The 26th At Gettysburg
The Twenty-sixth N. C. regiment is gen¬
erally regarded as one of the outstanding
military organizations of the Confed¬
eracy. Its record of valor is a source off
pride to all Tar Heels.
THIS is not a "first at Bethel, fur¬
thest at Gettysburg, last at Appo¬
mattox” type of article. Listen to
the coldly factual recital of Colonel
William F. Fox of the United States
Army as contained in his work on
“Regimental Losses in the American
Civil War.” He says that the 1st Texas
of Hood's Division at Antietam sus¬
tained the heaviest loss of any South¬
ern regiment, where it lost $2 per cent
of its strength. When night fell on the
bloodiest day's battle of the war. Rob¬
ert K. Lee, mounted on Traveller, oc¬
cupied a post on the highway lending
to the Potornae, along which his army
must retreat if they suffered defeat.
Here subordinate Generals came and
rendered their report of the day's light¬
ing and of the condition of their
troops. When it came Hood's turn to
report he told Lee that he had no men
left. “Where is the splendid division
you had this morning?” inquired I.eo.
“Most of them are dead upon the
field.” said Hood, “for few have strag¬
gled.” Hood’s Division lo3t at Antie¬
tam considerably more than 50 per
cent of its total strength.
Following the 1st Texas. Colonel
Fox assigns the next position to the
21st Georgia which lost at Manassas
76 per cent of its strength. Third in
the list of Fox stands the 26th North
Carolina, of Heth's Division, where it
lost at Gettysburg eighty-six killed,
five hundred and two wounded, or over
72 per cent of its total strength.
The 26th North Carolina was by fur
the most famous military organization
of tho Carolina of the Confederacy,
for not only did it lose the heaviest
percentage of any Carolina regiment,
but its first commander was our most
famous statesman. Governor and Sena¬
tor Zebulon B. Vance.
Wo first find the ten companies
which comprised this regiment at n
Camp of Instruction on Crabtree
Creek, three miles from Raleigh. Its
ten companies were from such widely
scatterics counties as Alamance. Ashe.
Anson. Buncombe. Caldwell. Chat¬
ham. Moore. Randolph, Union. Wake
and Wilkes. The Commandant of this
Camp of Instruction was Major
By R. C. LAWRENCE
Harry K. Burgwvn. not then twenty-
one years old, just graduated from tho
Virginia Military Institute.
When these companies wore organ¬
ized into a regiment if was numbered
the 26th. and Captain Zebulon B.
Vance of the “Rough and Ready
Guards" of Buncombe was elected as
Colonel. Harry K. Burgwyn became
its Lieutenant Colonel; and Capt.
A. B. Carmichael was elected as Ma¬
jor. Rev. R. H. Marsh, later to pass
such a distinguished career as a Bap¬
tist Minister, was elected as Chaplain.
On the non-commissioned staff was
Sergeant Major Leonidas L. Polk, who
Inter became a founder of the Populist
party.
The regiment spent several months
at Fort Macon near Beaufort, and was
engaged at the battle of New Bern
where tbe Federal army under Burn¬
side captured that city. There Major
Carmichael was killed, and Captain
W. P. Martin. In camp near Kinston,
resting after the battle at New Bern,
the regiment was recruited and
brought up to full strength. Later one
of these recruits proved to be a young
woman, the wife of Private L. M.
Blalock. She was promptly given an
honorable discharge from the service.
Burgwyn Succeeds Vance
June
Ш2
saw the regiment, a part
of Lee’s army, at the battle of Malvern
Hill. That night Captain Lane of the
26th went to sleep
Ы>
tween two mem¬
bers of his company. When he woke
next morning he found that during the
night both men had been killed by
Federal bullets. In August 1*62 the
Confederates from Carolina voted
almost solidly tor Vance tor Gover¬
nor, and of course bis election to that
office meant his resignation from bis
military command. Harry K. Bur¬
gwyn succeeded Vance as Colonel;
John R. Lane was elected as Lieuten¬
ant Colonel and John T. Jones as
Major. These wore the men who took
the regiment into battle at Gettys¬
burg.
The 26th was assigned to Petti¬
grew's Brigade which formed a part of
Heth’s Division. About dawn on July
1, 1863, n chance shot fired by a
vidette from Buford's Federal cavalry
brought on the battle of Gettysburg.
Loo called up his reserves; Monde did
tho same; and it became apparent that
Gettysburg was to become the scene of
one of the great battles of history.
On the first day the 26th held a posi¬
tion immediately in front of McPher¬
son’s Woods which was occupied by
Meredith's “Iron Brigade” of the Fed¬
eral army. They made a charge shout¬
ing: “We've come to stay.” Many of
thorn did; and the following Novem¬
ber when the Federal cemetery was
dedicated and when Lincoln made his
never-to-be-forgotten speech, known to
every schoolboy, many of those graves
were those of the Iron Brigade.
General Heth was wounded on tbe
first day and Pettigrew, as senior Brig¬
adier took over command of the divi¬
sion which he retained throughout the
three-day battle. Pettigrew called up¬
on bis
шоп
to charge the enemy. The
26th came forward with a hair-raising
“rebol yell.” Its color guard having all
been shot down. Captain McCiecry
seized the banner, but was killed in¬
stantly. Lieutenant George II. Wilcox
then took up the colors, but he too was
killed. Col. Harry K. Burgwyn
grusped the flag and gave the order.
“Dross upon the Colors.” As his thin
line swept forward, Colonel Burgwyn
was killed mid fell with tho folds of
the ling about him.
Lieut. Col. Lane took command of
the regiment and gave the order to
“Give them the bayonet.” Again tbe
line moved forward and Lane was
shot down. Into this charge the 26th
took some 800 men ; of whom only 216
came out alive and unwoundod.
On the third day at Gettysburg,
Longstiwf dallied and failed to press
the nttack ns directed by Lee. Alex¬
ander, in charge of the Confederate
artillery, brought every gun into play
against the Federal lines on Cemetery
Ridge and expended so much ammuni¬
tion that he finally sent word to Gen-
( Continued on page twenty-five)
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