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276 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

work “buoyed up and assisted by the fresh enthusiasm of the
younger association.” They were made the Memorial Com-
mittee of the Daughters of the Confederacy, and some of them
still assist in placing the fresh laurel wreaths on Memorial Day.

Besides the five hundred and fifty graves in the Confederate
lot, there are scattered about Oakdale three hundred and eighty

graves, and in Bellevue, the Roman Catholic Cemetery, and pri-
vate burial grounds about one hundred more. These are all
marked with stone markers and, as far as possible, are adorned
with a laurel wreath upon each recurring 10th of May.

A CAPTURE BEFORE THE WAR.!

By JoHn L. CANTWELL.

The fact that the State of North Carolina was slow to follow
the secession movement of her more southern sister States was
the cause of much chafing among her people in the eastern coun-
ties, and especially along the seacoast, where it was urged that
the Federal Government was likely, at any moment, to garrison
the forts commanding Cape Fear River and Beaufort Harbor.

The people of Wilmington were particularly exercised over
the possibility of such a step being taken, and it is likely that
the knowledge of this strong feeling, and the impression that it
would be regarded as an act of coercion, alone deterred the
Washington Government from sending down strong garrisons
and ample munitions of war.

Fort Caswell, commanding the main entrance to Cape Fear
River, was a bastioned, masonry fort of great strength and in
thorough order, but without mounted guns. Once occupied and
armed, it would have been impossible for the Confederates,
without command of the sea, to have retaken it, and the port
which afterwards proved of such inestimable value to them
would have been effectually sealed. The Federal fleets having
free entrance there, would have held the shores on either side
of the river for some distance up, and commanded, from a safe
interior base, the entrance through New Inlet, for the defense
of which Fort Fisher was afterwards built, and that historic and

epoch-making earthwork would probably never have been con-
structed.

1From Clark’s Regimental Histories.

The War Between the States 277

In the State at large the Union sentiment was at this time
slightly in the ascendant. In the Lower Cape Fear the seces-
sionists were probably in the majority. These regarded delays
as dangerous, and anticipated with forebodings the occupation
of the forts by the Union forces.

Early in January, 1861, alarmed by the condition of affairs
in Charleston Harbor, they determined to risk no longer delays.
A meeting of the citizens of Wilmington was held in the court-
house, at which Robert G. Rankin, Esq., who afterwards gave
his life for the cause on the battlefield of Bentonville, presided.
A Committee of Safety was formed, and a call made for volun-
teers to be enrolled for instant service under the name of ‘‘Cape
Fear Minute Men.” The organization was speedily effected,
John J. Hedrick being chosen commander.

On the 10th of January Major Hedrick and his men embarked
on a small schooner with provisions for one week, the Committee
of Safety guaranteeing continued support and supplies, each
man carrying such private weapons as he possessed. Arriving
at Smithville at 3 p. m., they took possession of the United
States barracks known as Fort Johnston, and such stores as were

there in charge of United States Ord. Sergt. James Reilly, later
captain of Reilly’s battery. The same afternoon Major Hed-
rick took twenty men of his command, reinforced by Capt.
S. D. Thurston, commander of the Smithville Guards, and
a number of his men and citizens of Smithville, but all acting
as individuals only, and proceeded to Fort Caswell, three miles
across the bay, where they demanded, and obtained, surrender
of the fort from the United States sergeant in charge.

Major Hedrick assumed command and prepared to make his
position as secure as possible. About twenty-five strong, armed
Only with shotguns, but sure of ample reinforcements should
Occasion arise, these brave men determined to hold Fort Caswell
at all hazards. In bitter cold weather, they stood guard on the
ramparts and patrolled the beaches, reckoning not that, unsus-
tained even by State authority, their action was treasonable
rebellion, jeopardizing their lives and property. There were
only two 24-pounder guns mounted, one on the sea face and one
on the inner face, both carriages being too decayed to withstand
their own recoil ; but, such as they were, with them they deter-
mined to defy the United States Army and Navy. The smoke
of an approaching steamer being once descried below the horizon,
the alarm was signaled, and, believing it to be a man-of-war, the