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| yn:XMINGTON IN health and disease WILMINGTON 
IN 
HEALTH AND DISEASE, 
BY 
J. B. PURCELL, M. D. 
hi 7 
1867. 
Journal Print, Wilmington, N< C. INTRODUCTION. 
It is our purpose to give a sketch of ths city, in health and disease, in 
answer to a question which has been frequently asked : "Is Wilmington 
Unhealthy ?" Nothing will be ventured in this article ; nothing imagi- 
nary will give color to its pages, and nothing unseemly will disfigure 
them. To the old citizens the subject may possibly bear the face of age 
and crudity, but to the new-those strangers who are now seeking 
homes on the banks of the historic, liberty-loving Cape Fear-it will 
be, perhaps, to some degree interesting. Our description will be based 
on some facts, but, for the greater part on tradition. It is the register, 
the chronicler of time. It speaks the truth when history is silent, and 
communicates what the historian neglects. It is the genial spring 
which trickles through the meads of'ages, anti dances, and sparkles with 
holy thoughts transmitted from sire to son. It is refreshing, for it ever 
breathes something pure, and 
Its overpowering presence makes you feel 
It would not be Idolatry to kneel." 
When it flows from sources venerable and intelligent, it 'must not be 
filled with forgetfulness. 
A brief outline of the city's physical geography and also its nosogra- 
phy, or its geographical relation to endemics and epidemics will not, 
we hope, be considered at variance with the theme ; nor will a short ex- 
position of the supposed cause of malaria. 
To the medical gentleman and scholar, nothing is promised. He 
must read, and judge, and draw his own conclusions. 
By way of illustration-a Sound Party, an Excursion to Baldhead, &c., 
have been introduced. "Land Drainage, and Town Sewerage" has 
been written with a view of exciting inquiry into the feasibility of ma- 
king drains, and thereby enhancing the value of estates, and increasing 
the salubrity of the soil, particularly in the immediate vicinity of the 
city. The chapter on the Future Prospects of Wilmington is intended 4 
merely to indicate that in all business transactions, a bitter partisanship 
ought not to be entertained. Prejudice chills the soul, feeds animosity, 
poisons the current of existence, and makes life a crumpled thing to be 
spat upon. Friendly intercourse throws around all a bloom of its own 
rosy nature, and fills the soul with healthful feelings, makes rough 
burly passion keep still, and tranquility rise in beauteous majesty. In 
doing this, not one iota of our sentiments need be cast away. 
Speaking of the city, it will not be amiss to append the rather humor- 
ous piece entitled, "The Hills of Wilmington. " Indeed, this has been 
suggested, and we doubt not its perusal will spring from a similar vein 
in which it has been written. 
HR. PURCELL. WILMINGTON LN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 
CHAPTER I. 
PHYSICAL AND MEDICAL GEOGRAPHY.-CAUSATION OF MALARIA. 
Glancing at a map of North Carolina, it will be noticed 
that Wilmington is in the county of New Hanover; that this 
county has for its boundaries the counties of Duplin on tho 
North, and Onslow on the East. The Atlantic laves its shores 
on the south, while those of the west are bathed by that 
river, on the east bank of which the city is situated. The 
surface of the country is level, is sandy, is multisected with 
streams and rivulets, and matted creeping plants, some tiny, 
and wrapping in love's embrace the low thick shrubbery, 
while more formidable ones stretch from limb to limb, from 
bases to apices of trees, and hang down in folded festoons. 
The grey moss adds solemnity to the scene,-a sombre hud 
of august nature. The sensitive mimosas as beautiful as any 
blooming in the llanos of the Orinoco, or skirting its many* 
rivers, peep out from the dense foliage, and the dew drop 
bespangled, white cup flowered lichen spreads forth a carpet 
of velvet green every spring. Hither and thither terraces 
intervene. The yellow jessamine, vivified by the warmth of 
the sun creeps stealthily along from bush to briar, crosses 
the little hills and valleys, and makes the whole vista seem 
golden. The whole surface is shaded by piney forests, whose 
aroma is anything but displeasing. 
To those approaching by water, Wilmington appears to bd 
rising from a plain of salt marsh. This is not so. It is 
built on hills, not very high, it is true, running in a cresent 
form from the river, south, south-east, around by the North 6 
PHYSICAL AND MEDICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
to tlio river west. The soil is sandy, and the subsoil is said 
to be clayey with an infra stratum of limestone. A stunted 
growth of low bushes on the outskirts, and in purlieus 
wherever houses are far apart, and here and there a lonely 
pitch pine, or groups of the same, add somewhat of a gro- 
tesque beauty to the whole. The back ground is densely 
wooded with the pinus palustris, which yields a rich, popu- 
lar, and a commercial commodity to this section of the State. 
Beyond the northwest branch of the Cape Fear, adjacent to 
the city, looming hazily in the distance, is Eagle's Island, 
notorious for the deadly miasm arising during the autumnal 
months. Within the city limits are bodies of water, natural 
or formed. Streams eke their way to the river, but the dead 
pools and ponds of some surface do not find so easy an exit. 
This is the case when much rain has fallen. Owing to the 
heavy and frequent showers of this past summer, their im- 
purities have been kept down and neutralized. 
The streets are protected from the meridian heat by many 
fine trees, throwing their protecting shade over the side- 
walks. The city is in latitude 34:1; and in longitude 77:56. 
From this fact is learned that Aitken's line of Nosography 
runs latitudinally north of this, but not enough to free it 
from sweeping epidemics of the tropics-the typhus fever- 
and that fell fiend which is now depopulating the cities of 
the gulf. Intermittent fever, remittent, and dysentery are 
included. Anybody who will take the trouble to look at the 
medical geography of the author already referred to, will 
perceive that 80 deg. long, and 36 deg. lat. pass through 
this particular point, to the best of our computation. His 
line chiefly indicates typhoid fever, malarious fevers and 
cholera. Ho says, in his lucid and able work on the " Science 
and Practice of Medicine -"In short,physical climate, gen- 
erally and properly so called, combined with the habits of 
the people, their attention to personal hygiene and general 
sanitary arrangements, all concur to stamp the diseases of 
certain countries with a special character, and facilitate or 
retard their propagation." This language is explanatory, 
and from which we deduce that the disease of this locality CAUSATION OF MALARIA. 
7 
will appear in any other, provided it has the same or similar 
atmospheric changes. It is a matter of no moment, whether 
a malady raging amongst us does also rage in another section 
of the globe, corresponding to ours in latitude and longitude. 
It is for us to know, find out, the evil present and prospec- 
tive, and act accordingly to effect its eradication forever 
from our midst. It is bad policy, and improvident legisla- 
tion, to hold a fancied security, to bask in the smiles of a 
fickle Hebe, while the next gale from the northwest may 
bring on its wings death and desolation. "What we most 
dread is the miasmatic waves of malarial poison which roll 
billow after billow from the swamps and the rice fields in the 
surrounding region. 
As to the causation of malaria, every medical writer down 
from the days of Hypprocrates to the present, is at variance. 
Some believe this; some that. We candidly confess that 
from a thorough reading of this vexata res they are all right, 
and all wrong. This : Nihil potest esse simul et non esse, sounds 
very strangely. That is, two things do exist and do not at 
the same time. What is this moment established is the next 
broken down ; what is now asserted is very soon denied, and 
thus theory travels, and speculation is rife. 
The celebrated Headland calls it " ague poison," and the 
first professional men of this country call it " malaria." It 
is a much mooted question whether it is a " specific poison," 
or some morbific product that may be ascribed to " inciden- 
tal causes of atmospheric changes-heat, cold, moisture, and 
their alterations." These changes are prolific when dirt and 
offal-debris of every kind, human and animal-is scattered 
about in heaps, giving forth beneath the rays of a scorching 
sun, stench and poison, and invisible sporules to be swallowed, 
to be inspired, to be given to the arterial tide bounding 
through the whole organism of man. Lowlands, damp and 
marshy bottoms, embouchures of rivers are laid down as the 
peculiar home of malaria. Is this a general truth ? It is 
felt on rocky and steep cliffs ; on islands elevated many feet 
above the level of the surrounding country ; on high rugged 
mounts in the Mediterranean, where vegetation was never 
known, and where water finds no shed. 8 
CAUSATION OF MALARIA. 
Cycles of those intermittent waves find an easy access to 
remote places, lofty ranges where the nature of the soil is 
suitable for their reception ; where there is an electo-mag- 
netic attraction that draws from the distant valley-from the 
ague district-a poisonous product. In accomplishing this 
the hearthstone of the virus is more frequently healthier than 
localities miles away. 
The bayous of Louisiana are said to be exempt from ma- 
laria 1 The experience of the late civil war in that region 
argues a different conclusion. Supposing, however, that they 
are, may not some local agent act as a neutralizer. The 
non-presence of malaria is hardly tenable. The Jussiena 
grandi flora, a plant flagging the innumerable ponds and 
lakes there scattered, is reported, on some authority, to purify 
the atmosphere. What does it purify ?-Malaria. The Dis- 
mal Swamp is also regarded as a happy exception from the 
rest of the country lying in its vicinity. May not the pecu- 
liarity of the soil have everything to do with this seeming 
paradox ? Its quaggy peat bogs are fine absorbents of irre- 
gular exhalations. We hope a gentleman of science and leis- 
ure will examine this question and tell us,-the reason why. 
It will be stated that the poison of ague is not a gass; that 
this has been proved beyond cavil. True, indeed, is the media 
in which we live a happy and a healthy mixture, provided it be 
a pure one, and that imperceptible particles floating in it will 
keep it so. Basements and low grounds expose the occu- 
pants to the influence of miasma more than do upper stories 
and high lands. This is as a general thing admissible. In 
some districts it matters little whether you dwell in a mud 
hovel, or in a palatial mansion. The " shake and fever " is 
bound to reach you. 
Professor Saulisbury is the most recent writer on the cau- 
sation of fever and ague. Many beautiful experiments have 
been tried by him, and in strips of land corresponding very 
much to certain tracts around this city. A field lies here for 
the professional curious to explore. We sincerely hope that 
some son of the Art will grapple the idea, and push investi- 
gation to the wall. SAILORS' GRAVE.-POINT PETER. 
9 
Now, lowlands are not always, nor in all nations, subject to 
malaria ; nor are high lands, nor higher hills, nor still higher 
mountains, always free from its noxious presence. Living- 
ston states in his travels that in Ceylon many extremely low 
and damp spots are exempt, while steep bluffs and arid crags 
are undergoing poisonous contamination. No doubt the elec- 
tive affinity of the noted sections draws off what the valleys 
beneath had generated. The winds are great dispensers of 
good and evil. 
CHAPTER II. 
SAILORS' GRAVE.-POINT PETER. 
Wilmington and its environments are subjected to mias- 
matic changes worse in the fall than in any other season.- 
They enjoy a greater immunity from the more fatal degree 
of fevers of late years than they ever did before. Hitherto 
they ravaged without mercy, and " Like the destroying 
angel, spread their wings on the blast." The paucity of in- 
habitants in regions naturally malarious works kindly in the 
cause and propagation of ague poison. Forty years ago, 
when Wilmington was but a town of a very limited popula- 
tion, its health and tone was of quite a different nature from 
what it is at present* Then the " old style of billions fever " 
-the cousin-german to yellow jack-made sad ravages.- 
The many stagnant pools, and the dark ravines, sent forth 
their feted odors, to 
"Ruddy cheeks pale 
And plumpy ones hollow," 
to dim the lustre of the eye with the tell-tale tinge of yel- 
low and to change the peaceful flow of blood into a pricking, 
burning, furious stream. Many reasons were given for tho 
intermittents, and billions remittents, of July, August, Sep- 
tember and October. The rice fields opposite the town; the 
swamps; the trees felled, and permitted to rot where they 10 
SAILORS' GRAVE.-POINT PETER. 
fell. A race of trees now dying out was suspected. The 
pride of China, the falsely beautiful and lilac-colored Melia 
Azederach ; the datura stramonium-Jamestown weed-a 
poisonous plant growing in old ruins, in moist and lonely by- 
ways, received attention. Nor did the disagreeable Jerusa- 
lem oak escape. All these were regarded with much aver- 
sion, and their removal was effected to some extent. They 
were deemed the immediate propagators of malaria and its 
innervating train. Hardly any doubt rests in our mind as to 
this, knowing, to suppose, that at that early day less protec- 
tion was afforded the community by hygienic rules and regu- 
lations. As time rolled away the population increased, the 
number of interested persons augmented, and the united ef- 
forts of the whole were directed to sanitary measures. They 
cropped the wings of malignant billions, and gave freedom to 
the wings of health. At this period mariners eschewed the 
Cape Fear, as much as the Fryingpan Shoals. The expres- 
sion " Sailors' Grave " applied to Wilmington is sufficiently 
suggestive. Those hardy sons and toilers of the sea would 
laugh at the hurricane ; would scorn the ocean billow; would 
defy the thunder, and blink at the lightning's flash ; tear, and 
tar, and wear their lives out into death, without fear and trem- 
bling, without a single murmur or complaint. But they, 
aghast! retained a holy horror of the town of Wilmington. 
They hugged their hammocks at night, after a day on shore, 
and inspired an air as insidious as the venom distilled by a 
timely warning adder. The commerce of the town was at 
stake. Something must be done to allay this fear. The cit- 
izens contrived the charitable, as well as what would prove a 
profitable, idea of erecting a "Sailors' Home." Here men 
could be properly attended, properly nursed, and a speedy 
restoration to health, after a short convalescence, would be 
the result. This was carried into execution, and the home in 
question became one of the institutions of the city. After 
the long struggle of the Southerners to create a new nation, 
and which went down in a sea of tears and blood, Wilming- 
ton, with her sister cities of the Confederacy, put on a bold, 
defiant front. It, too, in turn yielded to the fortune of war, 
and in turn was occupied by the national troops- The gov- SAILORS' GRAVE.-POINT PETER. 
11 
eminent took the " Sailors' Home," and has kept possession 
ever since. It is still a hospital for the seamen of the port, 
as well as for those of the revenue service. 
Trade in lumber and in spirits of turpentine was not such 
as it is now. Consequently there were few mills, and fewer 
distilleries. The influx of capital with what was native com- 
bined together, and the extract of the pine was converted to 
money, and its waste to something else. Physical and chem- 
ical changes began to take place, silently but surely. The 
residents very soon observed a modification in the bilious type. 
Tar barrels burned on every hill and in every hollow, sent 
upwards their cheering, crackling blaze, and with lurid flames 
fit up the whole horizon, and thus became a purificator of 
the heavens. The thick clouds of pitch smoke must have 
contrasted strangely to the surrounding glare. How much 
the boys enjoyed those days of fun! This general system of 
making bonfires was simply one of prophylaxis-a measure 
of public hygiene. The rice fields opposite the town were 
another sorry sight to those dreading malaria. They knew, 
and it was ever kept before their eyes, that the culture of 
this lucrative staple is as baneful as it is profitable, particu- 
larly so in the neighborhood of cities. A bottom land, 
highly irrigated, is always necessary to secure a good crop, 
and from such a source, malaria is sent broad cast over the 
land to find victims. In this a change was made. No rice 
was to be cultivated within certain prescribed limits. But 
Wilmington is growing larger. Its houses are multiplying. 
Its population is fifteen thousand instead of thirteen hundred. 
Point Peter viewed from Hilton where the sun is about to 
set behind the stately pines, looks exceedingly picturesque. 
Thus it appeared to us the other evening. Yet behind this 
grandeur of nature, behind this sunset of beauty, we beheld 
nicely squared fields of golden grain looking very much like 
fields] of rice. The Cape Fear's east branch rolled lazily by; 
not a ripple ruffled its placid surface. The wind was hushed 
in the East. The leaves of the trees were silent, and nature 
seemed sleeping amid all the beautiful rays of a solar spec- 
trum. Still deep in this nestled malaria-a serpent in the 
weeds-only needing a slight breeze from the west to reach 12 
CHOLERA AND SMALL-POX. 
the spot where we stood, to tincture the skin with an icteroid 
hue; to congest the liver, the spleen, and to bloat the syme- 
try of man's body. The picture grew darker. It lost its 
sunshine, and lost its scenic grandeur. Every decade of 
years emigration poured in, the population increased, and 
Wilmington became a bustling, thriving town. Five or six 
saw mills were in full operation in the year 1834; and, they 
had their depurative effect. It is, I think, an established 
fact that malaria is rendered less noxious by the air of large 
cities. In 1830, Wilmington hardly numbered fifteen hun- 
dred human beings; to-day it numbers between fifteen and 
sixteen thousand souls. What an increase! When several 
decades of years will have passed down the stream of time 
we know that a rapid change will have taken place. The 
few factories of wood and other material will have increased 
a hundred fold. The streets now hardly traveled will echo 
to the tramp of men going to and returning from their daily 
toil. The constant whistle of the steamer will indicate more 
activity, and the thousands of mechanic institutes, the hum 
drum of wheels and engines, will all, every one of them, in- 
dicate a new era. As the fevers of 1831 were more malignant 
than those of 1857, so will those of 1890 be in & pro rato 
scale modified. 
CHAPTER III. 
CHOLERA AND SMALL-FOX. 
All this summer ponds of water of considerable surface 
and depth, and formed by the rains that have so often pour- 
ed down in torrents the past months, can be found at the 
head of Orange street and around in that neighborhood as 
far as the Marine Hospital. A man complained-a poor 
laborer-and very truly said, " I pay taxes, and why can't a 
drain be cut here so as to join that one over there. It is old, 
but can be cleaned out." So thought we. He was told to 
apply to the Mayor. Bit! no action was taken, for there the 
water was left to evaporate slowly, to generate poison slowly, 
to attack unsuspicious persons slowly, to give ojie hundred CHOLERA AND SMALL-POX. 
13 
per cent, more of fever and ague slowly. We do not exag- 
gerate. We are very mild. This will suffice for other 
sections of the city similarly constituted. Probably it will 
be deemed a jest to suggest that the old practice of burning 
turpentine barrels be renewed. If it were practicable in 
those early days when such things were comparatively scarce, 
it is a thousand fold more so at the present time. However, 
this method of purifying the atmosphere need never be 
resorted to, if the right estimation be held relative to drains 
and sewers. In these we centre health or disease; in these 
the joy or sorrow of the city is located. If they are suffi- 
ciently numerous, and kept in available condition, the tone 
of Wilmington will be advanced immeasurably. 
This year we cannot complain, for it is much healthier 
than last, to judge by the health of the troops stationed 
here. In 18G6, from June to December, were treated twenty- 
three cases of remittent fever, forty-five of intermittent; 
three of typho-malaria, and three of billions congestive 
fever; also, five cases of diarrhoea, dysentery and cholera 
morbus. Of these we regret to state that three died. That 
is, thirty-nine deaths in the ratio of one thousand. This 
comes fully up to the standard of mortality in healthy cli- 
mates. From January to October of 1867, we have had of 
remittent, fifteen cases; of intermittent, forty-five ; of typhoid 
fever, one case ; and of diarrhoea and dysentery, eight cases. 
No deaths. Let this be compared with any other city station 
in the country, and we think the result will be in favor of 
the misrepresented City of Wilmington. Cholera is said to 
have visited us in October, 1866, and to have carried away 
one family. This statement is made upon very good au- 
thority. We knowr that sporadic cases of Asiatic cholera 
often appear where least expected. Still, doubt will be en- 
tertained about the presence of that detested malady, and so 
long as we remain in doubt, so long will we be free from its 
dreadful ravages. 
In the Fall of 1831 a rumor became current for awhile 
that cholera was in the town. Those who gave forth the 
report were severely reprehended. We take the following 
from the People's Press and Wilmington Advertiser: 14 
CHOLERA AND SMALL-POX. 
11 Wilmington, N. C., October 25, 1834. 
Sir :-A report is in circulation that the cholera exists in 
the town, to an alarming extent. As the public interest re- 
quires the most respectable testimony on this occasion, I 
have taken the liberty to request that you will give such in- 
formation, for publication in the People's Press, as shall 
disabuse the public mind, or exhibit the extent of the danger. 
Very respectfully, 
T. Loring." 
" Sir:-In reply to your note of this morning addressed 
to each of us, we can, without hesitation, say that no case of 
Asiatic cholera, or other disease closely resembling it has 
occurred to either of us in this place during the late or 
present season. 
Respectfully yours, 
A. J. DeRosset, M. D. 
Wm. P. Hort, M. D. 
A. J. DeRosset, Jr., M. D. 
John W. Waters, M. D. 
Louis J. Poisson, M. D." 
"Wilmington, N. C., October 25, 1834. 
T. Loring, Esq., 
Dear Sir:-In reply to your note of this morning, I cer- 
tify that no case of cholera exists in our town at this time, 
within my knowledge; and that our town is as healthy as 
usual at this season of the year. 
Very respectfully, Ac., 
W. J. Harris, M. D. 
Thus it was at that period, and thus it is at the present; 
false reports are put in circulation and the anxiety of the 
people raised, and strangers are perhaps kept from settling 
amongst us. We can readily infer that something unknown 
acted to keep off that Asiatic destroyer which then sent 
down into the grave so many inhabitants of other parts of 
the United States. There may have been very severe and 
numerous attacks of cholera morbus terminating fatally in 
rapid succession, as to make whole "bodies" think that the 
epidemic was hi their midst, but on close analysis they 
happily found out their mistake, and gladly announced their 
error. After other periodical returns of the same disease to 
this country, Wilmington was happily free from invasion.- 
Its standard of health can compare with any city in the CHOLERA AND SMALL-POX. 
15 
Union. The obituary list of 1859 shows, by the record of 
Oakdale Cemetry, the number of one hundred and twelve. 
The population of the town then was about nine thousand. 
The mortuary report for September, 1867, one of the sickliest 
months, if not par excellence, and with a population almost 
double the above, states that fourteen burials were made in 
Oakdale Cemetery, and in Pine Forest Cemetery, colored, 
eighteen; giving a total of thirty-two. Certainly, this does 
not argue a very insalubrious climate. 
But while we have reason to dilate with pleasure upon 
this particular point, another advances which looks father 
cloudy, and which is not so agreable to narrate. Neverthe- 
less, we shall endeavor to render it as bright as the nature of 
the subject •will permit. In 1865, a few scattered cases of 
small-pox were noticed, and they continued to increase until 
October, when the disease began to wear the appearance of 
an epidemic. The general supervision of the town was 
under the military, and the Medical Director transferred to- 
the local authorities many persons, chiefly negroes, tainted 
with the malady. 
Report of the City Small-Pox Hospital, from October 10th, 1865^ 
to July 7th, 1866. 
Ot 
o 
Whites. 
Variola. 
CT 
to 
os 
Blacks. 
d 
B 
CO 
Whites. 
Varioloid. 
3 
g 
a 
176 
Blacks. 
co 
co 
Whites. 
Variola. 
e 
lA- 
o 
to 
Blacks. 
o 
W 
co 
Whites. 
Varioloid. 
e 
o 
Blacks. 
Whites. 
Variola. 
I THAN ST 
CT 
Blacks. 
Whites. 
Varioloid. 
'ERR 
Blacks. 
0 
co 
Whites. 
Variola. 
114 
Blacks. 
DIED. 
Whites. 
Varioloid. 
Blacks. 
Whites. 
Died of Su- 
pervening 
disease. 
CT 
Blacks. 
Total. 
The ratio of deaths was about 16 per centum, exclusive of the five 
patients who died of supervening diseases. 
In one case only did the disease attack the same patient twice, and 
that in an interval of about six months. 
The only plan, which is at all possible, for the prevention of a preva- 
lence of this disease, in the future, is compulsory vaccination and re- 
vaccination. 
THOMAS F. WOOD, 
Physician Small-Pox Hospital 16 
CHOLERA AND SMALL-POX. 
The above was kindly furnished us by the physician in 
charge. 
It will go to show that the colored proportion is exceed- 
ingly high, and their deaths, compared with the whites, stand 
1 to 24. We have from the same authority that there were 
others treated privately, and a few more deaths occurred.- 
We examined this' Hospital in July, 1866, and found nine af- 
flicted with the loathsome disease. Its proximity to the 
troops, as well as to citizens, who first called the attention of 
the military to it-for it was in the city limits-wTas the cause 
of the removal of the patients to the vicinity of Camp Lamb. 
They were received into the Bureau Hospital. A few strag- 
gling cases afterwards were treated here. The 'pest finally 
died out. The former Small Pox Hospital, or the " Costin 
House," was well scrubbed and ventilated. It subsequently 
was donated to the St. James Episcopal Church. We shall 
recur to this manor house again. 
The sanguinary struggle of four years brought about many 
physical civil, and moral changes. Bivers were made to 
change their channel and seek another bed; forests were 
leveled and transferred to the gulf, the Mississippi, and the 
Atlantic ocean, as gunboats and ships of war, and preyers on 
commerce. They made abatis of defence, stockades of se- 
curity, and huts of protection. The earth was thrown up 
into lines of rifle pits, into sand mounds, into forts and breast- 
works. Hatred entered the bosoms of men. The fiends of 
discord wrestled there. The gall of a nation staid in the 
nation's blood, and changed its red and wholesome glow into 
a yellow forbidding look; and turned a nation's sweetness 
into sour ; a brotherhood into alienship, and a peaceful land, 
smiling with plenty, into a land of war and its horrid con- 
sequences. The transportation of large bodies of troops 
from one district to another, encumbered with all the appur- 
tenances for a campaign, predispose very much to the gene- 
ration and propagation of disease ; such was actually the 
case with the spread of small pox. At Cairo, in 1862 and 
'63, it made sad havoc among the " invaders," and continued 
its ravages, pursuing with spiteful spleen their advance, 
spreading panic among those who feared not the battle-field, CHOLERA AND SMALL-POX. 
17 
and brunt. Indeed we can apph without stretch some re- 
marks here taken from the " Cholera Conference at Weimur, 
on April 28th and 29th, 1867." Among other transactions of 
this society, composed of the medical talent of Europe, it 
was debated that the movements of troops enhanced the 
spreading of disease. In Germany and Hungary many sin- 
gle epidemics originated in the army. We quote freely :- 
" It was thence finally agreed, that military intercourse was 
more effectual than civil in spreading the disease ; but that 
nevertheless, the local and temporary disposition of a place 
must be regarded as of the greatest importance." This ex- 
tract is from the " Medical News and Library." We shall 
endeavor to condense a few hints from the same. The inter- 
course of the military, in comparison with that of civil, was 
more injurious, and gave rise to materies of infection which 
otherwise, in all probability, would never visit any district. 
Further on is communicated : " Such causes were, in part, 
an unusually abundant and frequent importation of the poi- 
son, especially through the movements of troops." They 
spoke, in connection with this, of disinfection, and it can be 
very appropriately introduced, as it is instructive as it is 
brief. " Disinfection can only be of use, if there be a ration- 
al treatment of the excreta, if care be taken for insuring the 
cleanliness of a town, and the carrying out of all measures 
conducive to the health, and if disinfection be carried out in 
a compulsory manner by the magistrates." 
We positively know of places where this " compulsory 
manner " is needed, and it is strongly urged, and as strongly 
hoped, that a reformation will take place. It will be too late 
to cry " wolf, wolf," when the animal is at our doer ; and it 
will be equally too late to scatter about disinfectant agents 
when an epidemic is carrying off our best and fairest. 
We have handled this seeming digression for the sole pur- 
pose of comparing, ex parte, the military rules and regula- 
tions with the civil. The military in war is all bustle, confu- 
sion and dirt. It increases the latter. While the civil gov- 
ernment, especially in a war like the one we have gone 
through, is rendered nugatory in its efforts to effect the re- 
quisite cleanliness. From such we may infer that when 18 
YELLOW FEVER. 
small pox began in this State it met with much food that lent 
it power to spread. It was not confined to Wilmington, and 
to New Hanover county only. It was also met around the 
coast wherever the armies operated. It traveled to the inte- 
rior, but always in the wake of the soldiers. In the neigh- 
borhood of Raleigh we visited a small pox hospital for the 
colored people, and observed a large number of convalescent 
cases. The sole treatment seemed to consist in attention to 
personal cleanliness, to the proper sprinkling of the liquor 
sodee chlorinatse, a brisk cathartic, followed by the iodide of 
potassium. 
CHAPTER IV. 
YELLOW FEVER.-FALSE REPORTS.-SPIRITS TURPENTINE. 
We now come to an epidemic of the most virulent nature, 
and one that has swept through some of our southern cities 
with withering effect. Its insidious approaches found no bar- 
rier, and the vigorous efforts of municipal governments and 
the hygienic laws of communities in general, were found in- 
adequate to arrest its march. The record of burials in the 
cemeteries of Galveston, of New Orleans, of Mobile, Mem- 
phis, and many other places, will fully attest the fatal essence 
of yellow fever. 
Yellow fever appeared in Wilmington in 1821, and almost 
depopulated the sparsely settled town. But how did it ap- 
pear? Did it spring up as a monster from the soil? Was 
the time at length arrived for its " gradual and regular ap- 
proaches " to this section of the Cape Fear ? The fact stands 
out in the memory of men now living that it was imported- 
brought over from the West Indies by the steamer "John 
London." Again was it brought here in 1862, and in the 
blockade runner " Kate." This time it was carried from 
Nassau. And we have further conclusive evidence against 
the assertion of Dr. Warren Stone, who, in his lecture at 
Bellevue College, New York City, held this language : FALSE REPORTS.-SPIRITS TURPENTINE. 
19 
" It had been a question whether it was imported or ol 
local origin. It certainly was not imported in ships. Th< 
epidemic influence was wafted through the atmosphere ii 
waves or cycles, and it always made gradual and regular ap 
proaches, so that in New Orleans they knew when it was com- 
ing by its prevalence in islands in the Gulf. In the year 185^ 
it began in Brazil, and after passing over the Northern part 
of South America and the West India Islands, it reached New 
Orleans in 1853. In 1855 it had traveled as far as Memphis, 
and was severe in many of the interior towns." 
How such a statement agrees with the above we leave oui 
readers to judge. But we will not permit this to suffice. The 
Doctor lectured before men of talent, and men of experience. 
Very many of them, perhaps, saw yellow fever, and studied 
it in theory and practice. Dr. Aitken says it is 11 propagated 
by contagion." The same author writes that " it has been 
imported into Lisbon, into St. Nazaire, in the department of 
the Lower Loire, into Plymouth and Southampton. It has 
been imported and become epidemic as far South as Monte 
Video." In one word, it has been shipped to those places.- 
In 1861 the " Anne Marie " brought it to St. Nazaire. 
The " Eclair " left it behind at Boa Vista. The " Hanky" 
imported it " from Bulam, on the west coast of Africa, on the 
19th of February, 1793," and was the cause of its propaga- 
tion, to a fearful extent, for the period of five months, on the 
island of Grenada. We could multiply instances ad infinitum, 
to show that yellow fever is imported, and is not wafted " in 
waves or cycles." Admitting the theory of Dr. Stone, how 
does that gentleman explain away the many examples de- 
duced to prove the contrary? Was this epidemic influence 
wafted to Brooklyn, New York, in 1854 ? We know with cer- 
titude that a vessel bearing this fatal type of fever on board 
anchored off Fort Hamilton ; that the fever existed nowhere 
else in the United States, excepting, possibly, in New Orleans, 
and that it soon afterwards broke out in the city above men- 
tioned. The ship, therefore, must have been the agent in 
bringing this fell disease to Brooklyn. We know that it crept 
from Brazil up the coast to South America, Mexico, and is- 
lands in the Carribean Sea. It must have taken three years 20 
YELLOW FEVER. 
to have passed from Brazil to New Orleans. The importa- 
tion of the fever to this town by the steamers already named, 
is-another strong argument against the Doctor's theory. If, 
however, his ideas in the matter be correct, 1868 will see Yel- 
low Jack spread its baneful wings northward from the Gulf, 
and fling to the breeze death and desolation. This will be a 
consummation for which we will not devoutly hope. We will 
not meet it in Wilmington unless another " London," or 
another " Kate " brings it; and we need not fear, for the 
authorities, civil or military, as the case may be will, by 
strict quarantine regulations-by a faithful observance of the 
laws of health-insure us, as far as possible, against its ap- 
proach. Of this w'e may rest assured, unless it be borne by 
the wind from the nearest nest in which it will be left by the 
cold weather. We may then see it fly onward from Vera 
Cruz to Corpus Christi Bay and Galveston. From the latter 
it will visit the States of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South 
Carolina, and lastly, North Carolina. It will approach the 
Cape Fear, no doubt, by running around the coast, through 
the Florida Reefs, from Dry Tortugas to Smithville! 
We shall abandon theory and return to facts. Let those 
who wish to theorize do so. They will never want a class.- 
It may be questioned now : Did yellow fever ever visit this 
particular section of the country before? We have asked 
several this question, but never have received a satisfactory 
answer. Wheeler, in his history of this noble State-the 
very first that unfurled the standard of liberty on this conti- 
nent, and flung the gauntlet of defiance in the eyes of the 
British Lion-states that " In the summer, to the horrors of 
war, the ravages of yellow fever were added to the misfortunes 
of the colonists, and the Governor fell a victim (Sept. 8th, 
1712.") We are ignorant of the source whence the historian 
drew this piece of information, and have not the time at 
present to consult more reliable writers. If "the ravages" 
spoken of were at all in this neighborhood, they must not 
have been able to find many victims, as the population then 
was but a mere nominal thing. The population of the col- 
ony in 1754, as given by President Rowan in his dispatch to 
the Duke of New Castle, was seventeen thousand and nine FALSE REPORTS.-SPIRITS TERPENTINE. 
21 
hundred of militia, exempts and outposts, with a slave ele- 
ment of ten thousand.- Wheeler s History of North Carolina. 
Though this was the maximum of inhabitants scattered 
over the extensive tract of land owned by the colonists, we 
must conclude that Wilmington was a town of some impor- 
tance, since assemblies, et cetera, relative to public business, 
were called there, and transacted. We are left in doubt 
whether or not yellow fever decimated it, as, we think, Gov- 
ernor Edward Hyde died of the malady in Newbern. From 
1712, therefore until 1821, a lapse of one hundred and nine 
years, this region was exempt from its ravages; and from 
1821 to 1862 the same is believed to be true. 
The introduction of the fever by the blockade runner 
" Kate" was a subject, we understand, of much controversy, 
and elicited from Dr. W. T. Wragg-a gentleman who left his 
home in Charleston to mitigate the horrors of the disease, 
and do what he could for his fellow man-an article as to its 
spontaneity. He essayed to prove that it was not imported, 
that it arose here spontaneously. Now, howT this could be 
we cannot at all conceive. It is undoubtedly so, that, during 
the summer of 1862, many natural changes were happening 
daily. The stir of armed hosts shook the ground. The filth 
and offal consequent upon the rapid "hurrying to and fro " 
of warriors filled the streets and crowded the by-ways. The 
land in many instances became covered in a sheet of water, 
which soon wore a scum of sickly greasy green. The tower- 
ing pines were sent rustling, crackling, crushing, thundering 
to the earth, and left there to decay and generate unpleasant 
effluvia. The earth was torn up, and ditches were made, and 
dykes were formed. These all possibly might be deemed 
great " drawers out " of the dragon's teeth, of the yellow fever, 
from the sandy soil! In these supposed causes the Doctor 
saw the spontaneity of the epidemic. It grew as mildew 
upon toadstools, as grass from the bosom of mother nature! 
Very likely. We do not hesitate to say that all these in- 
creased the rapid spread, and gave greater virulence to the 
imported evil. If this region yields yellow fever spontane- 
ously, why does it not do so oftener ? Why do such long in- 
tervals elapse ? Why do we hear nothing of it until a vessel 22 
FALSE REPORTS. 
with cases on board enters the river ? Again, and again, if 
has worried the cities of the Gulf shores. The jungles of 
Louisiana are rarely free from its annual mad career. Just 
now it seems to be subsiding. The approach of jack frost 
appears to be driving it away from most of our Southern 
ports. We learn from the November number of the " Med- 
ical News and Library," that the increase of yellow fever 
cases at New Orleans alone must have almost multiplied in 
an arithmetical proportion for the period of twelve weeks.- 
The first week, ending July 13th, the cases numbered three. 
For the week ending September 28th, they numbered four 
hundred and ninety-two. What a fearful mortality. Wil- 
mington suffered in proportion to her people during its visit 
in 1862. It spared no one. There was no " exempt." Its 
" conscription " was general. Here, as at present in New 
Orleans, it sought its victims in all classes, in all nationalities- 
It mattered not whether they passed safely before through 
its poisoned atmosphere, or had lived from the cradle to old 
age in the land of its periodical visitation. Here it raged 
fearfully for two months. It was proclaimed epidemic by 
Mayor Dawson on or about the first day of September. The 
distilation of turpentine is regarded as a great neutralizer o 
the poison of yellow fever ; so much so, indeed, that the peo- 
ple looked upon the distilleries unworked in that year as a 
misfortune. 
It is not unusual to hear that this place is extremely 
unhealthy. Strangers are forever bugbeared with the asser- 
tion that in seeking homes here they are seeking jungles, 
where every kind of fell fever lurks, ready to pounce on the 
unacclimatized, and send them to an untimely tomb. So far 
as we are concerned this bears the very face of untruth, as 
impolitic as it is false. 
Before our advent to this much abused region, we were 
told-and by a North Carolinian, too-that we ought not to 
go there; that malaria was rampant; that small-pox was 
epidemic; that all nature seemed convulsed, and about to 
pour the vial of wrath upon all "new comers." We simply 
answered that such we had heard before, but as we were not 
afraid of disease under any guise, we would most certainly FALSE REPORTS.-SPIRITS TURPENTINE. 
23 
see for ourself, and sift the matter to a proper statement 
of facts. With this view we reached Wilmington after a stay 
of six weeks in Duplin County, in May, 1866, and began to 
scan the heavens to hunt up " convulsed nature." Every- 
thing was placid. Cases of small pox were few. They were 
found out on inquiry. Nobody seemed worried about it, nor 
at all anxious about their safety. Of all this we will speak 
without fear of wounding the feelings of any. 
Our experience of the last two years argues quite a differ- 
ent thing, and has convinced us that the grim spectre held 
forth to strangers is unworthy of any credence whatever.- 
The natural aptitude of this particular topographical situa- 
tion may, perhaps, individualize, so to speak, a certain class 
of fevers as frequent and peculiar. Yet we refrain to elabo- 
rate. In a paper of this character it is unnecessary to 
attempt any detail to show why miasmatic waves float over 
this or that region, or locality, or rocky mount, or steep 
ascent. The attracting and repelling force of many malarial 
districts, and of those that are not malarial, will, to those who 
have studied the subject, be quite sufficient, while a knowledge 
of it to the casual reader would be of no importance. 
The altitudinal range, as well as the horizontal, is such 
that the inhabitants of every village, town and city inform 
themselves of this great moment, and locate so to keep at 
the greatest distance possible from the sphere of communi- 
cation. In this city of Wilmington, if we can avoid it, we 
will not expose ourselves to those clouds of miasmatic 
emanations from Eagle's Island or Point Peter, no more than 
we would to the miasma arising from the Laguna Campona, 
did we reside in the town of Cariaco. 
Now, with respect to this city, we have observed, during 
the fall of 1866, and during the present year, up to the time 
of this going to press, that chills and fever prevail to no 
more extent, if to as much, as they do in certain districts of 
Missouri and Illinois, along the banks of the Mississippi, and 
away inland. In a recent visit to Kent County, Maryland, 
we found ourselves more in danger of catching the ague 
poison, we felt it, than here in New Hanover County, North 
Carolina. We also noticed that there are sections of Wil- 24 
YELLOW FEVER 
mington more exempt from intermittent fever than others. 
We do not vouch for it as a general truth. It is our opinion. 
To show this we would draw a line from the river up Nun 
street, as far as Third; along Third to Orange• up Orange 
to Fourth; marking Fourth to Walnut, and down the latter 
to the Cape Fear. Some places, from defective drainage- 
from deep holes where weeds and filth have accumulated- 
may be properly excepted. It is the fault, not of the natural 
causes to keep them pure, for nature does its best, but of the 
municipal government, which should look to these things, 
and see that gullies and ravines are filled up, and thus leave 
no nidus for pestilential exhalations. 
The grand disinfectant of this hygienic line can be justly 
attributed to the fumes of turpentine distilleries. In some 
lots and yards the grounds are saturated with the spirits.- 
In the production of this essential oil the " Old North State" 
embosoms within itself one of the very best neutralizers of 
malarial poison, no matter into what form that poison shape 
disease. Fernel, in the six-teenth century, describes the 
spirits of turpentine thus: Terebinthina calefacit, moUit, dis- 
cutit, terget, expur gat^pzdr idem cohibet. It warms, it softens, 
it destroys, it scours, it purifies-it checks putrescence. The 
wharves are stocked with turpentine, almost always, in one 
or another state ; and its pungent odor is wafted beneficially 
over the area described. Observe we have italicised the 
words " hygienic line." Beyond this is not discovered that 
same attention on the part of the authorities in keeping the 
streets clear of uprooted weeds, and heaps of filth as is 
witnessed on the more frequented ones. A nicely furnished 
room, a neatly sanded floor, in a dwelling surrounded with 
dank growths, and putrid heaps of stuffs, cannot be, there- 
fore, considered more healthy if no attention was given them. 
So it is with the out-of-the-way places of the city. A proper 
surveillance of the whole should be ever observed. 
If this be true, it ought to be circulated; so cheap a 
purifier-a disinfectant-ought to be known wherever that 
scourge of mankind is in the habit of appearing. It is not 
our province just now to enter into any discussion as to its 
infectiousness or contagiousness. Some believe one, some 
the other ; very many believe both. SMITHVILLE.-EXCURSION TO BALDHEAD, AC. 
25 
CHAPTER V. 
SMITHVILLE.-EXCURSION TO BALLHEAD, &C. 
In making a resume, we have been led. by the nature of the 
subject beckoning onward, until we have passed in review 
before us many local and collateral facts and opinions.- 
Paludal fevers, small pox, cholera and yellow fever, have 
been briefly considered-their influence on the inhabitants, 
and their relation to this section of the United States. We 
have made no attempt to climb the steep and intricate 
heights of the etiology of disease, and its pathology. We 
have undertaken no revision of the immense, outstrectched. 
fields of misery, and to paint in living language the why and 
the wherefore-the diagnosis and the prognosis of the whole. 
Entering the land of discovery-young in the stormy sea of 
theory ; young on the thorny path of medicine, endeavoring 
to get out of the hidden ways and on to the great medical 
highway; to follow the vestigia of noble examples-we have 
simply pointed out what may be of plain, palpable utility to 
every person, of every rank and station. We have no pre- 
tension to the " constantly thinking " power of a Newton; 
but unless we transcribe our thoughts to paper none will 
benefit by their wisdom or their folly. We may follow the 
practice of empirics, now and then, and thereby imitate our 
worthy and ancient fathers in the healing art, as Hippocrates 
Galen, and hosts of others. We should not stand always on 
this ground; it is dangerous, it is not "holy." Our reason 
should not be guided by faith, but faith should be the hand- 
maid of our reason. The blind steps of empiricism are 
remarkably awkward. They sometimes lead to shining 
fights in the history of disease; they oftener lead to utter 
darkness and mythical speculation. 
We know that fevers now and then spring up, and continue 
for some time. We know that they often carry off in a hasty 
manner souls immortal to immortality. But this is the case 
in every region of the universe. The whole globe is the 
unified field of misery and death, and this particular region 
of the universe is as healthy as any other. It is, indeed. 26 
SMITHVILLE.-EXCURSION TO BALDHEAD, &C. 
very true that certain spots can be pointed out as places 
extremely insalubrious. Where on earth is there a district 
■without its 
"Fever and pain, and. pale, consumptive care?" 
We may look around in vain to find any. We may go to all 
the " climates for invalids " in the world, and still we will 
not cross a single mountain or a single plain, or one of 
God's vast, boundless prairies, without meeting grim death, 
brought on, as they say, untimely, in some form or other of 
disease. " Notwithstanding," writes the exquisite Tanner, 
" the excellent writing of Sir James Clark, Edwin Lee, Gran- 
ville, Burgess, Alexander Taylor, D. J. T. Francis, Scoresby 
Jackson, and others, many invalids migrate every autumn to 
the south of MTrance, Italy, Spain, &c., merely to find a 
grave." People will speak of the mineral springs, the pure 
mountain air, the rural beauty, the fresh sea breeze, and the 
sea-bathing places in Ireland, Scotland and England. They 
will dwell in a glowing manner on the " calmness, moderate 
cold, bright sunshine" of Pau; and on "the sandy, gently- 
shelving beach " of Biarritz, " so well adapted for bathing." 
In Italy the Lago Maggiore, and the Lake of Como are im- 
mortalized in song and story, and Venice is styled by poets 
the Queen of the Adriatic. Let us view the country round 
Wilmington, and its proximity to the ocean. 
It is about thirty miles from the mouth of the river, beyond 
which the grey Atlantic fathomless rolls. The entrance to 
the Cape Fear is picturesque. Smith's Island looks " fear- 
fully grand, gloomy, and peculiar," lashed by the maddened, 
white foaming breakers of the angry sea. At times, when 
the stillness of the storm is audible, when ripple after ripple 
succeeds the swell-when from the ocean's depths are re- 
flected a thousand and one beauties, then does its shelving 
beach appear magnificent; and away back 
" The kingly pine trees, straight and high 
Stretch out their arms to the summer sky." 
Last October, a year now gone, a party of ladies and gen- 
tlemen, full of life and the soul of fun, took seats in a hand- SMITHVILLE.-EXCURSION TO BALDHEAE, &C. 
27 
somely furnished gig, manned by a dozen of sunburnt, braw- 
ny-armed, jovial-looking sailors. Their white-covered mush- 
room-looking caps, their ultra-marine smock-frocks, and their 
linen pants, contrasted strangely with the red and white 
plumes fluttering from the ladies' traveling hats, their varie- 
gated dresses, and the plain, black suits of their chaperones. 
"Pull away," commanded the gentleman at the helm, and in 
a moment twelve oars split the waters, and bore us swiftly 
and gently over the* deep, blue waves. " To Baldhead! to 
Baldhead !" merrily rang from the fair ones, and their ring- 
ing, silvery laughs kept time with the ducking gig. The 
place alluded to seemed charming to the eye, and as distarico 
lends enchantment to the view, from this fact alone Baldhead 
looked more enchanting still. There towered the old light- 
house, far above lordly oak and poplar; there shone the 
sanded seashore, in all the glittering cintillations of a bright, 
balmy, morning's sun. All nature seemed redolent and rosy. 
Everything was auspicious of a good day's scene of mirth. 
A thrill of delight runs through all as the prow rushes into 
the bank, and as one by one we jump joyfully on shore. The 
vessel is soon disgorged of its damties. Each hardy son of 
Neptune bears something in his hand or on his back, and 
starts off in a happy canter towards the lighthouse. The 
party separate in twos and fours, and stroll along the beach, 
and into the woods, admiring nature scattered around in 
mystic grandeur. " That peculiar want felt by the system 
which induces the ingestion of nutritive principles," drew us 
all instinctively to the designated station, and whither the 
mariners had proceeded. It was not very long before we 
were seated, resting our weary feet under the shade of a 
spreading beech. A cheering blaze was lit in the old dilap- 
idated building, and a lady well skilled in the art of ths 
cuisine, began, Major General like, giving her orders for this 
-and for that, and for the dear haunch of venison : 
For finer nor fatter 
Ne'er ranged in a forest, or smoked in a platter." 
Opposition fires burned without, and sent their curling 
rings of smoke to make a cloud in a cloudless sky. Immac- 28 
SMITHVILLE.-EXCURSION TO BALDHEAD, &C. 
ulate white table cloths were spread upon the green sward, 
and polished silver and Parian vases, filled with native flow- 
ers, and smiling china everywhere enriched the view and in- 
creased the appetite, making it keen and juicy. It was a 
subject worthy of Virgil to describe the fugitive Prince of 
Troy and his hardy followers, seated at nature's table, rega- 
ling themselves with slaughtered bucks and Bacchus. Not 
in the classic land of Italy, but here in the woods of North 
Carolina, where the Cape Fear opens its mouth to the great 
Atlantic, might another poet find lovely lines for heroic verse. 
There could be seen youth and maiden, young and old, enjoy- 
ing themselves to their heart's content. Wrinkled care had 
fied, mirth was radiant, and genial glances shot from every 
eye ; wit and pleasant feeling coursed in every vein, and with 
a bound, jumped along the devious ways of the arterial sys- 
tem. We cracked the peanut as well as the joke, and quaffed 
the innocent scuppernong and raised the glasses to the toast 
of health. 
All joy must have its end, all feast must have its surfeit.- 
The pleasure of the table had ceased. We amused ourselves 
by watching the sailors gathering oysters in one of the cecessu 
longo, where the river had eaten in and meandered about until 
it had rounded a little island. The Occident was putting on 
ten thousand robes of gold and purple and Tyrian red to 
greet the descent of Sol. The bay lay placid beneath. Who 
was there who would trouble its solemn rest ? A score.- 
Shortly, and the bosom of the deep was ruffled, and splash 
on splash ran across the waters, and scream on scream, and 
laugh on laugh awoke the sleeping woodland nymphs and 
naiads. The shades of evening approached, and the queen of 
night began to arise and gaze at itself in the mirror of the 
deep. All aboard, strongly pulled the oarsmen, and quickly 
skimmed the boat over the shining, bright and briny water. 
A sad, sweet voice broke harmoniously on the twilight ah', 
and charmed all with its rich, mellow tone. We could have 
listened to it forever. Smithville is reached, and the gay 
party disperse. So much for what could be rendered a de- 
lightful and healthy place for sea bathing and for festive ex- SMITHVILLE.-EXCURSION TO BALDHEAD, &C. 
29 
cursions. One need never go to an Atlantic city, or an 
Newport, or a Cape May ; lie can find all nearer home. 
Much is said of the Andalusian city, Seville, and of Tuscan 
cities and villas. Florence, immortalized by giving to the 
world a Dante, if by nothing else, is a resort of the fashion- 
able and curious from every part of Europe, and even from 
America. The sceneries of the Appenines are lauded to the 
skies by tourists ; but here in our midst, everywhere through- 
out the land, from the Alleghanies to the sea, is such natural 
scenic grandeur that Washington Irving has well said, no 
American need ever go abroad to seek other more enravishing. 
Smithville is a nice little town, and before the war of se- 
cession, was enlivened beyond measure by the elite from Wil- 
mington, and from the cities and towns of the interior and 
the bordering States. There is no reason why it should not 
become so again. It must grow apace with the prosperity of 
Wilmington. It is built in a place of much natural beauty. 
There one can sit beneath his own vine and fig tree. It com- 
mands a splendid view of a great expanse of water, and from 
it can be seen the vessels coming around by Caswell, their 
masts rising as it were from the chapparral covered sandhills. 
Years hence the ideal of this moment may be realized. There 
is nothing impossible. Forti et fideli nihil difficile-to the 
brave and faithful nothing is difficult. Sir Walter Scott be- 
lieved he would die if he did not see the heather of the High- 
lands every year. The Wilmingtonians will, ere long, believe 
the same of Smithville. The situation is healthy. During 
the past summer we have sent men there of remittent fever, 
which no treatment could coax from the system. In a month 
they returned with cheeks plump and ruddy. Every accom- 
modation is there for yachting, and bathing, and fishing, and 
Running. In the evening the hours may be danced away with 
flying feet. 30 
LAKE OF WACCAMAW. 
CHAPTER VI. 
LAKE OF WACCAMAW.'-CATAWBA COUNTY.-WILLIAMS' SPRING. 
In Columbus County is found the quiet and frequented 
Lake of Waccamaw. It is approached by the "Wilmington 
and Manchester Railroad, and displays on its palmy banks a 
spacious and elegant hotel. It is a great resort in August 
and September. Everything is there to attract visitors.- 
Those fond of the chase may take with them their guns and 
dogs. Game abounds. Those fond of angling may supply 
themselves with hooks and lines. They will find there the 
golden and silver spotted trout, the horny-backed perch, the 
nibbling eel, and innumerable other kinds of fish. The 
woods, and dales, and glades are fragrant with the odors of 
■wild-blooming flowers, plants and shrubs. Excursions leave 
Wilmington every summer for this fairy region. Many from 
South Carolina go there, delighted to find retirement in so 
secluded, silent, happy a dell. 
Turning around from this region we may look toward the 
western section of the State, than which no nobler, no more 
fruitful, no more naturally healthful, or physically richer, or 
more abounding in mineral resources exists. It is the very 
place for hypochondriacs. There they forget their troubles, 
and will sooth their pinings by long, deep draughts of the 
pleasure of scenic sublimity and pure mountain air. Cataw- 
ba county is particularly healthy. Its land is fertile, and 
nature has endowed it with every thing that is pleasing to the 
eye. A river of the same name bounds it on the north and 
and on the east, and the northern part of it is graced with 
the White Sulphur Springs. Pleasant Garden, Mountain 
Grove and Catawba Springs are all sought after with avidity 
by those seeking health and pleasure. White Sulphur 
Springs, especially, is the focus of attraction. Marylanders, 
Virginians, South Carolinians, all congregate there every 
year, and recreate themselves, and court the many smiles of 
the goddess of enjoyment. 
Away west and north of Catawba, runs loweringly the 
Blue Ridge, onward through the counties of McDowell, Wa- CATAWBA COUNTY. 
31 
tauga, Ashe, and Surry, far up into the embattled, sacred 
land of Virginia. These counties are historic, and all have a 
revolutionary and ante-revolutionary fame which time will 
never efface from the heroic page of events. The first gave 
to North Carolina a soldier and a statesman without fear and 
without reproach. Spring Garden, already alluded to, is con- 
nected with his name,-the place of his birth, the bower of 
his dreams, the relic of his goodness and his greatness.- 
Through the next, Watauga, "the River of Islands " runs-• 
an expression sufficiently romantic and suggestive of the 
loveliness of its unrivalled scenery. When, however, we take 
a retrospective look at the history of aboriginal times, there 
is one form, there is one hero, there is one man that stands 
before us mail clad with sinewy muscles-a giant of the for- 
est, the pathfinder, the terror of the red men, the " Nick of 
the Woods ' '-Daniel Boone. His name is linked inseparably 
with " the dark and bloody ground of Kentucky." But 
here he first drew the deadly rifle-here he first beheld his 
natural enemies-here he learned how to thwart their wicked 
designs. Lord Byron has done more to immortalize Boone 
than any of his countrymen have ever attempted in verse or 
in prose. Thus, in Don Juan, he says :- 
"Of all men 
Who passes for in life and death most lucky, 
Of the great names which in our faces stare, 
Is Daniel Boone, the back-woodsman of Kentucky, 
Crime came not near him,-she is not the child of solitude. 
Health shrank not from him, for 
Her home is in the rarely trodden wild. " 
At the right arm of Ashe, crookedly crosses the Appala- 
chian chain, while the county itself bears the name of one 
who is styled " the Nestor of North Carolina." In the last 
the traveler finds the Ararat of America, a lookout mountain 
in Surry, from which the Indians surveyed the surrounding 
country, and on which were kindled their beacons of warning 
and call. The country round is sufficiently interesting, and 
abounds in all that can give color to canvass and romance. 
Leaving Wilmington en route to this region, we can pass 32 
williams' spring. 
through the pretty town of Goldsboro', through the capital 
of the State-"Raleigh-through Hillsboro', Greensboro', 
Lexington and Salisbury. All are places of notoriety. We 
can feast our fancy by the way on groves of poplar, forests 
of oak, on granite-looking shoals. Nearer Catawba we have 
the Warrior Mountains, of the county of Caldwell, extending 
their horns to the Brushy Mountain Gap north, and to the 
Lennville and Brindle Mountains west. Everywhere rests 
sublimity; everywhere is visible grandeur. No person has 
ever yet gone over that part of the State, or, indeed, to any 
western section, who is not struck with the prodigality of na- 
ture. The climate is pure, and every way favorable to lon- 
gevity. It abounds in everything rich in the mineral king- 
dom, and the cerealia grow luxuriantly. No North Carolinian 
need ever go abroad for the purpose only of finding a pure 
atmosphere, and of invigorating his system by free, bracing 
mountain air. He need not leave his native State to seek a 
more comfortable sea-bathing coast than that which bounds 
his southern home. The people of Wilmington and its sur- 
roundings are more than blessed in having all this so near at 
hand. A few hour's ride will bring them to scenes of much 
variety, where in luxuriant joy they may indulge,-where the 
phthisical and the hypochondriacal can forget their blues, and 
cast off the expressionless gaze. 
A few miles from this city, and over a road remarkable for 
the variety of its rural beauty on either side, and which con- 
stitutes one of the pleasantest equestrian rides we know, is 
located a spring, gushing up from nature's richest fount, amid 
sand of gold and silver. Trotting along Fourth street, cros- 
sing the bridge to " Texas," and onward till the last house 
of the western end is passed, we turn to the right, and kick 
up the dust until we are lost in the piney wroods. Indeed, 
too much cannot be said in praise of this public way, and 
one which is yet destined to be more traveled by those seek- 
ing recreation on horse back and in carriages, than it is at 
present. On the bridge over Smith's Creek one evening at 
sunset, carried off into the region of the beautiful, we had to 
stop our shying " Neddie " and look on in wonderment at 
the lovely prospect that lay outstretched before us. A web williams' spring. 
33 
of matted plants ran down to the water's edge ; large trees 
stood sentinel-like at stated intervals, and threw their shadow 
far into the sleeping stream; smaller ones overhung the 
banks, and behind these another column smaller still, as if 
phalanx seeming they would keep guard over the flanks of 
the rivulet. Many of them were draped in the drooping 
tyllindria, the Spanish moss, and the charming mistletoes 
stood around in much confusion. Beautiful climbers slyly 
crept aloft, and looked down from the lofty trees at you, whis- 
pering in the language of the rustling leaves, " would'nt you 
like to kiss me." The wild grape-vine ran about, and broom- 
sedge, and brush-wood grew in wildest profusion. In the 
centre of all this, there lazily flowed the creek, calmly, peace- 
ably by, reflecting from its glassy surface 
"All that painting can express." 
Passing this we are led again to look on the right hand 
and on the left at a Flora, decked in all the wildness of a for- 
est mantle. We have read so much of the holy wells, both in 
England and Ireland, and the lanes to them crowded with 
pilgrims of every infirmity, that we thought, were those days 
of spells and carminatives in existence now, and in this land, 
many would be wending their way to the Chalybeate Springs 
neighboring to Wilmington. They would, after the manner 
of the ancients, erect temples at the very fountains, and in- 
voke the god of physic-Esculapius. But the Spas of Eu- 
rope, and the " Royal old wells " of Britain, and the super- 
stitious practices of antiquity, must not lead us from the 
pure mineral waters that everywhere surround us. A pleas- 
ant ride, and a drink or two from " William's Spring," will 
make any one return to the city more invigorated, less dys- 
peptic, and with an appetite that will do justice to any sup- 
per. We need not wish for the Seltzerwater of Weisbaden, 
nor for the enchanted spa of the Black Forest, nor for any 
draught from Baden-Baden, if we but take the trouble to 
take plenty of exercise in the open air on horseback, and 
quaff some of the ferruginous liquid mentioned. We have 
plenty of Floridian springs here that will never die. They 
will enrich the blood, enhance the color of the cheeks, which 34 
SOUND PARTY.-CHARITY HOSPITAL. 
is ever the certificate of good looks. Exercise is everything 
to the individual. It is health, happiness, and wealth. It is 
in every body's reach. The poor require no money for its 
purchase. The rich can command it when they listed. 
CHAPTER VII. 
SOUND PARTY.-CHARITY HOSPITAL. 
This exercise enlivens the whole system, and keeps it in a 
rejuvenated condition. If the rule was observed more fully, 
there would be less ailment and fewer complaints. Mercury 
would not be so indiscriminately used. Certainly nothing 
can be more pernicious than the ad libitum practice of carry- 
ing in one's pocket a roll of blue mass, and to cut off and 
swrallow a bolus of it whenever a pain in the head, or a fan- 
cied hepatic torpidity gave trouble. It wastes the limbs, di- 
minishes the appetite, impairs digestion, and gives to the 
skin an earthy paleness. The breath acquires in time " a 
characteristic fetor." But it will be said : " We have gone 
to the springs ; we have climbed the mountains; we have 
risen as early as the morning lark, and like it have sipped in 
the pure air of the heavens, yet the fever we caught in the 
lowlands still clings to us, making our existence miserable." 
All very probable. And we say : run, and climb, and romp, 
until perspiration oozes out from every pore, and exorcise the 
poisoner of your systemic circulation. The banisher of your 
rest will be banished in return, and the language of Shaks- 
peare will teach you that, 
"Weariness 
Can snore upon the flint, when resty sloth 
Finds the down-pillow hard. " 
This proper guardianship over one's actions will manifest 
itself in the end, and will be fraught with blessings untold. 
Lancisi has cautioned travelers against night marches through 
the Pontine marshes. We would also caution men of every SOUND PARTY.-CHARITY HOSPITAL. 
35 
condition and class against self-prescribed mercurials, and 
against exposure to the cold dews of night. Miasma is like 
all evils. It lurks in the day time, generally speaking, and 
prowls about in the darkness, seeking whom it may devour. 
Another place of much popularity with all classes, and very 
justly so, is the Sound. A Sound party to the Wilmingtonians 
conveys the greedy intelligence of "luxuriant joy and pleasure 
in excess." To close our labors, therefore, without paying our 
respects to this magic ground, would be not only the very 
height of impropriety and disrespect, but it would also create 
a void that over sensitive feelings might notice. I can do no 
better than describe an impersonal true styled southern trip, 
and a scene of festivity of which we individually partook, 
and which was given by a gentleman, than whom there is 
none more venerable, none more talented, none more respec- 
table, and none more worthy the respect of every citizen of 
Wilmington. 
It was last May, and the elacrity with which its first day 
was greeted by May Queens, and joyous youths, had not yet 
died away. The vernal hue of Spring was in its fullest tint. 
The showers of April had started from the sod the modest 
daisy, the fragrant dahlia, odoriferous fly-catchers. The 
beautiful magnolia, with its leaves of deepest green, and its 
pure white blossoms, emitted a delicious fragrance, most 
grateful to the sight, and to the sense of smell. The earth 
was revolving a bright sun in a bright sky to its meridian 
height and splendor. No dark speck was visible on the ho- 
rizon. Nothing presaged an interruption to the outburst of 
genial good humor and fellow-feeling. Jocularity was freely 
elicited, and in its hilarious indulgence the jolt and the jump 
along the plank road were forgotten. A rarer collection of 
high-toned gentlemen could not be found in this section of 
the State. Every one of them were thorough-bred represen- 
tatives of the Old North State, save one. The latter repre- 
sented the United States and its army. More honorably 
could this be done by no man. His country first, and him- 
self afterwards. A reference to this will sound strangely in 
distant ears, as it has been so widely circulated that nobody 
lives here now but rebels and secessionists, copperheads and 36 
SOUND PARTY.-CHARITY HOSPITAL. 
traitors, and that everybody wearing the uniform of the gov- 
ernment is shunned as if a leper. Let the flaunting lie be 
flung out on the breeze, and let it be wafted throughout the 
land. Strife, contention is past; harmony, unity is living, 
and it will, ere long, cast every blemish behind, and put on 
the symetry of another life. Leaving this matter to the in- 
evitable result of time, we return to our seat in the rockaway. 
Onward we speed over a bottom land, and through some 
thickly arborets, and arboreous ravines. At last we think 
we hear the ocean's roar, and the thought is soon followed 
with a vision of the tempest-tossed spray; majestic looking 
oaks now gradually appear, and very soon a broad expansive 
lawn, and a manor adorn the picture. Its spacious piazza 
soon resounded to the tread of feet, and its many hammocks 
swung to and fro with occupants. Cigars and good old rye, 
cognac, and the best sauterne, and scuppernong elevated the 
temperature of our bonhommie. As far as the eye could scan, 
billow-rocked vessels rode wavingly along the deep. The 
sky was beginning to change. The wind had run to the east. 
In the creek below that rounded the foot of the domain, 
woolly-headed urchins were engaged in catching pig-fish. Our 
very worthy host had us all shortly summoned to an oyster 
lunch. I shall never forget the wide-spreading live oak be- 
neath whose protecting shade a sumptuous feast was spread. 
It stretched forth enormous limbs in every direction, larger 
than ordinary trees. Its head towered on high. In its 
branches crows for ages might have built their nest and 
fledged their callow young. Generations must have, in their 
turn, sat around its base, and listened to the music of the 
mocking bird. Summer after summer have they perhaps 
danced innocent hours away ; and roasted the fresh oyster, 
and eaten the pickle and the buttered cake. The latter did 
we with much gulosity. We thought of the patriarchal days 
gone by, and the many endearments which make Southern- 
ers cling to their Southern home, and to their penates; of 
the bloody strife that had but as yesterday swept, like a si- 
moon of destruction, over their fair sunny land. Not one 
present, but two, who had not been a direct agent in the rev- 
olution, a combatant, a leader. SOUND PARTY.-CHARITY HOSPITAL, 
37 
Satisfied at length of this festive scene, we roamed about, 
viewing this thing and that, until we reached the residence 
of a gentleman related to our generous entertainer. Here 
we were shown many things of interest, and a field laid out 
in nicely measured ridges of peanuts. Several monarchs of 
the forest were also pointed out, and their history given.- 
They sheltered many a whig from tory vengeance during the 
dark days of Tryon's tyranny and Martin's despotism. 
Late in the evening we all sat down to dinner. The young 
suckling lay stretched upon an immense platter of silver. To 
describe the whole would require more language than at our 
present command. Thunder was muttering far off in the 
distance. It came rumbling along the skies. We started for 
Wilmington sooner than we would have, did the sun not hide 
itself behind impervious clouds. Hardly had we been on the 
road backwards when the storm burst forth in full fury.- 
Some of us got pretty well drenched. But pleasure never 
complains. 
We are so glad to notice here, en passant, that the facile 
and fluent pens of the Messrs. Locals are presenting to the 
citizens the crying necessity of a Charity Hospital. That 
such an institution is not needed, is to assert that the city of 
Wilmington does not exist. That such a humane underta- 
king is not worthy the good people of this city, is to say that 
they are bereft of every emotion of pity ; every tender Chris- 
tian feeling, and every quivering thrill of humanity. Oh, the 
poor, the afflicted, the outcast, the homeless, the friendless 
that can be saved under such a benign refuge ! Every city 
in the land, second to a church, erects an asylum for the 
sick. The Knights of Malta and the Knights Templar 
worked for the poor. The daughters of Vincent de Paul 
worked, and work for the poor. They are ever around the 
sick man's couch, and at his dying bedside. The Redeemer 
went about doing good. He healed the sick, the halt and the 
blind. He counseled us to visit them, to tend them, to harbor 
them. Surely, a work which he has done, a command which 
he has given, ought to receive our every attention. He came 
to free man from the shackles of sin and death. He caused 
to shine on all the cheering rays of Christianity. He de- 38 
THE FUTURE PROSPECTS OF WILMINGTON. 
scended from on high to deliver the needy when he crieth, the 
poor also, and him that hath no helper. 
Woman, need we speak to you? You on whom society 
hangs; you whose power among men is omnipotent; in the 
twinkle of whose eye is all that is noble and delicate ; in 
whose smiles beneficently beams charity; whose tongue can 
command the magic words of the Man-God : Deal thy bread 
to the hungry ; zohen thou seest the naked, cover him; and hide 
not thyself from thine own flesh. We know that no appeal is 
ever made to woman in vain. Our noble women, and our 
many institutions of charity, in pushing forward the work of 
Christ, do more for the protection of our people, rich and 
poor, from the possibility of infectious diseases, than our best 
system of municipal regulations. Feed and shelter the poor 
of him who was slaughtered for us, like a sheep in the sham- 
bles, on that rugged, steep, and crimsoned slippery mount of 
Calvary, and you will give them that strength, possessing 
which they will be enabled to observe the necessary rule of 
cleanliness, and thereby elevate the tone of health in the 
community. Extend the hand of your generous protection 
to the miserable victims of poverty, to the impure dens and 
haunts of disease. Let opulence dispense liberally from his 
coffers, and the infirm poor will bless him, and treasure eter- 
nal will be garnered for him in Heaven. 
In conclusion we would say, in the words of the dying 
Laplace-words fraught with wisdom that none can contro - 
vert -" The known is little, but the unknown is immense." 
CHAPTER VIII. 
THE FUTURE PROSPECTS OF WILMINGTON. 
Let us not be superficial. Let us deal with facts, present 
and prospective. Let us compare the past with what we 
may joyfully hope to find in the future. To do so it will be 
necessary to fling from us every trace of prejudice, every garb 
of coldness-put on or acquired. We must endeavor to THE FUTURE PROSPECTS OF WILMINGTON. 
39 
throw off this universal gloom that seems to darken the 
minds of men, and cause them to view the sad, and not the 
bright, side of the picture. The darkest hour is before the 
dawn, is a saying as true as it is trite. But is it true that our 
hour is dark ? Away with this hankering after the flesh-pots 
of Egypt, things never to return. Let keen observance ana- 
lyze the condition of affairs, and a fair induction be made. 
The logic of events will conclusively determine the right path, 
the true one to wholesome fellow-feeling, happiness and 
wealth. 
It needs no prophetic eye to scan the future of our city, 
and view it all activity, all enterprise, all energy. Though 
its political horizon to many appears cloudy, and pregnant 
with storms about to burst with furious crash, topling every- 
thing in ruin, we cannot for a moment admit why such-false 
in itself-'should warp the action of men, and either slay 
altogether, or paralyze capital. 
Our common country was begotten in rebellion and blood, 
and brought up in the throes of politics. They did not 
retard her progress to grandeur, glory and greatness. From 
the first giant oak of the forest felled by the immigrant to 
the existing state of civilization, we have noticed nothing 
but advancement in all that is refined and ennobling. 
Should the people of this city and State suffer themselves 
to remain any longer in this somnambulent condition?- 
Rather arouse yourselves, grasp the great truths of the day, 
bury those corroding thoughts, those erroneous ideas of 
political dissension and strife, which tend to arrest our noble 
emulation, and thwart us in pushing onward to magnificent 
prosperity. To the winds with such misgivings. Give them 
-ye men of Wilmington, and of North Carolina-that con- 
temptuous neglect, that merited oblivion, which will make 
bad men good, and good men better. 
Wilmington is open to the great Atlantic, along the deep 
blue bosom of which is wafted to her safe and capacious 
haven richly laden vessels from England, the West India 
Isles, Canada, South America, and the United States.- 
Rushing into her from the Interior we have three different 
Rail Roads, bearing to her market for foreign and home 40 
THE FUTURE PROSPECTS OF WILMINGTON. 
consumption, the rich produce of her most fruitful soil: 
namely; Cotton, Rosin, Spirits Turpentine, Lumber, Pea Nuts, 
Sweet Potatoes, Corn, and among many other bounties of 
nature, the exquisite Scuppernong. 
The exportation of most-if not all-of these in greater or 
lesser quantities, is a stimulus, nothing else considered, to 
entice capital, and men of enterprise and genius to seek the 
banks of the Cape Fear. 
Capital is the grand reservoir, the great beating heart, of 
any and every community, and men of energy are those 
bounding pulsating arteries which carry everywhere joy and 
comfort. Wilmington possesses such a heart, and such 
arteries. Are they healthy ? The men of much means- 
those prying, far seeing physicians of commerce-say, no; 
they are morbid. Why ? Politicians are ruining the place. 
The country is on the eve of a terrible "revulsion." To 
invest is not safe. The wheels of the government are clog- 
ged up with misgivings of an impending crisis. All this is 
simple twaddle. The meerest tyro in the history of this 
Republic will apprehend the illogical assertions here deduced. 
The fact is, we allow politics and politicians to engross our 
mind, instead of plying it to business. Will immigration to 
Brazil, to Mexico, or to any of the Spanish settlements of 
South America, relieve us from this morbid feeling which so 
deleteriously prays on the vitals of our land ? Ask history. 
Look at the fields of blood ; at the citizens driven into exile 
from their dismantled, their plundered homes and altars.- 
Does slavery live there ? Yes; but, sickly. A negro can 
readily procure his freedom, and then he is eligible to the 
highest office of the country. Who is the Emperor of Brazil. 
Indeed, were we a native of the Sunny South, of the "Old 
North State ;" did w7e fight for a separate independency, and 
struggle with such an indomitable will, we would not now, in 
her hour of trial, be so base to abandon her, simply from the 
foolish reason that we think her in the hands of the Philis- 
tines. No; by Jupiter, we would swear "with her to live, 
with her to die." We would battle on forever to build her up, 
and make her " great, glorious and free." 
If slavery was the root of all evil, that root is fully and aw- LAND DRAINAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE. 
41 
fully eradicated. Free labor will do for this State what it 
has done for the States of the great west. Agriculture will 
be pursued with more vigor. Land proprietors should invite 
immigration, and throw out safe and sufficient inducements. 
The extensive tracts of land now lying in their primeval rude- 
ness will become, in time, dotted with hamlets and homesteads. 
The earth will be forced to disgorge its mineral riches, and 
the soil will yield in much abundance the valuable produce of 
fruitful nature. 
To effect all this, we want a sound mind in a sound body.- 
We must have the panacean dews to soften the breasts of 
men, to promote a more kindly intercourse, and a proper ap- 
preciation of each other. We must destroy the " moss and 
lichen of neglect." 
We have read of men growing wiser by the follies of their 
ancestors. Let us see to this. Let us conceive and pursue 
a different method of studying the laws of nature. Fancy 
may depict imaginary wrongs, and portentous evils. But 
they should never be suffered to retard sound physical and 
mental progression. 
Fortune will be with us, success attend all our undertakings, 
and a thriving business will secure, with the blessings of God, 
a cheerful, and peaceful, and prosperous future for Wilming- 
ton. 
CHAPTER IX. 
LAND DRAINAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE. 
If any sanitary regulation be worth the attention of 
" heads " of " bodies," it is certainly that one which tends 
to radically drive from our midst disease and its cause. None 
stands more prominently before the people of Wilmington than 
the subject which we purpose to present graphically to the 
readers of this city. 
It is an established fact, one of the few dogmas of the med- 
ical art, that paludal fever, in all its hideous shape and type, 42 
LAND DRAINAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE. 
is modified or aggravated by the lax or strict attention to this 
grand hygienic law. 
The miasma which a marshy region and an imperfect drain- 
age generates is almost the exclusive cause of every epidemic 
that assails the towns and cities of the Atlantic coast, of the 
Gulf, and of our great inland lakes, rivers and streams. Its 
attacks are made, so to speak, with the varigated hue of the 
kaleidoscope; now as intermittent and remittent, and again 
as diarrhoea, dysentery, bilious, cholera, congestive and yellow 
fevers. It is notorious that New Orleans, for three years 
subsequent to the rigid police enforced by General Butler, 
both of the [sewers and drains in and around the city was 
happily exempt, to a high degree, from most of the diseases 
above enumerated, and particular immunity of that terrible 
scourge-the yellow fever-was noticed. 
The eastern shore of Maryland was formerly deemed very 
unhealthy, and though still the western Marylanders look 
over at it as an " ague district," it has been shorn of its more 
malignant nature by means of art and science. 
Not to confine ourselves to this age or country, we need 
but take a retrospect at history, ancient and moderm " Two 
hundred years ago," writes Lord Macauley, "when the soil 
around London was neither drained or cultivated, and when 
the marshes of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire were cov- 
ered with cranes, ague was a most fatal disease in England." 
It may not be generally known, but it is true, that James I,, 
and Oliver Cromwell, both died of this malady. At the pre- 
sent time, owing to the perfect drainage maintained, the' 
English people enjoy a freedom from malaria that was hith- 
. erto unknown. 
Look to Rome of the ancients. She sat crowned on her 
seven hills in all the loveliness, in all the panoply, that a 
generous and a brave population could command,-yet rav- 
aging epidemics often chilled her brow, and sent to Hades 
many of her best and bravest. Her lofty walls could not 
keep them out. Down from the old Tarpeian, the Aventine, 
and the Palatine, rushed in torrents the rain of the season, 
and inundated her fair and rich valleys and plains. The 
waters became stagnant, and slowly evaporating infected the LAND DRAINAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE. 
43 
nir with malarial poison. The activity of the Romans did 
not permit this state of things to continue long. They lib- 
erally donated much of their wealth, time and labor in erad- 
icating the supposed cause of this insalubrity. Conduits 
were constructed, and ramified subterraneously throughout 
the entire city ; so numerous and so large indeed were they 
that Pliny describes them as-" operum omnium dictu maxi- 
mum suffosis montibus atque urbe pensili subterque navigata."- 
Hygiene did for Rome what her arms could never effect.- 
From disease she became healthy, robust and strong, and 
her people rejoiced that their money and labor were not fool- 
ishly thrown away; that they had rooted out and banished 
the evil. Lucius Tarquinius, bearing the cognomen of Pris- 
cus, among his many other kingly deeds, paid strict attention 
to the doacx, or common sewers. He built and repaired, in 
which noble enterprise he was followed by others down to 
the Caesars. The warlike habits of the Romans, and their 
greediness for the conquest of terra incognita rendered them 
feared and hated by their enemies far and near. Their cru- 
elty towards helpless slaves and prisoners was fast bringing 
down upon them a direful and just retribution. They en- 
joyed health, they gloried in the aggrandizement of lands, 
they forgot, in their elevation, that these were of earth, and 
earthy, that all, in the " twinkling of an eye," could be lost. 
The warriors of the north marched to give them battle. And 
the Goths, led by their savage chiefs, invaded Rome, broke 
down the embankments of the Tiber, toppled the public buil- 
dings, the sewers became choked up, and the surrounding 
country was again made subject to fevers, from which it had 
been so long exempt. 
Medical writers in every age, from Hippocrates down, have 
concluded that every country is more or less sickly, in pro- 
portion to its " marsh or undrained alluvial soil." Rawlinson, 
in the Journal of Society of Arts, holds the following lan- 
guage : " Within the last half century, land draining and 
town sewering have ripened into sciences. From rude be- 
ginnings, insignificant in extent, and often injurious in their 
effects in the first instance, they have become of the first im- 
portance. Land has, in many instances, doubled in value, 44 
LAND DEAINAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE. 
and town sewering, with other social regulations, have not 
infrequently prolonged human life from five to fifty per cent., 
as compared with previous rates in the same district." 
It is still a vexata questio as to the time when fevers become 
most virulent. Practical observation has conclusively shown 
to hosts of able writers that it is when rain has fallen to a 
great extent, and when the "drying up" commences. To 
have this rain fall freely carried off, before any chance of its 
forming pools or ponds is given, is of vital importance, and 
ought to command the attention of those invested with the 
sanitary welfare of this community. The cry of "no money" 
is the prevailing excuse. Is it true ? The taxes of the city 
are fabulous. Where do they go ? The city is without a 
safe sidewalk, excepting such plots placed opposite private 
residences and stores. It is passing strange that a city like 
this, receiving taxes on so many saw mills, cannot afford to 
lay down neat and inexpensive boarded sidewalks. We no- 
ticed during the past Spring and the present Summer that 
much labor has been consumed on poor paving and sand 
shovelling, the rains quickly undo the w'ork, and the same 
process is again begun. Cannot a wiser policy than this be 
hatched by our city fathers. Is the public funds all expend- 
ed on this " child's play," and in paying the salaries of the 
officers and police force ? Wisdom we think is here wanting. 
Well directed efforts will procure funds, and banish from 
amongst us the annual cause of so much sickness. 
The environs of Wilmington are anything but agreeable. 
To the North and Northwest; to the South and Southeast, 
are both temporary and permanent bodies of water, stagnant 
pools and ponds of considerable surface. The dams of the 
creek North of the city have been broken down, and the 
country around has become very insalubrious from the stag- 
nant plains of water, and the decomposing vegetable matter. 
Attention turned in the right way could easily remedy this, 
and Burnt Mill creek, flowing by the brick yard could be 
made the primary deposit of drains as it finds an entrance to 
Smith's creek, and the latter into the Northwest branch of 
the Cape Fear. Turning around to the Southeastern section 
we notice at the head of Orange stree, and in two or three LAND DRAINAGE AND TOWN SEWERAGE. 
45 
places in the vicinity of the Marine hospital several ponds of 
water formed by the recent rains. The region behind the 
hospital is quite marshy. The cause of some of these dykes 
may be justly attributed to the throwing up of the " last 
ditches " of the war. Drains could be made so as to carry 
off the rain falls to Green Pond which is in communication 
with the river. Green's Plantation, before and during the 
first years of the rebellion, was drained and cultivated. That 
part of it skirting the river was well ditched in, and the tidal 
flow was thus kept from inundating. General Whiting had 
the sluices raised and the embankment torn down to permit 
the ingress of water. He also made Green Pond communi- 
cate with Green's Plantation, thereby converting the latter 
into a bog covered with a deep sheet of water. His reason, 
we are told, was to prevent the " yankees " from approaching 
the city in that quarter. We can hardly credit this as the 
General was too sound an Engineer to believe any such stuff, 
and knew the yankee character too well, to believe for a mo- 
ment that either fire or water could impede their progress. 
When this plantation is again drained and under cultiva- 
tion that neighborhood will have a purer atmosphere. We 
hope the day is not distant when this will be chronicled. 
At one time in the history of this city there were five sew- 
ers in good condition. They were subterraneous streams that 
carried much nuisance to the river. Where are they ? What 
is their condition now? Questions hardly answerable.- 
With one or two exceptions they are choked up, utterly use- 
less. On second between Orange and Ann streets, one was 
recently repaired. It did good duty, and well repaid the 
city in giving outlet to a deep body of stagnant water.- 
Another in the neighborhood of " Dry Pond " received some 
attention. It crosses Front street some distance above Castle. 
In rear of the residence of Mr. O. G. Parsley, one had its 
origin wending its way to Dock street where it met with an- 
other coming from the vicinity of the present jail, and, to- 
gether united they ran down Dock into the river. Near the 
" Brown House " is supposed to be the fifth. These latter 
have sunk into oblivion, whether they are or not necessary 
we are ignorant. If necessary it is certain that they 46 
THE HILLS OE WILMINGTON. 
receive no attention. It seems to one's reason that a syste- 
matic sewerage is as needful to the purification of Wilming- 
ton as anything that can be suggested or adopted. Can 
they not be used for a purpose other than for carrying off 
the rain water? We think they can. What concerning the 
human and animal excreta ? Are they to be left to be dried 
up, and to impregnate the air which we breathe with putrid 
inorganic matter? We have seen places-the "Parisian 
Houses "-where fecal matter lies two feet above ground.- 
No sewerage is near. No disinfectant can avail much. Such 
a state contributes a great deal to the aggravation of any 
and every epidemic that may make its appearance. The yellow 
fever of 1862, which carried away so many of the citizens, 
met something in this that enhanced its rapid propagation. 
The best purifiers of our city is a well arranged system of 
sewerages and .drains. See to it, city authorities. Better 
make small and " rude beginnings " than none ; better spend 
the public funds in parte at this, than throwing it away ex- 
clusively in playing with sand. 
CHAPTER X. 
THE HILLS OE WILMINGTON. 
Ex nihih) nihil fit. 
To the North Carolinian, as it is with every son of any and 
every nationality, the departure from his low-land home, or 
from his native hills, must be accompanied with sighing 
regret equal to the prospective attainment of wealth and 
fame under another clime. He cannot, when distant and 
absent for years, but revert to 
" friends regretted, scenes forever dear," 
and dream away an evening in endeavoring 
"To trace the hours which never can return." 
We often relieve the mind from its busy train of business THE HILLS OF WILMINGTOTf. 
47 
thoughts in sending it backward to pick up from the bosom 
of the past each glittering drop of dewy joy ; and no drop is 
brighter, none sweeter to the pleasure of imagination and 
memory than that which reflects our baby-home, throned on 
a clear, slow flowing river, a jewel in the midst of fertile 
plains, interspersed with frowning mountains and beautiful 
valleys, splendid rivulets and placid, ambient lakes. 
In all ages it has been the custom of people to build on 
high places, and the site for churches ever received the 
highest. It was on the mount of Sinai, in Arabia, near the 
head of the Red Sea, Moses received the law amid terrific 
peals of thunder, and other natural convulsions made by 
nature's God. It was on a mount that the Tempter showed 
to the Saviour of mankind the treasure and glory of the 
world, and offered him all, if he would but fall down and 
worship. Jerusalem was built on hills. Mount Sion was 
the "City of David," and Mount Aera was called "the 
Daughter of Sion." Wherever we search for instances in 
sacred or profane history wre will find that hills and moun- 
tains are notorious for some of the most striking points in 
the annals of the world, from the resting of the Ark on 
Mount Ararat down to the present time. 
Rome, more than two thousand six hundred and twenty 
years ago, was enthrcned on seven hills. Such a lapse of 
ages has rendered them almost undiseoverable, so much have 
the plains and valleys been filled with Vast quantities of dirt 
and debris. The hills are on both sides of the yellow Tiber. 
Those of Wilmington are on the east side of the Cape Fear. 
You must not conclude we intend a comparison. Though if 
Wilmington was as hoary with years as the Eternal City, 
and like it had received the patronage of the princes and 
the great persons of Christendom and Paganism, it would 
have arisen from the low lands with which it is surrounded, 
as did the other from its foggy and malarious marshes. The 
Capitoline is said to have been inhabited by Greeks long 
before Romulus traced, with two white cattle, a furrow round 
the Palatine, and slew his brother for disobeying the com- 
mand in laughingly jumping the ditch. The Pincian mount, 
the Quirinal, the Aventine, the Ccelian hills, and Janiculum, 48 
THE HILLS OE WILMINGTON. 
have all their histories, which would fully pay one's time to 
pick them out from the general mass. Many other mounts, 
as the Vatican, &c., are mentioned, all very interesting, and 
the Campusmartius, or the old Caprea, whence some silly 
folks thought Romulus was raised in a cloud and translated 
to banquet with the gods, but who was destroyed by the 
hands of a malcontent. 
The old world has its beauty spots of nature, but the new 
has nature's last and richest touch. The Fishkill mountains, 
or the more euphonious aboriginal name of Matteawa, are 
studded with smiling hamlets and homesteads, and are un- 
surpassed by any of whatever notoriety. The majestic 
grandeur of the heath-covered hills of Scotland impressed 
the minds of their children about to emigrate to seek their 
counterpart in a foreign land. They viewed them with pride, 
and they had reason. "When the sun chased the thick clouds 
of the morning's mist it shone in glittering splendor on the 
crag-built minarets, and the modest shrines that peered from 
out the mountain gorges. With such a vision before them, 
the Highlanders received a lasting lesson. It took them to 
the rolling country of the upper Cape Fear region, where 
Cross Creek crosses and makes music in its onward flow 
to the river through the town of Fayetteville. The people 
who founded Wilmington in 1739, were predominantly Eng- 
lish, and loving the rosy soil of mother country, which lies 
south of Chevoit Hills, fixed upon the wave of highlands 
here to incorporate what was destined to be a flourishing 
commercial town, full of pleasant wholesome, cheer, and fan- 
ning " A spark of that immortal fire " which Allah gave to 
men, and which angels shared. Hills were then in reality.- 
They have left their names behind in tradition, and tradition 
is a traveller, and keeps pace with all time. It teaches that 
" which books can never teach, nor pedants show." Some- 
times it gives strange names to stranger things, and blends 
fiction and truth in one common whole. A little of both is 
read with passing pleasure, and affords the critic dust for a 
dusty quill. 
Constitutional Hill is supposed to be situated now in what 
may be justly considered a very unconstitutional place. A THE HILLS OE WILMINGTON. 
49 
little corner there, with an immense brick structure, con- 
tains big posters, which teach the young negro how to shoot 
the " new idea," and proposes to organize the Sunny Land 
of Dixie on the irrefragible, 11 irrepressible " platform of the 
" Reconstruction Bill." Near this mighty mansion, around 
which the " clouds " are forever bobbing, showing their 
shining ivories, and their glittering ebony faces, intermixed 
with streaks of a hickory color, is found that romantic mound, 
on which the sun is said to set, throwing over it his sheen, 
and inviting young men and maidens to congregate there, 
and enjoy the sweet, innocent sports of pastime. Passing 
one evening, just as old Sol was about dipping his adieu in 
the waters of the Cape Fear, we noticed many whose age 
was of that delightful turn that makes Cupid all smiles, and 
his quiver all full, frolicking on the green-capped heads of 
the various knolls. We envied them their general glee, for 
it recalled, in brightest vision, the memory of the past, when 
down the side of a pleasant daisy-bespangled vale we used 
to roll with sister then, and youthful friends; when the fu- 
ture we thought not of, knew not, saw not, for the present was 
cloudless, all sunshine, the merry, bright days of childhood. 
We rode by, wishing them a life of universal sun, with not a 
hill upon it to cast forth a shade of sorrow. We are not 
aware if vinegar is manufactured here, and we hardly know 
why a city land-mark should bear so sour an appellation. Is 
it because the people are morose along there and wear long 
faces, hidden away within advancing sun-bonnets ? No, we 
think not. But as it runs along Orange street, we presume 
that that fruit was not as free from tart as it ought to have 
been. On the whole, Vinegar Hill is as free from the inspis- 
sated juice of the beech or pine as any of the others, and the 
residents thereof are what may be, without any tint of exag- 
geration, termed fit for "kingly chambers or imperial halls." 
Piety is a dear word, and we have no doubt that Piety Hill 
is a dear Hill, and to make it so years have been consumed. 
Three churches make a triangle-St. James', St. Thomas', 
and the Presbyterian. Three roads on the same journey, 
beacons to the narrow path. Three different propounders of 
the Gospel of salvation, throwing a halo of learning and re- 50 
THE HILLS OF WILMINGTON. 
ligion about that goodly hill, and all proclaim in pious hom- 
ilies that the great end of man is to know the great truth 
" Virtue alone is happiness below," 
and that when a man dies- 
" His soul is gone, before his dust, to Heaven." 
We all love good society, and know it, and feel its presence, 
and its absence. We do not mean that which is thrown up 
when " the nation boils not that which men form working 
for a common cause, and thus make them, for the time being, 
companions ; not that which makes one prefer a " shoddy," 
simply because he is rich, and he has endeared himself to 
us for his unbounded liberality, his unlimited bursts of pa- 
triotism, and has gained the title of Captain, Colonel, or per- 
haps General. No ; none of these. We mean Society Hill. 
A pretty place it must be. It is somewhere up Market street. 
It is presumed that, like in the coffee-houses of London, du- 
ring the golden age of England, the literati met there and 
discussed the latest publication, the last written drama ; law- 
yers met there to argue some State matter of importance, 
and coolly drink their toddy. Sewing societies, soiree socie- 
ties, sound parties, and similar omnium gatherum. Do not 
think us facetious. What a blessed boon it is to have a 
happy home circle. Around the family hearth none can tell 
the joy there concentrated until he has tasted and lost it 
forever. The Society of the fireside ought to be always el- 
evating ; ought always be throwing out good example. Such 
should be Society Hill. Quality Hill reminds one of a tale 
called the " Newcomes," wherein good nature is " stuck 
up," and bonhommie is under the protectorship of a bas bleu. 
Genius is born there, and the lamp is ever lit, not wasted in 
fitful glares. The locality is an agreeable one, and splendid 
buildings are towering high there, surrounded with magnifi- 
cent trees and shrubbery. If you are incredulous, just take 
a ramble along Front, from Chesnut, and make a circuit of a 
few squares. You will not proceed very far before you will be 
probably confronted with the odor of spices and smelling 
gums. You are approaching the little hill called Sugar Plumb. THE HILLS OF WILMINGTON. 
51 
We all love plumbs and sugar, especially when cherry lips 
lisp the words " hugar pums." You would perhaps feel as 
much like kissing the one as you would like eating the other. 
This would ;be considered charming. The Irish or Scotch 
would pronounce you a very " gallows " fellow. This is an 
awful hill to climb-the gallows hill. Everybody knows 
where it is, or used to be. It is too gloomy a spectacle to 
dwell upon, so to it we say farewell, sic transit gloria mundi. 
Farewell, then, ye Constitution; ye sunset, and ye vinegar; 
ye piety and society; ye quality and sugar plumb ; and ye 
" gallows " hills. 
Paradise Grove once stood on a round declivity overlook- 
ing the river. It has now lost all the fine shades, and is a 
bleak spot-it is paradise lost-not Milton's. Hither, in the 
halcyon days of their youth, the Wilmingtonians sought the 
cool breeze wafted along the river from the sea. They danced 
away bright happy hours, eat the philopena, and " eyes 
look'd love to eyes that spoke again." 
Passing from this picture, we cross over to the city of the 
dead, and while we do so let us lay all dissipation behind, 
and begin in atonement for our past levity the deprofundis.- 
We have seen Greenwood, of Brooklyn, and the celebrated 
cemetery at Baltimore, and the exquisite one near St. Louis, 
Mo., but we have seen none that surpasses, in monumental 
grandeur, and simplicity and beauty of arrangement, the 
" Oakdale" of Wilmington. It is a " monumentum oere per- 
ennius " to the good taste and love for the sacred dead of the 
inhabitants. 
The ancients selected recesses in the wooded heights to 
hide from sight the beloved departed. In a garden near the 
base of Calvary, Joseph of Arimathea prepared to rest the 
Messiah. The Catacombs of Thebes were in the gorges of 
wooded hills, planted with trees and flowers. We need but 
take an evening walk along the planks to Oakdale to behold 
a sight which pages from antiquity could be brought to glo- 
rify. Clumps of native trees and shrubs seclude those passed 
away, and the wavering, pure white cape jasmines stoop and 
rise, and rustle a requiem over their graves. WILMINGTON 
IN 
HEALTH AND DISEASE, 
BY 
J. B. PURCELL, M. D. 
1867. 
Journal Print, Wilmington, N. C,