18th Infantry Regiment, formerly the 8th Volunteers, was organized in July 1861 at Camp Wyatt, near Carolina Beach, North Carolina. Its members were from Wilmington and the counties of Robeson, New Hanover, Bladen, Columbus, and Richmond. It moved to South Carolina, returned to North Carolina, and then in the spring of 1862 proceeded to Virginia. The 18th served in General Branch's and Lane's Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. After fighting at Hanover Court House, it participated in various conflicts of the army from the Seven Days' Battles to Cold Harbor. It continued the fight in the trenches of Petersburg south of the James River and ended the war at Appomattox. This unit was organized with 1,100 men, lost fifty-seven percent of the 396 engaged during the Seven Days Battles, and reported 14 casualties at Cedar Mountain, and 12 at Second Manassas. There were 13 killed and 77 wounded at Fredericksburg and 30 killed and 96 wounded at Chancellorsville. Of the 346 in action at Gettysburg, about twenty-five percent were disabled. It surrendered 12 officers and 81 men. The field officers were Colonels John D. Barry, Robert H. Cowan, Thomas J. Purdie, and James D. Radcliffe; Lieutenant Colonels Forney George, John W. McGill, and Oliver P. Meares; and Majors George Tait and Thomas J. Wooten.