The Civil War in North Carolina



Reminiscences and Memoirs of North Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians

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and his cheering commands nerved the arms of all."

        On the second day his command was held in reserve. On the third day Pettigrew was placed in charge of Heth's division, and in that fatal and gallant charge, on Cemetery Hill, he was in the line on the left of Pickett's command. His was not a supporting column. Pickett reached the crest of the hill and held it awhile. Pettigrew having greater obstructions did not reach that point. Both were repulsed by an overwhelming force which occupied an impregnable position. Pettigrew fell painfully wounded; Burgwynn, Marshall, McCrea and Iredell, all sons of North Carolina, here gave up their lives, and proved that North Carolina had followed the Confederate banners to the furthest point. The bright, warm beams of the sun on the 1st day of July, 1863, shone on 3,000 as gallant men in Pettigrew's brigade as ever shouldered a musket; on the morning of the 4th only 825 were left.

        The Confederate army fell back upon Hagerstown without any annoyance from the enemy, and crossed the Potomac at Williamsport and Falling Waters. General Longstreet's corps, of which Heth's division formed a part, crossed at the latter place. On the morning of the 14th of July, 1863, this division, after a weary night's march, stopped for rest and breakfast about a mile and a quarter from the bridge, at Falling Waters. For some inexplicable reason General Heth had not thrown out any pickets; about 9 o'clock, while he, General Pettigrew and several other officers were walking to the left of the division, their attention was attracted by a small squad of cavalry riding out of a wooded valley about a mile off. Their small number, (about twenty-five,) and their proximity, led General Heth to suppose they were a Confederate troop, and before the error was discovered they had reached the group of officers, when a few scattered shots were fired by these reck less troopers in sight of the whole division. They made their escape as rapidly as they had made their attack. General Pettigrew was shot through the bowels and mortally wounded. He was carried to the house of Mr. Boyd, half-way between Martinsburg and Winchester, where, on the 17th of July, 1863, three days after being wounded, in the early stillness of a summer morning, his gallant spirit rested with his God. He died as he had lived, a brave and noble man.

        The Bishop of Louisiana, who was with him on the sad and solemn occasion, declared that "in a ministry of near thirty years, I never witnessed a more sublime scene of Christian resignation and of hope in death."

        When we study his earnest, noble and self-sacrificing character, his modest and reticent demeanor, his brave and daring courage, his solid and extended acquirements, we can realize the loss to our country and our State in his death, and with Burke exclaim: "When death, by one stroke, makes such a dispersion of talent, virtue and accomplishments, we feel the vanity of all earthly pursuits. What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!"

        John Hooker Haughton, eldest son of John and Mary R. Haughton, was born in Chowan, August 29, 1810. He received his academic education in the town of Edenton, and was graduated from the University, in 1832, with Thomas L. Clingman, Thomas S. Ashe, James C. Dobbin, William F. Davidson, Robert B. Burton, Thomas B. Hill, and others. He read law with his distinguished kinsman, Thomas B. Haughton, of Chowan, and settled in Tyrrell, to which County his parents had previously removed. There he practiced his profession until 1837, when he removed to Chatham, and located at Pittsboro'. In this large County, populated by a thrifty and intelligent people, he soon acquired a lucrative practice, and became a leader at the bar in this and adjoining counties. In 1857, having purchased a plantation in the County of Jones, he removed to New Berne, where, following his profession with unabated zeal and vigor, he soon ranked among the foremost lawyers at that bar, distinguished in the history of the State for its able advocates and jurists. Mr. Haughton was thrice married. His first wife was a daughter of that influential, hospitable and genial gentleman, Dr. Robert Williams, of Pitt. His second wife was Miss Eliza Alice Hill, whom he married in 1838. Miss Hill was a daughter of Col. Thomas Hill, of the Cape Fear section, a gentleman of wealth and high social position. By this marriage Mr. Haughton became connected with many of the prominent families of the lower Cape Fear. Mr. Haughton's third wife was Miss Martha Harvey, of New Berne, whom he married in 1868. She died May 26, 1876, and he survived her only four days. Mr. Haughton belonged to the Whig party, and, until his removal to New Berne, was the acknowledged leader of that party in the County of Chatham. He represented Chatham both in the House of Commons and in the Senate, and he was, during his whole life, prominently connected with all the political movements in the State. He was nominated for
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