The semi-weekly messenger., 1904-06-24


tiquarian. and. among . great many
other Interesting relics Of the days
when men were at ssrffe. and ~snot-
torn flags waved o'C bloody needs.
came across a cavairyman's caroines
the history Of which vtll have q pecu-
liar interest for the Wilmington read
ers OF The Messenger That short,
awkward firearm was one OF thousands
manufactured just nifty years ago oy
the New York firm OF Ripley q Co..
under contract. for Che British army.
and they were used IN the Crimean war
at Balaklava which Tennyson tmmor-
talized with his Charge OF the Light
Brigade" They proved 30 worthless
that the attention OF the English war
department was called to the matter.
and they were condemned and with
drawn from service. fsut as they were.
they were purchased by Capt Hughes.
agent OF the Confederacy. whose need
was pressing for all the munitions OF
war, and they were shipped from Lon
don TO Hamilton in the west1ndies.
There the steamship Eugene took the
carbines on board-having. besides
them. a cargo OF exceptional interest
and value. consisting Of $2,00o.ooo In
gold, a battery Of Armstrong guns or
great calibre, and a number OF battle
flags, presented by the women sympa
thizers of England, Scotland and Ire
land to the women OF the Confederate
states.
Mr. Watson was a passenger on the
steamer Eugene. having enlisted In the
service OF the South as an expert arm
orer and mechanician, and during the
war his skill was well employed in the
Confederate arsenal at Fayettevifle.
Indeed, so high was his repute in al
matters of gun work that two years
after the war, in 1857, in the farmous
Tolar trial before a military commits
sion in Raleigh he was examined oy
the government as an admitted expert.
1t was in the port Of Hamilton, be-
fore the Eugene weighed anchor. that
news was received of the death of
StoneYall jackson; and Ii is remark
able fact that on shore and on ship
grief found the same expression as away
across the waste Of waters, around the
sorrowful camp fires of Chancellors-
vile: Gen Lee has lost his right arm.
The steamer was fitted out as pri-
vateer as well as blockader. carrying
guns fore and aft and all the crew were
armed. The commander, Capt Alphin,
soon found need for the skill Of his
English passenger: for the engineer
being taken sick, Mr.. Watson was as
signed to the performance of his ar
duous duties. The Eugene had
stormy and exciting voyage. She tried
in vain to make the harbors Of Navas-
sa and Charleston, ano more than once
narrowly escaped the Federal blockad-
ing fleet. She ran aground before ar
irving at the port Of Wilmington, full
in sight of two or three gunboats. and
by generously feeding the furnaces
with boxes Of bacon, and sending the
steam up to $50 pounds.
At last Fort Caswell, grim and frown-
ing, but as harmless N those days as
a cow shed was sighted: then the
cheerful lights of Smithville. now South
port twinkled in the distance; while on
the right. low-lying like teviathan
crouching by the side Of the sea,
stretched the ramparts, bastions and
| parapetS of Fort FiSher-deStined anon
I to amaze the world with the most fear
full bombardment of modern times.
In Wilmington, on the pavement in
front of the city hall, Mayor Dawson.
Capt. Alphin. Capt Styles (now engag-
ed in business in Atlanta), and Mr.
Watson took a corner each of one Of
the battleflagS sent from England and
unfurled it to the breeze, while an en-
thusiastic crowd shouted and cheered.
The Balakava guns were sent from
Wilmington to Petersburg, where the
ordnance department dealt them put
to Hampton's and Wheeler's caXalsy.
and they were shortly afterwards
blazing away with them at the batr.e
of Monraps Farm. 1t was from thus
battlefield that some of them wers
brought to the Confederate arsenal at
this point.
Carefully enclosed in a case next to-
this cavalry carbine is the piece de
resistance" of Mr.. Watson's treasures
a relic of the British war of 1872, which
he Probably prizes next to his wife and
children-a gun quadrant with this in
Scription: Captured from the British
at the sortie from Fort Erie on the
18th of September, 1914, by Lieut..
Thomas Child, who, at the age of 16
years, commanded the detachment
that spiked the guns and blew UP the
magazine Of Battery No. 3' On the
diverse is the sign manual Of the max
er wv. Deane Fecit.'
Fayetteville, June IA. J. II. NJ.