The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-08-07

emergencies, who had the will to dare and
the nerve to execute. Indeed manly resis-
lance to oppression Of any kind has always
been characteristic Of the people of this
section; need 1 say how nobay it was again
illustrated during the recent war between
the States!
There is rather a singular circumstance
connected with the old town of Brunswick
which just occurs to me, and which / do
not recollect ever having seen in print, and
no record Of which can be found in the
archives either of Brunswick or New Han
over county. am indebted to my friend
NJ. Q. Waddell, ESQ.,, Of Chatham county.
himself a native Of this section and con
nected with it for more than a century by
ancestral descent, for the Incident. 1t was
related to his father by the Hon. Alfred
Moore, one of the Justices of the Supreme
Court of the United States.
About the year 1873 two Spanish shi ps
or g~al'eons appeared in the Cape Fear river;
one proceeded up the river to the vicinity
of the present site of Wilmington, while
the other anchored directly opposite the
town Of Brunswick. A short time after
wards, the next day / think, boats were
seen to leave the vessel containing about
forty dark, tauney colored persons, who
proved to be Mamelukes, and heading di-
rectly for the town. They landed and at
once proceeded to indulge in ~riotous ex-
cess, drinking freely of intoxicating liquors
and not at all scrupulous as to the manner
IN which they obtained them. They had
come on shore on purpose, as they stated, to
set the tOrn to yights, which meant indigni-
ties to individuals and indiscriminatc pill
lage of property. But they reckoned with
out their host for the citizens turned upon
them and a desperate fight ensued result
ing in the Mamelukes being overpowered,
taken prisoners, and securely lodged in
Jail. The vessels to which those people be
longed hoisted sail almost Immediately af-
ter the occurrence, and departed leaving
them to their fate. What TO do with them
was now the question that exercised the
community. After considerable discussion
it was finally determined to put them up at
auction and sell them as slaves. Accordingly
the Sheriff Of the county,, on a certain day
previously advertised, took them out Of
Jail, carried them to the block and sold
them to the highest bidder. Some were
purchased by the merchants and farmers in
the immediate vicinity, and the rest were
scattered over the counties of Brunswick,
New Hanover and Bladen, and their de-
scendants were known and early recognized
for many years throughout the Cape Fear
region.
Among those who were sold was a tall,
elegantly formed, copper colored man,
named Manuel, who was purchased by MIR.
William Dry, the collector of the port.
He was for many years Mr.. Dry's faithful
body servant and removed with him to
Wilmington, when that town was laid out.
When he was about forty years Old a vessel
arrived one day in the port of Wilmington
having on board some Mamelukes as a part
of the crew. Manuel was wild with delight
at meeting them and once again hearing
his native language. Though he had mar
ried and had children growing up around
him, yet this meeting with people Of his
own nationality brought back to his mind
with overwhelming force the remembrance
of his home in hat distant country, and
wife and children were alike forgotten in
the longing desire to return to his native
land. At the solicitation of many of the
citizens who sympathised with the poor I'M
fortunate Mameluke, his owner, Mr.. Dry,
was prevailed upon to let him go, and be-
ing furnished with means to bear his ex-
penses, he departed with his people in the
vessel to which they belonged, and was
never heard of afterwards.
The descendants of these Mamelukes had
peculiar characteristics altogether different
from the ordinary negro or mulatto. They
had a prominent Roman nose, a tawny COM
plexion, and though polite and obedient
we're very high spirited. A great grandson
of Manuel named Joe, was owned by the
late Hon. J. l. Mckay, for many years a
prominent member of Congress from this
District, another belonged to the late Or.
A. j. DeRosset, of this city. They all in,
ter-married with the negroes and their dis
~tinctive individuality has long since disap-
peared, so entirely indeed that not a trace
of them can now be found, and even the
fact of their having once existed in our
midst is almost entirely forgotten. 1t was
certainly a singular episode in our early his
tory and as the result proved a very serious
one to them, for it is not often that a de-
bauch leads to such fearful consequences as
it did in their case.