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3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry Regiment, U.S.
A.K.A. Union 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry Regiment; 3rd North Carolina (Federal) Mounted
Infantry Regiment; 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry Regiment, U.S.A.; 3rd North Carolina Mounted, United States;
and Kirk's Raiders.
ORGANIZED: Knoxville, Tenn., June 1864. Attached to 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, 23rd Army Corps, Dept. of
Ohio, to February, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, District East Tennessee, Dept. of the Cumberland, to August 1865.
SERVICE:
Scout and patrol duty in proximity of Knoxville, Tenn., and in East Tennessee till December 1864. Scout from Morristown, Tenn., into North Carolina June 13-July 15, 1864. Camp Vance on June 28. Russellville, Tenn. on October 28. Big Pigeon River on November 5-6. Moved to Paint Rock on December 7.
Expedition into Western North Carolina March 21-April 25, 1865. Moved to Boone, N.C., April 6, and to Asheville, N.C., April 27-30. Duty in North Carolina and East
Tennessee till August 1865. Mustered out August 8, 1865.
"Swarms of [North Carolina] men liable to conscription are gone to the tories
or to the Yankees." Brigadier General J. W. McElroy, First Brigade North Carolina Home Guard, April 12, 1864
| Lt. David Cook |
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| Courtesy Michael C. Hardy |
OVERVIEW: The
Union Army recruited two mounted infantry regiments within North Carolina, and both units
were principally raised from Western North Carolina counties: 2nd North Carolina Mounted Infantry Regiment and 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry Regiment. The men that comprised the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry were recruited from Western North Carolina and East
Tennessee. Confederate deserters also formed a fraction of this unit. Recruitment of these regiments epitomized the "Brother's
War" and the men serving in the two Union mounted infantry regiments were commonly referred
to as Home Yankees.
Photograph
(right): Lt. David Cook, Company E, 3rd NC Mounted Infantry, USA.
Author and historian Michael C. Hardy (michaelchardy.blogspot.com) states: "This might be the same David Cook who served
as a private in Company B, 37th North Carolina Troops." Lt. David Cook is interred at the National
Cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Union Major
General George Stoneman's command as it concerns Western North Carolina in 1865: Second North Carolina Mounted Infantry
Regiment, Lieut. Colonel William C. Bartlett; Third North Carolina Mounted Infantry Regiment, Colonel George W. Kirk; First
Brigade, Commanding Colonel Chauncey G. Hawley; Fourth Division, Department of the Cumberland,
Brig. General Davis Tillson; District of East Tennessee, Major General George Stoneman (to view entire Union District of East
Tennessee, including 1st and 2nd Brigades, and Brig. Gen. Gillem's Cavalry Division, see Stoneman's Cavalry Raid and O.R., 1, 49, pt. II, pp. 538-539*).
*Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
Sources: National Park Service: Soldiers and Sailors System; Official Records of the Union
and Confederate Armies; North Carolina Museum of History.
Recommended Reading: A History of the North Carolina
Third Mounted Infantry Volunteers: March 1864 to August 1865. Description: A History of the North Carolina Third Mounted Infantry Volunteers: March 1864 to August
1865 - Ron V. Killian. For years preceding the Civil War, the mountain people of western North
Carolina lived under very different social and economic conditions than their plantation farming counterparts
in other parts of the state. The mountain people did not generally own slaves, making them reluctant to contribute soldiers
when North Carolina seceded from the Union. Many of these
pro-Union Carolinians took up arms as Federal troops and engaged in guerrilla raids to disrupt Confederate operations within
their home state. Continued below…
The Third Mounted Infantry was one such unit, organized under Col. George
Washington Kirk in February 1864. Ron V. Killian's history discusses the brief but sensational career of the Third Mounted
Infantry from its inception up to the occupation of Asheville, NC in 1865. Until now, little material has been published on
the role of the Third Mounted Infantry in the pacification of the Tennessee/North Carolina mountain region. Often erroneously
referred to as "bushwhackers" or "Tories," the patriotic fathers, sons and brothers that composed this regiment rendered commendable
service in the Camp Vance Raid, Stoneman's Raid against Confederate positions in both Tennessee and North Carolina, and various
skirmishes at Morristown, Russellville, Waynesville and Asheville. Detailed accounts of engagements involving the regiment
are supplemented by extensive rosters noting full name, month, year, and place of enlistment, and age at time of enlistment
for officers, staff, private soldiers and musicians. A biographical sketch of Col. Kirk is also included.
Recommended
Reading: The Loyal Mountaineers Of Tennessee (1888) (Hardcover: 426 pages) (Kessinger Publishing, LLC) (June
2, 2008). Description: This book defines
the importance of East
Tennessee and its residents to the Union cause during the Civil War. The author begins with early history of East Tennessee and the events which led to the War Between the States. He continues by describing local
people and events that contributed to the decision to remain loyal to the United
States. Continued below...
The events of the War as they involve East Tennessee are detailed, including
important meetings and battles such as Carter's Raid and the siege of Knoxville. The text is enhanced with illustrated portraits
of East Tennessee individuals who contributed to the Civil War effort. Originally written
and published in 1888, this reprinted edition is accompanied by a complete index. This book is a valuable addition to both
the Tennessee historian and the Civil War buff.
Recommended Reading: Mountain
Myth: Unionism in Western North Carolina (Hardcover), by Terrell T. Garren. Description: Civil
War historian Terrell T. Garren and author of acclaimed The Secret of War: A Dramatic History of Civil War Crime in Western North Carolina , delivers another masterpiece and challenges previous 'historical assumptions' regarding Unionism in Western North
Carolina. Garren, who spent thousands of hours researching Mountain Myth, states that readers of his new book
"may be surprised to learn that Western North Carolina citizens of that day were as much or more dedicated to the Confederate
cause than the people of any other area in the entire South." It is RATED 5 STARS, the highest rating, by thomaslegion.net
Editor's
Pick: The Secret of War: A Dramatic History of Civil War Crime in Western North Carolina, by Terrell T. Garren. Description:
Civil War crime in western North Carolina is the
subject of The Secret of War, by Terrell T. Garren. Based on the true-life experience of Delia Russell Youngblood, the great-grandmother
of the author, the book "captures what the Civil War was like in the mountains and throughout the south." After hearing his
great-grandmother's story, Garren spent nearly fifteen years researching this story in particular and the Civil War history
of western North Carolina in general. It is the story of
Joseph Youngblood and Delia Russell of Hoopers Creek in Henderson County,
North Carolina. Continued below…
The reader
will follow Joseph through his enlistment as a part of Company H, the "Cane Creek Rifles," of the 25th North Carolina Infantry
Regiment to the Battle of Malvern Hill, Virginia, and to battle in Sharpsburg, Maryland, where
he was captured. Taken to the Union Camp Morton in Indianapolis, Indiana,
he finally escapes and makes his way down the Ohio and Mississippi
rivers into Mississippi. Attempting to make his way back
to North Carolina, he is in Dalton, Georgia, in May of 1864 when fourteen Confederate soldiers, including a brother,
are executed for "desertion." Ultimately, being recaptured, he goes back to Camp
Morton until the end of the war. Told with historical accuracy, names,
battles, and places in this story are true to fact. Readers will recognize place names in Henderson,
Jackson, Haywood, Cherokee, Transylvania, Clay, Macon, and Buncombe Counties in North
Carolina. Family names mentioned include Fletcher, Carland, Lewis, Bishop, Bryson, Freeman, Henderson,
Fowler, Whitaker, Wheeler, Summey, Russell, Barnwell, Ward, Lanning, Hammond, Garren, Youngblood, and Blake. What sets this
book apart from many, however, is the story of what happened to the women left behind at home. The story reveals how the lowest
criminal element found its way into the Union Army. Many mountain men motivated by greed and an awareness of the demise of
Confederate authority signed up with no interest in any cause but their own. Union officers who enter the picture include
Generals George Stoneman, Alavan C. Gillem, and William J. Palmer. Palmer enters the story late but emerges as a man of genuine
integrity and selfless bravery opposed to and fighting this element in his own army. About the Author: Terrell T. Garren is
an eighth generation western North Carolinian. He was born in Asheville,
North Carolina, in 1951. He earned his B.S. and M.A. degrees from Western Carolina University
in Cullowhee, North Carolina.
A resident of Henderson County, North Carolina,
he has been a commercial writer for twenty years.
Dr. Newton
Smith of Western Carolina University says, "The Secret of War" is that rare historical novel that captures both the romance
and the grit and gore of war on the home front without distorting the history. It is about time someone did the story of the
Civil War in the southern mountains right."
Rob Neufeld,
writing in the Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times, has said the book "is a must read" and "as a contribution to our understanding
of the most disturbing passage in our history, it is indelible." He further writes, "Fiction? It really happened; and, if
it hadn't, the author wouldn't be around to tell it....Although Garren has written fiction, he wants you to treat it as history.
After all, at the back of his book, he provides an index."
Recommended
Reading: War at Every Door: Partisan
Politics and Guerrilla Violence in East Tennessee, 1860-1869. Description: One of the most divided regions of the Confederacy, East Tennessee
was the site of fierce Unionist resistance to secession, Confederate rule, and the Southern war effort. It was also the scene
of unrelenting 'irregular,' or guerrilla, warfare between Union and Confederate supporters, a conflict that permanently altered
the region's political, economic, and social landscape. In this study, Noel Fisher examines the military and political struggle
for control of East Tennessee from the secession crisis through the early years of Reconstruction,
focusing particularly on the military and political significance of the region's irregular activity. Continued...
Fisher portrays in grim detail the brutality and ruthlessness employed not only by partisan bands but also
by Confederate and Union troops under constant threat of guerrilla attack and government officials frustrated by unstinting
dissent. He demonstrates that, generally, guerrillas were neither the romantic, daring figures of Civil War legend nor mere
thieves and murderers, but rather were ordinary men and women who fought to live under a government of their choice and to
drive out those who did not share their views.
Recommended
Reading: North
Carolinians in the Era of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Description: Although North Carolina
was a "home front" state rather than a battlefield state for most of the Civil War, it was heavily involved in the Confederate
war effort and experienced many conflicts as a result. North Carolinians were divided over
the issue of secession, and changes in race and gender relations brought new controversy. Blacks fought for freedom, women
sought greater independence, and their aspirations for change stimulated fierce resistance from more privileged groups. Republicans
and Democrats fought over power during Reconstruction and for decades thereafter disagreed over the meaning of the war and
Reconstruction. Continued below...
With contributions
by well-known historians as well as talented younger scholars, this volume offers new insights into all the key issues of
the Civil War era that played out in pronounced ways in the Tar Heel State.
In nine fascinating essays composed specifically for this volume, contributors address themes such as ambivalent whites, freed
blacks, the political establishment, racial hopes and fears, postwar ideology, and North Carolina women. These issues of the
Civil War and Reconstruction eras were so powerful that they continue to agitate North Carolinians today.
Recommended Reading:
Bushwhackers, The Civil War in North Carolina:
The Mountains (338 pages). Description: Trotter's book (which could have been titled "Murder, Mayhem, and Mountain Madness") is an epic backdrop
for the most horrific murdering, plundering and pillaging of the mountain communities of western North Carolina during the
state’s darkest hour—the American Civil War. Commonly referred to as Southern Appalachia, the North
Carolina and East Tennessee mountains witnessed divided loyalties in its bushwhackers
and guerrilla units. These so-called “bushwhackers” even used the conflict to settle old feuds and scores, which,
in some cases, continued well after the war ended. Continued below...
Some bushwhackers
were highly organized ‘fighting guerrilla units’ while others were a motley group of deserters and outliers,
and, since most of them were residents of the region, they were familiar with the terrain and made for a “very formidable
foe.” In this work, Trotter does a great job on covering the many facets of the bushwhackers, including their: battles,
skirmishes, raids, activities, motives, the outcome, and even the aftermath. This book is also a great source for tracing
ancestors during the Civil War; a must have for the family researcher of Southern Appalachia.
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