16 NortH Caro.tina Troops, 1861-’65.

1861, North Carolina seceded. Volunteer companies had
been formed all over the State, and, generally, waited for
State authority for mobilization. Some companies and reg-
iments, however, went to the front as soon as formed.

The Legislature which met 1 May provided for ten regi-
ments of State troops for the war, the officers appointed by the
governor and ten regiments of Volunteers for one year, the

officers elected by companies, and field officers elected by com- ~

pany officers.

Of the companies that assembled around Wilmington, on
the Cape Fear defences, four from the county of New Hano-
ver (three of them from Wilmington), two from Bladen, one
from Robeson, and one from Richmond were formed into the

Eighth Regiment of volunteers, viz:

Company A—Captain C. Cornehlson, Wilmington.
Company B—Captain Robert Tait, Bladen.
Company C—Captain Forney George, Columbus.
Company D—Captain William S. Norment, Robeson.
Company E—Captain John R. Hawes, New Hanover,
(now Pender).
Company F—Captain Charles Malloy, Richmond.
Company G—Captain Henry Savage, Wilmington.
Compeany H—Captain D. H. Gore, Columbus.
Company I—Captain O. P. Meares, Wilmington.
Company K—Captain George Tait, Bladen.

Of these companies A, G, and I were organized companies
many years before the war.

Company A, “The German Volunteers,” was the only com-
pany in the State of distinctively foreign citizenship. Com-
pany G, “The Wilmington Light Infantry,” and Company I,
“The Wilmington Rifle Guards,” being up on tactics, fur-
‘nished many officers for companies and regiments throughout
the State, and the personnel of their officers and men were
frequently changed. At one time Company I was composed
of one hundred men ranging from 16 to 22 years of age, and

only one married man among them.
Company F, “The Scotch Boys,” when mustered into ser-

EIGHTEENTH REGIMENT. 17

vice had 94 officers and men. Sixty of them were 6 feet to
6 feet 4 inches high, 24 over 5 feet 10 inches, 7 over 5 feet 8
inches, and 3 under 5 feet 8 inches, making an average height
for the whole company of 6 feet 134 inches, believed to be un-
precedented for so large a company, in the Confederate or
Federal armies, if it does not challenge the armies of the
world, for a company not especially selected.

Nine of the above companies were moved from their sev-
eral rendezvous to Camp Wyatt, named in honor of H. L. Wy-
att, the first soldier killed in regular battle in the Southern
army, on the lands of James Burriss, near the head of the
sound (about one mile from the present site of Carolina
Beach, a popular resort), and about 1 July elected field of-
ficers.

Major James D. Radcliff, who had been a principal of a
military school in Wilmington for several years, and was
then connected with the engineer department of the Cape
Fear defences, was elected colonel. Captain O. P. Meares,
Company I, was elected . lieutenant-colonel, and Captain
George Tait, of Company K, who was stationed at a bat-
tery near Federal Point lighthouse, was elected Major.

Charles D. Myers, of Company G, was appointed Adju-
tant; Anthony D. Cazaux, Company I, was appointed Cap-
tain, and A. Q. M.; Duncan MeNeill, Company F, Captain
and A. C. 8.; Dr. James A. Miller, Company G, Surgeon;
Dr. Charles Lesesne, Company K, Assistant Surgeon; Dr.
Simpson Russ, Company K, Assistant Surgeon; Rev. Colin
Shaw, Company K, Chaplain.

Colonel Radcliffe was an excellent drill master and disci-
plinarian, and soon had the regiment in good shape.

About the middle of September, Companies F and I were
sent to Fort Fisher, and Company K from its vicinity, was
sent across New Inlet channel to a battery on Zeke’s Island.
A few weeks later the other seven companies joined F and I
and engaged in laying the foundation of Fort Fisher, that
later proved to be one of the strongholds of the Confederacy.

Confusion arising from numbering both classes of troops
from 1 to 10, it was decided by the State authorities to change
the numbers of the volunteer regiments, enumerating them

2