342 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

entered service on April 15, 1861, on the occupation of Fort
Caswell. Captain Martin was assigned to duty as sergeant
major, and afterwards as adjutant of the post, and served as
such until June 20, 1861, when he resigned the office and re-
turned to his company. In the meantime, the Eighth Regi-
ment was formed, and the Wilmington Rifle Guards became
Company I of that regiment, Captain Martin being second
sergeant, in which capacity he served until he was mustered
out, April 15, 1862. He was commissioned in May, 1862, first

lieutenant of artillery, and assigned to Company A, First North
Carolina Battalion of Heavy Artillery.

In the spring of 1864 he was detached from the company
and ordered to Fort Caswell as ordnance officer, where he served
until the fort was evacuated and blown up in January, 1865,
upon the fall of Fort Fisher. He served at Fort Anderson
during the bombardment in February, 1865, as ordnance officer,
and at the Battles of Town Creek, Kinston, and Bentonville, as
ordnance officer of Hagood’s brigade; and afterwards was or-
dered to the brigade of Junior Reserves, as ordnance officer, to
assist in organizing that brigade. He never received his com-
mission of captain, but ranked as captain during the time he
was at Fort Caswell and until the end of the war. He sur-
rendered in Wilmington in May, 1865, to General Hawley,

commanding that post, and afterwards took the oath of alle-
giance.

Clarence D. Martin, a younger brother, left the University
in 1861 and enlisted in Company C, Thirteenth North Carolina
Regiment, serving as sergeant of his company. He was
wounded at the Battle of Williamsburg in May, 1862, and
carried to a hospital in Richmond. Later, he was removed to
Kenansville, where his father was residing temporarily, and died
there on his eighteenth birthday, June 27, 1862. His com-

rades and officers praised him as a fine soldier, and his memory
is cherished by all who knew him.

John E. Matthews: When Fort Sumter was bombarded by
Beauregard, Dr. Matthews was a member of the Elm City
cadets, of New Bern, which were ordered at once to take posses-
sion of Fort Macon. He remained there for two months under
Col. C. C. Tew, who was in command, and returned with the
company to New Bern, where he remained until ordered to
Garysburg, when the company became a part of the Second Regi-

The War Between the States 343

ment, North Carolina Troops, under Colonel Tew. Dr. Mat-
thews served continuously and actively with this regiment

throughout the war.
After the Battle of Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, the

first corps of sharpshooters for Ramseur’s brigade was organ-
ized, which was the beginning of this branch of the service, and
Dr. Matthews was made second sergeant of the corps, partici-
pating at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Kelly’s Ford, where,
while on picket duty, he was captured. He was confined at
Point Lookout, but was exchanged in February, 1865, returned
to duty at Petersburg, and took part in the subsequent battles

around Petersburg and on the retreat at Sailor’s Creek, where
he was again captured and again confined at Point Lookout until

July 1, 1865, months after the surrender.

Thomas D. Meares has the honor of being one of the boy
soldiers of North Carolina during the closing scenes of the
great struggle. In December, 1864, being about sixteen years
of age, he enlisted as a private in the Junior Reserves, but
within a few weeks his soldierly qualities led to his selection as
a courier on the staff of Gen. Wade Hampton, between Hillsboro
and Durham, and he began a service as courier for that gallant
cavalry commander which continued until the end of the war.

Col. Oliver Pendleton Meares was captain of the Wilmington
Rifle Guards, which was one of the companies that occupied
Fort Caswell on April 16, 1861. This company was composed
of all the best young men of Wilmington who were not mem-
bers of the older company, the Wilmington Light Infantry.
At one time it had on its rolls more than a hundred men, rang-
ing from sixteen to twenty-two years of age, and only one mar-
ried man among them.

On the formation of the Eighth Regiment of Volunteers, the
Rifle Guards became Company I of that Regiment. The organ-
ization was effected at Camp Wyatt on July 1, 1861, and Col-
Onel Radcliffe was elected colonel and Oliver P. Meares, lieu-
tenant colonel. The Rifle Guards, like the Wilmington Light
Infantry, furnished a large number of officers to other orgamiza-
tions of the State. ,

On the expiration of the twelve months for which the volun-
teer companies had originally enlisted, the regiment was reor-

ganized, and Colonel Meares retired as lieutenant colonel. On
the formation of the ten regiments of State Troops, enlisted for