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11th North Carolina Infantry Regiment (Bethel
Regiment)
11th Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Mangum, near Raleigh,
North Carolina, in March 1862. The nucleus of this unit was comprised of men with prior service in the 1st North Carolina Infantry Regiment, a.k.a Bethel Regiment. Its members were from the counties of Mecklenburg,
Burke, Bertie, Chowan, Orange, Lincoln, and Buncombe. Assigned to the Department of North Carolina, it fought at White Hall and then relocated to Virginia. While in Virginia, the unit was assigned
to General Pettigrew's, Kirkland's, and MacRae's Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. It fought on many battlefields from Gettysburg to Cold Harbor, endured the hardships of the Petersburg
trenches, and saw action around Appomattox. It lost over half of the 617 at Gettysburg, reported 15 casualties at Bristoe, and surrendered 8 officers and 74 men. The field officers were Colonels Collett
Leventhorpe and William J. Martin, Lieutenant Colonels Francis W. Bird and William A. Owens, and Major Egbert A. Ross.
Advance to:
Recommended Reading: More Terrible than Victory: North Carolina's
Bloody Bethel
Regiment, 1861-65 (368 Pages). Description: Craig Chapman
presents the definitive history of the First North Carolina Volunteers / 11th Regiment North Carolina Troops--the legendary
Bethel Regiment. The 1st North Carolina Volunteers struck history as it engaged in the Civil War's first land battle and witnessed
the first soldier killed in the great conflict. Chapman conveys the compelling history of these brave men as they left hearth
and home in defense of their state, beliefs and ideals. Most of the unit's raw, young recruits had never traveled
outside of North Carolina, nor fired a weapon in combat.
"That all changed, and it dramatically changed their lives forever..." After
an enlistment of six months, North Carolina's First Regiment disbanded.
Most of the men then enlisted in the Eleventh NC Regiment, commonly referred to as the Bloody
Bethel Regiment, and fought in the bloodiest battles and campaigns of the Civil War. Continued
below...
About the Author: Craig S. Chapman commands one of the North
Carolina National Guard infantry battalions that traces its lineage to the Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops, the unit
that started out as the First North Carolina Volunteers and nicknamed the Bethel Regiment. Chapman resides in Raleigh, North
Carolina.
Recommended
Reading: Confederate Military
History Of North Carolina: North Carolina
In The Civil War, 1861-1865. Description:
The author, Prof. D. H. Hill, Jr., was the son of Lieutenant General Daniel Harvey Hill (North
Carolina produced only two lieutenant generals and it was the second highest rank in the army) and
his mother was the sister to General “Stonewall” Jackson’s wife. In Confederate
Military History Of North Carolina, Hill discusses North Carolina’s massive task of preparing and mobilizing
for the conflict; the many regiments and battalions recruited from the Old North State; as well as the state's numerous
contributions during the war. Continued below...
During
Hill's Tar
Heel State study, the reader begins with
interesting and thought-provoking statistical data regarding the 125,000 "Old
North State" soldiers that fought
during the course of the war and the 40,000 that perished. Hill advances with the Tar Heels to the first battle at Bethel, through numerous bloody campaigns and battles--including North Carolina’s
contributions at the "High Watermark" at Gettysburg--and concludes with Lee's surrender at
Appomattox.
Recommended
Reading: The Civil War in North Carolina.
Description: Numerous battles and skirmishes
were fought in North Carolina during the Civil War, and
the campaigns and battles themselves were crucial in the grand strategy of the conflict and involved some of the most famous
generals of the war. John Barrett presents the complete story of military engagements across the state, including the classical
pitched battle of Bentonville--involving Generals Joe Johnston and William Sherman--the siege of Fort Fisher, the amphibious campaigns on the
coast, and cavalry sweeps such as General George Stoneman's Raid. Also available
in hardcover: The Civil War in North Carolina .
Sources: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; Walter Clark,
Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-1865; National Park Service: American
Civil War; National Park Service: Soldiers and Sailors System; Weymouth T. Jordan and Louis H. Manarin, North Carolina Troops,
1861-1865; and D. H. Hill, Confederate Military History Of North Carolina: North Carolina In The Civil War, 1861-1865.
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