186, Judge Caldwell was twice married. He first married Fanny, the daughter of William Lee Alexander, Esq., and niece of Hon. Archibald Henderson. Their children were, William Lee, Archibald Henderson, Elizabeth Ruth, who married Col. Charles Fisher; 190, 191, 192, THE FISHER FAMILY The Hon. Charles Fisher was a native of Rowan County, and was born October 20, 1’179. His father came to North Carolina before the Revolution, and was an officer of militia during the war. The subject of this notice was educated by Rev. Dr. John Robinson, of Poplar Tent, and by the Rev. Dr. McPheeters, of Raleigh. He studied law and obtained license to practice, but soon abandoned the bar for the more stirring scenes of political life. He enjoyed the confidence of the people of Rowan County as fully as any man who ever lived in the county, and they delighted to honor him with every office for which he ever asked their suffrages. In 1819 he represented Rowan in the State Senate, and in the same year was elected from the Rowan District for Congress. After this term he again served Rowan County in the State Legislature, and was a member of the Convention of 1835, called to amend the State Constitution. In 1839 he was again elected to Congress, over Dr. Pleasant Henderson, though the latter was a most popular man, and the champion of a Party supposed to be in the majority. Mr. Fisher was one of the most active and energetic men in the State, and an unyielding advocate of State rights against Federal encroac hments and usurpations. Near the close of life he became a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and strove to discharge his duty to his Creator, as he had endeavored to do his duty to his country. 191 HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY After a long and honored and useful life, he died far away from home, in Hillshoro, Miss., on the seventh of May, 1849. No monument marks his grave. His ashes should rest here, in one of the cemeteries among the honored dead of Rowan. Mr. Fisher married Christiana, daughter of Lewis Beard, Esq., of Salisbury, by whom he had several children. One son died in infancy. His daughter Mary married a Mr. Hill, and removing to Georgia died there a few years ago. Christine, another daughter, still resides in Salisbury. His other son COL. CHARLES FREDERICK FISHER was the noble son of a noble sire. He was horn in Salisbury in 1816. His preparatory education was conducted in the classical schools of Salisbury, and from them he was transferred to Yale College. He never studied any of the professions, but devoted his attention to agriculture and mining, and for several years was associated with Dr. Austin in the publication of The Western Carolinian. In 1854-55, he was a member of the State Legislature from Rowan County. He succeeded the Hon. John M. Morehead as president of the North Carolina Railroad, in 1855, and continued to preside over the interests of that great State enterprise, with eminent skill and ability, until 1861. When the alarm of war rang throughout the land in 1861 , Mr. Fisher at once proceeded to raise and equip a regiment at the head of which he took the field in the early part of July. This regiment, the Sixth North Carolina, had been ordered to Winchester, Va., where it was in the command of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston when the army of the Shenandoah was ordered to Manassas to reinforce General Beauregard. Owing to a wreck on the line of railway, there was a delay in the transportation of the troops which threatened disaster, and gave Colonel Fisher an opportunity to render an important service by repairing the track with the aid of the trained railroad men who composed a large part of his command. As a reward for his efforts, the Sixth Regiment was allowed to embark on the next train that left for Manassas, and reached there in time to be ordered into battle by General Beauregard at the most critical period of the action, when their help was greatly needed, shortly after two o’clock in the afternoon. Colonel Fisher then led his regiment almost immediately to the brilliant charge on Rickett’s Battery, which destroyed and captured that formidable artillery, and proved the turning point of the battle. From that minute, as the official reports clearly prove, the Federal army went down to defeat, but Colonel Fisher himself died in the hour of his triumph, 192 HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY falling gloriously in the charge in which he was leading his men. In an address on this subject, delivered in Charlotte, N. C., on October 12, 1901, Hon. John S. Henderson says: “The ground where the Sixth Regiment fought and destroyed McDowell’s most formidable batteries marked the extreme point of the Federal advance towards Manassas. This is the truth of history, and Colonel Fisher fell in the forefront, at the time when the tide of battle had been first turned back, and victory had been assured to the Confederate army by the heroic and successful fighting of himself and the Sixth Regiment.” It was a gloomy day in Salisbury when the remains of her chivalrous son were brought home, and sorrowfully laid in their resting place in the Salisbury cemetery (Lutheran graveyard). Colonel Fisher married Elizabeth Ruth Caldwell, oldest daughter of Hon. David F. Caldwell, in July, 1845, by whom he had several children, who were left in the orphanage to the care of his sister, Miss Christine Fisher. The names of these children are Frances, Annie, and Frederick. Miss Frances Fisher, under the nom de plume of Christian Reid, has achieved an enviable reputation as a writer of elegant fiction. Her volume, entitled the “Land of the Sky,” possesses the merit of being a faithful delineation of the choicest scenery in Western North Carolina, elegantly and attractively written. This charming book has been the means of attracting many visitors to our beautiful mountains, and has rendered it quite fashionable for tourists to visit this region, where the loftiest mountains east of the Mississippi stand grouped together in stately grandeur.