The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1898-08-04

At the reunion of the Confeder-
ate Veterans North Carolina will
doubtless have more representatives
thon any other state, excepting, of
course, Georgia, in whose capital the
assembling Of the valiant survivors
will take place. 1t is evidently a
source Of much pride and gratitica
ton to the old soldiers from our Sis
ter State to read the record her brave
sons are already making in the pres
cnt conflict with Spain. they have
already achieved two glorious hon
Ors.
But it is not the first time in her
history that the Old North State has
won the first and highest honors in
the nations wars. In two other
noted struggles, to North Carolina
belongs the first immortal honors.
While everybody is now talking Of
struggle, it is not everybody that
knows all of the other facts Of his
tory, showing when and how the
sturdy sons Of that State placed her
fame high in historic records. Some
| of the incidents have a place i'll all
we'll known annals Of the country,
but there are other facts which even
standard authorities have been wont
to ignore or to give grudginglv, even
obscure and doubtful places i'll the
records Of the nation. Everybody
has heard OF the destruction Of the
tea from the British vessels in Bos
ton harbor, in 1773-the act of New
England rowdies disguised in the
garb of savage Indians. The men
afterwards eulogiZed as patriots, did
not boldly and fearlessly follow the
example of the unterrited sons of
North Carolina. who in 1865 brayely
and without disguise boarded the
British ship in the harbor of Will
mington, and threw overheard into
the sea the odious stamp paper sent
by England for the purpose of taxa
ton in the colonies. In defiance Of
the commander of the vessel and his
marines and the king and all his
parliament, the determined Carolin-
ians never ceased their work until
every vestige of the stamp paper sent
to Wilmington was hurled into the
sea. This was eight years before the
! Boston tea party did its work, Yet
most of our historians magnify the
| deed of New England and pass over
with but brief reference to the nobler
and open-handed act of revolution
and defiance of the Caroinians.
The tragedy of Big Bethel is 4 we'll
known historic event. Few people,
| however, are aware Of the other fact.
as to who was the first prisoner OF
| the war and who was his captor.
Lieutenant SIemmer. Of the United
States navy. was the first prisoner
J captured. He was taken while max
| inc a reconnaissance away from his
vessel. and on the shore OF Pensacola
! bav. in March. 1861. His captor
was Captain &. W. Dixon. a native Of
| New bern. y. c.. in command of Ala
bama troops on duty at Pensacola.
Captain Dixon died recently at his
! home in Auburn. Ala, but before his
death he gave me a full account OF
the events of the capture. The mat
ter is too long a history for this brief
summary. The facts. however. are
all we'll authenticated history. | re-
member reading early in 1861 the
newspaper account OF Lieutenant
Slemmer's capture. There was an
amusing paragraph. After enumera-
ting the many acconplis shments OF
the allstarred officer. it wound up By
saving he was Ian admirable per-
former on the fiddle but he played
tiddle-sticks when he went ashore,
and fell into the trap of the Alabam-
ians under the gallant Dixon. The