Mallett, C. B. (Charles Beatty), 1816-1872

C. B. (Charles Beatty) Mallett (1816-1872), of Fayetteville, N.C., was a manufacturer, merchant, and the president of the Western North Carolina Railroad. With James Browne of Charleston, S.C., he formed the partnership Mallett and Browne. The Mallett family is descended from Peter Mallett (1744-1805).

From the description of C. B. Mallett papers, 1840-1954. WorldCat record id: 26380320

C. B. Mallett was born in Fayetteville, N.C., on 8 June 1816, the second child and eldest son of Charles Peter Mallett (1792-1873) and Sophia Sarah Beatty (1796-1829). Sometime in the 1830s, Mallett attended Kenyon College at Gambier, Ohio, where he majored in engineering and scientific subjects.

On 17 November 1841, Mallett married Margaret Winslow Wright, only child of John Winslow Wright (1791-1854) and Margaret Ann Anderson (1800-1823). The couple's children were John Wright (1842-1917), Charles Peter (1844-1900), William Anderson (1846-1847), Caroline Green (1848-1924), Margaret Anderson (1850-1907), Charles Beatty (1851-1902), Mercer Wright (1854-1875), and Alice Hazelton (1857-1955). Margaret died in August 1859, and Mallett married Marion Winslow, Margaret's relative, in February 1862.

C. B. Mallett very early associated himself with his father in cotton manufacturing, both at the Rockfish Manufacturing Company in Cumberland County, N.C., and at the Phoenix Company in Fayetteville. In 1848, Mallett organized the Union Manufacturing Company, another cotton factory. In 1852, a group of Fayetteville citizens obtained a charter from the State Legislature or organize and construct a railroad from Fayetteville to the coal fields in Chatham County, N.C. Mallett was one of the first subscribers to the capital stock of the Western North Carolina Railroad and was elected its second president in 1855, a position he held until 1868. Problems attending the contracts for construction delayed the project. It was not until 1858 that the first rails were laid, and it was not until the Civil War had begun that the railroad was completed. In the meantime, Mallett had acquired the major interest in the Union Manufacturing Company, controlling 75% of the capitol stock.

When North Carolina joined the Confederacy and the Civil War began, the Egypt coal mines, which were owned by a Philadelphia-based company, were placed in receivership by the Confederate government. In 1862, Mallett, in partnership with James Browne of Charleston, S.C., successfully bid for the management and operation of the mines and was under contract with the Confederate government throughout the war to deliver coal at Wilmington, N.C. The facilities of the Western Railroad were used to transport coal to Fayetteville from which the coal was moved by river steamer and flat boat down the Cape Fear River to Wilmington. One of the steamers, the Chatham, and several flat boats were built and owned by Mallett and Browne.

Mallett had general superintendence of the mining operation at Egypt, getting the coal to Fayetteville, and reloading the flat boats. Browne was the agent at Wilmington, seeing generally to unloading and return of vessels upstream and to weighing and delivery of coal to the agents of the Confederate government. The firm was allowed, on special orders of the Confederate government, to sell coal privately, negotiating its own prices with several Confederate states, various railroad companies, and blockade runners. In addition to the coal mining operation and using an iron-stone band which overlay the coal seam, the firm also engaged in the extraction of crude oil and the distillation of kerosene. In 1863, to supply a need for railroad car wheels, Mallett bought a half interest and became a partner with his first wife's cousin, David Anderson, in the Eagle Foundry located in Fayetteville. In 1864, Mallett again negotiated a partnership for the construction of another iron works at Buckhorn Falls on the Cape Fear River, which was called the Ocknock Iron Works.

In March 1865, General Sherman's army reached Fayetteville and razed Mallett's businesses. Not only were the cotton factory and stores of cotton, the two iron works, and the steamboat and flat boats all burned, Woodside, Mallett's home in the country several miles north of Fayetteville, was destroyed with all its furnishings and provisions. The Western North Carolina Railroad, with rolling stock badly depreciated and some of its bridges burned, was out of operation. In the years following the Civil War, the partnership of Mallett and Browne continued and an attempt was made to reestablish river trade on the Cape Fear River, but, in 1868, Mallett was forced into bankruptcy. Until his death on 7 July 1872, Mallett attempted to raise grapes and manufacture wine on his plantation property.

From the guide to the C. B. Mallett Papers, 1829-1954, (Southern Historical Collection)