The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-06-18
WAITS DEATH.


WAITS DEATH.
Leaving these congratulations. I
ask your attention to a brief recital
of the particular events which led
to the death of Wyatt, and, in the
light Of the circumstances recount
ed, distinguished it from that Of all
others who died for the Confederacy.
OF the four ines by which General
Scott had planned the invasion OF
Virginia-from W~ashington; from
Fortress Monroe; by the Cumberland
valley; and from Ohio, by the
Kanawha, into West Virginia-that
from Fortress Monroe became the
natural one, with the transfer Of the
Capital Of the Confederacy from
Montgomery to Richmond. Except
that the first mentioned served the
double purpos Of protecting the Fed
eral Capital, the line from Fortress
Monroe WOuld undoubtedly have
claimed his chief attention. The
splendid base which hat great mill
tary work, n of the largest in the
world, supplied, and the ideal route
which the Yorktown peninsula pre-
sented for his marching troops, with
the James and York rivers open to
his navy on either flank, were con-
s~iderations which otherwise must
nave lAeo liS cllOlCc.
1t is probable that the situation at
the moment Of the arrival Of the
First North Carolina Regiment in
Richmond (May 1920 would have
destined it to Northern Virginia, but
circumstances were rapidly shifting
the theater Of operations. The lead
ing feature OF these circumstances,
coupled with demonstrations by Fed
eral gun boats up the James and
York rivers, is thus described (May
I'D by Rev. DR.. ". N. Pendleton laf-
forwards b~rigadier general of artil-
lery) in a letter addressed by him to
his West Point classmate. President
Davis, at Montgomery: LAS you value
our great cause, hasten on to Rich
mond. Lincoln and Scott are, if I
mistake not, covering by other demon
STATIONS the great movement upon
Richmond. Suppose they should send
suddenly up the York river. as they
can, an army Of thirty thousand or
more; there are no means at hand to
repel them, and if their policy shown
in Maryland gets footing here, 1t will
be a severe, if not fatal, blow. Has
ten, | pray you, to avert it. The very
fact OF your presence will almost
answer. Hasten, then, / entreat you:
don't lose a day"
On the 18th Of May (the day after
Vlrginia's secession) the United States
ship Monticello" fired on a Virginia
battery at Sewell's Point, and again
on the 21St. On the 22d Maj.-Gen.
benjamin T. Butler, United States
army, was transferred from the de-
partment of Annapolis and assigned
to the command Of the department
OF Virginia, with headquarters at
Fortress Monroe; and nine additional
infantry regiments were sent there.
On the 23d a Federal regiment made
a demonstration against Hampton,
three miles from Fortress Monroe.
1t was under these circumstance
that the destination Of the First
North Carolina Volunteers Col. .. II.
Hill commanding. the crack regiment
OF the day, was decided. It was
ordered to Yorktown. the post of
danger and of honor as the papers
Of the day described it. It broke
carnp at Richmond on May "a. and
reached Yorktown the same evening.
MaEruder There.
Col. John B. Magruder. of the Pro
vistonal Army Of Virginia, who had
Just been assigned May 21) to the
; command of the department Of the
peninsula. accompanied the FIRST
North Carolina to Yorktown.
! On June 9Th, under orders from
Colonel Magruder. Colonel Hill pro
ceeded with the First North Caroiua
e to Big Bethel Church. some thirteer
miles distant from Yorktown and
eight or nine miles distant from
Hampton and from Newport News
He was accompanied by Major Ran.