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350 Chromeles of the Cape Fear River

Another of the long line of proprietors of Orton, where the
soft south breezes, which brought from their island home the
first Barbadian settlers, bring to the listening ear the murmured
miserere of the sea, has “crossed over the river to rest under the
shade of the trees.”

David Reid Murchison! was born at Holly Hill, Manchester,
N. C., December 5, 1837. He spent his boyhood days at Holly
Hill and received his early education in Cumberland County.
Later, he was a student at the University of Virginia. In 1860
he commenced his business career as a member of the firm
of Eli Murray & Oo., of Wilmington, which was interrupted
in 1861 by the commencement of the War between the States.
He enlisted at once in the Seventh North Carolina Regiment
and remained with that command one year, when he was trans-
ferred to the Fifty-fourth North Carolina Regiment and as-
signed to duty with the rank of captain. With this regiment
he saw active service, and his conduct always reflected honor and
credit upon him as a brave and eflicient officer. He was taken
from the Fifty-fourth North Carolina Regiment and made
inspector general of the Commissary Department of North
Carolina, having been appointed to this position by President
Davis on account of his executive ability, which was then, de-
spite his early age, recognized as of a very high order. The
change from active service to his new duties was very distasteful
to him and against his wishes. Brave himself, and born of
heroic blood, with a firmness and fortitude which faltered in no
crisis, he had an apitude for war, and doubtless would have
risen high in the profession of arms had he been allowed to see

active service in the field to the close of the war, as was his wish
and desire. One of his chief characteristics, however, was a
high sense of duty, which always prompted him to do whatever
work was before him as best he knew how. He filled the posi-
tion to which he was assigned until the close of the war with
great credit to himself and benefit to the soldiers of North Caro-
lina. His papers for advancement to the grade of major were
prepared, but were not executed because of the close of hostili-

ties.
He was a singularly brave man, devoid of fear. Cool and

self-reliant under all circumstances, he gave confidence and
strength to the weak and timid. He was generous, full of
sympathy and of kindness to the poor and needy, to whom he

18ketch by Major C. M. Stedman.

The War Between the States 351

gave with an open and liberal hand. He was a sincere man,
abhoring deception and hypocrisy and looking with scorn upon
all that was base and mean. He died in New York, where he
had gone for medical treatment, February 22, 1882. He was
in the full meridian of his intellectual powers and his nobility
of mind and heart was never more clearly manifested than.in
his last days. He went to his rest, his fortitude unshaken by
long-continued and severe suffering, his chief desire to give the
least possible pain and trouble to others, solicitous not for him-
self, but for the happiness of those he loved. His gentleness
and self-abnegation were as beautiful as his iron nerve was firm
and unyielding. North Carolina has furnished to the world
a race of men who by their great qualities have shed lustre
upon the State which gave them birth. In the elements of
character which constitute true greatness—courage, honor, truth,

fidelity, unselfish love of country and humanity—Capt. David
Reid Murchison will rank with the best and noblest of her

citizens.

He was a man of extraordinary business sagacity, which was
made manifest about the year 1880, when, after being appointed
receiver of the Carolina Central Railway, he startled the com-
munity by buying out the whole road, and he conducted it suc-
cessfully until his health began to fail, when he sold it at a
profit.

Col. John R. Murchison, the oldest of the sons of Duncan
Murchison, had a career brilliant with heroic deeds and per-
sonal sacrifice. Beloved at home by his fellow-countrymen and
upon the field by his devoted followers, as colonel of the Eighth
North Carolina Regiment, Clingman’s brigade, Hoke’s division,
he took part in the Battles of Hatteras Inlet and Neuse Bridge,
and after camping for two months at Camp Ashe, Old Topsail
Sound, he won distinction at Morris Island, and fought so
bravely at Plymouth and Drewry’s Bluff, that he was recom-
mended for honors, and was promoted to be brigadier general
a few hours before his untimely death. In the Battle of Cold
Harbor, while personally leading a second charge of his regi-
ment, he was mortally wounded and fell within the enemy’s
lines. This final sacrifice of his noble life was marked by an
armistice between General Grant and General Lee, during
which several officers and men of the Eighth Regiment, seek-
ing the body of their beloved commander, were, through a mis-
understanding by General Grant, made prisoners and sent to