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"Beyond the Tribute of Tears"
"It is
fitting and proper to put upon record at the outset of this sketch our
sincere and ardent thanks to the surviving officers and men of the
Fourteenth Regiment of North Carolina Troops for the unbroken constancy,
patient submission to discipline, uniform valor and good nature maintained
by them throughout the war between the Government and the Confederate
States. The dead of the regiment are beyond the tribute of tears."
"The Fourteenth Regiment of North Carolina
Troops, organized originally as the Fourth Regiment of North Carolina
Troops, was formed at Garysburg, N. C., early in June, 1861, and was
composed of patriotic and eager men and youths, who tendered their
services to the State to maintain the dignity and rights of the State in
the conflict then imminent."
"Of the one thousand four hundred officers
and men of the regiment borne upon the muster-rolls from the outbreak of
the war until Palm Sunday in 1865, when the pale flag of defeat drooped
over the guns which had upheld the life of the 'New Nation,' scarcely
fifty escaped wounds during their service." 1
Colonel R. T. Bennett
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Major
Battles & Links - Click on the battleflags below
to open a new window and visit these
sites. If you come across a broken link, please E-Mail us at
The14thNC@Yahoo.com |
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Peninsula Campaign -
Yorktown, Williamsburg |
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Leaders and
Battles - Siege of Yorktown |
Ample to
Whip the Whole Yankee Nation . . .
"General Magruder
with 10,000 to 15,000 men was expected to hold McClellan in check [at
Yorktown] until Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who was on his way from Manassas
via Williamsburg, could arrive to reenforce us. We built fires all along
the bank of the river at night and by marching showed our forces at
intervals betokening a large force. This ruse was successful till
reenforcements came, which to our inexperienced eyes seemed ample to whip
the whole Yankee nation." 2
William A. Smith
Depression . . .
"May 3 orders came to march. . . .
When we reached Williamsburg we knew that we were retreating, falling back
from Yorktown towards Richmond. Retiring from before McClellan was very
depressing. The rain, the mud, the fatigue and the lack of rations added
much to our depression. A night at Williamsburg with rations revived us
greatly. Early in the morning were ordered to fall in." 3
No Better Days Work . . .
"General [Joe] Johntson, being
severely wounded at Seven Pines, was disabled for duty and Gen. Robert E.
Lee was appointed by President Davis commander-in-chief of the Confederate
army. A better day's work never fell to the lot of the Confederate
president." 4 |
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Williamsburg (Fort
Magruder) |
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Civil War Talk -
Battle of Williamsburg |
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CWSAC Battle Summaries - Williamsburg |
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The Civil War Home Page - Peninsula Campaign |
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Leaders and
Battles - Seven Pines |
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Seven Days |
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Richmond
National Battlefield Park, Richmond, VA |
Malvern Hill . . .
"Turning to our diary we read, 'Our regiment has been
commanded by Capt. W. A. Johnson of Company A, the senior captain, Colonel
Roberts and Major Dixon having both died with the Chickahominy fever and
Lieutenant-colonel Bennett being sick of the same disease in the Epps
hospital in Richmond. Passing through White Oak swamp we slept in the mud
and water (meaning we stayed in the mud and water). Passed by Willis's
church. At Malvern Hill our brigade commander, General Anderson, was
wounded and retired from the field. Colonel Tew of the Second North
Carolina, took command of the brigade. In this battle many were killed,
more wounded. The dead were buried and the wounded conveyed to Richmond as
fast as conveyances could be obtained. On the morning of July 2 we found
the enemy had withdrawn during the night. Our dead and wounded lay thick
on the ground where they fell. Although the enemy had 300 guns massed on
the crest of the hill our boys thought that if Jackson had supported our
charge we would have pierced the center of the enemy's line and won a
great victory.'"5
"In the
furious, impetuous charge at Malvern Hill the color sergeant and every one
of the color guards were either killed or wounded. The writer was left on
the field, supposed to have been killed, but he was only desperately
wounded. About 10 o’clock he paid someone dollars for a canteen of water.
An hour afterward heaven in mercy poured out an abundance of water to the
great refreshment of the wounded. This boy was carried to a hospital in
Richmond, and from the hospital, by the good offices of our chaplain, he
was borne to the private home of Capt. Thomas Epps. Were he lay for six
months and never turned over, nursed back to health by his devoted mother
and sister and one of his messmates, who was detailed by his colonel for
that purpose. He was an honorable discharge, and to-day is recalling the
incidents and scenes of the great War Between the States, committing the
same to manuscript for the information and delectation of the reader and
the reader’s friends." 6 |
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"Battlefield
Tragedy, 1862,"
EyeWitness to History - History through the eyes of those who lived it |
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The Civil War
Home Page - Seven Days |
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Leaders and
Battles - Mechanicsville |
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Leaders and Battles - Gaines Mill |
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Leaders and Battles - Glendale /
Frasyer’s Farm |
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Leaders and Battles - Malvern Hill |
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Military History
Online - Malvern Hill |
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Sharpsburg |
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Leaders and Battles - South Mountain |
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Above, the North Carolina South
Mountain Monument, Boonesboro, MD.
Left-to-Right: Front of monument, back of monument, close up of
color-bearer. |
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Lee's Salvation . . .
"[General D. H. Hill] magnified his
division of 15,000 men and made McClellan believe Lee's whole army was
in his front. . . . Delaying McClellan at South Mountain was Lee's
Salvation." 7 |
Nature Was In Her Most Peaceful
Mood . . .
"The first great baptism of blood in
our regimental experience was at Sharpsburg. Our position in the "bloody
lane" has become historical and deserves immortality. In the most exposed
part of the lane the regiment held its ground, repelling every stroke of
the enemy from sunrise until late in the afternoon. It was a terrific
battle. Nature was in her most peaceful mood; the autumn sun was without
caprice. I watched the tide of this battle with intense interest while the
combatants thundered away. The open fields to the left oblique of our
regimental position was fought over with varying fortune. Now the flag of
the Government was on the summit of a hill for which all were striving,
then the tide went back and the ensign of the Confederate States was to
the fore." 8 |
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Brian Downey's Antietam on
the Web: |
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Brig. Gen.
G. B. Anderson's
N.C. Brigade & Its Regiments |
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Col.
Risden Tyler Bennett's After Action
Report for Anderson's Brigade |
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Military History
Online - Sharpsburg |
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BrothersWar.com
- Antietam / Sharpsburg |
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Antietam
National Battlefield
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Leaders and Battles - Sharpsburg |
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"Carnage
At Antietam, 1862,"
EyeWitness to History - History through the eyes of those who lived it |
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The Civil War
Home Page - Antietam (Sharpsburg) |
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U. S. CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS -
Sharpsburg |
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Fredericksburg |
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Fredericksburg National Military Park
-
The Battle of Fredericksburg, 1862 |
Extraordinary Felicity . . .
"There are moments in
battle of extraordinary felicity, not so much from success as from the very
grandeur of the situation. First Fredericksburg afforded such an occasion..
. . Here we had an opportunity to observe Major Pelham in charge of our
artillery. It was the opportunity of a life-time to see General Jackson and
hear him talk to this picturesque youth, who was manly and confident. He was
a handsome boy, faultlessly dressed, and told without affectation the story
of yesterday's dreadful ordeal. I ventured to ask General Jackson what to do
with some of my regiment for whom there was no room in the ditch. 'Put them
out of harm's way,' was the laconic answer. 'The enemy are gone, after a
fearful punishment; they stole away in the night.'"9 |
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A special series
of articles on the Battle of Fredericksburg written by Donald Pfanz |
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BrothersWar.com -
Fredericksburg |
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The Civil War
Home Page -
The Battle
of Fredericksburg |
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Leaders and Battles - Fredericksburg |
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U. S. CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS -
Fredericksburg |
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Chancellorsville |
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Fredericksburg National Military Park -
The Battle of Chancellorsville, 1863 |
An Avenue Peopled With Every Agency of Death . . .
"The accident
which struck down the corps commander [Stonewall Jackson] in the exultant
hour of victory did not stay the fierceness of the onset of our troops next
morning. Ramseur’s Brigade was ordered to replace some troops thrown into
confusion by the loss of their commander. Into the heavy timber, over
breastworks occupied by disordered and broken troops of different commands,
we went forward. As I looked back to the scene it reminded me of an advance
through a wide gate-way along an avenue peopled with every agency of death
and destruction. Shot and shell, buck and ball rained upon us. Nature
herself took part in the tumult; exploding missiles broke off the overhead
limbs of trees and discharged them in great loads upon those who in search
of cover crouched at their roots; the earth echoed their commotion. The
Fourteenth Regiment of North Carolina Troops never did more trying service
than it did this day, nor did the courage of the regiment in any battle,
except the awful day-long fight of 12th of May, 1864, appear fiercer or more
unrelenting. Lieutenant-Colonel William A. Johnston was very active and
impressed the command by his disregard of danger. The enemy, foiled at all
points, drew back his lines from Chancellorsville and planted them nearer
the fords of the river. Under orders the regiment returned to the
breastworks, having been saluted by General Robert E. Rodes and publicly
thanked on the field by him for its gallant conduct. It is impossible to
single out the name of any soldier of the regiment and say he was foremost
that day." 10 |
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A special
series of articles on the Battle of Chancellorsville written by Robert
Krick |
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BrothersWar.com -
Chancellorsville |
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Military History Online -
Chancellorsville |
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Leaders and
Battles - Chancellorsville |
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The Civil War
Home Page -
The Battle of
Chancellorsville |
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CWSAC Battle
Summaries - Chancellorsville |
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Coalition to Save
Chancellorsville Battlefield |
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U. S. CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS -
Chancellorsville |
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Gettysburg Campaign |
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Leaders and
Battles - Second Winchester |
We Beat Them Quickly . . .
"We came upon the battlefield about 2 o’clock in the afternoon of the first day. The enemy were then so far as our
brigade front, extended behind a strong stone wall, such as are used as
fences there. We assailed in front, the Fourteenth Regiment lapping their
right. We beat them quickly, capturing prisoners, with small loss to
ourselves. To our left the ground broke down from a high ridge to a level of
twenty-five acres. Over this ground the enemy was retreating in some order
before Doles’ Brigade and other troops. As we routed these people from the
stone wall a column of them, looking the size of a brigade, emerged from a
depression in the ground to our right and marched in very quick time along a
railroad embankment and track into
Gettysburg. I am not certain where these troops came from, but I suppose
they marched out of the railroad cut. May be they had withdrawn from the
very high ridge to the right of the railroad into the road-way as offering a
more protected line of retreat. The commander rode at their head and our
artillery harassed their rear. I could almost hear their bones crunch under
the shot and shell. It was a hot day and our men were much distressed by the
heat and work. We straggled into town and then formed as quick as possible.
Many of our command were overcome by the heat, and I go upon record now and
here as saying that immediate and effective pursuit of the enemy was out of
our power. The sharp-shooters of my regiment, under command of Lieutenant
Harney, pursued the enemy, and Harney captured with his own hand the colors
of the Sixty-eighth Michigan and sent the captured flag to President Davis
with his last breath. He was mortally shot in the bowels while in pursuit of
these men. I think he was as reliable as any officer of his rank in the
Confederate armies." 11 |
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Gettysburg National Military Park |
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Military History Online - Gettysburg |
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BrothersWar.com -
Gettysburg |
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The Civil War
Home Page -
The Battle of Gettysburg |
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The Battle of Gettysburg, 1863 - EyeWitness to History - History through the eyes of those who lived it |
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Lee's Retreat From
Gettysburg, 1863 - EyeWitness to History - History through the eyes of those who lived it |
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Report of Brig. Gen. S. D. Ramseur, on
the Gettysburg Campaign |
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U. S. CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS -
Gettysburg |
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Post-Gettysburg letter by Cpl. B. R.
Kinney, Co. D, 14th North Carolina Regiment. |
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Bristoe Station |
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CWSAC
Battle Summaries - The American Battlefield Protection Program |
The Yanks Had Double Lines . . .
"Had a sharp engagement here. The Yanks had double lines. One
beyond the railroad in full view and one in front concealed in the railroad
cut. [General A. P.] Hill failed to throw out skirmishers, formed his line
and advanced. About thirty steps from the railroad the Yankees rose and
poured into Hill a murderous fire and killed many of his men when those who
could, retreated. [After the battle] Hill asked Lee 'What he must do?'
Lee
said, 'Bury your unfortunate dead.'"12 |
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The
Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna |
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Fredericksburg
National Military Park -
The Battles of Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House |
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Supreme
Unselfishness and Inspired Action . . .
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"The situation was daily and nightly
strung up to the highest point of endurance. It was a relief to have an
engagement open all along the line as it did the 12th of May at Spottsylvania. This is to me the most memorable day of our war. It
opened with a serious reverse to our arms. General Ramseur’s Brigade was
at once formed on rising ground and the peril of the situation was open to
all as by sudden impulse. . . . Presently we went forward in battle order,
wheeling to the left, the Fourteenth Regiment to the left and the Thirtieth
Regiment the |
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Photo above courtesy of
Dan Janzegers |
extreme right of the brigade. We drove the enemy in confusion from the
first line of works and, taking a moment’s rest, rushed for the next and
stronger line, then held by the foe in great numbers. I record it with sore
grief, little softened by the lapse of years, that Tisdale Stepp, of the
Rough and Ready Guard, in the front rank, singing “The Bonnie Blue Flag,”
was shot dead by an awkward soldier in our rear rank. We reached the near
side of these works while the enemy received us on the other side, his teeth
firmly clinched for the struggle. I was told that the enemy pulled the
Adjutant of the Thirtieth Regiment over the works by the hair of his head
and captured him. The colors of one of the regiments was pulled out of the
color-bearer’s hands and carried off. The situation was extremely grave,
especially in front of the Thirtieth Regiment. They were doing all that
mortal men could do to stem the fierce course of the
battle. Their brave, modest, high-minded Colonel
has been disabled in the advance. I asked General Ramseur’s leave to go with
my command to the right half of the brigade and succor them if possible. He
was a very brave officer, but hesitated hoping some turn of fortune might
relieve us without the awful risk of this movement. Presently he told me to
do as I liked. Communicating to the regiment the odds about to be faced, we
went down the line and drove into the traverses by
a front of
fours. Out of there we
expelled the enemy, giving him cold steel and other reforms. . . About the
middle afternoon a red oak many inches in diameter yielded to the storm of
missiles and fell to the ground. A section of this tree, the lap of which
brushed when falling a few yards from my regiment, is preserved at the war
office of the enemy in Washington City. . . Every part of our line taken by
the enemy in the early hours of the day was recovered before sundown except
the arch of the horse-show. There was not a man in my regiment this day who
was not of heroic mold . . . I wish it was possible in our poor human speech
to express the supreme conduct of the men and officers of the Fourteenth
Regiment on this day, which seemed to be the day of supreme unselfishness
and inspired action." 13
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The
Civil War Home Page - The Wilderness |
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U. S. CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS - The
Wilderness |
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The Civil War
Home Page - Spotsylvania Courthouse |
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U. S. CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS -
Spotsylvania |
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The Civil War
Home Page - North Anna |
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U. S. CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS -
North Anna |
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1864 Shenandoah
Valley Campaign |
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Leaders and
Battles - Monocacy |
Detached to the Valley
"When General Hunter threatened Lynchburg by
his advance up the Valley, the Fourteenth Regiment was part of the troops
detached to meet his incursion. The command made the campaign to
Washington City under the astute, brave, capable, loyal and great [General
Jubal] Early. I
was with him when fortune gave him victory and with him when fortune
betrayed his courage. I wish to do some measure of justice to this famous
captain as I saw him and, as I remarked, his cunning as a strategist, his
daring as a man and his fortitude in defeat. No more faithful,
great-hearted and unselfish citizen served our blessed cause in the four
years spent in blood and agony in the honorable endeavors to preserve for
and transmit to those who come after us the spirit of the Constitution of
the United States in its integrity, unsoiled by greed or dishonoring
circumstances, and to vouchsafe to mankind here the inestimable liberty of
local self-government. Poorly equipped and with paucity of numbers, he
kept Sheridan back; with eight thousand muskets he parried forty thousand.
May be time and the spirit of philosophy, the sense of justice and the
progress of the human mind will bring thoughtful men to realize how true
to constitutional principle the leaders in the Confederate movement were." 14 |
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Monocacy National
Battlefield |
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U. S. CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS -
Monocacy |
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Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley
1863-1865 |
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Shenandoah
Battlefields National Historic District -
Campaign Year 1864 |
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Petersburg
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Petersburg
National Battlefield
Petersburg, VA |
"Noble Remnants"
"The incessant watch in the trenches about Petersburg,
through the winter of 1864-'65, was shared by the Fourteenth Regiment of
North Carolina Troops. When the enemy made the irruption of our lines the
regiment was part of the 'noble remnants' in retreat, fighting daily
rear-guard actions with the forces of the government." 15 |
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U. S. CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS -
Petersburg |
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Appomattox
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The
Civil War Home Page |
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N. C. Monument at Appomattox Courthouse |
What Does Surprise Us . . .
"When we contemplate the vast difference in numbers, in armament, in supplies
and all the paraphernalia of war we are not surprised at Appomattox. What
does surprise us is, and is incomprehensible, it took four long years to
reach Appomattox." 16 |
The Supreme Hour . . .
"On the night before the surrender the command lay near
Appomattox. On the morning of Appomattox the regiment formed in battle
line under command of Lieutenant John W. McGregor, the brigade being in
charge of Major Scales, the only field officer then present for duty. The
command charged at double and captured the enemy's battery, scattering the
supports of cavalry. We lost Ivey Ritchie, a brave and dutiful man,
killed, and Atlas Dargan Lowery and Lieutenant John W. McGregor, wounded.
. ."
"The supreme hour which comes to men and nations was at
hand. Eight thousand and odd muskets were surrendered. Of this number the
paroles of the Fourteenth Regiment of North Carolina Troops . . . numbered
one hundred and seven." 17 |
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CWSAC Battle
Summaries - Appomattox |
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"Surrender
at Appomattox, 1865," EyeWitness to History - History through the eyes of those
who lived it |
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Appomattox
Court House National Historical Park
Appomattox, VA |
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U. S. CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS -
Appomattox |
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Footnotes:
1Bennett,
Colonel R. T. “Fourteenth Regiment.” In Histories of the Several
Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-’65,
Vol. 1. ed. Walter Clark. Wilmington, North Carolina: Broadfoot Publishing
Company, 1991, 705-706.
2Smith, Maj. W. A. The Anson Guards, Company
“C”, Fourteenth Regiment, North Carolina Volunteers, 1861-1865.
Wilmington, North Carolina: Broadfoot Publishing Company, 1999, 45.
3Ibid., 58-59.
4Ibid., 81.
5Ibid,
130.
6Ibid,
118.
7Ibid, 95.
8Bennett, 712.
9Ibid, 713.
10Ibid, 715-716.
11Ibid, 719.
12Smith,
216-217.
13Bennett,723-725.
14Ibid
727.
15Ibid
728.
16Smith,
45.
17Bennett,
729.
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