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4 Norru Carorina Troops, 1861-65.

J. M. Palmer, commanding at New Bern under date of Feb-
ruary 7, 1864.

“Martin performed his part well.”

The great campaign of 1864 was now about to open and
the desperate struggle to capture the capital of the Confed-
acy to begin. Grant crossed the Rapidan on the 4th of
May, with his army of 140,000 men and moved overland
upon Richmond. Butler, with 30,000 men and a large naval
armament, ascended the James and occupied the Bermuda
Hundreds Peninsula, threatening both Richmond and

Petersburg. To meet this movement the Confederate forces -

operating in North Carolina with troops from South Caro-
lina and Georgia were rapidly concentrated at Richmond and
Petersburg and placed under General Beauregard’s com-
mand,

On the 11th of May, the Seventeenth (1,100 strong) fol-
lowed by the Forty-second and Sixty-sixth N. C., marched
through the streets of Petersburg with their bright bayonets:
reflecting the morning sunlight to join in the mighty struggle
then impending. The battle of Drewry’s Bluff on the 17th
resulted in forcing Butler back upon his fortified base at Ber-
muda hundreds. On the 20th the Confederates were or-
dered to assault this line of entrenchments. Martin’s bri-
gade was upon the extreme Confederate right, and the Seven-
teenth, N. C., was Martin’s right regiment so it devolved
upon this regiment to lead the assault. Then its thorough
drilling and discipline proved of great value. Emerging
from the woods into the open field with unbroken front and
without a halt, at double quick step, its onset was not stopped.
until the enemy’s works were won and the Confederate ban-
ner waved in triumph over Butler’s stronghold. The charge
was taken up along the line with equal gallantry and success
and Butler’s forces were driven to shelter under the pro-
tection of their gunboats in the James and Appomattox.
Thus the “bottling up of Butler,” so graphically detailed by
General Grant, was complete. The regiment suffered very
heavily in this assault, losing about 175 officers and men,
killed and wounded. The brave and youthful Lieutenant-

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0 REE PELE RS RN TELE ES ENT NEE I NIT LOT LE OES BPI ETN REIL

SEVENTEENTH REGIMENT. 5

Colonel Lamb fell mortally wounded upon the enemy’s works
and died a few days thereafter.

Our fighting commissary, Captain L. D. Starke, now of
Norfolk, Va., is entitled to special notice, having sent his
wagons to the rear and joined the boys in the front, and par-
ticipated in the battle with distinguished bravery. A more
gallant soldier never lived.

By the death of Colonel Lamb, Major Sharp became Lieu-
tenant-Colonel, and Captain Lucius J. Johnson, Company L,
became Major.

A division was created for General R. F. Hoke composed
of the brigades of Martin, Colquitt, Hagood and Clingman
and was ordered to report to General R. E. Lee.

The battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania had been
fought, and Grant in his turning movement had ordered
Sheridan’s cavalry, supported by Warren’s Corps, to seize
the heights at New Cold Harbor.

“Anderson came up on the first of June, with Kershaw’s
and Hoke’s Divisions, and attacking Sheridan drove him
back toward Old Cold Harbor, and secured the heights around
New Cold Harbor and Gaines’ Mill, which he at once pro-
ceeded to fortify.” The importance and value of this suc-
cess can only be realized when it is understood that had
Grant’s order been carriéd out the Federals would have occu-
pied the ridge, and the Confederates, instead of defending,
would have been compelled to assail them, inasmuch as it was
the key to the Confederate Capital. The great and decisive
battle of Cold Harbor, on 3 J une, followed these prelim-
inary engagements, and resulted in the bloodiest repulse
of the Federals known in the history of the war. The Seven-
teenth was upon the right of the line, and supported Grandy’s
(Va.) battery. In its front the enemy’s dead were so thickly
strewn that one could have walked on their bodies its whole
extent. In this battle Lieutenant M. A. Cotten and Private
Benjamin Andrews greatly distinguished themselves, bring-
ing into our works the flag of a New York regiment, of Ty-
ler’s Brigade. The enemy assaulted our lines several times,
and during the interval between the assaults, this flag was
brought in and temporarily planted upon our works. This