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344 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

three years, or the war, they were called the First Regiment,
North Carolina State Troops, and so on; and the Eighth Regi-
ment Volunteers became the Eighteenth, and so on.

In August, 1862, Colonel Meares became commissary of the
Sixty-first Regiment. After the war he became a judge. Wil-

mington never had a truer son than Colonel Meares, and his
memory is justly revered.

Capt. E. G. Meares, of Company D, Third North Carolina
State Troops, was killed in the Battle of Sharpsburg. He was
“a good soldier, a brave man, discharging his duty under all
conditions.” He was a young man of fine character and was
greatly lamented.

Capt. James I. Metts was born at Kinston, N. C., March 16,
1842, but has lived in Wilmington since he was six years old.
Early in 1861 he left the State University to enlist in the Rifle
Guards, organized in anticipation of war, and on April 15 was
with his company in the seizure of Fort Caswell. Soon after-
wards his company was assigned to the Eighth Regiment, and
he was made corporal and was one of the color guard of the regi-
ment when it was ordered to Coosawhatchie, 8. C. After this
he was given charge of the regimental colors, which he carried
until the twelve months’ term of service expired. MReénlisting,
he became fifth sergeant of Company G, Third Regiment, Col.
Gaston Meares. His bravery and ability won for him distinc-
tion in the Seven Days’ Battle, and were specially manifested
at Cold Harbor, where he re-formed part of the regiment, and
when in command of a detail in Chickahominy Swamp. After
Malvern Hill, where he was among those receiving the last
orders of Col. Gaston Meares, he was promoted to orderly ser-
geant, and was assigned to the main work of drilling the recruits
for his company. During the Maryland campaign he was dis-
abled by illness, but rejoined his company at Bunker Hill, and
in the promotions following the death at Sharpsburg of Cap-
tain Rhodes and First Lieutenant Quince, Sergeant Metts be-
came senior second lieutenant. At Winchester he was detailed
as commissary of the regiment, and after Front Royal he dis-
charged the duties of adjutant. His coolness at Iredericksburg
attracted the attention of superior officers. Afterwards he was
in the hospital at Richmond ill of pneumonia, but joined his
regiment in the fighting around Winchester, where his brigade,
Stuart’s, did much at Jordan Springs towards the victory over

Milroy.

The War Between the States 345

In the Confederate assault at Culp’s Hill, on the evening of
the second day at Gettysburg, he led his men within seventy-
five yards of the Federal breastworks, and here, while hotly
engaged, a boy soldier approached him and said, “Lieutenant,
my father is killed.” He could only answer, “Well, we can not
help it,” and the brave boy, replying, “No, we can not help it,”
turned and resumed firing as rapidly as he could at the enemy,
which he continued to do until exhausted, and the next day his
face was black with powder. In this engagement, while stand-
ing with Lieut. Col. William M. Parsley, Adjutant James, and
Capt. Edward H. Armstrong, three as brave men as ever stepped
to the tap of a drum, Lieutenant Metts was wounded in the left

lung, and experienced excruciating pain as he was hauled two
miles over a rough road in an ambulance. But for a Sister of

Charity, he would have died in the field hospital. Many people
from Baltimore and elsewhere visited the wounded Confederates

at Gettysburg, bringing clothing and delicacies of food. An
elderly lady, accompanied by two charming young lady friends,
finding Lieutenant Metts without a sheet, removed her petticoat,
tore it in two, and pinning it together, said, “Don’t mind me,
boys, I’m a mother, and he shall have a good sheet tomorrow.”’
The same kindness followed him in the general camp hospital
and in the West Building Hospital in Baltimore, where he
found his kinsmen, Col. Thomas 8. Kenan and James G. Kenan,
also wounded on Culp’s Hill. He was transferred to Johnson’s
Island, Lake Erie, where for thirteen months Colonel Kenan
was his bunkmate. Their sufferings here during the winter
were very severe, with cruel guards, insufficient food, scanty
clothing, in houses neither ceiled nor plastered, and with but
one stove for about sixty prisoners. During the night of Janu-
ary 1, 1864, when the mercury registered twenty degrees below
zero and even the guard was forced to take shelter, Maj. John
Winsted and three or four others escaped and made their way
across the ice to the mainland, but the excessive cold prevented
all but Major Winsted from going farther. He reached Can-
ada, and returned to the Confederacy on a blockade runner.
In August, 1864, Lieutenant Metts was selected as one of the
most enfeebled and delicate of the prisoners, for exchange, and
he soon reached Richmond, rejoicing in a new lease of life, for
he had been assured that he could not survive another winter on
Johnson’s Island. He found that Captain Armstrong, an ami-
able gentleman, a fine scholar, and one of the bravest of men,