29% 739/ #5 nun?$vaW UNVEILING OF THE WYATT STATUE Raleigh. June 10, 1912 ADDRESS BY E. J. HALE I' Private Company H, M N. C. Volunteers (Bethel Regiment); afterwards Major, A. A. and I. General, C. S. A. JUD6E PRINTING COMPANY FAYETTEVILLE >1 11 6 L0 In Exchange Univ. of North Carolina 2?7 1.933 UNVEILING OF THE WYATT STATUE. RALEIGH, JUNE 10, 1912. £ Address by i^ (Bethel Hale, Private E. J. Regiment); Company H, 1st N. C. Volunteers General, I. afterwards Major, A. A. and C. S. A. Mrs. President and Daughters of the Confederacy; Comrades; Ladies and Gentlemen: which "First at Bethel; last at Appomattox!" is an epigram embodies the spirit of all the serious acts of North Carolina. circumstance It will be useful to consider its application to the which brings us together to-day, and some to recall of the histori- cal facts that relate to the latter. The rapidity with which our race has subdued the wilderness of civilization is apt to lead one of our and acquired the arts generations sor. We to have forgo*- the state a case in point here. of I mind doubt if of its predeces- more than a small portion of this great audience is aware of the up-hill fight whicb North Carolina waged in thp struggle for recognition of her merits. Judge Gaston had that in toind, in our State Hymn, when he resented the efforts of "witlings who defame her." Notwithstanding her achievements in peace and war, North Carolina, before the great war, was called "a strip of land between two States." That was a gibe which no doubt was suggested by our commercial inferiority and want of large cities; but it created an incorrect impression of our place among the original States. Responsive to the conservative disposition which led her to withhold her "accession" to the Union (as Washington termed longer than any of her sisters, except. Rhode Island, North it) Carolina was with exception of her daughter, Tennessee, the last to Her "slowness" in this respect, as her critics secede from it described it, supplied them with renewed occasion for expressions of disfavor, and many were the scornful suggestions of the ignominy of her "submission." Upon the election of Mr. Lincoln, Governor Gist, of South Carolina, wrote a letter to each of the governors of the Southern States, including the border States, asking their views on the subwhich he favored. He received replies from the governors of North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, MississAll but the Governor of North Carolina gave ippi and Louisiana. assurance of co-operation in secession. ject of secession, — While Governor Ellis, in common with most of the people of North Carolina, believed in the right of secession (as taught at West Point and elsewhere), he correctly represented their views as to its inexpediency at the time he wrote. As it turned out, also, his own views of "the monstrous doctrine of coercion" were those of the people he represented. His admirable letter was as follows: "Political differences and party strife have run so high In this State for some years past, and particularly during the past nine months, that anything like unanimity upon any question of a public nature could scarcely be expected: and such is the case with the one under consideration. Our people are very far from being agreed as to what action the State should take in the event of Lincoln's election to the Presidency. Some favor submission, would await the course of events Many argue that he would be powerless for that might follow. evil with a minority party in the Senate, and perhaps in the House of Representatives also; while others say, and doubtless with entire sincerity, that the placing of the power of the Federal Government into his hands would prove a fatal blow to the institution of negro slavery in this country. "None of our public speakers, I believe, have taken the ground before the people that the election of Lincoln would, of itself, be a cause of secession. Many have said it would not, while others have spoken equivocally. "Upon the whole, I am decidedly of the opinion that a majority of our people would not consider the occurrence of the event referred to as sufficient ground for dissolving the Union of the States. For which reason I do not suppose that our Legislature, which will meet on the 19th prox., will take any steps in that direction such, for instance, as the calling of a convention. "Thus, sir, I have given you what I conceive to be the sentiment of our people upon the subject of your letter, and I give it as an existing fact, without comment as to whether the majority be in some resistance, and others still — error or not. "My own It opinions, as an individual, are of little moment. be sufficient to say, that as a State's rights man, believing in the sovereignty and reserved powers of the States, I will conform will my actions to the action of North Carolina, whatever that ^o this general observation I will make but a may be. single qualifiication I could not in any event assent to, or give my aid to a enforcement of the monstrous doctrine of coercion. I do lot for a moment think that North Carolina would become a party to the enforcement of this doctrine, and will not therefore do her /t is this: political the injustice of placing her in that position, even though hypothetically." The General Assembly of North Carolina met on the 19th of November, 1860. South Carolina passed her ordinance of secession on the 20th of December. Mississippi followed on the 9th of January, 1861; Florida, on the 10th; Alabama, on the 11th; Georgia, on the 19th; Louisiana, on the 26th; and Texas, on the 1st of February. Amid the profound agitation which these events produced, North Carolina preserved her equanimity as a State, though her people were divided. Those who favored joining the newly formed Confederacy advocated the calling of a convention. Those who opposed secession opposed the calling of a convention. There were, however, a large number who opposed secession as inexpedient, who nevertheless favored the calling of a convention. Such a body, it was thought, could observe the course of events, and be ready for circumstances required. the 30th of January the General Assembly passed a bill for an election to determine the question of calling a convention, and at the same time for choosing members of the convention if called. The 27th of February was named as the day for the election. The action if On convention was rejected by a narrow majority, some seven hundred and fifty; but the number of delegates chosen who were known as "Unionists" that is, who thought secession inexpedient unless coercion of the seceded States was attempted was eighty-two; while the number of those who were known as "secessionists" that, is, those who favored immediate action was thirtycall of the — — — — eight. From Peace to War. On the 12th of April hostilities began in Charleston harbor. 15th Mr. Lincoln issued his proclamation for coercion. the 17th, Governor Ellis issued his patriotic rejoinder, convening the General Assembly in "special session" on the 1st of May, On the 18th of April, the leading organ of the majority contained an On On the which voiced their sentiments, as these were affected by such a stupendous change in their affairs, and which it will be eneditorial* lightening to quote as follows: "It is needless to remind our readers how earnestly and honestly we have labored to preserve our once great and glorious and In its existence we have believed were involved beneficent Union. that inappreciable blessing, peace; that sound form of liberty and law inaugurated by the Constitution of the United States; and the security, nay, even the existence, of that domestic institution out Editorial in Fayetteville Observer, by Edward J. Hale (First). which have arisen all of our national troubles. In the new aspect of affairs, we see no reason to change any opinion that we have expressed, that the difficulty ought to have been peaceably of settled, and would have been if men had been good influential. We believe now, as heretofore, that by the exercise of that patience which the immense issues at stake demanded, there would have believe now, as heretofore, that a been a peaceful settlement. We wrong of which we would not be guilty for a thousand worlds. But with all these opinions unchanged, there is a change in the condition of affairs a change with which neither we nor the people of North Carolina have had aught to do over which they have had no control, but which of The President's proclamation necessity will shape their action. It shows that is 'the last feather that breaks the camel's back.' the professions of peace were a delusion and a cheat, or, if ever really entertained, that peaceful intentions have been abandoned. War is to be prosecuted against the South by means of the seventyfive thousand men called for; and North Carolina has been officially required to furnish a quota of the seventy-five thousand. Will she do it? Ought she to do it? No, no! Not a man can leave her borders upon such an errand who has not made up his mind to war upon his own home and all that he holds dear in that home. For ourselves we are Southern men and North Carolinians, and at war with those who are at war with the South and North Carolina. With such feelings we attended the large and almost impromptu meeting of Tuesday last, and one of us was unexpectedly called upon to take a part in that meeting. Its calm and dignified determinations met with his full concurrence, though it was the saddest public duty he was ever called upon to perform. The future seems A civil war, in which it will be hard to say to us full only of evil whether victor or vanquished is the greater sufferer. A civil war, whose end no man can see, but full every day of its long and sad years of woe, woe, woe. The impoverished, the down-trodden, the widow and the orphan, will hereafter heap bitter imprecations upon the bad men who have brought these terrible evils of desolation and death upon a great and prosperous and happy people. Thank God! that we can say we have labored for peace, and have had no wish but to avert the dire calamities in a way honorable to both fratricidal war for such a cause is a — — sections." — history which the — has shown government is preserving in imwith what unequaled fidelity the people in whose behalf these words were written redeemed their History perishable records obligations. Leaving these generalizations, I ask your attention to a brief which led to the death of Wyatt. recital of the particular events recounted, distinguished it and, in the light of the circumstances Confederacy. the for died who others that of all from had planned the inOf the four lines by which General Scott Monroe; by Fortress from Washington; vasion of Virginia-from into West Kanawha, the the Cumberland Valley; and from Ohio, by one, with natural the became Monroe Fortress Virginia— that from Confederacy from Montgomery the transfer of the Capital of the double Except that the first mentioned served the to Richmond. line from Fortress purpose of protecting the Federal Capital, the attention. The Monroe would undoubtedly have claimed his chief one of the largest splendid base which that great military work, which the Yorktown Penin the world, supplied, and the ideal route the James and York insula presented for his marching troops, with which considerations were flank, either on rivers open to his naw otherwise must have fixed his choice. probable that the situation at the moment of the arriva North Carolina Regiment in Richmond (May 18-21) circumstances would have destined it to Northern Virginia, but feat were rapidly shifting the theatre of operations. The leading Fedby demonstrations with coupled ure of these circumstances, thus described eral gun boats up the James and York rivers, is (May 11) by Rev. Dr. W. N. Pendleton (afterwards Brigadier Genhis West Point eral of Artillery) in a letter addressed by him to you value our "As Montgomery: at Davis, classmate, President It is of the First I great cause, hasten on to Richmond. Lincoln and Scott are, if movement great the demonstrations other mistake not, covering by upon Richmond Suppose they should send suddenly up the York are River, as they can. an army of thirty thousand or more; there and if their policy shown in Marybe a severe, if not fatal, blow. HasThe very fact of your presence will ten, I pray you, to avert it. almost answer. Hasten, then, I entreat you; don't lose a day." On the 18th of May (the day after Virginia's secession) the United States Ship "Monticello" fired on a Virginia battery at Sewell's Point, and again on the 21st. On the 22nd Major General Benjamin F. Butler, United States Army, was transferred from the Department of Annapolis and assigned to the command of the Department of Virginia, with headquarters at Fortress Monroe; and nine additional infantry regiments were sent there. On the 23rd a Federal Regiment made a demonstration against Hampton, three miles from Fortress Monroe. It was under these circumstances that the destination of the First North Carolina Volunteers, Colonel D. H. Hill commanding, the crack regiment of the day, was decided. It was ordered to Yorktown, no means at hand to repel them, lajid gets footing here, it will 8 ^^ ^ the "post of danger and of honor," as the papers of the day described it. It broke camp at Richmond on May 24, and reached Yorktown the same evening. Colonel John B. Magruder, of the Provisional Army of Virginia, just been assigned (May 21st) to the command of the Department of the Peninsula, accompanied the First North Carolina who had Yorktown. On June 6th, under orders from Colonel Magruder, Colonel Hill proceeded with the First North Carolina to Big Bethel Church, some thirteen miles distant from Yorktown, and eight or nine miles distant from Hampton and from Newport News. He was accompanied by Major Randolph, of the Richmond Howitzer Batallion (afterwards Secretary of War), with four pieces of artillery. The march from Yorktown, which was made by dusk, was a trying one for these unseasoned troops, as it was made by the infantry in heavy marching order, with knapsacks, haversacks, canteens, loaded cartridge-boxes, often a Bible in the knapsack, and with a tin cup and extra pair of shoes dangling from either corner of this rather hoxey affair. The light marching order of Jackson'g foot cavalry was as yet a sealed chapter of the regulations. A drizzling mist had set in before dark, and it was the regiment's first experience at cooking with ramrods and bivouacking without to tents. Colonel Hill at once proceeded to fortify the position. There were but twenty-five spades, six axes and three picks in possession of the command, but these were applied so vigorously that by Saturday, the 8th, the work began to show the outlines of a fortified camp. On Sunday a fresh supply of intrenching tools arrived, and enabled the The men to make further progress with the work. Regiment and Randolph's Artillery were aroused at 3 o'clock Monday morning, the 10th, for a general advance upon the enemy, who had appeared in the roads leading from Fortress Monroe and Newport News. After marching three and a half miles, it was learned that the enemy was advancing in large force. Our troops fell back upon their entrenchments, and awaited his coming. At 9 o'clock the head of the enemy's column (Bendix's 7th New York) appeared in the road a half mile away. A shot from Randolph's Parrot gun, aimed by himself, hit the earth in their front and ricocheted; they fell away from the road; their artillery (regulars) at once replied; and the battle began. A body of skirmishers advanced against our right, but were First driven back. Two small regiments of infantry made several attempts to charge our left. One of Randolph's guns having been disabled, was withdrawn. A regiment was then moved against our right, and a body of "Zouave" skirmishers occupied the abandoned Under orders from Colonel Hill, Captain Bridgers, with Company A of the First North Carolina, drove out the Zouaves, and battery. re-occupied the battery. The First Vermont and Fourth Massachusetts, led by Major Theodore Winthrop, of General Butler's staff, then attempted to enter the gorge at our left by a sudden rush. Companies B and C, and portions of Companies G and H, of Hill's Regiment, killed Winthrop and drove back his troops. When Bridgers recaptured the battery, he found in his front a house which was used as a shelter for the enemy's sharpshooteru. At Colonel Hill's suggestion. Captain Bridgers called for volunteers to burn it. Corporal George T. Williams and privates Thomas Fallon, John H. Thorp*, Henry L. Wyatt, R. H. Ricks and R. H. Bradley leaped the works and went on this mission. At the first volley from the enemy Wyatt was killed. The troops engaged on our side were eight hundred men of the First North Carolina Regiment, and some four hundred Virginians. Upon the enemy's side some four thousand four hundred took part in the fight— the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th New York, the 1st Vermont, the 4th Massachusetts and Greble's detachment of the 2nd U. S. Artillery— all under command of Brigadier General Pierce. The battle lasted from 9 o'clock until half past one. The enemy lost heart upon the death of Winthrop, and shortly after retreated. The battle of Bethel was but a small affair in itself, if we comwith the sanguinary conflicts between great bodies of men of which it was the precursor. The total number of troops engaged on our side, as we have seen, was but 1,200, and on the Federal side but 4,400. pare it — Our losses were but 10 as follows: North Carolinians: 1 killed, 6 wounded. Virginians: 3 wounded. The Federal losses were officially reported by General B. F. Butler to Lieut. General Scott as follows: 18 killed, including Major Winthrop and Lieutenant Greble; 53 wounded; 5 missing. There were, however, numerous discrepancies in the reports of the subordinate officers, and there was apparently a desire to suppress the facts. Colonel Hill estimated the enemy's losses at 300. The troops on our side, though they were the flower of the uniformed militia, had never seen service before; while those of the enemy were backed by the prestige of the Federal Government, and his artillery were regulars. The result was hailed as an augury of the early triumph of the Confederacy, which had thus demonstrated its ability to overcome four times its numerical strength on the battlefleld— a disproportion 10 almost exactly representing the relative populations of the two secIt made a profound impression upon the country, raising tions. the enthusiasm of the South to the highest pitch, repressing disaffection there, and at the same time chilling the ardor of their adversaries at the North In the Virginia Convention then in session at Richmond, Mr. Tyler, ex-President of the United States, submitted a series of resolutions which were unanimously adopted, eulogizing Magru<'er, and their otRcers and men for their brilliant victory; and, in a speech of great eloquence and force, he declared that there was but one instance in the whole page of history that could be cited as a Hill parallel to this victory, where Mr. Davis, with and that was the battle his Mississippi regiment, number of Buena Vista, and Bragg, with of Mexicans. one of the most extraordinary victories in the annals af war. Four thousand thoroughly drilled and equipped troops routed and driven from the field by The courage and conduct of the only eleven hundred men. noble sons of the South engaged in this battle are beyond all praise. They have crowned the name of their country with imperishable lustre and made their own names immortal." With common consent credit was given to North Carolina as the chief actor in the great achievement. The Petersburg Express said: "All hail to the brave sons of the Old North State, whom Providence seems to have thrust forward in the first pitched battle on Virginia soil in behalf of South"The ern rights and independence." The Richmond Whig said: North Carolina regiment covered itself with glory at the battle of Bethel." The Richmond Examiner, the leading paper of the Confederacy, said "Honor those to whom honor is due. All our troops appear to have behaved nobly at Bethel, but the honors of the day are clearly due to the splendid regiment of North Carolina, whose charge of bayonets decided it, and presaged their conduct on many a more important field. Virginia's solemn sister is justly jealous of her glory; her simple honest, courageous population are weary of the great silence of their forests of pine; they have come out to fight with a deep determination to make their mark, which friends and foes have yet to fathom." The North Carolinian of the present day, content with the fame of his State now as the most valorous of them all, will learn something of the debt which he owes to the men of '61 by pondering the words just quoted from the great Virginian newspaper. Governor Ellis promptly recommended to the Convcnt'on in session at Raleigh that Colonel Hill, commander of the North Carolina troops, be promoted to the rank of brigadier, and that a bri- his battery, routed fivo times their The Richmond Dispatch . : said: . . "It is n gade be formed and placed under his command. Indeed, Hill was on all sides recognized as the real leader in the fight, though Colonel Magruder, commander of the troops in the Peninsula, had arrived on the ground just before the battle began, and assumed command. The fortifications, whch were essential to our success, were planned by Hill and constructed by his regiment. On the 15th of June, Mr. Venable offered a resolution in the convention at Raleigh, which was unanimously passed, as follows: "Resolved, That this convention, appreciating the valor and good conduct of the officers and men of the First Regiment, North Carolina Volunteers, do, as a testimony of the same, authorize the said regiment to inscribe the word 'Bethel' upon tbeir banner." The First North Carolina Volunteers the first regiment organized by North Carolina and sent to the front, as well as the first Confederate regiment to engage in battle included in its ranks probably the highest average order of men ever mustered for war. They contributed to oiher commands in the Confederate service four general officers, seven officers of the general staff, fourteen colonels, ten lieutenant-colonels, eight majors, twelve adjutants, — — ten other staff officers, fifty-seven captains, thirty-seven first lieutenants and forty-three second lieutenants total 202, being more than the full complement required for four regiments. — The Death of Wyatt. Private John H. Thorpe, one of the five companions of Wyatt, afterwards a captain in the 47th Regiment, gave me in 1900, the following account of the death of Wyatt: "When we the enemy got there (the redoubt) in line of battle about three I saw a Zouave regiment of hundred yards away. Our boys popped away at tliem, but the fire was not returned. Then, in good order, they marched away down the New Market road. Probably the order to retreat had been given the whole Federal army. A few minutes later Colonel Hill, passing from our right through the company, said: 'Captain Bridgers, can't you have that house burned?' and immediately went on. Captain Bridgers asked if five of the company would volunteer to burn it. suggesting that one of the number should be an officer. Corporal George T. Williams said that he would be the officer and four others said they would go. Matches and a hatchet were provided at once, and a minute later the little party scrambled over the breastworks in the following order: George T. Williams, Thomas Fallon, John H. Thorpe, Henry Wyatt [R. H. Ricksl and R. H. Bradley. A volley was fired at us as by a company, not from the house, but from the road to our left. As we were well drilled in skirmishing, all of us instantly dropped to the ground, Wyatt mortally wounded. He never uttered a word or a L. If __12 groan, but lay limp on his back, his arms extended, one knee up and a clot of blood on bis forehead as large as a man's fist. He was lying wthin four feet of me, and this is the way I saw him. To look at Wyatt one would take him to be tenacious of life; low, . . . but robust in build, guileless, open, frank, aggressive." Wyatt's body was soon taken off the field by his comrades, who carried him to Yorktown the same night, where he died. He had apparently not recovered consciousness from the time he was struck. His body was carried to Richmond the next day, where he was buried with military honors from the Reverend Mr. Duncan's Church. Henry Lawson Wyatt was a son of Isham and Lucinda Wyatt, of He was twenty years of age at his death. His parents had moved to Tarboro in 1856 from Pitt county, though he was born Tarboro. during their early residence in Richmond, Va. Camps were named for Wyatt during the war; his portrait has been placed in the State Library; and his memory, as well as that of the First Regiment, is perpetuated in the inscription: "First at Bethel; last at Appomattox!" cut upon the Confederate Monument There in front of the Capitol. is no dispute of the fact that Wyatt was the first Con- — federate soldier killed in battle that is, in a general action. In which all divisions of an army, infantry, cavalry and artillery, ar« engaged. There were several citizens killed in the "Baltimore riots," because of their action in behalf of the Confederacy. This was on April 19. On the 24th of May J. W. Jackson, proprietor of the Marshall House, Alexandria, Virginia, was killed by Ellsworth's Zouaves, because he killed Ellsworth for hauling down the Confederate flag which he had hoisted over his hotel. On the same day a member of the Bethel Regiment was thrown by a lurch of the carg from the train which was bearing it from Richmond to West Point on the way to Yorktown, and killed. On June 1st, Captain Marr, of the Warrenton (Virginia) Rifles, was killed in an accidental skir- mish at Fairfax. Virginia. Major Jed. Hotchkiss, the historian chosen by Virginia for the Virginia volume of the "Confederate Military History," the official history authorized by the United Confederate Veterans, says (Volume III, page 140) "It is generally admitted that young Wyatt was the first civil Confederate soldier killed in action in Virginia during the war." It is a fact that the State of North Carolina, which had been reproached by her sisters with "slowness," was called upon by the Confederate government to supply the chief portion of the troops engaged in the first pitched battle of the war. This was due to the SI companies preparedness and the celerity of the movements of the the witnessed we ago years few A Regiment. 1st composing her with Spain deplorable delay with which the volunteers in our war the rewere equipped, notwithstanding the unlimited resources of and its conunited Republic, with its more than doubled population North Carocentrated wealth. Contrast with this the record of the The companies of the 1st Regiment volunteered on 186] lina of : State capiApril 17, 1861; they were formed into a regiment at the office, issued tal by successive orders from the Adjutant-General's Fayon April 19, May 9, May 12 and May 16; three of them (the two companies and the Lincoln company) were in Richmond on the 18th of May, the other seven arriving on the 21st; and they had fought and won the first battle of the war by the 10th of June! not have Military men know that this astonishing result could organization and equipment of completeness if accomplished been that no had been sacrificed to celerity of movement. It is believed etteville in such other regiment, then or afterwards, was set out in the field were musstyle as the First North Carolina Volunteers when they tered on the plain of Yorktown in the last week of May. Such was the judgment, also, of impartial critics. The Virginia effect. press of the day was filled with testimony to the same Notwithstanding the circumstances related above, the quick din of sue ession of battles that followed in the huge conflict, the whose "clangor reached the remotest parts of the earth;" the enor- widespread sufrolls of dead and wounded in each; and the incifering of the people in the invaded section, threw the earlier Roster, Moore's that oblivion into dents of the war so completely an oflacial publication of the State, placed the 1st Volunteers (which was also the let Regiment) after the 11th Regiment, which, with mous the preceding ten regiments, succeeded it. The State is indebted to her great Chief Justice, Judge Walter the Clark, for the correction of this error as well as for causing to facts of history, so creditable to North Carolina, to be brought RegiCarolina "North work marvelous his in notice the world's ments, 1861-1865." The accuracy of the legend on the soldiers' monument at the West front of the capitol and of that on the cover of the "North Carolina Regiments" having been challenged, a committee of soldiers of the war, headed by Chief Justice Clark, was appointed by the North Carolina Historical and Literary Society to make reply. This was made in the form of a report by the Committee on August 25, Points in 1904, and published by the Society under the title "Five sustained completely conclusions Its the Record of North Carolina." the contentions which had been challenged. The part relating to 14 . the present subject is thus summarized: then, used in connection with the victory at Bethel, the first pitched battle of the war, and descriptive of North Carolina's achievements and losses there, may be said to refer "The word 'first,' with truth to these facts, "1. Her first viz: Regiment of Volunteers was the first to arrive at Bethel. "2. "3. "4. "5. Her troops were first in the work done there. Her troops were first in numbers there, being as 2 to 1. Her losses were first in number there, being as 2 1-2 to 1. It was a member of her regiment there who was the first to fall in battle in the war." The General Assembly of 1905 appointed a commission to mark the place where Wyatt fell. In course of correspondence with the Virginia veterans in the neighborhood of Bethel with a view to sesuring a site there, it was learned that the people of that State, particularly those of the Peninsula country, had determined to erect monument at Bethel on June 10th. The Virginians invited North Carolina to join them. Their invitation was accepted, and a handsome monument was erected on the battlefield, by the "Virginia and North Carolina Monument Association." It was unveiled on June 10th, in presence of an immense concourse, headed by the Governor of Virginia, by Miss Kyle, of North Carolina, and Miss Tabb, a of Virginia. At the same time the North Carolina Commission dedicated the Marker, which was placed where Wyatt fell. This is the inscription on the face of the monument: "To Commemorate the Battle of Bethel, June 10th, 1861,' first conbetween the Confederate Land Forces, and in Memory of Henry Lawson Wyatt, private Co. A, First N. C. Volunteers, and the first flict Confederate soldier to fall in actual battle." And this on the reverse: "Erected by the Bethel Monument Association of Virginia and North Carolina, June 10th, 1905." The inscription on the marker is this: "On Junr 10th, 1861, fell Henry Lawson Wyatt, priRegiment N. C. Volunteers. This stone, placed here by the courtesy of Virginia, is erected by authority of the State of North Carolina. this spot, vate, Co. A, First HALE, KYLE, JOHN H. THORPE, W. B. TAYLOR, E. J. W. E. R. H. RICKS." — 15 The Teaching of History by Monuments. due to Mr. J. A. Mitchener, of Selma, to record liere (July 24, 1907) proposed the erection of the beautiful monument before us; and to the ladies of Henry Wyatt Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy of Selma to say that they started the collection of the fund which brought it into being. The teaching of history in this country by statues and other think I that he it is first memorials has grown at an amazing pace in the past quarter of a The custom prevailed in all the old nations, but the century. breach of it in our own attracted little attention until the period mentioned. When the war broke out there were: an equestrian statue of Washington in Union Square, New York; the statue of Washington as a Roman Senator, which faced the East front of the capitol in the federal city; the equestrian statue of Jackson in front of the White House; the equestrian statue of Washington at Richmond with the group of Virginia patriots about him; Houdon's statue of Washington in the Virginia capitol; the statue of Clay in the pavilion in the grounds of the same; the replica of the Houdon statue in this our own capitol square; a statue of Clay in Canal Street, New Orleans; and a replica of the equestrian Jackson statue In the same city. Besides these statues there were the Bunker Hill monument at Boston, the battle monument at Baltimore, and the Jasper and Pulaski monuments in Savannah. I do not recall any others. They were all fine works of art, except the Jackson statue, which was the subject of some ridicule at the time (about 1857). No doubt the paucity of our achievements in this respect was due to the reaction against king worship which followed the Revolution and to the exactions of pioneer life. With the accumulation of wealth following the war has come the ancestral mania; and later no doubt stimulated by stories of valor in that great conflict came the hero worship era. The two have filled the land with many memorials of personal, community or national interest. The most of them are devoid of beauty, and many offensive to taste. Thia — is notably true of the statues in the federal capital erected since the war. It is a matter of gratification that the effects of the mania ri)f erred to have come into our conservative commonwealth since travel and education have begun to correct the national post-bellum taste. In the light of these things, finds correct and I conclude that the truth of history artistic expression here. With these cursory observations upon the nature of in our country, I come question of the present moment: memorials and the history of them pub.lc to .i.e 014 418 098 7 -c 16 . . the meaning of the ceremonies which we are now enthey justified by the facts? Do they conform to the Are gaged in? true historic perspective? Are they separated in their object, as they should be, from those with which the vanity of mere wealth affronts us everywhere? I think you will agree with me that the facts recited answer all What is these questions in our favor. Of our State, as she appeared in the supreme crisis of her existence— truly, the times that tried men's souls—we may ex- York said of Richard's noble father: was never gentle lamb more mild; In war, was never lion raged more fierce." claim, as the Duke of "In peace, Of the regiment which was may be glorified by the death of Wyatt, it said: History shows that the character of the First North Carolina Regiment was the natural outgrowth of the conditions from which people whom it it sprung; that it expressed the peculiarities of the represented, their gentleness in manner, their resoluteness in deed; that the celerity and completeness with which it was organized and equipped have no parallel in history; that it spilled the first blood in battle in defense of the cause which the State was almost the last to embrace; that, while it had never before heard a hostile bullet, it exhibited the discipline and behaved with the steadiness of veterans at Bethel Church; that its victory there was won against odds which represented the numerical superiority of the North over the South; that in this, and in other respects, its triumph in that initial battle produced consequences of the most far-reaching kind, possibly holding Virginia in the Confederacy, and certainly reshifting the theatre of war; that it raised the hopes of the South to the nighest pitch and correspondingly depressed those of the North; that contributions of trained soldiers to the rest of the army constitute a unique feature of military history; and that in this, and in all other respects, it deserved the place assigned it by the authorities its of the State as Fugleman Of Wyatt we may say: mer defamers; it is not a reputation. of the regiments. there stands the mute reply to our forboast, but the symbol of our recasted mumLumjww L4