Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Looking for NC's Civil War - 60th North Carolina Monument


There were five North Carolina regiments at the Battle of Chickamauga, which was fought September 18-20, 1863, in north Georgia. Each of these regiments, four infantry and one cavalry, were assigned to different brigades and fought in different parts of the battle.

Bragg’s plan for September 20 was for the right of the Confederate line to attack at “day-dawn,” while the divisions to the left engaged once their neighbors made contact. Breckinridge’s division launched the first attack and quickly landed in the rear of the Federal lines. The 60th North Carolina was in the center of the attack that pushed the Federals back. A call for reinforcements went out to follow up the successful attack, a call that went unheeded. Federal reinforcements soon arrived, and the Confederates, so close to cutting off the Federal line of retreat, were pushed back. Of the 150 men taken into the attack by the 60th Regiment, 8 were killed, 36 were wounded, and 16 were reported missing.

Many decades after the War, North Carolina appointed a group of commissioners to go to Chickamauga and mark the places the regiments had fought. Three of those regiments-- the 39th, 58th, and 60th--eventually received monuments. . On November 10, 1905, Gov. Robert Glenn gathered with “a small party of North Carolinians” to dedicated the Tar Heel markers. The marker to the 60th was dedicated first, followed by the marker to the 58th NCT.

This photo was taken in April 2011.

2 comments:

R.O. Bemis said...

Out of curiosity, any idea why the other two units were not granted markers?

R.O. Bemis said...

Out of curiosity, any idea why the other infantry regiment and cavalry were not granted markers?