134 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

Delile was a man of wonderful sweetness of character. When

he came to live in Wilmington, it was as if France had sent a
part of her better self—not a money-changer at the port, but a
bit of fragrance wafted across the seas to unite us by bonds
closer than those made by the exchange of merchandise.

He numbered among his friends the most illustrious men of
France, England, Germany, and India. He wrote more than
sixty treatises, chiefly upon botanical subjects, but a number
upon medical subjects. Among his best known works are his
Flore d Egypte, Memoires sur l’ Egypte, Flore du Mont Sinai,
Voyage horticole et botanique en Belgique et en Hollande, These
sur la phthisie pulmonaire, and Avis sur les dangers de lusage
des champignons sauvages dans la cuisine.

Rosa PENDLETON CHILEs.

NotE.—On account of Raffeneau Delile’s four years’ sojourn in
Wilmington and the interesting fact of his introducing North Carolina
plants into France, the author has felt justified in requesting the prep-
aration of the foregoing sketch from French sources, there being,
as far as can be ascertained, no adequate account in English, although
Delile’s work is recognized by American botanists at the present day.
The source from which Miss Chiles has drawn chiefly is M. Joly’s

Elogke historique d’Alyre Raffeneau Delile, of which her sketch is in
part a translation.

BEGINNING OF FEDERAL FORTIFICATIONS ON
THE CAPE FEAR.

(Extracts from the Memoirs of Gen. Joseph Gardner Swift, U.S. A., first graduate and
afterwards commandant of the Military Academy of West Point.)

Proceeding by the right bank of the Cape Fear River to
Negro Head Point ferry, opposite Wilmington, I arrived at
Mrs. Meeks’ boarding-house in that town on June 17 , 1805, the
anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, and on that day re-

Early Years 135

of the month had conferences with him as to the best mode of
executing his contract with the War Department in the construc-
tion of a battery on the site of old Fort Johnston, Smithville.
Early in July I employed Mr. Wilson Davis, one of the most
intelligent of the pilots, and with his aid I sounded the entrance
over Main Bar, which is shifting sand, into the harbor of Cape
Fear, and also the entrance at New Inlet, and then viewed the
capacity of the anchorage within, together with the relative posi-
tion of the several points of land near the entrances, of which I
made a plot, and upon which I based my report of the 26th of
July to the Secretary of War. The substance of this report was
that the main objects to be secured were those that had been set
forth by my late chief, Colonel Williams, to wit: to cover an
anchorage in the harbor and to command its entrance by a small
enclosed work on Oak Island, and an enclosed battery at Federal
Point, at New Inlet, and also to complete the battery of tapia
at the site of old Fort Johnston, the last being contracted for by
Gen. Benjamin Smith. Pending the decision of the War De-
partment upon this report, much of the summer was a leisure
among agreeable families from Wilmington, that passed the
warm season in slight frame houses at “The Fort,” as the vil-
lage of Smithville is called. Among these was the family of
Capt. James Walker, to whose daughter Louisa and her cousin
Eliza Younger I was introduced at a dinner given to Dr. Griffin
and myself by Captain Walker. There were the families of Mr.
John Lord and of the founder of the place, Mr. Joshua Potts,
and of Gen. Benjamin Smith, who was to construct the public
work under contract, and of Captain Callender, the surveyor
of the port, who had been an officer of the army in the War of
the Revolution, ete. General Smith became the governor of the
State. He owned a large extent of property on Cape Fear
River, and was of the family of Landgrave Thomas Smith, the
colonial governor of South Carolina in the preceding century.

ported myself by letter to my chief, Major Wadsworth, at West
Point, using the day and 1775 as the figurative date of my letter
by way of friendly memento. After presenting my letter of
introduction, I took the packet for Fort Johnston and there

paid my respects to the commandant of the post, Lieut. John was highly accomplished and was an hospitable friend to Dr.

Fergus, an uncle of Cadet McRee, and commenced a happy Griffin and myself, and one of the finest characters in the coun-

acquaintance with the surgeon of the post, John Lightfoot try. She was the daughter and heiress of Col. William Dry,
Griffin, with whom I established quarters at Mrs. Ann MeDon- the former collector in the colonial time, and also of the King’s

ald’s. Here I also met Gen. Benjamin Smith, and to the last council. This lady was also a direct descendant from Crom-

He had become security for the collector of the port of Wilming-
ton, who was a defaulter to the government, and it was to dis-
charge this liability that General Smith had contracted to build
the tapia work at the fort. His lady, Mrs. Sarah Dry Smith,

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