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294 Norra Carotina Troops, 1861-’65.

of the winter, doing picket duty, drilling and building fortifi-
cations. 14 March, 1862, the regiment left Grahamville for
New Bern, N. C., but before reaching that point the city had
been taken and the regiment met the retreating Confederate
troops at Kinston, where it went into camp and remained
until after the reo-rganization, being attached to the bri-
gade commanded by General Robert Ransom, which consisted
of the Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, Thirty-
fifth and Forty-ninth North Carolina Regiments. At the re-
organization Clingman was re-electel Colonel, Lieuten-
ant-Colonel Dearing being a professional soldier ob-
jected to again taking a second place in the regi-
ment and retired from the command. Major Rutledge
was elected Lieutenant-Colonel and Captain 8S. C. Bry-
son of Company ©, elected Major. Colonel Clingman was
soon promoted Brigadier-General, Rutledge to Colonel; Bry-
son to Lieutenant-Colonel, and Captain Francis of Company
D, to Major.

On 24 June, 1862, the regiment reached Richmond,
Va., as a part of General Robert Ransom’s brigade;
by sunrise of the 25th it was on the march towards the front
and to join the division of General Huger, which was then en-
gaged at Seven Pines on the Williamsburg road. There was
heavy firing of artillery and musketry in front. It had at
last come in hearing of the true music of war. About one-half
mile from the line the regiment was ordered to double quick.
It was thrown in line on the immediate left of the Williams-
burg road, and when within range of the enemy the regi-
ment halted, the front rank at the command fired and fell to
the ground, the rear rank fired over them, then with bayo-
nets fixed we raised the rebel yell and charged; the enemy
gave way and the ground which had been lost in the morning
was retaken. The enemy opened a heavy fire of musketry
and three times tried, without effect, to retake their lines. At
6 o’clock p. m. a heavy fire of grape was opened on the regi-
ment without demoralizing or moving it. It was relieved at
dark. Major-General Huger in his report of this battle
says: “The Twenty-fifth Regiment (Colonel H. M. Rut-
ledge) was pushed to the left of the Williamsburg road,

Twenty-Firta REGIMENT. 295

where the enemy had advanced, and drove them back in gal-
lant style.” The loss of the regiment was two killed and forty
wounded. Private B. B. Edmondson was promoted to Ad-
jutant of the regiment for gallantry on the field. General Rob-
ert Ransom commended, in his report of the engagement, the
officers and men of the regiment.

The regiment was on several occasions, during the suc-
ceeding days, under fire. On 2 July at Malvern Hill late
in the evening it made a charge, but for want of sup-
port and on account of a galling fire, it was ordered back, and
with other regiments of the brigade, was reformed under
cover by General Robert Ransom, and again advanced to
within one hundred yards of the enemy’s guns and line, when
the men raised a yell and charged in the face of a perfect
sheet of fire from musketry and artillery, without wavering,
to within twenty yards of the enemy’s guns, some going even
nearer. At this point General Ransom discovered that he
was not supported and that the enemy were heavily massed,
very greatly outnumbering his men. Unwilling to sacrifice
his men in a hopeless charge and dark coming on he withdrew
from the attack. In his report of the battle he speaks in the
highest terms of praise of the conduct of the officers and men,
commending especially the courage and coolness of Colonel
Rutledge and Major Francis. The Colonel was stunned by a
bursting shell and the Major wounded. The regiment’s loss
was ninety-three in killed and wounded. After the battle of
Malvern Hill General Ransom had full confidence in the
fighting qualities of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, and the men
of the regiment had full confidence in him as a careful, cour-
ageous and skillful leader in battle. It was only in camp
and on the march that any difference existed between the men
and their General; this existence amounted to positive dis-
like, in some instances hate. The men of the Twenty-fifth
Regiment would not have exchanged General Robert Ran-
som as a leader in battle for any General in the Army of
Northern Virginia. His mastery of military tactics, cool-
ness on the field, and judgment of ground enabled him to
place his men in action with great rapidity and comparative
safety, until they were ready to do execution. If he had un-