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53rd North Carolina Infantry Regiment
53rd Infantry Regiment completed its organization in April 1862 at Camp Mangum, near Raleigh, North Carolina. The men were recruited in the counties
of Guilford, Mecklenburg, Chatham, Surry, Alamance, Stokes, Union, and Wilkes. It served in the Department of North Carolina
and then was assigned to General Daniel's and Grimes' Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. The 53rd fought in many conflicts from Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania to Cold Harbor. It participated in all the battles in the Shenandoah Valley Campaigns and was active in the Appomattox Campaign. It lost thirty-six percent of the 322 engaged at Gettysburg, had 1 wounded at Bristoe Station and 2 killed at Mine Run. The unit surrendered 6 officers and 81 men. Its commanders were Colonels James T. Morehead and William
A. Owens, and Majors James J. Iredell and John W. Rierson.
| North Carolina Infantry Regiment Map |
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| North Carolina Infantry Regiment Map |
Advance to:
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. Continued
below...
John Barrett presents the
complete story of military engagements across the state, including the classical pitched battle of Bentonville--involving
Generals Joe Johnston and William Sherman--the siege of Fort Fisher,
the amphibious campaigns on the coast, and cavalry sweeps such as General George Stoneman's
Raid. Also available in hardcover: The Civil War in North Carolina .
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 says 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
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
History Buff's Guide to the Civil War (400 pages). Description:
Exploring the Civil War can be fascinating, but with so many battles, leaders, issues, and more than 50,000 books on these
subjects, the task can also be overwhelming. Was Gettysburg the most important battle? Were Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson
Davis so different from each other? How accurate is re-enacting? Who were the worst commanding generals? Thomas R. Flagel
uses annotated lists organized under more than thirty headings to see through the powder smoke and straighten Sherman’s
neckties, ranking and clarifying the best, the worst, the largest, and the most lethal aspects of the conflict. Continued
below...
Major sections are fashioned around the following topics:
• Antebellum: Investigates the critical years before the war, in particular
the growing crises, extremists, and slavery.
• Politics: Contrasts the respective presidents and constitutions
of the Union and Confederacy, the most prominent politicians, and the most volatile issues of the times.
• Military Life: Offers insights into the world of the common soldiers,
how they fought, what they ate, how they were organized, what they saw, how they lived, and how they died.
• The Home Front: Looks at the fastest growing field in Civil War
research, including immigration, societal changes, hardships and shortages, dissent, and violence far from the firing lines.
• In Retrospect: Ranks the heroes and heroines, greatest victories
and failures, firsts and worsts.
• Pursuing the War: Summarizes Civil War study today, including films,
battlefield sites, books, genealogy, re-enactments, restoration, preservation, and other ventures.
From the antebellum years to Appomattox and beyond, The History Buff’s
Guide to the Civil War is a quick and compelling guide to one of the most complex and critical eras in American history.
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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