Wilmington journal., 1874-01-16
skezch Of ssC..,nr.irs's Battery"

cut tie entire war, n the last numoef
of or Ltr5ng and or -Dcoa The
dates ars all authentic, as the sketen
was written b. Captain Cumming him
self:
This company was organized IL vii
| n,iDgtou, February 18th, 1861, by
Captain afterwards Colonel a.. y.
| Hedrick, and was known as the Cape
Fear Light Artillery. when Lin
coins call for troops was made, or the
10th day of April, 1861, this COMPANY,
with others proceeded to the mouth Of
the Cape Fear river and seized Fort
Johnson. April 23rd, was ordered to
Fort Caswell. June 18th, was muster
ed into the Confederate States service
with the following officers: Jno. +.
Hedrick, Captain; Jas. NJ. Stevenson
and Jas. D. Cumming, 1st Lieuten-
| ants, and J. b. Higgins, I'd Lien
| tenant.
Remainedat Fort Caswell until July,
employed O great part of the time III
| mounting heavy guns and assisting i'll
| placing the fort in state of defence.
July, was ordered to Zeke's Island, to
man battery of sea-coast guns. De
| cenber 18th, ordered to Fort Fisher.
February 2sth, 1862, Captain
Hedrick having been promoted to
Major cf Artillery and Lieut.. Steven
son to Captain OF Heavy Artillery, the
company enlisted for tho war, and was
re-orcaniZed. with J. D. Cumming,
| Captain J. W. Galloway, and
james VI. Rowe, 1st Lieutenants, and
S. III. Eyeritt, 2d Lieutenant. The
company was then rendered to the
| Governor as n Light Artillery COM
| pany, was accepted and ordered to
| Wilmington for instruction and equip
, ment. Remained in vicinity of Will
lnington until the Fall and being in
good shape for the field, was ordered
to Tarboro, reporting to Gen. Martin,
Nov. 18th, 1862, and Immediately took
up the line of march for Greenville,
| which place the enemy had frequentl y
visited. From, that time until Decem-
Der 18th, were marching and counter
marching with 61st n. G. regiment and
q company of Georgia cavalry, through
the counties of Pitt, Greene, Beaufort
| and WAYNE, reaching Goldsboro after
the battle ut that place. Marched
thence 20 Weldon, arriving December
! 10Th, 1>62 Moved to KinstoD, Janu
! ary 26th, 1868. March 2Sth, accompa-
MED Gen. d. II. Hill on his expedi-
| ton to Washington assisted by q
section of Graham's Battery, and sup
| ported by the grand old 1lth regiment,
| Col. Lcventhorpe, fought the enemy
t at Biount's Greek. After t'lis action
! the battery was CO. 2plimentea
! by General Pcttigrcw ii Gene
! raj Orders. Remained around kinston
| during tho summer, participating in
! all the various expeditions towards
Newbern. being several times engaged.
In May 1884 the Ist section OF the
battery, in charge Of the Captain, was
ordered to Petersburg, Va, ana the
! 18th OF MAY Joined Dcaurcgard 1T
Bermuda Hundreds, being present at
Ware Bottom Churcl;. .iftcr Butler
was "bottied mp occupied the
! trenches at Ciay'5 iarm-honsc. b,.in Z
engaged with tie encmvs batteries
daily. During this time the following
incident occurred: Under heavy tirc
from the enemy d" 32-poUnd shell
from the c,semv's gun FELL among T. de-
tachmont Of tie men, serring Q picc2
OF artillery. Private las. F. Pierce.
with great presence Of mind, picked
n, the sle;i'with It's burning f,ize Ri
threw ii from the trenches. The next
day, Gen. Bcaur.carI. in General Or
der. compIinaniad .'privato Pierre. q:
CUMMINGS Battery, for his bravery
ample 70 tlfo army.
When GRAFT crossed tn. Jlue-. ~e
we've ordered back - Petersburg. nc-
c3pyin@ the ,,ori;z on the Jerusalem
plank road. aGd were engaged III the
actions of tlle l1!'. and 13t!i u Ju;:o.
Wero shortly moved 10 that part o:
the lines crossing the Norfolk railroad.
and were engaged on tilU memorable
day Of the nine explosion, July 80. He
! mained until the latter part o! August
being under fire nearly every day.
AugUst Goth, moved to tlte Chest erii Id
batteries. on the north side Of the APP
p0mattOX. where we remained during
the w:Gt i. the battery attracting
| much attention by its constant = /
accurate firing. Upon the evacuation
Of Pete, burg shared III al tie hard-
| ships and much Il the fighting Of that
| terrible retreat to AppnmattoX Court
/ H0use.
During this time. the second section.
under Lieutenant Rowe, remained at
| kinston. On the Stl Of March, 1853,
the enemy advanced from New bern
and the battle near kinston was
fought, III which action the Lieutenant
was killed This section fell back
with the army, joined JOhnson's force g
| and surrendered at Greensboro
At the close of the war the battery
numbered 12S men-79 being from
| New Hanover, 1G from Brunswick, 81
from Columbus and - scattering.
! Killed, wounded and died 2l, ctptur-
ed 5, discharged 20.
, Mr.. Er,-s.herc ana Es",E s:e ~
Living.
4! A correspondent of the ST. Louis
Globc waited upon Mrs. Fry, ut her
residence in New Orleans, u few days
since, for the purpose of consulting
her wishes and views concerning the
St. Louis subscription. The widow Of
the Cuban martyr lives in half OF an
| unpreteI tiou5 single story framed cot
tage, standing back in little garden,
opposite one OF the public markets, i'll
n thichly populated part CT the city.
| The room into which the correspon-
dent was shown, was plainly but neat
ly furnished, and the matted floor was
spotlessly clean. Over the chimney
piece was a very excellent portrait OF
poor Fry and q companion picture OF
General Quesada, the Cuban leader.
Mrs. Fry received with marked emo
ton the intel gance Of what the citizer,
of st. Louis were doing, and in rerly
said that had she only herself to think
of she wonld ask nothing bnt to be
Lea IL !,