USA > North Carolina > Biographical history of North Carolina from colonial times to the present; > Part 22
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well said of him that he was equal to every station he occupied. He, Governor Graham, Mr. Macon and Judge Badger were the most influential sons North Carolina has produced.
Mr. Priestley Mangum married Miss Rebecca Hilliard Suther- land, whose father, Colonel Ransom Sutherland, was a Revolu- tionary officer and served with high distinction during the war for independence.
The influence of such parents and of such association in his early life was not without its effect in forming the character of the sub- ject of this sketch. His father was a man of fine judgment and strong common sense, a man of high integrity, well educated and a lawyer of great influence in his community ; but he was fond of - home life and preferred a residence on his farm, and as Mrs. Man- gum unhappily died when her son was very young, he fell more particularly under the directing care of his father than is usual with children.
He was prepared for college by William J. Bingham, the second of that name, and entering Wake Forest College, graduated at that institution in 1851. Intending to devote himself to agriculture, he immediately began the life of a farmer and located on the farm where he was born two miles west of Wake Forest; and there, on December 16, 1856, he brought his bride, Miss Mary Thomas Price, and six children, now surviving, blessed their union.
Agriculture has always been the most important industry of the people of North Carolina, and it has employed the best talent of the State. In the days of slavery the finest minds and strongest men were engaged in this occupation, and they brought to it their best intelligence, and it was esteemed the noblest employment for a man's capabilities, as it was accompanied by a spirit of independ- ence and of self-reliance and of noble manhood that was not so thoroughly fostered by other vocations.
Since the abolition of slavery it has been attended with more difficulties, and its successful practice has required even closer at- tention and more strenuous endeavors ; but still it is a field for the exercise of superior talent, and Mr. Mangum's career is a notable illustration of this fact, for it has been said that "by his farm he
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PRIESTLEY HINTON MANGUM
has reflected as much credit on the State as his uncle did by his distinguished services in the Senate of the United States." The very fields amid which he was born and reared have been the scene of his exploits as a successful and intelligent farmer. His methods have attracted wide attention, and his farm has been held up before the agriculturalists of the State as an example. Indeed, one of the foremost men of Mecklenburg County, which has always been noted for its fine farms and improved methods, has been par- ticularly pronounced in calling attention to the advantages of the new methods introduced and used by Mr. Mangum ; and residents of other parts of the State have recommended the adoption of the system practiced on this model farm. In an article entitled "A Model Farmer," a judicious and intelligent editor says :
"Mr. Mangum's wheat was just about ripening and the fields of golden grain presented a most attractive scene. One field of thirty acres would yield at least thirty bushels to the acre. In the same field was clover knee high. In another large field was a good stand of cotton, which last year averaged over a bale to the acre, there were several fields of clover and other grasses, and there were stacks of last year's hay not yet used. The cattle looked fat and sleek, the milch cows with distended bags, and many of improved breeds. The hogs .were kept in a clover field and literally looked like they were 'living in clover,' so fat and healthy were they. The barns and stables were commodious and conveniently arranged, and large piles of barnyard manure showed that Mr. Mangum did not depend upon bought fertilizers. We saw quite a number of the most improved labor-sav- ing machines, which nowadays are necessary for profitable farming."
As eloquently as these facts speak of the successful results of Mr. Mangum's farming operations, they are also evidence of the judgment and intelligence which he brings to his aid in following his business as an agriculturalist. Another illustration of his su- perior merit is to be found in his progressiveness. He devised and introduced the modified terrace and used them in his fields, doing away entirely with hillside ditches. Under his system the land is prevented from washing and it can be cultivated more easily than under the system of ditches and without any waste. These terraces are from one to two feet high and about ten feet wide and carry off the water in a gently flowing current. In constructing
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them he utilized his old hillside ditches, plowing down the upper bank several times, but allowing the low embankment to remain. In front of this, where the ditch was, is a space of ten feet on a dead level. This level drain has a fail of 1} inches to 13 feet, 4 inches. The guide row is then staked off and horizontal furrows run plowing through this level drain and the embankment just as they chance to go. To run these terraces a spirit level set in a light frame 13 feet, 4 inches wide is used, and of course much judgment is needed to make them. Plowing down the hillside across the ten-foot level drain and lightly over the embankment, the water is distributed uniformly and slowly, and in the severest rain will never overflow. Whatever sediment or soil washes down is saved, the terrace gradually gaining more soil and becoming the richest part of the field. General Barringer, in his account of this fine farm, says :
"We saw land which was formerly ravines and gulleys presenting a beautiful and uniform slope. The terrace system as devised by Mr. Man- gum rids the field of grass. Every foot of land is under cultivation."
His system has attracted general attention and has found such favor as to have been adopted by other progressive and intelligent farmers in the hillside country with advantage. If he who has made two blades of grass to grow where one grew before is to be commended, the advantage to agriculture of the devices in- augurated by Mr. Mangum are still more beneficial, and are yet more worthy of high commendation.
In his political affiliations Mr. Mangum, like his illustrious uncle and other members of his family, was a Whig before the Civil War, but because of the issues evolved since that period, he has affiliated with the Democratic Party.
He is a member of the Episcopal Church and his walk in life has been consistent with his religious profession. A busy man, earnest and active in his agricultural pursuits, he has had no time for sports or amusements, and he finds sufficient exercise in horse- back riding over his farm, every part of which is constantly under his supervision.
S. A. Ashe.
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JAMES ISAAC METTS
J AMES ISAAC METTS, a gallant soldier, a patriotic citizen and a successful business man of Wilmington, was born at Kinston, March 16, 1842. His father was James Engram Metts, and his mother's maiden name was Mary Ann Tull. Miss Tull was a daughter of Isaac Tull and of Eliza Graham, who was born at Murfreesboro in 1794, be- ing the daughter of Doctor Chauncey Graham, who came from Durham, Connecticut, and settled at Murfreesboro, North Caro- lina. Doctor Graham was a surgeon during the Revolutionary War in the New York troops, hospital department. He was a son of Reverend Doctor Chauncey Graham, of Still Water, Connecticut, whose father was Doctor John Graham, D.D., the second son of one of the Marquises of Montrose. Doctor John Graham was a graduate of the University of Glasgow and received his orders at Edinburgh. In 1718 he emigrated to Boston and married Abigail, daughter of the celebrated Doctor Chauncey. He was Minister at Exeter, New Hampshire, and at Stafford, Connecticut, and the first Minister in Southbury Society, Woodbury, Connecticut. A branch of this family of Grahams, descended from the illustrious House of Montrose, also settled in Duplin County, and a branch in Lenoir County, North Carolina.
Mr. James E. Metts was a son of Frederick Metts, Jr. (whose father, Frederick Metts, was a soldier and fought under
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General Marion in the Revolutionary War), and of Polly Engre- ham. He was a farmer and merchant at Kinston until his re- moval to Wilmington in 1848. He was industrious and a man of firm convictions, insistent on fully performing all his duties in life ; unassuming, he was noted for his courteous bearing and for his sympathetic disposition, and in particular was he generous and liberal toward those who were in need. His inclinations ever led him to be helpful to the poor and to be useful to those in distress. His son, the subject of this sketch, was six years of age on the removal to Wilmington. His health in childhood was good and he was fond of out-of-door games and developed into a strong boy, particularly skilled in athletic exercises. His health giving way at the age of fifteen years, he was taken from school for two years, being then prepared for college. He was taught by that eminent instructor, Mr. George W. Jewett, and being prepared for college, entered the University in the Fall of 1860. Of young Metts as a schoolmate, one of his friends writes as follows :
"He was a general favorite because of his unselfishness, his modesty and his manliness. He was quiet and dignified on becoming occasions, but in all the healthful manly sports of the day, he was our joyous leader. He scorned that which was low and mean and he was clean and honest and fair in his speech and behavior. He led the school as an athlete, and he performed such feats as jumping into the air and turning somersaults on level ground; walking a block on his hands with heels aloft and other amazing things with the agility of a Japanese wrestler, and when he threw a clam shell over the tower of St. James' Church, we thought he had reached the acme of undying fame. I think he was one of Mr. Jewett's models as a scholar : I know that he stood well in his classes and that he applied himself diligently to his studies. He has the same characteristics `now that he had then and he bears a record of which any hero might be proud."
On the breaking out of the war, on April 15, 1861, he joined as a private the Wilmington Rifle Guards, of which Oliver P. Meares was the captain, and under the orders of Governor Ellis that company took possession, along with the Wilmington Light Infantry, of Fort Caswell, where it remained until some months later the Eighth Regiment was formed under the command of
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Colonel Radcliffe ; this company being Company I of that regi- ment, and Captain Meares being elected Lieutenant-Colonel. Then for some months Company I was stationed at Fort Fisher and was among those that laid the first foundations of that famous fortification. When the State organized her ten regiments of State troops, the Eighth Volunteers became known as the Eighteenth North Carolina Troops. In the meantime private Metts had be- come Corporal and one of the Color Guard of the regiment and served as such with it at Camp Wyatt, near Fort Fisher, and at Coosawhatchie in South Carolina. On the expiration of the twelve months for which the first volunteers had enlisted, he being then color bearer of the Eighteenth Regiment, he was discharged with others, but he re-enlisted and became fifth Sergeant of Company G, Third Regiment, of which the intrepid Gaston Meares was Colonel, the Lieutenant-Colonel being the beloved and efficient Robert H. Cowan, who was subsequently commissioned Brigadier-General, but on account of ill health resigned; and William L. DeRossett, afterward so distinguished as a military man, the Major. Their first baptism of blood was in the campaign before Richmond ; and Sergeant Metts bore himself with conspicuous courage, and his coolness was especially manifested in reforming a part of the regi- ment at the battle of Cold Harbor, and his gallantry was displayed when commanding a detail, guarding a causeway in the Chicka- hominy swamp. At the battle of Malvern Hill he was among those who received the last orders of the lamented Colonel Meares, who fell on that field. During those battles he became Orderly Sergeant, and on returning to camp he was assigned to the duty of drilling the recruits received by his company, and was compli- mented by some officers of the regiment as being the best drilled man they ever saw.
Although he had escaped the deadly peril of those bloody bat- tles, he, however, contracted disease in the peninsula swamps and for a time was separated from his company. In the promotions which followed the loss of officers at Sharpsburg, Spartanburg, Sergeant Metts became the senior Second Lieutenant of his com- pany, and at Winchester he was detailed as Commissary of his regi-
ЯT Ionolo
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ment, and after the battle of Fort Royal he discharged the duties of Adjutant. Cool, brave and determined, his admirable conduct on every field attracted the attention of his superiors, while at Fred- ericksburg he won encomiums by his gallantry. Again, however, he was a victim of pneumonia, but he was able to join his regiment in time to participate in the fighting around Winchester, where his brigade, under Stewart, did much toward winning the victory over Milroy. At Jordan's Springs his coolness under fire especially at- tracted the attention and admiration of the privates and was much .discussed by them after the battle. His efficiency gained for him the confidence of his superiors and he was selected to command the rear guard of the brigade as they were about to cross the Po- tomac. On June 18, 1863, the regiment encamped near the Dunkard Church in the woods on the battlefield of Sharpsburg, where the regiment had lost so heavily. A detail of men from the First and Third Regiments, under the command of Lieutenant Metts, did honor to their fallen associates and fired a military salute over the spot where they were buried; and in the quietude of twilight the First and Third Regiments with arms reversed and to the roll of the muffled drum marched to the place of interment, and Reverend George Patterson, the beloved Chaplain of the Third, read the impressive burial services. "Upon this solemn occasion," says the historian of the 3d, "many tears stole down the bronzed cheeks of the old veterans and all heads were bowed in grief."
Lieutenant Metts accompanied his regiment to the vicinity of Carlyle and then by a forced march reached Gettysburg on the evening of the Ist, but the brigade was not seriously engaged until the next evening. Then being on the left of the line at Culp's · Hill, they drove the enemy from their first defenses, and Lieu- tenant Metts, leading his men forward, was soon hotly engaged within seventy-five yards of their second line of breastworks. There he fell from a rifle ball that penetrated his right breast and passing through the lung inflicted a terrible and most dangerous wound, from which none thought he would recover, and from which at times he still suffers. An eye-witness stated that when Lieutenant Metts was shot he was gallantly cheering his men, his
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JAMES ISAAC METTS
hat in one hand and his sword in the other, both aloft. In that battle the Third Regiment, which entered with 300 guns, lost 223 men and no prisoners. Lieutenant-Colonel Parsley, Captain E. H. Armstrong and Lieutenant Lyon were the only officers who passed through the terrible ordeal unhurt. Adjutant James helped his fallen friend to the ambulance corps, and for two miles Lieutenant Metts was hauled over rough roads, suffering the most excruciating agony and weakened by the loss of blood. On the withdrawal of the Confederate forces, he fell into the hands of the enemy, but was cared for by kind ladies from Baltimore and was conveyed to the General Camp Hospital and to the hospital at Baltimore, where he was the recipient of great kindnesses from the ladies of that city; and later he was transferred to Johnson's Island, Lake Erie, where his kinsman, Colonel Thomas S. Kenan, was his bunkmate for thirteen months. Their sufferings during the Winter were terrible-insufficient food, scant clothing, houses neither ceiled nor plastered, the mercury at times 20 degrees be- low zero, and with but one stove for sixty prisoners. In August, 1864, although the Federal authorities had ceased exchanging prisoners, the Confederates turned loose several thousand Federal prisoners, and in view of that some of the Confederates were se- lected and sent South in exchange; and Lieutenant Metts was chosen as one of the most enfeebled and delicate of the prisoners for this exchange. Having been told by some of the doctors that he could not stand another Winter there, often as the winds became chilly he would look over the fence at the graves of his poor com- rades and feel that in a short while the boys would place him among them ; but not long afterward he found himself once more upon the streets of Richmond. During his captivity he had been promoted to Captain of his company, which he joined at Staunton in December. He took command of his company and also of Com- pany E and served in Cox's Brigade of Grimes' Division until detailed as a Special Inspector on the staff of Major-General Grimes, and shared in all the hardships and memorable experiences of those fateful days. When Lee surrendered, and the night before arms were to be stacked at Appomattox by the remnant of the
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heroic army of Northern Virginia, Captain Metts accompanied a band from Division Headquarters to serenade their beloved leader, General Lee. General Lee was so much affected that he could say but a few words, but he gave to each of the brave vet- erans who had thus sought to manifest their love and sympathy a warm pressure of his hand and an affectionate good-by.
On his return home from Appomattox, Captain Metts, pressed by necessity, at once addressed himself to the duty of supporting his mother's family. He soon obtained employment as a clerk with two Federal sutlers, but later obtained more remunerative employment ; and his merits, his strict attention to business, his accuracy and good habits commended him to the business men of Wilmington and eventually, after long and severe struggles, he was able to enter the field for himself as a merchant and broker, and he has met with gratifying success and commands the esteem and respect of the business men of his community.
On November 11, 1869, Captain Metts was happily married to Miss Cornelia F. Cowan, a daughter of Colonel Robert H. Cowan, his old commander, and their married life has been blessed with six children.
Captain Metts is an earnest, sincere man with the highest prin- ciples and most correct sentiments. His course in life has been consistent with that devotion to duty which he displayed in the ranks of the Confederate Army. He was baptized by Reverend George Patterson in the Potomac River in 1863 while en route into Pennsylvania, and has been an humble Christian, ever faithful to his profession, and for many years a communicant of the Episcopal Church, and for several years he has been a vestry- man of St. James's Church at Wilmington. He is a member of St. John's Lodge A. F. and A. M., and also an active member of the Seaman's Friend Society, of which he has been the President. He has ever been laborious in his work and diligent in business, and from his own experience he suggests that young men can attain true success in life if they will follow "honesty, sobriety, faithful- ness to one's self, perseverance, and trust in God."
Captain Metts has always remembered the years of his life when
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he followed the Confederate flag, and he has taken great interest in whatever affects the welfare of the old Confederate veterans or the honor and fame of North Carolina and of her troops. On several occasions he has prepared interesting articles concerning the gallant action of his North Carolina associates on the field of battle. Particularly he has written a notable paper descriptive of the charge at Gettysburg, and also an equally interesting one rela- tive to the important action of the Thirtieth North Carolina Regi- ment at Chancellorsville when it turned the flank of Siegel's Di- vision, and in it he corrects some errors into which General Rodes had accidentally fallen. He has also written an article showing that the last shot at Appomattox was fired by North Carolinians, and in conjunction with Captain Cowan he prepared the "History of the Third Regiment" for the "Regimental Histories of the State."
When at Johnson's Island some of his comrades formed a the- atrical troop under the name of the "Rebellonians," and Captain Metts was one of the actors. The delicacy of his frame led to his being assigned a lady's part. In the original melo- drama, in five acts, "The Battle of Gettysburg," ending in act fifth with "Home Again," he played the part of Mrs. Louisa White. The concluding farce was "Box and Cox." On another occasion, of which the programme has likewise been preserved, he recited "Bonnie Jean," and the third part of that programme was "an original farce for the times" written expressly for the "Rebellon- ians," entitled "The Intelligent Contraband." He occasionally re- ceives letters from some old prison-mate, who remembers the sweet songs which he and Lieutenant Mayer sang, accompanied by Colonel Thomas S. Kenan with hi's violin or guitar.
Turning from those episodes of prison life, on July 19, 1897, a stranger entered Captain Metts's office, and observing the name on the sign, asked if he was any relation to Lieutenant James Metts, who was killed at Gettysburg. Giving his name as Reverend B. C. Morton and stating that he was the Chaplain of the Twenty-third Virginia Regiment, he said that he knew Lieutenant Metts, who was killed at Gettysburg, and recalled his thin, emaciated, sun-
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burnt face as he lay on the cot. 'He went on to say how much he was impressed with his noble character, and how he had offered up a prayer for him, feeling at the time that it was useless ; and he added that he had caused to be published an account of the death of Lieutenant Metts at the time. Captain Metts quietly said: "I am the Lieutenant Metts you knew." Mr. Morton at once arose from his chair and with his eyes streaming with tears and with a fervent "God bless you," he embraced him. There these two old comrades stood and their emotion found expression in tears of joy.
In the hospital at Gettysburg, Captain Metts, thinking he was about to die, gave his sword to Doctor Reeves, of Maryland, to keep the Yankees from getting it. In 1882 Doctor Reeves, not supposing that Captain Metts had survived, made inquiries, with the view of returning it to some one of his connection, and was astonished to learn that Captain Metts had not died, had the hap- piness of returning it to him after he had sacredly kept it for its brave owner, who now treasures it as an honorable memento of a fearful struggle.
Captain Metts's interest in the old Confederates has been appre- ciated by his surviving associates, and in April, 1899, he was elected First Vice-Commander of the Cape Fear Camp, 254 U.C.V., and the next year he was chosen Commander of the camp. In April, 1905, he was again elected Commander of Cape Fear Camp, No. 254. In 1902 he was appointed Brigadier-General of the Third Brigade U.C.V. North Carolina Division, which honorable post he now holds, much to the gratification of all who know him and who admire in him those sterling qualities of manhood which distin- · guished him as a soldier and which formed the basis of his fine character.
S. A. Ashe.
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B.7. Moore
BARTHOLOMEW FIGURES MOORE
B ARTHOLOMEW FIGURES MOORE was the son of James Moore, who was born in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1765, and Sally Lowe, a daughter of Colonel Exum Lewis, of Edgecombe County, North Carolina. He was born near Fishing Creek in the neighbor- hood of Halifax, North Carolina, on January 29, 1801, the fifth son of quite a large family. His early education was received under John Bobbitt, who was principal of a school near the town of Louisburg. In 1817 he entered the Sophomore class of the University of North Carolina and was graduated in 1820, in the same class with W. H. Battle, later a Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, and James H. Otey, the distinguished bishop of Tennessee.
After his graduation he read law with Thomas N. Mann, a very gifted lawyer, and was admitted to the bar in 1823. He then set- tled in Nashville, the county seat of Nash County, where he com- menced the practice of his profession with but small success at- tending his efforts for a number of years. He said that his total income from his profession for seven years was only $700.
December 2, 1828, he was married to Louisa Boddie of Nash County, who died within a year after their marriage. In 1835 he married her younger sister, Lucy. Soon afterward
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