Lives of Distinguished North Carolinians, with Illustrations and Speeches

He said the organ of the party to which his opponent belonged had said that he had a bad political record, and it had referred to many of his votes and addresses to show that he...

It is not my purpose, however, to place the slave and apprentice on the same footing. It is freely conceded that there is a great difference between the two conditions, and that...

The _Life of Macon_ was written in 1840 by Edward R. Cotten; but in his book of two hundred and seventy-two pages, Cotten says comparatively little of Macon, and devotes most of...

Vance put him among the distinguished men of North Carolina, and for this, if for no other reason, I could afford to put him in this book. Posterity will not lightly overrule th...

Grimes drove the enemy through the woods and formed on the left of Ramseur, while I was driving the Federals before me in an open field, supported by Cook on my left. The latter...

If Pollard's malignant charges, made to detract from the honor and glory of an achievement so brilliantly executed and so fruitful of benefit to the cause, were not shown by the...

The honorable Senator from New York [Mr. Seward], seems to consider the admission of California as a matter beyond all price and all value, to be attained at every hazard and ev...

His practice as a lawyer was a very lucrative one to have been acquired at so early an age. As an evidence of the esteem in which his abilities and learning were held, he was, a...

Perhaps he was more thoroughly versed in biography than any man who has ever lived in America; certainly North Carolina never produced his equal in this respect. His wonderful m...

In 1856 he was again nominated for the second term, his opponent this time being Hon. John A. Gilmer, of Guilford county. Mr. Gilmer had a high reputation both as lawyer and pol...

"That the prisoner, Will, was the property of James S. Battle, and the deceased, Richard Baxter, was the overseer of said Battle, and entrusted with the management of the prison...

During the forenoon a brigade, under command of Colonel ----, reported to me for duty, and was placed near the artillery in this second line of earthworks (which had been constr...

In the Mexican war the commanders-in-chief on both lines were born in Virginia, one of whom became President for his exploits, and the other an unsuccessful candidate for the Pr...

The effect of this speech cannot be estimated. It aroused the people from their despondency; it animated them to new efforts; it went further, it infused into them the spirit wi...

General Davie's seat at Tivoli, on the Catawba, was the resort of many of the Revolutionary characters. In their journeys by private conveyance to Virginia or the North, the cus...

From this academy he went to the University of the State, where he was matriculated in the summer of 1820. His course throughout his college life was admirable in every way. He...

This imperfect offering is a memoir, not a panegyric. It contains not history, but _particulas historae_--scraps of history, which it is hoped may not be without their use to th...

Graduating in 1842, he was still a second lieutenant when he was ordered with his command into active service in Mexico in August, 1845. During the three succeeding years he par...

There has rarely convened from that day to this, even after the resignation of Haywood, an abler tribunal, on any occasion, or for any purpose, than that which tried and convict...

In his report General Ransom speaks of the conspicuous gallantry of Ramseur and his men, and it was by reason of his soldierly qualities mainly, displayed upon this occasion, th...

He was inaugurated on the 1st of January, 1845, the oaths of office being administered by Chief Justice Ruffin. The _Raleigh Register_ of that date remarks, that "the audience w...

The Confederate army occupied about its original position near Manassas until March, 1862, when it was transferred, under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston, to the Penin...

In the year 1663, Charles II. granted the soil and seigniory of Carolina to eight Lords Proprietors, who, to encourage emigration, held out favorable terms. They promised to adv...

On the 7th of December Mr. Graham addressed the convention in opposition to this ordinance. The speech which he delivered on this occasion was, perhaps, the noblest effort of hi...

If this was a just view of the probable--the certain--results of a separation of these States at that time, and under the then existing circumstances, I pray you, sir, upon what...

In the summer of 1825, upon the resignation of Judge Badger, Mr. Ruffin again accepted the appointment of Judge of the Superior Courts. His recent successes had relieved him of...

and while, with gay and hilarious nature, frank but somewhat eccentrical manners and unequaled powers of conversation, united with some infirmity of temper, his expressions and...

The popular impression that the bridges across the Chickahominy had already been swept away when the fight at Seven Pines began on the 30th of May, 1861, is totally unfounded. T...

The convention met at Hillsborough in August, 1788, and resolved that "this convention will not fix the seat of government at one particular point, but that it shall be left to...

In all free States eloquence has preceded poetry, history, and philosophy. By opening the road to wealth and fame it subserves the purposes of avarice and ambition; society is l...

To his hospitality and kind intercourse with gentlemen of the profession, his liberality and assistance to its junior members (whom his gracious demeanor and familiar manners wo...

"O how wretched," exclaimed the Poet of Nature, "is that poor man that hangs on princes' favors." Miserable is the condition of every being who hangs on the favors of creatures...

After completing his collegiate course he selected the law as his profession, and immediately commenced his studies in the office of François Xavier Martin, then a practicing la...

It is not possible that there can be found, anywhere, a plainer manifestation of a decided intent to raise the consideration and standing of the slave than is expressed in these...

Colonel Davie continued with the army and was present at Hobkirk's Hill on April 25th, and also at the evacuation of Camden and the siege of Ninety-Six. While the army lay befor...

And it must not be forgotten, too, that Calhoun, for the South, accepted the slavery issue as the gage of battle, though he knew for what purpose it was manufactured. Unity of t...

The publication, in a permanent form, of the most valuable sketches and speeches which have been produced in our State will aid materially in laying the foundation for a distinc...

His greatest and most persevering exertions, however, were devoted to the subject of internal improvement. His reports and memoir on that and kindred topics were examined with h...

This was a frank confession from a Northern scholar and thinker, that Northern politicians sought office with an eye to property and subsistence, while ambitious Southerners sou...

Why it was that the bombardment, on April 12, 1861, of a Federal _fort_ about to be reenforced "fired the Northern heart" more than the bombardment, on January 9, 1861, of a Fed...

And the event has proved that his judgment, as always, committed no mistake when it bestowed that confidence. He had his peculiarities--idiosyncrasies, if any one pleases--but t...

A summary of Lincoln's conduct, while there was yet peace in the land, brings out in startling relief the facts: that he dared at the behest of pampered privilege greedy for rev...

Hill cherished no unkind feeling toward Bragg, and at the time reluctantly reached the conclusion that it was his duty to join his comrades in urging his removal, hoping that it...

A great lawyer, a cherished and distinguished citizen having fallen in our midst, in obedience to an honored custom, we turn aside from the ordinary pursuits and ambitions to pa...

These observations on the professional and public life of the subject of our sketch have been so prolonged that the occasion will permit but a few further remarks upon his gener...

It was a matter of great gratification to North Carolina when this son, after an absence of a few years, gladly returned to her service. She views his career in arms with a just...

Immediately upon assuming command of the division, General Grimes actively set about removing all effects of the recent defeats it had sustained. He was busily engaged in reorga...

General Ramseur was a superb horseman, and on the day of the battle he appeared upon the field well mounted and dressed with unusual care in his handsome general's uniform. He w...

Cox, William R., his sketch of Stephen D. Ramseur, 456-494; Cox, W. R., see also 464, 465, 466, 467, 473, 475, 503, 508, 513, 516, 517, 518, 520, 521, 530, 561.

In Major Engelhard's official report of this we find this account: "Late in the afternoon, during the attack of Longstreet and a part of Anderson's Division, General Pender havi...

Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia have been mentioned by Senators in this debate, and it has frequently been said that the two first had emancipated their slaves; from w...

On the morning of May 5th, 1864, over one hundred thousand of Grant's troops had crossed the Rapidan, and thence followed that series of battles on the overland route to Richmon...

The war was about taxation--the usual cause of revolution. A century ago it was taxation without representation; a generation ago it was unequal, discriminating, sectional, and...

The authority of Shakespeare is often invoked for the position that "there is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." Without venturing to...

The beauty of Spanish women has ever been a subject of admiration to all who are endowed with a perception of the lovely. Yet, while acknowledging its irresistible power, there...

Murphy, Archibald De Bow, sketch of, by William A. Graham, 111-125; Murphy's address at the University of North Carolina, 128-147; letter from Chief Justice Marshall to Murphy,...