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THE 
 
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 Last Days of the War 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 Hon. Z. B. VANCE, 
 
 DELIVERED FEB. 23, 1885, 
 
 THIRD ANNUAL REUNION 
 
 Association of the Maryland Line, 
 
 ACADEMY OF MUSIC, BALTIMORE. 
 
 BALTIMORE : 
 
 The Sun Book and Job Printing Office. 
 
 1885. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/lastdaysofwarinnOOvanc 
 
THE LAST DAYS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 War in North Carolina. 
 
 BY 
 
 Hon. Z. B. VANCE. 
 
 The committee of your association who waited upon me, 
 and invited me to deliver an address upon this occasion, 
 will bear me witness how loth I was to undertake the 
 task. The very numerous and urgent engagements which 
 press upon a member of Congress in the closing days of 
 its session are such as to positively forbid that care and 
 accuracy which alone make the value of any historical 
 address. This has been peculiarly true of myself from 
 the time your invitation was delivered. Positively I have 
 not had the time to do either you or myself justice; but 
 about all that our unfortunate struggle left us Confederates 
 was the power to oblige each other. You insisted upon 
 my coming, and here I am. 
 
 For the want of opportunity of research, I have chosen 
 to speak to you about the closing scenes of the war, the 
 grand culmination of which happened in North Carolina, 
 for the reason that most of them came within my own 
 personal knowledge. 
 
 Perhaps no portion of that memorable struggle presents 
 a sadder picture. Indeed, history shows nothing whatever 
 more pathetic than the closing scenes of any great and 
 unsuccessful struggle, the death-throes of a cause which 
 had engaged the affections and inspired the hopes of a 
 whole people. The philosophic student can see in such a 
 spectacle also many important lessons in politics and in 
 
 
the study of human nature. The gradual decline of that 
 enthusiasm which at first bore that cause on to delusive 
 victory, sustained it at flood-tide, and strove fiercely to 
 . maintain it against the ebb ; the diminished confidence of 
 the weaker party, the abortive effort to meet superior with 
 inferior means ; that noble exaltation of the heroic spirit 
 which strives to overcome fate itself, and smiles defiance 
 at misfortune ; that final dying away of hope and the in- 
 coming of despair ; the demoralization of even good and 
 brave men ; the humiliation of heart-broken women ; the 
 reckless disregard which follows when all law, civil and 
 military, is withdrawn, and the end of things seems to be 
 at hand ; all these exhibitions of the nature and possible 
 conditions of a people were there, for the wonder, the pity 
 and the instruction of the reflecting mind. In kaleidos- 
 copic array each phase swept across the stage, as storm- 
 clouds are driven across the sky, culminating in that moral 
 darkness of men ungoverned by law or motive, and women 
 acting without hope. All these things, and more, I wit- 
 nessed among my own people in those unhappy times ; 
 from the day when the first company of volunteers went 
 forth amid the plaudits of the people, as to a festival, 
 down to that dark hour when I saw the last regiment of 
 beardless boys, the " seed corn " of our hopes, pass through 
 the unprotected capital of our State. 
 
 To the new generation, or even to cotemporaries far 
 removed, the recounting of these scenes may excite only 
 the ordinary emotions of those who read history. To us 
 who witnessed and participated in them, the bringing of 
 them up afresh is like lifting the face-cloth of the dead. 
 
 There is one feature of those times I will mention as 
 most worthy of note and a phase creditable to our nature. 
 Although war does excite, and with us did excite many 
 evil passions — for it is both excessive law and absence of 
 law and license to violence — yet this barbaric propensity, 
 which was evolved by the removal of all restraint, very soon 
 exhausted itself, and the people waited anxiously for the 
 return of civil authority, as benighted men watch for the 
 dawn. 
 
From April to October, 1865, the people of North Caro- 
 lina were absolutely without law, civil or military. There 
 was not a judge on the bench, not a magistrate or sheriff, 
 constable or any kind of civil servant or conservator of the 
 peace to be found in the State invested with legal author- 
 ity. A complete social chaos reigned ; yet profound and 
 perfect peace existed throughout our borders. The instincts 
 of order were sublimely present ; and never did any por- 
 tion of the great race to which we belong give stronger 
 proof of its capacity for self-government and its innate 
 desire for civilization. 
 
 When the year 1865 dawned it was apparent to every in- 
 telligent observer that the Southern Confederacy was 
 doomed. A glimpse of the situation showed that Lee was 
 holding Richmond by a mere skirmish line, in twenty 
 miles of trenches, on both sides of the James, against Grant 
 with an army of 180,000 men. Wilmington and Charles- 
 ton, our only available seaports, were still in our posses- 
 sion, but hastening to their fall. Sherman's march to the 
 sea had been accomplished ; Savannah had passed into 
 his possession, and it had been demonstrated not only that 
 the Confederate military forces of the Southwest were un- 
 able to stay him, but that no hostility was to be expected 
 from the despairing people whose homes he ravaged. With 
 75,000 victorious troops he was preparing for his home- 
 stretch toward Richmond, driving before him the scattered 
 detachments, fragments of garrisons of cities and towns, 
 abandoned on his approach, and other portions of the Con- 
 federate forces, amounting to not more than 22,000 men of 
 all arms. 
 
 In addition to this almost hopeless condition of things 
 on the theatre of the main armies the interior and rear 
 were harrassed and overrun by strong bodies of the enemy's 
 cavalry, who burned and plundered in defenceless sections 
 to their hearts' content. Nowhere was there a gleam of 
 hope ; nowhere had there come to us any inspiriting suc- 
 cess. Everything spoke of misfortune and failure. The 
 political situation of course sympathized with the mili- 
 
6 
 
 tary. The people were utterly without hope, and what 
 they did towards supporting the struggle was perfunctory 
 or from a strong sense of good faith and honor. The chief 
 motive of the more intelligent was the knowledge that 
 energetic action could at least help us to secure "better 
 terms and avert the evils which a premature and cowardly 
 giving up would be sure to bring upon us. This was 
 emphatically the feeling in North Carolina as we waited 
 for the final movement of Sherman towards our borders. 
 
 On the 1st day of February, 1865, that movement began. 
 With irresitible force his columns began their march 
 through the southern regions of South Carolina towards 
 Columbia, and apparently Charlotte, North Carolina, and 
 so on into Virginia along the track of Sherman's last great 
 predecessor, Lord Cornwallis, in 1781. But whether it was 
 that he feared the winter mud of the North Carolina hill 
 country, or that he did not care to trust himself to such 
 combinations of the Confederates as might cross his path 
 sd far in the interior, he left Lord Cornwallis' track near 
 Winnsboro', South Carolina, and turning to the right made 
 for Fayetteville, crossing the Catawba and the Great 
 Peedee. His army marched in two great divisions, near a 
 day's march apart, thus covering and devastating a wide 
 expanse of country. With reference to this famous and 
 infamous march, I wish to say that I hope I am too much 
 of a man to complain of the natural and inevitable hard- 
 ships, or even cruelties of war; but of the manner in 
 which this army treated the peaceful and defenceless in- 
 habitants in the reach of its columns all civilization should 
 complain. There are always stragglers and desperadoes 
 following in the wake of an army who do some damage to 
 and inflict some outrages upon helpless citizens in spite of 
 all the efforts of commanding officers to restrain and 
 punish; but when a general organizes a corps of thieves 
 and plunderers as a part of his invading army, and licenses 
 beforehand their outrages, he and all who countenance, aid 
 or abet, invite the execration of mankind. This peculiar 
 arm of the military service, it is charged and believed, was 
 
instituted by General Sherman in his invasion of the 
 Southern States. Certain it is that the operations of his 
 " Bummer Corps " were as regular and as unrebuked, if not 
 as much commended for efficiency, as any other division of 
 his army, and their atrocities are often justified or excused 
 on the ground that " such is war." 
 
 In his own official report of his operations in Georgia he 
 says : " We consumed the corn and fodder in the region of 
 country thirty miles on either side of a line from Atlanta 
 to Savannah ; also the sweet potatoes, hogs, sheep and 
 poultry, and carried off more than ten thousand horses and 
 mules. I estimate the damage done to the State of Georgia 
 at one hundred million dollars, at least twenty million of 
 which inured to our benefit, and the remainder was simply 
 waste and destruction ! " The same chivalric course of 
 warfare was continued, only worse, through South and 
 North Carolina. The "remainder" delicately alluded to 
 — that is to say, the damage done to the unresisting inhabi- 
 tants over and above the seizing of necessary army supplies 
 consisted in private houses burned, stock shot down and 
 left to rot, bed clothes, money, watches, spoons, plate and 
 ladies' jewelry stolen, &c, &c. A lane of desolation sixty 
 miles wide through the heart of three great States, marked 
 by more burnings and destruction than ever followed in the 
 wake of the wildest cyclone that ever laid forest low ! 
 And all done not to support an invading army, but for 
 "pure waste and destruction;" to punish the crime of 
 rebellion, not in the persons of those who had brought 
 these things about, but of the peaceful non-combatants, 
 the tillers of the soil, the women and children, the aged 
 and feeble and the poor slaves ! A silver spoon was evi- 
 dence of disloyalty, a ring on a lady's finger was sure proof 
 of sympathy with rebellion, whilst a gold watch was prima 
 facia evidence of most damnable guilt on the part of 
 the wearer. These obnoxious ear-marks of treason must 
 be seized and confiscated for private use — for such is war ! 
 
 As proof that these things met the approbation of the 
 officers of that army, hundreds of instances can be cited, 
 
8 
 
 where the depredations were committed in full view of the 
 officers Many can be shown where they participated in 
 the plunder; and no where has any case come under my 
 observation or within my knowledge, in which the perpe- 
 trators were even rebuked — much less punished. In vain 
 did the terrified people secrete their valuables upon the 
 approach of Sherman's army ; with infernal skill this corps 
 of bummers maintained their high reputation as the most 
 expert thieves on earth ; by ransacking every conceivable 
 place of concealment, penetrating every suspicious spot of 
 earth with their ramrods and bayonets, searching every 
 cellar, out house, nook and cranny. 
 
 If these failed, and they sometimes did, torture of the 
 inhabitants was freely employed to force disclosure. 
 Sometimes, with noble rage at their disappointment, the 
 victims were left dead, as a warning to all others who 
 should dare hide a jewel or a family trinket from the 
 cupidity of a "Soldier of the Union." No doubt the stern 
 necessity for such things caused great pain to those who 
 inflicted them, but the Union must be restored, and how 
 could that be done whilst a felonious gold watch or a treas- 
 onable spoon was suffered to remain in the land, giving aid 
 and comfort to rebellion? For such is War ! Are such things 
 war, indeed ? Let us see : 
 
 Eighty-four years before that time, there was a war in 
 that same country ; it was a rebellion, too, and an English 
 nobleman led the troops of Great Britain through that same 
 region, over much of the same route, in his efforts to sub- 
 due that rebellion. The people through whose land he 
 marched were bitterly hostile ; they shot his foraging 
 parties, his sentinels and stragglers ; they fired upon him 
 from every wood. 
 
 He and his troops had every motive to hate and to pun- 
 ish those rebellious and hostile people. It so happens that 
 the original order-book of Lord Cornwallis is in possession 
 ef the North Carolina Historical Society. I have seen and 
 read it. Let us make a few extracts, and see what he con- 
 sidered war, and what he thought to be the duty of a civil- 
 ized soldier towards non-combattants and the helpless. 
 
"Camp near Beatty's Ford," 
 
 January 28th, 1781. 
 
 "Lord Cornwallis has so often experienced the zeal and 
 good will of the army, that he has not the smallest doubt 
 that the officers and soldiers will most cheerfully submit 
 to the ill conveniences that must naturally attend war, so 
 remote from water-carriage and the magazines of the army. 
 The supply of rum for a time will be absolutely impossi- 
 ble and that of meal very uncertain. It is needless to 
 XDoint out to the officers the necessity of preserving the 
 strictest discipline, and of preventing the oppressed people 
 from suffering violence by the hands from whom they are 
 taught to look for protection ! " 
 
 Now General Sherman was fighting, as he said, for the 
 sole purpose of restoring the Union, and for making the 
 people of the rebellious States look to the Union alone for 
 protection; does any act or order of his anywhere indicate 
 a similar desire of protecting the people from suffering at 
 the hands of those whose duty it was to protect them ? 
 
 Again — 
 
 " Headquarters, Cansler's Plantation," 
 
 February 2d, 1781. 
 
 "Lord Cornwaliisis highly displeased that several houses 
 have been set on fire to-day during the march — a disgrace 
 to the army — and he will punish with the utmost severity 
 any person or persons who shall be found guilty of com- 
 mitting so disgraceful an outrage. His Lordship requests 
 the commanding officers of the corps will endeavor to find 
 the persons set fire to the houses this day." Now think of 
 the march of Sherman's army, which could be discovered 
 a geat way off by the smoke of burning homesteads by day 
 and the lurid glare of flames by night, from Atlanta to 
 Savannah, from Columbia to Fayetteville, and suppose that 
 such an order as this had been issued by its commanding 
 officer and rigidly executed, would not the mortality have 
 been quite equal to that of a great battle ? 
 
 Arriving in Fayetteville on the 10th of January, 1865, he 
 not only burned the Arsenal one of the finest in the United 
 
10 
 
 States, winch, perhaps lie might have properly done, but he 
 also burned five private dwelling-houses nearby, he burned 
 the principal printing office, that of the old " Fayetteville 
 Observer," he burned the old Bank of North Carolina, eleven 
 large warehouses, five cotton mills and quite a number of 
 private dwellings in other parts of the town, whilst in the 
 suburbs almost a clean sweep was made ; in one locality 
 nine houses were burned. Universally, houses were gutted 
 before they were burned; and after everything portable 
 was secured the furniture was ruthlessly destroyed — pianos, 
 on which perhaps rebel tunes had been played — " Dixie " or 
 " My Maryland " — disloyal bureaus, traitorous tables and 
 chairs were cut to pieces with axes ; and frequently, after 
 all this damage fire was applied, and all consumed. Car- 
 riages and vehicles of all kinds were wantonly destroyed or 
 burned ; instances could be given of old men who had the 
 shoes taken from their feet, the hats from their heads and 
 clothes from their persons, their wives and children sub- 
 jected to like treatment. In one instance as the maranders 
 left they shot down a dozen cattle belonging to an old man, 
 and left their carcasses lying in the yard. Think of that, 
 and then remember the grievance of the Pennsylvania 
 Dutch farmers who came in all seriousness to complain to 
 General Longstreet, in the Gettysburg campaign, of the 
 outrage which some of his ferocious rebels had committed 
 upon them, by milking tlieir cows ! On one occasion, at 
 Fayetteville, four gentlemen were hung up by the neck 
 until nearly dead to force them to disclose where their val- 
 uables were hidden, and one of them was shot to death. 
 
 Again — 
 
 " Headquartees, Dobbins House, 
 
 February 17, 1781. 
 " Lord Cornwallis is very sorry to be obliged to call the 
 attention of the officers of the army to the repeated orders 
 against plundering, and he assures the officers that if their 
 duty to their King and country, and their feeling for 
 humanity are not sufficient to force their obedience to them, 
 he must, however, reluctantly make use of such powers as 
 
11 
 
 the military laws have placed in his hands * * *• * It 
 is expected that Captains will exert themselves to keep 
 good order and prevent plundering * * * * Any 
 officer who looks on with indifference and does not do Ms 
 utmost to prevent shameful marauding toill be considered 
 in a more criminal light than the persons who commit 
 these scandalous crimes, which must bring disgrace and 
 ruin on his Majesty's service. All foraging parties will 
 give receipts for the supplies taken by them." 
 
 Xow, taking it for granted that Lord Cornwallis, a dis- 
 tinguished soldier and a gentleman, is an authority on the 
 rights of war; could there be found anywhere a more dam- 
 natory comment upon the practices of General Sherman 
 and his army ? 
 
 Again — 
 
 " Headquarters, Freelands, 
 
 February 28, 1781. 
 Memorandum : 
 
 A watch found by the regiment of Bose. The owner 
 may have it from the Adjutant of that regiment upon 
 proving property." 
 
 Another — 
 
 " Smith's Plantation, 
 
 March 1, 1781. 
 Brigade Orders. 
 
 * * * * A woman having been robbed of a watch, a 
 black silk handkerchief, a gallon of peach brandy and a 
 shirt, and as by the description, by a soldier of the guards, 
 the camp and every man's kit is to be immediately 
 searched for the same, by the officer of the Brigade." 
 
 Are there any poets in the audience, or other persons in 
 whom the imaginative faculty has been largely cultivated? 
 If so, let me beg him to do me the favor of conceiving, if 
 he can, and make manifest to me, the idea of a notice of a 
 lost watch being given, in general orders, by Wm. Tecum- 
 seh Sherman, and the offer to return it on proof of property 
 by the rebel owner! Let him imagine, if he can, the 
 
12 
 
 searching of every man's kit in that army, for a stolen 
 watch, a shirt, a black silk handkerchief and a gallon of 
 peach brandy — because " such is war." 
 
 Time and your patience forbids that I should further 
 quote from this interesting record of the war of 1781. 
 Suffice it to say that the whole policy and conduct of 
 that British commander was such as to indicate unmis- 
 takably that he did not consider the burning of private 
 houses, the stealing of private property, and the outraging 
 of helpless, private citizens as War, but as robbery and 
 arson. I venture to say that up to the period when that 
 great march taught us the contrary, no humane general or 
 civilized people in Christendom believed that "such was 
 war" Has civilization gone backward since Lord Corn- 
 wallis' day ? Have arson and vulgar theft been ennobled 
 into heroic virtues ? If so, when and by whom ? Has the 
 art of discovering a poor man's hidden treasure by fraud 
 or torture been elevated into the strategy which wins a 
 campaign ? If so, when, and by whom ? 
 
 No, sir, it will not do to slur over these things by a vague 
 reference to the inevitable cruelties of war. The time is 
 fast coming when the conduct of that campaign will be 
 looked upon in the light of real humanity and investigated 
 with the real historic spirit which evolves truth ; and all 
 the partisan songs which have been sung, or orations which 
 subservient orators have spoken, about that great march to 
 the sea ; and all the caricatures of Southern leaders which 
 the bitterness of a diseased sectional sentiment has inspired ; 
 and all the glamour of a great success, shall not avail to 
 restrain the inexorable, the illuminating pen of history. 
 Truth like charity never faileth. Whether there be pro- 
 phecies they shall fail; whether there be tongues they 
 shall cease; whether there be knowledge it shall vanish 
 away ; but when the truth which is perfect has come, then 
 that which is in part shall be done away. 
 
 Now let us contrast General Sherman with his greatest 
 foe, likewise the greatest, certainly the most humane 
 general of modern times, and see whether he regarded the 
 
18 
 
 pitiless destruction of the substance of women and children 
 and inoffensive inhabitants as legitimate war. 
 
 "Headquarters Army Northern Virginia, 
 
 June 27, 1863. 
 "General Order No. 73. 
 
 "The Commanding General has observed with marked 
 satisfaction the conduct of the troops on the march. There 
 have, however, been instances of forgetfulness on the part 
 of some that they have in keeping the yet unsullied repu- 
 tation of this Army, and that the duties exacted of us by 
 civilization and Christianity are not less obligatory in the 
 country of the enemy than our own. The Commanding 
 General considers that no greater disgrace could befall the 
 Army, and through it our whole people, than the perpetra- 
 tion of barbarous outrages upon the unarmed and defence- 
 less, and the wanton destruction of private property, that 
 have marked the course of the enemy in our own country. 
 * * * * It will be remembered that we make war only 
 upon armed men. 
 
 << R. E. LEE, General." 
 
 The humanity and Christian spirit of this order was such 
 as to challenge the admiration of foreign nations. The 
 "London Times" commented upon it, and its American 
 correspondent said : " The greatest surprise has been ex- 
 pressed to me by officers from the Austrian, Prussian and 
 English armies, each of which has representatives here, 
 that volunteer troops, provoked by nearly twenty-seven 
 months of unparalleled ruthlessness and wantonness, of 
 which their country has been the scene, should be under 
 such control, and willing to act in harmony with the long- 
 suffering and forbearance of President Davis and General 
 Lee." 
 
 To show how this order was executed, the same writer 
 tells a story of how he witnessed with his own eyes General 
 Lee and a surgeon of his command repairing the damage to 
 a farmer's fence. Col. McClure, of Philadelphia, a Union 
 soldier himself, bears witness to the good conduct of Lee's 
 
14 
 
 tagged, rebels in that famous campaign. He tells of hun- 
 dreds of them coming to him and asking for a little bread 
 and coffee, and of others who were wet and shivering "ask- 
 ing permission" to enter a house in which they saw a bright 
 fire, to warm themselves until their coffee should be ready. 
 
 Hundreds of similar instances could be given, substanti- 
 ated by the testimony of men on both sides, to show the 
 splendid humanity of that great invasion. Blessed be the 
 good God, who, if in His wisdom, He denied us success, yet 
 gave to us and our childien the rich inheritance of this 
 great example. 
 
 Now, there is Lee's order on entering Pennsylvania, and 
 there are the proofs referred to of the good faith with 
 which that order was executed. Was any such humane 
 order issued by General Sherman when he began his march 
 through Georgia, South and North Carolina ? If so, let the 
 numberless and atrocious outrages which characterized his 
 every step speak as to the mala fides with which it was 
 executed. Let a few other things also speak. Major 
 General Halleck, then, I believe, commander-in-chief, 
 under the President, of the armies of the Union, on the 
 18th of December, 1864, dispatched as follows to General 
 Sherman, then in Savannah : " Should you capture Charles- 
 ton, I hope that by some accident the place may be 
 destroyed; and if a little salt should be sown upon its site 
 it may prevent the growth of future crops of nullification 
 and secession." On the 24th of December, 1864, General 
 Sherman made the following answer : " I will bear in mind 
 your hint as to Charleston, and don't think ' salt ' will be 
 necessary. When I move the 15th Corps will be on the 
 right of the right wing, and their position will bring them 
 naturally into Charleston first, and if you have watched 
 the history of that corps you will have remarked that they 
 generally do their work up pretty well. The truth is, the 
 whole army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreak 
 vengeance upon South Carolina. I almost tremble at her 
 fate, but feel that she deserves all that seems in store for 
 her. * * * I look upon Columbia as quite as bad as 
 
15 
 
 Charleston ! " Therefore Columbia was burned to ashes. 
 And though he knew what was in store for South Carolina, so 
 horrible that even he trembled, he took no steps to avert it. 
 for he felt that she deserved it all. Did she, indeed ? What 
 crime had she committed that placed her outside the pro- 
 tection of the law of civilized nations ? What unjust and 
 barbarous or brutal conduct had she been guilty of to bring 
 her within the exceptions laid down by the writers on 
 the laws of war as authorizing extraordinary severity 
 of punishment? They* are not even imputed to her. 
 South Carolina's crime and the crime of all the seceding 
 States was that of a construction of the constitution of the 
 United States differing from that of General Sherman and 
 the 15th Corps — which "always did up its work pretty 
 welt" 
 
 Happily, the Divine Goodness has made the powers of 
 recuperation even superior to those of destruction ; and 
 though their overthrow was so complete that '-salt" was 
 not needed as the type of utter desolation, yet Marietta 
 and Atlanta are thriving and prosperous cities ; and Col- 
 umbia has once more resumed her poetic name — the city of 
 roses ; and but recently I read, with satisfaction, that the 
 good old town of Fayetteville is fast rebuilding her fac- 
 tories, and boasts of having but lately recovered much of 
 her ancient trade. 
 
 I mean further to contrast this march to the sea with 
 the opinions of the great American writer on international 
 law, Chancellor Kent. Treating of plunder on land and 
 depredations on private property. He says : (part 1, Sec. 5,) 
 " Such conduct has been condemned in all ages, by the wise 
 and the virtuous, and it is usually punished severely by 
 those commanders of disciplined troops who have studied 
 war as a science, and are animated by a sense of duty or 
 love of fame. * * , .* * If the conqueror goes beyond 
 these limits wantonly, or when it is not clearly indispen- 
 sable to the just purposes of war, and seizes private prop- 
 erty of pacific persons for the sake of gain, and destroys 
 private dwellings or public edifices devoted to civil pur- 
 
16 
 
 poses only; or makes war upon monuments of art and 
 models of taste, lie violates the modern usages of war, and 
 is sure to meet with indignant resentment, and to be held 
 up to the general scorn and detestation of the world." If 
 Kent, although studied "by General Sherman at West Point, 
 he not a sufficient authority for his condemnation, let Us 
 try him by the opinion of Major-General Halleck — the 
 "salt " suggester above referred to, and see what he says in 
 his cooler moments concerning the rights of unarmed in- 
 habitants during war. 
 
 In his International Law and Laws of War, published in 
 1861, treating of the ancient practice which made all 
 private property of the enemy subject to confiscation, he 
 says : " But the modern usage is not to touch private prop- 
 erty on land without making compensation, except in 
 certain specified cases. These exceptions may be stated 
 under three general heads : first, confiscations or seizures by 
 way of penalty for military offenses ; second, forced contri- 
 butions for the support of the invading army, or as an 
 indemnity for the expenses of maintaining order and afford- 
 ing protection to the conquered inhabitants-; and third, 
 property taken on the field of battle, or in storming 
 a fortress or town." Again the same author says (Chap. 19, 
 page 451) : "The evils resulting from irregular requisitions 
 and foraging for the ordinary supplies of an army are so 
 very great and so generally admitted, that it has become a 
 recognized maxim of war, that the commanding officer who 
 permits indiscriminate pillage, and allows the taking of 
 private property without a strict accountability * * * 
 fails in his duty to his own government, and violates the 
 usages of modern warfare. It is sometimes alleged, in 
 excuse for such conduct, that the general is unable to 
 restrain his troops ; but in the eye of the law there is no 
 excuse, for he who cannot preserve order in his army, has 
 no right to command it." 
 
 Once more, let us bring this general to the test of the 
 code prepared for the government of the armies of the 
 United States by Frances Lieber — 
 
17 
 
 Section 20 reads as follows : " Private property, unless 
 forfeited by crimes or "by offenses of the owner against the 
 safety of the army or the dignity of the United States, 
 and after due conviction of the owner by court martial, can 
 be seized only by way of military necessity for the support 
 or other benefit of the army or of the United States." 
 Section 24 reads : " All wanton violence committed against 
 persons in the invaded country ; all destruction of property 
 not commanded by the authorized officer ; all robbery ; all 
 pillage or sacking, even after taking a place by main force ; 
 all rape, wounding, maiming or killing of such inhabitants, 
 are prohibited under the penalty of death, or such other 
 severe punishment as may seem adecpiate for the gravity of 
 the offense." Section 27 reads as follows : " Crimes punish- 
 able by all penal codes, such as arson, murder, maiming, 
 assaults, highway robbery, theft, burglary, fraud, forgery, 
 and rape, if committed by an American soldier in a hostile 
 country against its inhabitants, are not only punishable as 
 at home, but in all cases in which death is not inflicted, 
 the severer punishment shall be preferred, because the 
 criminal has, as far as in him lay, prostituted the power 
 conferred on a man of arms, and prostrated the dignity of 
 the United States." 
 
 One more short quotation from this code prepared by Dr. 
 Lieber I will give, not so much for its authority as because 
 it is so eminently ludicrous in the light of the way in 
 which it was observed by Sherman's bummers. Listen — 
 Section 40. " It is the usage in European armies that 
 money and all valuables on the person of a prisoner, such 
 as watches or jewelry, as well as extra clothing belong to 
 the captor ; but it distinguishes the army of the United 
 States that the appropriation of such articles or money is 
 considered dishonorable, and not suffered by the officers.'' 
 Ah! 
 
 To the same effect are all the great writers on public law 
 for more than two centuries back. Wolsey, Vattel, Gro- 
 tiers, Puffendorf, Poison, Jomini and the rest of them, 
 almost without exception, in fact every one of any note 
 
18 
 
 condemns in unmistakable terms the destruction and in- 
 discriminate pillaging of private property of unarmed 
 people in a time of war. Even the followers of Mahomet, 
 cruel and blood-thirsty as they were, recognized to its full 
 extent the justice and propriety of these principles. The 
 Caliph, Abubekr, in G34, when sending forth his generals 
 to the conquest of Syria, gave them instructions which 
 General Sherman cannot read without a sense of shame. 
 Abubekr, an old man, accompanied the army on foot on its 
 first day's march, and when the blushing leaders attempted 
 to dismount, says the historian, the Caliph removed their 
 scruples by a declaration that those who rode and those 
 who walked in the service of religion were equally meri- 
 torious. " Remember," said the successor of the Prophet 
 to the chiefs of the Syrian army, " that you are always in 
 the presence of God, on the verge of death, in the assur- 
 ance of judgment and the hope of paradise. Avoid injus- 
 tice and oppression, consult with your brethren and study 
 to preserve the love and confidence of your troops. When 
 you fight the battles of the Lord acquit yourselves like 
 men, without turning your backs, but let not your victory 
 be stained with the blood of women or children. Destroy 
 no palm trees nor burn any fields of corn. Cut down no 
 fruit trees nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you 
 kill to eat. When you make any covenant or article stand 
 to it, and be as good as your word. As you go on, you will 
 find some religious persons who live retired in monasteries 
 and propose to themselves to serve God in that way, let 
 them alone, and neither kill them or destroy their monas- 
 teries.'' This is neither a bad exposition of the laws of 
 war or of the principles of Christianity. 
 
 As far back in the history of our race as four hundred 
 years B. C. the great Xenophon, in the Cyropedia, puts in 
 the mouth of his hero Cyrus, the Prince of Persia, an order 
 directing that his army, when inarching upon the enemy's 
 borders, should not disturb the cultivators of the soil. 
 Now let us draw the contrast in the conduct of General 
 Sherman and the Arab chieftain who denied Christianity 
 
19 
 
 and the old Greek pagan who had never heard of Christ. 
 Let us take no Southern man's testimony ; there are plenty 
 of honest and truthful soldiers of the Union, who were with 
 the Federal army and served in its ranks, to tell all we 
 want and more. This is what one of them says, writing of 
 that campaign to the "Detroit Free Press :" "One of the 
 most devilish acts of Sherman's campaign was the destruc- 
 tion of Marietta. * * * The Military Institute and such 
 mills and factories as might be a benefit to Hood could 
 expect the torch, but Sherman was not content with that ; 
 the torch was applied to everything, even to the shanties 
 occupied by the colored people. No advance warning was 
 given. The first alarm was followed by the crackling of 
 flames. Soldiers rode from house to house, entered without 
 ceremony and kindled fires in garrets and closets, and stood 
 by to see that they were not extinguished." 
 
 Again he says : " Had one been able to climb to such a 
 height at Atlanta as to enable him to see for forty miles 
 around, the day Sherman marched out, he would have been 
 appalled at the destruction. Hundreds of houses had been 
 burned, every rod of fence destroyed, nearly every fruit 
 tree cut down, and the face of the country so changed that 
 one born in that section could scarcely recognize it. The 
 vindictiveness of war would have trampled the very earth 
 out of sight had such a thing been possible." 
 
 Again he says : "At the very opening of the campaign at 
 Dalton the Federal soldiery had received encouragement to 
 become vandals. Not one private soldier out of every forty 
 turned robber and incendiary, but there were enough to 
 cast a stigma on the whole. From Dalton to Atlanta every 
 house was entered a dozen times over, and each new band 
 of foragers robbed it of something. When there was noth- 
 ing in the shape of money, provisions, jewelry or clothing 
 left the looters destroyed furniture, abused women and 
 children, and ended by setting fire to the house. As these 
 parties rode back to camp attired in dresses and bonnets 
 and exhibiting the trophies of their raid, and nothing was 
 said to them, others were encouraged to follow suit. The 
 
20 
 
 treatment of colored women was brutal in the extreme, and 
 not a few of them died from the effects. One who has the 
 nerve to sit down and listen to what they can tell will find 
 his respect for the ignorant and savage Indians increased. 
 But these were preparatory lessons. When Sherman cut 
 loose from Atlanta everybody had license to throw off 
 restraint and make Georgia " drain the bitter cup." " The 
 Federal who wants to learn what it was to license an army 
 to become vandals should mount a horse at Atlanta and fol- 
 low Sherman's route for fifty miles. He can hear stories 
 from the lips of women that would make him ashamed of 
 the flag that waved over him as he went into battle. When 
 the army had passed nothing was left but a trail of desola- 
 tion and despair. No house escaped robbery ; no woman 
 escaped insult ; no building escaped the fire-brand except 
 by some strange interposition. War may license an army 
 to subsist on the enemy, but civilized warfare stops at live 
 stock, forage and provisions ; it does not enter the houses 
 of the sick and helpless and rob women of finger-rings and 
 carry off their clothing. 
 
 Add to all these horrors that most merciless and inhuman 
 order of expatriation, by which the entire population of 
 Atlanta, of all ages, sexes and conditions, were driven forth 
 to the fields of a ''desolated country, or shipped off to the 
 rear like cattle; an order which was followed by the 
 "deliberate burning of Atlanta "by Sherman's own account. 
 But I have said enough about these horrors, for it is exceed- 
 ingly unpleasant to speak of them. Yet they must be told, 
 if for nothing else than to excite the execration of humane 
 people, and they will be told more hereafter than ever 
 before. It is not worth while to cry hush. The truth is 
 entitled to be made known. 
 
 Let us resume. We left the operations of the 
 military with General Sherman in possession of what 
 was left of Fayetteville. Hampton and Hardee had 
 crossed the Cape Fear and destroyed the bridge. The 
 forces available to meet the enemy, according to General 
 Johnston, were about five thousand men of the Army of 
 
21 
 
 Tennessee, and the troops In the department of North and 
 South Carolina, amounting to about eleven thousand 
 more. These were in different parts of the country, 
 and were not concentrated until several days afterwards, 
 owing to several causes, and many of them were unarmed. 
 A few days before, on the 7th of March, General Bragg, 
 commanding the troops in the department of North Caro- 
 lina, with Major Generals D. H. Hill and R. F. Hoke, and a 
 remnant of Clayton's division of the Western army, 
 attacked Major General Cox, who was advancing towards 
 Goldsboro' from New Berne with three divisions. The 
 engagement took place near Kingston, with considerable 
 success on the Confederate side. The enemy was driven 
 back three miles, with a loss of 1,500 prisoners, and quite a 
 number of killed and wounded. 
 
 On the next day the Confederate forces fell back to Golds- 
 boro. General Sherman made his way steadily from 
 Fayetteville towards Goldsboro, where he was to make a 
 junction with General Schofield. The cavalry under Generals 
 Hampton and Butler and Wheeler hung around his flank 
 and front, impeding and annoying his march as much as 
 possible. A sharp engagement took place at Averasboro, 
 and a still more considerable one at Bentonsville, in which 
 the Confederates were again successful, against overwhelm- 
 ing numbers. In fact, General Joseph E. Johnston, a sharp 
 observer of men and armies, gives it as his opinion that the 
 life of plunder and license indulged in by Sherman's men 
 had already worked its legitimate results upon them, and 
 that they did not fight with near the efficiency and steadi- 
 ness which characterized them on their entrance into the 
 State of Georgia. This affair at Bentonville was the last 
 considerable engagement of the war, and was in some re- 
 spects remarkable. There was not a man perhaps of the 
 ten or twelve thousand men on the Confederate side who 
 was not perfectly aware that the war was over, and that 
 his fighting was hopeless; yet they scarcely ever fought 
 better, maintaining the ground all day long against twice 
 their numbers, or at least one-half of Sherman's army. 
 
22 
 
 Again and again they drove them back over several miles, 
 covering the ground with dead, and capturing nine hundred 
 prisoners, whilst the enemy lost in killed and wounded 
 about 4,000. The little Confederate force only fell back 
 towards Smithfield when Sherman's whole army came up 
 to push them from their position. Without further hostil- 
 ities Sherman arrived in Goldsboro on the 23d of March, and 
 effected his junction with Scofield. Their united force then 
 exceeded 110,000 men. At Goldsboro he rested his troops, 
 refitted and made his arrangements for the final operations. 
 
 The Confederate forces rested likewise near Smithfield, 
 half-way between Goldsboro and Raleigh, repairing their 
 losses and preparing as well as the exhausted means at 
 hand would permit for the last struggle. 
 
 On the 10th of April, General Sherman put his troops in 
 motion towards Raleigh, and as soon as informed thereof, 
 General Johnston's troops began to fall back slowly before 
 him. 1 was then Governor of the State of North Carolina. 
 Being aware of the situation from daily communication 
 with the Confederate Generals, I had already shipped away 
 westward the principal military stores of the State, to- 
 gether with the most necessary archives of the various 
 departments. About the 10th and 11th of April painful 
 rumors, were throughout the capital in confidential circles 
 of the surrender of General Lee. Animated by these 
 reports and also by the fact that the Confederate forces 
 were passing through and rapidly uncovering the capital of 
 the State, and that all further operations were really 
 intended to secure such terms as were possible, I consulted 
 General Johnston as to what it was best for me to do. 
 With the frankness of a soldier and a man of common 
 sense, he advised me to make the best terms I could for 
 the protection of my capital and people. I spoke to him 
 about the propriety of sending an embassy through his 
 lines to meet General Sherman. Very soon thereafter he 
 went west to meet President Davis at Greensboro, leaving 
 the command to General Hardee, with whom I likewise 
 had a conference, and who gave me the permit to send the 
 embassy. 
 
23 
 
 I appointed ex-Governor Wm. A. Graham and ex-Gover- 
 nor David L. Swain, commissioners to visit General Sher- 
 man, and gave to them a letter to him requesting that he 
 would grant protection to the Capital, and stating that these 
 gentlemen were authorized to treat with him for that pur- 
 pose. A copy of that letter, as it appears, was not entered 
 on my official letter-book, and I have not been able to obtain 
 it ; but that was its purport, to save the Capital, the archives, 
 etc. Dr. Edward Warren, surgeon-general of the State, Col. 
 James G. Burr, of Wilmington, au officer of the State 
 Guards, and Major John De vereaux, of my staff, accompanied 
 the commissioners as an escort. Leaving Raleigh in a 
 special train with a flag of truce, they passed through the 
 rear guard of the Confederate army, commanded by General 
 Hampton; but before they got within the Federal lines 
 they were stopped by a dispatch from General Johnston, 
 and ordered to return to Raleigh. This order was deliv- 
 ered by General Hampton in person, and obeying it, they 
 reversed the engine and started on the return. But mean- 
 while, the enemy's troops being in motion, had swept by 
 them on the dirt roads, and suddenly they found them- 
 selves halted by Kilpatrick's cavalry, and made prisoners. 
 The result was that they were taken to Sherman's head- 
 quarters, the place to which they had started. There their 
 errand was discharged, and the promised protection given 
 in letters directed to me, and orders issued to his com- 
 mand. 
 
 When starting from Raleigh it was supposed they would 
 be able to return by four o'clock at the latest. It was ex- 
 tremely important that they should return at that time, 
 for the city of Raleigh was to be completely uncovered 
 that night and the remaining of the Governor and all 
 State officers in the discharge of their duties depended on 
 the reply which was expected from General Sherman. Of 
 course they could not remain with the certain assurance of 
 capture, which would have been equivalent to the suspen- 
 sion of all the functions of government; bat for some 
 reason Sherman saw proper to detain the Commissioners 
 
24 
 
 and their engine until next morning. He had been in- 
 formed of the countermanding of their permit and no 
 doubt thought that he obtained some advantage by detain- 
 ing them and keeping me in suspense. No doubt, also, as 
 I have been informed, that he utilized my engine by mak- 
 i ng it ply all night between his camp and Goldsboro. Mean- 
 time it had been reported to me that the Commissioners 
 and their engine had been captured, and I had ceased to 
 expect their return. At precisely midnight, accompanied 
 by two volunteer aids, I rode upon horseback out of the 
 city of Raleigh, leaving it occupied by the rear guard of 
 Hampton's Cavalry, and stopped eight miles from the city 
 in the camp of General Hoke, commanding a North Caro- 
 lina Division. The other State officers had x>reviously re- 
 tired to Greensboro. The Commissioners arrived next 
 morning in Raleigh, took possession of the State House in 
 my absence, and made all arrangements for the protection 
 of the city in accordance with the promise of Sherman. 
 Soon after, one of them, Governor Graham, undertook to 
 go forward towards Hillsboro and deliver to me the letters 
 and orders of General Sherman, but owing to the difficulty 
 of getting horses and to the fact that the roads were swarm- 
 ing with Federal and Confederate cavalry engaged in con- 
 stant skirmishing, Governor Graham did not overtake me 
 until Friday evening at his own house in Hillsboro. 
 
 With an account of the result of his mission, Governor 
 Graham also informed me of the official intelligence of 
 Lee's surrender, and put in my hands an invitation from 
 Sherman to return to Raleigh, which I declined to accept. 
 I had whilst at Hillsboro' received an urgent despatch 
 from President Davis, asking me to meet him in Greens- 
 boro'. This I desired to do, as well as to confer with 
 General Johnston, who was there also. On Saturday morn- 
 ing, therefore, 1 sat out on horseback from Hillsboro' to 
 join President Davis. On arriving at Greensboro' I found 
 that he and the members of the Cabinet with him had 
 gone on to Charlotte. I followed on, and had an interview 
 with the President in the presence of Mr, Reagan, General 
 
25 
 
 Breckeuridge, and one or more members of his cabinet 
 beside. I told him I bad come to him to advise with him 
 what to do, and to learn his further intentions. The con- 
 versation was long and solemn. Mr. Davis appeared still 
 full of hope, and discussed the situation exhaustively. He 
 told me of the possibility, as he thought, of retreating 
 beyond the Mississippi with large sections of the soldiers 
 still faithful to the Confederate cause, and resuming opera- 
 tions with General Kirby Smith's forces as a nucleus in 
 those distant regions; and intimated rather than expressed 
 a desire that I should accompany him, with such of the 
 North Carolina troops as I might be able to influence to 
 that end. He was very earnest, and displayed a remarkable 
 knowledge of the opinions and resources of the people of 
 the Confederacy, as well as a most dauntless spirit. After 
 he had ceased there was a sad silence around his council 
 board. Perhaps one or more opinions were expressed in 
 support of Mr. Davis's views, and then General Brecken- 
 ridge spoke. I shall never forget either the language or 
 the manner of that splendid Kentuckian. With the utmost 
 frankness, and with the courage of sincerity, he said he 
 did not think they were dealing candidly with Governor 
 Vance ; that their hopes of accomplishing the results set 
 forth by Mr. Davis were so remote and uncertain that he, 
 for his part, could not advise me to forsake the great 
 duties which devolved upon me in order to follow the 
 further fortunes of the retreating Confederacy ; that his 
 advice would be that I should return to my position and 
 its responsibilities, do the best I could for my people, and 
 share their fate, whatever it might be. With a deep sigh 
 Mr. Davis replied to General Breckinridge : " Well, per- 
 haps, General, you are right." I remarked that General 
 Breckinridge's views coincided with my own sense of duty, 
 and after a very little more conversation I arose and 
 offered my hand to President Davis to bid him good-bye. 
 He shook it long and warmly, saying : " God bless you, 
 sir, and the noble old State of North Carolina." With 
 feelings which I am not able to describe I thus bade fare- 
 
26 
 
 well to the Southern Confederacy and returned to Greens- 
 boro', 'with the intention of going to Raleigh and resuming 
 my duties as governor, if permitted. 
 
 On the evening of the 17th, hearing that negotiations 
 were being entered into between Johnston and Sherman for 
 a final surrender, I left Greensboro to accompany General 
 Breckiiibridge and Postmaster-General Reagan in a freight 
 car to go to General Hampton's headquarters, where General 
 Johnston was. Arriving there (a few miles east of Hills- 
 boro) between midnight and daybreak, a conference was 
 held in regard to the proposed meeting with Sherman. I 
 did not participate in that conference, but next morning 
 about sunrise I was awakened by General Breckinridge, 
 who took me out of the house and informed me of the re- 
 sult of the conference, and further gave me confidentially 
 the startling news of Mr. Lincoln's assassination, which 
 General Johnston had the night before received confiden- 
 tially from General Sherman. By both sides it was deemed 
 of the highest importance that this information should be 
 kept secret until the negotiations were terminated. As soon 
 as possible thereafter I obtained a horse and rode back into 
 Hillsboro to consult with Governor Graham on the alarm- 
 ing aspects of the situation. That evening I returned again 
 to Greensboro, and the following morning learned of the 
 terms which were given by General Sherman to General 
 Johnston for the surrender of his army. As is known, this 
 agreement was disapproved by the authorities in Washing- 
 ton, and a very different one was finally adopted. The first 
 provided not only for the surrender and security of the 
 military arm of the Confederacy, but for the full and com- 
 plete recognition of the existing autonomy of the States, 
 merely requiring that the various State officers should 
 attorn to the government of the United States, taking the 
 usual oaths of office to support the Constitution, &c. The 
 latter provided only for the surrender of men and property 
 of the Confederate Army. Because I have been severe in 
 my denunciations of the conduct of General Sherman and 
 his army towards unarmed and helpless citizens, I have no 
 
27 
 
 disposition to refuse him justice when I think he really 
 merits it. In my opinion one of the wisest and most far- 
 seeing measures connected with the war was this first con- 
 vention offered by General Sherman. It was as generous 
 as it was wise. It has perhaps never been rated at its true 
 value by people either North or South. 
 
 To show its high statesmanlike character it is only neces- 
 sary to say that had it been ratified at "Washington the au- 
 thorities of every State in the late Confederacy would have 
 at once sworn allegiance to the constitution of the United 
 States, the courts and the laws of the Federal Government 
 would have immediately resumed their sway, and the do- 
 minion of the Union would have been, complete at once ; 
 greatest result of all, there would have been no such thing 
 as reconstruction ; no such thing as eleven States reduced 
 to military districts, with all civil authority overthrown 
 and the bayonet become due process of law. There would 
 have been no such thing as eleven blood-stained, war-rid- 
 den and desolated States plundered of two hundred and 
 sixty millions by the last and infinitely worse invasion 
 of the army of carpet-baggers. In short, when I say that 
 the terms offered us by General Sherman would have 
 saved the South the horrors of reconstruction, I have said 
 all that human eloquence is capable of saying ; and I feel 
 much inclined to forgive General Sherman the horrors 
 which he did inflict in consideration of his efforts to 
 avert those which came afterwards. 
 
 Concluding to return to Raleigh and resume my duties 
 as Governor, under the terms of the first convention, I 
 soon learned of its disapproval, and that my invitatien had 
 been withdrawn. At length the second and final conven- 
 tion was agreed to, and on General Schofield's arrival in 
 Greensboro, to receive the surrender of Johnston's little 
 army, which took place about two miles west of the town 
 of Durham on the Hillsboro road, I went to that officer 
 and offered to surrender myself. He declined to accept 
 my surrender, but told me I was at liberty to go home. 
 
28 
 
 General Johnston's army having surrendered, as soon as 
 information could be conveyed to the detachments of 
 either army in different parts of the State, hostilities 
 ceased, and the war between the States, begun more than 
 four years before, came to an end. 
 
 Of course, the limits of an address like this have com- 
 pelled me to take but a brief glance at many things of suf- 
 ficient importance to demand more detail. Many incidents 
 of interest I have had to omit altogether. Of the scenes 
 of demoralization of both armies in the closing hours of the 
 confederacy's existence, it pains me to think much more 
 to speak. The stores of the State of North Carolina were 
 ruthlessly plundered, mostly, I grieve to say, by Southern 
 soldiers ; not North Carolinians. Efforts to protect them 
 proved utterly unavailling, without a considerable flow of 
 blood, and that I was unwilling to see shed — deeming the 
 lives of brave men, though demoralized ones, worth more 
 than all the treasures which the State had accumulated. The 
 extent of these stores is perhaps not generally known; and 
 yet, a knowledge of them, as well as of the number of 
 troops she sent into the field will alone enable the histor- 
 ian to do justice to her patriotism, courage and resources. 
 
 By the general industry and thrift of our people and by 
 the use of a number of blockade-running steamers carrying 
 out cotton and bringing in supplies from Europe I had col- 
 lected and distributed from time to time, as near as can be 
 gathered from the records of the Quarter-Master's Depart- 
 ment, the following stores: Large quantities of machinery 
 supplies, 60,000 pairs of handcards, 10,000 grain scythes, 200 
 bbls. blue stone for the wheat growers, leather and shoes for 
 250,000 pairs, 50,000 blankets, gray woolen cloth for at least 
 250,000 suits of uniforms, 12,000 overcoats (ready made), 
 2,000 best Enfield rifles, (with 100 rounds of fixed ammuni- 
 tion), 100,000 pounds bacon, 500 sacks of coffee for hospital 
 use, $50,000 worth of medicines at gold prices, large quan- 
 tities of lubricating oils, beside minor supplies of various 
 kinds for the charitable institutions of the State. Not 
 only was the supply of shoes, blankets and clothing more 
 
than sufficient for the supply of the North Carolina troops, 
 but large quantities were turned over to the Confederate 
 Government for the troops of other States. In the winter 
 succeeding the battle of Chickainauga, I sent to General 
 Longstreet's corps 14,000 suits of clothing complete. At 
 the surrender of General Johnston, the State had on hand, 
 ready made and in cloth, 92,000 suits of uniform, with 
 great stores of blankets, leather, &c. To make good the 
 warrants on which these purchases had been made abroad, 
 the State purchased and had on hand in trust for the hold- 
 ers 11,000 bales of cotton and 100,000 barrels of rosin. The 
 cotton was partly destroyed before the war closed, the re- 
 mainder, amounting to several thousand bales, was cap- 
 tured after peace was declared by certain officers of the 
 Federal Army. 
 
 In addition to these supplies brought in from abroad, 
 immense quantities of bacon, beef, flour and corn were fur- 
 nished from our own fields. * * * Any one acquainted 
 with the valley of the Eoanoke and the black alluvial 
 lowlands of Eastern North Carolina, will recognize what 
 they can do in the production of corn when actively culti- 
 vated. And they and all the lands of this State were ac- 
 tively cultivated for the production of food. I was told 
 by General Joseph E. Johnston that when his army was 
 surrendered, he had in the depots in North Carolina, gath- 
 ered in the State, five months' supplies for sixty thousand 
 men, and that for many many months previous, General 
 Lee's army had been almost entirely fed from North Caro- 
 lina. In relation to the number of troops furnished to the 
 Confederate Government, I have more than once made the 
 boast that North Carolina furnished not relatively, but ab- 
 solutely more than any other State. This assertion has not 
 yet been denied to my knowledge. The official records of 
 the Adjutant-General's offie, show that North Carolina fur- 
 nished troops as follows: 
 
so 
 
 As Volunteers at outset 64,636 
 
 Recruited by Volunteers from time to 
 
 time \ 21,608 
 
 Recruited by Conscripts 18,585 
 
 In all, Regular Troops from N. C 104,829 
 
 Regular Troops in the State Service 3,203 
 
 Militia on Home Duty 2,962 
 
 Junior Reserves, Confederate Service. . . . 4,217 
 
 Senior Reserves, Confederate Service. . . . 5,686 
 
 Troops from N. C. in Regiments in other 
 
 States 3,103 
 
 Grand Total of all Grades 121,038 
 
 These were organized into 71 regiments, 20 battalions and 
 24 unattached companies. All these were raised out of a 
 white population, in 1860, of 629,942, or one soldier to every 
 six souls ! At Appomattox and at Greensboro' North Caro- 
 lina surrendered twice as many muskets as any other State. 
 Her dead on the battle-fields of Virginia, in the majority 
 of cases, was twice as great as those from any other State, 
 and in more than one of Lee's great battles they exceeded 
 the dead from all the other States put together. 
 
 This record constitutes a proof of a very proud distinc- 
 tion, but it is due to North Carolina as sure as truth is truth. 
 In my opinion she was less exhausted when the end came 
 than any other State, and she had the means and vitality 
 and the spirit to have continued the struggle two years 
 longer, if she had been supported. The last to begin the 
 fight, she was the last to leave it ! Let not these things be 
 forgotten. 
 
 A great many incidents might be told of those days that 
 would well repay the telling — grave and gay, pathetic and 
 ludicrous. During a hurried trip from Raleigh to Salis- 
 bury a few months before the close of the war we were 
 stopped a few miles beyond Greensboro by an engine in 
 the ditch in the centre of a deep cut. The weather was 
 wet and the mud off the cross-ties was deep. I and the 
 other passengers were compelled to get off the train going 
 west, climb the bank of the cut and walk around to board 
 
31 
 
 another train beyond the disabled one which blocked the 
 way. That train which we were to take had brought down 
 a large lot of Federal prisoners from Salisbury. In trying 
 to ascend the bank I had great difficulty, and finally halted 
 near the top, unable to proceed. Suddenly a dirty, emaci- 
 ated Yankee soldier on the top of the bank above me laid 
 down and extended his hand to my assistance with a polite, 
 '•Allow me, sir," pulled me up to the top. I thanked him, 
 and, calling to my servant, gave him the remnant in my 
 lunch basket and all that was left of a bottle of new apple 
 brandy, that sole consoler of Southern hopes at that time. 
 
 Half starved as he was, he gave a fair shout of joy and 
 inquired my name, which I gave him. Of course, I never 
 expected to hear of him again — but I did. It proved to be 
 both bread and brandy cast upon the waters. When my 
 native town of xlshville was captured about the very time 
 of Johnston's surrender, that same boy turned up in the 
 ranks of its Federal captors, sought out my widowed 
 mother's house, which was in the suburbs and much expos- 
 ed, and guarded it from intrusion, like a watch dog, sleep- 
 ing in the porch before her door. 
 
 When Johnston's army was falling back through Raleigh, 
 a battallion of junior reserves composed of seventeen year 
 old boys from South Carolina passed through. Like all 
 others, they wanted something to eat, and although the 
 army had more provisions than it could remove from 
 Raleigh, they invaded private houses everywhere, clamor- 
 ous for food. Two delicate looking lads walked into the 
 door of the executive mansion and asked to be served; my 
 family had gone westward and there was no one in the 
 house but myself and two servants, and they were broken 
 down with cooking, and almost everything in the house was 
 exhausted besides. I explained all this to them and with 
 some impatience told them they must go to the quarter- 
 master, who would be only too willing to furnish them. 
 With a charming impudence they quickly sat down, and 
 looking up at me, one of them said : " Mister, that's the 
 way we always told the soldiers at our house, but they 
 
32 
 
 always got something to eat before they left, anyhow." 
 That boy was well fed before lie left ! 
 
 After receiving General Schofield's permit to return to my 
 home I gathered together all my remaining personal posses- 
 sions in the world, the spoils of four years of war, including 
 my rights in the territories, consisting of a saddle-horse, a 
 wagon and a pair of old mules, and shipped them in a freight 
 car, and with a few friends took passage in the same ele- 
 gant conveyance towards the mountains. The cars and 
 highways were alike filled with the disbanded soldiers. 
 At every depot where we halted more crowded in and upon 
 the trains. It was with the greatest difficulty I could 
 keep them them from crowding me out of my freight box ; 
 their repeated attempts to do so had irritated me exceed- 
 ingly. Finally, at one stopping place, I saw a boy attempt- 
 ing to climb through a hole that had been knocked in the 
 side of the car to admit air. I stor.ned at him to get back ; 
 he crawled on ; I jerked my navy repeater out of its holster 
 and threatened to shoot him if he didn't go back; he 
 crawled on and dropped on the floor of the car with the 
 utmost unconcern, and quietly said, " you don't look like 
 you'd shoot ! " My friends laughed, my anger passed and 
 the brave, impudent fellow got a ride. But I must close. I 
 thank you, and bid you all good-bye.