38 Norta CaroLtina Troops, 1861-’65.

Thomas McGehee Smith, Major of the regiment, was 4
splendid officer, beloved by the men of the regiment, and was
killed in one of the battles near Richmond which followed
the Spottsylvania campaign of 1864.

I have given this sketch of the field officers of the regiment
who served for any length of time with the regiment. Major
Andrew J. Boyd, a brother of Colonel Samuel H. Boyd, was
promoted from Captain of Company L, of the Twenty-first
Regiment, but did not long remain with the regiment. Chas.
E. Shober was promoted from Captain of Company B, but re-

mained Major of the regiment only a short time until he be .

came Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second North Carolina Bat-
talion.

In approaching the difficult task assigned me of writing a
true historical sketch of the Forty-fifth Regiment in this, the
year 1900, thirty-five years after the regiment laid down its
arms at Appomattox Court House, I find myself involved in
great difficulties. Very few of the officers of the regiment
are livg. In looking over the Roster of the non-commis«
sioned officers of the various companies, I find that they, too,
have nearly all passed away. Among the surviving private
soldiers of the various companies, there are very few, whose
whereabouts I can ascertain. I have little left but personal
recollection.

It will be seen that the men who composed this regiment
were drawn from four contiguous counties, Forsyth, Guil-
ford, Rockingham and Caswell. The officers who organized,
disciplined and prepared them for war were such as would
have made a good regiment out of almost any material. But
the men themselves, in the main, would have made good sol-
diers under almost any circumstances. The rank and file of
the regiment was composed of men from the farm, from the
shop, from the school room, from the office, from mercantile
pursuits, in fact from all the walks of life. Many of them
were without property, some of them the sons of the wealthy,
but most of them from the middle classes. I knew one young
private who was the owner of many slaves in his own right.

From the organization of the regiment in the early spring
of 1862 until the beginning of the seven days’ fight below

Forty-FirtH REGIMENT. 89

Richmond, the men were drilled almost incessantly. They
were upon the drill ground upon an average from six to
eight hours each day. When the first battle opened at Me-
chanicsville, Daniel’s Brigade was in camp near Petersburg.
We immediately struck tents and started for the field ; crossed
the James on a pontoon bridge above Drewry’s Bluff, and be-
came a part of the division of General Holmes. The brigade
did not encounter the enemy until late in the evening of 30
June. We marched down the river in almost blinding dust
until we reached a point between McClellan’s army, then en-
gaged in the battle of Frazier’s Farm, and the river.

The brigade was halted and the command was given for the
first time to load with cartridges. A few stray balls of the’
enemy were falling around the regiment. While the regi-
ment was loading its guns, a field battery opened fire directly
enfilading the line. At the same time a squadron of Confed-
erate cavalry stampeded up the road, threatening to trample
us under the feet of their horses. Just at this moment, two
gunboats, the Galena and another on the river directly behind
the line, opened fire with 160 pounders. This was, what has
always seemed to me, a poor way to break in a raw regiment.
The regiment thought so, and eight companies immediately
broke to the woods and “Stood not upon the order of their
going.” Two companies, commanded by Captain May and
Captain Jno. H. Dillard, rapidly disappeared up the lane.
Just as these eight companies climbed out of the road, which
was lower than the land on the sides, Private Harrison Green,
of Company K, was killed by a shell from one of the gunboats
and fell by the writer’s side. Private Jesse Sapp, of Com-
pany K, was run over and permanently disabled by the horse
of a frightened cavalryman. The eight companies did not go
far until they recovered from their fright, formed on the flag
and quietly marched back to a position near the point where
they had left the road, each man with his mouth full of ex-
euses for having lost his head. Just at this time the two com-
panies, commanded by Captains May and Dillard, came
marching down the lane with their two captains in
front and marched up to Colonel Daniel. Captain May
saluted the Colonel and said that Companies A and G had