The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1898-05-26
FIRST THINGS.
Remarkable Historical Facts Concern.
ing North Carolina.
Written for the Raleigh Post. }

(Wrtten for the Raleigh Post)
Dr. Hawks in the first volume of
his history of North Carolina says,
on page 1884: That portion of the
United States included within the
limits of North Carolina may justly
claim the honor of having received
the first English colony that was
planted on the Western hemisphere. :"
Our good old State has been first in
so many things of historical interest
that it may not be amiss, now that
she is again first in war, to take a
cursory review of some of the many
matters in which she has taken the
lead of some of her more pretentious
sisters.
In April, 1885, Sir Walter Raleigh
fitted out seven vessels, having on
board one hundred and eight colo
nists, all of whom were men, under
the command of his kinsman, Sir
Richard Granville.
The expedition sailed from Ply
mouth, England, on the 9th of that
month, on the 26th day of June fol-
lowing landed on the coast of North
Carolina, and soon thereafter took
| possession of Roanoke Island.
Granville returned to England in
| the following month of August for
| supplies, leaving his colony fortified
| on the island. Before his return the
colonists becoming dissatisfied took
advantage of the accidental! arrival
of Sir Francis Drake on the coast with
a fleet to return with him to Eng
land, in June 1886. And the settle
ment was abandoned. This was the
first attempt at colonizing by Ahe
English, the territory now embraced
within the borders of the United
States. In the succeeding year 1887
Raleigh sent out another colony OF
one hundred and seventy souls Of
| whom seventeen were women and
children. John White was appointed
| Governor, and associated with him
were eleven Counselors, chartered
and Incorporated as the Governor
and Assistants of the City of Raj.
eigh, in Virginia, the province Of
Carolina not having been then erect
ed into separate government, and
the term Virginia being then applied
to almost all the southern coast.
On the 18th day of August, 1887
at Roanoke, Manteo, a friendly In.
dian chief received the first Christian
baptism. On the 18th day of August
Elenor Dare, daughter Of Governor
White, gave birth to the far famed
Virginia Dare, whose mysterious fate
is still wrapt in the mists of tradi
ton, the first white child born and
the first baptized in America. These
facts are condensed from DR.. Hawks
history, pages 234 to pa.
| In 1869 John Locke drew up for the
Lords Proprietors of the Province Of
Carolina the first Constitution ever
written to secure popular rights
1t was styled The Fundamental Con
| stitution of Carolina. Its full text
| can be found in the second volume Of
the Revised Statutes of North Caro-
lima.
| The first blood shed in defiance OF
British power and oppression was or
the 10th day of May, 1771, at the bat
tie Of Alamance during the Regulator
War. The first declaration of Amer.
lean Independence was published at
Charlotte, in the county of Mecklen-
burg, May 20, 1875.
The first man killed in the COME l.
crate war was Wyatt, private in the
! Edgecombe Guards of the 1st Regi
ment North Carolina volunteers, al
the battle of Big Bethel, on the 10th
day of June, 1861. His portrait is
now in the State Library.
The first ironclad was armored
with railroad iron taken from a North
Carolina railroad, the old Roanoke
Valley road.
The Goth Regiment North Caroline
volunteers under the command OF
Col. Henry K. Burgwyn, lost in killed
on the End days fight at Gettysburg
more men in proportion to its num-
bers than any regiment has ever lost
in one battle in any war. This in
cluded the colonel and nearly all the
company officers. North Caroline
troops went farthest up the awful
hill at Gettysburg, as is now shown
by the official reports. The first
blood in our present righteous wal
for the relief of suffering humanity
and the spread of the right of self
government was shed by our towns
man. Ensign Worth Bagley, United
States Navy. whose untimely death
has so recently bereaved our people
In two great crises of her history
has North Carolina been last. She
was the last to leave the Union il
1861, and she was the last to stoI
fighting at Appomattox in 1865. Goo
bless North Carolina. she has grand
record in the past, and her future car
well be entrusted to the sons of those
of whom it has been said, First al
Bethel; last at Appomattox.
NJ. J. Russell & Co., of Benela, Mass
say: Let US speak few good words in
regard to your Ramon's Pepsin Chill
Tonic. We have heretofore sold several
chill tonics. but since we have been keep
ing Ramon's Pepsin Chill Tonic we can