made by companies and individuals to this
society, and the long tables at the depot were spread with delicacies
for the sick, to be found nowhere else in the Confederacy. The remains
of the meals were carried by the ladies to a camp of mere
boys--homeguards outside of the town. Some of these children were
scarcely able to carry a musket, and were altogether unable to endure
the exposure and fatigues of field service; and they suffered fearfully
from measles, and typhoid fever. General Grant used a strong figure of
speech, when he asserted, that "the cradle and the grave were robbed, to
recruit the Confederate armies." The fact of a fearful drain upon the
population was scarcely exaggerated, but with this difference in the
metaphor, that those who were verging upon both the cradle and the
grave, shared the hardships and dangers of war, with equal self-devotion
to the cause. It is true that a class of heartless speculators infested
the country, who profited by the scarcity of all sorts of supplies, but
it makes the self-sacrifice of the mass of the Southern people more
conspicuous, and no State made more liberal voluntary contributions to
the armies, or furnished better soldiers, than North Carolina.

When General A. P. Hill asked for the promotion of some of his officers
in June, 1863, the President laid down the rule of selection for the
guidance of the Secretary of War, viz: "the State which had the greatest
number of regiments should be entitled to the choice of positions; to be
taken from the candidates of its citizens, according to qualifications,"
etc. It appeared that North Carolina stood first on the list, Virginia
second, Georgia third, etc.

On the opposite side of the river from Wilmington, on a low marshy flat,
were erected the steam cotton presses, and there the blockade-runners
took in their cargoes. Sentries were posted on the wharves, day and
night, to prevent deserters from getting on board, and stowing
themselves away; and the additional precaution of fumigating the outward
bound steamers at Smithville, was adopted; but in spite of this
vigilance, many persons succeeded in getting a free passage abroad.
These deserters, or "stowaways," were in most instances sheltered by one
or more of the crew; in which event they kept their places of
concealment until the steamer had arrived at her port of destination,
when they would profit by the first opportunity to leave the vessel
undiscovered. A small bribe wou