General Robert F. Hoke
Mr. Lawrence classifies him as the greatest
soldier North Carolina ever produced. En¬
tering (lie Civil Mar as a second lieutenant,
he came out as a Major General.
TIIE Hoke family of Lincoln
County is one of the most dis¬
tinguished in the annals of our
State. From this family came the
scholarly and learned Chief Justice
William
Л.
Hoke, and John Hoke
who. along with Michael Schenck,
erected in 1813 the first cotton
mill to be built south of the Po¬
tomac. His son Michael was a
lawyer and legislator, and was
elected as Governor in 1844 but
died before his inauguration.
His son Robert F. Hoke had al¬
most as spectacular career in the
Confederate service as did Nathan
Bedford Forrest of Tennessee, who.
without previous military experi¬
ence, entered the army as a pri¬
vate. emerging as a Lieutenant
General of Cavalry. After the war
Forrest still led his people and
became Imperial Wizard of the
Ku Klux Klan. using that device
to thwart the black forces of the
Union League and other sinister
politcial organizations.
Not a West Point Graduate
Hoke was not a West Point man
either, and he entered the Con¬
federate armies as a second lieu¬
tenant of infantry, to emerge from
the struggle a Major General, hav¬
ing received promotion upon the
field of battle for gallantry, and
also the thanks of the Confederate
Congress and the legislature of
Carolina for his
Seat services.
oreover. there was
persistent rumor
that Hoke was the
one selected by Lee
himself to lead the
forces of the South
in the event any
casualty should dis¬
able Lee himself.
Hoke served in
the first and in the
last great offensive
of the Southern
armies. First battle
of the war was at
Big Bethel where
Hoke, as a Captain
in the First North
Carolina regiment.
By R. C. LAWRENCE
was commended for “coolness,
judgment and efficiency" in the
report of its Colonel D. H. Hill.
The last great battle of that war,
and the greatest ever fought on
Carolina soil, was on March 19,
1865. less than thirty days prior
to Lee’s surrender, when the frag¬
ments of Hood’s shattered army,
augmented by the troops of Hoke
and other bodies, all commanded
by Joseph E. Johnston, attacked
the powerful Federals under Sher¬
man at Bentonville. The Southern
army was comanded by Johnston,
the battle was fought in Johnston
County, and the Confederate di¬
visions were commanded by Gen¬
erals whose name began with "H”
— Hill, Hardee and Hoke.
In 1862 he was elected Colonel
of the 33rd North Carolina, and as
such commanded that regiment in
the bloody fighting of the famous
"Seven Days" around Richmond.
He was at Mechanicsville. Gaines
Mill, Frazier's Farm, and he stood
with Lee at Malvern Hill and saw
the earth drink blood. He was
with Jackson at Cedar Run; he
fought at Second Manassas; he
was in the thickest of the fray at
Shnrpsburg (called by the Fed¬
erals Antietam), the bloodiest
single day in American history.
In December 1862 he was as¬
signed to command the 21st North
Carolina, attached to the brigade
of the South Carolinian,
Маху
L.
Gregg. Under Gregg his troops
served in the front line at Fred¬
ericksburg. where they repulsed
the fierce assaults of the Federals,
where the gallant Gregg fell mor¬
tally wounded.
In the Spring of 1863 he was
appointed as Brigadier, and as¬
signed to the corps of Jackson,
with which he remained until the
death of that General. Hoke’s
troops were at Chancellorsville,
where Jackson won his greatest
single triumph in his famous flank
march and surprise attack upon
the corps of Howard, and where
he met his own death in the con¬
fusion of the battle at the hands
of his own troops in the darkness
of the night. Jackson’s second in
command. A. P. Hill, was also
wounded, and Hoke received a
severe wound in the shoulder
which incapacitated him for field
service for several months.
Battles in Eastern Carolina
In 1864 Hoke was sent to eastern
Carolina, then overrun by the Fed¬
eral forces, having under him, in
addition to his own troops, the
brigades of Kemper, and Random’s
Carolina brigade. The battle of
Plymouth ensued, resulting in a
brilliant victory for
Hoke, the Federals
being captured or
scattered, the town
invested and taken
by the Southern
troops. For his serv¬
ices on this field.
President Davis
telegraphed Hoke,
promoting him to
Major General, the
only known in¬
stance of such a pro¬
motion upon the
field of battle. This
was followed by
resolutions of the
Confederate Con¬
gress and of the
(Conf. o)i page 17)
The home of General Hoke at Lincolnton.