The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1938-09-08
Captain Samuel A.
Ashe Dies At Age
OF 81, In Raleigh
Ashe County Library Named For
Outstanding Soldier, Editor
And Historian.
(By Mrs. Chessie NeaD

(By Mrs. CheSSle NeaD
From the Raleigh News and OBJ
server of Sept. 1st, we read, capt.
Samuel A'Court Ashe, North Caro-
lina's grand old man, is dead.
Life quietly took it's retreat We'd
nesday evening, August S1st. 1t
seems that he had fall about three
weeks ago and never recovered
from it though he continued to
make plans to celebrate his ninety
eighth birthday.
Soldier, editor, scholar, historian,
he had lived longer than the Bibli-
cal span of life and all his years
were full of contributions to the
honor and glory of his beloved south
and state. The beginning of his
young manhood was in a gay care
free and beautiful world, soon to be
rocked and torn with the horrors
of war. He was one of the last of
the thin gray line" and for many
years before his death the only liv-
ing officer commissioned by the
president of the confederacy.
He was also one of the first after
that confederacy was gone to start
rebuilding his country. It is said
he liked to recall that he never ac-
tually surrendered to the Federal
forces, and he never surrendered
his beliefs of the right of ''The Lost
Cause, as his writings show. No
one has ever been in better position
to know of the truths of what he
wrote and they should be in every
school in N. c. He came of fami-
ly that has contributed much to his
tory and he followed its traditions
in holding many positions of public
trust in his state as member of
the General Assembly, member of
the state finance committee, post
master of Raleigh, expert for the
finance committee of Congress and
his last position, an appointment
as clerk of the Federal Court in
Raleigh in 1917 he held until 1887
when he was almost ninety-seven.
All this while he was editing news
papers and writing histories. His
history of North Carolina is said to
be the best ever published.
Soon after the Ashe county Lii
brary opened in March, 1885, Capt.
Ashe wrote to me as the librarian
and expressed his interest in it and
appreciation of the name-his name.
From time to time since then I have
| had letters from him in which he
made comments and observations on
the history of the state which make
them, from personal and historl-
cal standpoint, a priced possession
He gave to the library his own
volume of Arthur's history of the
western part of the state, with cor
rections all through it written in
| his own hand.
He sent us his biography, written
by Mrs. John H. Anderson and
number of books and pamphlets he
wrote on the causes of ''the confed-
crate war" One of the books was a
volume entitled, ''The Mahan Let
ters", a history of his friendship
with admiral Mahan, who was his
classmate at the Annapolis Naval
Academy before the Civil war. At
the beginning of the war Mahan
went north and Ashe went south to
fight against each other. After 20
years their friendship was resumed
! and continued until Mahan's death
in 1914.
Among other histories he sent was
one of his grandfather, Gov. Ashe,
for WHOM this county was named
in 1899. All these are priceless
possessions of our library.
! It was a great pleasure to send
letters of congratulation to him
from our library on the occasion
of each of his birthdays for the last
three years and it is with the great
est regret, aside from his death, that
so short a time will elapse from his
death to the 18th of this month
when he could have celebrated his
ninety-eighth birthday, full of honor
from the WHOLE state of which Ashe
Co. is part.