Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 4.djvu/325

Rh ing to Asheville in 1836, he won considerable fame in a public discussion, concerning a proposed railroad, with Colonel Memminger, of South Carolina, and was elected to the State senate. He speedily assumed leadership in the Whig party, and in 1843 was elected to Congress, where he served in the lower house until 1858, continuously with the exception of the twenty-ninth Congress. In 1858 he was appointed United States senator to succeed Asa Biggs, and at the end of this term was elected. He took part in many famous debates in Congress, and attained a position of leadership in national affairs. His speech on the causes of the defeat of Henry Clay led to a duel with William L. Yancey, of Alabama. On January 21, 1861, he withdrew from Congress with the other Southern members, and in May was selected to bear assurances to the Confederate Congress that North Carolina would enter the Confederacy. Volunteering for the military service, though nearly fifty years of age, he was elected colonel of the Twenty-fifth infantry, and eight months later was promoted brigadier-general. His principal services were in command at the defense of Goldsboro; at Sullivan s island and Battery Wagner during the attack on Charleston; the attack on New Bern in February, 1864; the defeat of Butler at Drewry s bluff, May, 1864; the battle of Cold Harbor, where he was wounded; the repulse of the Federal attack on Petersburg, June 17th, and the battle on the Weldon railroad, August 19th. In the latter fight he was severely wounded, and was unable to rejoin his command until a few days before the surrender at Greensboro. After the war he was a delegate to the national Democratic convention of 1864. In the department of science he was quite as distinguished as in law, statecraft and war. He explored the mountains of North Carolina, establishing the fact that they contained the loftiest peaks of the Appalachian range, one of the chief of which, measured by him in 1855, now bears his name; opened the mica