Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 4.djvu/22

8 souri, in a superflux of unlethargic adjectives, denounced as &quot;illegal, unconstitutional, revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical,&quot; there was a rapid change in the feelings of the people. Strong union sentiment was changed to a fixed determination to resist coercion by arms if necessary. So rapid was the movement of public events, and so rapid was the revolution in public sentiment, that just three months after the State had refused even to consider the question of secession, a convention composed almost entirely of men who thought it was the imperative duty of their State to withdraw from the Union was in session in Raleigh.

On May 20th, a day sacred to her citizens in that it marked the eighty-sixth anniversary of the colonial Declaration of Independence of England, the fateful ordinance that severed relations with the Union was adopted. Capt. Hamilton C. Graham gives the following account of the attendant circumstances:

"As a youthful soldier and eye-witness of the scene, it made an impression on me that time has never effaced. The convention then in session in Raleigh was composed of men famous in the history of the commonwealth. The city was rilled with distinguished visitors from every part of the State and South. The first camp of instruction, located near by, under command of that noble old hero, D. H. Hill, was crowded with the flower of the old military organizations of the State, and sounds of martial music at all hours of the day were wafted into the city. When the day for the final passage of the ordinance of secession arrived, the gallant and lamented Ramseur, then a major of artillery, was ordered to the Capitol grounds with his superb battery to fire a salute in honor of the event. The battery was drawn up to the left of the Capitol, surrounded by an immense throng of citizens. The convention in the hall of the house of representatives was going through the last formalities of signing the ordinance. The moment the last signature was fixed to the important document, the artillery thundered —