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26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment
26th Infantry Regiment was organized in August 1861 at "Crab Tree," a plantation three miles from
Raleigh, North Carolina. Its members were recruited in the counties of Ashe, Chatham,
Wilkes, Union, Wake, Caldwell, Moore, Alamance, Randolph, and Anson. A female Soldier also enlisted in the 26th. The regiment served at Fort Macon, on Bogue Island,
North Carolina, then fought at New Bern. During the war, it was assigned to General R. Ransom's, Pettigrew's, Kirkland's,
and MacRae's Brigade. It participated in the Seven Days Battles and conflicts at Rawls' Mills and Goldsboro. The 26th continued the "fight" under the command of the
Army of Northern Virginia from Gettysburg to Cold Harbor, took its place in the entrenchments south of the James River, and was involved in the final campaign at Appomattox. It lost 87 killed or wounded at New Bern, had 6 killed and 40 wounded during the Seven Days' Battles, and of the
843 engaged at Gettysburg, more than eighty percent were disabled. The unit reported 16 killed and 83
wounded at Bristoe and on April 9, 1865, surrendered 10 officers and 120 men. Its commanders were
Colonels Henrly K. Burgwyn, Jr., John R. Lane, and Zebulon B. Vance. Colonel Zebulon Vance became North Carolina's Governor (1862-1865
and 1877-1879), and also served in the United States Senate from 1879-1892; Lieutenant Colonels James T. Adams and John T.
Jones; and Majors Abner B. Carmichael, James S. Kendall, and N. P. Rankin. The greatest loss sustained by any regiment
(North or South) during the war was the Twenty-sixth North Carolina Infantry
Regiment at Gettysburg; it advanced more than 800 men into action and
more than eighty percent were disabled.
"We [26th North Carolina Infantry] went in with over 800 men in the regiment. There came out but 216, all
told, unhurt. Yesterday they were again engaged, and now have only about 80 men for duty." Battle of Gettysburg report of Capt. J. J. Young, quartermaster, Twenty-sixth North Carolina Infantry on July 4, 1863
Recommended
Reading: Boy Colonel of the Confederacy. Description: Henry King Burgwyn, Jr. (1841-63), the youngest colonel in the
Army of Northern Virginia and one of the youngest colonels of the American Civil War, died at the age of twenty-one while
leading the Twenty-sixth North Carolina Infantry Regiment into action at the Battle of Gettysburg. In this sensitive biography,
originally published by UNC Press in 1985, Archie Davis provides a revealing portrait of the young man's character and a striking
example of a soldier who selflessly fulfilled his duty. Drawing on Burgwyn's own letters and diary, Davis
also offers a fascinating glimpse into North Carolina society
during the antebellum period and the American Civil War.
Recommended
Reading: Covered With Glory: The 26th
North Carolina Infantry at Gettysburg.
Description: Award-winning historian, Rod Gragg, delivers a
masterpiece with his renowned study of the Fighting 26th. Rated a solid 5
STARS (highest possible rating), Covered With Glory vividly reflects the
fighting history of the 26th, led by General Robert E. Lee's youngest regimental colonel, 21-year-old Colonel Henry K. Burgwyn,
Jr. Student, Scholar, and Civil War Buff, this is a must have addition for your library.
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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