58th NCT at Appomattox?

Recently, I got Glatthaar’s book General Lee’s Army, in the mail (thanks, Matt). As usual, I flipped through the index first. To my surprise, there was an entry for the 58th NCT. I flipped to page 463 and found this:

“John Wesley Richards, a twenty-five-year old private in the 58th North Carolina, the son of a poor laborer, was not so lucky. According to official sources, he had survived Saylor’s Creek, only to suffer a mortal wound at Appomattox.”

So – if you have been following my blog for any length of time, you immediately see what is wrong. The 58th NCT was neither at Saylor’s Creek nor Appomattox. Neither was there a John Wesley Richards within the ranks of the 58th NCT. There was a John Wesley Richards. He served in the 56th North Carolina, not the 58th NCT. According to his service record, Richards hailed from Cleveland County and enlisted in Company F of the 56th NCT in Wake County on July 8, 1862. He was twenty-three years old at the time. Richards was “[r]eported sick in hospital at Goldsboro July and AUgust 1862. Returned to duty in September – October 1862. Reported present through December 1864. [May have been mortally wounded at or near the Appomattox River near the end of the war.]”

Had it been another regiment, say the 46th NCT vs. the 56th NCT, I would not have caught this mistake. But I did, so if you read Glatthaar’s General Lee’s Army, just remember that the 58th NCT was not at Saylor’s Creek or Appomattox.