548 NortH Caroxtina Troops, 1861-65.

able to state unhesitatingly that they do. I happen to know
that Colonel Means has in his possession full notes and official
reports of nearly all the actions and incidents alluded to, and
I think he has used his material wisely and impartially. Of
course in mere “sketches” there must be many omissions;
and yet Colonel Means has so grouped his facts as to give a
very vivid picture of the achievements of the North Carolina
Cavalry. People wonder that the cavalry accomplished so
much. And it surely afforded me great pleasure to see my
comrades in arms so fully and ably vindicated. Colonel
Means, though a mere boy when he volunteered, was allotted
to my headquarters after some service as a private in the
Fifth Cavalry Regiment and bore a gallant and conspicuous
part in most of the movements recounted and he does but jus-
tice to the North Carolina troops when he claims for the
North Carolina Cavalry Brigade a heroic place in the glori-
ous record of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Respectfully and truly yours,
Rourvus BarrineER,
Brigadier-General North Carolina Cavalry.

After acknowledging to the editor “copies of the Concord
Sun containing sketches of the North Carolina Cavalry Bri-
gade,” Colonel W. H. Cheek, in part, wrote thus:

“These articles I have read with much interest, and I am
glad to see that some of the daring deeds of that brave com-
mand are being put in print and transmitted to posterity. If
thorough discipline, cool courage, dash and reckless daring
are qualities that adorn and beautify the name of soldier,
then this North Carolina Cavalry Brigade and especially the
First North Carolina Regiment has a rich legacy of fame to
bequeath to coming generations.

“Of the correctness of your correspondent as to the part
taken by the several regiments composing the brigade in the
different engagements he describes, I suppose and believe
that in the main he is generally correct.”

Of course you could not get any officer or man of the First
to praise the brigade without his giving a special tribute of
his love to the First. No more than you could get an officer

Srxry-THIRD REGIMENT. 549

or man of the “Tenth Legion” to praise the then conquering
forces of the world without his saying just a little more for
that wonderful legion than he could for all the armies of
Rome. But it is a beautiful and pardonable pride which
every officer and man of the other three regiments salutes as
the ‘Old First’’ passes in review.

It is presumed that the readers of these volumes, entitled
“North Carolina Regiments, 1861-65,” will be intelligent
investigators of history. All such will want to know each
writer’s authority for his statements. I have, therefore,
given mine, and in preparing this paper on the foregoing
bases, my highest aim has been to follow the direction of
Judge Walter Clark, the editor of this work, as to accuracy.
On 8 August, 1901, he wrote me about this paper: “Be
sure your history is accurate and reads well afterwards.”
By which, of course, he meant sacrifice style and everything
to truth. I answered him 9 August: “You struck the key-
note of my whole purpose in your words about accuracy. I
prove all things.”

I am especially indebted and gratified to General F. C.
Ainsworth, Chief of Record and Pension Bureau, War De-
partment, Washington, D. C., for invaluable aid in finding
some records I refer to.

THE REGIMENT ORGANIZED AS REGULAR CAVALRY.

All the companies of the regiment and the names of their
officers and men are given with some accuracy in Moore’s
‘Roster of North Carolina Troops,” Volume IV, beginning
at page 21 under the title of the “Sixty-third Regiment.” A
perfect roster of all North Carolina regiments is being pre-
pared by the United Confederate Veterans of North Carolina
through Dr. B. F. Dixon, now State Auditor. To these ros-
ters I refer the reader for information about companies,
without attempting it here from imperfect data.

There was an act of the Confederate Congress, approved
21 April, 1862, “to organize bands of Partisan Rangers.”
Under this act some of the companies of the Sixty-third
(Fifth Cavalry) enlisted. Captain N. P. Rankin, of Com-
pany I, in a sketch of this regiment, published in the Frank-