336 Nortu CAROLINA TROOPS, 1861-65.

time, Captain Ballew, of Company F, resigned and bape
Lieutenant R. M. Tuttle was eae . beer ste
any, to become famous above all other comps t

ee the fact that every member ee pee:
ninety-one, was killed or wounded in the one 0 : =
burg. Captain Steele, of Company B, also Pie -
First Lieutenant Thomas J. Cureton became € mee
served most gallantly to the end. Lieutenants A a ; _
and N. G. Bradford were promoted to be Captains of C

panies H and I, respectively.
PETTIGREW S BRIGADE.

; +14 exy ¢ 7 s
i i ecome so ta military annals, wa
This brigade to become so famous in r same gy
composed of the Eleventh, Twenty-sixth, Forty- ‘

seventh and Fifty-second North Carolina peppargvade —
Of the commander of this brigade, later on in this

i i 7 time
a more extended notice will be given. He was, at es - =
of its organization, convalescent from the severe wot ah
ceived on 1 June, 1862, at the battle of Seven Neg dt
placed in command of Petersburg in = pea er col
i October, Nove
ing the months of September,
aie 1862, Pettigrew’s Brigade was either on duty in
Virginia or North Carolina. aes
The faithfulness with which Colonel Burgw erg
i i d its efficiency, and 1
the regiment, much improve pee
i sk one of the best drilled regiments pee ee
i i i he was ably seconde ;
his labors in this behalf, y se :
tenant-Colonel, John R. Lane, who manifested i
abilities as a drill master, and disciplinarian. eh Has
tion of drill, to which the excellent music of Captain aa
band greatly added, was a cause of just pride bi oe —
of the regiment, officers and men alike. gee sa =
man prouder of his regiment and of his band, considere

Shee
i Tirginia, than Colonel Bu

finest in the army of Northern V irg ;

gwyn,” writes a member of the regiment.

j 62.
RAWLS MILLS, 2 NOVEMBER, 18

Tw “si iment
The first opportunity afforded the Twenty ae cee
to show of what stuff it was made, acting in an

Twenty-SixtH REGIMENT. 337

command, occurred in the engagement at Rawls’ Mills, in
Martin County, N. C., in resisting General J. G. Foster’s
attempt to capture the regiment while on a reconnoissance in
the neighborhood of Washington, Beaufort County.

Tn his report of the expedition, General John G. Foster,

commanding the Federal troops in North Carolina, with
headquarters at New Bern, says he, set out on 31 October,

1862, from New Bern to capture the three regiments (Seven-
teenth, Twenty-sixth and Fifty-ninth North Carolina) forag-
ing through the Eastern counties of the State. He took three
brigades, 21 pieces of artillery and cavalry, with am
train, total 5,000 men.

On 2 November, 1862, Foster left Washington for Wil-
liamston. On the same evening he encountered the Twenty-
sixth Regiment at Little Creek. He says: “TI ordered Colo-
nel Stevens, commanding Second Brigade, to drive them
away. The engagement lasted one hour, when the enemy
being driven from their rifle pits by the effective fire of Bel-
ger’s Rhode Island Battery, retired to Rawls’ Mill. One
mile further on, where they made another stand in a recently
constructed field work, Belger’s battery and two batteries of
the Third New York artillery, after half an hour, succeeded
in driving the enemy from their works, and across the bridge,
which they burned. We bivouacked on the field, and next
day proceeded to Williamston.”

The only Confederate troops to oppose thesé 5,000 of Fos-
ter were six companies of the Twenty-sixth Regiment, under
Colonel Burgwyn. Leaving four companies under Lieuten-
ant-Colonel Lane, at Williamston, on the Roanoke river, Col-
onel Burgwyn started out on a reconnoissance to go as far as
Washington, N. ©. He stationed two companies at Rawls’
Mills, under Captain McLauchlin, of Company K, with or-

ders to fortify the position and proceeding with the remaining
four, reached the vicinity of Washington, N. C., just as Gen-
eral Foster was starting out to capture him.

Colonel Burgwyn had no cavalry or artillery. There were
two parallel roads leading out of Washington for William-
ston. Again, it was necessary to delay the Federal advance

22

ple wagon