26 Norto Carorina Troops, 1861-’65.

Company G was not heavy. The Federal loss exceeded the
entire number of Confederate troops engaged. Colonel
Spear retreated after burning one bridge instead of four. He
stated in the presence of his own command and that of Colo-
nel Hargrove that: “The resistance made by the Confed-
erates was the most stubborn he had known during the war;
that he supposed that he was fighting four hundred infantry
instead of eighty, and that his expedition had entirely failed
of its object, which was to cut General Lee’s communica-
tions with Richmond.” No more gallant fight was made dur-
ing the entire Civil War, than by Lieutenant-Colonel Har-
grove’s command. He won the admiration of both friend
and foe by his personal gallantry, and only surrendered when
overpowered and taken by sheer physical force.

General Pettigrew having been mortally wounded on the
retreat from Gettysburg, Colonel William Kirkland, of the
Twenty-first North Carolina Regiment, was promoted to
Brigadier-General and assigned to the command of Petti-
grew’s Brigade about 10 August, 1863.

ON THE MARCH.

The brigade left camp at Rapidan Station, where it had
been in cantonment, on 8 October, 1863, and marched rapidly
with a view of engaging General Meade at Culpepper Court
House. General Meade fell back and avoided a conflict at
Culpepper Court House, but was overtaken at Bristoe Sta-
tion. Here on 14 October, 1863, a bloody and disastrous
engagement was precipitated between Cooke’s and Kirkland’s
Brigades, and the bulk of Warren’s Corps, supported by a
powerful artillery with a railroad embankment as a fortifica-
tion. In this fight, so inopportune and ill-advised and not
at all in accordance with the views of General Lee, the Forty-
fourth Regiment greatly distinguished itself. Advancing
through an open field directly upon the line of fire of the
Federal artillery, it sustained a heavy loss without flinching.
Three different couriers rode up to the regiment and deliv-
ered a message to fall back. The order was disregarded and
the regiment moved steadily on under heavy fire of both artil-
lery and infantry, and when close upon the works, with the

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shout of victory in the air, only retreated under peremptory
orders from Lieutenant-General A. P. Hill. The loss of the
regiment in this engagement in killed and wounded was
large. This was the first time the conduct of the regiment
fell under the observation of Colonel William MacRae, of
the Fifteenth North Carolina Regiment, and afterwards its
brigade commander. He was struck with admiration at
the splendid conduct of the men, and often afterwards re-
ferred to their steady valor upon that field. It endeared
the regiment to him, for he loved brave men, and it became
his habit to frequently place himself with the colors of the
regiment for, said he: “If I am with the Forty-fourth Reg-
iment and am lost, I shall always be found to the fore-front
of the fighting.”

WILDERNESS.

General Lee having received information that General
Grant had commenced the passage of the Rapidan on the
night of 83 May, 1864, broke up his cantonments on the 4th
and prepared to meet him. The Forty-fourth North Caro-
lina, with Kirkland’s Brigade, left camp near Orange Court
House on the 4th and bivouacked the same night at Verdiers-
ville, about nine miles from the battlefield of the “‘Wilder-
ness.” Two roads led in parallel lines through the dense
thickets which gave its name to the territory upon which the
battle was fought. One was known as the Orange Plank
Road, and the other as the Turnpike. The Forty-fourth
marched by way of the Plank Road and became heavily en-
gaged about 2 o’clock of the afternoon of the 5th. The
right rested immediately upon the Plank Road, and next in
line to it, with its left on the road, was the Twenty-sixth
North Carolina Regiment. This immediate locality was
the storm-center of the fight, and it is doubtful if any more
violent and sanguinary contest occurred during the entire
Civil War than just here. The road was swept by an inces-
sant hurricane of fire, and to attempt to cross it meant almost
certain death. At this point of the line three pieces
of Confederate artillery were seriously menaced with
capture, the horses belonging to the guns having all been