Bertie County NcArchives Military Records.....Defense, Local Units 
 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Gerald Thomas gerald_thomas00@comcast.net February 24, 2017, 4:46 pm

Efforts To Raise A "Guerilla" Force
Efforts to Raise a "Guerilla" Force

By early 1862 Federal naval and army forces had captured Hatteras Island and had
breached the barrier islands at Hatteras Inlet and were preparing to assault
Roanoke Island. On February 7, the Union forces launched an assault on the
island. The Confederates surrendered the island the next day. With the capture
of Roanoke Island, Union military forces could roam the waterways of the
Pamlico, Currituck and Albemarle sounds and raid the small towns and communities
in the region.
	Exposure of the Albemarle region to Union forces prompted North Carolina
officials to initiate defensive efforts, including organizing local defense
units. Patrick M. Edmondston of Scotland Neck, Halifax County, had served in
Company G, Forty-first Regiment North Carolina Troops (Third Regiment North
Carolina Cavalry) until he was discharged on October 9, 1861. Upon his
discharge, Edmondston was appointed a lieutenant colonel and granted authority
by the North Carolina government to raise a battalion of cavalry. The unit was
intended to function as a guerilla force in the Roanoke Valley region. On
February 18, 1862 – less than two weeks after Federal military forces
overwhelmed Roanoke Island – Edmondston made a "strong appeal" which was
published in the Semi-Weekly Standard (Raleigh) and directed to the men of
Halifax, Northampton, Martin and Bertie counties. He sought individuals to join
up with him to form a mounted force "to resist, harass and drive out the enemy
from the waters of the Roanoke." But, Edmondston experienced little or no
success, and as of October 1862, he was still attempting to organize a troop of
soldiers. On Saturday, October 25, citizens of Martin, Halifax, Northampton and
Bertie counties met at Clarksville, Halifax County, to attempt to organize
companies for "local defense." The attendees appointed a three-man committee –
Edmondston, Richard H. Smith and Edward Conigland – to propose actions to be
taken to raise the force. Edmondston failed to raise any force. 
Sources: Semi-Weekly Standard, February 19, 1862, November 7, 1862; Weekly
Standard, November 12, 1862; Louis H. Manarin, comp., North Carolina Troops,
1861-1865 (Raleigh: State Division of Archives and History, 1968, 1989), II:227.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/bertie/military//other/defense711gmt.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/

File size: 2.8 Kb