North Carolina Minute

World's first oil well dug

Titusville, Pennsylvania is where the first oil began to flow from a well drilled on August 28, 1859, by Edwin L. Drake on property owned by the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company. It was the first such well to be drilled anywhere in the world. The company had been in the business of collecting oil that seeped out of the ground and selling it for medicinal purposes. By drill, Drake had in mind a much larger market for use in heating and illumination.

Drake was born in New York City in 1810. He worked for the railroad and it was while working on the railroad that he thought it might be profitable drilling for oil. He purchased stock in the Rock Oil Company and leased some land from them to carry out his ideas. His drill struck oil at a depth of 69 feet, and the oil was flowing steadily. Drake was not along in this idea, for there were other businessmen looking over his shoulder and when it proved that drill was successful many others started leasing land for the same purpose. All hoped that this would become a great boom for a new industry in America.

 Emeline Jamison Pigott

Emeline Jamison Pigott was born December 15, 1836 in Carteret County. At the start of the Civil War, Emeline was living in Morehead City across from the camp of Confederate soldiers. She could see first-hand the ordeal the soldiers were going through. Emeline made up her mind that she would do everything in her power to help the Confederate cause.

One of the soldiers, Private Stokes MacRae, was Emeline's suiter. MacRae was killed in the Battle of Gettysburg, and his body was never identified. Hearing of his death, Emeline was determined to get more involved in the work of the Confederate cause. She went to New Bern to nurse the sick and dying. When New Bern fell to the Union forces, she moved to Kinston, where she continued her work.

Emeline served as a courier to took mail to various pick-up points in Eastern North Carolina. She was arrested in Beaufort trying to take messages to southern troops. However, these messages were plants by Union authorities who suspected she was a spy. She was taken prisoner to New Bern and imprisoned for a month. Her cousin, Mrs. Levi Pigott, was allowed to stay with her. Late one night, someone tried to kill the two women by pouring chloroform into their room. Emeline was awake, and the two took turns breathing through a broken glass window, until a guard gave aid.

Emeline was never tried for some unexplained reason, although she was taken to court everyday. She sent word to Beaufort, asking to see the two men who gave her the messages, which lead to her arrest. Facing the two men, she told them; "If I die in prison, you will also die." Shortly afterwards, Emeline was released from prison and was never arrested again. She was watched, and her home was searched several times. Emeline continued to do all she could for the Confederate cause until the end of the war.

Following to war, she organized the Morehead City Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederate States, which was named in her honor. Emeline died on May 26, 1914 and was buried in the family cemetery beside an unknown Confederate soldier, a gravesite she took care of for the rest of her life.

Colonel Thomas Ferebee and the Atomic Bomb

I'm never amazed as I read history when and where a North Carolina person or place might show up in the history books. One such name I found was the name of Thomas Ferebee who was born in Mocksville, North Carolina on November 9, 1918. Ferebee graduated from Lee-McRae College at Banner Elk, North Carolina. During his high school and college years he was very much involved in sports. He tried out for a position on the Boston Red Sox baseball team, but was not successful.

Being that his dream of playing baseball failed him, he joined the army, but because of a knee injury he was not fit for the infantry, so he entered flight school. Finishing flight school he became a bombardier in the European theater of war, completing over 60 bombing missions.

In 1944 Ferebee was selected to join the 509th Composite Group which was a special group to deliver the atomic bomb. On August 6, 1944, with Colonel Paul Tibbets in command, the Enola Gay B-29 flew over the city of Hiroshima at which time Thomas Ferebee opened the bomb bay doors and pulled the cable dropping the first atomic bomb over Japan. On the ground the blast killed an estimated 130,000 people, with many more thousands dying from wounds and disease. Following the second atomic bomb drop on August 9, the Japanese announced their term to surrender on August 15, 1944.

After the war, Ferebee remained in the military until 1970 and upon retirement he lived in Florida until his death on March 16, 2000. After his death, his wife of 19 years donated all of his military records and objects to the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh.

Thought for the day: All the animals except man know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it. - Samuel Butler, English novelist

J.C. Knowles is a traveling speaker, historian and antique expert. For more interesting North Carolina stories, visit www.heathero.com/ssg.