The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-11-03

of a refutation of North Cardinals claims
TO first place in the annals OF the Civil
War, at least in 50 far as they are con
sidered to reflect upon Virginia. The prn-
cipal contentious OF that paper are:
"a That the claim made by North Caro-
lima that she furnished more troops to the
Confederacy than any other Southern State
is not so, and that Virginia furnished fiji
ty-tW0 thousand more than North Caro-
lima.
() That the claim that Virginia had a
larger number of men exempted than any
other Southern State IS also a mistake;
that whilst the total exempts in Nlr-
sinia amounted to twenty-five thousand
and sixty-three, those in North Carolina
numbered thirty-six thousand, one nun
dred and sixtysix, and that North Caro-
lima had ten times as many state Off
GERS exempted on certificates OF her gov
ernor as any other Southern State.
CD That the suggestion that one OF
the effects of the fighting of the First
North Carolina at Bethel was the pos
sibly holding Virginia in the Confeder-
acy'' was a reflection on Virginia, and
without any foundation whatever.
() The report then shows in graphic
terms some of the effects on Virginia by
reason of her being the seat of war from
the beginning to the end; that six hundred
of the two thousand battles fought were
on her soil; that from this cause, and from
her ACKNOWLEDGMENT by the war, her stu
alton was alfferent from that OF any other
State, and that her Sufferings and sacrl-
fees could scarcely be exaggerated. 1t re-
fers to the crime of the ACKNOWLEDGMENT
of Virginia as lone of the darkest politl-
cal crimes on record"
90 The report then discusses at length
some of the claims made by North Caro-
lima. as set forth in the legend inscribed
on the volumes entitled North Carolina
Regiments. 81 to '65," that she was first
at Bethel, farthest to the front at GettyS-
burg and Chickamauga, and last at Apo
mattox'' and shows:
(a) That Virginia was at Bethel, and did
her duty there, as we'll as North Caro-
lima; that Virginia was represented there
by the commanding general and all three
arms of the service, whilst North Carolina
had only one arm of service there; that
in the account of the battle written by d.
H. Hill, Jr.. of North Carolina, he con-
cedes that the first shot, (which ushered
in the great civil war on the land,'' was
fred by the battery of the Richmond
CVa.), Howitzers, and contends that since
Virginia and North Carolina stood side by
side (and did their duty equally well al
Bethel, it is both invidious and unjust
to Virginia to claim that North Caroline
was first at Bethel.")
Cb) AS to Gettysburg: The report dis
cusses the claim of North Carolina thai
she was "farthest to the 'front.' in The
great charge of July Sd, 1863, from the cot
6cio1 ropo, - hofb Federal and CpnfpH
crate; and shows from these reports tina
this claim is not sustained by the record
1t quotes from the reports Of Generals
Lee, Longstreet and Lane; Colonies Law
renee, Shepherd and others, of the Con
tederates, and Generals Hancock, Webb
and Hunt, of the Federals, all of which
show that the only troops which penetrat
ed the enemy's lines were Plckett's Wiz
ginians and some of Archer,s brigade, th'
latter composed wholly OF Tennesseean
and Alabamians; that no such claim wa
made on behalf of the North Carolinian
in any of the reports of their own officers
either at the time they Weer written O
until long after the close of the war; ant
that their claim is based now wholly OF
post bellum statements. The report thel
quotes from General Lane, as to the valu
. of these statements, when compared wit
InOSS contained III Juo Official reports,
prepared shortly after the battle. 1t show
that the zigzag character of the Fedora
lines does not affect the question, an
says, the front of an army is its line 0
battle, and the opposing troops which pen
citrate that line are farther to the iron
than those which do not" 1t shows tina
the comparative losses of the North Care
lima and Virginia troops engaged in tn
charge cannot be relied on to establis
North Cardinals claim, for the reason tina
the losses sustained by any command i
all three days at Gettysburg are CON
bined; and as the North C%arolinians wer
engaged on the first and third days, an
the Virginians only on the third day,
was reasonable that the losses of Mort
Carolina in the two days aggregate NOR
than those of Virginia in the one day. TIL
report contains the letter from Genera
Lee to General Pickett, advising the la
ter to suppress his report of the charge
evidently because it reflected on the Mort
Carolina troops, and in which Genera
Lee says: "You and your men hav
crowned yourselves with glory"
(c) AS to Chickamauga: The repol
does not discuss the grounds of the clair
here, except to say that the report of til
commanding general Bragg, a native {
North Carolina, makes no mention of an
special services rendered by the few Mort
Carolina troops in that battle"
(d) IS to Appomattox: The report onl
says that the claim preferred by Mort
Carolina here is also claimed by sever
other Southern States, and that the condi
lions at the surrender were such as t
make it difficult, if not possible, to dete
mine what troops were really entitled t
the honor claimed here by North Carr
Ina.
co. The report then quotes from the r.
port of the Confederate secretary of wa
in which he speaks of the army of Nortl
ern Virginia as one 'in which every virtu
of an army and the genius of consun
mate generalship had been displayed
and says here is glory enough for all Coz
federates to share, and again deprecatt
all ~envyings and ~jealousies where all di
their part so we'll" 1t then quotes frol
the report signed by all the represent:
tives of the Confederate congress, in while
the conduct and bearing of Virginia al