UNIT HISTORY  

 

 

      The History of the 49th NORTH CAROLINA Infantry Regiment

ORGANIZED:

The 49th North Carolina Infantry Regiment was mustered in March, 1862, at Garysburg, North Carolina. Its companies were recruited in the following counties: McDowell, Cleveland, Iredell, Moore, Mecklenburg, Gaston, Catawba, and Lincoln.

Many of the recruits were members that had listed earlier in the war, but for lack of weapons were not able to be mustered into service. The rank and file contained a population wholly of volunteers second to none for self-reliance, integrity, just respect for authority and modest worth and courage. Many of them were decendents of the people who made the Hornets Nest of North Carolina a fortress of independence and terror to invaders during the Revolutionary War.

The 49th NC was placed under the command of Colonel (future General) Stephen Dodson Ramseur, a rising star in the Confederacy and whose exploits were well known to all the people in North Carolina. After a short time of drill and instruction the 49th was sent to Richmond where they participated in the Seven Days Battles. 

General Stephen D. Ramseur

The regiment was placed in General M.W. Ransom's Brigade and under his leadership fought well and advanced the fartherest at Marvin Hill, taking heavy casualties including Col. Ramseur, who was gravely wounded. Col. LeRoy (Lee) M. McAfee assumed the command and held that post until the surrender at Appomattox.

Colonel LeRoy (Lee) M. McAfee

The unit fought with General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia, fighting on the Peninsula, 2nd Manassas and the Maryland Campaigns. The 49th participated in the capture of Harpers Ferry and were then hurried to Sharpsburg (or Anteitam as the North called it) where they held off a Union assault. 

 Returning to Virginia, the 49th was posted in Fredericksburg where they were subject to terrific cannon fire and fighting - suffering heavy casualties during that battle.

General Ramson's Brigrade was recalled to Eastern North Carolina.  The 49th served in the New Bern area and near the Chowan River in North Carolina. Their main purpose was protecting the Petersburg/Weldon/Wilmington Railroad.  This railroad was General Lee's most important supply line and with Eastern North Carolina occupied by Federal troops it was essential to keep the railroad open. During this period in 1863 the brigrade drilled almost at a constant pace so that by May of 1864 when the brigrade was transferred to the command of General Beauregard, it was probable that there wasn't any brigrade containing more effective, well-trained soldiers in the South!

Returning to Virginia, the 49th was active at Drewry's Bluff and Cold Harbor, took their place in the Petersburg fighting at the Richmond Pike. They then took their place in the trenches south of the James River at Petersburg for a 9 month seige by the Union. During this period the men of the 49th were subject to the elements of the sun, storms, both heat and cold, scant food, and insufficient supplies. But the 49th, failthful to the end - never faltered in the performance of duty and never failed to meet and resist the foe. 

On the 30th of July, General Grant surprised the Confederates in the Battle of the Crater. The 49th was on the flank of the attack and held the breach until reinforcements were brought in.

The 49th NC also participated in the ill fated attack on Fort Steadman and this defeat signed the beginning of the end for the South. 

General Robert E. Lee ordered a retreat on April 9, 1865. The 49th NC was there till the end....seeing their final action in/and around Appomattox until the final surrender by General Lee that ended the war.

According to government records, 11 officers, 95 NCO's and privates for a total of 106 brave men eventually registered on the "parole" records at Appomattox. 

 

CASUALTIES: 

This regiment lost 14 killed, 75 wounded, and 16 missing at Malvern Hill , had 16 killed and 61 wounded during the Maryland Campaign, and had 9 wounded at Fredericksburg . Many were also disabled at Sayler's Creek.

 

     COMMANDING OFFICERS:

Colonels LeRoy (Lee) M. McAfee and Stephen D. Ramseur; Lieutenant Colonels James T. David, William A. Eliason, and John A. Flemming; and Majors Pinckney B. Chambers and Charles Q. Petty.

  

 "The Proud 49" (song about the 49th NC)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB6cobV3-fI

 

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The History of NORTH CAROLINA in the American Civil War 

 

 The Bentonville Battlefield (www.nchistoricsites.org/Bentonvi/Bentonvi.HTM) is the largest Civil War battlefield in North Carolina and the site of the only offensive battle to stop General Sherman's march from Atlanta. This was the last major battle fought during the Civil War, covering 6,000 acres of farmland with over 80,000 troops engaged.

While North Carolina was the last of the 11 Southern states to secede, it sent more troops and materials and suffered more losses than any other Southern state.

Around 40,000 North Carolinians were killed over the course of the war.

The largest surrender of Confederate troops occurred at Bennett Place in Durham. With General Lee's surrender at Appomattox, this completely disbanded the Confederate troops.

When Fort Anderson (Brunswick County, Cape Fear River) fell, an Indiana unit took home the garrison flag as a war trophy and presented it to the governor of the state, a close political friend of President Lincoln. The governor invited President Lincoln to change his schedule in Washington at the last minute to attend a ceremony involving this garrison flag. Lincoln made the change and thus avoided a kidnap plan set in motion by John Wilkes Booth. Did Fort Anderson's flag cost Lincoln his life?

The January 1865 combined land and sea action against Fort Fisher was the largest waterborne assault on a mainland target until the allied invasion of Normandy during WWII.

There was opposition to secession in several areas of the state. A Peace Party organized conferences, speeches and street riots in the Piedmont. More than 125,000 men from North Carolina served in the Confederate Army. The state also had as many as 15,000 black and white troops in Federal (Union) regiments.

In Hertford, Perquimans County, a monument to US Colored Troops stands on Academy Green, perhaps the only one in the South.

The Thomasville City Cemetery may be the only formal burial ground in the United States to have US and Confederate soldiers buried side by side.

The Quaker Belt consisted of the counties of Guilford, Forsyth, Randolph and Davidson, with pockets in some of the surrounding counties. The Quakers opposed slavery, resisted service in the Confederate Army and participated in the Underground Railroad.

Whenever possible, the state quartermaster gave contracts to widows or wives of soldiers to sew uniforms. This was an important and new source of revenue for women, most of who had never worked outside the home, to provide income for their families.

North Carolina was an important supplier of cloth for military purposes during the war because of the large concentration of textile mills. It has been said that North Carolina clad its soldiers better than any other state in the Confederacy.

Military goods manufactured within the state included flags, buttons, gunpowder, swords, ammunition and leather goods. Pottery was also an important industry, with many potters supplying storage vessels to the military.

The North Carolina Cherokee Confederates fought the last skirmish in the state at White Sulphur Springs on May 6 and surrendered on May 9, 1865.

 

Visit the North Carolina and Civil War Museum of History at:

http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/exhibits/civilwar/index.html

 Also, visit the Museum of the Confederacy at:

www.moc.org

 

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The History of the 21st MASSACHUSETTS Infantry Regiment 

 

ORGANIZED: 

Composed mainly of Worcester county men, the 21st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was mustered in August of 1861, and was stationed at Annapolis until January 6, 1862.  

The 21st Mass. sailed with the Burnside expedition to North Carolina, having been brigaded in General Reno's command. Under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Alberto C. Maggi, it was prominently engaged at Roanoke Island, where its casualties were 5 killed and 39 wounded.

In the following month, commanded by Colonel Clarke, the unit fought gallantly at New Berne, where it suffered a loss of 15 killed and 42 wounded; among the killed was Adjutant Stearns.

At Chantilly--in Ferrero's Brigade, Reno's Division--the regiment encountered the hardest fighting in its experience. Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph P. Rice was killed, and the total of casualties amounted to 22 killed, 98 wounded, and 26 captured, out of less than 400 men present in action.

At Fredericksburg-- Ferrero's (2d) Brigade, Sturgis's (2d) Division -- the regiment rendered efficient service by the skill with which from an advanced position and good marksmanship, it kept down the enemy's fire. In this action two color bearers were killed, and others were wounded, one of the latter losing both arms.

Under Leasure's Brigade the 21st Massachusetts distinguished itself particularly in the battle of the Wilderness, where it swept down the line, across and opposite Hancock's front. It was a daring charge, and accomplished with a remarkably small loss.

The 21st Massachusetts was mustered out in October, 1864; the men remaining in the field were transferred to the 36th Massachusetts.