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37th North Carolina
Infantry Regiment
37th Infantry Regiment, organized
by Colonel C. C. Lee, was assembled at High Point, North Carolina, in November 1861. The men were recruited in the counties
of Buncombe, Watauga, Mecklenburg, Wake, Ashe, Alexander, and Gaston. The unit fought at New Bern and then moved to Virginia in the spring of 1862. It was assigned
to General Branch's and Lane's Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. The 37th North Carolina engaged at Hanover Court House and Mechanicsville, and participated in many campaigns of the army from the Seven Days Battles to Cold Harbor. It continued the fight in the Petersburg trenches and around Appomattox. This regiment reported 125 casualties during the Seven Days' Battles, 15 at
Cedar Mountain, 81 at Second Manassas, 93 at Fredericksburg, and 235 at Chancellorsville. Of the 379 engaged at Gettysburg, more than thirty percent were disabled. It surrendered 10 officers and
98 men at Appomattox. The field officers were Colonels William M. Barbour and Charles C. Lee; Lieutenant
Colonel John B. Ashcraft, Charles N. Hickerson, and William G. Morris; and Majors Jackson L. Bost, Owen N. Brown, John G.
Bryan, Rufus M. Rankin, and William R. Rankin. Colonel Charles C. Lee was killed at the Battle of Mechanicsville, Virginia.
Recommended
Reading: The Thirty-seventh North Carolina Troops: Tar Heels in the Army of Northern Virginia
(Hardcover), by Michael C. Hardy. Description: It vividly reflects the unit’s
four years’ service, focusing on the soldiers’ own words. Drawn from letters, diaries, and postwar articles and
interviews, this history of the 37th North Carolina follows the unit from its organization in November 1861 until its surrender
at Appomattox. Continued below...
The book includes photographs of the key players in the 37th’s story
as well as maps illustrating the unit’s position at several engagements. Appendices include a complete roster of the
unit and a listing of individuals buried in large sites such as prison cemeteries. (Great for genealogy, too.) A bibliography
and index are also included.
Recommended
Reading: Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War. Description:
Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz returned from years of traipsing through war zones as a foreign correspondent only to
find that his childhood obsession with the Civil War had caught up with him. Near his house in Virginia,
he happened to encounter people who reenact the Civil War--men who dress up in period costumes and live as Johnny Rebs and
Billy Yanks. Intrigued, he wound up having some odd adventures with the "hardcores," the fellows who try to immerse themselves
in the war, hoping to get what they lovingly term a "period rush." Horwitz spent two years reporting on why Americans are
still so obsessed with the war, and the ways in which it resonates today. Continued below...
In the course of his work, he made a sobering side trip to cover a "murder that was provoked by the display
of the Confederate flag," and he spoke to a number of people seeking to honor their ancestors who fought for the Confederacy.
Horwitz has a flair for odd details that spark insights, and Confederates in the Attic is a thoughtful and entertaining
book that does much to explain America's continuing obsession with the Civil War.
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: The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy (444
pages) (Louisiana State University Press) (Updated edition: November 2007) Description: The
Life of Johnny Reb does not merely describe the battles and skirmishes fought by the Confederate foot soldier. Rather,
it provides an intimate history of a soldier's daily life--the songs he sang, the foods he ate, the hopes and fears he experienced,
the reasons he fought. Wiley examined countless letters, diaries, newspaper accounts, and official records to construct this
frequently poignant, sometimes humorous account of the life of Johnny Reb. In a new foreword for this updated edition, Civil
War expert James I. Robertson, Jr., explores the exemplary career of Bell Irvin Wiley, who championed the common folk, whom
he saw as ensnared in the great conflict of the 1860s. Continued below...
About Johnny Reb:
"A Civil War classic."--Florida Historical Quarterly
"This book deserves to be on the shelf of every Civil War modeler and enthusiast."--Model
Retailer
"[Wiley] has painted with skill a picture of the life of the Confederate
private. . . . It is a picture that is not only by far the most complete we have ever had but perhaps the best of its kind
we ever shall have."--Saturday Review of Literature
Recommended Viewing:
Gone with the Wind (Four-Disc Collector's Edition)
1939 (1941) Description: First off, if you're a GWTW fanatic, you must buy this four-disc collection. But then again, you
probably don't need to read this to make that decision. For the rest of us, know that the kitchen-sink approach has been established
here with two full discs of extras. Continued below…
The film's restoration under Warner's
brilliant Ultra-Resolution process is the major contribution to the set. However, the bare-bones version released years ago
isn't bad and the film still doesn't pop off the screen as do films from the headier days of Technicolor (like the earlier
Ultra-Resolution DVD release of Meet Me in St. Louis). That said, the set is worthy of the most popular movie ever made. Rudy
Behlmer's feature-length commentary is dry but an exhaustive reference guide to the entire history of the film. Need more?
There's the excellent full-length documentary The Making of a Legend (1989) narrated by Christopher Plummer, plus two hour-long
older biographies on the two main stars. There are many new vignettes on the rest of the cast, all narrated by Plummer (a
nice touch to tie everything together). The new 30-minute interview/reminisce with Oliva de Havilland will be interesting
to older fans, but tiresome for the younger set. The usual sort of trailers and premiere footage is here along with a curious
short ("The Old South," directed by Fred Zinnemann) that was produced to help introduce the world to the history of the South.
--Doug Thomas
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 & Manuscripts Department.
Letter, William Barber to Lane Requesting
Recommendation for Promotion,
Nov.
1863
Camp of 37th N.C.T.
Nov 3rd '63 AD
General
From the intimate relations which have long existed
between us, I thought I might approach you without indelicacy on a subject of interest to myself [primarily]. I think
you will sustain me in the assertion that I have never once approached you, directly or indirectly on the subject of promotion,
while many officers within your knowledge have been crazy on the subject who have not done 1/3 the service I have. Gen
Jordan & some officer friends of mine some time ago told me that they believe I could secure promotion if I would make
the effort as they had heard Gen Hill speak of me in very high terms - in one conversation with another friend of mine Gen
Hill expressed the opinion that "I was worthy of promotion and that he would like to see me promoted." Learning this
fact, Gen Jordan wrote
[Page 2]
a letter to Gen Hill in my behalf which I sent to Gen
Hill a day or two since. I have heard it stated that Gen Lee (I know not with what truth) has intimated that his divisions
& Brigades were too large. If this be true, it is probable that some more Brigadiers will be made. I believe,
Gen, a private letter from you to Gen Hill would go far to aid me as you know something of my character as a gentleman &
officer. I do not desire an official communication for reasons which you will [
] appreciate. Englehard, you are aware, is an arduous advocate of officers & were a communication to go thru that
channel, his influence would be against me. I know that Gen Hill is a friend to me & if he can do anything will
gladly do it & a letter from my own Brigadier would be a good reason for him taking action. This matter I communicate
in writing & ask that you consider it personal so that if it fails it may not be a matter of comment
[Page 3]
among others. If you think proper to write to
Gen Hill, I will be obliged to you - But I do not desire you to do any thing against your judgment in this matter. If
you do not think me competent, I do not wish your personal friendship to lead you to recommend me against the dictates of
your judgement. You know that 2 officers here rank me & if you were promoted or killed the probabilities are very
strong that one of them would be promoted. Please consider this matter & act as your judgement dictates.
Your friend
William Barber
--Transcribed by Terri Stout-Stevens of Pffaftown,
NC, August 2, 1999. Edited and Posted by Marty Olliff, Assistant Archivist, Auburn University, who takes full responsibility
for any errors
(Also see: Lane's Brigade, General Lane's Account of the Battle of Gettysburg, 37th North
Carolina Infantry Regiment, Battle of Hanover Courthouse (Raleigh Standard), and Soldier's Letter from the 37th Regiment).
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