444 NortH Caroiina Troops, 1861-’65. the Mexican war and of the great Civil War. The one was taken and the other left. The old veteran came out of both wars unscathed, and still living (1901), draws a pension for service in Mexico. The following extract is from General Order of Major- General Stevenson 23 March, 1865, relating to the part taken by the regiment in the battle of Bentonville: “N ever was more dash and gallantry displayed than was exhibited by Palmer’s Brigade in their successful assaults upon the breastworks of the enemy.” General Palmer, who is since dead, in a letter to the under- signed, in 1888, says: “The orders published by me at the time will show and it now gives me great pleasure to repeat that the Fifty-eighth and Sixtieth North, Carolina Regiments in this engagement behaved with distinguished gallantry, and won for them- selves a merited fame, which will last as long as the historic fields of Bentonville, will appear on the pages and in the annals still to be written of this grand old State, on whose soil her native sons have achieved such splendid distinction.” On 22 March the army was withdrawn to the railroad near Smithfield. While encamped here the Army of Tennessee was reorganized, and companies, regiments and brigades, all now very small, were consolidated. The Fifty-eighth and Sixtieth Regiments were designated as the Fifty-eighth and Sixtieth North Carolina battalion, with Lieut.-Col. Thaddeus M. Coleman and Major G. W. F. Harper as field officers. The army under General Johnston marched 10 April from Smithfield via Raleigh, and on the 16th encamped at Greens- boro. Here the regiment was selected as a guard for the large accumulation of North Carolina quartermaster’s stores. a duty that was faithfully discharged, the men being prio cally exempt from the demoralization which the pending sur- render so generally developed. At Greensboro the regiment was paid in Mexican silver dollars—one dollar and fourten cents to each officer and enlisted man present. There being no means of making change for the cents, the men, in groups of seven, drew for the surplus dollar. This pitiful amount was the only payment received for months, Firry-E1gHtH Re&GIMeEnt. 445 and was the first coin seen by many of the men during the war. General Johnston’s General Order No. 18, announc- ing the surrender of the army, was received 27 April. The paroles were received 2 May and distributed to the regiment, which immediately, as an organized body, marched to Statesville, where it disbanded—some marching to their homes in Ashe and Watauga counties, the greater num- ber taking the cars for Hickory and Icard Station, the latter then the terminus of the railroad. In the march from Greensboro one-third or more of the men, by order, retained their arms and forty rounds in the cartridge boxes. A small wagon carried a chest of reserve ammunition, a few rations, and after caring for any who might be sick, the blankets of the men. No excesses or dep- redations were committed, and the men cheerfully responded to the orders of their officers, to whom, as all knew, respect and obedience could no longer be enforced. The conduct of the rank and file of the regiment in the closing days of the war was in keeping with the fine soldierly qualities uniformly displayed by them throughout the long struggle, and reflects on all high credit and honor. On returning to their wasted homes, with rare exceptions, they proved themselves to be model citizens. A small fraction only of those who went forth in the sixties in response to the call of their country now (1901) survive— the others have joined the mighty and daily increasing host beyond the dark river, and there answer to the general roll call of the just and unjust. Truth will rise in triumph, and impartial history will surely tell to an admiring world the story of the heroic strug- gle and “how ye fell.” “Rest on embalmed and sainted dead.” * * * * * * * * ‘Nor shall your glory be forgot While fame her record keeps, Or honor points the hallowed spot Where valor proudly sleeps.” G. W. F. Harper. Lenor, N. C., 26 April, 1901.