346 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

had been killed at Spottsylvania, and he had been promoted to
the captaincy of his company, which he took command of, to-
gether with Company E, and served in Cox’s brigade, Grimes’s —

division, notwithstanding his delicate health, until detailed to
serve on the staff of Major General Grimes as special instructor
of division. The night before arms were stacked at Appomattox
he accompanied a band from division headquarters to serenade
General Lee, who was too much affected to say much, but gave
each of the boys a warm pressure of the hand and an affectionate
good-bye. Joining his family, who had lost all of their prop-
erty, Captain Metts went to Wilmington to begin the struggle of
civil life. His first engagement was with two Federal sutlers,
who treated him kindly. Since then his exertions have been
rewarded with the success that is the just desert of a brave
patriot.

Dr. James A. Miller, surgeon of the Eighth (Eighteenth)
Regiment, became surgeon of the brigade and then division sur-
geon, and finally district surgeon of the district of the Cape
Fear.

Capt. John Miller, a son of Mr. Tom Miller, commanded
A. D. Moore’s battery after Moore’s promotion to the coloneley
of the Sixty-sixth Regiment. He moved to California.

Capt. Julius Walker Moore was instrumental in raising a
company of cavalry early in the war. Later, he became captain
of a cavalry company raised chiefly in Onslow County, called
the “Humphrey Troop,” and borne on the roll as Company H,
Forty-first Regiment. Captain Moore, along with a consider-
able number of his company, fell into the hands of the enemy,
and was confined in Fort Delaware and on James Island until

the end of the war, when he returned home broken in health
and fortune, and he soon died at Charlotte.

. He died at
Charlotte. A still younger brother, Alexander Duncan Moore,

enlisted in Company I, Eighth Regiment of Volunteers, and
was sergeant major of the regiment when he fell on one of the
battlefields in Virginia. He was a bright young man, with the
finest characteristics, and was imbued with the noble spirit of
his Revolutionary forefathers.

Charles D. Myers was one of the members of the Wilmington
Light Infantry of ante-bellum times, and served in that com-
pany until he was made adjutant of the Eighth Regiment,

The War Between the States 347

North Carolina Troops. He subsequently served upon the
staff of Gen. Samuel G. French, who commanded the Confeder-
ate forces in the vicinity of Wilmington, with the rank of
captain.

Kenneth McKenzie Murchison’ was born near Fayetteville,
February 18, 1831, the son of Duncan Murchison, who was born
in Manchester, Cumberland County, May 20, 1801, and the
grandson of Kenneth McKenzie Murchison, for whom he was
named, and who came to this country from Scotland in 1773.
Duncan Murchison became prominent in the planting and man-
ufacture of cotton.

Colonel Murchison, the second son of Duncan, was graduated
at Chapel Hill in 1853, after which he was engaged in business
pursuits in New York City and Wilmington until the spring of
1861, when he disposed of his business in the North, assisted
in the organization of a company at Fayetteville, and entered
the service as second lieutenant. He commanded Company OC,
of the Eighth Regiment, which was captured at Roanoke Island,
a disaster which Lieutenant Murchison escaped by his fortunate
absence on military detail. He then organized another com-

pany in Cumberland County, which was assigned to the Fitty-
fourth Regiment, with himself as captain. Upon the organiza-
tion of the regiment he was elected major, was soon promoted
to lieutenant colonel, and after the death of Col. J. C. S.
McDowell, at Fredericksburg, became the colonel of the regi-
ment: He was especially commended by Gen. E. M. Law, com-
mander of his brigade, for gallant service at Fredericksburg.
He commanded his regiment at Chancellorsville, and in the
Battle of Winchester against Milroy. Subsequently he was
ordered to convey the prisoners taken on that occasion to Rich-
mond, after which he returned to Winchester and served in
guarding the wagon trains of Lee’s army. On July 6, in com-
mand of his regiment, he gallantly repulsed the enemy’s ad-
vance on Williamsport. He served in Hoke’s brigade during
the subsequent operations in Virginia, and when the brigade
was cut off by the enemy at Rappahannock Station, November 7,
1863, he was among those captured. He was held a prisoner of
war on Johnson’s Island, Lake Erie, from that time until July,
1865, an imprisonment of twenty months. Upon his release he
resumed business in New York, and formed a brief partnership
under the firm name of Murray & Murchison, but dissolved it

1Sketch by Col. Alfred M. Waddell, in the Biographical History of
North Carolina.