Page:Minutes of the Immortal Six Hundred Society 1910.djvu/11

10 and soldier, one of Wilmington's oldest and most beloved of men passed away shortly before the stroke of last midnight at his home No. 814 Princess street.

The end came peacefully at 11.40 o'clock with all members of the family at his bedside. He had been sinking for several hours, but had retained consciousness almost up to the last moment. His passing was as if into a long sleep, a smile upon his countenance and his features giving no sign of regret or emotion other than that deep resignation which was always one of the characteristics of his long and useful life in yielding to the inevitable and the voice of his Master. Col. Cantwell had been in declining health for several years, due more to the infirmities of age than to other causes, and it was only his remarkable vitality that spared him to the family and loved ones for so long a time as he had lived. Up to the last he was bright and cheerful, never murmuring, never complaining; tenderly devoted to his family and to The Six Hundred of which he was a beloved and honored member until the last. The news of his passing will be received with infinite regret everywhere he was known.

Col. Cantwell, while a man of the strongest convictions upon all subjects, never hesitating to express an opinion nor to defend a position, was yet genial and kindly and made friends of all who came within the range of his strong personality. Possessed of a high sense of honor, urbane and military in his bearing, he stood among his fellows a type all too rare in this last generation. His presence and his influence was an inspiration to youth in whom he ever took the kindliest interest. He was singularly devoted to the Confederacy and the city in this decade has lost no more valuable citizen in this regard. He made friends of the close and lasting kind and hundreds and hundreds in all walks of life will today mourn the loss of this good citizen and friend.

Col. Cantwell was born in Charleston, S. C, and would have been eighty-one years of age on the 29th of this month. He joined the famous Palmetto regiment of South Carolina and valiantly fought the battles of his country when a mere youth during the Mexican War. Returning to the East, after the close of this conflict, he located in New Orleans for a few years and served as a drug clerk there through three yellow fever epidemics, coming to Wilmington in 1851 and engaging in business, which was soon interrupted by