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56th North Carolina Infantry Regiment
56th Infantry Regiment completed its organization in July 1862 at Camp Magnum, near Raleigh, North
Carolina. Its members were recruited in the counties of Northampton, Cumberland, Pasquotank, Camden, Orange, Cleveland, Alexander,
Rutherford, and Mecklenburg. The regiment conducted reconnaissance between Goldsboro, Wilmington, and Tarboro, and then
served on the Blackwater. Attached to M. W. Ransom's Brigade, it fought at Gum Swamp, Plymouth, and Drewry's Bluff, endured the hardships of the Petersburg trenches south of the James River, and fought the enemy around Appomattox. The regiment had 149 men captured at Gum Swamp, lost 4 killed and 84 wounded at Plymouth, and reported 90 casualties at Ware Bottom Church. Many were disabled at Sayler's Creek, and only 9 officers and 62 men surrendered with the Army of Northern Virginia. The field officers were Colonel
Paul F. Faison, Lieutenant Colonel G. Gratiott Luke, and Majors John W. Graham and Henry F. Schenck.
Advance to:
Recommended Reading: Across the Dark River: The Odyssey of the 56th
N.C. Infantry in the American Civil War. Description: The
56th was one of a few Confederate regiments that, in a three day and night battle, held Petersburg, Virginia, against Grant's
Army of the Potomac at bay until Lee could rush the Army of Northern Virginia to its assistance. The regiment played an important
part in all the battles in the Richmond-Petersburg area until the end of the war. These included The Crater, Globe Tavern,
Fort Stedman, Five Forks, and Sayler's Creek (aka Sailor's and Saylor's Creek). Continued
below...
And
it was represented by a handful of men at Appomattox Court House. During the last months of the war, the regiment was virtually
annihilated in the final battles around Petersburg and Richmond. But in its final destruction, it found itself as a stalwart
military unit -- as well as giving unexpectedly a final, more lasting message to modern America. And, as an added bonus,
the book describes these events in realistic detail.
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 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 .
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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