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 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. Immortal 600, The collection consists of family correspondence and military papers of John Lucas Paul Cantwell and other members of the Cantwell, Lucas, Calder, Blount, and Van Eaton families. Included are family letters, 1848-1849, from Patrick Cantwell to his son in New Orleans giving fatherly advice; papers relating to Mexican War pension claims and service in the 30th North Carolina Militia, in various Confederate army units, and in the Wilmington Light Infantry; Confederate prisoner of war correspondence from Fort Delaware, Fort Pulaski, Morris Island, and Hilton Head; papers relating to Confederate veterans' activities and the Ladies Memorial Association of Wilmington; and other scattered family correspondence, including letters of Henry Smith Van Eaton (1826-1898) of Woodville, Miss., who was related to Cantwell's first or second wife.
