Title: History of the Seventy-Second Regiment of the North Carolina Troops in the War Between the States, 1861-'65
Author: Hinsdale, John Wetmore
Language: English
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[Illustration:

  _Yours Truly
  Jno. W. Hinsdale._ (author’s signature)]



                              HISTORY

                              OF THE

                      SEVENTY-SECOND REGIMENT

                              OF THE

                       NORTH CAROLINA TROOPS,

                              IN THE

                  WAR BETWEEN THE STATES, 1861-’65,

                                BY

                       COL. JOHN W. HINSDALE

                         OF RALEIGH, N. C.


                           NASH BROTHERS,
                       BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS,
                          GOLDSBORO, N. C.



                      SEVENTY-SECOND REGIMENT.

                      (THIRD JUNIOR RESERVES.)


It affords the writer pleasure to respond to the invitation
of Judge Walter Clark, himself a distinguished officer of the
boy-soldiers, to make a lasting memorial of the courage and heroism
of the brave and patriotic lads who composed the Third Regiment
of Junior Reserves, known since the war as the Seventy-second
Regiment of North Carolina Troops. It is to be regretted that the
task has not been performed at an earlier day, before the stirring
scenes in which these youths took so conspicuous a part have faded
into the dim outline of a shadowy dream. Some inaccuracies must
now necessarily creep into this sketch. The writer was Assistant
Adjutant-General of Lieutenant-General Theophilus H. Holmes,
who commanded the Reserves of North Carolina, and he has in his
possession many valuable records pertaining to that office, access
to which has been of great assistance in the preparation of this
regimental history.

It is deemed not inappropriate here to narrate some things of a
general nature concerning the Reserves.

The year 1863 closed with depression and gloom throughout our young
Confederacy. Missouri, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee and the
Arkansas and Mississippi Valleys had been lost. Vicksburg, with
its ill-fated commander, had surrendered. Gettysburg, in spite of
the heroic efforts of Carolina’s best and bravest, had been turned
by Longstreet’s default into a Union victory. All of our ports had
been blockaded. Sherman with his army of bummers, was preparing
for his infamous march through Georgia and the Carolinas, in which
he emulated the atrocities of the Duke of Alva, proclaiming as his
excuse that “War is hell,” and violating, with fire and sword,
every principle of civilized warfare. Grant had been placed in
command of all the Union armies and was preparing to take personal
charge of a campaign of attrition against the Army of Northern
Virginia, willing to swap five for one in battle, if need be, in
order to exhaust his straitened adversary--a process by which with
his unlimited resources of men, he knew he was bound to win in the
end.

It was in such dire distress that the Confederate Congress 17
February, 1864, aroused to a full sense of the magnitude of the
struggle, and recognizing the necessity for putting forth our whole
strength in the contest for Southern independence, passed an act
for the enrollment of the Junior and Senior Reserves--the former,
lads between 17 and 18 years--the latter, old men, between 45 and
50 years--thus, in the language of President Davis, “robbing the
cradle and the grave.”

Lieutenant-General T. H. Holmes was entrusted by President Davis
with the organization of the reserve forces in North Carolina.
General Holmes was the son of Governor Gabriel Holmes. He graduated
at West Point in 1829, and was assigned to duty with the Seventh
Regiment of Infantry. With this regiment he served with distinction
in the Seminole War and also in the Mexican War, in which he was
brevetted Major for conspicuous gallantry at Monterey. With his
keen sense of honor, pure Christian character, devotion to duty and
utter forgetfulness of self, he was fit to be a companion of the
knights who sat at King Arthur’s round table. A true son of the Old
North State, he had promptly responded to her call, and resigning
a Major’s commission in the United States Army, had been appointed
by the President first Colonel, then Brigadier, then Major-General
and finally Lieutenant-General. As courageous as a lion, he was
as gentle as a woman. At the battle of Helena, Arkansas, amid a
storm of shot and shell, with a coolness which the writer has
never seen surpassed, he rode into Graveyard Hill, upon which was
concentrated the fire at short range of fifty cannon and five
thousand muskets. It was a daring and fearless ride. Like General
Pettigrew, he was one of the few men who declined promotion. Well
does the writer remember the receipt by General Holmes, when
commanding the Trans-Mississippi Department in Little Rock, of
a Lieutenant-General’s commission, all unsought and unexpected.
He at once dictated a letter to the President, declining with
grateful thanks the high honor and requesting him to bestow it upon
a worthier man. It was only upon Mr. Davis’ insistence that the
promotion was afterwards accepted.

Mr. Davis in his “Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government,”
says of him:

  “He has passed beyond the reach of censure or of praise, after
  serving his country on many fields wisely and well. I, who knew
  him from our school boy days, who served with him in garrison
  and in the field, and with pride watched him as he gallantly
  led a storming party up the rocky height at Monterey, and was
  intimately acquainted with his whole career during our sectional
  war, bear willing testimony to the purity, self abnegation,
  generosity, fidelity and gallantry which characterized him as a
  man and as a soldier.”

A truer, braver, purer heart never beat under the Confederate gray.

General Holmes on 28 April, 1864, established his headquarters at
Raleigh, N. C., and undertook the task of organizing the Reserves
of the State. His staff consisted of:--

  Lieutenant-Colonel Frank S. Armistead, a graduate of West Point,
  as Inspector-General. He was later elected Colonel of the First
  Regiment of Junior Reserves and was afterwards assigned to the
  command of the Junior Reserves brigade consisting of the first
  three regiments. He was recommended by General Holmes for the
  appointment of Brigadier-General in terms of high praise.

  Captain John W. Hinsdale, as Assistant Adjutant-General, who had
  served in this capacity on the staffs of Generals J. Johnston
  Pettigrew at Seven Pines, and William D. Pender, through the
  Seven Days’ Fight around Richmond, and also with General Holmes
  in the Trans-Mississippi.

  First Lieutenants Charles W. Broadfoot and Theophilus H. Holmes,
  Jr., Aides-de-Camp. The latter, a mere boy, soon afterwards gave
  his young life to his country while gallantly leading a cavalry
  charge near Ashland, Virginia. The former, a member of the Bethel
  Regiment, rose from private to Lieutenant-Colonel of the First
  Junior Reserves, and is now the first lawyer of the upper Cape
  Fear.

  First Lieutenant Graham Daves, appointed Aide-de-Camp after the
  death of young Holmes and the promotion of Lieutenant Broadfoot.
  He was a brave and efficient officer of scholarly attainments and
  high integrity.

  A. W. Lawrence, of Raleigh, Ordnance Officer.

  Major Charles S. Stringfellow, now one of Richmond’s most
  distinguished lawyers, succeeded Captain Hinsdale as Assistant
  Adjutant-General upon the latter’s promotion to the Colonelcy of
  the Third regiment of Junior Reserves.

A roster in the writer’s possession shows that the Medical
Department of the Reserves was organized as follows:

  Dr. Thomas Hill, now an eminent physician of Goldsboro, North
  Carolina, Medical Director.

  Dr. G. G. Smith, Assistant Surgeon of the First Regiment of
  Junior Reserves.

  Dr. A. W. Eskridge, Assistant Surgeon of the Second Regiment of
  Junior Reserves.

  Dr. E. B. Simpson, Assistant Surgeon of the Third Regiment of
  Junior Reserves.

  First Lieutenant J. M. Strong, Assistant Surgeon of the Fourth
  Regiment of Senior Reserves.

  Dr. W. L. Glass, Assistant Surgeon of the Fifth Regiment of
  Senior Reserves.

  Dr. A. W. Nesbitt, Assistant Surgeon of the Sixth Regiment of
  Senior Reserves.

  Dr. David Berry, Assistant Surgeon of the Eighth Regiment of
  Senior Reserves.

  Dr. G. H. Cox, Assistant Surgeon of the Eighth Regiment of Senior
  Reserves.

  Dr. James S. Robinson, Assistant Surgeon of the Second Battalion
  of Senior Reserves.


                      ORGANIZATION OF REGIMENT.

The Third Regiment of Junior Reserves was formed 3 January, 1865,
by the consolidation of the Fourth Battalion, commanded by Major J.
M. Reece; the Seventh Battalion, commanded by Major W. F. French;
and the Eighth Battalion, commanded by Major J. B. Ellington. It is
proper, therefore, to give an account of their services as separate
organizations.


                        THE FOURTH BATTALION.

The Fourth Battalion, four hundred strong, was organized at Camp
Holmes, near Raleigh, N. C., on 30 May, 1864, by the election of
J. M. Reece, of Greensboro, Major; John S. Pescud, of Raleigh,
was appointed Adjutant. Pescud was a brave, true-hearted lad, and
is now an honored citizen of Raleigh. The battalion was sent to
Goldsboro 2 June. It was composed of the following companies:

  COMPANY A--_From Guilford County_--John W. Pitts, Captain; J.
  N. Crouch, First Lieutenant; T. A. Parsons and George M. Glass,
  Second Lieutenants.

  Upon the resignation of all the company officers, W. W. King was
  elected First Lieutenant and Davis S. Reid Second Lieutenant. The
  former was in command of the company at Fort Fisher, Kinston and
  Bentonville. He also acted as Regimental Adjutant for a time,
  when D. S. Reid commanded the company. Both of these officers
  were intelligent, brave and efficient.

  COMPANY B--_From Alamance and Forsyth Counties_--A. L. Lancaster,
  Captain; A. M. Craig, First Lieutenant; William May and C. B.
  Pfohl, Second Lieutenants.

  COMPANY C--_From Stokes and Person Counties_--R. F. Dalton,
  Captain; G. Mason, First Lieutenant; G. W. Yancey and J. H.
  Schackelford, Second Lieutenants.

  COMPANY D--_From Rockingham_--A. B. Ellington, Captain; J. P.
  Ellington, First Lieutenant; F. M. Hamlin and William Fewell,
  Second Lieutenants. This company was added to the Battalion 15
  June. Captain Ellington was promoted to the Majority when the
  regiment was formed.

Lieutenant J. P. Ellington in July, 1864, was drowned in Masonboro
Sound, while in the discharge of his duty as officer of the day,
visiting the pickets on the beach. His body was recovered by
exploding torpedoes in the sound.

Lieutenant F. M. Hamlin was promoted to the First Lieutenancy and
commanded the company until he was made Adjutant of the regiment.

The battalion soon after its organization was ordered to Goldsboro
to report to Brigadier-General L. S. Baker, commanding the district
of Southern Virginia and Eastern North Carolina. It was sent
thence to Kinston and there did guard and picket duty. On 15 June
it was ordered to report to Lieutenant-Colonel Frank S. Armistead
at Weldon. He had been placed in command of the defences at that
point. On 26 June the battalion was ordered to report to General W.
H. C. Whiting, at Wilmington, the only remaining blockade-running
port of the Confederacy. The battalion thereupon was stationed at
Camp Davis near Wilmington, on Masonboro Sound, under command of
Colonel George Jackson, an efficient officer, and did picket and
guard duty on the sound and the beach to prevent the landing of the
enemy, the escape of slaves to the blockaders and all communication
with the passing vessels. It was here that young Ellington, of
Company D, lost his life, crossing the Sound in a storm while on
his rounds as officer of the day. He was a zealous and capable
officer. The salt works, from which large supplies of salt were
obtained for the army, were in the vicinity of this camp, and were
guarded by the battalion.

From Camp Davis the battalion moved to Sugar Loaf, on the Cape
Fear River, about fifteen miles below Wilmington, six miles above
Fort Fisher and one mile from the ocean, where it drilled and did
guard and picket duty. “Sugar Loaf” is a singular formation. It
is a high sand hill running from the river bank half way across
the peninsula, steep on the exterior, but sloping on all sides to
a basin in the centre. It is a natural fortification, which the
engineering skill of General Whiting, by fosse and rampart, had
converted into an almost impregnable intrenched camp, containing
perhaps one hundred acres.

On 9 December, 1864, the battalion went from Sugar Loaf to
Belfield, Virginia, in company with the Seventh and Eighth
Battalions. Its future movements will be described in connection
with the other two battalions.


                       THE SEVENTH BATTALION.

The Seventh Battalion, 300 strong, was organized at Camp Lamb,
near Wilmington, in June, 1864, by the election of W. F. French,
of Lumberton, Major, and E. F. McDaniel, of Fayetteville, was
appointed Adjutant. This battalion was composed of the following
companies:

  COMPANY A--_From Cumberland, Robeson and Harnett Counties_--T. G.
  Hybart, Captain; D. S. Byrd, First Lieutenant; C. C. McLellan and
  C. S. Love, Jr., Second Lieutenants.

  Upon the death of Captain Hybert, on 9 September, D. S. Byrd was
  promoted to the Captaincy.

  COMPANY B--_From New Hanover, Brunswick and Columbus
  Counties_--John D. Kerr, Captain; J. B. Williams, First
  Lieutenant; E. H. Moore and B. F. Gore, Second Lieutenants.

  COMPANY C--_From Richmond County_--Donald McQueen, Captain; A. B.
  McCollum, First Lieutenant; A. C. McFadyen and S. A. Barfield,
  Second Lieutenants.

The battalion did guard duty at Wilmington until the middle of
July. Here Captain Donald McQueen died of typhoid fever on 25
June. He was a fine soldier, an honor to his name and his cause.
Lieutenant McCollum succeeded him in command of the company.

On the night of 3 July, 1864, Lieutenant Cushing, of the Federal
Navy (the same who blew up the Confederate ram “Albemarle” at
Plymouth), with a few detailed men, entered the Confederate
headquarters at Smithville (now Southport) and carried off General
Paul O. Hebert’s Adjutant-General to the Federal fleet. Thereafter
the Seventh Battalion was ordered from Wilmington to Smithville for
its protection. It camped in a beautiful grove of live oaks back of
the town. Here it did its full share of guard and picket duty under
the command of General Hebert, an old officer who had served with
distinction in Mexico and had been Governor of Louisiana. It was
here that Captain T. G. Hybart, of Fayetteville, was stricken with
typhoid fever and died 9 September, 1864. He was one of the best
officers in the command, and had he lived and the war continued,
would have made his mark. The battalion remained at Smithville
until 9 December when, with the Fourth and Eighth Battalions, all
under Colonel Jackson, it moved to Belfield, Virginia, to repel a
Federal raid.


                       THE EIGHTH BATTALION.

The Eighth Battalion, three hundred strong, was organized at Camp
Vance, near Morganton, N. C., on 7 June, by the election of James
B. Ellington (First Lieutenant of Company D, Sixty-first North
Carolina Regiment), as Major. It was composed of the following
companies:

  COMPANY A--_From Iredell County_--W. G. Watson, Captain; George
  Rufus White, First Lieutenant; Amos M. Guy and Sinclair Preston
  Steele, Second Lieutenants.

  Captain Watson resigned in January, 1865, for the purpose of
  joining a cavalry regiment in Lee’s army. He returned home to
  procure his outfit for the service, but was captured by Stoneman
  and sent to prison in Louisville, Ky. He is now the excellent and
  popular clerk of the Superior Court of Rowan County. Upon his
  resignation, Lieutenant White was promoted to the Captaincy.

  COMPANY B--_From Catawba_--J. R. Gaither, Captain; J. M.
  Lawrence, First Lieutenant, (both captured at Fort Fisher);
  Charles Wilfong and J. M. Bandy, Second Lieutenants.

  Lieutenant Wilfong resigned after the battle of Kinston, and
  Lieutenant Bandy thereafter until the surrender, commanded the
  company. He made a fine officer. After the war he was for a
  number of years a professor in Trinity College. He now resides
  in Greensboro, where as a civil engineer he ranks high in
  his profession. Sergeant James M. Barkley was elected Second
  Lieutenant and F. H. Busbee Junior Second Lieutenant. Both of
  them were excellent officers. Lieutenant Barkley is now an
  able and eminent minister of the gospel in Detroit, Mich. I am
  indebted to him for many data which I have incorporated into this
  sketch. Lieutenant Busbee is now one of the first lawyers of the
  State--a brilliant advocate and a wise and learned counsellor.

  COMPANY C--_From Burke and Caldwell Counties_--Lambert A.
  Bristol, Captain; Marcus G. Tuttle, First Lieutenant; George T.
  Dula and Horace W. Connelly, Second Lieutenants. Captain Bristol
  is now the worthy Clerk of the Superior Court of Burke County.

George T. Dula resigned and John W. Harper was elected Junior
Second Lieutenant. He soon thereafter laid down his young life on
his country’s altar. He was killed at the battle of Kinston.

The battalion remained for some days at Camp Vance and was drilled
by Lieutenant Bullock, a drill master. On 24 June, it was ordered
to Raleigh and at Camp Holmes was uniformed and equipped with small
rifles, which were very inferior and quite dangerous--to the “man
behind the gun.”

On 26 June the battalion was ordered to Wilmington. It went into
camp at Camp Davis. It afterwards did picket and patrol duty on
Masonboro and Wrightsville Sounds under Colonel George Jackson.
On 4 August it was ordered to report to General L. S. Baker, at
Goldsboro, but returned to Wilmington 16 August and was again
placed under Colonel Jackson’s command at Masonboro Sound.

On 2 September, under orders from the War Department, Major
Ellington, who when elected Major was disabled from active service
by wounds, and who afterwards recovered, was relieved of his
command and sent to his company near Petersburg, Virginia. He was
soon afterwards killed at Fort Harrison, Virginia. Major Ellington
was a gallant officer and much beloved by the boys. It was a
mistake to have relieved him. General Holmes afterwards secured a
ruling of the War Department by which the officers of the Junior
Reserves after they reached the age of 18, were retained with their
commands. But the privates and non-commissioned officers were still
required to be sent to General Lee as fast as they became eighteen
years old.

Captain William G. Watson succeeded Major Ellington in the command
of the battalion. In the fall, the battalion was ordered to
Sugar Loaf, on the Cape Fear river, where for several months it
did picket duty, drilled, etc. On 10 December it was ordered to
Belfield, Va., under Colonel Jackson. Its further career will be
traced in connection with the Fourth and Seventh Battalions from
which it never after separated until Johnston’s surrender.


                          BELFIELD, VA.

On 8 December, 1864, General Whiting was notified by General Lee
that the Fifth and Second Corps of Grant’s army, with Bragg’s
Division of Cavalry, were moving under General Warren upon Weldon,
and that they were near Belfield and that Hill and Hampton were
following them. One object of this raid was to destroy the railroad
bridge at Weldon and thus cut off supplies for Lee’s army from
that direction. General Whiting at once ordered Colonel George
Jackson to proceed with the Fourth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth
Battalions of Junior Reserves and four pieces of Paris’ Artillery
with three days’ cooked rations, to Weldon, and there report for
temporary service to General Leventhorpe, commanding. The latter,
an Englishman by birth, was the first Colonel of the Thirty-fourth
and then of the Eleventh North Carolina Regiments, and had done
splendid service in clearing the enemy from the Roanoke river and
in defending the Wilmington & Weldon Railway.

The four battalions assembled in Wilmington from Sugar Loaf and
Smithville. Through the efforts of Major French, the troops were
here shod. They were placed on flat cars and thus exposed, were
transported to Weldon. The weather was intensely cold. More than
once the train had to be stopped, fires made in the woods and some
of the boys lifted from the train and carried to the fires and
thawed out. Many went to sleep in their wet clothes to find them
frozen stiff upon awakening. This suffering was undergone without a
murmur. The old guard of Napoleon on the retreat from Moscow, never
displayed more heroism and fortitude than did the boy-soldiers--the
“Young Guard of the Confederacy.”

Under the law, the reserves could not be required to cross their
State lines, but without hesitation and without an exception, the
brave boys at Weldon hurried on to Belfield, Virginia, there to
meet the invading foe. The Federals withdrew, leaving their dead
unburied, after a sharp fire and repulse from the reserves who had
just reached the battlefield, and the latter joined in the pursuit
across the Meherrin river at Hicks’ Ford. On 17 December, 1864,
the General Assembly of North Carolina, recognizing their heroism,
passed the following resolutions:

  “WHEREAS, The Legislature has heard with satisfaction of the
  good conduct of the officers and soldiers of the Junior Reserves
  and Home Guards, who volunteered to cross the State line into
  Virginia, in order to repel the late advance of the public enemy
  on Weldon; therefore,

  “_Resolved_, That the officers and soldiers of the Junior
  Reserves and Home Guards, so acting, deserve the commendation of
  their fellow citizens, and are entitled to the thanks of this
  Legislature.”

  “_Resolved_, That a copy of these proceedings be transmitted to
  Lieutenant-General Holmes and Major-General R. C. Gatlin, that it
  may be communicated to the commands which they are intended to
  honor.”

From Belfield the four battalions, together with the First and
Second Regiments of Junior Reserves, were ordered, under Colonel
Leventhorpe, to Tarboro to repel a Federal raid from Washington,
N. C. The command moved to Hamilton, some miles below Tarboro.
The enemy retired upon the advance of the Confederate troops. The
battalions remained there a day or two and returned to Tarboro. The
troops camped about a mile northeast of the town for several days.
The boys were without overcoats, tents or tent flies, and lay upon
the bare ground in the rain and sleet and snow. Many of them were
frost bitten. A good old farmer along side of whose fence the boys
camped on the first night of their stay, kindly gave them leave
to start their fires by using the top rail of his fence. When he
came back next morning there was not a rail to be seen. When he
protested with some warmth, saying that they had taken more than he
had given them leave to take, one wag said: “No, sir; as long as
there was a top rail, we had your permission to burn it. We never
took any but the top rail.” The old man laughed good naturedly and
left.

The severity of the experience of the Reserves on the Belfield
expedition may be realized when it is stated that although they
had been in camp over six months and had been somewhat enured to
a soldier’s life, over one-half of them were sent to the hospital
when the battalions returned to Wilmington.

The command was marched from Tarboro to Goldsboro and by train was
conveyed to Wilmington, and thence back to Sugar Loaf. There they
remained under the command of General W. W. Kirkland until the
battle of Fort Fisher. This officer was a splendid fighter and a
superb soldier. He was Colonel of the Twenty-first North Carolina
Regiment, and afterwards commanded Early’s Brigade, Pettigrew’s
Division. He had taken part in many of the desperate battles of
Virginia and had been twice severely wounded. He was transferred
to Wilmington late in December and established his headquarters at
Sugar Loaf.


                   FIRST ATTACK ON FORT FISHER.

The three battalions composing the Third Regiment of Junior
Reserves participated brilliantly in the defence of Fort Fisher,
when attacked by General B. F. Butler and Admiral Porter on 23, 24
and 25 December, 1864.

Fort Fisher was located on the point of a narrow peninsula which
extends southwardly from New Inlet between the ocean and Cape Fear
river, near its mouth. It defended Wilmington, the last remaining
port through which army supplies, ammunition, clothing and food
for Lee’s Army were brought in by blockade runners. Under its
guns, the “Ad-Vance” brought in supplies of inestimable value to
the North Carolina troops. Its defence was of supreme importance
to the Confederacy. It was an earthen fort of an irregular form,
with bastions at the angles. The land face, 250 yards long, was
continuous from ocean to river. The sea face was 1,300 yards
long. Both faces were mounted with heavy guns, mortars and light
artillery, presenting a formidable front to the enemy. It was
the strongest earthwork built by the Confederacy, and really, as
Admiral Porter said, “stronger than the Malakoff tower which defied
so long the combined power of France and England.” Two miles above
the fort were the Half Moon and the Flag Pond Batteries, and a
mile and a quarter below, and at the extreme end of the peninsula,
Battery Buchanan with four heavy guns.

When Butler’s expedition of 8,000 men set forth against it, the
fort was garrisoned by only 667 men--a totally inadequate force
for its defence. General Butler, with General Weitzel and his
troops, appeared in transports off New Inlet, near Fort Fisher, on
15 December. The navy under Admiral Porter, did not appear until
the 18th. He had collected the largest and most formidable naval
expedition of modern times. The weather being stormy, prevented any
hostile operations until the 23d. On the night of the 23d, Admiral
Porter anchored a powder ship, containing 215 tons of powder,
about 800 yards from the northeast salient of the fort. It was
anticipated that the explosion of this mass of powder would greatly
impair, if not destroy, the works, and the least effect expected
was that the garrison would be so paralyzed and stunned as to offer
but small resistance to subsequent attacks. The explosion did no
more harm than a Chinese fire-cracker. Colonel William Lamb, then
in command of the fort, wired General Whiting at Wilmington that
one of the enemy’s fleet had blown up, so little impression did it
make on him.

General Benjamin F. Butler, of New Orleans fame, in his
autobiography, gives an amusing account of an interview with Major
Reece, who commanded the Fourth Battalion of Junior Reserves and
was captured at Fort Fisher. Butler says: “I inquired of him where
he was the night before last (the night of the explosion of the
powder boat). He said he was lying two miles and a half up the
beach. I asked him if he had heard the powder vessel explode. He
said he did not know what it was, but supposed a boat had blown
up, _that it jumped him and his men_ who were lying upon the
ground, like pop-corn in a popper, to use his expression.” It is
hard to tell which most to admire, Butler’s gullibility or Reece’s
“jollying” extravagance.

The next day, 24 December, was employed by Porter in bombarding the
fort, dropping into it as many as 130 shells a minute. At this time
the three battalions of Junior Reserves, about 800 strong, were
encamped near Sugar Loaf, six miles up the Cape Fear river from the
fort. On the night of the 24th, the Fourth, Seventh and Eighth
battalions were assembled at Sugar Loaf under Brigadier-General
William W. Kirkland. Major French had been temporarily assigned to
the command of a regiment of Senior Reserves, but at his request
was permitted to return to his own command and follow its fortunes.
General Whiting directed General Kirkland to send these battalions
to Battery Buchanan, there to take boat for Bald Head and relieve
Colonel J. J. Hedrick and his seasoned veterans, in order that
they might reinforce Fort Fisher. They marched soon after midnight
through Fort Fisher to Battery Buchanan, on the extreme end of
the peninsula. In the darkness, many of the boys while passing
through the fort, stumbled into the holes which were made in
every direction by the shells. All the battalions arrived at Fort
Buchanan before day. The boat which was to carry them to Bald Head
could not make a landing on account of the tide, whereupon Captain
Bristol early in the morning reported in person the situation to
Colonel Lamb, who ordered the Juniors into the Fort. This was early
Christmas morning.

Between Fort Buchanan and Fort Fisher is a clear, open beach, upon
which a partridge could not hide himself, over which they must
pass in full view of the fleet. As soon as the march began the
fleet poured upon the command a terrific discharge of shot and
shell. The first one killed at Fort Fisher was private Davis, of
French’s Battalion of Juniors, who on this march was cut in two by
a large shell. Another private was severely wounded by the same
shell. Nothing but the poor practice of the fleet saved the boys
from utter destruction on this perilous march. When they reached
Fort Fisher a scene of desolation met their gaze. The barracks
had been destroyed and the interior of the fort was honeycombed
by holes in the ground large enough to bury an ox team, made by
the huge shells from the fleet. French’s battalion and as many of
the others as could be accommodated, were placed in the already
over-crowded bomb-proofs. Those who could not obtain protection
here were carried by Major Reece to the breastworks at Camp Wyatt,
three miles above the fort. The gunboats soon discovered their
presence there and enfiladed the trenches with a terrific fire.
The boys sought shelter under the banks of the river, where they
spent the day listening to the music of the great guns of the fleet
and watching the great shells as they passed over them into the
river--a grand, but not a very engaging spectacle.

It was dark when Major Reece determined to take his command back
to the fort. Late in the afternoon he heard the report of small
arms in the direction of the fort. He knew that a land force was
attacking the fort, and he felt that it was his duty to take his
boys to the rescue. He marched them down the river towards the
fort but unfortunately he failed to put out a skirmish line and
fell upon a regiment of General Weitzel’s troops by whom he and a
majority of his command were captured and carried to Point Lookout.
The following is a list of the officers who were taken prisoners:

  Major J. M. Reece, Captain J. R. Gaither, First Lieutenant J. M.
  Lawrence, of Company B, Eighth Battalion; First Lieutenant M. G.
  Tuttle, Company C, Eighth Battalion; Second Lieutenant George
  W. Yancey, Company C, Fourth Battalion; Second Lieutenant C. P.
  Pfohl, Company C, Fourth Battalion. Those officers who escaped
  were Captain A. L. Lancaster, Company B, Fourth Battalion;
  First Lieutenant G. R. White, Company A, Eighth Battalion;
  Second Lieutenant Amos Guy, Company A, Eighth Battalion; Third
  Lieutenant S. P. Steele, Company A, Eighth Battalion.

First Lieutenant F. M. Hamlin, Company D, Fourth Battalion, a brave
young subaltern, led part of his company up the river and escaped
capture. They found their way to Kirkland’s Brigade at Sugar Loaf
and rejoined their command at the fort next day.

The fleet bombarded the fort until 12 o’clock Christmas day, when
Butler landed 2,500 troops near the Half Moon Battery, about two
miles north of Fisher. He immediately pushed up Curtis’ Brigade
within a few hundred yards of the parapet of the fort. A skirmish
line was then advanced to within seventy-five yards of the fort.
Upon the approach of the enemy, the Junior Reserves sprang to the
parapet of the land face which was swept by the guns of the fleet,
and by a well-directed fire, delivered with a coolness which could
not be excelled, they repelled the attack. One little fellow from
Columbus County, whose name is not remembered, being too small to
shoot over the parapet, mounted a cannon and fired from there as
coolly as if he were shooting squirrels, until he fell wounded.
About dusk the Reserves were ordered to the palisades in front of
the parapet and immediately under the guns of the fort, where they
remained till morning. The guns of the fort were discharged over
their heads. The rain was descending in torrents. That night the
Federals re-embarked most of their men.

General Whiting in his report says: “Colonel Tansill was ordered
to the command of the land front. The gallant Major Reilly, with
his battalion and Junior Reserves, poured cheering, over the
parapet and through the sallyport to the palisades. The enemy had
occupied the redoubt (an unfinished fort) and advanced into the
port garden. A fire of grape and musketry checked any further
advance. The garrison continued to man the out-works and channel
batteries throughout the night, exposed to a pelting storm and
occasionally exchanging musket shots with the enemy. The fire
had been maintained for seven hours and a half with unremitting
rapidity.”

Colonel William Lamb, the hero of Fort Fisher, who, under General
Whiting, commanded the troops, in his report says: “At 4:30 p.
m., 25 December, a most terrific fire against the land face and
palisades in front commenced, unparalleled in severity. Admiral
Porter estimated it at 130 shot and shell per minute. The parapet
and the guns were manned by regulars and the Junior Reserves.

“During the night the rain fell in torrents, wetting the troops and
their arms, but it did not dampen their spirits nor interfere with
their efficiency. * * *

“On Tuesday morning the foiled and frightened enemy left our
shores. I cannot speak too highly of the coolness and gallantry of
my command.”

Colonel Lamb at another time said: “Be it said to the eternal
credit of these gallant boys that they, from this first baptism of
fire, emerged with a reputation for bravery established for all
time, and that to no troops more than these is due the honor of our
splendid victory.”

[Illustration: SEVENTY-SECOND REGIMENT.

  1. John W. Hinsdale, Colonel.
  2. W. Foster French, Lieut-Colonel.
  3. W. W. King, 1st Lieut., Co. A.
  4. Jno. W. Harper, 2d Lieut., Co. C.
  5. H. W. Connelly, 2d Lieut., Co. C.
  6. J. M. Bandy, 2d Lieut., Co. E.
  7. D. S. Reid, 2d Lieut., Co. K.
  8. C. W. Taylor, Orderly Sergt., Co. C.
  9. J. L. McGimpsey, Private, Co. B.]

The troops were complimented in general orders by General Bragg
for their heroism and gallantry. The heaviest loss suffered by any
one command in the fort was by the Junior Reserves. Thus ended the
first glorious defence of Fort Fisher.

When the news was flashed to Raleigh that Butler’s ships had
appeared off Fort Fisher, Lieutenant-General Holmes promptly
tendered his services to assist in repelling the threatened
attack and was assigned to duty by General Bragg in the city of
Wilmington, where he was put in charge of the movement of troops
at that point. The writer who accompanied General Holmes as his
Adjutant-General, unfortunately did not participate in the battle
of Fort Fisher. He is indebted to Lieutenant-Colonel French for
most of the foregoing details.

On 26 December, the reserves were moved to camp on Bald Head
Island, where they remained on guard and picket duty for several
days when they were ordered to Camp McLean, at Goldsboro, N. C.

On 6 December, there had been an attempted consolidation of these
three battalions near Sugar Loaf, when Captain William R. Johns was
elected Colonel; Captain C. N. Allen, Lieutenant-Colonel; and A. B.
Johns, Major. Captain W. R. Johns, a disabled officer, was then in
the enrollment service under Colonel Peter Mallett, the Commandant
of Conscripts of North Carolina, and being unable to undergo the
hardships and exposure of camp life, declined the election. Captain
Allen, the Lieutenant-Colonel, declined for the same reason. Major
Johns was never assigned and never entered upon the discharge of
the duties of Major and so the battalions continued to serve under
separate organizations. Major Johns afterwards formally tendered
his resignation, which was accepted.


ORGANIZATION.

On 3 January, 1865, while the regiment was at Camp McLean, near
Goldsboro, it was finally organized by the election of Captain John
W. Hinsdale, Colonel; W. F. French, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Captain
A. B. Ellington, Major. On 7 January the last two were assigned
to duty. Frank M. Hamlin, one of the gallant young officers who
refused to surrender with Major Reece, was appointed Adjutant.
But from time to time Lieutenants W. W. King, Andrew J. Burton
and Frank S. Johnson, son of Senator R. W. Johnson, of Arkansas,
who had shortly theretofore left the University of North Carolina
and volunteered in the Third Regiment, acted as Adjutant. J. K.
Huston was appointed Quartermaster Sergeant, and George B. Haigh,
of Fayetteville, grandson of the Hon. George E. Badger, Commissary
Sergeant. Drs. E. B. Simpson and J. S. Robinson were assigned to
the regiment as Surgeon and Assistant Surgeon.

The companies composing the regiment were then lettered and
designated as follows:

  COMPANY A--_From Guilford County_--Captain, John W. Pitts.

  COMPANY B--_From Alamance and Forsyth Counties_--Captain, A. L.
  Lancaster.

  COMPANY C--_From Stokes and Person Counties_--Captain, R. F.
  Dalton.

  COMPANY D--_From New Hanover, Brunswick and Columbus
  Counties_--Captain, John D. Kerr.

  COMPANY E--_From Catawba County_--Captain, J. R. Gaither.

  COMPANY F--_From Iredell and Rowan Counties_--Captain, W. G.
  Watson.

  COMPANY G--_From Burke and Caldwell Counties_--Captain, L. A.
  Bristol.

  COMPANY H--_From Cumberland, Robeson and Harnett
  Counties_--Captain, D. S. Byrd.

  COMPANY I--_From Richmond County_--Captain, A. B. McCollum.

  COMPANY K--_From Rockingham County_--Lieutenant, F. M. Hamlin.

Colonel Hinsdale, upon receiving notice in the city of Raleigh
of his election, at once signified his acceptance, but it was
questioned by General Holmes whether he was eligible under the
orders of the War Department, by reason of the fact that he was not
a disabled officer. The matter was referred to the authorities in
Richmond and after considerable delay the department decided in
Colonel Hinsdale’s favor and he was assigned to the command of the
regiment on 14 February, 1865, by the following all too partial
general order:

  “HEADQUARTERS RESERVES NORTH CAROLINA,
  RALEIGH, N. C., 14 February, 1865.

  _General Orders No. 4._

  “Major C. S. Stringfellow, Assistant Adjutant-General
  C. S. P. A., will relieve Captain John W. Hinsdale,
  Assistant-Adjutant-General of Reserves of North Carolina, and the
  latter officer will proceed to join the Third Regiment Reserves
  of North Carolina as its Colonel, he having been duly elected to
  that office on 3 January, 1865.

  “The Lieutenant-General commanding in taking leave of Colonel
  Hinsdale, tenders his warm congratulations on his promotion
  and earnestly hopes that the intelligence, zeal and gallantry,
  which has characterized his services as a staff officer may be
  matured by experience into greater usefulness in his new and more
  extended sphere.

      “THEO. H. HOLMES,
      “Lieutenant-General Commanding.”

While at Camp McLean, near Goldsboro, the regiment was ordered to
Halifax to repel another Federal raid. It remained there only a
day or two, the enemy having withdrawn. It returned to Goldsboro
where it remained drilling and doing guard duty until the last
of January. It was then ordered to Kinston and camped near the
beautiful home of Colonel John C. Washington. It was here employed
in constructing the breastworks and fortifications for the defence
of the town and especially of the county bridge across the Neuse
river. Kinston was in easy reach from New Bern and had been visited
by many Federal raiding parties from time to time. Our boys were
heartily welcomed by the good people of that town.

The rations which were issued to officers and men while here and at
Goldsboro were very scant. They consisted of half a pint of black
sorghum syrup, a pint of husky meal every other day, a third of
a pound of pork or Nassau bacon and a few potatoes occasionally.
The old soldiers will all remember Nassau bacon, a very gross,
fat, porky substance which ran the blockade at Wilmington and
was distributed among Lee’s veterans as bacon. When a ration of
cornfield peas was issued, the boys were in “high jinks” indeed.
But never was there collected together more uncomplaining men. They
recognized the fact that the Confederacy was doing for them its
best.


                    BATTLE OF SOUTH WEST CREEK.

Upon the discovery of the advance of the enemy from New Bern,
whence they set out early in March, General Hoke’s Division was
ordered to Kinston. On 6 March, the Junior Reserve Brigade,
consisting of the First Regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Charles
W. Broadfoot; the Second under Colonel John H. Anderson, and the
Third under Colonel Hinsdale, and Millard’s Battalion under Captain
C. M. Hall, all under Colonel F. S. Armistead, marched through
Kinston and across, to the south side of Neuse river, which here
runs in an easterly direction, past the breastworks which they had
so laboriously constructed. They marched down the river road which
leads out in a southeasterly direction to Southwest creek. This
creek is a sluggish, unfordable stream, which runs in a northerly
direction and empties into the river about six miles below Kinston.
The regiment was placed in some old breastworks on the margin
of a swamp, about a hundred yards from the creek. Our pickets
were stationed on the creek. The next day the enemy made their
appearance on the other side of the stream and established a line
of skirmishers and sharpshooters. During the day our skirmishers
were engaged and occasionally a minie ball would whistle over the
breastworks as each individual boy of the regiment believed, “just
by my ear.” On the morning of 8 March, General Hoke, whose troops
were also stationed along the line of the creek, was relieved by
the arrival of D. H. Hill’s troops. Hoke’s Division crossed the
creek and made a detour down the lower Trent road which crossed
the British road at Wise’s Fork, about three miles in our front.
The lower Trent road runs in a southeasterly direction to Trenton.
The British road runs in a northeasterly direction towards the
river. General Hoke with his usual dash surprised a Federal
brigade, captured it and sent it to the rear. The reserves held
the breastworks throughout the 8th. On the morning of the 9th,
the reserves crossed Southwest creek on an improvised bridge
constructed by them about 200 yards above the bridge on the Dover
road which had been destroyed. This bridge was made by felling
trees across the creek and covering them with lumber taken from
Jackson’s mill in the vicinity. Line of battle was formed on
the east side of the creek on swampy ground and the brigade was
ordered forward under fire through fallen trees, brush, brambles,
and bullets--making it difficult to preserve the alignment. They
advanced as steadily as veterans, driving the enemy who were fresh
troops from New Bern, well dressed, well fed, well armed and well
liquored, as was evidenced by the condition of some prisoners
captured. The Third Regiment suffered the loss of a number of brave
officers and men, among them Lieutenant John W. Harper, a gallant
young officer of Company C, from Caldwell. Here also Lieutenant
Hamlin was wounded in the arm. That night General Hoke undertook
a flank movement down the British road and the Neuse river road,
the Junior Reserves being a part of his command. We could plainly
hear the enemy at work on their fortifications. The night was
rainy and so dark you could not see your hand before you. After
marching through slush and rain about six miles, we countermarched
and returned. On the afternoon of the 10th all of our troops fell
back to the entrenchments on the British road, and later in the
day we re-crossed the Neuse, burning the bridge behind us, and
marched through Kinston, our brigade camping at Moseley Hall. This
retrograde movement was the consequence of the arrival of Sherman’s
army in North Carolina.

The operations near Kinston, sometimes called the battle of
Kinston, but usually the battle of South West Creek, were upon the
whole a Confederate success, and when the disparity in numbers
between the contending forces is considered, were very creditable
to the Confederates. General Bragg in general orders thanked the
troops for their heroism and valor and complimented them upon their
achievements.

The arrival of Sherman in Fayetteville and the approach of
the troops from Wilmington to form a junction with Sherman at
Goldsboro, made it necessary for us to withdraw to prevent being
cut off and in order to form a junction with General Johnston’s
Army, which was moving in the direction of Smithfield. On 15 March
Colonel John H. Nethercutt, of the Sixty-sixth North Carolina, was
placed in command of our brigade which was permanently assigned to
Hoke’s Division.


                       A MILITARY EXECUTION.

Arriving at Smithfield 16 March, we remained two days and there
witnessed one of the saddest spectacles of the war--a military
execution. The regiment constituted a part of the military pageant
which attended the shooting to death of G. W. Ore, a private of
Company B, Twenty-seventh Georgia Regiment, who had been tried and
condemned for mutiny by a court-martial. The poor fellow was first
marched around, to the solemn music of the Dead March, in front
of the regiments which were drawn up in an open square, facing
inwards, he was then made to kneel, and was tied to a stake on the
open side of the hollow square. A detail of twelve men drawn up
at ten paces from him performed the painful duty of carrying out
the sentence of the court. At this late stage of the war, when the
struggle was perfectly desperate and all hope of success had fled,
the execution seemed to us to be little less than murder.

[Illustration: BENTONVILLE]

[Illustration: AVERASBORO, N.C.,

fought March 16^{th}, 1865.]

On 18 March we marched again, not to the West, but to the South.
We knew that Sherman was approaching from that direction, and we
surmised that there was serious work before us. General Joseph E.
Johnston, who rode for a short distance on that day at the head of
the Third Junior Reserves, said as much to its commander. Sherman
was moving from Fayetteville in the direction of Goldsboro in two
parallel columns, about a day’s march apart. General Johnston had
determined to take advantage of the fact that Sherman’s left wing
was thus separated from the right, and to strike a bold blow on the
exposed flank at Bentonville in Johnston County.


                          BENTONVILLE.

As soon as General Hardee, 19 March, our corps commander, reached
Bentonville with his troops, he moved by the left flank, Hoke’s
(our) division leading, to the ground previously selected by
General Hampton. It was the eastern edge of an old plantation,
extending a mile and a half to the west, and lying principally on
the north side of the road and surrounded east, south and north
by a dense thicket of black-jacks. There was but one road through
it. Hoke’s Division formed with its line at right angles to the
road on the eastern edge of the plantation and its left extending
some four hundred yards into the thicket on the south. The Junior
Reserves constituted the right of Hoke’s Division and supported
a battery of Starr’s Battalion of artillery commanded by Captain
Geo. B. Atkins, of Fayetteville. The brigade of Juniors were led by
Colonel John H. Nethercutt, who had superseded Colonel Armistead.
This gallant officer was Colonel of the Sixty-sixth North Carolina
Regiment--a plain, blunt man, but every inch a soldier. The Third
Regiment threw out a skirmish line which was commanded by Captain
Bristol and hurriedly constructed a rail fence breastworks. Here
under a fire of artillery we suffered many casualties. The troops
belonging to the Army of Tennessee were formed on the right of the
artillery. A wooden farm house in front of the Third Regiment for
some time afforded cover for a number of sharpshooters, who did
excellent practice on our line, until Captain Atkins, with a few
well-directed shells, caused them to pour out like rats from a
sinking ship.

The enemy soon thereafter charged Hoke’s Division, but after a
sharp contest at short range was handsomely repulsed.

On the morning of the 20th it was reported that the Federal right
wing had crossed over to unite with the left wing which had been
driven back, and was coming up rapidly upon the left of Hoke’s
Division. That officer was directed to change front to the left.
By this movement, his line was formed parallel to and fronting the
road. Here light entrenchments were soon made out of dead trees
and such material as could be moved with our bayonets. From noon
to sunset Sherman’s army thus united made repeated attacks upon
Hoke’s Division of six thousand men and boys, but were uniformly
driven back. The skirmish line of our brigade was commanded by
Major Walter Clark, of the Seventieth Regiment (First Juniors),
on the 20th and 21st. On the 21st the skirmishing was heavy, and
the extreme of the Federal right, extending beyond our left flank
made our position extremely hazardous in view of the fact that the
bridge over the creek in our rear was our only chance of retreat.
The Seventeenth Army Corps of the enemy late in the afternoon
broke through our line considerably to the left, but by superhuman
effort, its leading division was driven back along the route by
which it had advanced.

That night the Confederate Army re-crossed the creek by the bridge
near Bentonville and were halted beyond the town two miles north
from the creek. The Federals made repeated attempts to force the
passage of the bridge, but failed in all. At noon the march was
resumed and the troops encamped near Smithfield. Sherman proceeded
on his way to Goldsboro to form a junction with Schofield, without
further molestation. The Confederate losses in the battle of
Bentonville were 2,343, while that of the Federals was nearly
double. (For many of the foregoing facts, see Johnston’s Narrative,
pages 381 and 393, from which liberal extracts have been made.)

The Confederates never fought with more spirit, and the Federals
with less, than in the battle of Bentonville. General D. H. Hill
remarked upon this and said: “It may be that even a Yankee’s
conscience has been disturbed by the scenes of burning, rapine,
pillage and murder so recently passed through.”

General Hampton said of this last great battle of the Civil War,
that in his opinion it was one of the most extraordinary: “The
infantry forces of General Johnston amounted to about 14,100 men,
and they were composed of three separate commands which had never
acted together. These were Hardee’s troops, brought from Savannah
and Charleston; Stewart’s from the Army of Tennessee; and Hoke’s
Division of veterans, many of whom had served in the campaigns of
Virginia. Bragg, by reason of his rank, was in command of this
latter force, but it was really Hoke’s Division, and the latter
directed the fighting. These troops, concentrated recently for the
first time, were stationed at and near Smithfield, eighteen miles
from the field, where the battle was fought, and it was from there
that General Johnston moved them to strike a veteran army numbering
about 60,000 men. This latter army had marched from Atlanta to
Savannah without meeting any force to dispute its passage, and from
the latter city to Bentonville unobstructed save by the useless and
costly affair at Averasboro, where Hardee made a gallant stand,
though at a heavy loss. No bolder movement was conceived during the
war than this of General Johnston when he threw his handful of men
on the overwhelming force in front of him, and when he confronted
and baffled this force, holding a weak line for three days against
nearly five times his number. For the last two days of this fight
he only held his position to secure the removal of his wounded, and
when he had accomplished that he withdrew leisurely, moving in his
first march only about four miles.”

The Junior Reserves lost quite a number of officers and boys in
this battle. Their conduct was creditable to the last degree.
General Hoke, their attached and beloved commander, thus writes
concerning them: “The question of the courage of the Junior
Reserves was well established by themselves in the battle below
Kinston, and at the battle of Bentonville. At Bentonville you will
remember, they held a very important part of the battlefield in
opposition to Sherman’s old and tried soldiers, and repulsed every
charge that was made upon them with very meagre and rapidly thrown
up breastworks. Their conduct in camp, on the march, and on the
battlefield was everything that could be expected of them, and I am
free to say, was equal to that of the old soldiers who had passed
through four years of war. On the return through Raleigh where many
passed by their homes, scarcely one of them left their ranks to bid
farewell to their friends, though they knew not where they were
going nor what dangers they would encounter.”


                         THE LAST REVIEW.

The regiment remained in camp near Smithfield until 10 April.
During this time our corps under command of General Hardee was
reviewed by General Johnston, General Hardee, Governor Vance and
others. There was not in the grand parade of that day--the last
grand review of the Confederate Army--a more soldierly body of
troops than the Junior Reserves. Later in the day, Governor Vance
made a stirring speech to the North Carolina troops, which by its
eloquence aroused enthusiasm and caused the fire of patriotism to
burn more brightly in our hearts. On 10 April we begun our last
retreat before Sherman.


                           THE RETREAT.

On 12 April we reached Raleigh. I recall how we marched through
Raleigh past the old Governor’s Mansion on Fayetteville street,
facing the Capitol, then up Fayetteville street and west by
Hillsboro street past St. Mary’s young ladies school in a beautiful
grove on the right. How the servants stood at the fence with
supplies of water for us to drink! How the fair girls trooped
down to see us pass! How one tall, beautiful damsel exclaimed:
“Why, girls, these are all _young men_,” and how one of our saucy
Sergeants replied: “Yes, ladies, and we are all looking for wives!”
It was in Raleigh that we heard the heartrending rumor of General
Lee’s surrender.

Our line of march was through Chapel Hill. The University at that
place was deserted and many refugees from the lower counties were
again preparing to fly. After leaving Chapel Hill we camped on
the Regulators’ Battleground, thence our line of march was on the
Salisbury and Hillsboro road, over which 200 years before the
Catawba Indians passed in their visits to the Tuscaroras in the
East. Governor Tryon and later Lord Cornwallis had led their troops
over this historic way in the vain endeavor to subdue the men whose
sons now trod, footsore and weary, over the same old red hills,
engaged in a like struggle for local self government.

When we reached Haw river on Saturday, 15 April, we found the
steam rising rapidly. In crossing the river, several of our boys
were drowned by leaving the ford to reach some fish traps a short
distance below and being caught by the swift current and swept
down into the deep water. On reaching Alamance creek we had a novel
experience. On account of heavy rains the stream was much swollen
and the current very strong. General Cheatham’s command was moving
in front of General Hoke’s Division and on attempting to ford the
stream several men were swept down by the current, whereupon the
others absolutely refused to move. This halted the entire column,
and as the enemy’s cavalry were closely pressing our rear, the
situation was becoming critical. General Cheatham rode to the
front and learning the cause of the halt, ordered the men to go
forward, but, emphasizing their determination with some pretty
lively swearing, they doggedly refused to move, whereupon General
Cheatham seized the nearest man and into the stream they went.
After floundering in the water awhile, he came out, after repeating
the process for a few times, they raised a shout and proceeded to
cross. Three wagons, two with guns and one with bacon, capsized
and were swept down the river. Some lively diving for the bacon
followed, but I guess the guns are still rusting in the bottom of
the creek. I am sure none of them were disturbed on that occasion.

In the midst of the peril of the crossing of the river,
Lieutenant-Colonel French realizing the danger to which the smaller
boys were exposed, jumped from his horse, and stationing himself
in mid-stream just below the line of march, rescued several of
the brave lads from inevitable death. Standing there, watching
his chance to save life, he was every inch the faithful officer
and brave soldier, and no wonder the boys loved him. Within the
last twelve months he, too, has crossed over the river and is now
resting under the shade of the trees. Farewell my dear old comrade!

We reached Red Cross, twenty miles south of Greensboro, late on 16
April. Here we stayed until the following Easter Sunday morning.
On Saturday afternoon, a bright boy from Cleveland County, named
Froneberger, was killed in camp by lightning within ten steps of
regimental headquarters. His death was instantaneous. The next
morning, 17 April, after a scanty breakfast we made ready as usual
to resume the march, but received no orders. We waited till noon,
then all the afternoon, then till night, and still no orders. The
next morning we heard that General Johnston had surrendered.

We camped at Red Cross for a few days. Meanwhile it became known
that we had not surrendered; but that Johnston and Sherman had
undertaken to make terms for the surrender of all the then existing
armies of the Confederacy and for the recognition of our state
governments--one of the decent acts of Sherman’s life. But it came
to naught by reason of its disapproval in Washington. The armistice
which had been entered into for this purpose was terminated, and
the toilsome, weary, hopeless march was resumed, but we all knew
that the war was over.

It was at this time that a quantity of silver coin, in Greensboro,
belonging to the Confederate Government was seized by General
Johnston and distributed among his officers and men--each receiving
one dollar and twenty-five cents without regard to rank. The writer
has in his possession the identical Mexican milled silver dollar
which came to him on this occasion. On one side of it has since
been engraved “Bounty to John W. Hinsdale for four years’ faithful
service in the Confederate Army.” One hundred times its weight in
gold would not purchase this old piece of silver, associated as it
is with loving thoughts of comrades and heart-breaking memories of
surrender.

The regiment marched about eight miles to Old Center Meeting House,
in Randolph County, staying here about three days and then we moved
by way of Coleraine’s Mills to Bush Hill (now Archdale), and came
to a halt one mile from old Trinity College.


                         THE SURRENDER.

General Johnston on 26 April made his final surrender of the army
to General Sherman and on 2 May, 1865, at Bush Hill, all who
remained of the one thousand boy-patriots of the Third Junior
Reserves were paroled, and turned their faces sorrowfully homeward.
The last roll had been called, the last tattoo beaten, and the
regiment was disbanded forever.

[Illustration: A PAROLE FROM JOHNSTON’S ARMY.

Fac-simile of parole of Jno. W. Hinsdale, Colonel, 72d Regiment (3d
Junior Reserves).]

  GREENSBORO’, NORTH CAROLINA,

                                    ________________________ 1865.

  In accordance with the terms of the Military Convention, entered
  into on the twenty sixth day of April, 1865, between General
  JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON, Commanding the Confederate Army, and Major
  General W. T. SHERMAN, Commanding the United states Army in
  North-Carolina,

  ________________________________________________________________
  has given his solemn obligation not to take up arms against the
  Government of the Unites States until properly released from this
  obligation; and is permitted to return to his home, not to be
  disturbed by the United States authorities so long as he observe
  this obligation and obey the laws in force where he may reside.

  _______________________                 _____________________

  ___________________ U. S. A.,           _________________ C. S. A.,
        _Special Commissioner_.                         _Commanding_.

This was the end of all our hopes and aspirations. Might had
prevailed over right, and the conquered banner had been furled for
all time.

Judge Clark in his Regimental Histories reproduced fac-similes of
two paroles, one of an officer in the army of Northern Virginia,
who surrendered at Appomattox Court House, the other, of the
writer of this sketch, an officer of the last grand army of the
Confederacy, commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston. This parole
appears on the opposite page. It was in keeping the inviolate faith
of a similar parole issued to our great commander, Robert E. Lee,
that General Grant, be it said to his everlasting credit, stayed
the hand of President Johnston, who, soon after the war, issued a
shameful order for the arrest of the “noblest Roman of them all.”
By this one act, General Grant won the respect and esteem of the
entire South.

North Carolina has much to be proud of. She was first at Bethel,
she went farthest at Gettysburg, she was last at Appomattox, her
dead and wounded in battle exceeded in numbers those of any other
two States of the Confederacy together. But, her last and most
precious offering to the cause of Liberty were her boy-soldiers,
who at her bidding willingly left their homes, and marched, and
fought, and starved, and froze, and bled, and died that she might
live and be free. God bless the Junior Reserves. Their memory will
ever be cherished by the Old North State they loved so well.

The following patriotic lines, written by the author of the
“Conquered Banner,” will appeal to the heart of many a mother whose
young son marched away with the Junior Reserves:

      “Young as the youngest, who donned the Gray,
          True as the truest who wore it,
      Brave as the bravest he marched away
      (Hot tears on the cheeks of his mother lay)
      Triumphant waved our flag one day--
          He fell in the front before it.

      Firm as the firmest where duty led,
          He hurried without a falter;
      Bold as the boldest he fought and bled.
      And the day was won--but the field was red--
      And the blood of his fresh young heart was shed
          On his country’s hallowed altar.

      On the trampled breast of the battle plain,
          Where the foremost ranks had wrestled,
      On his pale pure face not a mark of pain,
      (His mother dreams that they will meet again),
      The fairest form amid all the slain,
          Like a child asleep he nestled.

      In the solemn shade of the wood that swept
          The field where his comrades found him,
      They buried him there--and the big tears crept
      Into strong men’s eyes that had seldom wept,
      (His mother--God pity her--smiled and slept,
          Dreaming her arms were around him).

      A grave in the woods with the grass o’ergrown,
          A grave in the heart of his mother
      His clay in the one lies lifeless and lone:
      There is not a name, there is not a stone,
      And only the voice of the winds maketh moan
      O’er the grave where never a flower is strewn,
          But his memory lives in the other.”

                                   JOHN W. HINSDALE.

  RALEIGH, N. C.,
  26 APRIL, 1901.



                          ADDENDUM.

The writer appends hereto two letters received by him approving
the accuracy of the foregoing sketch--one from the distinguished
jurist, who was his comrade in arms in the Junior Reserve brigade,
and to whom the old soldiers owe a debt of gratitude for his
monumental service in editing the Regimental Histories, the other
by one of Lee’s best fighters and most trusted lieutenants, and the
beloved commander of the boy-soldiers, whose valor is only equaled
by his modesty.


  STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA,

  SUPREME COURT.

  RALEIGH, N. C., October 18, 1901.

  COLONEL JOHN W. HINSDALE,

  My Dear Colonel,

       *       *       *       *       *

  Let me congratulate you upon your sketch which is decidedly one
  of the most interesting and valuable in the whole four volumes,
  and your conclusion is the most eloquent and touching thing I
  have read in many days. The Juniors will take off their hats to
  you.

  Your friend and comrade,
  WALTER CLARK.


  SEABOARD AIR LINE--GEORGIA, CAROLINA & NORTHERN RAILWAY CO.

  R. F. HOKE, PRESIDENT.

  RALEIGH, N. C., January 4, 1901.

  COLONEL JOHN W. HINSDALE,

  My Dear Colonel,

  I am pleased to read your sketch of the Third North Carolina
  Junior Reserve Regiment, that you kindly sent me, which is very
  accurate as to their service while they were in my command. Not
  knowing whether you intended me to keep it or not, I return it
  with my thanks, and wishing you a most happy and prosperous New
  Year, I am,

  Very truly your friend,
  R. F. HOKE.



  TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

  Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
  corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
  the text and consultation of external sources.

  Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
  and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.

  Pg 5: ‘insistance that’ replaced by ‘insistence that’.
  Pg 15: ‘Fourth Batalion of’ replaced by ‘Fourth Battalion of’.
  Pg 23: ‘of Campany C’ replaced by ‘of Company C’.
  Pg 23: ‘we countermached’ replaced by ‘we countermarched’.
  Pg 25: ‘sharp shooters, who’ replaced by ‘sharpshooters, who’.
  Pg 28: ‘heartrendering rumor’ replaced by ‘heartrending rumor’.
  Pg 30 (Illustration): ‘and is  ermitted’ replaced by
         ‘and is permitted’.
  Pg 31: ‘fac similes’ replaced by ‘fac-similes’.
  Pg 32: ‘lifeless aud lone’ replaced by ‘lifeless and lone’.





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