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Cape Fear Military Academy

Under the direction of Raleigh E. Colston and with 76 cadets, the Cape Fear Military Academy began operation on October 12, 1868 in the former residence of Dr. F .J. Hill. The Cadet Corps was under strict discipline, wearing uniforms and “drilled to the extent that when occasion demanded it, they were able to maneuver with military precision.” In the 1869-1870 school year, the Academy employed three instructors for a corps of 83 cadets. In 1871, the school was moved to “an ample and commodious building in the rear of City Hall, previously occupied by Meginney’s Wilmington Institute at 105 North 4th Street.

When Robert E. Lee visited Wilmington in late April 1870, he was entertained at the home of George Davis on North 2nd Street where he received Cape Fear Military Academy cadets and Wilmington citizens. Lee addressed the assembled cadets from the front porch of Major C. P. Bolles residence at 215 North Third Street and “each member of the Corps enjoyed the honor of an introduction and a cordial handshake of the hand of the old General.”

On a Spring day in 1872, General Colston led his cadets to the annual memorial ceremonies at the Oakdale Cemetery mound, which held many of the North Carolinians slain at the battle of Fort Fisher.  R. B. Lewis of the Confederate Memorial Association recalled: “On Friday, May 10, 1872, Colonel John J. Hedrick was Chief Marshal of the parade of Confederate Veterans that assembled to march to the cemetery, led by a brass band and the Cape Fear Academy Cadets. Before a great assembly, a prayer was made by Reverend Mr. Dickson, followed by the boom of cannon and a salute from the Cape Fear Cadets under the command of General Raleigh E. Colston.”  As the cloth dropped to the earth, over 4,000 people saw a bronze statue 15 feet, 3 inches tall, of a Confederate soldier.  So intensely natural was the statue’s form and feature, as well as its position and surroundings, “that one feels,” according to reports, “that he is in the presence of one of the wearers of the gray as he might have appeared on the eve of battle.”

 In 1873, General Colston accepted an invitation from the Khedive of Egypt to assume a general staff position with the equivalent rank of colonel.  He was succeeded at the Academy by Major B. J. Burgess, who served as superintendent until 1879, when Captain Washington Catlett replaced him. Catlett dropped military from the Academy’s name and was later instrumental in 1902 in having libraries included in all county public schools, both white and black. Catlett served as Cape Fear Academy superintendent until the school closed in 1916.  He thereafter became Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction for New Hanover County.

The Academy operated at several locations in the city.  The 1900 directory lists it at 10 North Third Street, just south of City Hall; the 1910 directory shows it at 105 North Third Street with about 30 cadets; and the 1915 directory places it at 117 Orange Street.


(Originally posted in its unabridged form at Cape Fear Historical Institute).