ransom. 
 On the north face : 
 
 Graduate of the University. 
 
 The State's youngest Attorney-General. 
 
 Commissioner to the Peace Conference at Montgomery. 
 
 Brigadier-General of the Confederacy. 
 
 Promoted for gallantry in battle. 
 
 ( 48 ) 
 
(Beneral ^Jltatt. ^St^, ^^ansom 
 
 On the south face : 
 
 United States Senator 24 years. 
 
 Minister to Mexico. 
 
 Orator, soldier, statesman. 
 
 Through Hfe he retained the confidence of his people. 
 
 On the west face nothing is written. 
 
 I must now close, ladies of the Memorial Association, having 
 taxed your patience beyond prudence. 
 
 If any doubted General Ransom's hold upon the people of North 
 Carolina, and their esteem for the man, let him read what was 
 said and spoken of him after his death. I will ask you to bear 
 with me while I make three quotations. The News and Observer 
 of October 8, 1904, has this to say: 
 
 "Senator Ransom, in many respects, attained greater reputation than 
 any other citizen who has represented the State in the Federal Congress. 
 From the standpoint of length of service, no other Senator has ever 
 served the State in the Senate so long. He was regarded as one of the 
 leading and ablest members of that great forum. It has been the dis- 
 tinction and privilege of few citizens of this country— less than a score- 
 to serve longer in the upper branch of Congress. But it was the abiHty 
 and leadership of the man that counted for so much. 
 
 "He easily took rank as one of the foremost members of the Senate. 
 His wisdom and experience gave him a prestige that placed him at the 
 front of the statesmen of his time. In a crucial period in the history of 
 his country, he had given his life and his energies to its cause, and his 
 memory will live for time to come, for his was a glorious career. 
 
 "Vance and Ransom ! Who will forget these magic names ? Both the 
 greatest statesmen North Carolina has produced in modern times." 
 
 In the Charlotte Observer of the same date, the editor closes as 
 follows : 
 
 "We have not the heart to write further at this moment of General 
 Ransom. There remains not his like. He was our fittest scholar, our 
 most accomplished diplomat, the handsomest man among us, the ablest 
 man, the man who did us most credit in the eyes of the country. He is 
 indeed the last of the Romans. We shall not look upon his like again." 
 
 The distinguished editor-in-chief of the Biographical History of 
 North Carolina, in his admirable sketch of General Ransom, 
 speaks of him: 
 
 (49 ) 
 
(Beneral ^att "W* Ransom 
 
 "Distinguished as a soldier, statesman, scholar and orator, and by his 
 public services and influence upon the people of North Carolina, the most 
 illustrious citizen of the State, the key note of the life of General Ransom 
 was courage. He was courageous in action, whether on the battlefield 
 or in the equally important contests in civil life." 
 
 A life-long neighbor, whose plantation adjoins the General's, 
 v^rites thus to his home paper : 
 
 "The tongues of dying men enforce attention like deep harmony. 
 Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain, 
 For they breathe truth, that breathe their words in pain." 
 
 "In his quiet country home, in the full possession of his faculties 
 and perfect knowledge of his condition, he faced death with the 
 same fearlessness and calmness with which he had faced every 
 other crisis in his life, the late ex-Attorney-General, Brigadier- 
 General, Confederate States Army, United States Senator and 
 ex-Ambassador to Mexico, gave utterance to these words, which, 
 if he had never given utterance to any others, are sufficient to 
 render his name immortal: 'Do right, boys. Alwaj^s do right. 
 God bless your mother, I am going,' and instantaneously fell 
 over upon the bed, and in a few seconds his soul, we hope, passed 
 to smoother and gentler shores. 
 
 "The writer has reason to believe that one of the most impor- 
 tant objects the late Senator set himself to accomplish was to do 
 right upon any and all occasions, let the consequences be what 
 they might. Perhaps he often failed, who is to be the judge ? for 
 to our Saviour alone was it given never to do wrong. Is it not 
 reasonable to suppose that the great eminence he attained, the 
 success that he met with, can in no slight degree be attributed to 
 this effort and determination to do right? Can language be 
 more simple and results more grand and far reaching ? Is it in- 
 conceivable that the words, 'Always do right, boys,' were in- 
 tended, not only for those present, but as his last words of advice 
 to the people at large, whom he had served so long and so faith- 
 fully, and whose interests and well being he ever had at heart? 
 North Carolina owes much to General Ransom, but never more 
 than for these last grand words from a grand old man." 
 
 Of the innumerable telegrams and letters of sympathy' received 
 
 (50) 
 
(Beneral ^att. W. Ransom 
 
 bv Mrs. Ransom and other members of the family, I will ask your 
 indulgence while I read one letter. It bears date Washington, 
 D. C, October 10, 1904, the day of the funeral. The writer is the 
 present senior Senator from Maryland, the Hon. Arthur P. Gor- 
 man: 
 
 "My Dear Mrs. Ransom:— It is indeed a great shock to me to learu 
 of the sudden death of your honored husband. I give you and all of your 
 household my sincerest sympathy. The General and 1 were associated 
 together for a great many years in the Senate, and there grew up be- 
 tween us a warm friendship which does not often exist between men in 
 public life. We were devoted to each other and agreed in nearly every 
 thing relating to public affairs. He was a wise counselor and a devoted 
 friend. The world will probably never know the great service he ren- 
 dered in critical times in public questions, because he never cared to dis- 
 play what he had accomplished. His death is a decided loss to his 
 countrj'." 
 
 At a meeting of the Council of State, held on the morning of 
 October 10, in the Governor's office at Raleigh, resolutions were 
 adopted, from which I quote as follows: 
 
 "We thank God that his life was spared for so many years, in order to 
 accomplish this great work for his State, and that he might complete a 
 great and perfected life, and that he died in the autumn, when the rich 
 harvests were being gathered, when the roses had faded and the sere and 
 yellow leaf of the year had appeared, and the golden rod was in bloom, 
 thus indicating the end of the perfected year. We desire to express our 
 deepest sorrow at the loss of North CaroHna's greatest citizen, states- 
 man and patriot." 
 
 The flag on the Capitol building was ordered to be placed at 
 half mast and all the departments of the State Government closed 
 during the hours of the funeral. 
 
 Ladies, comrades and gentlemen, I must now close. As I stand 
 here facing the portrait of the illustrious Vance, I am reminded 
 how strangely connected were the public services of Vance and 
 Ransom, Each completed his education at the State University, 
 each in his young manhood held a seat in this chamber. Later on, 
 each commanded a regiment in the same brigade ; and later still, 
 each served his people in the Senate of the United States, until 
 the one died and the political fortunes of the party of the other 
 
 ( 51 ) 
 
(Betteral ^Ifttatt X^. !)\an5om 
 
 went down in defeat. The younger died first, and in the Senate 
 Chamber at Washington, with the President, his Cabinet, Repre- 
 sentatives of foreign governments, members of the Supreme Court 
 and the Joint Assembly of the two houses of Congress, as his 
 audience, the older delivered the funeral oration. A matchless 
 piece of rhetoric — to become a classic, a monument alike to the 
 orator and the honored dead. 
 
 The older has now passed away. Could it have been that 
 Vance had survived Ransom, and was standing here before this 
 cultured audience to deliver a funeral oration on his deceased col- 
 league, do we not know Vance would appeal to you, with all 
 the fervid eloquence of his nature to do justice to the memor}' of 
 Ransom; that a portrait of the man as he stood up in the Senate 
 of the United States after three j^ears of silence, and pleaded for 
 justice to his State and the South should adorn these walls; that 
 a monument of native granite to remind the passers by of the emi- 
 nent services rendered his people by their dead statesman, should 
 be erected at the northern front of this Capitol square, and a 
 eulogy fit for the occasion be delivered before the Joint Assembly 
 of the Representatives of the people ? 
 
 Ladies of the Memorial Association, I have finished the task 
 entrusted to me. 
 
 WM. H. S. BURGWYN. 
 
 (52) 
 
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