The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-05-08

oduSHItI vi j. NJ. SlllS. OufI
They did not think 10 come
So silently, SO late,
When, stepping to the sounding drum
They left the State.
They thought to see again
The loved ones, kissed through tears;
, Not in the trenches of the slain
To lie for years.
But lips they kissed grew old.
And eyes that wept grew blind,
And hearts hat could not break lay cold,
By grief enshrined.
And spirits yelled in woe,
Looking toward life's west.
Were called in tenderness unto
Eternal rest.
They came not; but they come
A vanquished, faithful few
In silence; and are welcomed home
In silence, too.
Their place of burial is
Hallowed by wOman'S prayers.
A nobler epitaph than his
Could not be theirs.
-hdJOl III VI. Stevenson was DORM III
Newbern, n. c., April %. 1924. In early
life he married Miss Christiana E. Sand
ers, and removed to New Hanover county,
where he enlisted in the Confederate ser
vice.
By Governor Ellis order, he seized the
forts in this State. He was then lieu
tenant of artillery. February IS. 1862, he
was elected captain of Company A, Thirty
Sixth regiment of North Carolina Infan-
try. January %, 1864, he was elected
major of the Thirty-SiXth regiment, and
kept at Fort Fisher nearly a year. No
vember %. 1864, Major Stevenson, with
five companies of his regiment, was sent
to Georgia, and after a short but gallant
campaign under Hardee, was ordered
back to his regiment, arriving in time for
the siege of December p, 1864, which was
renewed by a fatal attack on January IS,
1865, which lasted three days, when the
gallant few surrendered. During the siege
Major Stevenson was knocked from the
parapet by the explosion Of a large shell.
and fell bleeding and nearly paralyzed
among the garrison below. He was car
ried a prisoner of war to Fort Columbus,
N. Y, where he died March 10, 1865. His
ashes now rest in the family burial lot,
by his three children, in Oakdale ceme-
terry, near Wilmington.
The State Journal of Savannah, Ga,
published at the time, gives this account:
after the late battle of Harrison's Old
Field, which was an advanced position
fourteen miles from Savannah, Major
Stevenson was in of q part Of
his own battalion and parts of the Tenth
and Fortieth battalions, when flanked by
two brigades of the enemy. Information
,aalol Co,l, II,,Ioo 4Lo+ lii 1oo,
mand was captured. Major Stevenson
made his escape with all his men ex-
cept thirteen. who were killed. He
brought off all his wounded, his artillery
and wagons, and that same night marched
into Savannah, reporting in person to
General Hardee, by whom he was warmly
cOmplimented.
In the State election Of 1860 the total
vote polled was 112, $50, the largest that
had ever been polled. North Carolina
furnished over $50, 900 men, or quite IS
many soldiers as she had voters, during
the four years of the war. The total
number of troops furnished by all the
States of the Confederacy was about 600
coo, and it will be seen that North Caro-
lima furnished one-fourth of the entire
force raised by the Confederate Govern
ment during the war. At ~AppomattoX
North Carolina surrendered twice as
many muskets as did any other State, and
at Greensboro more of her soldiers were
among the paroled than from any of her
States. North Cardinals losses by
the casualties of the war were over 80, 900
men.-Our Living and Our Dead.
LEONIDAS j. MERRITT, OF NORTH
CAROLINA BY r. H. BATTLE.
The men North Carolina furnished to
the Confederate army were largely OF
her best, young men Of intellect, eul;ca-
ton and refinement, the sons Of her uni
versity and other seats of learning. The
death roll on the walls of Memorial Iail,
in Chapel Hill University. show what q
large proportion of such young men fell
the battle fields. Among these was
LeOnidas John Merritt. He was born on
the Sth of June, 1880, in Chatham county.
His father was a worthy, intelligent
farmer, and his mother, a woman of eX-
piety and good sense, was a
sister of Hon. Abram Rencher, successive
ly a member of Congress from the Chath-