Excerpt from A Guide to Military Organizations and Installations, North Carolina, 1861-1865

North Carolina's military contribution during the Civil War has been difficult to decipher from the mass of records. Researchers find it hard to trace units from the State because of numerous and confusing designations. As battalions and regiments were organized and mustered into service, they we1°e given a line-number. These numbers ran consecutively. At the same time the battalion or regiment would receive a numerical designation according to its branch of service, or the nature and character of its organization. As usual, there were exceptions to this rule, and these are explained below. Add to the confusion created by double numerical designa tions, the local designations and names of commanding officers and the picture becomes more complex.

In 1903 the United States Government began to compile a service record for each Confederate soldier. Information pertaining to him was copied from Muster Rolls and other original records. In conjunction with the project three of the following tables were compiled. The fourth, Union Regiments, was compiled from records on file at the National Archives. These tables are necessarily incomplete because the original compilers were limited to records on loan to and in possession of the Federal Government. Additions have been made.

When the war broke out, the only military organization in the State, aside from a few volunteer companies, was the Militia. This organization embraced all white males between 18 and 45. Because of a long period of peace, the Militia was only organized on paper and had no practical existence.

When the Legislature assembled on May 1, 1861, it authorized Governor Ellis to raise ten regiments of State Troops before the State Convention met. Under the act, an Adjutant General and other staff officers were provided for to carry out the organization. Tle regiments were numbered consecutively as they were mustered into State service regardless of branch of service; however, the cavalry and artillery regiments were also numbered consecutively according to their branch. For example, the Ninth Regiment State Troops was also designated the First Cavalry Regiment, and the Tenth Regiment State Troops was designated the First Artillery Regiment.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.