The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-12-17
Ignorance as to North CarOlina-Changed Sentl-
ment in the NO%rth--Genulne Ora
tors and OTatOry.
By DR.. T. B. Kingsbury.

By DR.. T. B. Kingsbury.

norance They dis not stop at Sir
Walter Raleigh. h4t animated that ]
sas ignorant and Eresarnp tuous a. .
other event II was intifnated thAt ]
did not know where the battle OF
Kings Mountain had been fought AMI
tina / did not believe IL vas IN North
Carolina. Whtle ! believe more North
Caroinians actually participated IN the
fight than those Of Virginia and South
Carolina. I did not really place the
scere OF her battle in my own state
I understand that IL Is very near the
State line hut located in South Caro-
'tsa. My carping assailant. the editor
said that In all North Carolina the
cotton crop in 1878. was but
$4,000 bales. But in fact according 70
the census OF 1850. the actual crop
was 3S9.5SS. \ we'll informed editor
to do up" another one OF the same
craft. This same editor said that Hyde
county. y. G. was the grainery OF he
East, Il produced more corn than tine
whole state of New York produced.
The fact was there were several coun'
ties in New York that actually pro-
duced many times more corn each
Of them than Hyde then grew. There
were other counties in North Carolina
at tina very time that produced more
corn than Hyde grew. and the county
OF that editor was one of them.
l have referred TO this experience in
the past because, looking over some
old clippings lately | found the articles
on me that so savagely attacked my
character. / suppose l never noticed
their vindictive Ignorance. but let it go
with other such assau1ts. i have been
some times ccuse OF great ignorance,
and once particularly by an anonymous
scriobler m used several pages of
foolscap to ventilate his own stupid
ity and blinded animosity. but I have
not "a red for gllph fhtnoG 7 HAY haan
charged with supreme ignorance, but
| do not thing that | ever olundered TO
so great a degree as the sam
pies given show. II | have any spinal
weakness it is In possessing an excess
of genuine state pride-a very sound
and profound love Of my native North
Carolina. l have been devote to my
state since I was a boy, and ne often
through more than fifty yea; g! used my
pen or pencil in its defence. / have
never written so much as one line that
| was not loyal and faithful to North
Carolina. l have never ignorantly
claimed for her what does not prop
erly belong to her. and have neither
magniied events nor perverted facts
to make good her claims. l have
never sought to demand for anything
that was not hers, and have only given
the praise to which she was really en-
titled. North Carolina needs no ex-
aggerations or manufactured stories to
give her real glory and fame. II JUS
tice is done to her every genuine son
NAV rejoice in the magnificence of
her deeds and the fidelity of her peo-
pie.
I remember. a. illustration of the
ignorance concerning North Carolina
in the great war by some Virginian
thai was said to me in 1870. / was
standing on the steps of a portico to a
hotel In a Virginia town, when ] was
addressed in this wise by q young man
of that State: 81 understand you are
a North Carolinian. Your State fur
nished a few good soldiers in the war,
but the most of them were poor and
UNRELIABLE" locke at him with sur
prise and felt indignant. / thought Of
his ignorance and prejudice and mere
ly said: "Ye North Carolina did have
some good soldiers in the war" and
turned from ignorance personifed and
left him stupid and f~loundering.
AS I have treated of North Carolina
history above 1t will not be out of
place to refer to a work published
some five or six years ago, which was
surprising in its candor. 1t was by
Prof. John w. Burgess. Of Columbia
University, New York City. He had
been writing books on American his
tory, and upon arriving at The Civil
War and the Constitution" and RE
construction and the Constitution" he
revealed real candor and insight. 1t
was not unfair and de~nunciatory Of the
South. OF course this the ex-
tremists, the fellows who only see
damnatfon for the South in faithful
history. The Baltimore u in reply
to the Boston Transcript, said:
ut is not because any of the facts or
or any of the conclusions are contro-
verted or but because the
denunciations OF the carpet-bag gov
eminent In the Southern states are I'M
sparing, while the <Ku-Klux Khan es-
capes with only a few faint damns.' If
the reverse had been true, if the de-
nunciation of the Ku-Klux Khan had
been u~nsparing and the carpet-bag
governments had escaped with faint
damns,' there is not a newspaper in
the whole of New England who would
nave found fault with the book on thai
account"
1t is now known to all people in thrs
country who have any true knowledge
Of the events that occurred in the
South, that the Ku-Klux was a position
simply growing out OF the alarming,
most serious conditions in our South
land. Let the able Baltimore sun be
heard at this point. because of the
truth and force Of what it says and
no sane or truthful man. can deny or
rebuff what is said with so much of
vigor and directness:
There Is perhaps nothing in history
winch equals the crueltieS and malev-
olence which were practiced upon the
Southern States after they had been
conquered. In the middle ages. when
the cruelties Of war were at their
worst, cities were sacked and burned.
but after the butchery n orgy were
over the conquering army usually NOV
ed away and permitted the conquered
territory to recuDerate. But in the
case of the South, after the burning
and butchery Of war had been accom-.
pltshed, then the carpet-bagger and
the negro were set up and held in
place by the bayonet to rob the people
Of what was left and to break their
spirit as we'll by violence, injustice. in
science and oppression. The canker
worm was deliberately employed to eat
Up what the palmer worm of war had
left, And they accomplished the pur-
pose"
AS one reads this he marvels that