Bertie County, NC History of Confederate Regiments EXPERIENCES OF BERTIE COUNTY'S CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS Compiled by Gerald W. Thomas (Following, including endnotes, was originally chapter 7 of the Divided Allegiances manuscript.) Bertie County's political leaders and citizens staunchly supported the preservation of the Union during the secession crisis which preceded the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter. Nevertheless, in the several weeks preceding North Carolina's withdrawal from the Union and during the war until about the fall of 1863, the county significantly contributed its manpower resources to the Confederate military effort. Over 800 county men- -approximately 58 percent of the county's military-age men--served in the Confederate Army. Seven companies were raised in the county. CONFEDERATE COMPANIES RAISED IN BERTIE COUNTY Date Co. Regiment/Battalion Raised L First Regiment North Carolina Infantry April 1861 F Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops June 1861 C Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops January 1862 G Thirty-second Regiment North Carolina Troops April 1862 F Forty-ninth Regiment North Carolina Troops (Fourth Regiment North Carolina Cavalry) August 1862 B Twelfth Battalion North Carolina Cavalry October 1862 F Sixty-eighth Regiment North Carolina Troops September 1863 Additionally, a significant number of county men served in companies raised in adjoining counties, such as Company E (Hertford County), Sixty-eighth Regiment North Carolina Troops; and Companies B and C (Chowan and Hertford counties, respectively), Third Battalion North Carolina Light Artillery. Also, Company D, Seventeenth Regiment North Carolina Troops (Second Organization) was jointly raised in Bertie and Martin counties. In total Confederate soldiers from Bertie County served in sixty-eight companies, twenty-nine regiments, and four battalions. They served in the three major service components--infantry, artillery, and cavalry. Additionally, a number of the county's sons served in the Confederate Medical Corps, the Conscript Bureau, and the Adjutant and Inspector General's Office. Confederate soldiers from the county conspicuously participated in a number of the war's major engagements in the eastern theater. They were shockingly introduced to Federal fire at Williamsburg on May 5, 1862; they fought bravely at Antietam on September 17, 1862--the war's bloodiest single day of fighting; they engaged the enemy at Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863--General Robert E. Lee's most masterful victory of the conflict; they charged fully exposed for almost a mile with Generals George E. Pickett and Johnston Pettigrew against the heavily defended stone wall on Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863--the "high water" mark for the Confederacy; they fought ferociously at the "bloody angle" at Spotsylvania on May 12, 1864; they suffered in the horrible trenches about Petersburg during General Ulysses S. Grant's ten-month siege (June 1864 - April 1865); and they hunkered down during the intense naval bombardment of Fort Fisher, finally being forced to surrender and flee the bastion--the only viable defense for Wilmington, the South's last major open port (January 1865). At least 178 county soldiers--one of every five men who served--sacrificed their lives for the Southern cause. Fifty-three men were killed in action or died of wounds, twenty-five sons died while confined in Northern prisons and one hundred men succumbed to disease and various illnesses. Some of the men who gave their lives were promising future leaders of the county, including Thomas Miles Garrett (killed at Spotsylvania, Virginia, May 12, 1864), Francis Wilder Bird (killed at Reams' Station, Virginia, August 25, 1864), and Joseph B. Cherry (killed at Petersburg, Virginia, April 1, 1865). A substantial number (185) of Bertie County men deserted from their Confederate units. Some of these men never reported for duty after enlisting, others deserted within a few days after enlisting, while others served for months or almost the entire war before leaving their units. Whatever their reasons for leaving, it should be remembered that every man who joined the Confederate Army had his reasons for doing so--and likewise for every man who left. Over 190 Bertie County Confederates fell into Federal hands and were incarcerated in Federal prisons for varying lengths of time. Fourteen Bertie County Confederates had the "honor" of being "guests" of the Federal Army on two occasions, each having been captured a second time after being paroled and exchanged. Bertie County men were incarcerated at Point Lookout, Maryland; Elmira, New York; Johnson's Island, Ohio; Fort Delaware, Delaware; and Baltimore, Maryland. When the demise of the Confederacy became imminent in April 1865, an undetermined, but relatively small number of Bertie County men were still serving in the Confederate armies under Generals Robert E. Lee and Joseph Johnston. Only nineteen Bertie County men surrendered with Lee at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9, 1865, while another sixteen county men laid down their arms at Durham Station in late April 1865, as members of Johnston's army. Others, realizing that the war's end was near, likely left their units in the weeks and days before the surrenders. Indeed, it appears that Bertie County cavalrymen, instead of surrendering with their comrades at Appomattox, chose to ride away and return to their homes, forgoing official paroles. The experiences of Bertie County's Confederate men of arms mirror that of thousands of other Southern soldiers. Bertie County men served, sacrificed, and died in appreciable numbers for the "lost" cause. This chapter presents a small portion of Bertie County's Confederate soldiers' legacy by recounting their participation in some of the important battles of the conflict. Williamsburg - May 5, 1862 During March 1862, Confederate authorities began transferring troops from northern Virginia to the Williamsburg area to meet a Federal advance under Major General George B. McClellan. On April 4, Brigadier General Jubal A. Early's brigade, which included the Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops (Colonel Duncan K. McRae, commanding) and Captain Thomas Miles Garrett's Bertie County company (Company F), left Orange Court House, Virginia, and traveled by rail to Richmond where the brigade boarded a steamer and traveled down the James River to King's Wharf. From there, Early's troops marched to within a mile of Yorktown where they established their camp. By early May, substantial numbers of Confederate troops had gathered in the Yorktown area to confront McClellan's force. Early's brigade had been placed in Major General Daniel H. Hill's division and on the night of May 3-4, Hill's troops withdrew toward Williamsburg. Here, Hill's men rested on the 4th and on the 5th began proceeding up the peninsula between the James and York rivers. Federal forces assaulted the Confederate rear guard on the morning of the 5th, forcing General Hill to return to the Williamsburg area to assist the embattled troops. Early's brigade, including Garrett's Bertie County company, formed Hill's front line as his division moved against a Federal battery on the Confederates left. Garrett's men, along with their fellow regimental comrades, were about to be horribly baptized by Federal fire. About 3 p.m., Early's brigade--composed of the Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops (on the far right of the brigade), Twenty-third Regiment North Carolina Troops, Thirty-eighth Regiment Virginia Infantry and Twenty-fourth Regiment Virginia Infantry-- formed in a line of battle and prepared to charge the enemy position. The line began advancing, intending to hold its fire until in close proximity to the Federals. The brigade passed down into a marshy ravine where the Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops encountered dense underbrush, making its advance difficult. Nevertheless, the regiment advanced to the edge of an opening where Colonel McRae halted his men, reformed his line and surveyed the area for the enemy battery. "Not seeing any indications" of the battery, he advanced his regiment "into the field." After advancing approximately 100 yards into the open, a Federal battery about 700 to 900 yards to the left, opened fire on the North Carolinians. McRae, spotting the location from which the fire was emanating, estimated that "at least a brigade of the enemy" was positioned in the area of the battery. He also ascertained that the line of battle for Early's brigade had been broken. "Feeling great anxiety," he dispatched two subordinate officers to General Hill with a request to be informed which battery should be assaulted. McRae was directed to "charge the battery which opened on us, and do it quickly." If Colonel McRae felt "great anxiety" at being caught in the open and fired upon by enemy artillery, the members of Captain Garrett's Bertie County company--mere farm boys a year earlier-- surely experienced similar anxiety. McRae ordered his men to advance on the battery and they "sprang off at a rapid pace." About this time, McRae observed that the Twenty-fourth Regiment Virginia Infantry had engaged the enemy about 300 yards to his left. Desiring to connect his regimental line with that of the Virginia regiment, McRae directed his men to advance, "obliquing to the left." However, in the excitement of the battle, the men advanced too rapidly so he halted them, passed down his line and urged the men to advance less rapidly and more sensibly to the left. To "compose" his men, he ordered them to lie down in the field, without cover and exposed to Federal fire. While the initial fire upon the Fifth North Carolina had been from artillery, lying in the open, the regiment came under the fire of Yankee rifles. This small arms fire "began to be fatal" to McRae's exposed troops. One of General Early's aides, some distance to McRae's left, caught the colonel's attention and waved him on toward the enemy position. McRae ordered his men to their feet and to "push on." Under the devastating fire of grapeshot from the Federal battery and volleys from the infantry, McRae's regiment continued to advance until it reached a fence about 100 yards from the Federal battery. Cowering behind the fence, the men were exposed to fire that "was terrific" with "men and officers . . . falling on every side." General Hill said afterwards that the regiment was "shot down like beeves" with the "Yankees cheering and laughing as they fired at the poor fellows." Although grievously exposed to the Federal fire, McRae's men were able to fire on a body of Federal soldiers who began retreating into a redoubt. McRae, concerned over his regiment's desperate position so close to the enemy, sent an officer to General Hill requesting reinforcements; but, McRae, "finding [his] force too small, and the position fatally destructive," ordered his men to move to the left. Shortly, he received orders to retreat. He later reported that the "charge upon the battery was not attended with success." Although on this day, the Confederates forced the Federals to release pressure on the rear guard, the Fifth North Carolina lost heavily in their charge which ended in a bloody repulse. Shortly after the battle, McRae reported that the "regiment is now so reduced as to be inefficient." Captain Garrett's company, which contained forty-nine Bertie County men at the time of the battle, suffered eighteen (37.5 percent) casualties during the futile charge. These were the first men from the county to shed their blood during the war. Garrett and two of his three subordinate officers--including his half-brother, First Lieutenant Joseph S. Hays--were wounded and captured. Hays died a little over a month later of his wounds while a prisoner of war. In total twelve men were wounded and captured of whom six subsequently died of their wounds. Five other men were captured and one man was wounded but escaped capture. Antietam - September 17, 1862 On September 4 and 5, General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac River into Maryland as Lee launched his first invasion of the North. On September 10, General Daniel H. Hill's division, which included Brigadier General Samuel Garland's brigade, moved out of Frederick, Maryland, as the rear guard for General James Longstreet's troop column. Mounting pressure from McClellan's advancing Federal Army prompted Lee to deploy Hill's division along the South Mountain gaps. By September 13, Garland's brigade had reached Fox's Gap where it came under heavy fire. The next day, General Garland was mortally wounded during action at the gap and Colonel McRae assumed command of the brigade. (Command of the Fifth North Carolina fell to Captain Garrett.) Re-enforced, the brigade withdrew from the area under orders to concentrate at Sharpsburg, Maryland. The brigade arrived at Antietam Creek in the vicinity of Sharpsburg on the 15th. Later, D. H. Hill's troops were moved into position in front of the town between Major General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's troops on the left and General Longstreet's troops on the right. During the early morning hours of September 17, Federal forces aggressively assaulted Jackson's position. Garland's brigade, under the command of McRae, and two other brigades of D. H. Hill, were ordered to support Jackson's troops. McRae moved his brigade by the "left flank," reached a point near some woods, and formed a line of battle. Although some confusion occurred within the brigade as a result of conflicting orders, it soon crossed a fence, reformed and came in sight of Federal troops. The brigade began firing at the Federals "with good will, and from an excellent position," but orders were shortly given to cease firing. The reported reason--Brigadier General Roswell S. Ripley's brigade was in front. The order "produced great confusion" among the brigade while a force of Federal troops appeared on the brigade's right. Panic ensued and the men of Garland's brigade broke and "left the field in a state of confusion." The officers were unable to rally the men. Captain Garrett, now commanding the Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops upon McRae's reassignment to the brigade, rallied his men, including the Bertie County soldiers of his company, and "brought them into action." Garrett later reported on the morning's events: The regiment, following the movements of the brigade, which were vacillating and unsteady, . . . came upon a ledge of rock and earth, forming a fine natural breastwork. Under the cover of this, the regiment, . . . fell down and sought shelter. Seeing a regiment of the enemy coming up in the open field in our front and somewhat on the flank, and the breastwork turning where the right of the regiment rested in such a manner as to expose a few files of men of my regiment, I ordered these to deploy as flankers to the right and take shelter behind the trees. At this moment, and while directing this movement, Captain [Thomas P.] Thompson, Company G, came up to me, and in a very excited manner and tone cried out . . . `They are flanking us! See, yonder's a whole brigade!' I ordered him to keep silence and return to his place. The men before this were far from being cool, but, when this act of indiscretion occurred, a panic ensured, and despite the efforts of fileclosers and officers, they began to break and run. . . . I gave an order to the few men who remained--not more than ten in number--to retire, and called upon the few officers who were around me to rally behind the fence in our rear. A few rallied . . . and all of the men belonging to my company present in the regiment rallied to my side. With them, I made a stand at the fence and ordered the men to fire upon the advancing enemy. This they did with coolness and deliberation. I observed, however, immediately, that all the brigade on the left were retreating in disorder, and had already passed the fence without halting. I retired with the few men behind the fence, toward the town. I could see no body of men of my regiment on the way, and I went immediately down into the town in the hope of getting up with them. Upon reaching the town, Captain Garrett encountered General Lee whom he informed of the "misfortunes which had befallen" him (Garrett) and asked for directions. Lee ordered Garrett to rally all of the stragglers he could without regard to command and report with them to Brigadier General Clement A. Evans. Garrett gathered about 150 men, including about fifty from the Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops, and reported to Evans who placed them under the command of Colonel Alfred Iverson, commanding, Twentieth Regiment North Carolina Troops. General D. H. Hill ordered Iverson to attack a regiment of Federal soldiers which was engaging a small body of Confederate troops nearby. The men under Iverson's command carried out the attack, engaging the enemy "with spirit," but were soon forced to fall back. Captain Garrett ordered the men of his regiment to retire and reform behind a large boulder about fifty yards to their rear. The men withdrew to the boulder, re-asserted themselves and held the Federal regiment in check for almost thirty minutes. However, the Federals, after ascertaining the size of the force under Garrett's command, advanced, forcing him to order his men to retreat. Garrett withdrew and again reported to General Evans's headquarters where he gathered another group of stragglers from his regiment. Evans directed Garrett to take command of this compiled body of men but Garrett, having received a slight wound to his foot, was forced to retire from the engagement. The main Federal assault then shifted to the center of the Confederate line and later in the afternoon to the line's right. Although severely tested and crippled, the Confederate line held during the battle of the 17th--the war's bloodiest single-day battle. Although Captain Garrett's company was heavily engaged during the day's action, it suffered only one Bertie County casualty--Corporal Aquilla Todd--who was severely wounded in the left hip and captured. Todd died in a Federal hospital in Frederick, Maryland, almost eleven weeks later, apparently of his wound. On the day of the 18th, Lee rested his army and began retiring it back across the Potomac River that night. Chancellorsville - May 3, 1863 In early May 1863, General Lee's army met the Federal Army, now commanded by General Joseph Hooker, at Chancellorsville, near Fredericksburg. Shortly after 5 p.m. on May 2, Brigadier General Edward Johnson's division (formerly D. H. Hill's), commanded of by Brigadier General Robert F. Rodes, as part of General "Stonewall" Jackson's Corps, initiated an attack on Hooker's army's exposed right flank about four miles west of Chancellorsville. Iverson's brigade, with the Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops on the right, advanced through dense and tangled undergrowth and shortly engaged enemy troops. According to Iverson's subsequent report, the enemy seemed to be completely taken by surprise, and made no organized resistance. At several points, regiments appeared, but were soon dispersed. Their line of intrenchments were taken by my brigade . . . and the enemy broke and streamed over the hills toward Chancellorsville. . . . A battery played upon us until we approached very close, and then retired, leaving one gun on the ground passed over by the Fifth North Carolina. . . . The enemy were driven over a mile before a halt was ordered, and night was falling upon us. After celebrating its success in the day's action, Iverson's brigade "was collected together and moved to the rear" in preparation for the anticipated battle of the next day. But the brigade's celebration was tempered by devastating news. Its corps commander, General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, had been mistakenly shot by his own men during evening twilight as he and other officers returned into the Confederate lines after riding in front to reconnoiter Federal positions. The beloved Confederate chieftain died eight days later as a result of his wound. About 6 a.m. on May 3, Iverson's brigade advanced with the third line of Confederate attackers as Lee's army renewed the action. Upon reaching a line of barricades, Federal artillery opened on the brigade's left, but despite being under heavy fire, the troops pressed onward. Shortly, Iverson's men met comrades returning from an earlier attack, they having been repulsed by a large force of Federals. Now, Iverson's brigade became part of the first line of battle and engaged the enemy, which gradually retired. During the action, the Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops was ordered to support two regiments of Rodes's brigade, but finding them falling back, the regiment retired to some breastworks. About this time, news reached Iverson that the Federals had been driven back. Iverson advanced his men to the front, who again came under attack from the left, but the entire Confederate line was now advancing on Chancellorsville, forcing Hooker's army to retire. Once Chancellorsville was occupied, Iverson's brigade, along with the rest of Johnson's division, was ordered to entrench along the Plank Road. After Hooker's army crossed the Rappahannock River, Lee moved his army back to Fredericksburg and on May 6, Iverson's brigade encamped at its old camp near Fredericksburg. During the battle of Chancellorsville, Colonel Garrett was wounded in the leg and two of the Bertie County men in Company F-- Privates David Harrell and Turner Mizell--were killed. Gettysburg - July 1 - 3, 1863 Following the Chancellorsville campaign and the death of Jackson, Lee divided his army into three corps, commanded by Lieutenant Generals James E. Longstreet, Richard S. Ewell and Ambrose P. Hill. In early June, Lee began moving the army out of the Fredericksburg area on a campaign across the Potomac River into Maryland and Pennsylvania. While Ewell's and Longstreet's corps moved toward the Shenandoah Valley, Hill's corps remained at Fredericksburg to monitor the movements of Federal forces in the area. On June 13, the Federals began moving northward and Hill's corps moved up the Rappahannock River to follow the other corps of Lee's army. On June 22, Ewell's corps entered Pennsylvania and two days later, Lee ordered Longstreet and Hill to follow. As Lee's gray- and butternut-clad army moved northward, it contained three Bertie County companies. These were: Thomas M. Garrett's company (F) , Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops, Iverson's brigade, Rodes's division, Ewell's corps; Captain Solomon H. Whyte's company (G), Thirty-second Regiment North Carolina Troops, Brigadier General Junius Daniels's brigade, also of Rodes's division and Ewell's corps; and Captain Francis W. Bird's company (C), Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops, Brigadier General Johnston Pettigrew's brigade, Major General Henry Heth's division, Hill's corps. On June 30, the corps of the Army of Northern Virginia were situated at various locations in southcentral Pennsylvania. The army was on the verge of again engaging the Federal Army, now under its latest commander--General George G. Meade--at the small town of Gettysburg. On the 30th, the organizations of Lee's army were mustered for pay. At this time, 115 Bertie County men were present in the three Bertie County companies. Garrett's and Whyte's companies (15 and 55 county men present, respectively) were at Heidlesburg with Ewell's corps, whereas Bird's company (45 county men present) was at Cashtown with Hill's corps. After roll-call on the morning of the 30th, General Heth dispatched Pettigrew's brigade to Gettysburg to procure supplies. Upon arriving at the town, Pettigrew found it occupied by Federal troops, so he returned to Cashtown. General Hill arrived at Cashtown on the night of the 30th with Major General William Pender's division and decided to move on Gettysburg the next morning with Heth's and Pender's divisions. Also on the night of June 30, General Ewell--at Heidlesburg with his corps--received orders to proceed to Cashtown or Gettysburg, as circumstances might dictate. On the morning of July 1, Heth's division advanced toward Gettysburg, but Pettigrew's brigade was held in reserve. However, immediately after the Confederates encountered Federal resistance, Pettigrew's brigade was ordered into action in the center of Heth's line. As Heth's division engaged the enemy, Ewell's corps--which had been put into motion earlier in the morning based on information that Hill's corps was moving on Gettysburg--arrived from Carlisle and struck the Federal right flank. Rodes--who had diverted his line of march from Cashtown to Gettysburg after receiving news of Hill's movement--moved his division into position on Hill's left and Major General Jubal Early's division (Ewell's corps) assumed position to the left of Rodes's division. At this time, all three Bertie County companies--Bird's, Garrett's and Whyte's--were simultaneously engaged in combat to the west and north of Gettysburg. After driving the Federals from their lines in its front, Heth's division was relieved by Pender's division. The combined Confederate assault from Hill's, Rodes's and Early's men continued until the Federals were driven through Gettysburg to Cemetery Heights south of the town. During the action on July 1, Captain Bird's company engaged in close and fierce combat with Federal troops. As part of Pettigrew's brigade, the Bertie County men advanced through a quarter-mile wide field, across Willoughby Branch--enshrouded in thick brush and briars--and into a second field. As the brigade reached the branch, Federal infantry and artillery poured a galling fire into its left side composed of the Twenty-sixth and Eleventh Regiments North Carolina Troops. The brigade pushed across the branch and up the opposite slope, "driving the enemy at the point of the bayonet." The Eleventh and Forty-second Regiments principally engaged the second line of Federals in the field while the Fifty-second North Carolina, apparently unnoticed by the Federals, flanked the left of the Federal line. According to an officer in Pettigrew's brigade, fighting at this point "was terrible - our men advancing, the enemy stubbornly resisting, until the two lines were pouring volleys into each other at a distance not greater than 20 paces." The brigade then engaged the third line of Federals which "at last . . . was compelled to give way." Captain Bird gallantly led his Bertie County company in the day's action which cost the lives of eight of his men, including two of his three officers who were present. Lieutenants Thomas Watson Cooper and Edward Averett Rhodes were killed along with Privates Benjamin Carter, Joseph W. Cooper, Jeremiah P. Mitchell, Thomas H. Peele, James H. Pierce, and David G. Stone. Bird, in a letter to an unidentified cousin written sixteen days later, gave an account of his company's participation in the assault and the grievous consequences which resulted. We were ordered to charge several lines of battle of the enemy strongly supported by batteries of artillery. My company suffered very severely - two lieutenants and six privates killed - and very many wounded. I saw them all fall but could not stay with them but one moment as I was compelled to proceed in the charge. . . . before I could return [Lieutenant Cooper] was dead. The last I heard him say was `Captain, I am killed.' He fell nobly in the midst of his company . . . He was shot in his leg but the mortal wound was through the bowels. [Lieutenant Rhodes] was shot through the head and fell in[to] my arms. I laid his head in my lap for the few moments allowed me. He was entirely unconscious and when shot only said `Oh Lord.' Iverson's brigade, which included Garrett's company, also saw fierce action. The brigade, positioned in the right-center of Rodes's division, formed a line of battle and advanced across a wooded area overlooking a "plain" and the town of Gettysburg. Iverson learned that an Alabama brigade was advancing to his left so he advanced his men "at once" who "soon came in contact with the enemy, strongly positioned in woods and behind a concealed stone wall." Iverson's men were attacking a Federal front that ran north and south. Iverson's line approached on an oblique line, placing the brunt of the action on his left regiments. The Fifth Regiment North State Carolina Troops was Iverson's left-most regiment and was grievously exposed. Iverson, without sending skirmishers or scouts to reconnoiter the area or righting his brigade's faulty alignment, ordered his men forward with the words, "Give them hell." Iverson's men were ignorant of the nature of the defensive line or size of the force behind the wall. One North Carolinian in the brigade later wrote, "Unarmed, unled as a brigade, we went to our doom." The North Carolina regiments advanced to within 100 yards of the wall when the Federals rose up and poured in a deadly fire at point blank range. The Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops, on the left flank, suffered the greatest shock. Even the Federal soldiers were appalled at the deadly fire they administered. One Federal soldier recalled that, "We delivered such a deadly volley at very short range, that death's mission was with unerring certainty." Confronting the strongly fortified position, Iverson requested Brigadier General Junius Daniel to send a regiment to his aid. No regiment ever arrived although Daniel dispatched troops who failed to repair to Iverson's sector of the field. Iverson requested assistance a second time from Daniel but was advised that no other regiments could be spared. According to Iverson, the Federals in his front counter-attacked and "captured nearly all that were left unhurt in three regiments" of his brigade. Iverson moved his fourth regiment, the Twelfth Regiment North Carolina Troops, and fragments of his other regiments into woods overlooking the town. He observed that the Federal troops were withdrawing and directed the Twelfth Regiment North Carolina Troops to attempt to cut them off. The regiment captured an undetermined number of prisoners. Iverson, arriving in the town and having very few troops left, attached his remaining men to General Stephen D. Ramseur's brigade. Although Colonel Garrett did not accompany his regiment on the Gettysburg campaign, the Bertie County men in his former company suffered a number of casualties. Of the fifteen county men present on June 30, seven were lost--one killed and six captured--during the action on July 1. Like the Bertie County members of Bird's and Garrett's companies, the county men of Solomon H. Whyte's company also saw fierce combat on the 1st. When Rodes arrived on the scene and moved his division into position on Hill's left, Daniel's brigade was placed on the extreme right of Rodes's line. As the line advanced and Iverson's brigade had become heavily engaged, Daniel was forced to send the Forty-third and Fifty-third Regiments North Carolina Troops to support Iverson's men. The Thirty-second Regiment, on the extreme right of Daniel's brigade, was ordered to move forward and attempt to assault the Federal left flank and a battery at a stone barn on the right of a railroad cut. The attack succeeded in driving the Federals from their position, but Daniel's men could not advance past the railroad cut and were forced to fall back. Colonel Edmund C. Brabble, commanding, Thirty-second Regiment North Carolina Troops, later reported that the regiment was drawn up on the right side of the brigade, and advancing, met the enemy about 4 o'clock. At the time the regiment became actively engaged, it was near a railroad cut. . . . Beyond the cut was a large stone barn, where the enemy was strongly posted. He had also planted upon a wooded hill between us and [the] town a battery, which thoroughly commanded the ground in our front and about the barn. The brigade made an advance to dislodge him from the barn, but the cut in front of the other regiments was too difficult for them to cross, and the Thirty-second fell back for want of support. After a short time, the regiment charged up to the barn, and dislodged the enemy, but, being unsupported on the right and left, and the battery on the hill opening a terrific fire upon it, it again fell back near the cut. The rest of the brigade having now changed direction, so as to advance without hinderance, the Thirty-second moved up beyond the barn, and waiting for a few minutes for the troops on the right, advanced near the edge of the town, where it joined the other regiments and rested for the night. In its advance, it took a considerable number of prisoners . . . Its loss during the day was 78--none of them prisoners. Due to the lack of detailed information in records documenting the casualties suffered, it is not possible to ascertain the number of casualties sustained by Bertie County men in Captain Whyte's company during the July 1st action. However, Whyte himself was wounded in the hip during the day's engagement and hospitalized. He would be left in a hospital at Gettysburg where he would die as a result of his wounds on July 13. For the most part, the involvement of the three Bertie County companies was inconsequential during the fighting of July 2. Pettigrew's brigade, as part of Heth's division, having been so roughly handled the day before, was held out of the action. Iverson's men had been demoralized by their sacrificial service the day before. Daniel's brigade, during the morning of the 2nd, was moved to the right of the railroad cut where it came under bombardment from Federal artillery in the afternoon. That night, the brigade moved forward to support a planned assault against Federal lines, but the assault was called off and the brigade moved into Gettysburg before midnight. During the night of July 2, Pettigrew's brigade moved with the rest of Heth's division into position in the woods behind Confederate batteries which faced Cemetery Ridge. The division was designated to participate in the next day's assault upon the Federal line on Cemetery Ridge. The assault was to be led by Major General George E. Pickett and General Pettigrew. Shortly after 1 p.m., Confederate artillery opened fire upon their Federal counterparts on Cemetery Ridge. The Federals' answer was not long delayed. A gun belched across the wide valley and suddenly, Confederate and Federal batteries filled the air with countless projectiles and thunderous explosions. The greatest cannonade in the annals of the North American continent had commenced. After about an hour of the incessant dueling, the Federal batteries limbered up and withdrew from the top of Cemetery Ridge. The Confederate artillery commander, Colonel Edward P. Alexander, mistakenly believed the Federal guns had been silenced. Pickett's and Pettigrew's forces were now to advance. At about 2 p.m., the men under Pickett's and Pettigrew's commands stepped out of the protective woods and began the three- quarter mile advance across an open field toward a "hell of an ugly place." The Federals were positioned behind a stone wall on Cemetery Ridge. The Confederates were ordered to guide upon a clump of trees and scrub brush located about the center of the Federal line. The Confederate advance included Captain Bird, commanding the Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops (Colonel Collett Leventhorpe, its commander having been wounded in the first day's fight) and the remainder of the Bertie County men of Bird's company. As the Southerners advanced across the field, Federal batteries opened with solid shot, next with explosive shells and then canister. The field was transformed into a "slaughter pen" for the Confederates as they pressed on toward the stone wall and the Federal line. When within 250 or 300 yards of the of wall, the Southerners were met with a "perfect hail storm of lead" from the rifles of the Federal infantry. Pettigrew's brigade, or portion thereof, reached the wall where its left flank was raked by a tremendous volley from Federal troops. The brigade, along with the entire Confederate assaulting force, was repulsed. The Federal's repulsion of the Pickett-Pettigrew charge at the stone wall, often referred to as the "high water mark for the Confederacy," terminated the principal fighting at Gettysburg. Captain Bird's Bertie County company suffered an undeterminable number of casualties during the assault. During the two days that Bird's company was in action at Gettysburg, it suffered almost fifty percent casualties. Of the men who were present at Cashtown on June 30, eight were killed, five were wounded and nine were captured, including seven men who were also wounded. Captain Bird was heralded for his gallantry during the futile charge upon Cemetery Ridge. The Eleventh Regiment's entire color guard of eight men were killed or wounded and Bird, commanding the regiment and color guard, took the regiment's flag when the last bearer fell and carried it until the charge failed. Twice, Bird had the staff shot off in his hands, yet he brought the colors back from the field. His company was the regiment's "color company" and therefore, became a natural target for Federal gunners and riflemen. Six months later Governor Zebulon Vance would promote Bird to the rank of major, retroactive to July 1, 1863--the date of the first day's fight at Gettysburg. Meade's army stopped Lee at Gettysburg--a major turning point in the war. On the night of July 4, Lee began withdrawing his army from the area and by July 15, the army had recrossed the Potomac River and moved back into northern Virginia, the area for which it was named. The Battle of Gettysburg produced 54 casualties (47 percent) among the Bertie County companies present during the three days. Ten county men were killed, nine were wounded, seventeen were wounded and captured, and eighteen were captured. While casualty rates among the three companies were comparable, Bird's company suffered the most men killed--eight. SUMMARY OF CASUALTIES AMONG BERTIE COUNTY COMPANIES AT THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG Total Percent Organization Present Casualties Casualties Co. F, 5th NCST 15 7 46.6 Co. C, 11th NCT 45 22 48.9 Co. G, 32nd NCT 55 25 45.5 Totals 115 54 47.0 Spotsylvania - May 1864 By mid April 1864, Francis W. Bird, soon to be a lieutenant colonel, surmised that the time for active operations was near as the spring weather and countryside became more conducive to the movements of the armies which had been holed up in winter camps. In a letter to his sister dated April 18, Bird predicted that General Lee would "doubtless advance on [General Ulysses] Grant," the latest commander of the Federal Army of the Potomac. At this time, the three Bertie County companies which had been with Lee at Gettysburg were still contingents of the Army of Northern Virginia. However, only 87 county men still remained on the rolls of the companies--dozens of men had been killed, died of disease, or deserted from the units. On the morning of May 4, Grant began moving his Federal Army across the lower Rapidan River and headed into an area known as the Wilderness where the Battle of Chancellorsville had been fought a year earlier. At this time, Rodes's division (Ewell's corps), including Company F, Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops (Brigadier General Robert D. Johnston's brigade ) and Company G, Thirty-second Regiment North Carolina Troops (Daniel's brigade), was on picket duty along the upper Rapidan River. Company C, Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops (Brigadier General William W. Kirkland's brigade , Heth's division, Hill's corps) was near Orange Court House. The two armies clashed in the Wilderness on May 5 but none of the Bertie County companies were involved in the fighting. Johnston's brigade, having been ordered up from the Rapidan River, arrived in the "Wilderness" during the morning of May 6. Ewell assigned the brigade to support General John B. Gordon's brigade which was preparing to attack the Federal right. With the addition of Johnston's brigade, Gordon attacked and routed the right of the Federal line before darkness brought an end to the action. During the evening of May 7, orders came for the Confederates to close-up the lines on the right. Gordon was placed in command of General Jubal A. Early's division and Johnston's brigade was transferred from Rodes's division to Gordon's which moved to Spotsylvania Court House. The armies moved toward Spotsylvania Court House where the Confederates arrived first on May 8 and established a strong defensive line. On May 10, Heth's division was withdrawn from the line and moved to a point on the Shady Grove Road where it turned back a Federal reconnaissance force. (The division returned to the defensive line the next day.) Also on the 10th, the Federals launched an assault which broke the line held by Brigadier General George P. Dole's brigade to the right of Daniel's brigade of Rodes's division. Daniel pulled his troops back to his right flank, and after reinforcements arrived, Daniel's brigade cooperated in an attack that forced the Federals to abandon the ground they had captured. Casualties in the Thirty- second Regiment North Carolina Troops were severe in the day's action. Seven Bertie County men in Company G were captured and one county resident was wounded. During the afternoon, General Gordon received orders to move his division rapidly from the left of the Confederate line to support Rodes's division which was being heavily assaulted. Upon reaching the scene of action, Johnston's brigade formed in front of the division and charged the Federal column. Gordon's old brigade also charged the enemy which was driven back with "light" losses to the two Confederate brigades. On May 12th, the Federals launched a massive and sudden attack on a salient known as the "angle." In the pre-dawn hours, Johnston's brigade was awakened by sharp firing and hurrying to the front found that General Edward Johnson's entire division (Ewell's corps) had been routed and driven back by General Winfield S. Hancock's corps. The situation, according to General Gordon, "was critical." Johnston's brigade was "expected" to arrest the onslaught of the Federals at a place subsequently called the "angle," made famous by the fierceness and ferocity of the fighting there on this day. In morning fog so heavy that "at ten paces one could not distinguish friend from foe," the Federals opened an enfilading fire upon Johnston's brigade from right and left. In less than fifteen minutes after going into action, five officers of the Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops, including Colonel Garrett, had been killed. At the "angle," many of the regiment's men were killed, wounded or captured where some of the fiercest musketry fighting of the war occurred during the action on the 12th. In addition to the death of Colonel Garrett, five Bertie County members of Company F were captured and one was wounded. Daniel's brigade, including the Thirty-second Regiment North Carolina Troops, was also involved in desperate fighting about the "angle." After the massive Federal assault broke the Confederate line near its apex, Daniel's brigade, along with Brigadier General Stephen D. Ramseur's brigade and General John B. Gordon's division, counterattacked. Ferocious fighting continued at the "angle" until about midnight. No Bertie County men of Company G suffered casualties during the day's action. The regiments of Kirkland's brigade, including the Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops, supported various artillery positions around the court house and were not directly involved in the fighting at the "angle". During the night, troops were withdrawn to new lines where they remained until they moved out on the 19th. On May 13, Francis W. Bird wrote his sister conveying news of the severe fighting which had been ongoing at Spotsylvania, but expressed confidence in the Army of Northern Virginia's ability to effectively deal with Grant. We have had the hardest and longest fighting of the war and it is still not over. Our lines of battle are in half a mile of each other but it is quiet today. Yesterday was the hardest fought battle probably of the war. The enemy made repeated charges on our works but was repulsed with [a] most terrific slaughter. Grant is very obstinate. There is however but little doubt of whipping him. Bird's confidence that the Confederates would defeat Grant's forces, in the long term, would not be realized. Grant, indeed was the most obstinate Union general to confront Lee during the war and was unyieldingly committed to fighting and defeating Lee's army at whatever cost and sacrifice necessary. After the fighting at Spotsylvania, Grant moved his army eastward while Lee moved his army to block his adversary at North Anna River. The two armies engaged each other on May 23. Grant withdrew on the night of May 26-27, crossed the Pamunkey River and side-stepped the Confederates. The armies continued to move generally southward until they met again at Cold Harbor during the first three days of June. On June 12, Grant pulled his army out of Cold Harbor and headed southward for the James River. Two days later, the Federal Army began crossing the river. Within a week, Grant's forces would besiege Petersburg. Petersburg June 18, 1864 - April 2, 1865 On June 17, Lee ordered A. P. Hill to move his corps to Petersburg. On this date, Francis W. Bird wrote to his sister that Grant has disappeared in our front once more and gone to the James River obviously with the intention of crossing. May he be as unsuccessful as on this side [of the river]. If so, this campaign will soon end. But Bird's hopes would not be realized. Grant's army successfully crossed the James River and moved on Petersburg, the vitally important rail center. Heth's division arrived at Petersburg on the 18th and began entrenching. Grant's siege of Petersburg began on this day after morning and afternoon attacks failed to gain the Confederate works. While the Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops (Heth's division) was forced into the Petersburg lines, the Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops and the Thirty-second Regiment North Carolina Troops, along with the rest of Ewell's corps (now commanded by General Jubal A. Early--Ewell having been taken ill), were sent to Lynchburg, Virginia, to defend the city against an expected Federal attack. Early's troops would not join the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia in the Petersburg trenches until mid March. On August 18, Federal troops took possession of the Weldon Railroad at Globe Tavern. General A. P. Hill's corps attempted to dislodge the Federals from their position on the railroad, but was unsuccessful. Hill ordered Brigadier General William MacRae's brigade, which included the Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops, along with six other brigades and two divisions of cavalry to attack the Federal position at Reams' Station. Hill's troops moved on the 24th and arrived at Reams' Station on the morning of the 25th. MacRae's brigade took part in an assault on the Federal right which broke the Federal line and drove the Northerners from the field in disorder. The assault, while successful, claimed the life of Lieutenant Colonel Francis W. Bird. On the previous day before moving with the brigade from Petersburg to Reams' Station, Bird, ever diligent in writing his sister, sent her a short letter advising her of the Federal position on the railroad. We are still at Petersburg. The enemy have possession of the Weldon Railroad and I think will probably hold it. We had two or three pretty severe fights to dislodge them which proved unsuccessful. I was in the one of Sunday [August 21] but am not hurt. Bird, while participating in his brigade's assault at Reams' Station, was struck in the head by a bullet when he was about forty yards from the Federal breastworks. He died within a few hours. Fellow Bertie County resident, First Sergeant Joseph B. Carter, was also killed during the assault. In late summer, Captain Joseph B. Cherry's Bertie County cavalry company (F), Fifty-ninth Regiment North Carolina Troops (Fourth Regiment North Carolina Cavalry), which had been on detached duty in North Carolina, joined the rest of the regiment which was part of Lee's forces about Petersburg. Another Bertie County company, Captain Joseph O. Cherry's company (I), was a component of the regiment having been transferred to it on July 11, 1864 from the Twelfth Battalion North Carolina Cavalry. These two companies functioned as part of the Army of Northern Virginia's cavalry forces throughout the remainder of 1864. During this time, the company participated in a number of skirmishes with Federal troops along the Petersburg line and the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad. By October, the monotonous and dreaded life in the trenches had apparently become overbearing to a number of Bertie County men in Company C, Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops. On October 24, six county men deserted. On October 27, a Federal force moved to gain possession of advantageous ground in the vicinity of Burgess' Mill. General Hill dispatched Heth's division, along with Major General William Mahone's division and Major General Wade Hampton's cavalry force to oppose the Federal advance. The Confederates attacked and pressed the engagement until dark. During this action, five Bertie County men of Company C were captured. Throughout the winter of 1864-65, the remaining members of Company C suffered in the trenches about Petersburg as Grant relentlessly continued his siege of the city. About mid-March 1865, Colonel David G. Cowand's brigade, which included the Thirty- second Regiment North Carolina Troops, arrived in the horrible Petersburg trenches. On March 25, the brigade participated in a massive Confederate attack led by General Gordon on Fort Stedman, part of Grant's siege fortifications. The Southerners quickly overwhelmed the Federal defenders, but an equally massive Federal counterattack pushed Gordon's men back to the Confederate line. Many men in Gordon's command, including the Thirty-second Regiment North Carolina Troops, were cut-off from returning to the Confederate line and were captured by the Federals. Two Bertie County natives, Second Lieutenant John H. Mitchell and Private Jacob J. Butler, were captured. The survivors of the assault upon Fort Stedman returned to the miserable trenches. In late March 1865, the Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops, which like the Thirty-second Regiment North Carolina Troops had previously been sent to the Shenandoah Valley, was ordered into the Petersburg trenches. No sooner had the regiment arrived than Grant initiated a renewed effort to break Lee's lines. On April 1, Federal troops routed a Confederate force, which included the dismounted Fifty-ninth Regiment North Carolina Troops (Fourth Regiment North Carolina Cavalry), at Five Forks on the extreme right of Lee's line. The Federals drove the regiment, along with the rest of the Confederate forces, from its defensive position back toward Petersburg. During this assault, Captain Joseph B. Cherry, was killed. The next day, Grant launched a general assault upon Lee's line. The Federals broke through the line and began to sweep down the trenches. In sweeping the trenches, the Federals captured eight Bertie County members of Company C, Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops. The next day, the Federals captured five more Bertie County soldiers . During the night of April 2, Lee began withdrawing toward Amelia Court House. Fort Fisher - January 13 - 15, 1865 In southeastern North Carolina on the peninsula formed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Cape Fear River was situated Fort Fisher. The fort commanded navigation on the river below the important port of Wilmington--the Confederacy's last open port in late 1864. Throughout the war, Confederate blockade runners had utilized the river and port to bring badly needed goods and supplies into the Confederacy. During the three days of December 23 - 25, 1864, a formidable flotilla of Federal warships from Virginia had relentlessly bombarded the earth and sand bastion. But accompanying soldiers, although having landed and moved toward the fort, failed to attack due to the approachment of Confederate troops. The Federal assault was called off and the troops re- embarked on the warships which returned to Virginia. After this Federal expedition, Captain John M. Sutton's company of horse artillery--Company C of the Third Battalion North Carolina Light Artillery--was ordered to Fort Fisher to augment its defenses. On January 4, Federal troops embarked at Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, for a second expedition against Fort Fisher. Major General Alfred H. Terry commanded the ground forces, which included former slaves from Bertie County--members of the Thirty-seventh Regiment United States Colored Troops. Admiral David D. Porter commanded the huge naval fleet. On Thursday, January 12, the fleet, bearing about 8,000 Federal soldiers, arrived off Fort Fisher. The next day, the Federal vessels--mounting 627 guns--began bombarding the fort. During the day's bombardment, Terry's soldiers landed on the peninsula above the fort. They met no opposition as the fort, defended by a relatively small number of soldiers, was virtually powerless. The fort's commander, Colonel William Lamb, called upon Major General Braxton Bragg to attack the Federal forces. Meanwhile, Terry's troops prepared a defensive line, anticipating an advance from the north by Bragg's forces. The Thirty-seventh Regiment United States Colored Troops landed with Terry's forces, setting up a potential in-battle confrontation between former Bertie County slaves and Captain Sutton's Bertie County Confederates. The black regiment was formed in line of battle with Terry's Third Brigade on the 13th and advanced some distance down the peninsula toward Fort Fisher. However, the brigade did not reach the fort before it was pulled back to the Federals' defensive line. After being pulled back, the Thirty-seventh Regiment United States Colored Troops was positioned in the defensive line on the Cape Fear River side of the peninsula where it entrenched. The regiment was not involved in the ground assault on the fort which came on the 15th. The Federal gunboats continued to blast away at Fort Fisher and on Sunday, the 15th, the Federal forces launched a ground assault on the fort. The Confederates, with only three movable artillery pieces, initially held off the assault. However, by late evening the defenders could no longer withstand the tremendous assault and Fort Fisher capitulated to the Federals. Captain Sutton, along with his fellow Bertie County officers, Lieutenants John G. Fraim and John R. Powell, and most of the county men still serving in the company were captured. One Bertie County resident, Private James E. Jenkins, was killed during the day's action. Including Sutton, eighteen Bertie County men were captured, of whom six were also wounded. The members of Company C who were not captured at Fort Fisher were assembled as a detachment and moved to Fort Anderson, situated on the west bank of the Cape Fear River up from Fort Fisher. Here, Company B also assembled, having moved from Fort Holmes. Shortly, the three companies of the battalion assembled at the fort which was evacuated on February 19 after a spirited engagement with Federal troops. Retiring from Fort Anderson, the members of the battalion joined General Bragg's command and continued to retire northwestward. The Surrenders: Appomattox Court House - April 9, 1865 and Durham Station - April 26, 1865 After Grant's forces pushed General Lee's ragged Confederates out of the Petersburg trenches on April 2, Lee withdrew the remaining men of his to the west. On Thursday, April 6, Union forces captured thousands of Confederate soldiers, including five Bertie County men, members of Captain Joseph B. Cherry's cavalry company and Company C, Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops at the Battle of Sayler's Creek. During the night of April 7, the officers of the Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops--fully aware that after four arduous years of war, the end was close at hand--met and after consultation, decided that Captain Edward R. Outlaw of Company C should take charge of the regimental flag and ensure that it was not lost. The flag was removed from the staff never again to wave above the men of the regiment. The officers retired to a secluded thicket and burned the flag. The flag which had been borne in numerous battles and skirmishes and which Captain Francis W. Bird had so gallantly retrieved from the battlefield at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, would never wave or be displayed as a Federal trophy. Lee's weary and haggard soldiers continue to straggle toward Appomattox Court House where on Sunday, April 9, Lee ordered his men to cease fighting. The time had come to curtail the bloodshed and end the conflict which had divided the nation. Lee formerly surrendered to Grant during the afternoon in the parlor of Wilmer McLean's home. Nineteen Bertie County men were present at the surrender. "BERTIE COUNTY APPOMATTOX PAROLE LIST" First Regiment North Carolina State Troops, Company F (1) Private James R. Powell Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops, Company F (2) Private William Preston Lane Musician Thomas Perry Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops, Company C (5) Captain Edward R. Outlaw Sergeant William B. Mardre Private Allen Davis Private William R. Blackstone Private James B. Parker Thirty-second Regiment North Carolina Troops, Company G (6) Sergeant Thomas H. Mitchell Corporal Lorenzo D. Perry Corporal Alsey H. Pritchard Private William H. Drew Private William H. Gardner Private Joseph O. Byrum Thirty-third Regiment North Carolina Troops, Company K (1) Private Joseph J. Burch CSA Medical Corps (4) Assistant Surgeon William Rhodes Capehart Assistant Surgeon Francis Gilliam Assistant Surgeon William T. Sutton Assistant Surgeon William B. Watford After the surrender of Fort Fisher, the remnants of the Third Battalion North Carolina Light Artillery were incorporated into General Joseph Johnston's army and was engaged at Bentonville on March 19, 1865 as General William T. Sherman's army pressed Johnston's troops. The battalion remained with Johnston's forces and was surrendered on April 26, 1865, at Durham Station. At the surrender, thirteen Bertie County men of the battalion were present. Three other Bertie County soldiers--members of cavalry units--were also present at the capitulation. On April 28, the Bertie County men were paroled. For them, the war was over. "BERTIE COUNTY DURHAM STATION PAROLE LIST" Third Battalion North Carolina Light Artillery, Company B (8): Private Thomas J. Boswell Private Robert M. Henry Private James M. Madison Private West Miller Private George Mizell Private Jonathan Mizell Private Josiah Nowell Private Josiah Perry. Third Battalion North Carolina Light Artillery, Company C (5): Private William G. Britt Private Abner W. Earley Private William J. Freeman Private John Washington Phelps Private Robert D. Worley. Nineteenth Regiment North Carolina Troops (Second Regiment North Carolina Cavalry, Company H (1) Private Elijah G. Howard Forty-first Regiment North Carolina Troops (Third Regiment North Carolina Cavalry, Company K (1) Private William E. Savage Fifty-ninth Regiment North Carolina Troops (Fourth Regiment North Carolina Cavalry, Field and Staff (1) Quartermaster Sergeant John H. Hardy The thirty-five Bertie County men who surrendered with Lee's and Johnston's armies represented a little over four percent of the county men who had served in the Confederate Army. Death, disease, and desertion had taken its toll on the county's gray-clad warriors. The patriotic enthusiasm which had prevailed four years earlier in Bertie County when the county's sons were called to arms had long since died. . The percentage of military-age men who served in the Confederate Army is based on the number of such men the author identified during research and 1860 Federal census data for Bertie County. The author identified 804 Bertie County Confederate soldiers. According to the census, there were 1,395 white males aged thirteen to forty-four years residing in the county in the summer of 1860. These individuals would have, at some time during the war, been of conscription age (18 to 45 years) and therefore, liable for Confederate service. Based on this data, it is estimated that 57.6 percent of the county's "military-age" males served in the Confederate Army. . Compiled Service Records of North Carolina's Confederate Soldiers (Thomas Miles Garrett - 5th Regt. NC State Troops; Francis Wilder Bird - 11th Regt. NCT; and Joseph B. Cherry - 59th Regt. NCT (4th Regt. NC Cav.)). . On March 17, 1862, McClellan began embarking the Army of the Potomac on naval vessels at Alexandria, Virginia en route to the James and York rivers in a military expedition that would become known as the Peninsula Campaign. McClellan intended to march up the peninsula of the two rivers toward Richmond. See Long, The Civil War Day By Day, 186. . Bridges, Lee's Maverick General, 13. . Of the sixty-six county men who enlisted under Garrett in 1861, fifteen had died of disease and two had been discharged by the time of the battle. . Following is a compiled list of casualties suffered by Bertie County men (including Garrett) of Company F during the engagement on May 5. Captain Thomas M. Garrett, wounded and captured. First Lieutenant Joseph S. Hays, wounded and captured. Died on June 9, 1862, of wounds. Private John Atkinson, wounded. Sergeant James F. Garrett, wounded and captured. Died on May 12, 1862, of wounds. Private Charleton Hobbs, wounded and captured. Private Josiah F. Holloman, wounded and captured. Died on an undisclosed date. Private Aaron Hughes, wounded and captured. Private James Ervine Hughes, captured. Private Reuben L. Keeter, captured. Private David H. Lawrence, captured. Private Jonathan J. Liecester, wounded and captured. Died on May 27, 1862, of wounds. Private Isaac W. Miller, captured. Private Henderson Newbern, wounded and captured. Private John A. Nurney, wounded and captured. Died on May 14, 1862, of wounds. Private Peyton A. Perry, captured. Private Quinton T. Pierce, wounded and captured. Private William T. Stone, wounded and captured. Died on June 10, 1862, of wounds. Private Joseph T. Williams, wounded and captured. (In addition to the above men of Company F, Second Lieutenant Richard R. Grant of Company D was wounded and captured. Grant, a Bertie County resident, had enlisted in Garrett's company and had been transferred to Company D in January 1862.) . Early's brigade had been assigned to General D. H. Hill's division shortly after the Battle of Williamsburg. On May 24, 1862, Brigadier General Samuel Garland was assigned to command the brigade which included the Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops and Captain Thomas M. Garrett's Bertie County company. . In January 1863, President Lincoln named General Hooker to command the Army of the Potomac and relieved General Ambrose E. Burnside of that duty. Burnside had been appointed commander of the army in November 1862, replacing the overly cautious McClellan. The next month, the tragedy of Fredericksburg transpired in which 13,000 Union soldiers sustained casualties in a series of assaults against an impregnable Confederate position, leading to Burnside's short tenure as commander. . In January 1863, General D. H. Hill was transferred to the Adjutant and Inspector General's Office in Richmond. His division was assigned to Brigadier General Johnson who was absent. During Johnson's absence, Brigadier General Rodes commanded the organization. . General Jackson was shot by members of the Eighteen Regiment North Carolina Troops. (See Spier Whitaker, "The Wounding of Jackson," Clark, North Carolina Regiments, 5:97-98. . By this time, Thomas M. Garrett had been promoted to the rank of colonel and transferred to the Field and Staff of the regiment. He did not accompany the regiment on the Gettysburg campaign, having been wounded at Chancellorsville. . Lincoln relieved General Joseph Hooker of command of the Army of the Potomac on June 27. The president immediately appointed Major General Meade as the army's new commander. . F. W. Bird to "Dear Cousin" (Mary Cooper), July 17, 1863, Confederate Miscellaneous Papers, SHC. Mary Cooper was Lt. Thomas Watson Cooper's sister. . General Iverson and Captain Vines E. Turner, 23rd Regt. NCT, quoted in Glenn Tucker, High Tide at Gettysburg, (The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1958, reprinted by Press of Morningside Bookshop, 1973), 130-131 (hereafter cited as Tucker, High Tide). . Major Alfred J. Sellers quoted in Tucker, High Tide, 131. . Joseph Baker was killed while Charleton Hobbs was wounded and captured. Five county men--John Ryan Belch, James Ervine Hughes, Isaac W. Miller, Thomas Newbern and Peyton A. Perry--were captured. For four of the captured men--Hobbs, Hughes, Miller and Perry-- this was the second time during the war they had fallen into enemy hands. They had been captured at Williamsburg on May 5, 1862, and were eventually paroled by Federal authorities, exchanged and returned to their company. Shortly after the battle, General Iverson was relieved from service in the Army of Northern Virginia and Brigadier General Robert D. Johnston was assigned to the brigade. The North Carolinians refused to serve under Iverson any longer as many of the brigade survivors of the charge on the wall felt that they had been foolishly sent forward and that their fallen comrades had been sacrificed. See Tucker, High Tide, 132. . During the three days at Gettysburg, Captain Whyte's Bertie County men suffered twenty-five casualties (including Whyte), or forty-five percent of those men present. One county soldier, Private Joseph J. Cowand, was killed in action. Thirteen men were wounded of whom nine were captured. Four of these men--Captain Whyte, Thomas J. Mitchell, James E. Newbern and Joseph E. Perry-- later died as prisoners of war. Another 11 men, none of whom were wounded, were also captured. . George R. Stewart, Pickett's Charge, (Dayton: Morningside Bookshop, 1983), 178-179. . Unidentified Confederate soldier quoted in Tucker, High Tide, 358. . After the war, a number of accounts, including one poem, were written about the actions and fates of the men of Company C, 11th Regiment NCT at the Battle of Gettysburg. The accounts generally contend that thirty-eight men of the company participated in the Pickett-Pettigrew charge on July 3, and that thirty-four of them were killed, wounded, or captured. In August 1896, a monument honoring Bertie County's Confederate soldiers was unveiled in Windsor. During the ceremony, John Edward Tyler read a poem entitled "Bertie at Gettysburg" which he had written about the men of Company C. Pertinent verses regarding the company's "charge" are: "Oh! Bravely there floated for every eye Our banner of battle then: Among the flags it floated high, The flag of Bertie men; Our gallant standard starred and barred, The colors of Company C. Our banner of Hampton and Beareguard, Our flag that followed Lee. Tattered and rent where the bullets went And torn by the bursting shell, It sank to the ground on the crimson field When with his blood his faith he sealed And Corporal Gregory fell.1 But Byrd, our hero dead and gone,2 Thank God for the hero then! Caught up the flag and bore it on The flag of the Bertie men. Twice was the flagstaff shot in twain And twice he raise the flag again, And over the wounded and over the slain, Through the iron hail and the leaden rain He bore it from the field. Into the struggle went thirty-eight Privates of Company C, And on the field when the fight was o'er, Dead and wounded lay thirty-four Privates of Company C."3 (See John E. Tyler, "Bertie at Gettysburg" and Other Poems, (privately published by Tyler's son, Ernest R. Tyler--date and place of publication missing), pgs. 5-13. In the early 1900s, William Joseph Martin, former colonel of the Eleventh Regiment, and Edward Ralph Outlaw, former captain of Company C, co-authored a brief history of the regiment which was published in Walter Clark's Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War, 1861'-65 (volume 1, pages 583-604). Regarding Company C's participation in the Pickett-Pettigrew charge, these men wrote: Company C went into that day's battle with three officers and thirty-four men and lost two officers killed and thirty men killed or wounded, probably a greater loss than any company has had in any battle since the recorded losses of companies and regiments have been kept since Thermopylae. ... the entire color-guard of eight men [for the regiment] being killed or wounded, Captain Bird, commanding Company C and the color-guard, took the flag when the last guard fell with it, and carried it on until the charge was a failure and the line retired, bringing off the flag and stub of the staff which had been twice shot off in his hands. Lieutenants T[homas] W[atson] Cooper and E[dward] A[verett] Rhodes, of Company C, were both killed. It [Company C] was the color company, and the flag that it bore was a target for the guns and rifles of the enemy. A biographical sketch of Edward Ralph Outlaw presented in Confederate Military History (Extended Edition) for North Carolina states that on the first day's (July 1) action at Gettysburg, Company C lost thirty-four out of thirty-eight men engaged, including two lieutenants, the orderly sergeant, and all of the corporals. This and other sources indicate that Outlaw participated in the charge on Cemetery Ridge. However, extant records reveal that Outlaw was absent on sick furlough at the time of the battle. He was granted a sick furlough on June 12 and subsequently visited Bertie County. He reported for duty on July 10 and returned to the company on July 17. (See Outlaw's compiled service record; F. W. Bird to "Dear Cousin," July 17, 1863, Confederate Miscellaneous Papers, SHC; and Emma Parker to "My Dear William" [Parker], June 17, 1863, William G. Parker Papers, Private Collections, North Carolina Division of Archives and History.) An account, prepared by North Carolina Chief Justice Walter Clark and published in volume 28 of the Confederate Veteran magazine, indicates that the company lost 34 of 38 men during the first day's action. According to Clark's account, Captain Bird brought back the regimental flag after its bearer had been shot. (See "Gen. James Johnston Pettigrew, C.S.A.," an address by Chief Justice Walter Clark of North Carolina, Confederate Veteran 28 (November 1920):415.) Given these "romanticized" and somewhat similar, yet varying accounts of Company C's actions and the fates of its men at the battle, the author undertook a close examination of available records to determine (1) how many Bertie County men were with the company during the battle, and (2) what happened to them. Extant records reveal a different "story" than those cited above. On June 30--the eve of the battle--forty-five Bertie County men (including Captain Bird) were present when roll was called at Cashtown, Pa. Officers (3) Capt. Francis W. Bird 1st Lt. Thomas W. Cooper 2nd Lt. Edward A. Rhodes Noncommissioned Officers (7) 1st Sgt. Clingman Craig Sgt. James T. Rayner Sgt. William G. Parker Sgt. William H. Todd Cpl. James H. Adams Cpl. Joseph B. Carter Cpl. William W. Powell Privates (35) Pri. James M. Burden Pri. Leven E. Butler Pri. Reuben L. Byrum Pri. Benjamin Carter Pri. James H. Casper Pri. Joseph W. Casper Pri. William J. Casper Pri. Jonathan Corprew Pri. Simon Cullipher Pri. Augustus Davis Pri. John Davis Pri. James R. Floyd Pri. Jacob W. Freeman Pri. John T. Gregory Pri. William L. Gregory Pri. Thomas Holder Pri. Joseph King Pri. William Leggett Pri. William B. Mardre Pri. Jeremiah P. Mitchell Pri. Nathan Myers Pri. John H. Parker Pri. Thomas H. Peele Pri. James H. Pierce Pri. Andrew J. Pritchard Pri. James R. Rawls Pri. Napoleon B. Rice Pri. Henry Skiles Pri. David G. Stone Pri. John Stone Pri. Stephen Thatch Pri. Elisha Todd Pri. Lewis Todd Pri. William T. Ward Pri. James H. Williams. During the action on July 1, eight men--Lieutenants Cooper and Rhodes, and Privates Carter, Joseph W. Casper, Mitchell, Peele, Pierce, and David G. Stone--were killed, and according to a July 17, 1863, letter written by Capt. Bird, "very many were wounded." The number of men wounded is not ascertainable from extant records. Bird and his remaining men participated in the "charge" of July 3 and retreated with the rest of Lee's army on the 4th. According to available records at the National Archives and Record Administration, the company suffered twenty-two total casualties during its two days of action, not thirty-four as conveyed in the previously cited accounts. In addition to the eight men killed, five men--Sergeants Parker and William H. Todd, Cpl. Adams, and Privates Corprew and Rice--were wounded. Seven men--Sgt. Rayner, Cpl. Powell, Privates Floyd, Holder, William L. Gregory, Pritchard, and Williams--were wounded and captured. Privates John T. Gregory and King were captured. . W. J. Martin and E. R. Outlaw, "Eleventh Regiment," Clark, North Carolina Regiments, 1:590. . Brigadier General Beverly H. Robertson's cavalry brigade, which included Captain Joseph B. Cherry's Bertie County company (F) of the Fifty-ninth Regiment North Carolina Troops (Fourth Regiment North Carolina Cavalry), arrived at Gettysburg during the morning of the 3rd and assumed a position to defend the rear and flank of Lee's army. During the day, the brigade in cooperation with Brigadier General John M. Jones's brigade--both of Major General James E. B. "Jeb" Stuart's cavalry division--drove Federal troops out of the town with a mounted charge. During its limited action at Gettysburg, no Bertie County men in Cherry's company sustained any casualties. . F. W. Bird to "Dear Sister" (Mary E. Winston), Apr. 18, 1864, Winston Papers, SHC. In March 1864, Grant was given authority to command the Armies of the United States. He personally directed the Army of the Potomac which confronted General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. . In early May 1864, thirteen Bertie County men remained on the rolls of Company F, Fifth Regiment North Carolina State Troops, forty-five county men were still members of Company C, Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops, and twenty-nine county men were still in Company G, Thirty-second Regiment North Carolina Troops. . After mismanaging his brigade at Gettysburg, General Iverson was relieved of command. General Johnston, formerly colonel of the Twenty-third Regiment North Carolina Troops, replaced him as brigade commander. . General Kirkland had been appointed commander of Pettigrew's brigade after the latter was mortally wounded during the Confederate withdrawal across the Potomac River at Falling Waters, Maryland on July 13, 1863. . The captured men were First Sergeant William H. Jernigan, Sergeants Henderson Pritchard and William J. Earley, Corporal James T. Kellam, and Privates Thomas J. Earley, William H. Hawkins, and Thomas Perry. Private Jarvis B. Hoggard was wounded. Sergeant Major Joseph J. Bridges of Bertie County, who had formerly served in Company G and had been transferred to the Field and Staff of the regiment, was killed during the fighting. After this day's action, twenty-one Bertie County men remained in Company G. . James C. MacRae and C. M. Busbee, "Fifth Regiment," Clark, North Carolina Regiments, 1:289. . The captured men were Aaron Hughes, Joseph T. Williams, Lodowick Pierce, Henderson Newbern, and William W. Perry. David H. Lawrence was wounded the wounded soldier. After the battle, only eight Bertie County men remained in Company F. . F. W. Bird to "Dear Sister" (Mary E. Winston), May 13, 1864, Winston Papers, SHC. . F. W. Bird to "My Dear Sister" (Mary E. Winston), June 17, 1864, Winston Papers, SHC. . Early corps operated in the Shenandoah Valley and on July 6, crossed the Potomac River into Maryland and captured Hagerstown. Next, Early's troops moved toward Washington, D.C. On the 9th, Early's command defeated a small Federal force at the Monocacy River, southeast of Frederick. On July 11, Early's troops invaded the Washington suburbs at Silver Spring. Early planned an assault on the Federal capitol for the 12th, but upon observing the heavy reinforcements moving into the city, he called off the endeavor. On the night of the 12th, the Confederates began withdrawing from the area and headed for the Potomac River crossing at Leesburg. Early's corps crossed the river at White's Ford on the 14th. Back in the Shenandoah Valley, Early's command engaged Federal forces at Snicker's Gap on July 18. During this action, three Bertie County soldiers in Company G, Thirty-second Regiment North Carolina Troops--Sergeant Thomas H. Mitchell, and Privates John H. Hoggard and Joseph P. Hoggard--were wounded. Early's men were defeated by Major General Philip H. Sheridan's Federal Army at Winchester, Virginia, on September 19. Private William J. Mitchell of Bertie County was captured during the day. Three days later, Sheridan's army engaged "warmly engaged" Early's command at Fisher Hill, near Strasburg. Sergeant Daniel W. Britton of Bertie County was captured. By the end of September 1864, only fourteen Bertie County men remained with Company G, Thirty-second Regiment North Carolina Troops. Sheridan's army routed Early's command at Cedar Creek, Virginia, on October 19. During this fight, the Thirty-second Regiment was utilized as sharpshooters. After Cedar Creek, Early's command remained relatively inactive until General Lee ordered it to rejoin his forces at Petersburg. . On June 22, William MacRae (appointed brigadier general on this date) was placed in command of Kirkland's brigade, General Kirkland having been wounded that day near Gaines' Mill. . F. W. Bird to "Dear Sister" (Mary E. Winston), Aug. 24, 1864, Winston Papers, SHC. . Obituary (clipping) for Lt. Col. Francis Wilder Bird from an unidentified newspaper contained in the Winston Papers, SHC. . Captain Joseph O. Cherry's company was originally Company B, Twelfth Battalion North Carolina Cavalry. Eighteen county men were carried on the company rolls at the time of the transfer, but six had already deserted. Two more men deserted during August 1864. Joseph O. Cherry submitted his resignation on September 6, 1864, and was discharged eight days later. . The men who deserted were Thomas F. Cale, George M. Casper, Jonathan Corprew, William J. Casper, Thomas Casper, and Henry Skiles. . The captured men were Lieutenant Patrick H. Winston, Jr., First Sergeant John G. Floyd, and Privates John Davis, William C. Ward, and James F. Harmon--were captured. By the end of October 1864, only thirty-four Bertie County men remained on duty with Company C. . The men captured on April 1 were Henry Bazemore, George B. Harrell, William G. Brogden, Robert H. Rhodes, Reuben L. Byrum, Jesse B. Byrum, William W. Powell and William H. Todd. The men captured the next day were Andrew J. Pritchard, Nehemiah J. Todd, Elisha Todd, Lewis Todd and James T. Rayner. . This company was originally raised in Hertford County in March 1862, but included a substantial number of Bertie County men. Approximately four dozen county men served in this company during its existence. On September 21, 1864, John M. Sutton of Bertie County was promoted to captain and assumed command of the company, replacing Captain Julian G. Moore. . The Thirty-seventh Regiment United States Colored Troops had also participated in the first expedition against Fort Fisher. Ground forces on that expedition were commanded by Major General Benjamin F. Butler. Admiral Porter had commanded the naval forces. . Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 619, 622, & 623. . Rod Gragg, Confederate Goliath: The Battle of Fort Fisher, (New York: Harper Perennial, 1991), 141 (hereafter cited as Gragg, Confederate Goliath). . Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 624-625. . The following is a compiled list of casualties suffered by Bertie County men in Captain Sutton's company: Killed in action (1): Private James E. Jenkins Wounded (1): Sergeant George J. Shoulars Wounded and captured (6): Sergeant William C. Dunning, Private James W. Farmer, Private Charles T. Jenkins, Private Joseph J. Peele, Private William Thomas Phelps, and Private James R. White Captured (12): Captain John M. Sutton, Second Lieutenant John G. Fraim, First Lieutenant John R. Powell, Private James B. Barrett, Private James H. Butterton, Private Moses C. Early, Private George H. Jilcott, Private John Lassiter, Private John L. Outlaw, Sergeant William Hyman Smithwick, Private Lucius A. Tyler, Private Joseph T. Veal. . The captured men of Company C were Thomas H. Parker, Nathan Myers and James M. Burden. The captured men of Captain Cherry's company were Privates Henry Tayloe and James Tayloe. . W. J. Martin and E. R. Outlaw, "Eleventh Regiment," Clark, North Carolina Regiments, 1:603. Experiences of Bertie County's Confederate Soldiers Notes Chapter 7 Experiences of Bertie County's Confederate Soldiers ======================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.