58th NCT in the news...

I meant to comment on this earlier, but time just got away from me. Last week, the Topsail Advertiser, as a part of its North Carolina Minute series, ran a little blurb about Maj. G. W. F. Harper of the 58th NCT. Here is what the reporter wrote


George Washington Finley Harper
(A North Carolinian who made a Difference)

George Washington Finley Harper was born on July 7, 1834 at Fairfield Plantation in Wilkes County, North Carolina. He received a Classical education in the area schools and entered Davidson College in 1855, graduating in 1859. Following college he returned home to help his father who was in the merchandise business.
Harper was serving as County Register and Justice of the Peace when the Civil War started. He waited until 1862to join the Confederate Army and was promoted to first lieutenant of Company H, Fifty-eighth North Carolina Regiment. He first saw action fighting Union forces near Cumberland Gap, Tennessee and also participated action in Kentucky. He later became Captain of his unit.
During 1863 the Fifty-eighth Regiment joined the Army of Tennessee and in September of that year he lead his troops in the Battle of Chickamauga, where one-half of his regiment was killed or wounded.
In the spring of 1864, Harper was wounded in the Battle of Resaca. He was sent home for his wounds to heal. He rejoined his regiment in the fall 1864 and upon returning to duty found that he had been promoted to the rank of major. He fought in the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee and after that battle he was put in charge of transporting 1,700 prisoners to Corinth, Mississippi.
In the spring of 1865, Harper witnessed the Union forces making their big push through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. He was at Bentonville, North Carolina for the last major battle of the war. Harper was with General Joseph E. Johnston when Johnston surrendered to General Sherman on April 26, 1865.
Following the war, Harper returned to Lenoir, a town his father had established. Here he entered public service to help mankind. His political activities included a term as County Commissioner, member of the North Carolina General Assembly and Mayor of Lenoir. Harper died on March 16, 1921 and is buried in the Bellview Cemetery in Lenoir.

This article is misleading in so many different ways. It totally leaves out that Harper was a member of Vance’s Legion, before joining the 58th NCT. The 58th NCT was not really involved in fighting at Cumberland Gap. The regiment was garrisoning the Gap after the Federals pulled out. Any fighting was a bushwhacker here or there taking pot shots at passing troops. The 50 percent loses at Chickamauga is not right, and Harper did not lead the regiment. When he returned from his leave regarding his wounding in the fall of 1864, he did not find out he had been promoted to major. The promotion did not happen until April 1865. Neither Harper nor the 58th NCT was at the battle of Franklin. They did help transport prisoners from Tennessee, through north Alabama, and into Mississippi, but Harper was not in command of the expedition. And, Federal troops did not push through Georgia in the spring of 1865. That would be the fall of 1864. In all of Harper’s post war contributions, they left off his most important – he helped start the furniture industry in western North Carolina, not to mention that he started a bank, worked on getting a railroad into Caldwell County, and was a trustee at the hospital in Morganton, and Davidson College.

Geez, makes me wonder what else is wrong with some of their articles.

Dalton executions, part 2.

I’ve been able to identify thirteen men from the 58th North Carolina who were court martialed and ordered to be executed for desertion on May 4, 1864. Those thirteen were as follows: Jacob Austin (Co. E); Alford Ball (Co. G); William R. Byers (Co. G); Reuben Dellinger (Co. A); Asa Dover (Co. F); Joseph Gibbs (Co. C); Jesse Hase (Co. A); Wright Hutchings (Co. F); George McFall (Co. K); Gordon Morrow (Co. H); Michael Ward (Co. D); Hiram Youngblood (Co. F); E. H. Younts (Co. H).

Of the thirteen, George Morrow was pardoned the day before the execution. William Byers’s fate is not exactly known, only that he died prior to September 1, 1864. The same is true for Dellinger and Hase. It is not clear that they were executed. Family history states that Dellinger died during the war.

The 58th NCT came from the counties of Ashe, Watauga, Mitchell, Yancey, Caldwell, and McDowell, with smaller groups of men from Wilkes, Yadkin, and Iredell Counties. Of the nine who were executed, one (Austin) appears to be from Union County; two were from Rutherford County (Hutchings and Youngblood, along with Byers); and one was from York County, South Carolina (Dover). Younts’s record simply states that he enlisted in Athens, Georgia. Hase’s record states that he enlisted in Hamilton or Greene County, Tennessee.

About half of the condemned men had joined the regiment recently. Austin - December 25, 1863; Byers - October 25, 1863; Dover - August 20, 1863; Hase - October 20, 186[3]; Hutchings - October 6, 1863; Youngblood - August 14, 1863; and, Younts - December 16, 1863. Morrow, who hailed from Caldwell County, had been in the service since May 15, 1862, joining Company I, 26th NCT, then joining Vance’s Legion on May 23, 1862.

Each of them had deserted just once, save Ball, who was a sergeant, and Ward, a private. They both deserted twice. Gibbs was the youngest - 19 or 20. Hutchings was the oldest - 44 or 45. Dellinger joined what would become the 58th North carolina Troops in late 1861. He transferred to the 5th Battalion, North Carolina in June 1862, went awol, then rejoined the 58th NCT. He deserted from the 58th NCT on August 20, 1863.

As of today, I only know that Ward, Hase, Gibbs, and maybe Byers had children.

There were probably two others executed that day. Christopher Ledford (Company C) and James M Randal (Company A), 60th North Carolina Troops.

What to do about Vance's Legion....

For most of you who have been reading this blog for some time, you know that I’ve taken an interest in Vance’s Legion. Now I’m trying to decide what to do with the information that I’ve collected.

In the spring of 1862, Col. Zebulon B. Vance came up with the idea of recruiting a Legion. A Legion is an organization composed of Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery. His motivation behind the Legion seems to solely be gaining a brigadier general’s star. Maybe that’s not quite a fair assessment, but that is the way it comes across in Vance’s correspondence.

Once gaining approval from the Confederate officials in Richmond, Vance began to run into problems. Vance had assumed that he would be able to get help from the governor in Raleigh - NOT! - They were of different political persuasions, and since Vance had not sought their approval, they turned a deaf ear to the young colonel. Vance assumed that he would be able to get companies already formed and in the training camps around Raleigh - NOT! See above for the reason.

Vance was facing a tight deadline regarding the Conscription Act. He basically had thirty days to finish his recruitment for his Legion. However, Vance could not even secure a pass from his commanding officer to allow him to go and recruit himself. Lastly, there were other people out recruiting, taking (not on purpose) men from the areas that Vance was most popular - his former 10th Congressional District, in the mountains of the western part of the state.

In the end, Vance was only able to recruit four companies for his Legion, three of infantry and one of cavalry, before his time ran out. The Legion failed, not only because it never met its recruitment goals, but because the idea of Legions became unpopular with the Confederate high command. Those four companies joined other regiments.

That leads me to this: I’ve come up with enough primary sources (there are almost no secondary sources) on Vance’s Legion to put together a small booklet on the organization. Say maybe 30 or 40 pages, with a roster. Would anyone out there be interested in a book on a group that never really existed?

Please drop me a line and let me know. I would probably self-publish the book. I’ve written eight books and have always worked with traditional publishers. The self publishing route would be a different road for me. I’m interested in your feedback!