354 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

ton. He says that in November, 1862, Captain Newkirk’s
cavalry and Captain Adams with a section of a field battery
captured a steam gunboat of the enemy on New River. Her

crew escaped, but her armament, ammunition, and small arms
were captured.

Capt. William Harris Northrop, a prominent business man
of Wilmington, who served in the Confederate cause in various
capacities throughout the war, was born in that city in 1836,
and there reared and educated. In 1855 he became a member
of the Wilmington Light Infantry, with which he was on duty
before the secession of the State at Fort Caswell, and later at
Fort Fisher. in June, 1865, he was commissioned lieutenant
and assigned to the Third North Carolina, then stationed at
Aquia Creek, on the Potomac. He served in the line about
eighteen months and was then commissioned captain quarter-
master. After six months of this duty with his regiment, he
was transferred to the Second Corps, Engineer Troops, and
stationed at Wilmington and vicinity. After the evacuation of
that city he was attached to the staff of General Bragg until the
surrender. Among the engagements in which he participated
were Aquia Creek on the Potomac, the Seven Days’ Battle be-
fore Richmond, Frederick City, Boonsboro, Sharpsburg, and
Bentonville. Both as a company officer and as a staff officer,
his service was marked by bravery and entire devotion to the
cause. After the close of hostilities Captain Northrop con-
stantly resided at Wilmington.

Capt. W. P. Oldham was captain of Company K, Forty-
fourth Regiment, North Carolina Troops. At the Battle of
Reams Station Captain Oldham sighted one of the guns repeat-
edly, and when he saw the effect of his accurate aim upon the
masses in front, he was so jubilant that General MacRae, with
his usual quiet humor, remarked: “Oldham thinks he is at a
ball in Petersburg.”

Rev. George Patterson, D.D., of the Protestant Episcopal
Church, was commissioned on the 30th day of December, 1862,
chaplain of the Third Regiment. He was faithful to the last.
He preached in Wilmington for years after the war, and after-
wards in Memphis, Tenn., where he recently died.

One of our venerable survivors of war times who retains the
respect and admiration of all who know him, and they are
legion, is Richard P. Paddison,* of Point Caswell, whose mili-

1Captain Paddison has since died.

The War Between the States 355

tary record is told in his own words. A chapter of his humor-

OuS experiences can appropriately be added, as the tragedies of

these fearful years of bloodshed were not without a comic point
of view.

He tells us that in the month of March, 1861, “this part of
North Carolina was wild with excitement and rumors of war,
and a public meeting was called at Harrell’s Store, in Sampson
County, for the purpose of organizing a military company to be
tendered the Governor. In a short time an organization was
effected, and a man named Taylor was elected captain. At the

next meeting they voted to call the company the ‘Wild Cat
Minute Men.’ Next the question came up as to where the com-
pany should go. After considerable talk it was voted that the
company should remain around Wild Cat as a home protection.
There were a number of us, however, who did not take to the
Wild Cat idea, and quietly withdrew and marched to Clinton,

where a company was being organized by Capt. Frank Faison,
called the ‘Sampson Rangers,’ composed of the flower of the

young men of the county. I joined as a private in this com-
pany. We had a good time drilling and eating the best the
country could afford, and every fellow was a hero in the eyes of
some pretty maiden. But this easement was suddenly cut short
by orders to go with utmost dispatch to Fort Johnston. The
whole town was in excitement. We were ordered to get in

marching order, and to my dying day I shall remember that
Scene—mothers, wives, sisters, and sweethearts all cheering and
encouraging their loved ones to go forth and do their duty; such
love of country could only be shown by true Southern woman-

We were met by the

Princess and Second;

On the northeast corner

egro jail and operated, I
think, by a Mr. Southerland. We abs aaa ne this was
to be our quarters for the night. Now picture in your mind,
_ you can, a hundred and twenty wealthy young men, most of
them Chapel Hill and high-school boys, whose combined wealth
crud Purchase half the city of Wilmington, being forced to
sleep in a negro jail. We marched into the house and deposited
var luggage, which in after years would have been sufficient for