hn W. Hinsdale, Colonel.
. w Poster French, Lieut.-Colonel.

SEVENTY-SECOND REGIMENT.

5. H.W. Connelly, 2d Lieut., Co. C.
6. J. M. Bandy, 2d Lieut., Co. E.
D. S. Reid, 2d Lieut., Co. K.

eer a6 tan. Or & C. W. Taylor, Orderly Sergt., Co. Cc.

. Jno. W. Harper,

2d Lieut., Co. C.
. %. J. L. McGimpsey, Private, Co. B.

SEVENTY-SECOND KEGIMENT.

(THIRD JUNIOR RESERVES.)

By JOHN W. HINSDALE, Cotonet.

It affords the writer pleasure to respond to the invitation
of Judge Walter Clark, himself a distinguished officer of the
boy-soldiers, to make a lasting memorial of the courage and
heroism of the brave and patriotic lads who composed the
Third Regiment of Junior Reserves, known since the war as
the Seventy.second Regiment of North Carolina Troops. It
is to be regretted that the task has not been performed at an
earlier day, before the stirring scenes in which these youths
took so conspicuous a part have faded into the dim outline of
a shadowy dream. Some inaccuracies must now necessarily
creep into this sketch. Fortunately, the writer was Assist-
ant Adjutant-General of Lieutenant-General Theophilus H.
Holmes, who commanded the Reserves of North Carolina,
and has in his possession many valuable records pertaining
to that office, access to which has been of great assistance in
the preparation of this regimental history.

It is deemed not inappropriate here to narrate some things
of a general nature concerning the Reserves.

The year 1863 closed with depression and gloom through-
out our young Confederacy. Missouri, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Tennessee and the Arkansas and Mississippi Valleys had
been lost. Vicksburg, with its ill-fated commander, had sur-
rendered. Gettysburg, in spite of the heroic efforts of Caro-
lina’s best and bravest, had been turned by Longstreet’s de-
fault into a Union victory. All of our ports had been block-
aded. Sherman with his army of bummers, was preparing
for his infamous march through Georgia and the Carolinas in
which he emulated the atrocities of the Duke of Alva, pro-
claiming as his excuse that “War is hell,” and violating, with
fire and sword, every principle of civilized warfare. Grant