Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1866-02-22
An Interesting History.


The Washington Star has the following
account of the career of the late Genera
Burgevine, North Carolinian by birth
who went to China and became the chief o
the rebel armies in that country:
"The career of Henry Burgevine is NOR
than romantic, stranger than fiction ant
deserves better record than the meagr
and often incorrect paragraphs which hav'
from time to time appeared iu the columns
of European and American papers. He iva
born in Newbern, North Carolina in th'
year 1886 His father was Frenchman
and an officer in the grand army of Napo
leon. Subsequently he was in the servic'
of Spain, and came to America in the ca
pacity of Surveyor General of Florida, mar
ried an American lady, aud died in lS43
leaving family, consisting of his widow
two sons and a daughter. The eldest sol
if we mistake not, a brigadisr-general il
the Confederate service, and is at present 1
citizen Of Arkansas, where the daughte
also resides, being the wife of Thomas P
Watson, late of Washington city.
Henry Andue Burgevine, the younges
of the family, came to Washington cit.
with his mother aud sister in 1916. Mrs
B having been left in very straitened Cir
cumstances, had in view the prosecution o.
certain claims against the government
growing out of the purchase of Florida
from Spain. Being unsuccessful in this
she, through the aid of the Hon. Willie P
Mangum, obtained situation as page in
the United States Senate for Henry, and
on this pittance, increased by the products
of teaching small school, the widow and
her two children lived many years in quiet
obscurity (on the west of Twelfth street.
nearC.)
From his earliest years Henry displayed
a great love for books, and left no opportu,
nifty unimproved to store his mind with use
full knowledge. At seventeen he understood
the Greek, Latin and French languages,
was proficient in the higher branches Of
mathematics, an accomplished draughts
man, and civil engineering aud naval arch,
itecture. During the interim between the
sessions of Congress, he was among the
students atthe Washington Seminary (Cath
olic,) but he accomplished more by night
study, and systematic course of reading,
having access to the Congressional library.
In those days of his early youth the wri-
ter of this sketch has often heard him
speak of his plans for the future. in such
terms as would lead a stranger to suspect
his sanity. Now it was to build up an em,
pire in Egypt; to unite the nations Of the
Orient; to regenerate China and found an
enlightened nation of 400, ,000, 900 of peo,
Pile; to found new Assyria, with Niveah
for its capital, and so on through long
train of scenes, all of which were sublime,
if not practicable.
SIN the spring Of 1853 BurgeVine, whose
settled purpose it had been to seek his for.
tune in foreign lands, bade farewell to moth.
er, sister and friends and arrived in New
York with few dollars in his pocket. No
Ole knew exactly where he was going, or
for what purpose, and it is likely his own
plans were somewhat disarranged by the
fact of his being without penny in few
days, aud compelled either to return to
Washington or take passage on some ship
and work his way. He did the latter, and
six months after wrote from San Francisco,
then from the Sandwich Islands, next from
China, then from Australia where he work.
ed in the gold mines few weeks with sue
cess. The next we hear of him be had
been "wrecked on the coast, forty miles
from Bombay" After this be was six
months IN Calcutta, learning the Hindoos-
tanee language and regretting he did not
understand Arabic, that be might take
"command of a small vessel trading to In.
da, on the Red Sea-" Next he was on
board British man of war as sailor. Then
for few months, weary enoug b be sure,
with his head shaved, in the hospital at
Naples. And next, tempora mautanter,
leading the life of quiet gentleman in Lon
don. And finally, after more than four
years of wandering, he appears like an ap-
partition to his friends at Washington,
bronzed, and bearded like pard. Remain
ing few months at the capital, Ee removed
to Detroit, Michigan; accepts position as
clerk in the postofice, and edits the Ftndi-
Gator, democratic paper of that city
And here it may be as we'll to state that in
matters of literature Burgevine possessed a
most excellent taste. Had he adopted that
as a pursuit his success would have been
certain. He wrote much, and published
enough in prose and verse to exhibit his
talents in that line. But be preferred a
life of action, and was frequently heard to
say be would rather "make history than to
write it,"
"Burgevine's manner of life at Detroit
was too tame for him. He groaued under
the common places of everyday life, and
longed to be yet again chasing the phan'
toms of ambition which had already led
him so far out of the beaten paths of life.
As yet he had accomplished nothing. He
must be up and doing if name be accom-
plished for himself.
"In 1859, Henry BurgeVipe again left
the shores of America; alas never to re-
turn. This time his sceoes were more tan,
gible. History could give him notable ex'
amules of men who had risen above their
kind as if by magic in the great political