“We are drilling very hard every day”
Initially, the first six months of the war went well for the fledgling nation. From April-October 1861, the Confederacy won two major battles and had advanced into the border states, attempting to “liberate” areas held by the U.S. government. Then the Confederacy hit some snags: enlistments decreased, and leaders allowed their early advantage to slip away. The war entered a second phase in November 1861. Union forces began to embark on major campaigns, and the blockade of Southern ports began to take its toll. By the time the battle of New Bern began, Kentucky and much of Tennessee had been lost. Missouri was in Union hands, as was Port Royal on the South Carolina coast. By the beginning of May 1862, the New Mexico Territory was under Union control, and northern Virginia had been abandoned; Fort Pulaski outside Savannah had fallen to the Union navy, as had the Confederacy’s largest city, New Orleans.
Only three days after the battle of New Bern, the War Department created the 2nd North Carolina Brigade, placing Branch in charge. Initially, the brigade comprised the 18th, 25th, 28th, 33rd, and 37th North Carolina regiments. In April, the 25th NC was transferred to Brig. Gen. Robert Ransom’s new brigade, and the 7th NC transferred from Brig. Gen. Samuel French’s brigade to Branch’s brigade.1
William H. Rockwell enlisted in the Columbus Guards No. 1 in April of 1861. His photograph records white or buff straps holding his cartridge box and possibly bayonet scabbard. His company was assigned to the 18th North Carolina. He was killed at Frayser’s Farm on June 30, 1862.
Library of Congress
Of the five regiments under Branch’s command, the 18th regiment was the oldest. Three of the companies had been pre-war private militia companies, the most colorful being the German Volunteers, three dozen of whom came from Germany. Ten others were from Prussia, nine from Bavaria, two from Luxemburg, and one each from France, England, and Denmark, plus a great many native-born North Carolinians. These three companies had all been ordered to capture Fort Caswell on Oak Island when North Carolina’s secession looked certain. All of the companies in the 18th NC came from the coastal counties of New Hanover, Bladen, Columbus, Robeson, and Richmond. In July 1861, the regiment was mustered into state service at Camp Wyatt, near Wilmington, as a 12-month regiment designated as the 8th North Carolina Volunteers.2
Elected to command the regiment was 28-year-old James D. Radcliff, a Charleston native and graduate of the South Carolina Military Academy. Radcliffe was serving as the dean of a military school in Wilmington before the war and as the engineer officer at Fort Caswell since the secession crisis. He was considered “an excellent drillmaster and disciplinarian.”.3
Following the formation of the 18th regiment, the men were detailed south of Wilmington to work on the Fort Fisher defenses. In early November, they, along with the 25th North Carolina Troops, were transferred to South Carolina in an attempt to block the Union thrust at Port Royal. Arriving too late to fulfill their mission, they were detailed to guard the railroad running through the Grahamville area. During this time, a special order arrived from the adjutant and inspector general’s office in Richmond. In the early days of the war, the general assembly in North Carolina had authorized the formation of 10 regiments of state troops and 14 regiments of volunteers. Both organizations had regiments numbering from 1st to 10th, a system causing a good deal of confusion. To remedy this problem, Radcliffe’s 8th North Carolina Volunteers was re-designated the 18th North Carolina Troops.4
As early as December 1861, enacting a conscription bill, to swell the ranks of a shrinking Confederate army, became a matter of serious discussion in Richmond. By the spring of 1862, the Confederate government faced the expiration of the one-year terms of enlistments for men in more than 150 regiments. Legally, these men could simply chose to go home. To address this problem, the Confederate Congress passed the Furlough and Bounty Act in December 1861. This new law granted all enlisted men who had enlisted for one year a $50 bounty and up to a 60-day furlough if they re-enlisted for three years or the duration of the war. Many 18th Regiment troops chaffed under their backwoods assignment and lack of action. Some believed they should simply allow their terms of enlistment to expire, and then make their way to Virginia and enlist in front-line regiments. Officers often disapproved. Most of Company H met on February 25 to elect new officers for a proposed company of cavalry, and to the ire of many, Colonel Radcliffe broke up the meeting. “It is a pretty come off that a Col. of a Reg’t,” wrote William Bellamy testily, “should assume the authority of repealing what the Confederate Congress of America enacts.” On a cold, early March day, when the regiment assembled to re-enlist for three years or the war, only 16 of the 900-plus men in the ranks answered the call. Radcliffe had some reason for hope just a few days later when both the 18th and 25th regiments were ordered back to North Carolina to reinforce Branch’s command preparing to battle Burnside’s Federals. The 18th failed to arrive in time to participate in the battle and went into camp near Kinston.5
Captain John Hughes served as quartermaster of the 7th Regiment from May 1, 1862, until his transfer to Robert Hoke’s brigade in November 1863.
Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina
Branch’s second oldest regiment was the 7th North Carolina State Troops, organized (for three years or the war) at Camp Mason, near Graham, Alamance County, in August 1861, and composed of men primarily from the counties of Alexander, Iredell, Cabarrus, New Hanover, Mecklenburg, Nash, Johnson, Rowan, and Davidson. In the 7th Regiment, the new colonel more than compensated for Branch’s lack of military experience. Reuben Campbell was born in 1818 in Iredell County. He was a graduate of both the University of North Carolina, and, in 1840, West Point. Following graduation, Campbell was assigned as a lieutenant in Company E, 2nd US Dragoons. Brevetted to the rank of captain for distinguished service during the battle of Buena Vista, he then served in California and the New Mexico territory. In 1857, Capt. Campbell led soldiers into the Mountain Meadows area of southern Utah in order to re-bury the bones of those killed in the massacre earlier that year. On May 11, 1861, he resigned his commission in the United States Army, and on May 16, was appointed a colonel of the 7th Regiment.6
The commands had an international flavor. While Company A of the 18th Regiment had a large German contingent, Company D of the 7th boasted a number of men from Ireland. According to one officer, once the regiment was mustered into service and given a $13 bounty, “some two dozen” from Company D “went to Graham and gratified their native fondness for whiskey to excess.” Upon their return they came across their regiment on the drill field. The Irishmen “acted in [such] a boisterous manner … it was necessary to arrest the entire party.” The new soldiers presumably slept off their bounty in the guardhouse.7
At the end of August, the 7th regiment found itself constructing fortifications near New Bern. One week later it was transferred to Carolina City; two companies went to Hyde County and the remainder deployed on Bogue Island. That December, the 7th regiment relocated to Newport for the balance of the winter months. On March 5, 1862, the 7th Regiment was transferred via rail to New Bern. Fighting in the battle a few days later, it lost six of its members killed, 15 wounded, and 30 missing, along with, according to one officer, “the best lot of camp equipment it ever had.” The brave men of the 7th, said Branch, “met them with the bayonet and drove them head-long over the parapet, inflicting heavy loss on them as they fled.” New Bern was merely the first of more than 30 battles and skirmishes in which the bayonets of the 7th met the foe.8
The next regiment assigned to Branch’s brigade was the 28th North Carolina, organized on September 21, 1861, for 12 months at Camp Fisher, near High Point. Most of companies that made up the 28th Regiment came from the Piedmont and foothills sections of North Carolina, including the counties of Gaston, Stanley, Montgomery, Yadkin, Orange, and Cleveland.9
Elected to command the 28th Regiment was Virginia native James Henry Lane. Born July 28, 1833, Lane was a graduate of the “West Point of the South,” the Virginia Military Institute. Among Lane’s professors was Thomas J. Jackson. Upon his graduation, on July 4, 1854, second in his class, Lane served as a private tutor before enrolling in the University of Virginia, where he received a master’s degree in 1857. Lane was an assistant professor of mathematics at VMI during the 1857-58 term, then served in a few different academic positions until the fall of 1860, when he became professor of natural philosophy and instructor in military tactics at the North Carolina Military Institute in Charlotte. With the coming of the war in April 1861, Lane, with the other professors and cadets at the Institute, reported to a camp of instruction near Raleigh. Charged with drilling the hundreds of men in camp, Lane soon learned he had been appointed a major in the 1st North Carolina Volunteers which was soon in Virginia. On June 10, 1861, he helped lead the regiment at the battle of Big Bethel. Promoted to lieutenant colonel soon thereafter, Lane was notified about two weeks later of his election as colonel of the 28th North Carolina, which came as a shock to Lane, since he was relatively unknown in the state. Lane resigned from the 1st Regiment, accepted the proffered position as colonel of the 28th Regiment, and set off to High Point to meet his new command.10
Once the regiment was mustered into service, it was quickly transferred to a camp near Wilmington. According to Lane, the Wilmington Journal ran the following article about his regiment:
On a recent visit to the camp of the 28th Regiment we were pleased to see that a complete town of neat wooden tenements has taken the place of the canvas village of the latter part of the summer and fall, affording convenient and comfortable quarters with chimneys, for the men, houses for the stores and other purposes. We found nearly all finished, with the exception of some of the officers’ quarters, Colonel Lane’s among the number, these being left to the last, as, being less crowded, the necessity was not so pressing.
Almost as we go to press the 28th moves down Second street, with steady tramp, the long line of their bayonets gleaming in the sun, and the firm bearing of the men indicative of determination and giving promise of gallant service when called upon. The drill and marching of the regiment are, to our feeble notions, as good as could be desired by regulars. If there is less of the pomp and circumstance of war with our plainly arrayed troops than with the fancy corps raised in Northern cities, experience has shown that there is more pride that will stand and will not run unless it be forward. Colonel Lane may well be proud of his regiment.11
In March, orders arrived for the 28th regiment to move toward New Bern to reinforce Branch’s command. It proved to be a fruitless endeavor. The regiment arrived in time to support their retreating fellow Tar Heels. Lane’s command trudged through the rain and mud back to Kinston and went into camp.
The fourth regiment in Branch’s new brigade was his old command: the 33rd North Carolina Troops. Part of the regiment came from the Piedmont and foothill counties of Iredell, Cabarrus, Forsyth, and Wilkes, while the others were out of the eastern counties of Edgecombe, Gates, Hyde, Cumberland, and Greene.12
Assuming command after the promotion of Branch, Clark Avery was born in December 1828 at “Swan Ponds” in Burke County, a member of one of the most prominent families in western North Carolina. His grandfather, Waightstill Avery, served as the first attorney general of the state. Clark attended the University of North Carolina and farmed in Yancey and Burke counties before the war. On April 25, 1861, he was appointed captain of a Burke County group that became Company G, 1st North Carolina Volunteers. In November, he was mustered out of service and elected lieutenant colonel of the 33rd Regiment.13
It is believed that this state flag, belonging to the 33rd North Carolina, was captured at the battle of New Bern, North Carolina on March 14, 1862. North Carolina Museum of History
In January 1862, the 33rd NC was transferred from a training camp near Raleigh to New Bern. For the next few weeks, part of the regiment patrolled the countryside, while the remaining men constructed defensive works south of town. Life was hard on these new soldiers. Lieutenant Joseph Saunders wrote home to his mother in January 1862 that he had awoken one morning to find “my tent was covered all over with ice a half inch thick.”.14
The battle of New Bern was the regiment’s first taste of combat. During the battle, Colonel Avery had just ordered his out-flanked regiment to retreat when he, 150 of his men, and the regimental flag, were captured. When Avery surrendered his sword and pistol to a Federal officer, a nearby soldier recalled him exhibiting “a bullet hole through his cap, which had just cleared his head, and remarked he had rather it had gone through his head than to have surrendered.” Avery was sent first to Fort Columbus in New York harbor, and then transferred to Johnson’s Island, Ohio. In September he was transferred again, this time to Vicksburg, where he was paroled. On November 10, 1862, he was declared exchanged at Aiken’s Landing, James River, Virginia.15
Officers in the 37th North Carolina (left to right): Jordan Cook, Andrew J. Critcher, and Thomas D. Cook. All three were elected as lieutenants in the Watauga Marksmen on September 14, 1861. The sword and pistol are probably photographer’s props. Terry Harmon
Officially created on November 20, 1861, the 37th North Carolina was the final regiment assigned to Branch’s command. Sixty percent of the regiment came from the western counties of Ashe, Alleghany, Alexander, Wilkes, and Watauga. The rest of the regiment hailed from the southern Piedmont counties of Union, Mecklenburg, and Gaston. Company officers selected Charles Cochrane Lee as colonel to command the regiment. Born in Charleston in February 1834, the son of Stephen and Caroline Lee, as a youngster Charles moved with his family to Asheville, NC, where his father opened a boys’ school. Charles secured an appointment to West Point and graduated fourth in his class in 1856. He was assigned to the ordnance department and stationed at the Waterlivet Arsenal in New York. In 1859, Lee resigned from the army and accepted a professorship at the North Carolina Military Institute teaching mineralogy, geology, chemistry, infantry tactics, and serving as commandant of cadets. In 1861, Governor Ellis sent Lee north, hoping to secure military munitions for the state. Two months later, Lee served as an aide under General P. G. T. Beauregard in the ordnance department in Charleston, and might well have witnessed the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Lee went on to be elected lieutenant colonel of the 1st NC, fighting at the battle of Big Bethel. Upon the promotion of D. H. Hill to the rank of brigadier general, Lee accepted command of the 1st and was promoted to colonel. The 1st Volunteers, a six-month regiment, had just mustered out of service eight days before Lee’s election as colonel of the 37th Regiment.16
On December 27, the 37th NC moved from High Point to Camp Mangum near Raleigh. Orders on January 9 directed the regiment to move via rail and join the other regiments near New Bern. Colonel Lee had misgivings about serving under Branch. He scoffed at Branch’s lack of military knowledge and his “being fond[er] of his own position than the best interest of the service.” From the camp at the fairgrounds, the regiment moved to Camp Tadpole, three miles east of New Bern, and then on February 20, to Camp Lee, one mile south of its previous location. Bennett Smith, serving in one of the Watauga County companies, groused about the new site, writing to his family back home, “The water is bad hear I had rather drink out of them mud holes thare on Brushy Fork.” For the next few weeks, the regiment busied itself with drill and working on fortifications.17
Each regiment in Branch’s brigade contained 10 companies. Contemporary military manuals prescribed that each company be composed of approximately 100 men, with three to four officers: a captain in command, a first and second lieutenant, and occasionally a third or junior lieutenant. The rank and file elected men to fill each of these positions. Often the officers were local lawyers, merchants, political figures, even ministers. Of the 10 original captains in the 18th NC, there were three lawyers, three merchants, a farmer, and a planter. Election did not mean the most qualified man was in the position of captain, only the most liked or influential. Company commanders were responsible for the day-to-day operations of their respective units: drill, overseeing commissary and quartermaster requisitions and issues, dispensing military justice for minor offenses, work details, and guard-mounting details. Company-grade officers appointed the non-commissioned officers from the enlisted personnel. The first sergeant, or orderly sergeant, carried the lion’s share of the workload. He called the roll, filled out the morning reports, oversaw punishments, designated the men for guard and fatigue duty details, and kept detailed records regarding the issue and condition of military equipment, such as weapons, accouterments, and clothing. The first sergeants also oversaw each company’s other noncommissioned officers: four other sergeants and eight corporals.18
Companies were typically recruited from the same geographical areas. While each company might have been from a certain county, usually one or two districts within those counties provided the majority of the men. Watauga County, for example, provided two companies to the 37th NC. Company B, under Capt. Jonathan Horton, was primarily composed of men from the Boone and Blue Ridge districts, while members of Company E, Capt. William Farthing commanding, hailed mostly from the Beaver Dams, Valle Crucis, and Cove Creek districts. Since companies came from the same close-knit geographical areas, the men were often all related to one other. Thirty-seven percent of Company A of the 33rd NC had a surname appearing at least twice in the muster roll. Of the original 67 volunteers from Iredell County, 34 were somehow related—fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, nephews, cousins. Captain Robert Cowan’s younger brother, Thomas, enlisted a year after he did. Adolphus Summers enlisted in July 1862, while his father Basil enlisted in March the next year. Brothers Archibald and William Montgomery served with their first cousin George Montgomery.19
Word of mouth was the chief recruiting tool, especially in areas without a local newspaper. A man often received permission from the governor or adjutant general to recruit a company which usually elected him captain. In larger areas, advertisements might run in a local newspaper. According to an advertisement in the Carolina Watchman on July 15, 1861, William Lord sought 35 more men to complete his company. “Lincoln is determined to conquer us if he can,” read the article. “Shall he whip us? If not, then rally to the ranks. I want THIRTY-FIVE MORE MEN. FIFTEEN DOLLARS BOUNTY paid to each man. Regular pay from $11 to $20 per month. Board, clothing, everything free. We will be in the 7th Regiment under Col. Campbell, with one or two companies from Rowan.” Eventually the men failed to elect Lord captain of the company, and he later transferred to a different regiment.20
Many brothers, sons and fathers, uncles, and cousins fought together in the brigade during the war. Lawrence Stewart (left) and John Walter Stewart (right) were brothers serving in the 18th North Carolina. Lawrence was killed at the battle of Ox Hill, Virginia, on September 1, 1862, and John was mortally wounded at Gettysburg and died on July 19, 1863. Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina
The men and boys who made up these companies came in every conceivable size and shape, educational background, and economic demographic. While most Civil War era men would be considered slight in stature by today’s standards, some were quite tall. Almost two out of three of Richmond County’s Scotch Boys, members of the 18th Regiment, stood over six feet tall. Jackson Gibbs, of Mecklenburg County (37th NC), at six feet, seven inches, was probably the tallest man in the brigade. Ages also varied widely. Scores of teenagers 16 and younger joined these regiments. The youngest appears to have been Phineas Dicksey, a mere 12 when he enlisted in Company C, 18th Regiment on August 12, 1861. A couple of months later, Dicksey was promoted to a musician and carried a drum for several months before being discharged as underaged in July 1862. The 18th discharged many underaged recruits, but others continued to serve in the Brigade’s other regiments. A few men were over 50 years of age. Jonathan Horton was 55 years old when he was elected a captain in the 37th Regiment. He served until July 15, 1862, resigning by reason of “old age and feeble health.” Yet even more senior was 63-year-old Joseph Williford (33rd NC). Though some of the records are inconclusive, the vast majority of these men were self-sufficient, non-slave owning yeoman farmers before the war.21
Age and place of residence, along with class, were just a few parameters separating the men in the ranks. Thirty-one counties stretching from the mountains to the sea were represented in the 50 companies in the brigade. Five alone came from New Hanover County, with three from Alexander, Cabarrus, Iredell, and Mecklenburg Counties. Of course, over the life of a company, more men could be added from different areas. Company F of the 7th Regiment was originally composed of men from Rowan County. However, men from at least 11 other North Carolina counties were in this company, including 41 from Davidson County. Of the 50 men elected to command companies, six of them weren’t even from North Carolina. One was from Germany, two from Scotland, two from Virginia, and one from Washington, D.C.22
Once the 10 companies of a regiment were together in a training camp, the company-grade officers assembled and elected a colonel, lieutenant colonel, and major. At times, these were men from the pool of company-grade officers. In the 28th regiment, Thomas Lowe was serving as Captain of Company C before being elected lieutenant colonel, and Richard Reeves was Captain of Company A before being elected to the rank of major. Seven of the 15 field and staff commanders came from the ranks of company commanders. The colonel was the regimental commander, responsible for leading the regiment on the battlefield and at regimental drills. His other duties included appointing staff, overseeing distribution of supplies, and instructing both officers and men. The lieutenant colonel was the next in command and responsible for the right half of the regiment, while the major was third in command and responsible for the left half of the regiment. Any time the colonel was away, the lieutenant colonel stepped into the role. The colonel appointed the regimental staff: the adjutant, assistant quartermaster, and assistant commissary of subsistence. The adjutant of a regiment was responsible for communicating the orders of the regimental commander to the companies. He also kept up with the regiment’s copious paperwork and copied general and special orders from higher headquarters into the regimental order book. An assistant quartermaster received, documented, and issued stores, while the assistant commissary of subsistence requisitioned provisions, drew rations for the regiment, and superintended their distribution and preparation. Others on the regimental staff included a surgeon and assistant surgeon, who oversaw the overall health and well-being of the men, and a chaplain.
It took time and a great deal of patience to transform these raw companies into a cohesive fighting unit. While the vast majority of the men in these new regiments had been required to serve in the pre-war militia, only a few men, like colonels Lee and Campbell, had any concept of the work required to shape volunteers into soldiers. New recruits had to be taught respect and discipline, as well as the required distance between officers and enlisted men, this last a difficult task considering that many, especially from the rural areas, were at least distantly related. Officers, while learning their new responsibilities, had to remember their men were volunteers sacrificing much for their new country. Moreover, companies had to be supplied with everything. Early regiments, like the 18th, received uniforms and serviceable weapons. Samuel Harding (28th NC) reported in January 1862: “I got one pare of pants and, one shirt, and one pare of drawers, one pair of shoes, and one pare of socks and one over coat and drawed one good blanket that I wouldn’t take ten dollars for.” Supplies the 37th NC received at the end of 1861 may be regarded as fairly representative: 157 caps, 621 private’s coats, 630 pairs of trousers, 76 shirts, 126 pairs of drawers, 64 pairs of gloves, 770 overcoats, 166 knapsacks, 826 knapsack straps, 34 wall tents, 111 wall tent flies, and 2 iron pots, along with other items such as chairs and a desk. Of course, many of these items, like the tents, were lost after the retreat from New Bern.23
The weapons issued to the regiment were an odd assortment. Possibly due to Branch’s former work in the quartermaster’s department, the 33rd Regiment was issued rifles, reportedly .577 Enfields from Great Britain. James Harris of the 7th NC, however, wrote after the war that only Companies A and F were armed with rifles, while the remaining eight companies were issued smoothbore muskets. Both the 28th and 37th Regiments were originally armed with antiquated flintlock muskets. Colonel Lane of the 28th refused to accept the arms, and informed the adjutant general it would be better to disband his regiment than issue the men “such useless masses of wood and metal.” Governor Clark also read the note and found Lane’s words “disrespectful and highly unbecoming of an officer.” If the regiment were disbanded, Clark wrote, it would reflect negatively on the officers under his command. John Conrad (28th NC) believed the flintlocks strictly temporary and good “only for … learning manuvers of arms.” The governor then complained to Lane’s then-superior, Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, about Lane’s aiding in the disaffection (and insubordination) within the 28th. Things were little better in the 37th Regiment, which had also received flintlocks. “[Colonel] Lee says he will not Leed his Men in to battle without Number One arms,” reported William Morris. At that very moment, Lee was traveling to Fayetteville to look into the matter personally. Not long thereafter, the 37th Regiment received converted smoothbore muskets. Later, companies D and F of the regiment were armed with rifles. Flank companies like these often served as sharpshooters or skirmishers for the regiment.24
“We are drilling very hard every day,” reported an officer in the 28th. Anybody would have reported the same thing, because companies and regiments drilled almost continuously: keeping men occupied, preparing them for the battlefield, and creating esprit within the ranks. Soldiers learned how to march in a column of fours, to wheel by company and battalion, and to form a line of battle. When weapons arrived, they repeatedly practiced the motions of loading and firing by files, ranks, at will, and to the right or left oblique.25
Of course, disgruntlement with various officers was endemic. John Kinyoun (28th NC) noted in October 1861 that one “Gibbon of Charlotte” had been appointed surgeon, and the men were “not favorable impressed.… [H]e says that he is going to ride round to see the sick of the regiment [, and] that talk has lowered him very much in the estimation of the officers.” Kinyoun considered Gibbon “very aristocratic,” because he had lived “in the town of Charlotte” before the war. Likewise, William Lee Davidson of the 7th NC was unhappy with the promotion of Branch to brigadier general, instead of his own commander, Col. Campbell. “You have doubtless heard” wrote Davidson,
of the political General Branch recently appointed to take charge of the Coast of N. Ca., L. O’B. Branch! If we don’t get licked repeatedly before the war ends, it won’t be for the want of just such appointments. … Campbell should have been the first man in the state promoted. In his stead, miserable jackasses who scarcely knew their right hand from their left, and certainly not our military evaluation, were the first to receive military preferment. Truly has our state been ungrateful to him.
Intermingling of classes presented another hurdle for new soldiers to overcome. “I am tird of so many masters & Sutch tite rules,” Bennet Smith wrote home. The mingling of the elite class with other classes seldom happened before the war. Most soldiers fell into the emerging Southern middle class—small slaveholders, prosperous self-sufficient non-slaveholding farmers, and professionals like doctors and merchants—or the poorer yeoman class. Having all social classes thrown together undoubtedly created tension. Of course, Kinyoun’s sniping at Gibbon could merely have been envy. Kinyoun himself, with a law degree from Columbia University and a medical one from the Bellievue Medical School, hardly qualified as a plebian.26
Besides adjusting to the brigade organizational schema, every regiment in Branch’s command was internally re-organizing. In April 1862, the Confederate Congress passed a conscription act, requiring all able-bodied white men ages 18-35 to be drafted into military service. The law later exempted government employees; workers in heavy industry, mining, and transportation; and various other occupations, such as teachers, ministers, and druggists. Conscripted men were allowed to hire substitutes. Fifty-six year old Michael Goowdin (37th NC), for instance, entered the army as a “sub[stitute] for his own son.” William Taylor, however, was just 16 when he enlisted as a substitute in the 28th Regiment. Substitutes were often paid large sums, sometimes more than $500, to join the army in someone’s place.27
According to the law, soldiers who had signed up to serve one year now had to serve three years, or for the duration of the war. Regiments were also allowed to reorganize and elect new company and field-grade officers. Individual soldiers could re-enlist in their original companies or join new ones. William Morris (37th NC) confessed that the act’s provision for a bounty and furlough to 12-month re-enlistees motivated his entire company to re-enlist. Men who waited to be conscripted were forced into regiments with vacancies, while volunteers selected their own companies. John Alexander, also of the 37th, plainly stated that “willingly or unwillingly. … I would rather go in of my own accord than to be forced in.” Many men already in the ranks advised loved ones to spread the word that established companies sought new recruits. “if you heare of any person that wants to come to this co[mpany] tell them to come on as soon as possible,” Morris wrote.28
Some companies took advantage of the chance to dispense with unpopular officers. Competition for officer slots could be fierce. John Kinyoun submitted his resignation as captain of his company in the 28th Regiment on March 28 to apply to the medical examination board for a department position. Although ineligible, Kinyoun maintained a keen interest in his replacement. He disliked Thomas Apperson deeply, a man “as low as any negro that you can find in his words or truthful feelings … there is too much free negro about him for me.” Nonetheless, Apperson won the election on April 12.29
Little discernible change within the officer corps of the 7th and 33rd Regiments happened after the voting. In the 37th, William Rankin, appointed major for only two weeks, lost his office to Capt. Charles Hickerson. Four other company-grade officers lost, and four others chose to resign a day or two before the voting in the face of probable defeat. The 28th experienced greater upheaval. Samuel Lowe replaced Maj. Richard Reeves. Fourteen company-grade officers also lost re-election. Two others resigned, while Capt. William Martin, appointed major in the 11th Regiment, transferred; a general courts-marital cashiered Lt. William Gilbert for an unknown offense. The officer corps of the 18th NC was completely remade. Colonel James D. Radcliffe lost, replaced by Robert Cowan, a Wilmington native and UNC graduate. Cowan had been serving as a lieutenant colonel in the 3rd NC before his election as commander of the 18th. Lieutenant Colonel Oliver Mears was likewise defeated. Regimental adjutant Charles D. Myers refused to serve under the colonel and resigned. In all, seven of the 10 company captains were replaced. In some companies, all the officers lost. Of the 26 officers who lost the election, 14 were replaced by privates from the ranks. For example, in Company I, Pvt. John D. Barry replaced Capt. Robert Williams. For a regiment soon to be tested in combat, a complete changeup in leadership could prove devastating.30
Major William Rufus Rankin in the 37th North Carolina lost his bid for re-election in April 1862. He went on to serve as sergeant-major of the 28th North Carolina, and surrendered at Appomattox.
David Rankin, Jr.
While the regiments were learning their roles within the new brigade, Branch reorganized his staff. Several men helped a brigade commander run the unit. Lieutenant James Bryan, likely already serving before Branch’s appointment, was the ordnance officer. Captain Daniel Carraway held the assistant commissary of subsistence post. One of Branch’s kinsmen, William Blount Rodman, a lawyer from Washington, NC, served for a month as Branch’s quartermaster before resigning and later becoming a cavalry colonel. Mississippi native Maj. Joseph Engelhard, who attended both UNC and Harvard Law School, began as assistant quartermaster in the 33rd Regiment before transferring to brigade staff in June 1862 as Rodman’s replacement. Francis Hawks, an assistant engineer during construction of New York’s Central Park before the war, became Branch’s engineer officer in March 1862. Branch nominated his brother-in-law, William A. Blount, Jr., as his aide-de camp, with the rank of lieutenant. Aides-de-camp held rather undefined positions as a general’s personal staff. During battle, they frequently conveyed messages. At other times, they could fill in wherever necessary. Branch’s other aide-de-camp was Lt. William Cannady, a former West Point cadet.31
On March 27, Branch’s superior, Maj. Gen. Theopholus Holmes, advised Gen. Robert E. Lee that after inspection and review of Branch’s command, the regimental commanders had assured him “that there was no demoralization … the men were tolerably well supplied and most anxious to advance.” According to John Conrad (28th NC), Holmes complimented the men’s patriotism: they should, he said, be “held up as a bright example and be rewarded for [their] valor.”
Amidst all this organizational tumult, Branch remained unsure about exactly how many Federals remained nearby. He estimated three or four regiments, with five or six steamers. However, he did know the enemy were camped beyond the Trent River, and the bridge was gone.32
Despite Holmes’s assertions, Branch’s regiments that fought at New Bern were in rough shape. One officer noted in early April 1862, the regiments which lost their baggage had been reduced to living in demoralizing “brush houses.” Captain Morris luckily kept his money, but he had lost his uniform, sword, trunk, and other items during the retreat. Others noted loss of blankets and clothes. With state supplies running low, Governor Clark generated some relief by appealing to the people of the state to help resupply the destitute regiments with clothes and blankets. Local newspapers published resolutions of thanks from two companies in the 37th.33
From time to time, regiments undertook various missions. Picket duty towards New Bern was common. William Bellamy (18th NC) found the 24-mile trip a “long & tedious walk” but thought “an attack will be made on Newbern soon.” Jackson Bost (37th NC) recalled in mid-April, the men marched 16 miles toward New Bern, dismantling the railroad and returning with the rails. Iron rails were in scarce supply across the Confederacy, and they could be reused elsewhere. James Harris reported on May 1, that half of the 7th Regiment had been sent beyond the Trent River to gather provisions, and had scarcely been in the area a few hours when word reached Colonel Campbell to recall his pickets and return to Kinston. Branch’s Tar Heel brigade had been ordered to Virginia.34
1 OR 9:447-48.
2 The 18th Regiment was composed of: Company A, “German Volunteers” (New Hanover County); Company B, “Bladen Light Infantry”; Company C, “Columbus Guards No. 3”; Company D, “Robeson Rifle Guard”; Company E, “Moore’s Creek Rifle Guard” (New Hanover County); Company F, “Scotch Boys” (Richmond County); Company G, “Wilmington Light Infantry”; Company H, “Columbus Guards No. 1”; Company I, “Wilmington Rifle Guards”; and Company K, “Bladen Guards.” Jordan, NC Troops, 6:308-412.
3 Bruce Allardice, Confederate Colonels: A Biographical Register (Columbia, MO, 2008), 315; James Sprunt, Chronicles of the Cape Fear River, 1660-1916 (Raleigh, NC, 1916), 307.
4 Graham Dozier, “The 18th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, C. S. A.,” Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Master’s Thesis, 1992), 4-13.
5 James M. Matthews, ed., The Statutes at Large of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America (Richmond, VA, 1864), 223; W. J. H. Bellamy Diary, March 3-9, 1862, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, hereafter SHC/UNC; OR 9:443.
6 The 7th Regiment was composed of Company A, Iredell and Alexander Counties; Company B, Cabarrus County; Company C, New Hanover County; Company D, Mecklenburg County; Company E, Nash County; Company F, Rowan County; Company G, “Wake Rangers”; Company H, Cabarrus County; Company I, Iredell County; and, Company K, Alexander County. Jordan, NC Troops, 4:407-503. Allardice, Confederate Colonels, 88-89. In early September 1857, Mormon militia members, masquerading as Piute Indians, attacked and killed 120 members of a wagon train, sparing only a few children, and hastily buried the bodies in shallow graves.
7 J. S. Harris, Historical Sketches, 7th Regiment North Carolina Troops (Mooresville, NC, 1893), 4.
8 Charlotte Observer, May 5, 1895; Harris, Historical Sketches, 9.
9 The 28th Regiment was composed of Company A, “Surry Regulators”; Company B, “Gaston Invincibles”; Company C, “South Fork Farmers” (Catawba County); Company D, “Stanley Yankee Hunters”; Company E, “Montgomery Grays”; Company F, “Yadkin Boys”; Company G, “Guards of Independence” (Orange County); Company H, “Cleveland Regulators”; Company I, “Yadkin Stars”; and, Company K, “Stanley Guards.” Jordan, NC Troops, 8:113-220.
10 Kenneth Phillips, “James Henry Lane and the War for Southern Independence,” Auburn University (Master’s Thesis, 1982), 1-41.
11 Clark, Histories, 2:467.
12 The 33rd Regiment was composed of Company A, Iredell County; Company B, Clark’s Guard” (Edgecombe County); Company C, “Cabarrus Hornets”; Company D, “Wilkes Regulators”; Company E, Gaston County; Company F, “Dixie Invincibles” (Hyde County); Company G, “Cumberland Rangers”; Company H, Hyde County; Company I, “Confederate Stars” (Forsyth County); and, Company K, Gaston County. Jordan, NC Troops, 9:123-234.
13 Allardice, Confederate Colonels, 47; Jordan, NC Troops, 9:118.
14 Joseph Saunders to “Dear Mother,” January 23, 1862, Joseph Saunders Letters, SHC/UNC.
15 Joseph Denny, Wearing the Blue in the Twenty-fifth Mass. Volunteer Infantry (Worchester, MA, 1879), 102; Jordan, NC Troops, 9:118.
16 The 37th Regiment was composed of Company A, “Ashe Beauregard Riflemen”; Company B, Watauga Marksmen”; Company C, “Mecklenburg’s Wide Awakes”; Company D, “North Carolina Defenders” (Union County); Company E, “Watauga Minute Men”; Company F, “Western Carolina Stars” (Wilkes County); Company G, “Alexander Soldiers”; Company H, “Gaston Blues”; Company I, “Mecklenburg Rifles”; and, Company K, “Alleghany Tigers”; Jordan, NC Troops, 9:471-591; William Stevens, “Charles C. Lee.” William Powell, ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. 6 vols. (Chapel Hill, NC, 1979), 4:43.
17 Charles Lee to James Lane, March 3, 1862, James Lane Papers, Auburn University, hereafter cited as Lane Papers, AU; Bennett Smith to Wife, February 24, 1862, private collection.
18 Jordan, NC Troops, 6:308-412.
19 Hardy, Thirty-seventh, 12; ibid., 9:123, 133; William Alexander, “Fought them like Tigers: The Life and Times of the 33rd North Carolina Infantry Regiment,” Western Carolina University, (Master’s Thesis, 2003), 59.
20 Jordan, NC Troops, 4:473.
21 Dozier, “18th North Carolina Infantry,” 6; Hardy, Thirty-seventh, 11; Jordan, NC Troops, 6:336; 9:208, 485.
22 Jordan, NC Troops, 4:452-61.
23 Samuel Harding to “Dear Father,” January 23, 1862, in Frances Casstevens, The Civil War in Yadkin County, North Carolina (Jefferson, NC, 1997), 127-28; Hardy, Thirty-seventh, 27.
24 Clark, Histories, 1:362; James Lane to J. G. Martin, October 18, 1861; Henry Clark to James H. Lane, October 24, 1861, Governor’s Letter Book 155, 175-76, North Carolina Division of Archives and History, hereafter cited as NCDAH; Julia O’Daniel, Kinfolk of Jacob Conrad (n.p., 1970), 285; Henry Clark to J. R. Anderson, October 25, 1861, Governor’s Letter Book, 177, NCDAH: William Morris to “Deare Companion,” January 10, 1862, William Morris Letters, SHC/UNC.
25 John Kinyoun to “beloved Wife,” April 4, 1862, John Kinyoun Papers, Duke University, hereafter cited as DU.
26 Ibid., October 4, 1861, Kinyoun Papers, DU; Bennett Smith to “Dear Wife,” April 16, 1863; William Davidson to Alexander McPheeters, December 1861, Alexander McPheeters’s Papers, DU; Casstevens, Civil War in Yadkin County, 235. Based upon Joseph Glatthaar’s definition of net worth—(poor class = $0-$799, middle class = $800-$3,999, and upper class = $4,000+)— the two Watauga County companies in the 37th NC broke down like this: poor: 62 enlisted men; middle: 9 officers, 72 enlisted men; upper: 2 officers and 9 enlisted men. Real estate and personal property amounts were not listed for 21 other 37th NC soldiers identified in the 1860 US Watauga County census. Glatthaar, General Lee’s Army: From Victory to Collapse (New York, 2008), 474.
27 Jordan, NC Troops, 8:184; 9:529. Goodwin died of disease in a hospital in Rockingham County, Virginia, in November 1862. Taylor deserted from a hospital in October 1862. A search of Jordan reveals at least 17 men who were discharged from the various regiments in the brigade after providing substitutes.
28 William Morris to “Deare Companion,” April 18, 1862, Morris Papers, SHC/UNC; John Alexander to Wife, April 27, 1862, John Alexander Papers, UNC-Charlotte.
29 John Kinyoun to “beloved Wife,” March 28, 1862, Kinyoun Papers, DU; Jordan, NC Troops, 8:174.
30 Jordan, NC Troops, vols. 4, 6, 8, and 9, were used to conduct this survey. One card in Myers’s compiled service record states he was defeated for re-election. Yet another card states he “Declined appt. at reorganization.” Since adjutants were appointed, not elected, the latter is probably true. Jordan, NC Troops, 6:306; Charles D. Myers, Roll 0265, M270, Compiled Military Service Records, National Archives, hereafter cited as CSR/NA.
31 Robert E. L. Krick, Staff Officers in Gray: A Biographical Register of the Staff Officers in the Army of Northern Virginia (Chapel Hill, NC, 2003), 2-35, 76, 86, 90, 122, 137, 154, 160, 256, 369. Robert Hill briefly served as Branch’s assistant adjutant general in March and early April 1862. On April 9, he was appointed colonel of the 48th NC and transferred.
32 OR 9:453; O’Daniel, Kinfolk of Jacob Conrad, 292.
33 William Barber to Branch, April 1862, Branch Papers, UVA; William Morris to “Dear Companion,” April 13, 1862, Morris Papers, SHC/UNC; Noah Collins, Reminiscences, 15, Noah Collins Papers, NCDAH; Charlotte Daily Bulletin, March 25, 1862; Western Democrat, April 8, 1862.
34 Bellamy, “A Journal or Diary of Events,” 35-36, SHC/UNC; Jackson Bost to Rev. E. S. Davis, April 26, 1862, Jackson Bost Letters, DU; Harris, Historical Sketches, 10.