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Elisha Mitchell, D.D., was born in Washington, Litchfield County, Connecticut, on the 19th of August, 1793.
He graduated at Yale College in 1813, was appointed to the chair of mathematics in the University of North Carolina in 1817, and, after rendering thirty-nine and a half years of the most valuable service in the scientific departments of that institution, he perished the 27th of June, 1857, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and was buried in Asheville the 10th of the following July. "But at the earnest solicitation of many friends, and especially of the mountain men of Yancey, his family allowed his body to be removed and deposited on the top of Mt. Mitchell. This was done on the 16th of June, 1858. There he shall rest till the judgment day in a mausoleum such as no other man has ever had. Reared by the hands of Omnipotence, it was assigned to him by those to whom it was given thus to express their esteem, and it was consecrated by the lips of eloquence warmed by affection, amidst the rites of our holy religion. Before him lies the North Carolina he loved so well and served so faithfully. From his lofty couch its hills and valleys melt into its plains as they stretch away to the shores of the eastern ocean, whence the dawn of the last day stealing quietly westward, as it lights the niountain-tops first shall awake him earliest to hear the greeting of "Well done, good and faithful sevvant."
(From the Asheville Spectator.)
Messrs. Editors,-Having spent a week at the scene of this memorable calamity, in search if body of Dr. Mitchell, and assisting in its after it was found, I have been requested by sun citizens to give to the public a sketch of the delplorable event. In accordance with their request, I take my pen to give you all I know of the accident, which has caused so much sorrowful excitement in this region, and which I doubt not will unnerve the public feeling to its centre throughout the State when the sad tiding shall be generally known.
It is known to all who have felt interested in our State geography, that there lately sprung up a dispute between the Hon. T. L. Clingman and Dr. Mitchell in regard to one of the high peaks of the Black Mountain put down in Cook's map as Mt. Clingman. The former alleging that he was first to measure and ascertain its superior height to any other point on the range, and the latter gentleman asserting that he was on that same peak and measured it in the year 1844. After several letters, pro and con through the newspapers, Dr. Mitchell announced last fall his intention of visiting the mountain again for the purpose of remeasuring the peak in dispute, taking the statements of some gentlemen who had acted as his guides on his former visits, etc. Some time since, about the middle of June, I think, he came in company with his son, Chas. A. Mitchell, his daughter, and a servant boy, established his headquarters at Jesse Stepp's, at the foot of the mountain, and began the laborious task of ascertaining height of the highest peak by an instrumental survey, which, as the former admeasurements were only barometrical, would fix its altitude with perfect acuracy. He had proceeded with his work nearly two weeks, and had reached to some quarter of a mile above Mr. Wm. Patton's Mountain House, by Saturday evening, half-past two o'clock, the 27th of June, at which time he quit work and told his son that he was going to cross the mountain to the settlement on Caney River for the purpose of seeing Mr. Thomas Wilson, Wm. Biddle, and, I believe, another Mr. Wilson, who had guided him up to the top on a former visit. He promised to return to the Mountain House on Monday at noon. There was no one with him. This was the last time he was seen alive. On Monday his son repaired to the Mountain House to meet his father, but he did not come. Tuesday the same thing occurred, and though considerable uneasiness was felt for his safety, yet there were so many ways to account for his delay that it was scarcely thought necessary to alarm the neighborhood; but when Wednesday night came and brought no token of him, his son and Mr. John Stepp immediately started on Thursday morning to Caney River in search of him. On arriving at Mr. Thos. Wilson's. what was their astonishment and dismay to learn that he had neither been seen nor heard of in that settlement! They immediately returned to Mr. Stepp's, the alarm was given, and before sundown on Friday evening companies of the hardy mountaineers from the North Fork of the Swannanoa were on their way up the mountain. The writer, happening to be present on a visit to the Black, joined the first company that went up. About eighteen persons camped at the Mountain House that evening, and continued accessions were made to our party during the night by the good citizens of that neighborhood, who turned out at the call of humanity as fast as they heard the alarm. some from their fields, some from working on the road, and all without a moment's hesitation. Early on Saturday morning our party, unJer the command of Mr. Fred. Burnett and his sons, all experienced hunters, and Jesse Stepp and others who were familiar with the mountains. struck out for the main top, and began the search by scouring the woods on the left-hand, or Caney River side of the trail that runs along the top. We continued on this way to the highest peak without discovering any traces whatever of his passage, when our company became so scattered into small parties that no further systematic search could be made that day. But directly in our rear as we came up the mountain was Mr. Bldridge Burnett with some more of his neighbors, who had come from their houses that morning; and hearing a report that Dr. Mitchell had expressed his intention of striking a bee-line from the top for the settlements without following the blazed trail way to Caney River. they searched for signs in that direction, and soon found a trail in the soft moss and fern that was believed to have been made by him, and followed it until it came to the first fork of Caney, where it was lost. Nothing doubting but they were on his track, and that he had continued down the stream, they went several miles along the beat of the river, over inconceivably rough and dangerous ground until dark, when they threw themselves upon the earth and rested till morning. Mr. Stepp, Mr. Fred. Burnett and others made their" to Wilson's on Caney River to join the company was coming up from the Yancey side, and the writer and many others returned, gloomy and disappointed, to the Mountain House. Thus ended the first day's search. During almost the entire day the rain had poured down steadily, the air was cold and chilling, the thermometer indicating about forty-four degrees at noon, whilst the heavy clouds wrapped the whole mountain in such a dense fog that it was impossible to see any distance before us. It seemed as if the genii of those vast mountain solitudes were angered at our unwanted intrusion, and had invoked the Storm-God to enshroud in deeper gloom the sad and mysterious fate of their noble victim.
Sabbath morning came, but its holy stillness sacred associations were all unregarded, and the camping in the Mountain House, now largely mented by constant arrivals from the settleme plunged again into the gloomy forest of gigantic firs and filing through the dark and deep gorges struck far down into the wilds of Caney River. Mr. Eldridge Burnett's party returned about two o'clock bringing no tidings and seeing no further trace whatever of the wanderer's footsteps. Still later in day Messrs. Fred. Burnett and Jesse Stepp and party returned with some twelve or fifteen of the citizens of Caney River, having traversed a large scope of country and finding still no trace of the lost one. The rain still continued to pour down and gloomy and ill-omened fog still continued to wrap the mountain's brow in its rayless and opaque shroud. Just before dark the remaining party came in, unsuccessful. tired, hungry. and soaking with water. A general gloom now overspread the countenances of all, as the awful and almost undeniable fact was proclaimed that Dr. Mitchell was surely dead, and our only object in making the search would be rescue his mortal remains from the wild beasts and give them Christian sephulchre! It could not be possible we thought. that he was alive, for cold, and hunger. and fatigue. if nothing worse had happened to him, would ere this have destroyed him. Alas! we reasoned too well. By this time the alarm had spread far and near, and many citizens of Asheville and other parts of the country were flocking to the mountains to assist in the search for one so universally beloved and respected. On Monday the company numbered some sixty men. New routes were projected new ground of search proposed and the hunt conducted throughout the day with renewed energy and determination, but still without avail. On Tuesday the company of Buncombe men separated into three squads and took different routes, whilst Mr. Thomas Wilson and his neighbors from Caney River took a still more distant route, by going the top of the highest peak and searching down toward the Cat-tail fork of the river. They were to take this route by the suggestion of Mr. Wilson that Dr. Mitchell had gone up that way in hw.. to the high peak in 1844, and that perhaps he had undertaken to go down by the same route. They accordingly struck out for that point, and turning to the left to strike down the mountain in the prairie near the top, at the very spot where it is alleged that the Doctor entered it thirteen years ago, they instantly perceived the impression of feet upon the yielding turf, pointing down the mountain in the direction indicated of his former route. After tracing it some distance with that unerring woodcraft which is so wonderful to all but the close observing hunter, they became convinced that it was his trail, and sent a messenger back some five miles to inform the Buncombe men, and telling them to hurry on fast as they could. The writer, with Mr. Charles Mitchell and many others, was in a deep valley on the head-waters of another fork of the river, when the blast of a horn and the firing of guns on a distant peak made us aware that some discovery was made. Hurrying with breathless haste up the steep mountain side in the direction of the guns, we soon came up, and found the greater part of our company watching for us, with the news that the Yancey company were upon the trail we had been so earnestly seeking so many days. After a brief consultation, two or three of our party returned to the Mountain House for provisions, and the balance of us started as fast as we could travel along the main top toward our -Yancey friends, and reached the high peak just before dark. Here we camped in a small cabin built by Mr. Jesse Stepp, ate a hasty supper, and threw ourselves upon the floor, without covering, to rest.
About one o'clock in the night, just as the writer was about closing his eyes in troubled and uneasy slumber, a loud halbo was heard from the high bluff that looms over the cabin. It was answered from within, and in a moment every sleeper was upon his feet. Mr. Jesse Stepp, Capt. Robert Patton and others, then came down and told us that the body was found. Mournfully then indeed those hardy sons of the mountain seated themselves around the smouldering cabin-fire, and on the trunks of the fallen firs, and then, in the light of a glorious full moon, whose rays pencilled the dark, damp forest with liquid silver seven thousand feet above the tidewashed sands of the Atlantic, the melancholy tale was told. Many a heart was stilled with sadness as the awful truth was disclosed, and many a rough face glittered with a tear in the refulgent moonlight as it looked upon the marble pallor and statue-stillness of the stricken and bereaved son, and thought of those far away whom this sudden evil would so deeply afflict.
It was as they expected. The deceased had undertaken to go the same route to the settlements which he had formerly gone. They traced him rapidly down the precipices of the mountain, until they reached the stream (the Cat-tail fork). found his traces going down it-following on a hundred yards or so, they came to a rushing cataract some forty feet high, saw his footprints trying to climb around the edge of the yawning precipice, saw the moss torn up by the outstretched hand, and then-the solid, impressionless granite refused to tell more of his fate. But clambering hastily to the bottom of the roaring abyss, they found a basin worn out of the solid rock by the frenzied torrent, at least fourteen feet deep, filled with clear and crystal waters cold and pure as the winter snow that generates them. At the bottom of this basin, quietly reposing, with outstrerched arms, lay the mortal remains of the Rev. Elisha Mitchell, D.D., the good, the great. the wise, the simple-minded. the pure of heart, the instructor of youth. the disciple of knowledge and the preacher of Christianity! Oh, what friend to science and virtue, what youth among all the thousands that have listened to his teachings. what friend that has ever taken him by the hand, can think of this wild and awful scene unmoved by the humanity of tears! can think of those gigantic pyramidal firs, whose interlocking branches shut out the light of heaven, the many-hued rhododendrons that freight the air with their perfume and lean weepingly over the waters that crystal stream leaping down the great granites and hastening from the majestic presence of the mighty peak above, whilst in the deep pool below where the weary waters rest but a single moment, lies the inanimate body of his dear friend and preceptor apparently listening to the mighty requiem of the cataract! Truly "Man knoweth not his time and the sons of men are entrapped in the evil, when it cometh suddenly upon them."
Upon consultation it was thought best to let the body remain in the water until all arrangements were completed for its removal and interment; judging rightly that the cold and pure waters would be better preserve it than it could be kept in any other way. At daylight a number of hands went to cutting out a trail from the top of the mountain to where the body lay a distance of three miles whilst others went to Asheville to make the necessary arrangements. Word was also sent to the coroner of Yancey and to the citizens generally to come and asist us in raising the body on Wednesday morning. At that time a number of persons assembled at Mr. Jesse Stepp's and set out for the spot. bearing the coffin upon our shoulders up the dreary steeps. We had gone near ten miles in this way and had just turned down from the high peak toward the river. when we were met by Mr. Coroner Ayres. and about fifty of the citizen of Yancey. coming up with the body. They had impatient at our delay. and enveloping the body in a sheet and fastening it securely upon a long pole, laid it upon the shoulders of ten men and started up the mountain. And now became manifest the strength and hardihood of those noble mountaineers. For three miles above them the precipitous granites and steep mountain sides forbade almost the ascent of an unincumbered man. which was rendered doubly difficult by great trunks of trees. and the thick and tangled laurel which blocked up the way. The load was near two hundred and fifty pounds. and only two men could carry at once. But nothing daunted by the exertion before them, they step boldly up the way. fresh hands stepped in every few moments, all struggling without intermission and eager to assist in the work of humanity. Anon they would come to a place at which it was impossible for the bearers to proceed, and then they would form a line by taking one another's hands, the uppermost man grasping a tree, and with shouts of encouragement heave up by main strength. In this way, after indescribably toiling for some hours. they reached the spot. Here was afforded another instance of the great affection and regard in which the deceased was held by all. These bold and hardy men desired to have the body buried there, and contended for it long and earnestly. They said that he had first made known the superior height of their glorious mountain and noised their fame almost throughout the Union; that he had died whilst contending for his right to that loftiest of all the Atlantic mountains, on which we then stood, and they desired to place his remains right there, and at no other spot. It would indeed have been an appropriate resting-place for him, and greatly was it wished for by the whole country before its being told them that his family wanted his remains brought down. They reluctantly yielded, and the Buncombe men proceeded to bring the body slowly down the valley of the Swannanoa. Before leaving the top, the writer took down the names of all present, and will ask you to publish them to the world, as men who have done honor to our common humanity by their generous and disinterested conduct on this melancholy occasion. I am no flatterer, Messrs. Editors, but I must confess that the labor which these mountain men expended and the sacrifice they so willingly and cheerfully madeis worthyof all praise and admiration. May God reward kindness! I feel sure the numerous friends and pupils of the dear deceased would rather read the list of these men's names than the "ayes and nays" of Congressional vote that has been recorded in many a day.
Nathaniel B. Ray, I. M. Broyles, Joseph Shephard, Washington Broyles, Henry Wheeler, Thomas Wilson, Jas. M. Ray, D. W. Burleson, G. B. Silvers, J. O. Griffith, E. Williams, A. D. Allen, A. L. Ray, Thomas D. Wilson, B. A. Pyat, D. W. Howard, W. M. Astin, James H. Riddle, Dr. W. Crumley, G. D. Ray, Burton Austin, James Allen, Henry Ray, T. L. Randolph, John McPeters, W. B. Creasman, S. J. Nanney, Samuel Ray, B. W. Boren, Rev. W. C. Bowman, J. W. Bailey, Thomas Silvers, Jr., Thomas Calloway, Henry Allen, J. L. Gibbs, Jesse Ray, James Hensley, Robert Riddle, W. D. Williams, D. Young, William Rolen, G. W. Wilson, John Rogers, James Allen, Jr., J. W. Ayres, J. F. Presnell, R. A. Rumple, W. J. Hensley, D. H. Silvers, R. Don Wilson, Jas. Calloway.
S. C. Lambert, William Burnett, R. H. Burnett, R. J. Fortune, Ephraim Glass, J. H. Bartlett, B. F. Fortune, A. N. Alexander, James Gaines, J. E. Ellison, John F. Bartlett, F. F. Bartlett, Elijah Kearly, E. Clayton, A. Burgin, Jesse Stepp, D. F. Summey, T. J. Corpning, Harris Bilison, T. B. Boyd, A. J. Linsdey, Joshua Stepp, William Powers, R. P. Lambert, Tisdale Stepp, Daniel Burnett, Thaddeus C. Coleman, A. F. Harris, W. C. Fortune, Fletcher Fortune, Capt. Robert Patton, Cooper, servant of Wm. Patton, John, servant of Fletcher Fortune, Esq.
A. J. Bmerson, Chatham County, A. E. Rhodes, Jones County, H. H. Young, and Moses Dent, Franklin County; all students of Wake Forest College.
This list does not comprise all who assisted in search, as, much to my regret. I did not take a list of any but those present at the removal of the body. I believe, however, that the names of all are recorded on the register of Mr. Patton's Mountain House, where the friends of Dr. Mitchell can see them they visit (as I have no doubt many will) the of his death.
This ends my brief sketch of this melanchcoly affair. As to any eulogy upon Dr. Mitchell's char I feel myself unequal to the task. I trust that it will be appropriately pronounced by some one of his learned and devoted fellow-laborers of the University. My feeble pen could add nothing to his moral and intellectual stature. I will only say that I loved him as sincerely as any one in the State. I am gratified to be able to state that unusual kindness and respect was exhibited by every citizen of the country throughout the whole transaction.
Yours truly,
Z. B. VANCE.