of the charge. Ever since at the parades of his battalion, the name of Latour d' Auvergne was first called; when the oldest Sergeant stepped to the front and presenting arms, answered "Died on the field of honor." When in Spirit-Land, beyond the grave, where the shades of the gallant dead assemble, when the glorious roll-call is made, and the name of Fisher is reached, it will be for the majestic spirit of a Jackson, ora Lee to advance and pronounce the proudest eulogy of our race. "Died on the field of duty."*
* Gen. Richard Taylor on
Jackson.
Colonel Fisher married a daughter of Hon. David F. Caldwell, by whom he had his lovely and accomplished daughter, Miss Frances C. Fisher, author of many interesting works, among them "Valarie Aylmer," "Morton House" and others, under the nom de plume of Christian Reid. Of her first work, which has placed her high among the writers of fiction in this country, Mr. Leon of the Mobile Register says: "Before Cooper, Simms, Hawthorne and other pens had made light literature respectable, production of home works of fiction had dwindled into a mere farce. Since the war, novels by American authors that have attracted attention can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Three of these are of Southern birth. One of these is "Valarie Aylmer." No work has called forth more general and more honest criticism and the result has been highly favorable. The style is pure, clear and free from affectation and pedantry, which gives promise of a vigor that can but grow into a brilliant future.
"This work is one of graceful and pleasant description not without rare strength in character outlining, but with the promise of powerful shading in society picturing."
The New York Evening Post, reviews that book: "Valarie Aylmer is undeniably quite charming and as a literary work is worthy of praise.
"Christian Reid, the pseudonymous author, shows on every page a wide acquaintance with literature, not that encyclopedic pedantry which is so manifested by certain novelists, and ranges from Talmud to Tennyson, but an easy familiarity with the best authors, and a love for all they have in them, pure and lovely and of good report. No reader of "Valarie Aylmer" will lay down the book without sharing in our own desire to hear from Christian Reid again."
John W. Ellis, (born 1820; died 1861,) late Governor of North Carolina, son of Anderson Ellis, was a native of Rowan County, of that portion now known as Davidson County. His early education was conducted by Robert Allison, at Beattie's Ford; continued at Randolph Macon, and finished at the University, where he graduated in 1841, in the same class with Thos. L. Avery, R. R. Bridgers, Robert Burton, Wm. J. Clark, Wm. F. Dancy, John F. Hoke, V. Mc. Bee, Montford McGehee, Richmond N. Pearson, Charles Phillips, Saml. F. Phillips, Thos. Ruffin, Jas. G. Shepherd, Robert Strange jr., Jas. F. Taylor and others. A large class and distinguished in after life for their ability and usefulness. He read law under Judge Pearson and was admitted to the bar in 1842; when he opened a law office in Salisbury; and there he practised with great success.
In 1844 he was elected a member of the House of Commons from Rowan, with Hon. Nathaniel Boyden, and Maj. John B. Lord as colleagues, (with a constituency opposed to his political views, as were his distinguished associates.) This proved the early and just appreciation on the part of the people of his worth and of their confidence in his character as a statesman; he was re-elected in 1846; and in 1848. His course in the Legislature was marked by candor, liberality and philanthropy. To his political opponents he was tolerant and candid, and his liberal support of the internal
| Index - Contents |
 |
|
| ||
|
||