Patriots of '61 – The Edenton Bell Battery
"On
the 4th of March, Lincoln was inaugurated, but those who loved the
Union, and hoped for so much, perceived in his inaugural address not a
straw to cling to, and he soon afterwards issued his celebrated
proclamation calling upon North Carolina to furnish troops to invade
her sister States, and to force them again into the Union; so on the
1st day of May a second convention was held in Edenton, and nominated
Dr. Richard Dillard, senior, who was elected without opposition to the
State Convention called by Governor [John W.] Ellis, which met in
Raleigh on May 20, the anniversary of the Mecklenburg Declaration of
Independence, and severed our connection with the Union.
Warlike
preparations at once began, the "Dixie Rebels," a six-month's
volunteer company, was at once organized by Capt. James K. Marshall, he
was afterwards promoted to the rank of Colonel. John C. Badham, a
Lieutenant in this company, afterwards became a Major in the 5th [North
Carolina Regiment] and gave his life for his country at Williamsburg,
Va., May 5, 1862, at which time he held a commission of Lieut.
Colonel.
The Edenton Bell Battery
was recruited by Capt. Wm. Badham in the winter '61-'62, and left
Edenton soon after the fall of Roanoke Island, then went to Weldon, and
on to Raleigh with sixty men, there they were joined by Lieut. Nelson
McClees, of Tyrell county, with twenty-two men, and by Lieut. Gaskins
with about twenty men. After drilling in Raleigh about two months, they
were ordered to Camp Lee near Richmond for instruction.
As
gun metal was scarce, Capt. Badham sent Lieut. Jones to Edenton to
secure the church bells, and any others he might obtain, to be cast into
cannon, in response to Gen. Beauregard's famous call. He readily
secured all the bells except the Baptist (several members objecting),
including the town and court-house bells, the Academy bell, and the
shipyard bells; these were conveyed to Suffolk across the country in a
wagon, and shipped to the Tredegar Iron Works at Richmond, where they
were cast into four cannon….
[The
cannons were named, respectively], the "St. Paul"; the "Fanny Roulhac,"
for a devout and patriotic lady, a staunch member of the Methodist
Church; the "Columbia"; and the "Edenton." [The first named gun was cast
from the bells of St. Paul's Church, the Fanny Roulhac from the
Methodist Church, the Columbia from the shipyard bells, and the Edenton
from the Academy, Court-house and Hotel bells.]
As
the complement of the artillery corps of Gen. Lee's army was then
complete, an order was issued that all other artillery in camps should
be transferred, for the time, to the infantry service; this produced
great mortification, and disappointment in the company, and Capt.
Badham at once dispatched Lieut. Jones to President Jefferson Davis
with the following note:
"Sir:
The guns of my company were made of the bells of my town, and have
tolled to their last resting place a great many of the parents and
relatives of my command, and sooner than part with these guns they had
rather be taken out and shot."
Lieut.
Jones had not long to wait, the reply came at once that the company
would be furnished as soon as possible with both artillery-horses, and
harness. The battery was assigned to Moore's Third North Carolina
Battalion. [The battery served in many engagements to include:
Winchester, Culpepper Courthouse, Seven Days', Goldsboro, Kinston,
Whitehall Bridge, and Bentonville.]
[Late
in the war] the battery was ordered to Wilmington, and guarded the
railroad bridge at Northeast, from there they went to Bald Head Island,
and did guard duty on the coast until the fall of Fort Fisher [January,
1865], when they fell back on Fort Anderson; after the flank movement
of the enemy, and the evacuation of Fort Anderson, the battery was
located at Town Creek, where they were attacked by the enemy with
considerable force, Capt. Badham sent Sergeant B.F. Hunter with one
gun, the "St. Paul," to prevent them from making a flank movement while
he was engaging them at Town Creek; Hunter was supported by a
detachment of South Carolina infantry who broke and ran, leaving him on
the field with but a squad of men.
Hunter
stood his ground fearlessly, and when the enemy arrived at the very
muzzle of his gun, a Federal officer shouted to him: "If you fire that
gun I will kill you!" the Confederate sergeant, with that coolness and
intrepidity which hallways characterized him, replied: "Kill, and go to
hell!", and then ordered his gunner, William Hassell, to fire
immediately.
He was captured and
would have been cut down at once, but the Federal officer ordered his
men to spare his life, saying, "He's too brave a man to be killed."
About fifteen men were captured along with Sergeant Hunter and sent to
prison at Point Lookout, among them Mr. A.T. Bush of this town.
The
remainder of the battery fell back to Wilmington and were subsequently
engaged at Cox's Bridge, finally surrendering to General Sherman at
Greensboro."
Richard Dillard, "Beverly Hall," Edenton, North Carolina.
(The North Carolina Booklet, Volume V, No. 1, July 1905, pp. 30-35)
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