Wilmington

“ About midnight of that same day we passed by Wilmington unmolested by any one, and, as near as I can judge, it was three o’clock that morning when the dividing line that runs between the States of Delaware and Pennsylvania were crossed. No words can depict the joy and gratitude that filled the bosom of one who had, as it were—not rather as it actually was—stepped from bondage into liberty, from darkness into light. ”

“ Wilmington is a little town, about thirty English miles south-west from Philadelphia. It was founded in the year 1733. Part of it stands upon the grounds belonging to the Swedish church, which annually receives certain rents, out of which they [157] pay the minister’s salary, and employ the rest for other uses. The houses are built of stone, and look very pretty; yet they are not built close together, but large open places are left between them. The quakers have a meeting-house in this town. The Swedish church, which I intend to mention in the sequel, is half a mile out of town eastwards. ”

“ There was nothing interesting in Wilmington, which is a large straggling town built on sand-hills. At the time I write of the respectable inhabitants were nearly all away from their homes, and the town was full of adventurers of all descriptions; some who came to sell cotton, others to buy at enormous prices European goods brought in by blockade-runners. These goods they took with them into the interior, and, adding a heavy percentage to the price, people who were forced to buy them paid most ruinous prices for the commonest necessaries of life. ”

“ The body lay in state all day Sunday, January 17. The editor of the Dispatch, of Wilmington, thus spoke of her: 'She was one of Wilmington's foremost citizens, and the magnitude of her work stands out to-day as an everlasting monument. Miss Bradley was the mother of public school education in Wilmington. . . . Year by year her influence grew, and the aim of her life grailually rounded into success. The seed she planted over a quarter of a century ago grew and developed into one of the finest public school systems in the country. ”

“ The town of Wilmington, the chief place of the little State of Delaware, shows very attractively from the river, with which it communicates by a navigable creek, and, together with the neighbouring springs of the Brandywine, is in high repute for the beauty of its scenery as well as for its general salubrity. ”

“ No. 4. You wish to correct an error in my Broomstick poem, do you? You give me to understand that Wilmington is not in Essex County, but in Middlesex. Very well; but are they separated by running water? Because if they are not, what could hinder a witch from crossing the line that separates Wilmington from Andover, I should like to know? I never meant to imply that the witches made no excursions beyond the district which was more especially their seat of operations. ”

“ After the latter, we rode that afternoon to Wilmington, and rested on seventh day with our friend William Poole, who was in a weak state from bodily indisposition, but was so far recovered as to walk about. On first day, the 14th, we attended Friends’ meetings in Wilmington, both forenoon and afternoon. They were both very large. In the forenoon meeting I had good service, but in the afternoon I was mostly silent, as the people [Pg 423] appeared to be too much hungering for words, and too indifferent and careless in putting in practice what they had already heard and knew to be their duty. ”

“ All our servants left us except Horace and Hannah, who are touchingly faithful in their devotion. The negroes up here are too far from Federal influence to be much demoralized, and Mr. Bemby is gathering a very fine crop. Since we left Wilmington we have heard some very sad news about Lulie Mayland. Frank Paning, you know, has been in Wilmington for more than a year, in some position that exempted him from service. He and Lulie have been very intimate, and every one expected that they would soon be married. ”

“ Wilmington had, so Harriet explained, ‘taken to the new young gentleman in a way you’d hardly believe,’ and was spending the afternoon reading Masterman Ready to him after a baffled attempt to read him Eric, or Little by Little, which she fetched from her own room on purpose, and which Rupert stopped his ears with his fingers rather than listen to.
‘It is the time,’ said Charlotte; ‘there is a time in the affairs of men that they call the Nick. And this is it. Let’s try to get in. The Wilmington is safely out of the way. Let’s!’
‘Yes, let’s,’ said Charles.
‘No, don’t let’s,’ said Caroline. ”

“ The man must be half-way to Wilmington by this time. I sent the doctor for Lafarge, my clerk. Lafarge did his prettiest in rushing to the telegraph. But no! A freshet on the Chowan River, or a raid by Foster, or something, or nothing, had smashed the telegraph wire for that night. And before that despatch ever reached Wilmington the navy agent was in the offing in the Sea Maid.
"But perhaps the duplicate got through?" No, breathless reader, the duplicate did not get through. The duplicate was taken by Faucon, in the Ino. I saw it last week in Dr. Lieber's hands, in Washington. ”

“ The people of Delaware have, indeed, very little land that is not tillable. The problems of poverty, crowding, great cities, and excessive wealth in few hands are practically unknown among them. The foreign commerce of Wilmington began in 1740 with the building of a brig named after the town, and was continued successfully for a hundred years. At Wilmington there has always been a strong manufacturing interest, beginning with the famous colonial flour mills at the falls of the Brandywine, and the breadstuffs industry at Newport on the Christina. ”

“ Back of her pulpit stands an immense and costly pipe organ, operated by water power, and presided over by a young woman raised up in the church, educated in the public schools of Wilmington. During the political upheaval in Eastern North Carolina, it was the fortune of Rev. Philip Le Grand, D. D., to be the pastor of St. Stephen's, in Wilmington, and there is living to-day. Many men and women owe their lives to the wonderful presence of mind, superior tact and persuasiveness of this grave, good man. Besides being a minister, he had filled many positions of trust in the South. ”

“ On the afternoon of December 24th, the United States fleet opened fire upon Fort Fisher, the heavy cannonading continuing during the two following days. The booming of the heavy guns could be distinctly heard in Wilmington.
There was a complete panic there; the non-combatants moving away, and fright and confusion prevailing everywhere. The co-operating land forces, under General Butler, had almost completely invested the fort, and the communication between it and Wilmington was at one time interrupted, so that it was impossible to ascertain the condition of affairs below. ”

“ Men whom he had met in his common every-day life in Wilmington, men who had been cordial and gentlemanly in their greetings, now either hurled bitter epithets at him, or passed him with averted eyes. Several times during that morning were guns pointed into his face as he paused here and there to stop collisions that were constantly occurring between white and black men, fatal in every instance to the blacks, who, without arms, were no match for the well-equipped whites, who took advantage of their helplessness to bully them. ”

“ The [pg 372] words of Ferris, unexpectedly earning renown in a work of imagination, trace the true tale of the Quaker prophetess, Elizabeth Shipley, who brought her practical husband to Wilmington through the influence of a brilliant dream. The words of Ferris, adopted and sold to the publishers by Reade, describe the terrestrial Paradise now known as Wilmington in just those glowing and golden terms we should have needed for the prologue to this article if we had not been so anticipated. Reade, so long as he keeps up his partnership with Ferris, is safe, sane and true. ”

“ Let the prejudiced scoffer say what he will, the Negro has done his full share in making the now illfated city blossom as the rose. We who have for so many years made our abode elsewhere, have made our boast in Wilmington as being ahead of all other Southern cities in the recognition of the citizenship of all of her inhabitants; unstained by such acts of violence that had disgraced other communities. To be laid to rest 'neath North Carolina pines has been the wish of nearly every pilgrim who has left that dear old home. ”

“ About six o'clock in the evening of the 28th, we left Goldsboro by cars crowded both in and outside, amid cheers and songs, bound for Wilmington, which was now in our possession. Riding all night, [92] daylight found us standing on the track at Rocky Point, a few miles from Northeast Bridge, and fourteen miles from Wilmington. This was the picket line and out-post of the rebels. At nine o'clock Colonel Hatch on a special train arrived and proceeded ahead with a flag of truce on the engine. We soon started and reached neutral ground about ten o'clock. ”

“ The additions, amounting to exactly one hundred pages of text, are supplemented by six rare maps and a thoroughly adequate index of forty-four pages. The most important additions are ‘Wilmington in the forties,’ eight papers by John MacLaurin which originally appeared in the local newspapers; three reports on Wilmington trade, 1815, 1843, 1872; the sketch, by Miss Rosa Pendleton Chiles, of the distinguished French scientist Alyre Raffeneau Delile, vice-consul in North Carolina (1802-1806) ”

“ The natural advantages of Wilmington at the time of the War between the States made it an ideal port for blockade runners, there being two entrances to the river—New Inlet on the north and Western or Main Bar on the south of Cape Fear.
The slope of our beach is very gradual to deep water. The soundings along the coast are regular, and the floor of the ocean is remarkably even. A steamer hard pressed by the enemy could run along the outer edge of the breakers without great risk of grounding; the pursuer, being usually of deeper draft, was obliged to keep farther off shore. ”

“ Pulteney’s gentleman, who betrayed to him the letter he was carrying from his master to Lord Wilmington. As this was soon after a treaty between them, Lord Wilmington was much shocked when Sir Robert reproached him with it, and continued so steady for the future, that when the famous motion was made against that Minister, he went to vote in the House of Lords with a blister on his head, after having been confined to his bed for some days with a fever.
[155] She always affected, if anybody was present, to act (and he liked she should) the humble ignorant wife, that never meddled with politics. ”

“ It is the largest city and the chief seaport of the state. Wilmington is served by the Atlantic Coast Line and the Seaboard Air Line railways, and by steamboat lines to New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore and to ports on the Cape Fear and Black rivers, and is connected by an electric line with Wrightsville Beach, a pleasure resort 12 m. distant on the Atlantic Ocean. Below Wilmington the channel of the Cape Fear river is 20 ft. ”

“ We have a force there of eight thousand effective. At New Bern about half the number. It is rumored, through deserters, that Wilmington also has fallen. I am inclined to believe the rumor, because on the 17th we knew the enemy were blowing up their works about Fort Caswell, and that on the 18th Terry moved on Wilmington. ”

“ General Wayne and other of Washington’s officers, were stationed at Mr. Tatnall’s house, too.
Brandywine Village was then a separate place, and not a part of Wilmington as it is now. There was no bridge across the Brandywine, and people who wished to go from one place to the other, were ferried across the stream. [1] Lafayette often crossed the Brandywine in this way. He would ride his horse on to the great [142] clumsy boat and sit quietly while it was ferried over; then he would ride clattering off on the Wilmington side, and up the hilly streets to join Washington at his headquarters. ”

“ Lower has suggested that it was the work of an idle monk of Wilmington. This is most unlikely. The theory has lately been put forward that the "staff" which the figure appears to be holding in each hand is really the outline of a door and that the effigy is that of Balder pushing back the gates of night. Wilmington village has an interesting Norman Church with a very fine yew in the churchyard. Built into the walls of a farmhouse close by are some remains of a Benedictine priory. ”

“ Wilmington, North Carolina, was the most important sea-coast port left to the enemy through which to get supplies from abroad, and send cotton and other products out by blockade-runners, besides being a place of great strategic value. ”

“ Large quantities of foundry and machine-shop products and iron and steel are also manufactured. The Pennsylvania Railroad maintains extensive car shops at Wilmington. The city is a prominent distributing centre and a port of entry for the customs district of Delaware, the foreign trade of which in 1901 was valued at $4,911,144, including exports to the amount of $4,679,370. The government is vested in a mayor, elected every two years, and a unicameral council of thirteen members. ”

“ Many of the permanent residents of the town had gone into the country, letting their houses at enormous prices; those who were compelled to remain kept themselves much secluded; the ladies rarely being seen upon the more public streets. Many of the fast young officers belonging to the army would get an occasional leave to come to Wilmington; and would live at free quarters on board the blockade-runners, or at one of the numerous bachelor halls ashore.
The convalescent soldiers from the Virginia hospitals were sent by the route through Wilmington to their homes in the South. ”