USA > North Carolina > Biographical history of North Carolina from colonial times to the present; > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
His first wife, who passed much of her time at Elleslie, bore him two children : Florence, who became the wife of Mr. J. G. Wright, of Wilmington; and Eugene Maffitt. His wife dying on August 3, 1852, he married Mrs. Caroline Laurens Read, a member of the distinguished Laurens family of South Carolina. At first their residence was near Fayetteville, but after a year or so Mr. Maffitt purchased a home on the James River, establishing his family in the vicinity of that of Colonel John Jones, the father of Captain J. Pembroke Jones, and of other friends.
In 1858, being then Assistant Superintendent of the Coast Sur- vey, he moved to Washington City, where his home was fre- quented by a circle of choice friends-Honorable Jeremiah Black, Judge Ratcliffe, Professor Bache, etc., and their families-social life at the Federal capital being then in the zenith of perfection. Here, however, in 1859, Mrs. Maffitt succumbed to disease; but his family continued to occupy his home.
After sixteen years of distinguished service in Coast Survey work, during which Mr. Maffitt won the highest encomiums, on June 1, 1858, he was given command of the brig Dolphin and ordered to cruise in the Gulf to suppress piracy and to capture slavers, vessels carrying cargoes of Negroes from Africa to the Spanish Islands. These slavers were for the most part fitted out in New England, and while their cargoes were intended for Cuba and other communities to the South chiefly, yet on one or two oc- casions it was thought that a cargo had been landed in some of the
206
NORTH CAROLINA
slave-holding districts of the United States. His cruise was suc- cessful, and Lieutenant Maffitt was the first American Navy of- ficer to capture a slaver with her cargo. It was the brig Echo which, having captured, he sent into Charleston, South Carolina, for condemnation. A year later he was assigned to the command of the steamer Crusader, and continued on the same duty. With her he captured three more slavers, the last falling into his hands in August, 1860.
The secession of some of the Southern States made the opening of the year 1861 ominous. The future seemed full of trouble. Officers whose lives had been passed under the flag of their coun- try, whose honor and glory was as dear to them as life, were now much perplexed. Many of the army officers of Southern birth re- signed their commissions; the navy officers, abroad on the high seas, were placed in the most delicate situation. Honor required the strictest fidelity to the flag of their country until relieved of their obligations. At his request Lieutenant Maffitt was on March 1, 1861, detached from his command, and he returned home to settle his accounts. All of his property was at the North; and the South, with no ships, offered no active employment to Navy officers. But Lieutenant Maffitt did not hesitate. Resolved to share the fortunes of the Southern people, he made every sacri- fice. Early in April he sent his children to the home of his cousin, Mrs. Eliza Hybart, at Elleslie (near Fayetteville, North Carolina), where they remained during the period of the war, and which he regarded as his own home, always saying, "I love every blade of grass about it." And then, on May 2d, having tendered his resig- nation in the United States Navy, he turned his face Southward, and five days later offered his services to the Southern Confed- eracy. His resignation was accepted by the Federal Government on June 4th to date on May 2d.
President Davis commissioned him Lieutenant in the Confed- erate States Navy, and assigned him to duty with Commodore Tatnall, who was organizing a fleet of small vessels on the coast of South Carolina : and Lieutenant Maffitt bore a distinguished part in the battle of Hilton Head, when the Federal fleet took pos-
U
1
JOHN NEWLAND MAFFITT
207
session of Port Royal. In the same battle his son, Eugene, re- ceived his baptism in blood.
That Fall General R. E. Lee was assigned to the command of the coast, and on November 11, 1861, Lieutenant Maffitt joined his staff and was employed on the special duty of mapping roads, con- structing forts and obstructing the Coosaw River. His associa- tion with the great chieftain was most agreeable. Some three years later he brought through the blockade a sword belt which he intended to present to General Lee, and having sent it, General Lee wrote him the following letter :
"I have received the sword belt you were so kind as to send me. It is very handsome, and I appreciate it highly as a token of your remembrance. I recall with great pleasure the days of our association in Carolina-with equal admiration your brilliant career since, in defence of your country. Wishing you all happiness and prosperity, etc."
The war had broken out suddenly without any preparation for it either at the North or the South. The conditions at the North, however, readily admitted of the organization of both military and naval forces and their speedy equipment. At the South it was very different, there being neither ships of war nor any naval or mili- tary stores. The first movement of the Federal Government was to declare the ports of the South in a state of blockade, but for some months there was no adequate force to intercept commerce. For sometime ordinary sailing vessels were engaged in carrying out Southern products and bringing in needed cargoes. At length, at the opening of 1862, the Confederate Government determined to engage in that enterprise, and on January 7, 1862, Captain Maffitt was ordered to the Confederate States steamer Cecile to run the blockade and bring in arms, ammunition and military stores. He was selected for this particular work because of his superior knowledge of the harbors of the coast, and well did he perform the service with which he was charged. He continued to run the blockade until May, when he was ordered to take com- mand of the Florida, a Confederate steamer then at Nassau. This vessel had been built in England and had sailed under the name of Oreto. Receiving her, an empty hull, Captain Maffitt equipped
208
NORTH CAROLINA
her under difficult circumstances near a desolate and uninhabited island known as Green Kay, some ninety miles southward of New Providence; and boldly took the sea. But yellow fever breaking out, it became necessary to enter a Confederate port, and he de- termined to proceed to Mobile. The draught of the Florida made it perilous to cross the bar at night, and he preferred the dangers of a naval encounter. At 3 o'clock on the afternoon of Sep- tember 4th he sighted Fort Morgan, and three Federal men-of-war hastened to contest his entrance. Oftentimes boldness is the best policy. Resolutely he pressed forward under a full head of steam, steering directly for the flagship Oncida. When eighty yards from that vessel she and the other two blockaders opened furiously upon the Florida. Without firing a gun the Florida kept on, through roar of shot and bursting shell, with crashing spars and rigging, mingled with the moans of the wounded, silently pursuing her course. Simultaneously two heavy shells entered the hull of the Florida with a thud that caused a vibration from stem to stern, but nothing vital had been injured; and with calmness Maffitt pressed on, finally clearing the circle of his foes, whose artillery roared still more furiously, and denser became the black clouds from their smoke stacks as they fed their fires with rosin to increase their speed and overtake their prey But the dangers were passed, and the Florida successfully came to anchor under the guns of Fort Morgan.
Admiral Porter in his "Naval History" recounts the wonderful story of this perilous run through Commander Preble's fleet in broad daylight, with a crew decimated by yellow fever, and Maffitt himself scarcely able to stand, owing to its prostrating effects ; he and the man at the wheel being alone on deck. He describes Captain Maffitt as standing "amid the storm of shot and shell per- fectly unmoved, keenly watching the marks for entering the port," and says :
"During the whole war there was not a more exciting adventure than this escape of the Florida into Mobile Bay. The gallant manner in which it was conducted excited great admiration, even among the men who were responsible for permitting it. We do not suppose that there ever was a
TAD HTXON
209
JOHN NEWLAND MAFFITT
case where a man, under all the attending circumstances, displayed more energy and more bravery."
Commodore Preble was dismissed from the service for permit- ting the Florida to pass through his lines; subsequently, how- ever, he was reinstated. The Federal Government bent on keep- ing the Florida hermetically sealed up in Mobile Bay, increased the blockading force, and gave stringent orders to prevent her escape. Captain Maffitt, having repaired his vessel and perfected her equipment, awaited his opportunity to return to the sea. A perfect master of his profession and at home in the fiercest storms, he awaited a heavy gale to leave his port. On January 14, 1863, a terrible storm set in. It was so violent that it was impossible to get under way until two o'clock at night, and then he passed the bar, was discovered and pursued by half a dozen swift block- aders. "From stormy morn till stormy eve the chase was vigilantly continued ;" but when nightfall came Maffitt, fertile in expedients, furled his sails, stopped his engines, and allowed his pursuers to pass him by. And then he made sail and entered on his career, which extended from opposite New York to a thousand miles south of the Equator. Many vessels of great value were seized by him and disposed of according to his instructions ; but he never was forgetful of the dictates of humanity in providing for those whose misfortune it was to fall into his power. He soon cap- tured a vessel freighted with a heavy cargo of anthracite coal and converted her into a cruising storehouse. Having captured a fast brig, the Clarence, he turned her over to one of his lieutenants, C. W. Read, equipping her as an armed tender. Read subse- quently exchanged her for the Tacony, and made many captures on the coast of Maine, even entering the harbor of Portland at night. Alone on the great deep, without friends, unable to ask assistance in time of distress, he braved the storms and hurricanes that swept the seas, and proudly bearing the Confederate flag, he pursued his perilous way, and drove American commerce from the highways of the ocean. After an eight months' cruise, during which Captain Maffitt and his tenders made many captures and destroyed property to the value of about ten millions of dollars,
200810 НIЯ
MI ci bsilgus
21I
JOHN NEWLAND MAFFITT
tion as a British captain, received command of the British merchant steamer Widgeon, trading between Liverpool and Rio Janeiro, and that vessel being sold to the Brazilian Government, he sur- rendered her on March 27, 1867, and finally returned to the United States. He soon located at Wilmington, where he bought a farm on the sound, which he named the Moorings, and there he gathered his family around him. Admired and beloved in that community where he was so well known and so justly esteemed, his life now became most agreeable in its tranquillity. A charming conversa- tionalist, a man of lofty sentiments and a gentleman distinguished for refinement and courtesy, he made the Moorings a resort where congenial spirits loved to assemble. On November 23, 1870, he was married to Miss Emma Martin, and in her delightful com- panionship he prepared for publication his own reminiscences under the title of "The Nautilus," and wrote an admirable account of his experiences in running the blockade, and various other valuable sketches, among them biographical notices of Admiral Semmes and of Captain James W. Cooke, of the Confederate . States' Navy, who built the Albemarle and commanded her in the famous battle of Plymouth. By his second wife Captain Maffitt had two sons, John Laurens and Colden Rhind, and his last mar- riage was blessed by three children, Mary Read, Clarence Dudley and Robert Strange. At length, in the early Spring of 1885, he became a sufferer from Bright's disease, and on May 15, 1886, he passed away, lamented by the entire community.
S. A. Ashe.
CHARLES DUNCAN MCIVER
T times more or less critical in the history of our State, it has now and then fallen to our lot to A pause in the toilsome journey of progress while we awaited the coming of a master spirit who should guide us safely and surely in the direc- tion of some wished for goal. Nor have we at such times long waited in vain, for, North Carolina, whatever else she may have lacked, has not been wanting in men able and willing to dedicate themselves to the service of that State whose glories are her sacrifices and whose spirit finds truthful expression in her motto, "To be rather than to seem." Thus, whether the call came in war or peace it mattered not. It was sufficient to know that there was service to be rendered, and it followed that what men could do was done.
Among those who have thus faithfully and efficiently served the Mother State in time of need is to be included the name of Charles Duncan McIver. Born September 27, 1860, on a farm near Sanford, in Moore County, North Carolina, he was ushered into the world in the midst of the most exciting Presidential campaign in the history of our country. But all unnoticed by him passed the partizan and political strife then absorbing the attention of State and nation; nor was his child-mind old enough to com- prehend the momentous significance of the years which followed, when fratricidal war wrought havoc in the land and left in its
1
213
CHARLES DUNCAN MCIVER
desolating wake ravages scarce repaired by a long thirty years of matchless striving. The aftermath of war it was given him to know and feel, not through a morbid recounting of its incurable evils, nor through the handing down of a heritage of hate, but by means of the saner teachings of economy, self-denial and bodily toil, lessons hard in the learning, but mighty in the making of men.
The region around what is now the town of Sanford was peopled largely by settlers whose ancestors came from the High- lands of Scotland. Evander McIver, when eight years old, bade farewell to his rugged birthplace, the Isle of Skye, and with his father made his new home in the pleasant sand hills of North Carolina. In his son, Matthew Henry, the father of Charles D. McIver, were exemplified the many sterling traits that history shows to be characteristic of the Highland Scotch. Among these traits may be mentioned earnest piety, devotion to liberty, respect for law and order, and love for education. A successful farmer, a respected elder in the Presbyterian Church, a useful and influential citizen, he was an admirable type of that class upon which in great- est measure rests the stability of State and society. A similar description applies to the maternal ancestors of Charles D. McIver, who were of Scotch and English descent. To his mother, whose maiden name was Harrington, and who on her maternal side is descended from the McNeills of Scotland, the son ascribes the formative and directive influences of his early years. No small measure of the fruit of his useful life is of seed of her careful sowing. Leal and true-these Scotch and English ancestors de- cided in their convictions on questions of church and State, yet tolerant and charitable ; patriotically responding to the call of the South in her hour of need, and bravely giving themselves to the rebuilding of waste places in the dark years that followed ; fearers of God, and supporters of schools and churches, it is worth some- thing to be born in a community of which such men are citizens, and to reckon them among one's neighbors and personal friends.
Amid the thrifty and orderly influences of this Christian home and community, in attendance upon the excellent private schools
tod ad of onid
xls bimA
-
214
NORTH CAROLINA
of the neighborhood, and in the daily performance of all the vari- ous labors that fall to the lot of the healthy farmer boy, the sub- ject of this sketch spent the first seventeen years of his life. Here were laid the foundations of that vigorous health that has enabled him to stand so well the mental and physical strain of later years, and here were implanted that love for man and nature, and that intelligent and sympathetic appreciation of the needs of our rural commonwealth which have proved valuable forces in fitting him to become an able champion of the great cause of universal education.
The Fall of 1877 found our farmer lad enrolled as a student of the University of North Carolina. Here he spent four profitable years, graduating in 1881 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In scholarship he took high rank, leading his class in Greek and French, and sharing with three others the honors in Latin.
Undecided as yet upon his life work, he turned to the profession of teaching, and in the Fall of 1881 became assistant in a private school in Durham, North Carolina. His ability won quick rec- ognition, and in the Spring of the same scholastic year he was made principal of the school. In May, 1882, he cast his first vote, this being in favor of a local tax for the support of the Durham public school system. The fact is worthy of record in that as a private school man he voted for a measure which, though for the public good, seemed decidedly against his own personal interests. He assisted in the establishment of the Durham graded schools, and, after serving them as principal for one and one-half years, resigned to accept a similar position and to perform a similar work in the schools of Winston. Here he remained from February, 1884, until September, 1886, at which time he accepted a call to Peace Institute, Raleigh, North Carolina, where, as prin- cipal of the literary department, he remained until June, 1889.
In the meantime he had fully decided upon his life-work, and rejecting attractive offers of partnerships in business and law strove to make himself master of his chosen profession-teaching. He put himself in touch with the quickening forces of the time, and sought to add to the strength of the old, the inspiration of
215
CHARLES DUNCAN MCIVER
the new, era. Visits of inspection were made to schools of prom- ise, and conferences sought with able educational leaders. The ideas thus obtained were accepted, modified, or rejected, as the actual work of the schoolroom proved them valuable and prac- ticable, or the reverse. He early associated himself with the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly as one of its active members and supporters. The vacation periods of every year were devoted to work in county institutes and in State Summer schools. In addition to his labors as teacher and lecturer, he served as prin- cipal of the State Summer Normal School at Wilson, and for two successive terms as superintendent of the Summer Normal School at Sparta. While thus availing himself of the means at hand to promote the interests of public education, he was quick to realize the inadequacy of the work as then conducted. "The majority of teachers," he reports in 1887, "cannot go a great distance to attend normal schools. Small salaries and short school terms render it in many cases impossible. Efficient county insti- tutes should be brought within the reach of every teacher in the State."*
Here we have presented in few words the lines of future edu- cational reform. Institutes within the reach of every teacher -- will he do aught to accomplish this? Larger salaries for teachers, a longer school term, with the increased appropriations which these imply and the higher professional equipment and better ser- vice which they in turn demand-will he do more than call the attention of the State Superintendent to these needs? But we must not anticipate.
To the urgent need of better qualified teachers those interested in education now began to give earnest attention. Through the agency of the Teachers' Assembly petitions for the establishment of a normal training school were several times presented to the Legislature-but without effect. Feeling that more active steps should be taken, Charles D. McIver, in 1889, made a stirring speech before his fellow-educators at their annual meeting, which
*Bennial Report of State Superintendent of Public Instruction 1887-88, page 40.
216
NORTH CAROLINA
resulted in the appointment of a committee, of which he was made chairman, to appear before the Legislature at its next session and personally present and urge the adoption of a bill for the estab- lishment of a training school for teachers.
On a day agreed upon the members of the committee appeared before the General Assembly, presented the bill and earnestly advo- cated its passage. The Chairman, being at the time a resident of Raleigh, was in a position to labor continuously in behalf of the measure of which henceforth he was the recognized champion. He met with little encouragement and with much opposition, but so convincingly did he press home his arguments in personal con- ferences with members of the Legislature, that, to the surprise of all, the bill passed the Senate by a large majority and failed in the House by only a few votes.
Although the General Assembly did not at this time provide for the establishment of a State normal college, it wisely trans- ferred the appropriation hitherto devoted to the eight Summer normal schools to the maintenance of a system of county insti- tutes. Thus provision was made for carrying into effect the rec- ommendation urged by our Sparta normal school superintendent of bringing institutes within reach of every teacher in the State. Charles D. McIver and Edwin A. Alderman, then superintendent of the Goldsboro schools, were induced to take charge of this work, and were therefore appointed State institute conductors.
Now began one of the most important campaigns ever con- ducted in the State, and perhaps one of the most interesting in the history of public education. For three years, from September, 1889, to September, 1892, Winter and Summer, these men preached a crusade in behalf of universal education. In every county and in every important city and town in the State, by lec- tures, by teaching, by public addresses, by conferences with teach- ers and school committeemen, by talks with farmers, editors, county officials and politicians, by every approved method, in short, known to advocate and reformer, the work was diligently. and vigorously prosecuted. The good results of their labors are with us to-day, and will continue to bless the commonwealth when
217
CHARLES DUNCAN MCIVER
we, our children, and our children's children have finished life's appointed lessons and put the books away.
"My work," declares the man whose career we are following, "is con- ducted with a view to stimulating and encouraging the teachers, and to making friends to the cause of public education among the people. . . . My institutes last five days. The first four days are devoted mainly to the professional work of the teacher. Lectures are delivered on the different branches taught in the public schools; on school organization, discipline, methods of teaching, and methods of studying ; on school law, and on the proper use of the books on the State list. Friday, the fifth day, is, in a special sense, 'People's Day.' The school committeemen and people gen- erally are urged to attend, and the exercises are arranged with a view to interesting and instructing them in the work of public education. Besides various other exercises, a special address is made on that day, showing the necessity for education by taxation, and answering objections to it com- monly heard among the people."*
Amid the arduous duties of his campaign work the necessity of a training school for teachers was not forgotten. In truth, this may be reckoned one of the means on which more and more he came to rely as promising most surely to secure the great end he had in view-universal education. Another problem now pre- sented itself-namely, where should volunteers for this needful service be found in largest numbers, who, when trained, would make the best and most sympathetic instructors of the State's children? Wider and more varied experience and a deeper insight into the real sources of the mental and moral progress of the human race convinced him that his syllogism, which before had been-Edu- cation a State necessity, the teacher the chief means of education ; therefore, the teacher a primary object of State concern, might be carried logically further and made to read : Universal education a necessity, woman the universal educator; therefore, the educa- tion of woman the foundation of human progress.
This advocacy of the more liberal education of woman is shown not only in his public addresses of that period, but in his written reports and recommendations to the State Superintendent of Pub-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.