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1st North Carolina Infantry Regiment (6 months,
1861)
1st Infantry Regiment was also known as the Bethel
Regiment. In May 1861 it organized for six month's service at Raleigh, North Carolina, and then relocated
to Virginia. Its soldiers were from the counties of Edgecombe, Mecklenburg, Orange, Buncombe, Cumberland, Burke, Guilford,
and Lincoln. With approximately 800 men, the unit fought at Big Bethel and then served in the Army of the Peninsula near Yorktown. Two companies from
Bertie and Chowan counties joined the regiment which increased its strength to more than 1,200. On November 12, 1861, the
unit disbanded and returned to North Carolina. Many of the men transferred to the 11th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, which also became known as the Bethel Regiment. The field officers
were Colonels Daniel H. Hill and Charles C. Lee, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph B. Starr, and Majors Robert F. Hoke and James H. Lane. This volunteer regiment should not be confused with the 1st North Carolina
Infantry Regiment (NCST), which formed near Warrenton, N.C.
Approximately 125,000
"Old
North State" soldiers fought
during the course of the war; moreover, 40,000 never returned home. At the Battle of Big Bethel, North Carolina experienced
its Baptism of Fire and witnessed the first Confederate casualty of the war.
| Battle of Big Bethel Map |
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| Civil War Big Bethel Battlefield Map |
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. Continued below...
"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. 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 Johnston and Sherman--the siege of Fort
Fisher, the amphibious campaigns on the coast, and cavalry sweeps such
as General Stoneman's Raid. Also available in hardcover: The Civil War in North Carolina .
Recommended Viewing: The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns. Review: The
Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns is the most successful public-television miniseries in American history. The 11-hour Civil War didn't just captivate a nation,
reteaching to us our history in narrative terms; it actually also invented a new film language taken from its creator. When
people describe documentaries using the "Ken Burns approach," its style is understood: voice-over narrators reading letters
and documents dramatically and stating the writer's name at their conclusion, fresh live footage of places juxtaposed with
still images (photographs, paintings, maps, prints), anecdotal interviews, and romantic musical scores taken from the era
he depicts. Continued below...
The Civil War uses all of these devices to evoke atmosphere and resurrect an event that many knew
only from stale history books. While Burns is a historian, a researcher, and a documentarian, he's above all a gifted storyteller,
and it's his narrative powers that give this chronicle its beauty, overwhelming emotion, and devastating horror. Using the
words of old letters, eloquently read by a variety of celebrities, the stories of historians like Shelby Foote and rare, stained
photos, Burns allows us not only to relearn and finally understand our history, but also to feel and experience it. "Hailed
as a film masterpiece and landmark in historical storytelling." "[S]hould be a requirement for every
student."
Recommended
Reading:
Hardtack & Coffee or The Unwritten Story of Army Life. Description: Most histories of the Civil War focus on battles and top brass. Hardtack and Coffee
is one of the few to give a vivid, detailed picture of what ordinary soldiers endured every day—in camp, on the march,
at the edge of a booming, smoking hell. John D. Billings of Massachusetts enlisted in the
Army of the Potomac and survived the hellish conditions as a “common foot soldier”
of the American Civil War. "Billings describes
an insightful account of the conflict – the experiences of every day life as a common foot-soldier – and a view
of the war that is sure to score with every buff." The authenticity of his book is heightened by the many drawings
that a comrade, Charles W. Reed, made while in the field. This is the story of how the Civil War soldier was recruited, provisioned,
and disciplined. Continued below...
Described
here are the types of men found in any outfit; their not very uniform uniforms; crowded tents and makeshift shelters; difficulties
in keeping clean, warm, and dry; their pleasure in a cup of coffee; food rations, dominated by salt pork and the versatile
cracker or hardtack; their brave pastimes in the face of death; punishments for various offenses; treatment in sick bay; firearms
and signals and modes of transportation. Comprehensive and anecdotal, Hardtack and Coffee is striking for the pulse of life
that runs through it.
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; D. H. Hill, Confederate Military History Of North Carolina:
North Carolina In The Civil War, 1861-1865; Auburn University Archives and Manuscripts Division.
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