, North Carolina, and
was educated at Washington College, Tennessee, and at the University
of North Carolina. He studied law and began its practice in Asheville.
He was soon elected to the State Legislature and to Congress; and from
1854 to his death was continuously in public life except just after
the war. His wit and eloquence made him a great favorite both on the
stump and in Congress, and the influence he wielded in his state was
unbounded. He was opposed to secession, but joined his state in her
decision and became colonel of the 26th North Carolina Regiment, one
of the best of the army.

In 1862 he was elected governor of the State and was so active and
enterprising in getting aid by sea for the cause that he was called
the "War Governor of the South." He was in favor of considering the
negotiations for peace in 1863, but he neglected no measures to insure
the success of the Confederacy. In 1865 he was held a prisoner of war
for a few weeks in Washington.

[Illustration: ~State Capitol of North Carolina.~]

His political disabilities were not removed till 1872; in 1876 he was
elected governor of North Carolina, and in 1879, United States
Senator, having been elected and his seat refused him in 1870. His
death occurred in Washington City, and he is buried in Asheville. His
State is now preparing to erect a monument expressing her honor and
devotion to her illustrious son.

WORKS.

Speeches: (in Congress and on Public Occasions.)

CHANGES WROUGHT BY THE WAR.

(_From All About it--an address before the young men of Raleigh,
N. C.; published in "Land We Love" January, 1867._)

Virginia to the north of us was settled by English Cavaliers; South
Carolina, mainly by French Huguenots, both among the noblest stocks of
Western Europe. North Carolina, with but a slight infusion of each,
was settled by a sturdier--and in some respects--a better race than
either. She was emphatically the offspring of religious and political
persecution, and the vital stream of her infant life was of
Scotch-Irish origin. A cross of those two noble races has produced a
breed of men as renowned for great deeds and modest worth as perhaps
any other in this world. Two instances will suffice for this. Perhaps
the most manly and glorious feat of arms in modern times was the
defence of Londonderry, as the boldest and most remarkable state paper
was the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. Both were the work
mainly of men such a