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410 NortH Carorina Troops, 1861-’65.

Leslie’s Illustrated News, giving an account of the wreck and
of an investigation of the conduct of the officers in charge.
I think the vessel was the gun-boat Petrel.

“After the Index was sent back to Glasgow, Captain Mar-
shall took charge of the steamer Rowen, and I joined her as
signal officer. We loaded our cargo and started for Wilming-
ton, and on the third day out sighted a steamer about 1 o’clock
p- m., which proved to be the United States steamer Keystone
State, which captured us after a hot chase of six hours. We
were all transferred to the Margaret and Jessie, a former
blockade-runner which had been captured and utilized as a
eruiser. We were taken to New York and confined in the
Tombs prison. Subsequently all of the officers and crew
were discharged except four of us, and we were transferred
to the Ludlow street jail for further investigation. After
about six weeks imprionment, we succeeded in effecting our
escape through the medium of English gold, after which we
went down to East river and found an old barque loaded with
staves and hay for St. Thomas. Each one of us gave the
captain $25.00 in gold, with the understanding that he would
sail by St. George’s, Bermuda, and land us there. We
reached this place after several weeks to find it devastated by
yellow fever. Many personal friends died with this scourge,
among whom was our lamented purser of the Index, Mr. Rob-
ert Williams, a well-known native of Wilmington, much be-
loved for his personal qualities. I made one vovage on the
steamer Owl, which became famous under the command of
Captain John N. Maffitt. After this I joined the new steel
steamer Susan Beirne, commanded by Captain Martin, of
which my old friend and shipmate, James Sprunt, was pur-
ser. After a very hazardous voyage in this ship, during
which we weathered a fearful gale and nearly foundered, we
returned to Nassau to learn from Captain Maffitt of the
steamer Owl, which had just arrived, that the last port of the
Confederacy had been closed, and that the war was practi-
cally over.

“A small party of almost reckless Confederates, composed
of our chief engineer, Mr. Lockhart: our second engineer,
Mr. Carroll; our purser, Mr. James Sprunt, and the purser

BiockaDE RUNNING. 411

of another steamer in port, Mr. William Green, bought the
steam launch belonging to our ship, a boat about forty feet
in length and six feet breadth of beam, and made a perilous
voyage by way of Green Turtle Cay, to Cape Carnavoral,
Fla., where they landed in the surf after a two weeks’ voyage,
and proceeding on foot one hundred and seventy-five miles
to Ocala, Fla., succeeded in evading the Federal pickets and
sentries at various points along the route, and at last reached
Wilmington, having occupied about two months on the way.
I chose an easier and more agreeable route and proceeded
via New York to visit some relatives in Indiana, returning
later to North Carolina to find peace restored to our unhappy

.and desolated country.”

DISTINGUISHED ENGLISHMEN WHO AIDED THE CONFEDERACY.

One of the most distinguished Englishmen who espoused
the cause of the South during the Civil War, was the Hon.
Francis C. Lawley, a kinsman of Gladstone, who was subse-
quently editor of the famous London Telegraph, and later a
member of Parliament. He came to General Lee as a Times
war correspondent, accompanied by Lord Wolseley, with
whom he ran the blockade. The personal devotion of these
distinguished strangers was warmly reciprocated by the great
Sonthern chieftain, to whom both Wolseley and Roberts have
referred as one of the foremost military leaders in history,
Wolseley placing General Lee before all others.

A few years ago Mr. Lawley wrote in his inimitable style

several papers in the daily London Telegraph on the subject
of his personal experience in blockade-running. His refer-

ence to a voyage in my ship, the Lilian, prior.to my appoint-
ment as purser for three voyages, led to a pleasant correspond-
enee in which we exchanged notes on the same theme. I
trust therefore, that this is a sufficient apology to the Tele-
graph for copying that part of Mr. Lawley’s most interest-
ing allusion to blockade-running at Wilmington:

“In three previous papers I have described some of the
adventures which befell Lord Wolseley and myself when en-
gaged in running the blockade on the Potomac river during
the American Civil War, and also the hardships endured by