The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-08-29

CHAPTER X
Redwood, impellsa y A;s estsrprisiDg DISPOSE
num- IeTJ r, orIn
- ~ A. -.-L Ia ~-' CsS-~,,. V';u "n-respondpd
occasionally with each other, they did not meet
in years.
In the summer of IS, caravan Of travellers
arrived at the house of Ambrose Carey; they
were of all ages and sexes, and in their midst was
the patriarch of their tribe, the venerable Coun-
Gil Redwood His form was still elastic and erect
AMI lis cyl clear and bright but years had laid
their weight upon him, and he felt the end of his
pilgrimage drawing near Once more he wished
to see his native State and gathering together
his children and his grandchildren, he returned
with them to North Carolina.
He had been one of the pioneers of the Misss-
sippi valley; he carried law and liberty to those
vast solitudes and in the course of few years
was the leading member Of a thriving settlement
There all his descendants planted farms and ac-
cumulated substance; and there the name of Red
wood promised to become of influence and honor.
But the old man wished to die among the scenes
of his youth and when again at Csrey's, insisted
on being carried to the top of the Pilot.
Let me again worship God on that ALTAR
said he now that the land is free and happy.
Let me again behold it from that height, where
--o-cSes---.s.ooSl - s~--~~- II " douhtn
AT his urgent entresty, he was carried up; and
falling Immediately on his knees, and stretching
Iortn mis- arms, Ms attendants -kneeling and I'M
covering he offered up a prayer, fervid, simple,
and eloquent, TO the Great God of truth and JUS
tice, thanking him for his goodness to him and to
his country, and invoking his perpetual blessings
on that land, watered by the blood and the tears
Of so many of the best children of earth.
More than thirty years ago" said he, after
wards, turning to Carey, we stood in this place;
dark N than raotad in oo,,1 nj hrno1a1
over the land The humble Regulators have
spread their leaven over thirteen free and happy
States; and far beyond those western hills, away
in the valleys of the West, then bowling will
derness these sons Of Liberty are descending,
carrying light, and freedom, and civilization, to-
wards the shores of the Pacific. My children
| call you all my children will soon leave you
Adam left his heirs, with a world for your ,heri-
tagei world where peace, and freedom, and law,
bring back much that was lost in the garden of
Eden. -
"But Gains will be born, fraternal strife will
arise, and from the blood Of the first brother
slain in anger will spring a curse, whose awful
effects will follow you from generation to genera
tion even while this mountain stands. Strain
your eyes to the west-far far out there is the
Pacific, and beyond is the paternal mansion of
our race. II is beautiful and glorious country
and yet, since the spillng of the blood of Abel,
1t has not ceased to be land of gloom and strife
Of bloodshed aud terror. Oh that you would
learn wisdom from the past that your children,
my SONS, in far-off State, would remember that
], the father of you all, was also the father and
friend, counsellor and guide, Of the mother and
the father Of these Carolinians that their father
and in darkness and in sorrow, fought, and
counseled, and suffered together, for your COM
mon goodp
The fatignes Of the day were too much for the
aged Regufator--. He was carried to the house
much exhausted and soon, in the full possession
of his faculties, and with q serene countenance,
yielded up his manly spirit At his request, he
was buried at the base of the pinnacle or rock,
on the top Of the Pilot. He was laid on the
western side, with his head to the east in posi-
tion, from the nature Of the ground, half erect;
and there, as he said his grave cannot be "a bat
tie. field for his descendants, when they shall be
given up for torment to the devil And when
hostile armies march hitber from the far est
and South, the first landmark that meets their
eyes in the country they come to destroy will be
the tomb Of their father"