Regardless of statues, we all have a bright future. If you don’t believe it, I feel pity for you.
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I’ve always been more of a fan of Shelbyville
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I said what I said…
Don’t investigate too much on the namesake for all those Shelby’s.
Do we have a timeline or placement for the new AA monument?
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Y’All, I told a fib. I’m not done with this idea. But, first a little history for you to chew on tonight. More later.
North Carolina and the American Civil War
North Carolina joined the Confederacy on May 20, 1861. It was the second-to-last state to leave the Union. While seven states from the Deep South seceded as a direct result of Abraham Lincoln’s election to the presidency, North Carolina joined Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas in initially choosing to remain within the Union. After Confederate forces in Charleston, South Carolina fired on the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter in April 1861, however, the state’s position changed dramatically. When Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to crush the rebellion of the southern states that had seceded, North Carolina opted to become one of the eleven states of the Confederacy rather than fight against its neighboring states.
Though the state had officially joined the Confederacy, North Carolinians remained divided over whether to support the Union or Confederate war efforts throughout the Civil War. A large proportion of the state’s white population supported the Confederacy; of the approximately 150,000 white men in North Carolina between the ages of 15 and 49 when the Civil War began, almost 125,000 (or more than 80 percent) served in the Confederate Army at some point during the war. Over the course of the war, 24,000 of these men deserted their military units. These numbers only partly reveal the extent of Confederate loyalty in North Carolina, however. In 1862, the Confederate national government passed the first in a series of conscription acts, requiring that physically able men of military age serve in the army. While many of North Carolina’s Confederate soldiers volunteered for service because of a personal commitment to the Confederate cause, others joined the army under threat of imprisonment or death if they refused.
https://www.ncpedia.org/history/cw-1900/civil-war
http://www.nccivilwar150.com/troops/nctroops.htm
Figure 1 – North Carolina Confederate Soldier
The actions of the North Carolina units have been well-documented elsewhere and details of which go beyond the limits of this particular software/blog. The state provided more men (133, 905) for the Confederate cause, than any other state. This number comprised approximately one-sixth of the Confederate fighting force. Of that number, one sixth (approximately 20,000) became casualties of war. Disease took approximately 20,000 Tar Heels lives, too. According to historian Paul Escott, the state “had only about one-ninth of the Confederacy’s white population,” yet “it furnished one-sixth of its fighting men.” In sum, 30-percent (approximately 40,000) of those fighting for the Confederacy died during the war.
Military units from North Carolina in the Civil War
Artillery — Battalions and Batteries
1st Battalion N.C. Heavy Artillery (4 companies)
10th N.C. State Troops / 1st N.C. Artillery (11 companies)
36th N.C. Troops / 2nd N.C. Artillery (18 companies)
3rd Battalion N.C. Light Artillery (5 companies)
40th N.C. Troops / 3rd N.C. Artillery (14 companies)
10th Battalion N.C. Heavy Artillery (4 companies)
13th Battalion N.C. Light Artillery (6 companies)
Capt. Abner A. Moseley’s Company (Sampson Artillery)
Cavalry — Battalions and Regiments
9th N.C. State Troops / 1st N.C. Cavalry (10 companies)
19th N.C. Troops / 2nd N.C. Cavalry (10 companies)
41st N.C. Troops / 3rd N.C. Cavalry (10 companies)
4th Battalion N.C. Cavalry
59th N.C. Troops / 4th N.C. Cavalry (10 companies)
5th Battalion N.C. Cavalry (4 companies)
63rd N.C. Troops / 5th N.C. Cavalry (10 companies)
65th N.C. Troops / 6th N.C. Cavalry (11 companies)
7th Battalion N.C. Cavalry (7 companies)
69th N.C. Troops / 7th N.C. Cavalry (10 companies)
8th Battalion N.C. Partisan Rangers (6 companies)
12th Battalion N.C. Cavalry (3 companies)
15th Battalion N.C. Cavalry (2 companies)
16th Battalion N.C. Cavalry (9 companies)
McRae’s Battalion N.C. Cavalry (5 companies)
Capt. Howard’s Company N.C. Cavalry
Capt. Spencer’s Independent Company N.C. Cavalry
Capt. Swindell’s Company N.C. Partisan Rangers
Infantry — Battalions and Regiments
1st N.C. Infantry - 6 months, 1861 (12 companies)
1st Battalion N.C. Infantry
1st Battalion N.C. Sharpshooters (2 companies)
1st Battalion N.C. Local Defense Troops / Whitford’s Battalion N.C. Partisan Rangers (9 companies)
1st N.C. State Troops (10 companies)
2nd Battalion N.C. Infantry (8 companies)
2nd Battalion N.C. Local Defense Troops (7 companies)
2nd N.C. State Troops (13 companies)
3rd N.C. State Troops (10 companies)
4th N.C. State Troops (10 companies)
5th N.C. State Troops (10 companies)
6th N.C. State Troops (10 companies)
7th N.C. State Troops (10 companies)
8th N.C. State Troops (10 companies)
[9th N.C. Troops / 1st N.C. Cavalry]
10th N.C. State Troops / 1st N.C. Artillery
11th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
12th N.C. Troops (17 companies)
13th Battalion N.C. Infantry (4 companies)
13th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
14th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
15th N.C. Troops (13 companies)
16th N.C. Troops (13 companies)
17th N.C. Troops / 1st Organization (11 companies)
17th N.C. Troops / 2nd Organization (11 companies)
18th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
[19th N.C. Troops / 2nd N.C. Cavalry]
20th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
21st N.C. Troops (12 companies)
22nd N.C. Troops (12 companies)
23rd N.C. Troops (10 companies)
24th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
25th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
26th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
27th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
28th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
29th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
30th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
31st N.C. Troops (10 companies)
32nd N.C. Troops (14 companies)
33rd N.C. Troops (10 companies)
34th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
35th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
[36th N.C. Troops / 2nd N.C. Artillery]
37th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
38th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
39th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
[40th N.C. Troops / 3rd N.C. Artillery]
[41st N.C. Troops / 3rd N.C. Cavalry]
42nd N.C. Troops (11 companies)
43rd N.C. Troops (10 companies)
44th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
45th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
46th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
47th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
48th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
49th N.C. Troops (11 companies)
50th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
51st N.C. Troops (10 companies)
52nd N.C. Troops (10 companies)
53rd N.C. Troops (10 companies)
54th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
55th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
56th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
57th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
58th N.C. Troops (12 companies)
[59th N.C. Troops / 4th N.C. Cavary]
60th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
61st N.C. Troops (10 companies)
62nd N.C. Troops (10 companies)
[63rd N.C. Troops / 5th N.C. Cavalry]
64th N.C. Troops (13 companies)
[65th N.C. Troops / 6th N.C. Cavalry]
66th N.C. Troops (11 companies)
67th N.C. Troops (11 companies)
68th N.C. Troops (10 companies)
[69th N.C. Troops / 7th N.C. Cavalry]
70th N.C. Troops / 1st Junior Reserves (10 companies)
71st N.C. Troops / 2nd Junior Reserves (10 companies)
72nd N.C. Troops / 3rd Junior Reserves (10 companies)
73rd N.C. Troops / 4th Reserves
74th N.C. Troops / 5th Reserves
[75th N.C. Troops — Officially remained 16th Battalion N.C. Cavalry]
76th N.C. Troops / 6th Reserves
77th N.C. Troops / 7th Reserves (8 companies)
78th N.C. Troops / 8th Reserves (10 companies)
Millard’s Battalion — Junior Reserves
Figure 2 – North Carolina conscripted slave
The lives of Southern black people changed immeasurably during the war years. In the midst of a see-saw struggle that promised freedom as well as desolation, these men, women, and children made difficult and highly personal decisions in extraordinary circumstances.
Many Southern slaves took advantage of the fog of war to escape towards freedom. Before the Emancipation Proclamation was officially adopted, these escapes usually meant congregating around the Union armies that were operating in Southern territory. Vast columns of escaped slaves followed almost every major Union army at one point or another. These people, sometimes called “contrabands,” as in “confiscated enemy property,” frequently served as scouts and spies for the Union soldiers.
When the Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, Union forces had regained control of large swaths of the South. Although many now claim that the Proclamation was effectively useless because it established policy for a foreign nation, the practical reality is that the Union, by force of arms, had every necessary power to establish policy in its occupied territories, just as Confederate armies exercised their power to capture and enslave free black people during their brief occupations of Northern territories.
After the Proclamation, the refugees in the contraband camps, along with free black people throughout the North, began to enlist in the Union Army in even greater proportion than Northern white men. After some time in legal limbo, many Southern black men took up arms against their former masters and distinguished themselves on campaign and on the battlefield. By the time the war was over, black soldiers made up 10% of the Union Army and had suffered more than 10,000 combat casualties.
Some black Southerners aided the Confederacy. Most of these were forced to accompany their masters or were forced to toil behind the lines. Black men were not legally allowed to serve as combat soldiers in the Confederate Army–they were cooks, teamsters, and manual laborers. There were no black Confederate combat units in service during the war and no documentation whatsoever exists for any black man being paid or pensioned as a Confederate soldier, although some did receive pensions for their work as laborers. Nevertheless, the black servants and the Confederate soldiers formed bonds in the shared crucible of conflict, and many servants later attended regimental reunions with their wartime comrades.
This is not to say that no black man ever fired a gun for the Confederacy. To be specific, in the “Official Records of the War of the Rebellion,” a collection of military records from both sides which spans more than 50 volumes and more than 50,000 pages, there are a total of seven Union eyewitness reports of black Confederates. Three of these reports mention black men shooting at Union soldiers, one report mentions capturing a handful of armed black men along with some soldiers, and the other three reports mention seeing unarmed black laborers. There is no record of Union soldiers encountering an all-black line of battle or anything close to it.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/black-confederates
https://acwm.org/blog/myths-misunderstandings-black-confederates
https://www.theroot.com/yes-there-were-black-confederates-here-s-why-1790858546
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Figure 3 – North Carolina Union Soldier
From the beginning of the Civil War, several thousand North Carolinians, especially those living in the state’s coastal and mountain regions, remained loyal to the United States and resisted the Confederacy’s control over the state. At least 10,000 white and an additional 5,000 black North Carolinians joined Union army units and fought against the Confederacy. Thousands more North Carolinians refused to be conscripted into Confederate military service or to support the state’s war effort by paying taxes or contributing material. In 1864, William Woods Holden sought election to governor on a peace platform, which proposed that North Carolina abandon the Confederacy and negotiate terms to end the state’s participation in the war. North Carolina’s wartime governors, John W. Ellis, Henry Toole Clark, and Zebulon Vance, struggled to suppress both political dissent and outright resistance to the Confederacy. Tensions between Unionists and Confederate forces culminated in two infamous mass killings. The first occurred in late January or early February of 1863 in Madison County, where members of the 64th North Carolina infantry killed thirteen citizens of the county suspected of being Unionists and deserters from the Confederate Army. A year later in February 1864, Major General George E. Pickett hanged twenty-two North Carolinians captured fighting for the Union after they had deserted the Confederacy.
As in almost all Southern states during the American Civil War, a number of units were raised to fight for the Union from pro-Union citizens and former slaves. North Carolina provided the Union Army with (alongside Tennessee and Virginia) units at 25,000, the second-highest number of troops from a Confederate state to fight for the Union. Around 24,000 troops from Confederate North Carolina regiments also deserted and joined the Union, bringing the total to over 49,000. The 1st North Carolina Infantry was established in the spring of 1861, near the town of Warrenton. Union troops captured and raided cities and towns in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and southwest virginia, most notably during the Battle of Bull’s Gap, Battle of Red Banks and Stoneman’s 1864 and 1865 raid. The territory captured remained under Union control for the duration of the war. The list of North Carolina Confederate Civil War units is shown separately.
Territory under Union control in North Carolina from the start of the war was first organized into the Department of Virginia in 1861, then the Department of North Carolina shortly after in 1862. The department played large roles in key coastal battles such as the Battle of Roanoke Island and Battle of Wilmington, securing strategic Confederate ports and what was then the state’s largest city, in support of the Anaconda plan. The North Carolina XVIII Corps was also one of the largest in the Union Army from 1862-1864.
https://www.ncpedia.org/union-volunteer-regiments
http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncuv/collins1.htm
1st North Carolina Infantry
The 1st North Carolina Union Volunteer Infantry was authorized in May 1862 by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, whose army had just completed the conquest of the state’s Coastal Plain from the Virginia border south to New Bern. The unit’s history, however, dates to the original invasion of the Outer Banks in August 1861 by Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler. Small groups of North Carolina Unionists requested protection from Federal army and navy commanders and proclaimed a willingness to serve in the U.S. Army. The primary function of the 1st North Carolina was defensive duty in and around the occupied towns. Its troops acted as pickets, guards, and gun crews in block houses and were especially useful to Union forces as scouts. Their offensive operations were confined to small-scale expeditions into the countryside, generally in the company of northern units. One exception was Company L, designated as cavalry under Capt. George W. Graham, who had transferred from a New York regiment. This unit gained the respect of Federal commanders as well as widespread publicity in the northern press.
COMMANDS: [ 1st NCUV ]
May, 1862 - Authorized by Gen. Burnsides
June 27, 1862 - Organized in New Bern, NC
To December, 1862 - Attached to Dept. of North Carolina, Unassigned
To January, 1863 - Unattached, 18th Army Corps, Dept. of North Carolina
To July, 1863 - Unattached, 5th Division, 18th Army Corps
To April, 1864 - District of the Pamlico, Dept. Virginia and North Carolina
To January, 1865 - Sub-District Beaufort, N. C., Dept. Virginia and North Carolina
To June, 1865 - Sub-District Beaufort, N. C., Dept. North Carolina
SERVICE: [ 1st NCUV ]
September 6, 1862 - Attack on Washington, N.C.
Battle of Washington, NC
September 17-20, 1862 - Operations at and about Shiloh, NC
December 10, 1862 - Attack on Plymouth, N. C., (Co. “C”)
March 1, 1863 - Expedition from New Bern to Swan Quarter, NC (Co. “G”)
March 3, 1863 - Fairfield, NC
March 4, 1863 - Swan Quarter, NC
Cavalry Raid to Hyde County, NC
March 23, 1863 - Winfield, NC
March 30-April 20, 1863 - Siege of Washington, NC. (Co. “B”)
March 30, 1863 - Rodman Point, NC
April 6, 1863 - Nixonton, NC (Co. “D”)
July 3-7, 1863 -Raid from New Bern, NC on Wilmington & Weldon Railroad.
July 18-24, 1863 - Expedition from New Bern to Tarboro and Rocky Mount, NC.
July 20, 1863 - Tarboro and Sparta, NC
July 21, 1863 - Street’s Ferry, NC
July 22, 1863 - Scupperton, NC
November 10, 1863 - Reconnaissance on Greenville Road
November 25 & December 30, 1863 - Near Greenville, NC
April 26, 1864 - Evacuation of Washington, N. C
Battle of Washington, NC (Thomas’ Legion)
Til July, 1865 - At New Bern, Beaufort and Morehead City, NC
March 1-21, 1865 - Advance on Kinston and Goldsboro, NC (Co. “L”)
March 8-10, 1865 - Battle of Wyse’s Forks, NC (Thomas’ Legion)
March 14, 1865 - Kinston, NC
March 21, 1865 - Occupation of Goldsboro, NC
June 27, 1865 - Mustered out at New Bern, NC.
CASUALTIES
The number of deaths associated with this unit is unknown.
https://www.ncpedia.org/union-volunteer-regiments
http://ncgenweb.us/ncuv/ncuv.htm
2nd North Carolina Infantry
The 2nd North Carolina was formed in the last months of 1863 under Capt. Charles H. Foster, a Maine native who had edited a newspaper in Murfreesboro before the war. This unit suffered from poor organization and bad luck, and its misfortunes resulted in a general lack of respect for North Carolina regiments by Federal commanders. The recruits in the second regiment differed markedly from those in the first. Rather than enlisting only patriotic Unionists, this unit also attracted war-weary Confederate deserters and poor men who were tempted by the $300 bonus and care for their families. Within two months, in February 1864, Confederates commanded by Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett captured an entire company during an attack on New Bern.
COMMANDS: [ 2nd NCUV ]
November, 1863 - Organized at New Bern, N. C
To April, 1864 - Attached to District of New Bern, N. C., Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina
To February, 1865 - Sub-District of Beaufort, N. C., Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina
SERVICE: [ 2nd NCUV ]
November, 1863 to April, 1864 - Duty in the Defenses of New Bern, N.C.
December 21-24, 1863 - Scout from Rocky Run toward Trenton, N.C.
January 30, 1864 - Windsor, N. C (Detachment)
January 28-February 10, 1864 - Demonstration on New Bern, N. C
February 1, 1864 - Batchelor’s Creek, N. C. (Co. “F”)
April 2, 1864 - Bogue Island Block House (Detachment).
“Buffaloes” at Fort Macon, NC
April 17-20, 1864 - Siege of Plymouth, N. C. (2 Cos.)
April 20, 1864 - Surrender of Plymouth, N. C. (2 Cos.)
Til April, 1864 - At New Bern and in the Sub-District of the Albemarle
Til February, 1865 - At Beaufort and Morehead City, N. C.
February 27, 1865 - Consolidated with 1st North Carolina Infantry
CASUALTIES
The number of deaths associated with this unit is unknown.
https://www.ncpedia.org/union-volunteer-regiments
http://ncgenweb.us/ncuv/2ndncuv.htm
2nd North Carolina Mounted Infantry
Overview:
Organized at Knoxville, Tenn., October, 1863. Attached to 1st Brigade, Willcox’s Division, 9th Army Corps, Left Wing Forces, Dept. Ohio, to April, 1864. 1st Brigade, 4th Division, 23rd Army Corps, Dept. Ohio, to February, 1865. 1st Brigade, 4th Division, District of East Tennessee, Dept. of the Cumberland, to August, 1865.
Service:
Ordered to Greenville, Tenn., to October 16, 1863, and duty there till November 6. Moved to Bull’s Gap November 6, and duty there till December. March across Clinch Mountains to Clinch River. Action at Walker’s Ford December 2. Gibson’s and Wyerman’s, Miss., February 22, 1864. Duty at Cumberland Gap and patrol duty in East Tennessee till April, 1865. Scout from Cumberland Gap January 23-27, 1865. Expedition from East Tennessee into Western North Carolina March 21-April 25, 1865. Moved to Boone, N.C., April 6, and to Asheville, N.C., April 27-30. Duty in North Carolina and East Tennessee till August.
Mustered out August 16, 1865.
SERVICE
CASUALTIES
The number of deaths associated with this unit is unknown.
http://www.thomaslegion.net/2ndnorthcarolinamountedinfantryregiment.html
https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UNC0002RIT
3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry
The 3rd North Carolina (Volunteer) Mounted Infantry (3rd NCMI) was an all-volunteer mounted infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was predominantly composed of Union Loyalists from North Carolina, but also included volunteers from Tennessee and several other Southern states.
The 3rd NCMI, under the command of Colonel George Washington Kirk, became associated with unconventional and guerrilla-like tactics. Consequently, the regiment became known as Kirk’s Raiders and the men were labeled bushwackers.[2] The members of the regiment were also known as mountaineers because the majority of the men hailed from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina and East Tennessee.
Service
February 1864 - Formation
The 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry was formed by Special Order Number 44, on February 13, 1864, when Major General John Schofield ordered Major George W. Kirk to raise 200 men to “… descend upon the rear of the rebel army under [Gen. James] Longstreet and destroy as much as possible of his stores and means of transportation … [Y]ou will move along the railroad into Virginia, damaging the road as much as possible by burning bridges, trestle-work, water tanks, cars, etc., and by tearing up the track …”
From June, 1864 until February, 1865, the 3NCMI was attached to the 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, 23rd Army Corps, Department of Ohio. From March, 1865 until August, 1865 the regiment was attached to the 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, District East Tennessee, Department of the Cumberland.[4]
June 1864 - Raid on Camp Vance
Camp Vance, near Morganton, North Carolina, was a training camp for Confederate conscripts.[5] The 3rd NCMI easily captured the camp, but did not achieve its primary mission to destroy the railroad bridge over the Yadkin River north of Salisbury, North Carolina.
November 1864 - Bulls Gap
Was a battle of the American Civil War, occurring from November 11 to November 13, 1864, in Hamblen County and Greene County, Tennessee.
December 1864 Red Banks
On December 29, 1864, the Third Regiment of North Carolina mounted an infantry under Colonel George W. Kirk, engaged about 400 Confederate Infantry and Cavalry under Lt. Colonel James A. Keith at Red Banks of the Nolichucky. Seventy-three Confederates were killed and thirty-two officers and privates were captured. The Union forces sustained only three wounded men Tennessee Historical Marker 1A115
February 1865 - Raid on Waynesville
In the last year of the Civil War, Kirks Raiders entered into Western North Carolina to quell pro confederate anti union sentiment by order of the new governor of North Carolina. Upon arriving in Waynesville they found themselves at a school house that the women had fashioned into a hospital to treat the wounded returning home from the war. Kirk’s men stood in the doorway of the hospital and without warning shot and killed nine wounded men and shot and wounded six more. Kirk and his men would go on to pillage burn and murder many more in the small coves of Waynesville North Carolina long after the war had ended.
March 1865 - Stoneman’s Raid
In support of Major General George H. Stoneman’s order to disrupt railroads in Southwest Virginia and North Carolina, Kirk and his men were assigned to hold Deep and Watauga Gaps near Boone, North Carolina. This was necessary to keep the mountain roads open for Stoneman’s men when their mission was complete.
August 1865 - Discharge
The regiment was mustered out on August 8, 1865.
Total strength and casualties
There were 960 men in the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry throughout the war. Sixteen were confirmed killed in action, and 23 were captured.
https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UNC0003RIT
Figure 4 – North Carolina Colored Troops
The United States Colored Troops (USCT) was the designation given to the approximately 175 regiments of non-white soldiers that served during the Civil War. The troops were primarily African American, but Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders were all included within the ranks, as well. By the end of the war, nearly a tenth of the entire Union Army consisted of member of the USCT, which peaked at 178,000 individuals. These regiments were the precursors for the now famous Buffalo Soldiers who served throughout the West following the conclusion of the war.
Before January 1, 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, President Abraham Lincoln was cautious about the recruitment of African Americans into the Union Army, due to politics and prejudice throughout the North, especially among Democrats loyal to the Union who resided in Border States that allowed slavery. Once January 1 came, however, and the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, full scale recruitment of black troops began.
In May 1863, the United States War Department created the Bureau of Colored Troops, and the USCT was officially established. The USCT consisted of 135 regiments of infantry soldiers, six regiments of cavalry, one regiment of light artillery, and 13 regiments of heavy artillery. An addition nineteen thousand African Americans served in the United States Navy. Furthermore, thousands of black women, who were not allowed to formally enlist, worked for the military as cooks, spies, nurses, and scouts; the most famous of these women was Harriet Tubman.
The United States Colored Troops fought in every major military campaign and battle the Union Army was involved in during the last two years of the Civil War. These included three of the most costly battles of the entire war, the Battle of Nashville, the Battle of Chickamauga, both in Tennessee, and the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse in Virginia. Throughout the war, the USCT suffered a total of 68,178 casualties while contributing to the Union victory. Moreover, members of the USCT received numerous awards and commendations from the United States Government, including a total of eighteen Congressional Medals of Honor, the highest award a member of the armed forces can receive.
Racial discrimination, which was ever present, even in the North, infiltrated into the army during this time. Almost all of the black troops were led by white officers, some of whom were not happy with their assignment. For a period of time, black soldiers, who were asked to perform no fewer duties than their white compatriots, earned a net pay of $7 a month, while whites earned $13. This was the case from 1863 until mid-1864 when Congress passed a law requiring equal pay to those in the military, regardless of race, along with retroactive payments to those who had been discriminated against. African American prisoners of war were also given much harsher treatment by the Confederacy than white captives.
In the fall of 1865, several months after the Civil War ended, the USCT was disbanded, as were the vast majority of troops who fought in the war. President Lincoln himself was quoted as saying, “Without the military help of the black freedmen, the war against the South could not have been won.” The legacy of the USCT resides in the U.S. 9th and 10th Cavalry, as well as the 24th and 25th Infantry, regiments of African American troops known as the Buffalo Soldiers who served in the West in the post-Civil War period.
35th U.S. Colored Troops — redesignated from 1st North Carolina Infantry, African Descent
The 35th United States Colored Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was composed of African American enlisted men commanded by white officers and was authorized by the Bureau of Colored Troops which was created by the United States War Department on May 22, 1863.
The 35th U.S. Colored Infantry was organized February 8, 1864 from the 1st North Carolina Colored Infantry for three-year service under the command of Colonel James C. Beecher.
The regiment was attached to Montgomery’s Brigade, District of Florida, Department of the South, February 1864. 2nd Brigade, Vogdes’ Division, District of Florida, Department of the South, to April 1864. District of Florida, Department of the South, to October 1864. 4th Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to November 1864. 2nd Brigade, Coast Division, Department of the South, to December 1864. 4th Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to March 1865. 1st Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to August 1865. Department of the South, to June 1866.
The 35th U.S. Colored Infantry mustered out of service June 1, 1866.
SERVICE
Expedition to Lake City, Fla., February 14-22, 1864. Battle of Olustee February 20. Duty at Jacksonville, Fla., until November. Operations on St. Johns River May 19-27. Horse Head Landing May 23. (Four companies detached on Expedition to James Island, S.C., July 1-10. King’s Creek, S.C., July 3.) Raid from Jacksonville upon Baldwin July 23-28. South Fork, Black Creek, July 24. Black Creek near Whitesides July 27. Raid on Florida Railroad August 15-19. Ordered from Jacksonville to Hilton Head, S.C., November 25, Expedition to Boyd’s Neck November 28-30. Battle of Honey Hill November 30. Return to Jacksonville, Fla., and duty there until March 1865. Ordered to Charleston, S.C. Duty there and at various points in the Department of the South until June 1866.
CASUALTIES
The regiment lost a total of 205 men during service; 4 officers and 49 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 1 officer and 151 enlisted men died of disease.
https://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/a-storied-past/35th-us-colored-troops
https://battleofolustee.org/35th_usct.html
http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncusct/usct35.htm
36th U.S. Colored Troops — redesignated from 2nd North Carolina Infantry, African Descent
Organized February 8, 1864, from 2nd North Carolina Colored Infantry. Attached to U. S. Forces, Norfolk and Portsmouth, Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina, to April, 1864. District of St. Marys, Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina to June, 1864. Unattached, Army of the James, to August, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 18th Corps, to December, 1864. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 25th Corps, December, 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 25th Corps, and Dept. of Texas, to October, 1866.
SERVICE
Duty at Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va., till April, 1864.
At Point Lookout, Md., District of St. Marys, guarding prisoners till July, 1864.
Expedition from Point Lookout to Westmoreland County April 12-14.
Expedition from Point Lookout to Rappahannock River May 11-14, and to Pope’s Creek June 11-21.
Moved from Point Lookout to Bermuda Hundred, Va., July 1-3.
Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, Va., July 3, 1864, to April 2, 1865.
Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, September 29-30.
Battle of Fair Oaks October 27-28.
Dutch Gap November 17.
Indiantown, Sandy Creek, N. C., December 18 (Detachment).
Duty north of James River before Richmond till March 27, 1865.
Appomattox Campaign March 27-April 9.
Occupation of Richmond April 3.
Duty in Dept. of Virginia till May.
Moved to Texas May 24-June 6.
Duty along the Rio Grande, Texas, and at various points in Texas till October, 1866.
Mustered out October 28, 1866.
CASUALTIES
Regiment lost during service 8 Officers and 79 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 5 Officers and 132 Enlisted men by disease. Total 224.
https://www.nps.gov/rich/learn/historyculture/36thusct.htm
http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncusct/usct36.htm
37th U.S. Colored Troops — redesignated from 3rd North Carolina Infantry, African Descent
Organized February 3, 1864, from 3rd North Carolina Colored Infantry. Attached to U. S. Forces, Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va., Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina, to April, 1864. 1st Brigade, Hincks’ Colored Division, 18th Corps, Army of the James, to June, 1864. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 10th Corps, to July, 1864. Unattached, Army of the James, to August, 1864. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 18th Corps, to December, 1864. 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, 25th Corps, to January, 1865. 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, Terry’s Provisional Corps, Dept. of North Carolina, to March, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 10th Corps, Dept. of North Carolina, to August, 1865. Dept. of North Carolina, to February, 1867.
SERVICE
Duty at Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va., till April, 1864.
Expedition to Westmoreland County April 12-14.
Butler’s operations on south side of James River and against Petersburg and Richmond May 4-June 15.
Capture of Fort Powhatan May 5.
Duty there and at Wilson’s Wharf till September 28.
Moved to Deep Bottom September 28-29.
Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, September 29-30.
Battle of Fair Oaks October 27-28.
In trenches before Richmond till December 7.
1st Expedition to Fort Fisher, N. C., December 7-27.
2nd Expedition to Fort Fisher January 7-15, 1865.
Bombardment of Fort Fisher January 13-15.
Assault and capture of Fort Fisher January 15.
Sugar Loaf Hill January 19.
Federal Point February 11.
Fort Anderson February 11. Northeast Ferry February 22.
Campaign of the Carolinas March 1-April 26.
Advance on Kinston and Goldsboro March 6-21.
Cox’s Bridge March 23-24.
Advance on Raleigh April 9-14.
Occupation of Raleigh April 14.
Bennett’s House April 26.
Surrender of Johnston and his army.
Duty at various points in North Carolina and in the Dept. of the South till February, 1867.
Mustered out February 11, 1867.
CASUALTIES
There were 159 deaths recorded in this unit.
https://www.nps.gov/rich/learn/historyculture/37thusct.htm
http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncusct/37usct1.htm
14th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery — redesignated from 1st North Carolina Heavy Artillery, African Descent
Organized at New Bern and Morehead City, N. C., from 1st North Carolina Colored Heavy Artillery March 17, 1864. Attached to Defenses of New Berne, N. C., Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina, to January, 1865. Sub-District of New Bern, Dept. of North Carolina, and Sub-District of Beaufort, N. C., Dept. of North Carolina, to December, 1865.
Service:Garrison duty at New Bern and other points in the Dept. of North Carolina till December, 1865. Mustered out December 11, 1865.
Predecessor unit:
NORTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS.
1st REGIMENT HEAVY ARTILLERY (AFRICAN DESCENT).
Organized at New Bern and Morehead City, N.C., March, 1864. Attached to District of New Bern, N.C., Dept. Virginia and North Carolina, to February, 1865. District of New Bern, N.C., Dept. Of North Carolina, to March, 1865.
Service:Garrison Duty at New Bern, N.C., and other points in District and Dept. of North Carolina, till March, 1865. Designation of Regiment changed to 14th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, March 17, 1865.
CASUALTIES
There were 95 deaths recorded with this unit.
https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UUS0014RAH0C
http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncusct/usct14.htm
135th U.S. Colored Troops
On April 7, 1865, Maj. Gen. Sherman, during his campaign in North Carolina, was given permission by the War Department for General Blair (Maj. Gen. Francis P. Blair, Jr.) to organize a colored regiment. 135th US Colored Infantry was organized at Goldsboro, N. C. on March 28, 1865 and mustered into the US Army on March 28, 1865 at Page Station, NC. They then served in Department of North Carolina until October, 1865. The regiment was mustered out on October 23, 1865 at Louisville, KY.
Very little is known about this regiment but it is believed that it was made up from the refugees following Sherman’s army into North Carolina and the regiment contained men from every Southern state east of the Mississippi River. It was carried as a North Carolina regiment because it was organized in the State.
https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UUS0135RI00C
http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncusct/usct135.htm
North Carolina Colored Troops in the US Navy
933 African American sailors, formerly ex-slaves and freedmen served in the United States Navy (USN) during the Civil War. Service and casualty details are incomplete.
The Medal of Honor was awarded to one colored North Carolinian in the US Navy – Aaron Sanderson.
AARON SANDERSON (a.k.a. AARON ANDERSON): Citation: G.O. No.: 59, June 22, 1865. Served on board the U.S.S. Wyandank during a boat expedition up Mattox Creek (on Maryland side of Potomac River), March 17, 1865. Participating with a boat crew in the clearing of Mattox Creek, Landsman Anderson carried out his duties courageously in the face of a devastating fire which cut away half the oars, pierced the launch in many places and cut the barrel off a musket being fired at the enemy.
Confederate Monument
State Capitol, Raleigh
View complete article and references at Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina at: Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina | Confederate Monument, State Capitol, Raleigh
Description: This 75-foot-tall monument to fallen Confederate soldiers is located on the State Capitol grounds.
At the top of the column is a statue depicting a Confederate artillery soldier holding a gun. Near the bottom of the column are two statues, one representing the Confederate infantry and the other a Confederate cavalryman.
Two 32 pounder naval cannons stand on each side of the monument.
In 1892, state legislators endorsed the goal of building a Confederate monument in Capital Square. Secretary of State Octavius Coke held a meeting of members of both the Ladies Memorial Association and the North Carolina Monumental Association in June 1892 to launch a campaign to erect a memorial to deceased Confederate soldiers from North Carolina.
Inscription:
Front, on shaft: TO OUR / CONFEDERATE / DEAD
Rear, on base: FIRST AT / BETHEL / LAST AT / APPOMATTOX / 1861. 1865.
Plaques on naval cannons: 32 Pounder Naval Cannon / TAKEN IN JUNE 1861 WHEN THE NAVY YARD AT / NORFOLK WAS ABANDONED BY THE UNITED STATES / BANDED AND CONVERTED / AT RICHMOND INTO A 6 INCH RIFLE / MOUNTED AT FORT CASWELL, NORTH CAROLINA / DISMOUNTED BY EXPLODING MAGAZINES / WHEN THE CONFEDERATES EVACUATED THAT FORT / IN JANUARY 1865 / PRESENTED BY US WAR DEPARTMENT / 1902
Dedication date: May 20, 1895
Creator: Leopold Von Miller II, Sculptor Muldoon Monument Company, Builder
Materials & Techniques: Mt. Airy Granite, bronze statues
Sponsor: State of North Carolina, Women’s Monument Association
Cost: $22,000
Unveiling & Dedication: Dedicated on May 20, 1895. Unveiled by Julia Jackson Christian, Granddaughter of Stonewall Jackson. Speakers included Captain Samuel Ashe, Thomas W. Mason, and Alfred Waddell.
Post dedication use: The Civil Works Authority made plans to move the monument from Capital Square to Nash Square in 1934 as part of renovations to Capital Square, but the Board of Public Buildings and Grounds decided on February 5th to prevent the CWA from moving the monument. The move was prevented because of public outcry in regards to moving such a historically significant monument from a highly visible location.
Subject notes: The initial model for the statues was to be the Confederate hero Henry L. Wyatt, but the sculptor Von Miller used W. R. Dicks (who was a living Confederate veteran) as inspiration for the statues.
Controversies: When the monument was first proposed, Populist and Republican legislators objected to any public funding of the monument on the grounds that public education, rather than sectional pride, was a pressing need. In addition, monument opponents protested against the special tax fund that would be used to subsidize the monument’s costs.
During the 2000s, some critics questioned whether it was appropriate to continue to commemorate, on capitol grounds, white soldiers who fought to establish a slaveholders’ republic.
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The Age of Amnesia
A little “heterodox” thinking for your Saturday listening pleasure. 18 minutes.
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I understand your point of view @pBeez but the overwhelming majority of minorities want these statues down for good reason. Put them “inside” a museum if you must but they are not what you think they are. I strongly suggest people watch this: https://youtu.be/WClgR6Q0aPE
The vast majority of statues were not built for the civil war but years later during periods of racial conflict and dedicated to the civil war as a scape goat for racial tensions. As tensions come up again people are saying “you want to forget history?” No offense but many people do want to forget. Imagine your literal last name, heritage and country of origin being taken from you. I just visited Ireland and can follow my family easily generations and have a Gaelic first and last name common to the Irish people. How many African Americans do you know that can afford that same luxury?
I think it’s honestly kind of sad people think it’s ok to leave the statues, I have been Raleigh since I was 7 and I have never been more embarrassed by folks wanting to leave them up. It’s shameful and a part of our history that should only be remembered in museums and text books. Stop with the whataboutism!
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Confederates=traitor
Statue of a Confederate soldier=statue of a traitor
Why is there ANY debate over these statues???
I don’t care who’s great great great grandfather they are. They are a stain on your family if you have ancestors who served for the Confederacy. They shouldn’t be honored anymore than Nazi’s should be honored. (See, a lot of Germans have a stain on their families too, get over it.)
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Traitors maybe, but pardoned nonetheless.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, President Andrew Johnson in 1868 issued pardons to all Confederate soldiers who fought in that conflict. The president extended “unconditionally, and without reservation … a full pardon and amnesty for the offence [sic] of treason against the United States, or of adhering to their enemies during the late Civil War, with restoration of all rights, privileges, and immunities under the Constitution and the laws.”
In his Christmas Day Proclamation, Johnson said his action would “renew and fully restore confidence and fraternal feeling among the whole, and their respect for and attachment to the national [e.g., federal] government, designed by its patriotic founders for the general good.”
As the vice president, Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat, had succeeded the assassinated Abraham Lincoln to the presidency shortly after the Union victory.
On Dec. 8, 1863, in his annual message to Congress, Lincoln, the first Republican president, had outlined his plans for reconstruction of the South, including amnesty terms for former Confederates. A pardon would require an oath of allegiance, but it would not restore ownership to former slaves, or restore confiscated property that involved a third party.
As Lincoln further envisioned his actions, his pardons would have excluded officeholders of the Confederate government or persons who had mistreated prisoners.
Congress, however, objected to Lincoln’s plans as too lenient and refused to recognize delegates from the reconstructed governments of Louisiana and Arkansas. With radical Republican lawmakers in full control of the legislative agenda, Congress instead passed the Wade-Davis Bill. This measure required half of any former Confederate state’s voters to swear allegiance to the United States and that they had not supported the Confederacy. While the bill also ended slavery, it did not allow former slaves to vote. Lincoln vetoed the bill.
During his presidency, Lincoln issued 64 pardons for war-related offences: 22 for conspiracy, 17 for treason, 12 for rebellion, nine for holding an office under the Confederacy, and four for serving with the rebels.
Under the terms of surrender for the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 10, 1865, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant stipulated that “each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.”
On May 5, 1965, the paroles were further extended so that soldiers from the 11 Confederate states, plus West Virginia, would be allowed to return home, but that “all who claim homes in the District of Columbia and in states that never passed the Ordinance of Secession (Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri) have forfeited them and can only return thereto by complying with the amnesty proclamation of the president and obtaining special permission from the War Department.”
(BTW: I’m not giving the Confederates a pass, but I’m still working on my thoughts. More later…)
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Yeah let’s shut down this thread. @dtraleigh This thread will be used to discredit this community, I 100% know this.
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Agreed. This whole thread is nothing but trouble.
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If you believe that the only answers in this discussion are ‘Remain’ or ‘Remove,’ then I have failed in my plight for the third option, ‘Revise.’ At no place, any where in the South, has there been a monument to reconciliation.
Our state and the decisions made in that State House at the time and since then have been at the crossroads of that historical tide. But, even more than 150 years since hostilities ceased, there really hasn’t been a true pattern of full reconcilitation. Governor Cooper has already done a little of that when he reached out to the Sons of the Union Veterans. And, we have it within us to re-frame the debate in such a fashion which could be quite revolutionary.
If shutting down the discussion happens here, that’s fine. I’ll accept that. However, I still have some ideas fomenting in my noggin that I hope to take to my personal contacts with Phil Berger.
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I am just disappointed that some speak out of hatred here instead of calm and reason. I guess healthy debate and a honest discussion of nuance and opinion is seemingly dead in today’s society.
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Just want to say before this thread gets locked that I agree this thread doesn’t belong here. …but not because it’ll be “nothing but trouble” or any political reason. (Personally, I think confederate memorials need to be contextualized in a museum or someplace but stripped of its symbolic power in present-day public spaces, but that doesn’t matter because that’s not what we’re here to talk about)
Discord is just not the right platform for this sort of important but sensitive conversation. All we’re doing here is:
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laying out the same talking points that, odds are, we’ve always been bringing up in our personal lives and/or seeing in the media;
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start seeing red everywhere, believing everyone you disagree with to be bigoted threats;
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selectively reading between the lines based on specific phrases you’re conditioned to disagree with (seeing the statues as “enduring symbols of slavery” means you’re a “communist” historical revisionist, showing Southern “heritage” pride is a sign you’re a white supremacist themselves etc.) without even a half-assed attempt at understanding where each individual writer is coming from;
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talking past each other, refusing to really consider what other people are even saying (or the fact that just about no one seems to be working off of the same set of assumptions or ground truth in the first place);
Forget having a sensitive discussion about a 150-year-old insurrection that’s five generations too late for a proper national conversation of truth and reconciliation; this is the wrong platform for any sort of discussion like this, where you need to fundamentally question everything from history (what even happened?) to human psychology (why tf are we all so angry) before you can even think of attempting a civil debate.
We can have discussions about local government, local policy etc. because local politics aren’t usually as polarized.
So, suggestion for a new forum policy: can we agree on a hard ban on discussions about national trends unless there’s a clear, explicit, and binding connection to Raleigh that’s worth talking about?
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I vote this thread should be locked or deleted also. It’s too hot button and may discredit this online community. The tension and animosity is not a good thing.
One of things that this forum has been is to be a springboard in taking interested parties to the places where decisions happen to be made, mostly to the CAC’s and the City of Raleigh. If this doesn’t extend to the state level, so be it. As long as this law is on the books, then there’s not much we can do about it.
That being said, I’ve been making my petition to the ‘Revise’ idea on this one monument in particular for a few years. There doesn’t appear to be much political will for rapprochement these days, though. We’ll see how the new monument being proposed to honor the contributions of blacks to our state does in helping to heal some of those long-festering wounds.
That being said, if another Fortune 50 company comes to us with a proposal for a new headquarters, but points to our monuments as an explicit reason for not doing business in our state, things could change.
Pax tecum et munera magna (Peace and All Good)
I would encourage anyone who has deep convictions on this matter to consider researching the candidates’ positions on this subject in advance of the upcoming local election, in addition to their stances on ADU’s, commuter rail, zoning, etc. I would hope any resolution of this would take place within the framework of a legal process as opposed to an angry mob.
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