2G Sy RS he eae one te

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

592 NortH Caroitwna Troops, 1861-’65.

guished political position. The rank and file were chiefly
farmers and small merchants, comparatively very few were
owners of slaves; but they were all descended from ancestors
whose fortunes and blood had been freely spent in the war
of the revolution; they volunteered in obedience to the call
of their State to resist invasion ; they came with a firm deter-
mination to do their full duty. How heroically they per-
formed this duty will more fully appear in the following
sketch.

FIRST ORGANIZATION OF THE REGIMENT.

As the law was at the time for organizing the Confederate
volunteers in North Carolina, the enlisted men elected their
company officers, viz: Captain, one First and two Second
Lieutenants. These company officers elected their field officers,
viz.: Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel and Major. The Colonel
appointed the regimental staff, viz.: Surgeon, Assistant Sur-
geon, Quartermaster, Commissary and Adjutant.

The election for field officers was held on 8 November,
1861, at Camp Mangum, near Raleigh, under supervision of
that gallant officer and cultured gentleman, Major James
Iredell, commandant of the camp, subsequently elected Major
of the Fifty-third North Carolina regiment, and killed
at Spottsylvania.

This election resulted as follows:

Rev. James Srycuarr, Colonel.

Marsuatt D. Craron, Lieutenant-Colonel.
Outver Cromwe tt Prrway, Major.

Colonel Sinclair was the Chaplain of the Fifth North
Carolina Regiment. It was reported that at the battle of the
First Manassas, 21 July, 1861, Chaplain Sinclair had acted
with conspicuous bravery; assisted in rallying his regiment;
and been complimented by General Longstreet and presented
with a sword by that officer. These rumors, believed at the
time, though false in fact, doubtless had some influence in
securing his election, but it was subsequently apparent,
that even in those stirring times, when patriotism was
ablaze, and men were eager to get to the front, and only

Tuirty-FirrH REGimMent. 593

wanted good leaders, there was opportunity for trading
votes.

Colonel Sinclair appointed as Regimental Surgeon, Cap-
tain James R. Ellis, of Company K; as Assistant
Surgeon, Second Lieutenant Cader G. Cox, of Company A;
as Quartermaster, First Lieutenant Wm. M. Black, of Com-
pany C, and as Commissary, First Lieutenant John T. Ken-
nedy, of Company I. T. J. Oates was appointed Adjutant.

Lieutenant-Colonel Craton was at the time of his election
Captain of Company A, in the Twenty-seventh North Caro-
lina Regiment, from Wayne county, and Major Petway was
the Adjutant of the camp of instruction where the regiment
was organized. He had been appointed to that position by
Major Iredell’s predecessor in command of the camp, Major
Harry K. Burgwyn.

Major Oliver Cromwell Petway was a cadet at the Vir-
ginia Military Academy at the breaking out of the war. He
was descended from the noted Crowell family of Halifax
county, North Carolina, whose ancestor was a brother of Oli-
ver Cromwell, after whose death and the restoration of Charles
the II, the family migrated to North Carolina, and dropping
the letter “m” went ever afterward by the name of “Crowell.”

Major Petway was admirably qualified for the position,
and labored most faithfully to bring his regiment to a high
state of efficiency. In his untimely death at Malvern Hill, 1
July, 1862, while gallantly leading his regiment, his Colonel,
Matt. W. Ransom, having been painfully wounded, the Con-
federacy lost one of its most meritorious young officers.

The regiment remained at Camp Mangum, perfecting its
drill and discipline, until 3 January, 1862, when, at the re-
quest of General Gatling, commanding the Department, it

was sent to New Bern to take part in the defense of that strat-
egetically important city.

BATTLE OF NEW BERN.

Having captured Roanoke Island (10 February, 1862)
General Burnside, early in March following, made his attack
on New Bern. That distinguished statesman, patriotic citi-

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