Volume 19 of NC Troops Roster Now Available!

Volume 19 of North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster contains the unit histories and troop rosters for 6 battalions and 25 independent companies of North Carolina troops. The battalions included are Avery's, Hahr's, McLean's, Mallett's, the Salisbury Prison Guard Battalion, and Clark's Special Battalion Militia. Mallett's fought in the December 1862 Battle of Kinston. Clark's was assembled to assist in the defense of New Bern in March 1862. The independent companies included in this volume are Banks's, Bass's, Cox's, Croom's, Devane's, Doughton's, Duke's, Galloway's, Gibbs's, Griswold's, Harding's, Hoskins's, Howard's, Lanier's, Lawrence's, Lee's, Luke's, Lyon's, McDugald's, Mallett's, Myers's, Nelson's, Townsend's, Wallace's, and Warren's. Most of these companies were formed for local or special service. Duke's and Luke's companies took part in action at Fort Hatteras in August 1861. A well-researched history of each battalion/company is followed by a complete roster and service records for all who served in the unit. A thorough index concludes the volume.

 

North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster, Volume 19, Miscellaneous Battalions and Companies (hardbound, pp. xiii, 516, illustrated, indexed) retails for $50 (plus shipping and N.C. sales tax). Click here to order a copy through the online Historical Publications Shop.

 

For a limited time, Historical Publications is also offering a set of the volumes 1-19 of North Carolina Troops: A Roster for $475 (plus shipping and N.C. sales tax), a 50% savings off the purchase of the nineteen volumes separately.

 

For additional information on this new title, please contact Bill Owens by telephone at (919) 733-7442, ext. 335 or by e-mail at bill.owens@ncdcr.gov. 

This is so wrong in so many places.

This is so wrong .  Find-a grave can be very useful, but this is a good example of how misleading open-sourced web sources can be. I don't know Russ Dodge, but he does not know very much about the life of Col. Charles C. Lee, and there is no telling how many individuals have been confused by his mistakes. In addition, there is no picture of Lee's actual grave marker, though it would be easy to acquire one. The moral of the story: be very careful what sources you trust! My comments are in red.

Birth:   unknown [Feb. 2, 1834]

Death: Jul. 30, 1862 [June 30, 1862]

Civil War Union Army Officer. [Civil War Confederate Army Officer.] He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1856, and was assigned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Ordnance Department. Serving in that branch for the next three years, he resigned from the Army on July 31, 1859. When the Civil war started, he was residing in his native North Carolina [Lee was born in Charleston, South Carolina], and offered his services to the new Confederacy. Mustered into the 1st North Carolina Infantry regiment, he participated in the conflict's first land battle at Big Bethel, Virginia on June 10, 1861. [Lee was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the 1st North Carolina Volunteers, May 11, 1861. He was promoted to colonel of the 1st North Carolina Volunteers on September 1, 1861. Lee was mustered out of service on November 12 or 13, 1861, and elected colonel of the 37th North Carolina Troops on November 20, 1861] In November 1861 he was promoted to Colonel and assigned to command the 37th North Carolina Infantry regiment. He led his men in the March 1862 New Berne Campaign and the May-June 1862 Peninsular Campaign, commanding a demi-brigade at the Battle of New Berne on March 14 and at the Battle of Hanover Court House on May 27. He was in command of his regiment during the Seven Days Battles in the last week of June 1862, and was mortally wounded on June 30, 1862 at the Battle of Glendale [Frasier's Farm, technically] when he was struck by an artillery shell while leading his men in a charge on Union positions. His father, Stephen Lee, commanded the 16th North Carolina Infantry during the war, and his cousin, Stephen Dill Lee, would finish out the war as a Lieutenant General in the Confederate Army. Interred in Elmwood Cemetery, Charlotte, North Carolina, his family erected a cenotaph for him in Riverside Cemetery, Ashville, North Carolina. [The "cenotaph" in Riverside Cemetery is actually the gravemarker for his father, Stephen Lee. It has the names of his sons on it.]

Fort Anderson Celebrates the "Navy Way" Feb. 15-16

WINNABOW, N.C. -- Take to the high seas and explore the "Navy Way" during the 149th Anniversary of the Fall of Fort Anderson Feb. 15-16, at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site. Visitors can experience the life of sailors on land during the American Civil War.

 

Some sailors were attached to the torpedo service and others to posts not shipboard, but on shore. Demonstrations will include weapons, equipment and torpedo firings. Civil War torpedoes were not today's self-propelled explosives, but fixed water mines, and will be detonated throughout the day. In addition to the navy, the North Carolina Artillery Battalion will demonstrate the role of field artillery with maneuvers and firing guns during the day.

 

There will also be cavalry, civilians and sutlers to sell period merchandise. In addition, there will be an unveiling ceremony Feb. 15 for two new wayside exhibits: "Yankee Catchers & Infernal Machines" (Obstructions and Torpedoes in the Cape Fear) and "The Big Guns of Fort Anderson."

 

Brunswick Town was the first permanent settlement on the Lower Cape Fear River, established in 1726 as a port town. The town was attacked and captured by Spanish privateers in 1748 and was the site of the Stamp Act Rebellion in 1766. Partially burned by British in 1776, it was abandoned by the end of the Revolutionary War. In 1862, Confederate forces constructed Fort Anderson on part of the town. 

 

Today, one can tour ruins of buildings and houses that lie along the shaded scenic tour trail.  Other attractions include the majestic ruins of St. Philip's Anglican Church, featuring three-foot thick brick walls that recall the splendor of a bustling colonial port, and the remains of Russellborough, where North Carolina colonial governors once lived. Brunswick once was the unofficial capital of colonial North Carolina. 

 

For more information, please call (910) 371-6613, email brunswick@ncdcr.gov or visit its www.nchistoricsites.org/brunswic.

 

Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson is located at 8884 St. Philip's Road S.E. in Winnabow. Take Interstate 40 east to Wilmington where the interstate ends and becomes College Road. Then take U.S. 17/74 south/west through Wilmington. Remain on this highway to the Southport/Leland exit. Take this exit and follow N.C. 133 south for approximately 17 miles and follow the signs to Brunswick Town. From Southport take N.C. 133 north approximately 15 miles to the site.

Revisiting Branch-Lane brigade flags.

I'm perplexed. In the past, I have always written that Branch's brigade carried either state flags or First Nationals until issued battle flags in November/December 1862. Everyone remembers these flags, and one, that of the 37th NCT, was chosen to stand watch over the mausoleum of Lee at Lee Chapel in Lexington, Virginia.

Well maybe I was wrong, but I'm not sure.

One thing that has always led to this line of thinking is a general order from Branch, dated July 20, 1862, stating which battle honors were to be inscribed on the flags of the brigade. Branch ends the missive with: "The Quartermaster of the Brigade will furnish flags inscribed as above." To me, that means they received new flags.

However, I received something the other day that has me perplexed. Nicholas Gibbon, who served as a staff officer in the 28th NCT and on Branch-Lane brigade staff, wrote in his diary/memoir : "on the 26th [of June] just before our Brigade left camp the battle flags were handed out."

So, did the brigade get battle flags in June 1862, and again in November/December 1862? What happened to the June 1862 issue? Out of five regiments, you would think that we could find a reference to at least one of those flags being captured, sent back to Raleigh when the new flags arrived, or something.

I will confess - this is so very frustrating....