Cantwell, John Lucas Paul, 1828-1909.

John Lucas Paul Cantwell (1828-1909) was born in Charleston, S.C., the son of Patrick Cantwell, an Irish immigrant, and Lydia Lucas Cantwell. In between stints working as a drug clerk in Charleston, S.C., and New Orleans, La., Cantwell served in the Mexican War as a member of the Palmetto Regiment, South Carolina Volunteers. Sometime during the 1850s, he moved to Wilmington, N.C., and began serving in the 30th North Carolina Militia. During the Civil War, he served in several Confederate military units and spent time in federal prison at Fort Delaware, Del., Morris Island, S.C., and Fort Pulaski, Ga., as a member of the Immortal 600, a group of prisoners taken to Morris Island, Fort Pulaski, and Hilton Head, S.C., by federal forces in an attempt to save those places from Confederate fire. After the war, he became a produce broker in Wilmington and kept up his connection with the Wilmington Light Infantry and with Confederate veterans' organizations.

John Lucas Paul Cantwell was born in 1828 in Charleston, S.C. His parents, Patrick Cantwell, apparently an Irish immigrant, and Lydia Lucas Cantwell, had seven other children: Drayton, Henry, Mary, Fanny, Aloysius, Ignatius, and Edward. Lydia Lucas Cantwell had at least two brothers, Benjamin Lucas, and John Lucas of South Carolina.

John Cantwell worked as a drug clerk in Charleston, S.C., until he enlisted in December 1846 in the Palmetto Regiment of the South Carolina Volunteers to fight in the Mexican War. He was mustered out in October 1847. From the summer of 1848 until the following year, and possibly until 1851, he worked as a drug clerk in New Orleans, La. Sometime during the early 1850s Cantwell moved to Wilmington, N.C. In 1855, he was a colonel in the 30th North Carolina Militia, which was stationed in the summer of 1861 at Fort Caswell and was ordered to accompany Colonel Campbell of the 7th North Carolina Regiment to Hatteras Inlet in August 1861. Cantwell's military record between 1861 and 1864 is not clear, but in 1864 he was a prisoner of war at Fort Delaware and was one of the Immortal 600 prisoners taken to Morris Island, Hilton Head, and Fort Pulaski by federal forces in an attempt to save those places from Confederate fire. After the Civil War, Cantwell was a produce broker in Wilmington. He kept up his connections with the Wilmington Light Infantry and with Confederate veterans' organizations.

Cantwell married Kate Theodosia Calder of Woodville, Miss., in 1858, and with her had a son, Robert Cantwell. Kate Theodosia Calder Cantwell died in 1863. In 1869, Cantwell married a cousin of his first wife, Kate Theodosia Blount, also of Woodville, Miss., and with her had Kate Theodosia Cantwell and Paul Cantwell. John Lucas Paul Cantwell died in 1909.

Henry Smith Van Eaton (1826-1898), whose letters appear among the correspondence, was a native of Ohio who moved to Woodville, Miss., in 1848. Van Eaton served in the Confederate States of America Army and in Congress from 1883 to 1887. His wife Anna apparently was related to the Blount or Calder families of Woodville, and her sister Carrie lived in Wilmington.