The Outer Banks of North Carolina (review)

Book Reviews331 any degree of accuracy. The Colonel was an ardent patriot to whom Davis and his Cabinet were arch-traitors. Therefore he may merely have given vent to the oft-repeated popular boast to hang the Southern President to a sour apple tree without reaUy meaning anything by it. In this lies the chief weakness of Mr. Jones' account: His own portrayal of Dahlgren is so favorable that the criminal intent attributed to die young leader simply does not ring true. Of course, aU these are matters of honest differences of opinion. None of this criticism can detract from what remains a spellbinding and absorbing contribution to the lore of the Civü War. Hans L. Trefousse Brooklyn, New York. The Outer Banks of North Carolina. By David Stick. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 1958. Pp. xiii, 352. $6.00.) ?? this excellent volume David Stick has given us the history of the string of islands which stretch for 175 miles along the east coast of North Carolina. The story begins with the early attempts of the English to establish a colony on Roanoke Island, under the leadership of Sir Walter Raleigh in the 1580's, and ends with a description of this modem resort and recreational area as it is today. One feels that the author has enjoyed the ten years of research which he has given to the coUection and organization of materials for this volume. His notes meticulously comprise "chapter by chapter in narrative form, the sources which have proven most productive in preparing this book." Mr. Stick shows rare ability in piecing together seemingly unrelated historical facts, placing eachin its proper setting and giving us a highly readable story. He has also added a comprehensive index and several excellent maps which provide invaluable aids for the student of North Carolina history. The reader wül find a wealtii of material on the Outer Banks operations during the Civü War, and aU such discussions are scrupulously annotated. FoUowing detaüed accounts of the early batties of the war, Mr. Stick summarizes his more local reference as foUows: For aU practical purposes, however, the capture of Harteras Inlet, Roanoke Island, and Fort Macon had brought an end to organized Confederate resistance on the Banks and in die Sounds. It had done more than that, even, for with Federal forces in firm command of diese inlets and sounds, diey had effectively blocked off the basic maritime supply route to the rest of northeastern Carolina and had tighdy shut the back door to Norfolk and ChesapeakeBay. The occupation of die Outer Banks area by Federal troops presented few problems, owing to the predorninant sympathies of the Outer Bankers for the Union cause. As soon as the battle of Harteras Inlet was over and die forts secured by Federal troops, residents of nearby communities appeared, expressed 332civil war history their happiness at the results, and offered to take die oath of allegiance to the United States. . . . Whedier the Union sentiment . . . was of the genuine, inbred type or simply an expedient to make the best of changing conditions, die fact is diat many of die Bankers did side widi die North. Regarding the postwar period, the author states: As in other wars which have come to the Banks, the area soon made the return to normalcy. Because there had been proportionately little slave ownership on the Banks before the war, the Outer Bankers had comparatively little difficulty in adjusting to die new order. Some of die former slaves remained in die area, and like die free colored people who had lived tiiere for many years, they soon were living side by side witii the white people, . . . accepted as members of the Banks community, not quite on an equal plane, but so close to it diat it took a keen observer to teU the difference. The author's survey of the Outer Banks concludes widi a capsule history of each community, and witii further attention to special points of interest. Far from the guns of the Civü War but not without their lingering echoes, the last chapter ("The Banks Today") offers an exceUent guide to present-day visitors who are responsively aware...