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226 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

form one of the company, was prevented from doing so. A com-
mittee of twenty-five from South Carolina and three of the sons
of the deceased also accompanied the remains. The citizens of
North Carolina to whom had been assigned the duty of attend-
ing on the remains whilst passing through Wilmington, pro-
ceeded up the railroad and joined the train some thirty or forty
miles above, and in the procession from the depot to the steamer
at the wharf acted as pallbearers. The arrangements as to the
procession, etc., were carried into effect in accordance with the

program published in our last issue.

The following we take from the Journal:

On the arrival of the cars, the stores and places of business
were closed, the shipping in port struck their colors to half-mast,
the bells of the various churches were tolled, and minute guns
fired while the procession moved from the depot down Front
Street to the steamer Nina, lying at Market Dock, where she
was waiting to receive the remains of the lamented deceased,
and convey them to the city of Charleston.

Notwithstanding the inclemency of the day, the procession
was, we think, the largest we have ever seen in this place.
Everybody seemed anxious to pay the last respect to the states-
man and orator who has so long and so faithfully filled some of

the most responsible posts of his country.
The steamer Governor Dudley, handsomely decorated for the

occasion, accompanied the Nina, taking over a portion of the
committees and guests to the city of Charleston. Both steamers
left the wharf about half past three o’clock p. m.

Wilmington Committee—The gentlemen whose names follow
went to Charleston on Wednesday last with the remains of Mr.
Calhoun, as a committee from the citizens of Wilmington, in
manifestation of respect for the memory of the illustrious de-
ceased: Dr. A. J. DeRosset, sr., J. T. Miller, Gen. James Owen,
C. D. Ellis, Gen. L. H. Marsteller, P. M. Walker, Thomas
Loring, A. J. DeRosset, jr., Dr. J. F. McRee, jr., Dr. John
Swann, Dr. William A. Berry, James Fulton, James G. Green,
Henry R. Savage, William C. Bettencourt, Edward Cantwell,
John Cowan, John L. Holmes, Eli W. Hall, Joseph J. Lippitt,
Henry Nutt, Robert H. Cowan, and A. A. Brown.

The Charleston Courier of Saturday says: “A committee
appointed by the citizens of Wilmington came on in the steamer
Nina and was met at the landing by the chairman of the Com-

Notable Incidents 927

mittee of Reception, who welcomed them to the city and ex-
tended to them its hospitalities, to which Dr. DeRosset, sr., their
chairman, responded in an appropriate manner.”

We should be greatly lacking in courtesy were we not to ex-
press in this public manner the high sense of gratefulness which
rests with the Wilmington committee for the manifold atten-
tions and kindnesses bestowed upon them in Charleston by the
Committee of Reception and by many others. The profuse and
elegant hospitality of which the members of our committee were

the objects is very deeply appreciated by them individually and
collectively.

DEATH OF GENERAL JAMES IVOR McKAY.

In Mr. Webster’s letter from Wilmington, already quoted,
he makes reference to a Mr. McKay as personifying political
sentiment outside the town of Wilmington.

Gen. James Ivor McKay was born in Bladen County in 1793,

and died suddenly at Goldsboro, N. C., the 15th of September,
1853, while on his way home from Tarboro. His name, “Ivor,”
was altogether appropriate, for he was eminently great. In the
campaign of 1844 his report as chairman of the Committee of
Ways and Means constituted the Democratic platform on which
Polk was elected President; and in 1848 the Democrats of
North Carolina presented him as their candidate for the Vice
Presidency.

It was said of this distinguished son of the Cape Fear that
he was very quiet and reserved in his deportment and held in
contempt all manner of base dealing and trickery—a man of
such integrity that his presence always inspired confidence and
trustfulness in those whose expressions he desired, because they
believed in his fidelity.

The Wilmington Daily Journal of September 16, 1853, the
day after his death, said:

“It becomes our painful duty this morning to announce the
unexpected death of one of our most worthy citizens, Gen.
James I. McKay, of Bladen County. General McKay arrived
here on last Monday night from his residence in Bladen en route
for Tarboro, in Edgecombe County, as a witness in the case of
the State against Armstrong. When we saw him on Tuesday
morning he was apparently in better health than for some time