502 Nortu Carorina Troops, 1861-’65.

Hill, without indorsing his high standing as a soldier and
a Christian gentleman. He had endeared himself to his com-
mand very warmly.

The advance of the Army of Northern Virginia into Penn-
sylvania was made not long after the battle of Chancellors-
ville. Ramseur’s Brigade occupied Carlisle barracks. In
moving to the field of Gettysburg we constituted the rear
guard of Rodes’ division train, which threw us on that field in
the afternoon of the first day. Our position was on the left
of Rodes’ line. We found the enemy behind stone walls,
from which we drove them into and beyond the town of Get-
tysburg. The fighting was of a desperate character, and ome
losses were heavy. On the second and third days Ramseur’s
Brigade was not seriously engaged and recrossed the Potomac
with the army.

During the winter of 1863-64 the following changes in the
staff of the Thirtieth were made: Adjutant Philips, who
had received a disabling wound at Kelly’s Ford in November,
1863, was appointed Captain and assigned to duty in the
spring of 1864 as Assistant Quartermaster in place of Wil-
liams, promoted. The regiment thus lost an excellent Adju-
tant, but duplicated a No. 1 Assistant Quartermaster. P.
W. Arrington, of Northampton, was appointed Adjutant in
place of Phillips, promoted. ;

No regiment was more fortunate in the efficiency of its
staff than was the Thirtieth.

The Winter was spent on the Rapidan, the line of the two
armies.

On 4 May, 1864, movements began which brought on the
battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and others. In all of
these, the Thirtieth shared the fate of Ramseur’s Brigade,
which was hard marching and hard fighting. The charge
of the brigade on 12 May, driving the Yankees from three
lines of works, is historic. The.loss of the Thirtieth in this
charge was heavy, both in officers and men. The losses on
19 May, as also at Second Cold Harbor were serious. On 19
May, the Colonel of the regiment received a wound which
disqualified him for active field service. The regiment was
subsequently commanded by the Senior Captain present, gen-

THIRTIETH REGIMENT, 503

erally by that fine soldier, Captain D. ©. Allen, of Com-
pany C.

In the pursuit of the Federal General Hunter down the
Valley of the Shenandoah, Captain Allen being absent from
indisposition, the Thirtieth was ably commanded by Captain
F. M. Fitts, who had been recently promoted on account of
gallant conduct on the field. No braver nor more dashing
an officer ever led men than was Captain Fitts.

An irreparable loss to the regiment should have been no-
ticed sooner. In an engagement at Kelly’s Ford in Novem-
ber, 1863, the regiment was commanded by Lieutenant-Col-
onel Sellers, who acted with his wonted coolness and courage,
but being outnumbered and exposed to a plunging fire of
artillery from the high banks of the Rappahannock, the regi-
ment was badly cut to pieces. On this field Colonel Sellers
offered his young life on the altar of his country. As gentle
as a lovely woman, as brave as the bravest, his loss was a sad
one to his State, to the army, and particularly to his own
regiment. He commanded the respect and love of the entire
command.

During the campaign of 1864, General Ramseur was pro-
moted to Major-General. His old brigade was, after that,
commanded by that accomplished, chivalrous soldier, Gen-
eral W. R. Cox, formerly Colonel of the Second North Car-
olina Troops. Cox’s Brigade constituted a part of General
Early’s command in the Shenandoah Valley, and in the
movement on Washington. In this campaign the loss of the
Thirtieth was very heavy. Among the officers who were
killed in battle was Captain Moore, of Company F. When
Moore fell, there was not a more gallant soldier left in the
Army of Northern Virginia.

The history of a brigade is generally the history of the
regiments composing it. The reports of the general officers
of the army bear evidence of the efficiency of Ramseur’s Brig-
ade. A prominent writer of our State, himself an accom-
plished gentleman and soldier, in writing of this brigade,
speaks of it as the “Ironsides of the army.” The lamented
Ramseur in parting with his old Brigade to assume a higher