The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-08-26

w. VINO was Lnen at the
Little River camp. AS we desire to
know something of the chief actors
in a drama, and as l have given you
a pen picture of the dashing and he
roic Cushing, l turn my camera upon
Captain Galloway.
He was 6 feet in height, straight as
an arrow, with square, broad should
ers, we'll proportional and weighed
without superf1ous flesh, IT'S pounds.
He was an athlete, very mus
cular, active as a kitten, and possess
ed the kind Of courage out Of which
heroes are made. Danger quickened
his perceptions and added to his ca
pacity, but a cool head and sound
judgment kept him from unwarranted
rashness. His bright, rudy face, al
ways clean shaver, was strong, man
1y, attractive. The rich, glossy, raven
hair at SO was without a trace of gray,
and the dark, sparkling blue eyes
twinkled merrily as at the g of 25.
His forehead, broad and moderate
ly high, rose prominent with a slight
Roman cast, lips well formed and thin,
jaws and chin full, and together with
his lips, donated great irmness; in
deed, irmness and determination were
among his marked characteristics.
Though he was a modest man as a
soldier and as a citizen, in common
p~arlance he would not do to fool with.
1t is said he was never matched in a
personal encounter. DR.. Tom Hill, of
Goldsboro, who knew him well, tates
that he was the best man physically
and mentally ever produced in Bruins
wick county.
When the blockade vessels entered
the harbor of Little River, they steam
ed up the stream behind high hills
wooded with beautiful, perennial live
oaks when they dropped anchor, feel
ing a sense of security, being out of
range of the telescopes of the enemy.
Captain Galloway had a foretaste. of
yankee cunning and daring; and when
he heard a cruiser had been seen in
the ofting, apparently laying to, he
rather expected the sleuth-hound
would hatch some deviltry ere the
dawn Of morning. Had he known
Cushing was aboard of her, be would
have been assured of an attempt to
scuttle or burn the schips under the
cover of darkness. His force on the
ud1IOW ShlIL Vi DcdCu, uduhSu ny I1C
| sea On one side and the sound on the
other, usually numbered a dozen to
W dozen men. At hat time, as far as
the writer could ascertain, there were
not more than eighteen or twenty,
and a few of those were absent at the
village across the bay. Under the
shadow of a hill, in a clump of live
oaks, on the sound side of the beach,
near the mouth OF the river, stood a
frame house in which the soldiers
were quartered. Some three hundred
yards up the beach on the ocean
front, a few steps above high water
mark, and bordering a skirt OF woods,
Captain Galloway had thrown up a
small semi-circular sand fort to
shield his men in case of a direct at
tack by sea.
Each sentinel had positive orders
not to fire upon an enemy discovered
at night. He was to arouse the camp
promptly, watch the blue jackets, and
wait for instructions. AS twilight ap-
preached, Cushing, unobserved, steam
ed in slowly towards the beach. Ar
irving as near the shore as he well
could not to be seen, he manned three
large barges, each with thirty men,
two of them being armed with How
tiers in their bows, and Gushing
commanded the forward boat.
With muffled oars they safely,
steadily rOwed for the shore, and
landed a short way above the fort,
their object being to surprise and cap
ture the camp before proceeding to
the ships. Nearing his majority, a
lone confederate sentinel was pacing
his beat that beautiful September
night; it reached from the camp house
to within a few yards of the mouth
of the river. There was just enough
breeze stirring to merrily rustic the
green leaves of the trees and drive of
the pestiferous sand flies and vora-
cious mosquitoes. A crescent moon
which had been playing hide and
seek back of a bank of riven, lOw-ly-
ing clouds was lazily creeping to resi-
behind the western hills. AS he pac-
ed to and fro the oft beaten track, the
solitary picket relieved the monotOny
Of the hours by listening to the sigh.
ing of the wind, the dancing of the
leaves, the yelp of a dog, the crow Of
chanticleer, the boot of an owl, the CRY
VI d ulppO WILL, luC Lui Lhui u chS
river and the grand syphony of ole
ocean rythmically laundering against
the shore. Somehow, his own foot
falls were louder that night than eve1
before, and he could but notice it. His
vision seemed sharper as he scanned
the mysterious, musical sea and look
ed over the waving green marshgras:
upon the bay; and his ears appeared
more acutely alive to the faintes
sounds.
Sometimes as he peered out over thu
moonlit ocean, he though he coult
catch the glimpse of a moving objec'
in the ~shadowy distance, but he coul(
never be assured, and laid it to {
heightened fancy. He had a strang,
foreboding that something unusua
} was about to happen, and, like Ban
eros ghost, it would not down. l an
no believer in presentient prognosti