Patriots of ’61 – Major Charles Manly Stedman of Chatham County
Born at Pittsboro,
Chatham County on 29 January 1841, his family moved to Fayetteville when
he was twelve years old. At age sixteen he entered the University of
North Carolina, took
first honors in his studies, and was to be salutatorian of his class
though interrupted by the war. He volunteered as a private in the
Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry; subsequently he rose to captain of Company E, (Chatham County), 44th North Carolina Regiment; then regimental field rank of major on 28 July 1862.
Major
Stedman was one of twelve North Carolina soldiers who held the
distinction of fighting in the first battle at Bethel Church and who
ended the war with Lee at Appomattox. He
was wounded three times and distinguished himself at Chancellorsville,
the Wilderness, and Ream’s Station in late August 1864 when four North
Carolina brigades assaulted, and, virtually unaided, drove Warren’s
Corps in a complete rout from behind their breastworks.
After
the war he returned to Chatham County to teach, studied law under John
Manning, and moved to Wilmington in 1867 to practice law. There he
married Miss Catherine Wright in
1866, daughter of Joshua Grainger Wright. Major Stedman was elected as
Lieutenant-Governor in 1884 and served 1885-1889; he ran unsuccessfully
for governor in 1890 when he lost to Judge Fowls. Due to poor health, Stedman relocated to Asheville, North Carolina in 1891.
Major
Stedman also served president of the North Carolina Bar Association,
director of the North Carolina Railroad, and Trustee of the University
of North Carolina. He
was among the original charter members of Wilmington’s distinguished
Cape Fear Club, incorporated in 1872 and today the oldest men’s club in
continuous operation. The
last home of the Wilmington Light Infantry on Market Street was
previously owned by Major Stedman until his departure from Wilmington.
In
1910 he was elected to Congress from the Fifth District where he served
continuously until his death on 23 September, 1930. At the time of his
death at 89 years, Major
Stedman was the last Confederate officer serving in the United States
Congress. His body was laid to rest with full military honors in Cross
Creek Cemetery in Fayetteville.
Mr. A. Wayland Cooke said of Major Stedman in 1914, nominating him for a third term:
“If
I were to name his greatest traits of character I should say that they
were his constant and unswerving adherence to duty, his absolute
fearlessness and fortitude, his eminent truthfulness and his fidelity to
his friends….he is one of the highest type of men the State of North
Carolina has ever produced. I commend to you as a soldier of the South
who was first at Bethel, four years in the service without a furlough,
and who laid down his arms with Lee at Appomattox, and the officer of
the Southern army now in Congress.”
(North
Carolina, Rebuilding an Ancient Commonwealth, Vol. III, American
Historical Society, 1928, pp. 550-551; Confederate Veteran, November
1930, page 414)
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