The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-13
FIRST AT BETHEL
Monument Will Be I'm
yelled June Tenth.
The Inscription Will Show That Wyatt
Was the First Confederate Sold
Ter Killed in Battle During the
Great War.

In response to the Memorial pre-
scented to the General Assembly by the
subcommittee appointed by the North
Carolina Historical Commission on
August 25, 1904. (see page 10, rive
Points in the Record of North caro-
lima i'm the Great War of 1866 }, q
bill was passed March B, 1919, Great
ing the Bethel Memorial Commission.
and appropriating $3.50 for the cree
ton of a tablet TO mark the spot at
Bethel where fell Henry l.. Wyatt, the
first Confederate soldier killed in pat
tie i'm that war The commissioners
named were Maj. r.. j. Hale. chalr-
man: Capt. w. e. Kyle, Capt. John ii.
Thorpe. Capt w. b. Taylor, and Hon.
r. H. Kicks.
man of the subcommittee above re-
ferred to suggested to Capt w. r.
Kyle and to the j. r. b. Stuart Chap-
ter of the Daughters of the ConIeuel
acy at Fayetteville, that they take
steps to acquire possession, IL poSSlpie'
of the site where Wyatt fell-lt pelhs
understood that the desired SITES Oh
the other battleflelds were peing looh-
ed after by other members OF the MS
toricaI commission. After much COW
respondence with officials in Virginia,
the chairman named in the bill Tor
the Bethel Commission learned
through a letter received by Mr.. X. III.
Bradley. from a friend in Virginia,
that the Confederate organizations of
Elizabeth City, York and Warrfck
counties, and the city of Newport
News, Virginia, had on June 10, 1904,
formed the Bethel Monument AsSo-
CATION with the object of erecting
monument at<Bethel battlefield on
June 10, 1905.
AS the bill for creating the Bethel
Commission was then february -
still hung u pin the Housed this let
ter was turned over to the Daughters
OF the Confederacy, who through their
vice president and historian, Miss
Mallett, at once opened correspond
ence with the Virginia Association. II
was learned that this association had
not only secured options on the Bethel
battlefield sites, but that they already
had under contract a monument to be
placed near the church and a marker
To be placed where Wyatt fell.
When these facts were made known,
it was thought by some of the veterans
of the Bethel Regiment that we should
allow the EirSinians to go ahead by
themselves. and that we should have
our unwilling in 1906. BY others of
them that we should avail ourselves of
the world wide stage for our ceremon-
les which would be presented by the
jamestown Exposition in 1907, when
funds for an imposing monument
might be raised by private subscrip-
ton.
AS the Virginians possessed the OPP
lions on the sites; as they said that
they had last year notified the author
tiles i'm North Carolina of their pur-
pose and had received no response;
as they invited our cooperation in the
most cordial terms, and offered to
turn over to us the Bethel site for the
price at which they were to pay for it,
and to change the inscription on the
large monument so as to read, Erect
ed by the Virginia and North Caro-
lima Monument Associations" and as
we were admonished by the rapidly
thinning ranks of the veterans that we
could not afford the delay of even one
or two years-it was; after cOnsidera-
ton of these and all other things con-
nected with the matter unanimously
resolved by the commission to join
with the Vrginians and go ahead now.
The j. E. b. Stuart Chapter of the
L. ID. c.. have paid for the Wyatt site
and turned it over to the commission
for presentation to the State. Aided
by the commission they have also sub
Scribed 500 to the large monument
The large monument has been COM
pleted and is to be erected at the
church within a few yards of the main
road from Yorktown to Hampton. 1T
is Is feet high and bears this inscrip-
ton:
Front.
To commemorate the battle of Beth
ell, June 10, 1861, the first conflict be-
tween the Confederate and Federal
land forces; alsl in memory of Henry
l.. Wyatt. private, Co. A.. First Regi-
ment, North Carolina Volunteers. the
first Confederate soldier to fall in ac-
tual battle.
Erected
BY the Bethel Monument Association
of Virginia and North Carolina,
June 10, 1905.
Left Right
Bethel Bethel.