Biographical history of North Carolina from colonial times to the present;, Part 1

Author: Ashe, Samuel A. (Samuel A'Court), 1840-1938. cn
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Greensboro, N.C., C. L. Van Noppen
Number of Pages: 1134


USA > North Carolina > Biographical history of North Carolina from colonial times to the present; > Part 1


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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40



Gc 975.6 As3b v.5 1742318


M. L.


REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02397 6647


BI iographical Distory


of North Carolina


From Colonial Times to the Present


E


Editor-in-Chief Samuel A. Ashe V, 5


VOLUME V


Charles L. Van Noppen PUBLISHER Greensboro, N. C. MCMVI


563


BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA "OLD NORTH STATE" EDITION


THIS EDITION IS STRICTLY LIMITED TO SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY REGISTERED AND NUMBERED SETS, OF WHICH THIS IS SET NUMBER


1742318


GREAT


THAT


15


BRINGETH


THE C


GIFT


KNOWLEDGE


ESSE QUADE


INDERI A


EX LIBRIS


YROTZIR RADHITTARDOIU AV110SMO HITSOM TO


BICSAFI


CharlesD. MAver.


Advisory Board


KEMP P. BATTLE Chapel Hill


JOHN C. BUXTON


Winston-Salem


THEO. F. DAVIDSON . Asheville


JE JUNIUS DAVIS . Wilmington


RUFUS A. DOUGHTON


Sparta


ERTHOMAS J. JARVIS


Greenville


JAMES Y. JOYNER


Raleigh


CHARLES D. MCIVER Greensboro


WILLIAM L. POTEAT


Wake Forest


JAMES H. SOUTHGATE


Durham


CHARLES W. TILLETT . Charlotte


Contents


0


3


ADVISORY BOARD vii


CONTENTS ix


PORTRAITS xiii


CONTRIBUTORS XV


ALLEN, ELEAZAR


I


BELO, ALFRED H.


8


BLUE, JOHN


14


BOYD, ADAM


18


BRUTON, JOHN FLETCHER


23


BUTLER, JOHN


29


BUXTON, JARVIS


BUXTON, RALPH P.


38 41


BUXTON, JOHN CAMERON


46


CARR, LEWIS ALBERT


53


CARTERET, PETER


59


CATCHMAID, GEORGE


63


CLEVELAND, BENJAMIN


69


CLINTON, RICHARD


74


Cox, ORLANDO R. .


79


DICKSON, WILLIAM 85


FANNING, DAVID 90


FORNEY, PETER


98


FORSYTH, BENJAMIN 102


x


CONTENTS


GORE, JOSHUA WALKER 107


GRAY, JULIUS ALEXANDER IIO


HALL, JOHN II7


HAMILTON, JOHN I21


HASSELL, CUSHING BIGGS


124


HASSELL, SYLVESTER 129


HAWKINS, PHILEMON, SR.


135


HAWKINS, PHILEMON, JR.


139


HAWKINS, BENJAMIN


144


HAWKINS, WILLIAM


154


HAWKINS, JOHN D. 160


HAWKINS, ALEXANDER BOYD 164


HAWKINS, WILLIAM J.


169


JACKSON, ANDREW 174


JENKINS, JOHN


183


JOHNSTON, GABRIEL I87


KING, WILLIAM R.


194


MCADEN, RUFUS YANCEY 198


MAFFITT, JOHN NEWLAND


203


MCIVER, CHARLES DUNCAN


212


MCIVER, JOHN MCMILLAN


230


MANGUM, WILLIE PERSON


236


MANGUM, WILLIE PERSON, JR. 258


MANGUM, PRIESTLEY HINTON, SR. 263


METTS, JAMES ISAAC . 267


MOORE, BARTHOLOMEW FIGURES


275


MORGAN, SAMUEL TATE 287


PEARSON, RICHMOND M. 295


PITTMAN, THOMAS MERRITT 310


POLK, THOMAS


316


POTEAT, WILLIAM LOUIS 321


f


-


CONTENTS


xi


PRATT, JOSEPH HYDE


327


REINHARDT, ROBERT SMITH 333


-


REX, JOHN . 339


RICKS, ROBERT HENRY


342


ROYSTER, FRANK SHEPPARD


345


RUFFIN, THOMAS


350


RUFFIN, THOMAS, JR.


360


SKINNER, WILLIAM


367


STANLY, EDWARD .


370


STARKEY, JOHN


379


STOCKARD, HENRY JEROME


383


SUMNER, JETHRO


395


TAYLOR, JOHN LOUIS .


402


THOMPSON, GEORGE WARREN


407


VAN NOPPEN, LEONARD CHARLES


412


WALKER, HENDERSON .


422


WATKINS, WILLIAM HENRY


426


WEEKS, STEPHEN BEAUREGARD


433


WHITEHEAD, MARCELLUS


442


WHITEHEAD, JOHN


446


WHITEHEAD, RICHARD HENRY


449


WHITEHEAD, WILLIAM HENRY


452


WILLIAMSON, HUGH


458


WILLIAMS, BENJAMIN 467


WILKES, JOHN . 473


WINBORNE, BENJAMIN BRODIE 480


WITHERSPOON, JOHN 487


WRIGHT, RICHARD HARVEY 493


Portraits


MCIVER, CHARLES D. . . Frontispiece


BELO, ALFRED H.


facing 8


BLUE, JOIIN .


66


14


BRUTON, JOHN F.


23


BUXTON, JARVIS


38


BUXTON, RALPH P.


41


BUXTON, JOHN CAMERON .


¥


46


CARR, LEWIS ALBERT


66


53


Cox, ORLANDO R. .


79


GORE, JOSHUA WALKER


107


GRAY, JULIUS ALEXANDER


66


110


HASSELL, CUSHING BIGGS


124


HASSELL, SYLVESTER 129


.6


139


HAWKINS, BENJAMIN .


144


HAWKINS, WILLIAM 154


160


HAWKINS, ALEXANDER BOYD


=


164


HAWKINS, WILLIAM J.


169


MCADEN, RUFUS YANCEY


66


198


. MCIVER, JOHN MCMILLAN ..


230


MANGUM, WILLIE PERSON


236


MANGUM, WILLIE PERSON, JR.


258


..


HAWKINS, PHILEMON, JR.


.6


HAWKINS, JOHN D.


xiv


PORTRAITS


MANGUM, PRIESTLEY HINTON, SR. . facing 263


METTS, JAMES ISAAC . 267


MOORE, BARTHOLOMEW FIGURES 275


MORGAN, SAMUEL TATE 287


PEARSON, RICHMOND M. . 295


PITTMAN, THOMAS MERRITT 310


POTEAT, WILLIAM LOUIS . 321


PRATT, JOSEPH HYDE .


327


REINHARDT, ROBERT SMITH


333


RICKS, ROBERT HENRY 342


ROYSTER, FRANK SHEPPARD


345


RUFFIN, THOMAS .


350


STOCKARD, HENKY JEROME


383


THOMPSON, GEORGE WARREN .407


VAN NOPPEN, LEONARD CHARLES


412


WATKINS, WILLIAM HENRY 426


WEEKS, STEPHEN BEAUREGARD


433


WHITEHEAD, MARCELLUS . 442


WHITEHEAD, JOHN


446


WHITEHEAD, RICHARD HENRY


449


WHITEHEAD, WILLIAM HENRY 452


WILKES, JOHN .


473


WINBORNE, BENJAMIN BRODIE


480


WRIGHT, RICHARD HARVEY


493


Contributors


SAMUEL A. ASHE


THEO. F. KLUTTZ


RICHARD H. BATTLE, A. B., LL.D. PATRICK R. LAW, A.B., B.D., D.D. G. SAMUEL BRADSHAW, A.M. M. L. LAWRENCE JOHN C. BUXTON JAMES H. MYROVER


JOSEPH P. CALDWELL


FRANK NASH


J. B. CARLYLE, A.M. COLLIER COBB, A. M.


LOUIS JULIEN PICOT, M.D.


THOMAS M. PITTMAN


R. D. W. CONNOR, PH.B.


EDWARD W. SIKES, PH D.


ROBERT P. DICK, A. M., LL.D. WILLIAM C. SMITH, A. B.


BENJAMIN F. DIXON


JAMES H. SOUTHGATE, A. B.


LEONARD C. VAN NOPPEN, A.M.


FRANCIS P. VENABLE, PH. D.


J. G. dE R. HAMILTON, A. M.


MARSHALL DE L. HAYWOOD


GEORGE HOWE, PH. D.


STEPHEN B. WEEKS, PH.D., LL.D. GEORGE STOCKTON WILLS, A.M. ROBERT W. WINBORNE, A. B.


THOS. H. HUME, A. M., D.D., L.L. D. FRANCIS D. WINSTON, A. B. JAMES MCNEILL JOHNSON WILLIAM A. WITHERS, A. M.


-------


AL FAIRBROTHER ROBERT B. GLENN


ELEAZAR ALLEN


T HE subject of this sketch, Eleazar Allen, for some fifteen years, during a most interesting period of the development of the Province of North Carolina, played an important part in public affairs. Not only, as stated on his tomb- stone, "did God endow him with an admirable understanding, and his parents with a liberal education, of both of which he made the most excellent use," but by his family con- nections and his public employment he exerted a strong influence on the course of events.


He was born in Massachusetts in 1692, of English parentage. His grandfather, Reverend John Allen, of Norfolk, England, was educated at Cambridge, where he took B.A. in 1615, and M.A. in 1619. In 1637 he came to America and organized the church at Dedham, Massachusetts, which he served as minister until his death in 1671. One of his sons, Doctor Daniel Allen, graduated at Harvard in 1675, was librarian of the college, and took the degree of M.A. in 1678. He married Mary Anna Bendall, and had by her, among other children, the subject of this sketch. After the death of Doctor Allen his widow married Samuel Lynde. In her will Mrs. Lynde makes a bequest "unto my lov- ing son, Eleazar, of Carolina." It is interesting to note also that a sister of the subject of this sketch, Katherine Allen, married Josiah Willard, and bequests were likewise made by Mrs. Lynde


2


NORTH CAROLINA


to her Willard grandchildren. 'Circumstances led the footsteps of young Allen to Charleston, South Carolina, where he became a merchant, and there at some time prior to 1722 he married Sarah Rhett, the eldest daughter of Colonel William Rhett, who was born June, 1697. Another daughter of Colonel Rhett mar- ried "King" Roger Moore of the Cape Fear, and a niece of Mrs. Allen married Thomas Franklin, an officer of the British Navy, and another niece married William Dry of the Cape Fear.


In 1723 Colonel Maurice Moore determined on making the set- tlement of the Cape Fear, and sought to interest his connections in South Carolina, as well as those in the Albemarle region, in this enterprise. Roger Moore and his family were among the first to move, and Mr. Allen agreed to join them in their new home. In 1725 he obtained a grant for land on the Cape Fear adjoining the Orton plantation, where Roger Moore built, and there later he made his residence, calling his plantation Lilliput.


It appears, however, that Mr. Allen, about that time, returned to Massachusetts and graduated at Harvard in 1726. He was then about thirty-four years of age; and possibly it may have happened that he had left Harvard in his youth without graduat- ing, and he now returned merely to finish his course, perfect him- self in some lines, and obtain his degree. Coming back to Charleston, he was for some time Clerk of the Assembly of the Province of South Carolina, and he remained in his old home until 1734. It was expected, however, that he would take up his residence on the Cape Fear earlier, and in August, 1730, when Burrington was appointed Governor of North Carolina, he rec- ommended Allen to be one of his Council; and he was appointed, but he remained in South Carolina and was not sworn in as a Councillor until November 2, 1734. Governor Johnston arrived at the Cape Fear on October 27th; on November 6th Governor Burrington met the General Assembly at Edenton, and most of the Council were in attendance at that place. On November 2d, Halton, Allen and Roger Moore, being at Brunswick, formed a Council, and Governor Johnston exhibited his commission and began his administration. On the 6th of March following Gov-


களீட்டின்


3


ELEAZAR ALLEN


ernor Johnston appointed Allen Receiver-General of the Province in the place of John Hamerton, who was then absent from the Province; and a fortnight later he appointed him an assistant Judge of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, and directed that the first term of that Court should be held at Newton on the following 13th of May ; and he also appointed Allen one of the Justices of New Hanover Precinct. Mr. Allen's business qualifications, as well, perhaps, as his fine education, at once gave him prom- inence in public matters, and at the first meeting of the General Assembly, he and Secretary Nathaniel Rice were appointed a committee of the Council to draw up an address to the Governor ; and the General Assembly recommended to the Governor and Council his appointment as Treasurer of New Hanover Precinct in the place of John Baptista Ashe, who had recently died, and the appointment was made.


The matter of the dividing line between North and South Caro- lina had long been unsettled. Originally the Lords Proprietors intended to establish a number of counties in Carolina, each with its local government, but all under a general Parliament. At the very first there were established, with undefined limits, the coun- ties of Albemarle, Clarendon and Craven. At length, about 1689, when Ludwell was appointed Governor, his commission gave him authority "over that part of our Province lying north and east of Cape Fear." Then Bath County was established with undefined southern limits, and Clarendon County ceased to ex- ist, probably in 1667 when the Cape Fear was deserted and re- lapsed into an unoccupied wilderness. When Carteret Precinct was established, it extended south to the limits of North Caro- lina. The South Carolina authorities claimed the Cape Fear River as the boundary, and in 1692, under this claim, a settlement had been projected, if not actually made, on the Cape Fear River, and a grant of 40,000 acres to Landgrave Smith had been located about where the town of Brunswick was afterwards built ; and in subsequent years other South Carolina grants were located on the Cape Fear agreeably to this claim on the part of the South Carolina authorities: But Burrington, who was interested in the


4


NORTH CAROLINA


settlement of the Cape Y'car and had two plantations on that river, when he went to England in 1729, on the purchase of Caro- lina by the Crown, to push his claim for appointment as first Royal Governor, exerted himself to have the limits of the Prov- ince extended further to the southward. In 1732, learning that some South Carolina patents were being located on the north side of the Wackamaw River, on lands formerly occupied by the Con- garee Indians, he advertised in the newspaper at Charleston that that section was in North Carolina. Burrington's instructions were that "the line should begin at the sea thirty miles distant from the Cape Fear, and should run at the same distance from that river to its head, and thence a due west course, unless Wackamaw lie within thirty miles of the Cape Fear River; then Wackamaw was to be the boundary." A question arose whether that meant the mouth of Wackamaw, or any part of that stream. In consequence of the representations made by Burrington and his strenuous endeavors to advance the interests of North Caro- lina, it was ordered that each province should appoint commission- ers to agree upon a proper line subject to the King's approval. Eleazar Allen was appointed one of the commissioners on the part of North Carolina, and the commissioners met at his house at Lilliput on the 23d of April, 1735, and agreed that a due west line should be run from Cape Fear along the seacoast for thirty miles, and then proceed northwest to the 35th degree of north latitude, etc.


One week later the commissioners began to run the line, and the thirty miles carried them to ten poles from the mouth of Little River. In September they ran the line seventy miles to the north- west. In 1737 the line was extended in the same direction twenty- two miles; and from there in 1764 it was extended due west to Waxhaw Creek. This line was very much more favorable to North Carolina than any that had been previously proposed. In- deed the South Carolinians had contended for a boundary that would have thrown into their province the greater part of west- ern Carolina. It is apparent, therefore, that Mr. Allen and his associates on that occasion rendered the Province excellent service.


5


ELEAZAR ALLEN


Indeed he was well qualified to discharge the duties that devolved upon him in this and other employments of a public nature, for he was without doubt a man of superior parts and fine attainments. That the Cape Fear could even at that early date boast a society not surpassed in refinement elsewhere in America is a matter highly interesting and creditable. Not only were many of the first settlers men of wealth and ability, but there was a diffusion of education that imparted to the settlement a notable character ; and Mr. Allen himself was an example of this culture. His library, according to the inventory before us, contained some 300 English and Latin volumes, including the standard works of that era : the classics, poetry, history, travels and works of fiction, as well as of a religious nature. Besides, there were fifty volumes in French : history, travels, science, poetry, and French transla- tions of Latin authors. The last book in the catalogue is "La Vie de Jésus Christ."


On a careful examination of this inventory of a library in use on the Cape Fear at that early period, one can but admire the fine taste and culture that led to such a collection of standard litera- ture. It is an evidence of a refinement and an elevation of senti- ment that reflects high credit on the community.


Moreover, a similar illustration is found in the will of Mrs. Allen : "I ordain that the said Mrs. De Rossett and Mrs. Dry have the care of all my private papers. . . . As to all my other letters to and from my several correspondents abroad and in America, as also what miscellaneous I have of the amusing kind, I commit them entirely to their discretion;" from which it would appear that Mrs. Allen employed herself at times in literary composition.


Mr. Allen's worth was appreciated by Governor Johnston, and in addition to his duties as Councillor and Judge he was Receiver- General of the province, having the duty of collecting the quit rents.


This last employment entailed no end of trouble and finally brought him into financial difficulty. The original practice, under the Act of 1715, was to pay these rents in commodities at a fixed


6


NORTH CAROLINA


valuation on the plantations. The authorities now undertook to change that practice, and a conflict ensued that led to the cessation of payments. An Act was, however, passed in 1737 that com- promised the points at issue, and all difficulties would have been removed if that Act had not been disallowed in England; but it was annulled, and there was trouble in collecting the rents. Mr. Allen made frequent representations as to these matters, but with such little avail that after his death a claim was made by the Crown against his estate and his property was held liable for his failure to collect the rents.


Hardly had Governor Johnston gotten warm in his seat as Gov- vernor before he became interested in promoting the growth of Newton, later called Wilmington, to the detriment of Brunswick, throwing himself in conflict with the gentlemen who had settled in the older town. Thus the Governor, along with Murray, Innes, and other Wilmingtonians, came into collision with the Moores and their connections, who were called by the Governor's faction "The family." Mr. Allen belonged to "The family," and there was some friction between him and the Governor until that matter was finally settled.


On the IIth of July, 1749, Edward Moseley, who was Treas- urer of the Province, died, and Mr. Allen at the succeeding ses- sion of the General Assembly, October, 1749, was elected treas- urer in his place. But he himself died the succeeding January, and at the next session, April, 1750, John Starkey was nominated by the Lower House, the Council proposing another. Starkey was appointed, but that was a beginning of the controversy be- tween the two Houses over the right to appoint a treasurer, which never was finally settled.


When Burrington came over, he was accompanied by William Smith, then appointed Chief-Justice of the Province. A year or two later Smith returned to England and Burrington appointed Daniel Hanmer Chief-Justice in his absence. Smith died in 1743, and Governor Johnston appointed John Montgomery Chief- Justice. Montgomery died in 1744, and Edward Moseley was .appointed to succeed him. Enoch Hall seems to have been then


7


ELEAZAR ALLEN


appointed Chief-Justice, perhaps being commissioned by the Crown. In March, 1748, Eleazar Allen, Edward Moseley and Roger Moore were appointed Associate-Justices of the Province by the Governor. In October of 1749 Hall was acting as Chief- Justice, but on the 18th of December, 1749, Eleazar Allen took the probate of a deed as follows: "Personally appeared before me Eleazar Allen, Chief-Justice of the Province," etc.


On the tombstone of Mrs. Allen is an inscription reciting that she was the widow of Chief-Justice Allen. From these facts it may be inferred that during the absence of Enoch Hall, the Chief- Justice of the Province, towards the end of the year 1749, Eleazar Allen, being the senior Associate Justice, temporarily filled the office of Chief-Justice by appointment of the Governor. But Allen did not long live to enjoy his new office. He died Janu- ary 7, 1750. On his tombstone the date is stated, January 7, 1749, but evidently that is according to the old system when the year began on the 25th of March instead of on January Ist; for he certainly was alive in the Fall of 1749. On his tombstone it is recorded that "his life was a constant course of picty and vir- tue," and indeed every memorial that has come down to us in- dicates that he was held in high estecm; and in a period when there was much jealousy. among the public men, there was no word of disparagement recorded against him. Mrs. Allen sur- vived her husband eleven years, dying February 26, 1761. She passed her widowhood on the Lilliput plantation, but appears to have made two voyages to England. Having no children of her own, she felt almost a mother's affection and interest in her nieces, the daughters of Roger Moore and his wife, and of Captain Franklin and of William Dry; and a most affectionate remem- brance of her and of her husband was long cherished by a large circle of friends and connections among the people of the Cape Fear.


The writer of this sketch is much indebted to Mr. W. B. Mc- Koy, of Wilmington, for the use of his collection of manuscripts in the preparation of this sketch.


S. A. Ashe.


A


ALFRED H. BELO


A LFRED H. BELO, soldier, statesman and journalist, was born, May, 1839, in Salem, North Carolina. He was of Moravian stock, and the family name can be traced back to 1620. Seeking a home where they could wor- ship according to the dictates of their con- science, his forefathers located at Salem in North Carolina, where they were well esteemed by their associates. Colonel Belo's father was Frederick Edward Boehlo, but he chose to drop the Frederick and to cut his last name to Belo. He was a man of good business qualifications, owning an iron foundry, a linseed oil mill, a farm of some four hundred acres, and a wholesale and retail general mercantile store, and was prosperous. When the subject of this sketch was sufficiently advanced at the Moravian Boys' School, he entered the Masonic Institute at Germanton, and from there he passed to the care of the celebrated Doctor Wilson in Alamance County, under whose tutelage he completed his education.


His father was a self-reliant man, who managed every detail of his large business himself, and when his son returned from school at the age of nineteen he proceeded to train him as his business associate.


In 1860, when he had just attained his majority, he was en- · trusted with the responsibility of making the annual purchases


Art. BElos


--------


9


ALFRED H. BELO


at New York for the supply of the Belo business, having ex- hibited unusual capacity as a business man with so short a training.


When the crisis of 1861 came on, although he deprecated the precipitous course of the Southern States that seceded, upon the call to arms by North Carolina he raised a company, of which, on May 22, 1861, he was commissioned captain and which be- came Company D of the 21st Regiment, William W. Kirkland being the colonel.


Captain Belo shared in the fortunes of his command and regi- ment, and by his gallantry and bravery won the applause of both his men and his superiors. His regiment was in the battle of First Manassas and was in hot pursuit of the routed Federal Army for several miles, thinking they were going right into Wash- ington ; but to their amazement they were ordered to arrest the pursuit and retrace their steps. The regiment later was assigned to Trimble's brigade and participated in the historic valley cam- paign, performing a great part in the battle of Winchester, where General Banks was defeated, routing Shields, and indeed, in re- peated engagements, sweeping away no less than four Federal armies, and then striking McClellan's right in front of Richmond.


On the reorganization of the 21st, Captain Belo was assigned by Governor Clark as adjutant of the camp of military instruction at Raleigh, and in the Fall of 1862 he served on the staff of Gen- eral Hoke, near Winchester, and performed staff duty at Peters- burg, and in March, 1863, he was commissioned major and as- signed to the 55th Regiment, which became a part of General Davis's Mississippi Brigade. In the Spring of 1863 this brigade constituted a portion of Longstreet's command that was sent to make an attack on Suffolk, Virginia. While on this duty a differ- ence arose between Captain Terrell and Captain Cousins on the staff of General Laws and the officers of the 55th that led to an interesting episode. The former had stated that the 55th North Carolina had been assigned to protect a battery which the Federal forces captured, and. Colonel Connally, denying that statement, demanded that they should correct their report, which they de-


-


3 192


IO


NORTH CAROLINA


clined to do. Thereupon, ou Colonel Connally's suggestion, it was agreed that the field officers and the captains of the 55th should take the matter up and by continued challenges fight it out to the bitter end. Agreeably to this, Colonel Connally challenged As- sistant Adjutant-General Terrell, and Major Belo challenged Captain Cousius. The meeting between the four officers oc- curred at the same hour and with only a ridge of hills separating them. Cousins selected large-calibre rifles and a distance of forty paces. Both fired simultaneously. Major Belo's shot passed through Captain Cousins's hat, and Cousins's shot missed Belo. Somewhat dissatisfied with their bad shooting, at the second shot Belo missed Cousins, while Cousins's ball passed through Belo's coat just above the shoulder. Before their third shot, the friends of Colonel Connally and of Captain Terrell, who had engaged in an effort to make an honorable settlement, succeeded in doing so; and Captain Terrell, becoming satisfied that he was in error, withdrew the original cause of offence, which prevented further hostilities between him and Colonel Connally; and this informa- tion was communicated just in time to prevent the exchange of a third shot between Major Belo and Captain Cousins. The affair was then amicably settled.


Major Belo's coolness and courage were unsurpassed. From Gettysburg, where he was in command in the railroad cut, down through the carnage at Cold Harbor, his spirit and gallantry and persistence were heroic. At Gettysburg he was severely wounded, and there received his promotion as lieutenant-colonel, and he was again wounded at Cold Harbor. But he was engaged in all the great battles up to that time, although because of his wounds he was unable to serve with his regiment after that. The his- torian of the 55th Regiment says :


"Colonel Belo's wound was in the arm, half-way between the elbow and shoulder joint : the bone was shattered and the operation of re-section was performed. The loss to the regiment was irreparable. He had been with the regiment in all its hard-fought battles and had the absolute confidence of every man in the regiment. He had a genius for organization and ap- preciated every detail that contributed to the effectiveness or character




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