This beautiful work of art was handcrafted by John D. Christian, a Confederate veteran from Virginia. Mr. Christian enlisted at the age of sixteen and initially served in a heavy artillery company under the command of Col. J. M. Maury. His final assignment was in Appomattox under the command of Maj. Robert Stiles. After the war, he returned to the ashes that had once been his home and began a life as a businessman.     As he gained in stature amonst the business world, he relocated his family with his final move bringing them to Rocky Mount, North Carolina. His wife, Eva, was an active member of our Bethel Heroes Chapter. Mr. Christian fashioned two gavels from a red dogwood tree which grew on the Big Bethel Battlefield, Bethel Church, Virginia. A few years before his death in 1916, Eva Christian presented our Chapter with the gavels that her husband had made. One was presented to the Bethel Heroes Chapter to be placed in the North Carolina Room of the Confederate Museum in Richmond, Virginia. When the state rooms of the museum were closed, the gavel was returned to the NC Division and is currently being used for Division meetings. The other gavel was presented to the Bethel Heroes Chapter to be kept and used by them. On the mallet, he carved likenesses of Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson. On the handle, he carved:         BETHEL HEROES DAUGHTERS             OF THE CONFEDERACY         NORTH CAROLINA'S RECORD.         "FIRST AT BETHEL"                 "FARTHEST AT GETTYSBURG"             "AND LAST AT APPOMATTOX"         IT FURNISHED TO THE ARMIES OF THE SOUTH         ONE FIFTH OF THEIR NUMBERS OR 126,000 MEN

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