The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-08-14

illustrated papers; and an Episcopal
prayer book, one of a few thousand
bought in England by various churches
in this diocese and paid for in cotton.
this book, strange to say, bearing on
one gage a prayer for the president OF
the confederate states of America and
on another a prayer for the fleets and
navles of the United States of America,
the English royal printers of tesla
ments, Eyre & Spottiswoode, having
failed to alter the latter prayer.
There is silverware from the state
blockade-runner Advance bought by
Governor Vance and fitted out by the
state as the first enterprise in that line,
the idea having been conceived, as
Vance himself stated, by his adjutant
general, James G. Martin. There are
also state bonds, known as cotton
bonds" which Vance sen abroad by his
agent, for the purchase Of munitions
Of war. machinery, clothing, shoes, etc,
which enabled him to better clothe and
better feed the troops of North Carolina
than those from any other state in con-
federacy. There are orders written on
h battlefield by all the great Confed-
crate generals, and the maps used in
the Virginia campaigns; also the map
which General Sherman used in his
march through Georgia and the Caro-
linas There are two relics of the Con-
federate ram Albemarle, which vessel
Peter z. Smith built in a cornfield on
the bank of Roanoke river, which ere
ated such CONSERVATION among the
Federal fleet and land forces and which
was blown W with a torpedo at Ply
mouth by the wonderfully daring
Lieutenant Gushing, q S. navy, this
act being one Of the most heroic of the
entire civil war. The two relics Of
This vessel are the shot-riddled smoke
stack II a piece Of the armor-plate.
The reconstruction period is also il
Illustrated, among other objects being
pardons granted by h president to
persons who had aided and abetted the
c~onfederacy. The candle sticks used by
President Davis are shown, these hav-
ing been in his tent at the time of his
capture near Washington, Ga. There
is a nearly complete collection of Con-
federate money and q complete collec-
ton of n. c. war currency.
A collection is rapidly being formed
of the autographs of all the governors,
of the three periods of the states his
tory. One of the curiosities in the hall
is a collection largely Illustrating the
life of Confederate prisoners on John
sons Island, this including theatrical
programmes and tickets 10 the per-
formances of the Rebel T~hespians;"
prison money, etc, and there are also
recruiting notices issued very early in
the war.
Coming down to the latest period,
that OF the war with Spain, man relics
are or view. One case is devoted to
those OF Ensign Worth Bagley, killed
on the torpedo boat "Winslow,' and
there are cannon from Spanish ships
taken at Santiago and Manila, as we'll
as several cases filled with arms and
various other objects from Cuba, Porto
Rico and the Philippines, and there are
also objects, including arms, etc.s sent
home by North C~arolinians who were
in the fighting in China.
In end of the hall are two mag
nificent animals, a buffalo and an elk,
which illustrate the time when they
We're abundant in North Carolina. Law
son, the historian, say he saw buffalo
killed in the year 1901 within one hun
dred miles of the coast of this state.
and the last elk was killed in one of the
northwestern counties about 100 years
ago.
This collection has been the work of
only eight months and is proving a
great attraction 10 people from this
and other states.
4. FRED y. OLDS.