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€38 Norru Carorina Troops, 1861-65.

ing, came to Hillsboro to be drilled by the cadets and it was
certainly a novel sight to see the little cadets, from 13 years
old and upwards, each tramping his squad of grown and some
times grizzled men, over the parade ground and to witness
the grim seriousness with which the future veterans took
their temporary military subjection to their juniors in years.
The work of the academy was soon suspended, Colonel Tew
and all the professors going into the army and the cadets serv-
ing as drill masters in various regiments, or permanently
joining the fighting ranks—in fact very few of the old cadets
returned to the academy on its re-opening in March, 1862,
under Major W. M. Gordon.

The influx of such trained numbers of men into the army at
this critical period, not only in this State, but over the entire
South, was highly advantageous and the effects incalculable;
for the raw officers and men who constituted the Confederate
Army knew nothing of tactics or discipline and the army was
a mere assembly of immense proportions until the cadets of
the several military academies and the few officers of the old
United States Army brought order out of chaos. In three
months’ time these contributed principally to making a fairly
well drilled and disciplined force out of very raw materials.

As the value of this assistance is not generally known, it
is meet that it should be recorded.

The labors were great, for generally only three or four
drill-masters could be furnished each regiment, but the enthu-
siasm of privates and officers helped to overcome difficulties
and I recall one regiment, the Twenty-fifth North Caro-
lina, in which the officers all formed themselves into a com-
pany and were drilled as privates by one of the drill-masters,
thus illustrating the maxim, “Obeir pour savowr commander.

As previously stated, the academy was reopened in March,
1862, and the number of students steadily rose to 150, which
number was maintained during the war. It is stated by Col-
onel J. P. Thomas, in his history of the South Carolina Mil-
itary Academy, p. 134, that Governor H. T. Clark (then Gov-
ernor of North Carolina), and Senator W. T. Dortch, appre-
ciated the value of the training of the military academy so
much, that they urged Colonel Tew to resign from the army

Hirrsporo Minrrary AcaprEmy. 639

and again take charge of his school at Hillsboro. His resig-
nation had in fact been accepted when Colonel Tew (who
was Colonel of the Second North Carolina) fell at Sharps-
burg, being shot through the head at the Bloody Lane, soon
after succeeding to the command of the brigade on the wound-
ing of General George B. Anderson.

The school was nevertheless carried on to the end of the
war along the same lines originally sketched by its founder
and proved its usefulness in many ways.

The following incident well illustrates the spirit of our
boys during the war.

In the fall of 1863, the walls of Sumter had been bat-
tered down and the capture of the city of Charleston seemed
probable. As has been well said, “There was dismay among
the people, but not among the cadets at the Hillsboro Mili-
tary School.” A large number marched to the train, elected
their officers at the station and proceeding to Charleston, ten-
dered their services to General Beauregard. He declined
to accept them, either on account of their youth or from the
breach of discipline. They were not allowed to return and
doubtless all went into the army. “It was disobedience, but
it was a splendid exhibition of ardor and.courage.”

I come now to the last incident I shall mention in connec-
tion with the relation of the academy to the war, where the
cadets saw some actual service. Towards the end of the war,
when Stoneman was approaching Greensboro from the west,
tearing up the track and causing havoc wherever he went, the
authorities ordered out the cadet corps to resist Stoneman’s
advance. Only a few of the smallest boys were retained to
guard the academy buildings and some of them stood on rocks
during the selection, to make themselves appear taller and
thus gain the coveted distinction of entering the field.

Of course we were vastly outnumbered by Stoneman’s raid-
ers unless assistance was to come from somewhere, but of that
no one thought at the time. However, Stoneman’s retro-
grade march disappointed the only hope the boys had ‘as a
corps, to have a brush with the enemy during the war. The
cadets were carried back to Hillsboro and remained there
till February, when they were ordered to Raleigh and else-