522 Norru Carorina Troops, 1861~’65.

February, 1862, was ordered to Murfreesboro and other
places in the eastern part of North Carolina, where it re-
mained until May, when it returned to Virginia. After its
return to Virginia the battalion was stationed at Suffolk,
Petersburg and Drewry’s Bluff, at the latter place remaining
several weeks in the summer of 1862. While there the com-
panies composing this battalion, with the others above named,
were organized into the Thirty-second Regiment with E. C.
Brabble as Colonel, William T. Williams, Lieutenant-Colonel,
and D. G. Cowand, of Company A, as Major. Lieutenant-
Colonel Williams, a few months thereafter, resigned and,
Major Cowand succeeding him, Henry G. Lewis, also of
Company A, became Major. And at one time the singular
coincidence occurred (probably not in any other regiment in
either the Confederate or Union army) of every field officer
and every staff officer of this regiment—from Colonel Brab-
bie to Sergeant-Major Hardison—all being selected from the
same company. And again it was another singular coinci-
dence that all these officers were members of the same ( Epis-
copal) Church, and to their credit be it recorded that with
one exception, not one of them ever tasted spirituous liquors.

Probably no regiment in the Confederate service was more
fortunate in its field and staff officers, and the influence and
example of such sober, moral and religious officers had a most
salutary and beneficial effect upon the whole regiment, both
in camp and in battle. Colonel Brabble was a strict disci-
plinarian, yet humane and very considerate of the comfort of
his men, so that they all implicitly obeyed his orders and had
entire confidence in him, and in the midst of battle were un-
der perfect control. After his untimely death (he was killed
at Spottsylvania in May, 1864) he was succeeded by Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Cowand, who was as modest and gentle as a
maiden and yet as brave as the bravest—the model of a Chris-
tian soldier. For the last six months of the war Colonel Cow-
and commanded the brigade, to which the Thirty-second Reg-
iment belonged, and the regiment was without a field officer,
for Major Lewis had been wounded and captured at Gettys-
burg and was not released until after the close of the war.
The first Adjutant of the regiment was Dr. R. H. Parker,

THIRTY-SEcOND REGIMENT. 523

who was made Assistant Surgeon in 1863, and Sergeant
Francis A. Boyle, of Company A, was promoted to fill the
vacancy.

The brigade to which the Thirty-second Regiment was at-
tached was commanded by General Junius Daniel, who un-
doubtedly was one of the very best of Lee’s Brigadiers. The
other regiments of this brigade were the Forty-third, the
Forty-fifth, the Fifty-third and the Second North Carolina
Battalion, and this brigade remained unchanged throughout
the war, and was as fine a body of troops as ever marched to
battle. It was fortunate in its commanders, for after the
lamented death of General Daniel (who was killed at Spott-
sylvania) it was commanded by General Bryan Grimes until
he was promoted to the command of Rodes’ Division, and
then (as before stated) by Colonel Cowand until the sad sur-
render at Appomattox.

The Thirty-second Regiment, with the other regiments of
Daniel’s Brigade, was stationed near Petersburg and Drew-
ry’s Bluff during the fall of 1862 and did not take part in the
Maryland campaign. During this period the brigade was
thoroughly drilled and attained as high a state of efficiency
and discipline as any brigade in the Confederate army, as
was so conspicuously displayed in next year’s bloody cam-
paign, culminating at Gettysburg. In December the brigade
went into winter quarters near Drewry’s Bluff, but in a short
time (on 3 January, 1863), was removed to the eastern part
of this State, where it remained until 17 May. Although the
regiment while in this State was not engaged in any battle,
yet it rendered very arduous and effective service and partici-
pated in a few skirmishes. It was stationed near Kinston
for several weeks, but took an active part in the unsuccessful
expeditions against New Bern and Washington. The failure
of the expedition against New Bern (early in March) was
through no fault of Daniel’s Brigade, as was testified to by
General D. H. Hill (who commanded the expedition) in his
official report, in which he says that the part taken by Dan-
iel’s brigade “was highly satisfactory.” This brigade did its
full duty in the expedition against Washington, N. C., in
April, and the Thirty-second Regiment is said to have been