The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1909-06-03

"h@AiAAAiAS aAAA1~4S.HNS sAA~
Close Of the War.
New York Post
This is to tell some Incidents in the
career OF the late Colonel William
Lamb, ,swho died recently at his home
in Vorfnlk, Va. The eConfederacy call
ed him the "hero Of Fort Fisher" the
men who supplied the COnfederacy
with arms and ammunition and car
ried away it's cotton, which furnished
the sinews OF war, knew him as the
'guarlian angel of the blockade
runners"
Many u man held IL more impor-
tant command than did Colonel
Lamb, but none, perhaps, was more
vigilant than he in the performance
of his duty. Fort Fisher guarded
! New Inlet, through which the block
ade-runners passed into Cape Fear
river on their way to Wilmington,
the most advantageous port for
their business, because ofits proximi-
ty to Richmond, the capital OF the
Confederacy 1t was Lambs bust
ness to protect the blockade-runners
as they slipped in and out on dark
nights. and this work he did right
we'll. The fort was strong, SO strong
that the blockading squadron for
ed a semi-circle out of range of its
guns, and only when a runner broke
through the Gordon and was dis
covered did the ships close in. 1t
was on these occasions that Lamb
came to the rescue, sending shot and
shell into the Federals, but always
aiming in such a way that he would
not hit the ship he was trying to
save.
The adventurous Thomas E. Tay-
lOr recalls in his book, Running the
Blockade" his first attempt to
reach Cape Fear river in the Ban
shee The ship was within soundings
and was under the fire of six or seven
gunboats, "when at once there was a
flash from the shore, followed by a
sound that came like music to our
ears-that of a shell whirring over
our heads. 1t was Fort Fisher, wide
awake and warning the gunboats
to keep their distance. With part
ing broadside they steamed sulkily
out of range, and in half an hour We
were safely over the bar. A boat
put off from the fort and then-well
it was the days Of champagne cock.
tails, not whiskies and sodas-and
one did not run a blockade every
day.
1T was now that | made the ac
quaintance-soon to ripen into q
warm friendship-of Colonel William
Lamb, the commandant OF Fort
Fisher-a man of whose courtesy,
courage and capacity all the English
who knew him spoke in the highest
terms. Originally a Virginia lawyer
and afterward the editor of a news
paper, he volunteered at the out
break of the war, and rising rapidly
to the grade OF colonel, was give1
the command of Fort Fisher, post
which he filled with high distinction
till its fall in 1865.
"With the blockade-runners he was
immensely popular; always on the
alert, and ever ready to reach a help
ing hand, he seemed to think nc
eXertiOn too great to assist thell
operations, and many smart vesse
did his skill and activity snatch from
the very Jaws of the blockaders. He
came to be regarded by the runner:
as their guardian angel, and it was
no small support in the last trying
moments of a run to know who was
i'll Fort Fisher.
$50 much did we value his services
and so grateful were we for them
that at my suggestion my firm sub
sequently presented him with a bat
terry of six WhitwOrth guns, OF which
he was very proud, and good use ht
made OF them in keeping the block
aders at respectful distance. They
were guns with a great range, which
many a cruiser found to its cos
when venturing too close in chas'
down the coast. Lamb would gallon
them down the sandhills, by aid o
mules, and open fire upon the enem,
before he was aware of his danger.
'It was Colonel who built th'
mound which every blockade-run
| Mug Cdpidlu lOOheu iOI ds TIC dP
preached the land. Captain Wilkin
son, perhaps the most famous o
that coterie OF adventurous shippers
describes this artificial eminence II
his Narrative of u Blockade-Run
ner."
Two guns were mounted upon it,
he says, land it eventually became
a site for a light, and very service
able to blockade-runners.
Joined by a long. low isthmus o
sand, with the higher mainland, it
regular conical shape enabled tn
blockade-runnerse easily to identity
from the otting; and in clear weathe
it showed plain and distinct agalns
the sky at night.
Il believe the military men used t.
laugh slyly at the Colonel for under
taking its erection, predicting tha
it would not stand; but the resul
showed the contrary; and whateve
difference of opinion may have exist
ed with regard to its value as a mil