The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-09-12

tam ctIfIcS was ohA
and was a membe of the W~arrenton
Riiemen.
Mari with his company
of fantr the Warrenton Rihemen
SO strong, reported to the com
mander at Manassas about the middle
of this month fMay). At his request
for advance duty, he was sent Tor
ward the next day to C~entreVllle- his
command thus became the vanguard
of the infantry in that army. >
On the 31st of May he moved
forward with his whole company TO
Fairfax c. III. After the arrangement
of proper picket n company guards.
he quartered his men in the Metho-
dist Church, on the eastern outskirts
of the village. The commissioned Of
ficers. except himself. sought private
accommodations. He took possession
of a law office in the Court House
yard near his company. At 3 o'clock
in the morning of June 1st private A.
B. Francis, n Of the pickets. who
had been stationed a half mile north
east of the town, rushed into our
quarters, and announced that the en-
envy were upon US, and that a cavalry
force had approached him in the
dark, captured his comrade. B. +.
Florence. and was rapidly making for
the town.
We tumbled out in short order,
gathered our arms, and had scarcely
gotten into line when we heard the
cracking Of rifles from the direction
of the Court House. Our captain
(Marr). who had in the meantime
been aroused. now joined us and
marched the company from the front
of the church to the left Of the same
down and along the fence where he
halted us. Upon an increase of the
firing and an evident rush Of the
troops toward us. We were ordered to
get owe the fence into a clover feld'
being about the centre of the COM
pany, which was in two ranks. =
!" About this time Captain
Mari gave the command Halt This
was the last word heard from him by
any Of his command. The enemy
then fell back toward Centreville. In
a short time Ex-Gov. William Smith
and Lieut.. Horace Withers arrived
and essayed to place the men in po-
sition. Later Col. Z. S. EweIl COM
mandant Of the post, who had ar
rived during the night, took charge"
During the second charge made
about twenty minutes later Colonel
EWell was wounded in the shoulder.
The enemy proved to be Co. 3, End
q. S. Dragons. ITO strong. under
Lieutenant Tompkins. Of the enemy
several were killed. Lieutenant
o1o =" W OAltClo
wounded and one captured. Private
Florence, when they had captured
him, escaped from them at our first
fire on them. About 7
O'Clock in the morning the body of
John Quincy MARI was found in the
rank clover. stark and cold. His
heart had been pierced by a mimic
ball. He was killed while trying to
keep the ranks of his from
being broken, by a shot from the rife
of a Z. S. dragoon.
This was, l believe, just ten days
before Wyatt, who was. by the way,
a V~lrgInian, born or Venabl street,
Richmond, as | am informed, was
killed. He, too, had volunteered like
MARI to go to the front. and, as
Major London states in his "Recol-
lections Of the War was accom-
panied by four North Carolinians,
who. he states, upon Wyatt being
shot, were Immediately called back
to cover
1t is a cause for rejoicing that
North Carolina will soon erect a
monument to the memory Of this gall
liant Firginian. a member at the
time of the Tarboro Rifles, who was
the first to fall at Bethel; and Vir-
ginia, l am sure, will appreciate this
mark of recognition Of the Valor Of
one of her bravest sons. Virginia
will, too. no doubt, mark the spot
where Capt. John Quincy Mari fell.
"On the threshold Of his native
State, guarding her honor, thus fell
this man of valor. The first to be
laid low in a contest which was to
make Of it a barren waste, and de-
luge in the blood of her children
the fairest land upon which the sun
ever sholle."
Whether Wyatt, who was shot in
battle on the 10th Of June, or Mari,
who was shot in battle on the LIST Of
June, is entitled to the distinction Of
being the first soldier Of the South
ern ~Confederacy who was shot in
open battle is a question which North
Carollnians low to argue. 1t mat
ters little to Virginia. as each of these
gallant men was born within her con-
fines. But I do not think Virginia
could stand without protest and have
PickettS charge at Gettysburg de-
clared to be a North Carolina chargo