318 Norra Carotina Troops, 1861-’65.

worth gun was unlimbered and made ready for action; the
command to fire was on the lips of the Lieutenant in charge,
when the vessel stopped and turned her broadside towards the
fort, and not until then was the flag of truce at her masthead
spread out by the breeze so we could see it. A small boat
came ashore for the captured officer’s personal effects and
brought a note of adieu from him to his late comrades. We
never saw him again.

Since the war the writer has been told ky Federal officers
who were on the fleet that lay off Fort Caswell, doing block-
ade duty, that our “Whitworth” would shoot clear through
their vessels when they came in range. One of its projectiles
cut the throat of a quartermaster as clean as if done by a
razor, the shot doing no other damage.

They said Lieutenant Cushing frequently spent days in
ambush on the banks of the Cape Fear and would often cap-
ture our army couriers passing from Wilmington to Smith-
ville; he would compel them to exchange clothes with one of
his men, whom he would send into Smithville after dark, on
horseback, to get the correspondence ready to be returned to
Wilmington.

The old line officers on the fleet looked with contempt on
all such raids as guerrilla warfare and frowned upon such as
eccentricities of Cushing.

The spirit of this brave young officer chafed under the re-
straints enforced by a return to peace, and he ended his days
within the walls of “St. Elizabeth,” the United States hospi-
tal for the insane of the army and navy, near Washington
City, a raving maniac. War’s dread alarm alone had charms
for him.

The Whitworth gun mentioned was a terror to the enemy ;
its range was immense, its accuracy that of a sharpshooter.
The blockading fleet was by it compelled to keep so far from
the fort that the English steamers easily made the port. Our
great war governor, Zebulon B. Vance, appreciated the im-
portance and necessity of using these English-built steamers
to supply his brave troops with the sinews of war, as well as
subsistence.

Trento Batra ion, 319

BLOCKADE RUNNING.

It had been the policy of President Davis to put an em-
bargo on cotton and thus make the great powers of Europe
raise the Federal blockade to obtain a supply of this great
product of the South; so the inland cities of the South had
about this time great rows of cotton bales, making cumber-
some curb-lines for their streets, awaiting this raising of the
blockade of the enemy. The Governor of North Carolina did
not believe in this policy and determined to supply his men
with what they needed as soldiers, and by exchanging cotton
for meat and bread so help them and their families. One
of the largest vessels which ran the blockade at this point was
purchased by our State, and she was christened the “Ad-
Vance.” By her many cargoes of the priceless necessities of
life were brought to Wilmington, and the North Carolina
troops heaped blessings on their Governor’s name for this evi-
dence of his care and tender regard.

The “Sumter,” the great Admiral Semmes’ first ship, once
came into this port and brought on that trip two “Blakeley”
guns, of such great size, that they were stood on their end in
the forward part of the vessel and around their muzzles some
of the larger ropes of the ship were wound. These guns were
put on the battery at Charleston, an interior line, and al-
though costing many thousands of dollars, never had the op-
portunity of firing a shot at the enemy.

In the winter the lines of entrenchment around the City
of Wilmington were picketed by this battalion; so long were
these lines, the duty was most arduous. During the winter
the battalion also became the provost guard of the city. Wil-
mington was the last port held by the Confederacy, and the
fleet of English blockade runners on the river front became
very numerous, with them came many Northern spies. The
city was patrolled constantly, every “suspect” was hunted
down and brought in with a file of soldiers at his back, and
the rough element, male and female, adventurers of every
class, were kept in subjection as far as possible. The duties
of a provost-guard whilst most necessary are nevertheless irk-
some.