The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-05-06

Colonel Osborne having been disabled by
wounds.
FIRING THE FIRST SHOT FOR c. S. A.
DR.. j. H. Ramsay, of Seaboard. N. c.,
wrote Colonel Woodward, of Wilmington,
two years ago;
II went from Jackson, Northampton
county, n. c., to Charleston, N. c., in
March, 1861, with letters of introduce
tion from Hon. M. w. Ransom to Mr.. j.
Johnson Pettigrew, then lawyer in
Charleston, and later a general in the
Confederate army. / also had letter to
Colonel Robert Aston, then pract1clng
lawyer in Charleston. I failed to find Mr.
Pettigrew, but Colonel Aston advised me
to join the Palmetto Guards, G. B. Cuth-
bert, captain, who were on the eve OF
going into camp on Morris Island.
Joined the company about March or g.,
1861, enlisting as private, with the
understanding that | should be discharged
when my State should secede. ! labored
with the boys, carrying sand in bags to
build the earthworks where our battery
was to be stationed until the work was
completed. For a few days after our
three-gun battery (known as Stevens
Iron Battery on Cummings Point, Morris
Island) was completed, guns mounted,
and all ready for action our company did
only guard and drill duty, until the at
tack on Sumter.
lon the morning of April r. 1851 q
think it was on Friday, We were ordered
to man our guns; and about half-past
four on the morning 'of the 18th of April
1861, after signal gun, Gun No. |, a
ten-inch Columbia. opened fire on Fort
Sumter, and ] am sure that the first
lanyard was pulled by the Hon. Edmund
Ruffin, of Virginia, who was private
in the Palmetto Guards. He was a most
dgnified and venerable yet active and
gallant man of quite or nearly seventy
years of age, whose long, white and silken
locks fell upon his shoulders as straight
and graceful as those of a boy
In very short while after the firing
of the first gun-but a minute or two, at
most-I pulled the lanyard that sent
another ten-inch shot into Sumter, and
continued firing at short intervals of rest
until the surrender of the fort, which oc-
Cured, say between $3.50 and p. m. on
Saturday, the 18th of April 1861. I am
not positive that | fired the second gun,
but | think | did, but this l do know |
was the only soldier in the company from
North Carolina. and hence can justly
claim the honor of being the first from
my State to fire gun in the Confederate
war"
CONFEDERATES IN CONGRESS FROM
NORTH CAROLINA.
Mr.. Charles Edgeworth Jones, of Au-
gusta, Ca, kindly furnishes the following
statistics OF North Carolina Confederates
he n
1898 Mr.. jones states that it is com
plete and may be relied upon
Oliver H. Dockery Qieut. coli, NJ. c.,
July. 1851.
NJ W. Ransom (mai gem, U. S. S..
April, 1925.
James NJ Leach ICON. COM NJ. c.,
1S71-75.
Sion H. Rogers (col), NJ c., 1S71-73.
Alfred NJ. Waddell (lieut. COLI, M. c.,
1918.
Augustus S. Merrimon (sol. gen. Eighth
~ c. Jud. CT, Confederate GOVERNMENT.
t. S. S., 1879.
Thos S. Ashe ICON. COM, M. c., 1S73-77.
Robt B. Vance (brig. gem, M. O.,
1875
VIM. NJ Robbins &C. S. officer, M. c.,
1879.
Alfred NJ. Scales tbrig gem, NJ. c.,
1888.
Jesse l.. Yeates (maj), NJ. c., 1873.
Joseph J. Davis (capt). NJ. c., 1875-S1
Walter L. Steele (Sec. State Secession
Convention of 1861, NJ. c., 1877-S1.
Zebulon B. Vance (Con. ar Cow, o..
s. S.. 1S79-1S
VIM H. Kitchin (capt.), NJ c., 1S79-S1
Robt F. Armfeld Qieut COLI, M G.,
1S7983
Louis C. Latham (maj), M. c., 1881 -S3;
18S7-S9