Col. Charles F. Fisher, then President of the North Carolina Railroad [NCRR], in pursuance of his purpose to raise a regiment, brought a number of men from along the North Carolina Railroad and Western North Carolina Railroad and quartered them in that part of the barracks that had been vacated, and he asked that those cadets who were still remaining should drill his men. They willingly did so, and some of them were offered positions in the regiment. In that way the writer became a member of Fisher's Regiment. It was soon decided that a better place for the camp of instruction would be Company Shops. So all were carried down there, and the work of organization and instruction was carried on as rapidly as practicable. The camp was in an old field along the railroad, just east of the shops. It is now a part of the town of Burlington. Nearly every day there were train loads of troops passing from the Southern States "on to Virginia." Their cheers were greeted with hearty responses by our men.

Suffice it then to say, as to the organization, that the 6th NC Regiment was duly organized on the 16th May, 1861, at Company Shops, with Charles F. Fisher as Colonel, William T. Dortch as Lt. Colonel, and Charles E. Lightfoot as Major. When the regiment was about to leave for Virginia, Lt. Colonel Dortch, on the death of Governor John W. Ellis [7/7/1861], resigned by reason of his office in the North Carolina State Legislature - he was Speaker of the House of Commons. Charles E. Lightfoot was made Lt. Colonel and Capt. Robert F. Webb, of Company B, was made Major - both commissions dated July 11, 1861.

After the first organization many changes were made, and, from time to time during the war, a great many recruits were enlisted from many other counties and assigned to the diiferent companies; and it is supposed that, from first to last, there were perhaps as many as two thousand (2,000) men that belonged to the regiment. The men were all mustered in for the war, and this regiment was organized as one of the ten regiments called for to serve during the war, and was always known as the 6th NC Regiment. Taking the cars at Company Shops, we were carried to Raleigh and stopped there for a few days, during which we were called on to act as escort at the funeral of Gov. John W. Ellis. Leaving Raleigh, we were carried by way of Weldon to Petersburg and then to Richmond. We stopped there for a day, awaiting transportation, camping at the old Fair Ground. President Jefferson Davis reviewed the regiment, making a short speech to us. From Richmond we were carried, by Gordonsville, to Manassas, and thence by way of the Manassas Gap Railroad to Strasburg; from which point we marched hurriedly to Winchester. Halting for a short while in the streets of Winchester, we heard all sorts of rumors as to the expected attack by the enemy.

The regiment was assigned to Brig. Gen. Barnard E. Bee's (VA) Brigade, and we were soon hurried out and given a place on the extreme left of the line of battle which Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston (VA) had formed to meet the expected attack from the enemy. This looked more like war than anything we had seen. Every trooper that came in from the front was anxiously watched, but no enemy came. On the 18th of July the line was broken and we were marched back through Winchester, and then eastward. Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard's army at Manassas was threatened, and we were marching to his relief. Wading the Shenandoah River, we hurried right along up the mountain at Ashby's Gap. On the 19th, Brig. Gen. Bee complained of the straggling, but we were urged forward by what we then thought was a forced march—later in the war we would not have thought it unusual. During the night of the 19th our regiment was halted at a station on the Manassas Gap Railroad. On account of some delay in getting cars, it was late in the evening of the 20th that we were counted into boxcars—so many on top and so many inside. There were ugly rumors as to obstructions placed on the track, evidently intended to impede our progress. With such rumors, with a train of boxcars full of sleepy, tired men, inside and on top, in the night, and through a mountainous country, it was a dangerous ride. We safely reached Manassas Junction on the morning of the 21st.

Disembarking there, we could hear the firing of guns—the battle had begun—and we were marched off hurriedly in the direction of the firing. As we neared the battlefield we could hear the rattling musketry and exploding shells. We began to meet wounded men—we saw blood—the war was a reality. Some of the wounded were badly hurt, whilst others had slight wounds, about the hands for instance, and some of our men were so unsoldierly as to envy those who had escaped with only such slight wounds as would give them a furlough. We were led on, avoiding exposed places so as to keep out of sight of the enemy, until we were brought up in front of what is known as the "Henry House," near which a battery of artillery was posted and throwing its deadly missiles into the Confederate lines. This was Rickett's Battery. It was but a short time—it seemed only a few minutes—before these guns were silenced and captured. But in those few minutes, our Col. Charles F. Fisher and many others had been killed. The regiment had received its baptism of blood. The enemy, however, was still extending their right beyond our left. It was a critical time.

On this ridge or plateau, on which the "Henry House" stood, was the hardest fighting of the day. Here it was that Brig. Gen. Barnard E. Bee (VA), a short while before he was killed, bravely calling on his men to stand firm against the heavy columns that were coming against them, pointed down the line to Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson (VA), saying: "Look at Jackson, he stands like a stone wall!"—words that will never die. On this ridge, the turning point of the first battle of Manassas Plains, Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson (VA) and Brig. Gen. Wade Hampton, III (SC) were wounded, Brig. Gen. Barnard E. Bee (VA), Brig. Gen. Francis S. Bartow (GA), and Col. Charles F. Fisher (NC) were killed, together with hundreds of others whose names were not so prominent, but whose conduct was as heroic and whose lives were as precious to their country and kindred.

Before the enemy could bring up their fresh columns to regain the lost position, their lines on the extreme right began to waver. Brig. Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith (VA), who was bringing up the other part of the Army of the Shenandoah, appeared on our extreme left, and then began a retreat, which soon became a stampede, which would have enabled the Confederates to have gone into Washington if they had pressed forward.

After the battle our brigade was commanded by Brig. Gen. W. H. C. Whiting (VA), and was known as the Third Brigade. We were camped for a week or two at Bull Run, but, to be in a healthier location, we were moved back and camped near Bristoe Station, a place that afterwards became famous. Whilst here Col. William D. Pender came to us and took command. The regiment suffered severely from sickness and many died of disease. In the fall of 1861 we were moved down near Freestone Point, on the Potomac River, above Dumfries. There we stayed until cold weather, and then built winter quarters. During the fall and winter we took our turn in picketing along the Potomac River and on the Occoquan River, and in guarding the batteries that were intended to command the river at Quantico and Evansport. Sometimes there would be alarms, and sometimes, whilst we were guarding these batteries, there would be long-range duels, and a few shells would be thrown at us, but we had no serious fighting.

The winter 1861-62 was uneventful. About the 8th of March, 1862, in accordance with orders, we burned our winter quarters, with a great deal of our baggage, camp supplies, etc., and marched southward, crossing the Rappahannock River at Falmouth, and pitched our camp near Fredericksburg. We were not pressed or hurried in the retreat, the movement seemed to be a deliberate one, and the necessity for the immense destruction of baggage and supplies of all sorts, which took place by order when the army fell back from Manassas, has never been made apparent.

At Fredericksburg, a number of new recruits joined the regiment. Toward the latter part of March it was found that large numbers of troops from Federal Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's army were being transported down the Potomac River. We were ordered to move again, and, leaving Fredericksburg, we took the road towards Richmond. After marching as far as Wilford Station, we were placed on board the cars, but were stopped at Ashland. After a few days' stay there, we started again in light marching order and went by the country roads to Yorktown, arriving there towards the last of April, and were camped west of the town near the Williamsburg Road. During our stay at Yorktown there were several alarms, and we were called into line several times, but the enemy did not advance. It was soon evident that some important movement was in contemplation. The preparation that was being made seemed to be for fighting the enemy there.

On the morning of the 4th of May we were called quietly into line, and our regiment was formed across the Williamsburg Road, facing toward Yorktown. Regiment after regiment filed by—that movement had been going on all night—the whole array was falling back, and we were assigned the post of honor, the rear guard on that road. There was nothing between us and Federal Maj. Gen. George McClellan's advancing array but a few cavalrymen. Again and again, many times during the forepart of that day, as our army passed on, we would drop back and reform our line across the road, prepared for the enemy's advance, but we had no fighting to do. When we got in sight of Williamsburg and the forts and earthworks that had been prepared for defense there, we expected to see them fully manned by our troops. But the troops were all resting around promiscuously, apparently without any expectation of an enemy. When we reached the earthworks we were not halted, but were marched right on, and after passing through the town we took the road that bore towards York River.

That night when the camp followers and stragglers came into camp, they told us that our army had been surprised at Fort Magruder near Williamsburg, and that many men were killed. That surprise ought not to have taken place. Someone was negligent. On the next day we still continued in our march to lean over towards York River. Federal Brig. Gen. William B. Franklin, with a large force, was going up the river on transports, escorted by gun boats, and we were to prevent him from getting between General Jospeh E. Johnston (VA) and Richmond, or interfering with the retreat. We had quite a battle near Barhamsville, or Eltham's Landing. The enemy afterwards claimed it a success. We thought we succeeded. We did not drive his fleet down the river, he had too many gunboats, but we prevented his coming off the river to impede the movements of our army.

The army was now well on its way on the retreat from the Yorktown peninsula. The ordnance stores and other supplies that had been abandoned must have been immense. Some of it was brought down to the lines near Yorktown within a day or two before the retreat began. The march back towards Richmond was very disagreeable. There had been a great deal of rain; the roads were very bad, muddy and miry. We got separated from our commissary wagons. The men suffered with hunger. One evening when the regiment was filed out of the road to camp—they had been without rations and none were in sight—a wagon came along loaded with corn in the ear. It was intended for the horses, but the men were so hungry that, upon the suggestion by some one that parched corn would do for subsistence, they rushed for the wagon and would have emptied it but for the interference of the guard, who told them that the commissary wagon was coming.

When the army got within the lines that were finally chosen for the defense of Richmond our camp was north of the city. On the 29th and 30th of May we had heavy rains. A fearful thunderstorm passed over our camp. One stroke of lightning in our brigade disabled for a time about thirty men, of whom it was said that four died. The description of that storm as given in the Richmond Examiner the next morning was most graphic. It was remarkable as a literary production. In consequence of these heavy rains the Chickahominy River was much swollen, and General Johnston, who had withdrawn most of his army to the south side of that stream, thought it a good time to attack Federal Maj. Gen. McClellan, whose army was on both sides of the river.

On the 31st of May we were hurried out in the direction of Seven Pines and joined in the attack. For a while we drove the enemy in fine style. They must have been completely surprised, for we passed through camps in which we found their dinner in the kettles being cooked, and in some cases it was smoking hot on their camp tables. After driving them back for a considerable distance they began to make a stand, and the fighting became furious. As we afterwards learned, we were not far from Fair Oaks Station, and nearly opposite the "Grapevine Bridge," which was a new bridge constructed by them. Reinforcements from the north side were pouring across this bridge and our advance was stayed. General Johnston, together with President Jefferson Davis and Maj. Gen. Gustavus W. Smith (VA), with a numerous staff, came up in the rear of our brigade. Here it was that General Johnston was wounded. That was nearly night, and as it was a dark evening the heavy battle smoke soon made it impossible to see, and the firing ceased and we made no further advance. The next morning, Sunday, June 1st, found the two armies still in front of each other. But no heavy fighting was done on our part of the line. They did considerable shelling from the north side of the Chickahominy River. So ended the battle of Seven Pines and Fair Oaks. After this battle, our Col. William D. Pender was promoted to Brigadier General, and Lt. Col. Isaac E. Avery was made Colonel of the 6th NC. Regiment.

About the 12th to 13th of June our division was placed aboard the cars at Richmond and carried by way of Lynchburg and Charlottesville to Staunton, and disembarking there, started down the Valley. But we made only one march in that direction when we met Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson's men coming up the Valley Pike towards Staunton. We were turned about and marched by way of Waynesboro and across the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rockfish Gap towards Charlottesville. Our road was nearly along the railroad, and we could see trainload after trainload of troops moving east. Finally our turn came, and we were taken up and hauled to Trevillian's Depot, and thence were marched, bearing at first towards Fredericksburg, but at last turned to Ashland.

Here we were told that General Robert E. Lee was going to capture Federal Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's army or drive him away from Richmond. We were on his right flank, and were to move early in the morning of the 26th. We did so, but before we had gotten in rear of Maj. Gen. McClellan's right, or had time to attack him, the Confederates in front of his lines at and near Mechanicsville charged him in front. They carried the works, but at fearful loss. Our brigade under Brig. Gen. W.H.C. Whiting, had had only a slight skirmish in crossing Totapotamoi Creek, and if Maj. Gen. Jackson had been allowed a little longer time the enemy could not have awaited the attack in front, for Jackson was about to strike him in the rear. Whose fault or by whose mistake was the great loss of Confederates at Mechanicsville?

On the 27th we took part in the battle of Gaines's Mill, or Cold Harbor, one of the most noted and hotly-contested battles of the war. The enemy, under Federal Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter, was strongly posted on the east bank of Powhite Creek. His artillery was on top of the ridge, in front of which were two lines of infantry, so placed on the hillside that the artillery and the two lines of infantry could all fire over each other on the advancing Confederates; and to reach their line we had to cross the creek in a deep ravine. They had felled the timber so as to hinder an attacking force. Our brigade, Whiting's, was formed in line, with Brig. Gen. John B. Hood's (TX) Brigade, as I recollect, on our left, and had moved forward until we were about within range of the enemy's musketry. A short halt was made. The field of battle was before us: cannons belching forth fire and smoke; bursting shells; riderless horses rushing wildly about; smoking lines of infantry; charging columns gallantly led by mounted officers; wounded men being borne to the rear, whilst the dead lay motionless and still! It was the reality of the pictures given us by artists.

There had been an unsuccessful attempt to drive the enemy from his strong position. Our line was in readiness. The gallant Brig. Gen. W.H.C. Whiting, riding along in front of the line, was cheered by our men, and, turning to the line, raised his hat in acknowledgment of the salute, and called out, saying: "Boys, you can take it!" and motioned towards the enemy's position. "Forward!" was the command all along the line. The advance across the open field on the west side of the creek; crossing the creek and working our way up the hill through the fallen timber; driving the two lines of infantry from behind their breastworks and capturing the artillery posted on the ridge behind them, was a severe test of those qualities which have made the Confederate soldier famous. It was a military feat which the historians of the war do not seem to have appreciated. The 6th NC Regiment did its part in driving the enemy from a position which, after we had taken it and had time to view the situation, looked as if it should have been impregnable to troops attacking it in front.

It has been said that President Jefferson Davis watched this attack from where he was on the south side of the Chickahominy River; saw its success, and, not knowing the troops or their commander, eulogized them, and said: "That charge has saved Richmond." When the battle ended it was getting dark. The loss of this position compelled the Federals to withdraw to the south side of the Chickahominy River, which they did during that night, destroying the bridges. Federal Maj. Gen. George McClellan was retreating to the James River. Our pursuit was delayed until the bridges could be rebuilt. When we crossed to the south side the battle of Savage Station had been won. We passed through the battlefield on the 30th and assisted in forcing the passage of White Oak Swamp, which the enemy was stubbornly holding, in order to give time for his trains to get away. We were on the left of the line at Poindexter's Farm on Malvern Hill, and although under a terrible fire, supporting our artillery, we were not ordered to charge the enemy. On the morning of the 2nd of July the enemy was gone, and we were marched in pursuit, and found him at Harrison's Landing. Our lines were formed promptly, skirmishing began, and we thought we were to attack him at once, but General Robert E. Lee concluded that his position, protected as it was by gunboats, was too strong. Maj. Gen. George McClellan's army had not been captured, but the seige of Richmond had been raised.

After watching the enemy for a few days, we were marched back to the neighborhood of Richmond, where we camped until August, when we started on the campaign known as the Pope Campaign, so called because the Federal army was commanded by Maj. Gen. John Pope, who rendered himself infamous by his uncivilized warfare and cruel treatment of citizens, and who withal made himself ridiculous by his braggadocio orders, which were followed by bad generalship and consequent defeat. Our brigade was commanded by Colonel (soon afterwards Brigadier General) Evander M. Law (AL), and was now in Maj. Gen. John B. Hood's (TX) Division.

We took part in a number of skirmishes along the Rappahannock River, and near Warrenton Springs, and when Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson, at Manassas and Bull Run, was about to be separated from the other portion of the army, whilst we were marching hurriedly to his relief, we found the enemy disputing our passage through Thoroughfare Gap. No time was to be lost. Communication with Maj. Gen. Jackson was necessary. We were filed by a narrow path up the mountain side to the summit on the left of the pass. The enemy was driven back and left the pass or gap open. From our position on the top of the mountain, on the evening of the 28th, we could see the firing of the guns and the explosion of the shells in the fight against Maj. Gen. Jackson, far away on Bull Run Creek, or near it, but we could not hear the sound of a gun. Early on the 29th we were on the march to the relief of Maj. Gen. Jackson, who had hard fighting, as we judged by the heavy firing which was then plainly to be heard. As soon as we came up our division, Maj. Gen. John B. Hood's (TX), was formed in line across the Warrenton Turnpike and moved forward to attack the enemy's line, which was then pressing hard upon Maj. Gen. Jackson. We drove him back. We were heavily engaged also on the 30th, when the enemy was forced to give up the field. When the battle was over we found that the two armies had occupied about the same positions that were held by them on the 21st of July, 1861, except that they were reversed. The last stand by the enemy was made on the ridge or plateau on which stood the "Henry House," made famous as the scene of the severest part of the battle known as 1st Manassas.

After the battle of Ox Hill on the 30th we were marched towards the Potomac River, and fording it, we marched to Monocacy Bridge, near Frederick, in Maryland. Thence we went along the Baltimore and Ohio Turnpike, crossing the mountains at Boonsboro, marching by the side of our wagon trains all the way to Hagerstown. We were there only a short time, when we heard cannonading in the direction of Boonsboro. We were hurried back, and when we reached Boonsboro we heard heavy fighting upon the mountain. We were carried up to the pass and were first formed in line on the south side of the pike, and then to the north side and afterwards to the south side again, but we were not heavily engaged in the battle. Early the next morning we found that our army had moved in the direction of the Potomac River, and we were acting as the rear guard. Many times during the day our regiment was formed into line across the road, as the army fell back towards Sharpsburg. The enemy came in sight several times, but did not attack. When we reached the top of the hill above Sharpsburg, where the Federal cemetery now is, we found a considerable part of the army resting there. General Robert E. Lee and his staff were there, and soon a courier arrived bringing news of the capture of Harper's Ferry. About that time the enemy was seen placing a battery in the field north of Antietam Creek. He began throwing shells. The camp-followers were soon going further towards Virginia. But, under the direction of General Lee, the different commands were deploying into line. He was retreating no longer.

Our brigade was carried west along the Hagerstown Road to the Dunkard Church—St. Mumma's—where the Smoketown Road branches off to the north. Forming our line along the Hagerstown Road, we remained there during the rest of that day, the 15th of September, and on the 16th until late in the evening. Then the cavalry reported that the enemy was moving with strong lines and coming up in front of us. Our lines were then pushed forward in the direction of the Smoketown Road some distance, perhaps a quarter of a mile. Our regiment was on the east side of the Smoketown Road, along a fence and skirt of woods, known as East Woods in the accounts of the battle. Sometime after dark a line of men was discovered moving along our front from our right towards our left, so unconcernedly that they were at first supposed to be Confederates, but when they were hailed and found to be enemies one volley from our line scattered them and we were not molested further that night.

At sometime during the night, perhaps about one or two o'clock, we were carried back to (what was then) woods near the Dunkard Church. It is now a cleared field. Here we were told to rest. But early in the morning of the 17th, when it was hardly light, the battle opened. Our position, though we were then in the second line, was a very trying one. The enemy's guns in our front poured shot and shell into us, whilst we were exposed to a crossfire from his long-range guns, posted on the northeast side of Antietam Creek. The infantry in our front were soon engaged. There was an incessant roar of cannonading, and the roll of musketry was terrific. Wounded men were going back through our lines by scores. The battle was raging awfully. Our line was called into action, and moved to the front up the Smoketown Road and between it and the Hagerstown Pike. The front line had made a noble stand, but it was being pressed back. The enemy, with fresh lines, was pushing forward when we met him. Here it was that, for the first time in the war, I saw our men fix their bayonets in action, which they did at the command of Maj. Gen. John B. Hood (TX), who was riding up and down the line. We broke the enemy's line and held our place for a while, but he was bringing up fresh columns and overlapping our left, and we were forced back. The enemy seemed to be overcoming us until our left was reinforced by troops that were ordered up from our right. They engaged the enemy and drove him back again to the north of the Dunkard Church, and our lines were re-established. There was no further heavy fighting on that part of the line. The heavy fighting in the afternoon was near the stone bridge east of the town.

Remaining on the field during the afternoon and night of the 17th and all day of the 18th without any renewal of attack, the army on the night of the 18th moved across the Potomac River into Virginia. We camped there for sometime near a big spring northwest of Winchester. Toward the latter part of October, Federal Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan showed signs of an intention to advance into Virginia, east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. So we were marched across the mountains, and were kept marching until we were brought up in front of Fredericksburg. Here we learned that Maj. Gen. McClellan had been removed and that Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside had been placed in command of the Army of the Potomac. As we neared Fredericksburg, we met old men and old women and children, some on foot, some in carriages, some being hauled in wagons; many of them apparently too sick to travel; all vacating the town because the Federal commander had threatened to bombard it, which he did do a few days thereafter.

It had been decided to organize the army anew and to brigade the troops by States, but the 6th NC Regiment remained with Brig. Gen. Evander M. Law's (AL) Brigade until after the battle of Fredericksburg, when it was placed, together with the 21st, the 54th, and 57th NC Regiments, in a brigade commanded by Brig. Gen. Robert F. Hoke (NC).

Our brigade during the battle of Fredericksburg was on the line between Hamilton's Crossing and the town, about in front of the Barnard House. Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin commanded that portion of the Federal army which confronted us. His attack was very powerful, and soon after the battle began the enemy took advantage of an interval that was inadvertently allowed in the line on our right towards Hamilton's Crossing and broke through. Here it was that Brig. Gen. Maxcy Gregg, of South Carolina, was mortally wounded. But the enemy's success was only temporary, for he was soon repulsed, and he did not, after that, show much disposition to press forward. Late in the afternoon our brigade was called upon to drive the enemy from an advanced position which he was holding along the railroad where it crossed Hazel Run or Deep Run.

The 54th and 57th NC Regiments were placed in advance by Brig. Gen. Law, at the request of their colonels, James C.S. McDowell and Archibald C. Godwin, and they drove the enemy in handsome style clear away from the railroad. Brig. Gen. Law's Aide-de-Camp, Lieutenant Smith, was killed in the effort to stop the two regiments in the pursuit of the enemy. This line we held. On the morning of the second day thereafter we found that there was no enemy in front of us. He was on the north side of the Rappahannock River. The campaigns of 1862 were over.

We went into winter quarters on the hills southwest of Hamilton's Crossing in December of 1862, but were removed to Brig. Gen. Robert F. Hoke's (NC) Brigade during the winter, which was in camp near Lt. Gen. Stonewall Jackson's headquarters on the right of the line, and during the winter did our share of picketing along the river between Fredericksburg and Port Royal.

Federal Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside made an unsuccessful attempt to advance in January of 1863, but was forced to abandon it on account of the mud, and that movement was known as Burnside's "Mud March." He resigned, and Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker was placed in command of the Army of the Potomac. When he made his advance in what is known as the Chancellorsville or the Wilderness Campaign [no, the Wilderness Campaign was in 1864], our brigade was near the same part of the line which we occupied during the battle in December before. There was no very heavy fighting near Fredericksburg until the 4th. Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, who was in command of the enemy's forces about Fredericksburg, moved out of the town, attacked and captured Marye's Hill, where there had been such awful destruction of life in December previous; and he appeared to be moving so as to strike the right of General Robert E. Lee's line of battle up toward Chancellorsville. Our brigade was commanded by Brig. Gen. Robert F. Hoke (NC), and we were at once moved from our position below Deep Run, so as to attack the enemy, who was then on the hills south of the town.

The conflict was sharp, but short, and the enemy was soon on the retreat. In this fight, our Brig. Gen. Hoke was wounded. By the next morning, Maj. Gen. Hooker and his Federal army were again on the north side of the Rappahannock River. After a short rest our brigade was moved westward and crossed the Rapidan River towards Culpeper Court House; and after the battle of Fleetwood Hill [aka Brandy Station] we were carried by long, hurried marches over the Blue Ridge Mountains, crossing the Shanandoah River at Port Royal, and thence to Winchester. There we took part in the battle which resulted in the capture of Milroy's command, although he himself escaped. There was a large number of prisoners, and one of our regiments, the 54th NC Regiment, was detailed to guard them and carry them up the valley to Staunton. The 6th NC Regiment and the other two regiments of the brigade went on in that series of movements which culminated at Gettysburg. We crossed the Potomac River near Shepherdstown and passed through Sharpsburg, where we had lost so many of our regiment in September before; thence on past Hagerstown, and nearly to Chambersburg. We then bore to the right or easterly across the mountains, passing Heidlersburg, Berlin, and other towns, and on to York. There we stopped and rested for a few days, camping in the old Fair Grounds. Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon (AL), with a brigade of our division, pushed on still further towards Philadelphia and burned the bridge over the Susquehanna River at Columbia. Leaving York, we soon found that we were retracing our march.

On the afternoon of the 1st of July, when we, as it afterwards appeared, were within a few miles of Gettysburg, and whilst halted for a rest, although we could not hear or see any signs of battle, an order was passed along down the line to inspect arms and examine the cartridge boxes and see that all were well supplied with ammunition, and directing also that there should be no straggling. Moving forward, we soon heard cannonading in our front, and soon thereafter we were in hearing of musketry. The road was cleared for the artillery to come forward, and we were formed into line of battle to protect it. The battle was raging on the west and northwest of the town, and we were engaging the lines that were formed on the north of the town. In the artillery duel that took place here, one of the guns which our regiment supported was disabled by a shot from one of the enemy's guns, which struck our gun exactly in the muzzle and split it. That might be called a center shot. The enemy seemed to fight with more desperation and gallantry than we had been accustomed to in our engagements with him in Virginia. He was upon his own soil, and it was no longer a sentiment about the old flag, it was a fight for home. But our men were never more unfaltering.

The long line of battle moved with great steadiness across the wide extended fields of wheat which were just ready for the reaper. There was, on that field, another Reaper gathering in a numerous harvest from the fields of Time. As we moved forward, one by one our men were left dead or wounded on the field behind us, but still our line advanced, and although the enemy made a determined stand we could see his line thinning down. Just north of the town, and a little to the east of the depot, he held his line until our men crossed bayonets with him. Swords were used on him, and when the artillery which he was protecting fired its last round the stream of fire from the mouth of the gun crossed our line. It was necessary for him to be thus desperate in holding this position in order to protect the retreat from Seminary Ridge. The artillery was being carried back from Seminary Ridge, through the town, to Cemetery Hill. He was in full retreat through the town. We thought the battle of Gettysburg was over; and so it was, for when we passed to the southeast side of the town and got in sight of Cemetery Hill we could see him placing his first gun on East Cemetery Hill, and we could see no troops out east of Cemetery Hill towards Culp's Hill. Our men were anxious to proceed and take possession of Cemetery Hill, and it was only by positive orders that a halt was made. The line was soon reformed along a little rivulet that runs northeastwardly from Cemetery Hill, and between the town and Culp's Hill. But we had no orders for any further advance. As soon as it began to grow dark we could hear sounds of what might have been thousands of axes cutting down the timber on Culp's Hill. He made breastworks and lined the Cemetery Hill with artillery, and placed a battery on a small hill between Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill, and his guns were also protected by earthworks which he threw up during the night.

By the morning of July 2nd all these places were full of infantry, and his artillery was so posted as to be able to fire over the heads of his infantry, whilst a strong line of skirmishers was in front of all, which was frequently relieved. He kept up a galling fire on us all day. There was a terrific cannonade between the enemy's guns and ours, which were posted on the north and east of the town. This was not very destructive to our infantry line, because, being in the valley, the shots passed over us.

But late in the afternoon, after the artillery had about ceased firing, couriers and aides were seen riding rapidly from one commanding officer to another. We knew what that meant. The order was given: "Forward, Guide Right!" Brig. Gen. Harry T. Hays's Brigade of Louisiana was on our right; ours, the 6th NC Regiment, was next to Hays's; Col. Isaac E. Avery, of the 6th, was in command of our brigade; Lt. Col. Samuel McDowell Tate was in command of our regiment. Never can that time be forgotten. Every man in the line knew what was before him. We had seen the enemy gathering on Cemetery Hill; we had laid under the fire of his numerous guns; we knew the preparations he had made for us. Yet, promptly at the command, the line moved forward, and in a few minutes we were in full view of the enemy's batteries and his lines of infantry. His sharpshooters emptied their rifles at us and fell back to their main line at once, and every gun was brought to bear upon us. The fire was terrific, but our men moved forward very rapidly, bearing to the right, having the batteries on Cemetery Hill as their objective point.

As we approached the hill the guns on Battery Hill, over towards Culp's Hill, had an enfilading fire on us. Still our men rushed forward, crawled over the stone wall near the base of the hill, drove from behind it a strong line of infantry, and went still forward to the top of the hill, and silenced the numerous pieces of artillery that had been so advantageously posted. We had full possession of East Cemetery Hill, the key to Federal Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's position, and we held it for several minutes. It was then after daylight had gone down, the smoke was very dense, and, although the moon was rising, we could not see what the enemy was doing, but we could hear him attempting to rally his men, and more than once he rallied close up to us. But our men had formed behind a rock wall, and as he approached we fired a volley into him, which drove him back. This occurred at least twice. No one who has never been in a similar position can understand how anxiously we looked for reinforcements. None came, however, and before long orders came for us to fall back to our original position.

By not supporting Brig. Gen. Robert F. Hoke's Brigade of North Carolina and Brig. Gen. Harry T. Hays's Brigade of Louisiana in the storming and capturing of Cemetery Hill the battle of Gettysburg was lost. I do not know whose fault it was, but I feel assured in saying that it was not the fault of the storming column. It did its whole duty and fell back only when orders came for it to do so. In the charge on this hill, the 6th NC Regiment being on the right of the brigade, next to Brig. Gen. Hays's Brigade, was the only regiment of the North Carolina brigade which went on Cemetery Hill, towards which its advance was directed by Lt. Col. Tate. The other regiments of the brigade, the 21st and 57th, being on the left, were brought up more directly against Culp's Hill.

On the 3d day we remained in line along near the southern edge of town. We could hear the fighting to the south of us along the Emmettsburg Road, but we were not heavily engaged at any time during the day—only constant firing on the skirmish line. On the 4th we were in line along Seminary Ridge. On the night of the 4th we could see that our army was leaving Gettysburg, and when day came on the 5th we found that our brigade was again given the post of honor as the rear guard on one of the roads by which the army was crossing the mountains towards Hagerstown.

It is claimed that Federal Maj. Gen. George G. Meade was victorious at Gettysburg, and in one sense he was, but it was by no means a decisive victory.

We were all day on the 5th making the short distance between Gettysburg and the foot of the mountains, and we were not seriously molested by any pursuit until late in the evening, after sundown, when we were well in the mountains. The enemy ran up on a hill in our rear and threw a few shells at us, but when our sharpshooters deployed and started towards him he suddenly fell back, and we were molested no more. We next formed our line of battle up and down the Potomac River, near Hagerstown, the river, by reason of the continued rains, being too deep to be forded. Here was another chance for Maj. Gen. Meade, if his army was elated by his achievements at Gettysburg. General Robert E. Lee's army remained in line ready for an expected attack, but no attack was made. When the river became passable the pontoons were placed, and portions of the army crossed on the bridge, whilst others forded. We were back into Virginia again. The Gettysburg Campaign was over, but many, many noble soldiers who crossed over with us in June now failed to answer to their names at roll call.

After getting into Virginia we were carried back and camped a few miles northwest of Winchester. Whilst stationed there we were ordered to prepare for marching, and late one evening we started westward toward the Alleghany Mountains. We marched all night, and in the morning we were at the western base of the mountains in West Virginia, and took the roads leading northward. The object of our expedition was to capture some of the enemy's forces that were guarding a gap to the north of us; but they had gotten information of our movements and escaped, and we came back to camp. We were soon in motion again, and were marched up the Valley and crossed over to the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains and on to the neighborhood of Culpeper Court House and the line of the Rapidan River. We took part in all those movements and engagements in the early part of October, along the Rappahannock River and near Warrenton Springs, which led up to the disastrous engagement at Bristoe Station on the 14th of October.

Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's Federal army was falling back towards Washington, and we were in pursuit. Our brigade had formed east and west across the road in his rear, and we were fast closing in on him. But Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill (VA) struck him on the flank, near Bristoe, just south of Cedar Run, with two brigades. Federal Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren turned his whole force on him and played on him with artillery that was posted on the north side of the run. Lt. Gen. Hill's brigades were repulsed with terrible loss. The effort to cut the enemy in his retreat had failed. We then fell back to the north side of the Rappahannock River, tearing up the railroad from Cub's Run all the way back to Rappahannock Station.

As every thing grew quiet we were directed to prepare winter quarters, and did so with a hearty good will. By the 7th of November we were tolerably well prepared for winter; but in the middle of the afternoon on that day the "long-roll" was beat and we were marched about seven miles, double-quick for a great part of the way, to Rappahannock Station. West of the railroad bridge the river bends to the south, and a pontoon bridge was kept across the river. On the north side of the river there was a line of trenches, and we were hurried over into them. There were three or four pieces of artillery on a bluff near the river, just opposite the pontoon bridge, to our right. There Brig. Gen. Harry T. Hays's Louisiana Brigade was posted. The enemy's lines soon appeared in our front. Owing to some unusual state of the atmosphere, or currents of the air, we could see him firing at us, but could not hear the report of his guns until he was close up to us. He seemed to know the ground, and his heaviest attack was on our right nearest the pontoon bridge. The conformation of the ground was such that we could not direct our fire so as to bear upon the heavy lines that were thrown against Brig. Gen. Hays, and he, after a gallant resistance, was overcome, and the enemy had the battery and was in full view of the pontoon bridge, which was then within musket range from him, and he had an enfilading fire on our part of the line, which was also receiving a fire from the enemy in our front.

Our men were ordered out of the trenches to form a line to try and retake the battery, but with the enemy advancing in our front and the severe fire from the hill on which the battery was situated, it was impossible to do so. No supporting troops were coming from the south side of the river. Brig. Gen. Hays's men were retreating, and the enemy was pouring a deadly fire into the stream of men who were rushing across the pontoon bridge to the south side of the river. Our regiment and those to our left were cut off and the river was too deep to be forded. The only chance of escape was to run the gauntlet or swim the river. It was getting dark. Some ran the gauntlet across the bridge; some swam the river. The writer was one of a considerable number who rushed across the bridge and reached the south bank safely, whilst many who attempted it fell pierced with balls and tumbled headlong into the river. A large portion of the brigade was captured. The enemy was so intent on crowding our men back into the horseshoe bend of the river that a considerable number, after formally throwing down their guns and being ordered to the rear, in going back found that the bridge was not guarded, and so slipped across to the south side. This fight, though of short duration, was a severe one and against great odds. We had no support or reinforcements.

The wisdom of the generalship by which our two brigades were placed on the north bank of a deep river to meet the advance of a great army is not apparent. Those of us who escaped capture reformed our companies, and by the addition of some recruits the regiment was intact again. But we were not permitted to go into winter quarters any more. We were kept moving, watching the enemy. He was somewhat emboldened, and attempted what was known to our men as the "Mine Run Campaign." It was about the last of November, and the weather was bitter cold. Although we were under a considerable artillery fire, and did some heavy skirmishing between the lines of battle formed by the two armies at Payne's Farm, yet there was no general engagement, and the enemy gave up the movement, and on December 2nd withdrew his forces to the north side of the Rapidan River again.

The campaigns of 1863 were ended.

Early in January of 1864, we were started again and were carried through Richmond and Petersburg, and thence to Garysburg, NC. Our men began almost to believe the rumor that we were being carried to North Carolina to hunt up deserters. Unpleasant as such duty would have been, there was rejoicing at the thought of being nearer home, and with a pathos that cannot be described, the men sang Gaston's glorious hymn:

"Carolina, Carolina, Heaven's blessings attend her,"
"While we live we will cherish, protect and defend her."

Taking the cars again, we headed towards Weldon, but there, instead of going on the Gaston road, we went towards Goldsborough and thence to Kinston. We joined in the expedition to New Bern, took part in the engagement at Bachelor's Creek Bridge and formed our line in sight of the enemy's breastworks in front of New Bern. But no attack was made. After a day or two there, we marched back to Kinston. When we left Kinston we were carried by way of Goldsborough and Rocky Mount to Tarborough, and thence were marched hurriedly to Plymouth. We took part in the storming of the outer works and final capture of Plymouth, April 20th. It was in this battle and whilst storming Fort Wessels that we first had to contend with hand grenades. Whilst our men were in the ditch around the fort the enemy threw hand grenades quite freely, but they did not prove to be very destructive, and the fort soon surrendered. This was about dark on the first day, and the surrender of this fort brought us in front of the main line of works around the town. Early in the morning the battle was renewed all along the line, and the Ram "Albemarle" was brought down the river to assist our land forces. The battle soon resulted in the capture of the town, with a large number of prisoners and considerable stores. We then marched on Little Washington on Tar River, but the enemy vacated it before we got there.

Spring was now well advanced and serious work was threatened in Virginia. Federal Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was moving on the Rapidan River, and the Petersburg & Weldon Railroad was threatened by troops on the south side of the James River. We were hurried back towards Richmond, but were stopped near Belfield and Hicksford to protect the bridges in that neighborhood for a few days. Then we were carried to Petersburg to prevent Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler's forces from capturing the city. Then Maj. Gen. Butler, failing to get into Petersburg, made a heavy demonstration out from Bermuda Hundreds, threatening the Petersburg & Richmond Railroad. We were marched over there. Maj. Gen. Butler failed to take the railroad, and, as Lt. Gen. Grant said, was "bottled up."

We were marched over to Richmond and northward towards Fredericksburg, and next formed in line of battle a little to the north of Hanover Junction. We were back with the army of Northern Virginia again. An attack from Lt. Gen. Grant's army was hourly expected. But there was no general engagement, only some skirmishing on our part of the line. As Lt.General Grant swung around down the river, we were marched so as to conform to his movements, and keep between him and Richmond. When he got to a point nearly north of Richmond he crossed over the Pamunkey River and advanced directly toward the city. Our line was along Totapotamoy Creek.

On Sunday evening, May 29, 1864, the writer of this sketch had his own company and two other companies on the skirmish line near Bethesda Church quite hotly engaged until after dark. After nightfall everything was quiet, and early in the morning, before it was light, we had orders to fall back to the main line. But hardly had we gotten back to the regiment when orders were brought to him to take the same men back to the same skirmish line and hold it until heavily pressed by the enemy; and, as they pressed us, to fall back to the main line. We were soon in our place, and it was not long before the enemy came up in force in our front and as far as we could see to our right and to our left. We were on the north side of the creek, along the brow of the hill; in front of us was a level field, in our rear was a valley which had been cleared for cultivation, and the ground sloped from our line back to the run of the creek, and then up on the south side, which was wooded, back to the main line on the brow of the hill. The skirmishing soon became furious all along the line.

In falling back our part of the line had to traverse the cleared ground until we began to ascend the slope on the south side of the creek, and the enemy, who rushed to the brow of the hill, poured a destructive fire into us. After we had gotten on the south side of the creek the writer, in passing from the left to the right along the line, received a shot in the ankle which disabled him entirely. Fearing capture, he, without waiting for the litter-bearers, called on his men to carry him back. Oh! how true and good and faithful those men had, under all circumstances, been to him. Promptly when the call was made, three or four good soldiers of his company lifted him and carried him back till the litter bearers were met. He was then carried by them to the ambulance station, and thence to the hospital, and there, when his turn came, he was placed on the operating table, and when he awoke his left foot was gone—the surgeons said amputation was necessary. And so ended his career as an active soldier. Any further history of the regiment is based on information derived from other sources.

The fighting above referred to was preliminary to the great battle of Cold Harbor on the 31st of May and on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of June, in which the Federal losses were awfully heavy. The Confederate loss was comparatively small. The one was reported at about twelve hundred, the other at about thirteen thousand. The writer, whilst lying on his cot in the hospital in Richmond, was told by the doctor in charge that some of his old comrades had come in to see him, and when he looked up he saw that it was some of the 6th NC Regiment, who had been wounded at Cold Harbor. They told him of the awful slaughter of Federals in front of the Confederate lines.

The second Cold Harbor was a decisive battle and virtually closed the Wilderness Campaign [known by Federals as the Overland Campaign] against Richmond. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was foiled in his eifort to get between General Robert E. Lee and Richmond. Lt. Gen. Grant then decided to transfer his forces to the James River. About the 12th to 14th of June, when Lt. Gen. Grant began to change his base to the James River, the cavalry was threatening the line of the railroad towards Gordonsville, and Maj. Gen. David Hunter was moving up the Valley. Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's (VA) Division, to which the 6th NC Regiment belonged, was marched rapidly from the Chickahominy River towards Gordonsville, in which section of the country Federal Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's Cavalry was raiding.

Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton's (SC) Cavalry had checked Maj. Gen. Sheridan. Lt. Gen. Jubal Early's forces pushed on through the smoking ruins that marked the line of Maj. Gen. Sheridan's retreat, until near Gordonsville a train was met backing down to carry them to Lynchburg, which place was reached about sunrise on the morning of June 17th. Jumping off the cars, the men were hurriedly marched up the steep streets and out to the field west of the town, and were just in time to save it. The cavalry of Brig. Gen. William L. Jackson (VA), sometimes known as "Mudwall Jackson," were being driven back by Maj. Gen. Hunter's men, who were advancing hilariously. But consternation struck them when they met General Robert E. Lee's infantry. Then followed the greatest foot race ever witnessed in war. Back through Liberty, Buford's Gap, and across the Valley into and beyond the North Mountain the despoilers ran, strewing the line of their flight with arms, blankets, knapsacks, and even shoes and hats. Maj. Gen. Hunter, having retreated through West Virginia toward the Ohio River, Lt. Gen. Jubal Early moved rapidly down the Valley, the enemy falling back before him until they reached Harper's Ferry and Maryland Heights.

On the 3rd, of July Federal Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel's force was driven from Martinsburg across the Potomac River at Shepherdstown. Lt. Gen. Jubal Early followed, moving through Hagerstown, and thence eastward, occupying Frederick City on the 7th. The militia that opposed the advance were dispersed by our skirmish line. As the army marched through Frederick the citizens tauntingly said: "Go ahead! You will soon meet regular soldiers." Our men replied: "All right, they are the fellows we are hunting for!"

Sure enough, at Monocacy Bridge, a few miles east of Frederick, Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace, since of "Ben-Hur" fame, had a large force in position on the left bank of the river. Lt. Gen. Early attacked him on the 8th, forced the passage of the river and drove Maj. Gen.Wallace back towards Pennsylvania. That left the road towards Washington and Baltimore open. Lt. Gen. Early promptly set out towards Washington and arrived at Rockville, MD on the 10th, and on the next day his forces formed line of battle in sight of the Capitol and within easy range of its powerful defenses. The 6th NC Regiment laid in the front yard of F. P. Blair's place, "Silver Spring." Occasional shells were thrown out from the big guns, but there was no general engagement. No attack was made; the works were too strong and too well garrisoned for Lt. Gen. Early's small force. After two or three days' skirmishing Washington was abandoned, and the army recrossed the Potomac River at White's Ford near Leesburg, and two days afterward encamped near Berryville.

Late in the evening of the next day word came that a force of the enemy was moving from Martinsburg towards Winchester. By a forced night march the brigade, Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur (NC) commanding, reached the front of Stephenson's Deport about sunrise the next day. Some couriers came in with reports of a very large force of the enemy approaching. Maj. Gen. Ramseur did not seem to think that it was a large force. He ordered the 6th NC Regiment to move forward on the Pike Road about two miles, to a piece of woods, to meet the enemy there. After the 6th NC Regiment moved off, however, upon further information, he followed with the whole brigade. He soon galloped up to the front and gave orders for the formation of the line of battle. During the execution of this order the enemy appeared in large numbers. The 6th NC Regiment, having been in advance, had just gotten into position, and had not loaded their rifles, when the enemy began firing. It was a critical moment. The 6th NC Regiment charged single-handed and fought until nearly surrounded; but the enemy had overpowering numbers, and the whole brigade was outflanked, and all had to fall back together. This fight was known in that part of the army as "Ramseur's Defeat "; but it was not so spoken of him in disparagement of him or his generalship, for he was as gallant a soldier as ever lived, and he soon fell fighting nobly at Cedar Creek.

During the remainder of the summer and fall of 1864 the 6th NC Regiment was with Lt. Gen. Jubal Early (VA), moving back and forth, up and down the Valley, as he would drive the enemy towards the Potomac River and Harper's Ferry, and in turn be driven back up the Valley towards Staunton, the enemy having overwhelming odds always against us. About the 8th or 10th of August, Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan was transferred from Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's army and took command in the Valley. Our forces under Lt. Gen. Early had fallen back to Fisher's Hill. Maj. Gen. Sheridan, hearing that reinforcements were sent to Lt. Gen. Early, commenced retreating, and was pursued through Winchester and until he withdrew to Harper's Ferry and Maryland Heights.

Before daylight on the morning of September 18th, while posted in front of Winchester, Maj. Gen. Sheridan, with a force of fifty-four thousand (54,000) attacked Lt. Gen. Early, who, according to reports, had only about seven thousand (7,000) infantry and not more than ten thousand (10,000) all told. Our line was drawn out very thin to cover the approach. The enemy charged time and again through the open field, for we had no cover. Yet our line was not broken until about sundown, and only then because the cavalry was thrown around our left flank. Maj. Gen. Robert E. Rodes (AL), commanding the division, and Brig. Gen. Archibald C. Godwin (NC), commanding the brigade, were killed here.

From Winchester we fell back to Fisher's Hill, near Strasburg. Maj. Gen. Sheridan followed, and on the 22nd attacked us again, sending two divisions of his cavalry (he is reported to have had ten thousand cavalrymen, splendidly armed and equipped) up the Luray Valley to intercept, at New Market, any retreat by Lt. Gen. Early. In this they did not succeed. Although the battle of Fisher's Hill went against Lt. Gen. Early, he made good his retreat to the upper Valley and escaped Maj. Gen. Sheridan's overwhelming odds.

Having been reinforced, Lt. Gen. Jubal Early again moved down the Valley, and reached Cedar Creek about the 18th of October. Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's army was camped on the heights overlooking Strasburg and Cedar Creek. Our regiment, together with other infantry, was started about midnight and marched by a cow path or trail around the end of the Massanutton Mountain; forded the river below the mouth of Cedar Creek; formed line of battle before it was good daylight, and attacked the enemy at Belle Grove, completely surprising him, and soon had him, panic stricken, flying down the Valley Turnpike towards Middletown. There he attempted to rally, but the Confederates followed closely and his retreat was continued on towards Newtown. The route seemed to be so complete that the half-famished and poorly clothed men of Lt. Gen. Early's army found the rich spoils in the captured camp and stores of the Federal suttlers too tempting, and so many of them straggled that when Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright, who was in command of the Federals, reformed his line near Newtown, and Maj. Gen. Sheridan came riding in from Winchester and took command, our lines were too weak to resist their attack, and before night the Federals had regained their camp. In this fight Maj. Gene. Stephen D. Ramseur (NC), commanding our division, was killed. Lt. Gen. Early halted for the night at Fisher's Hill, and on the next day fell back further up the Valley, towards Staunton.

The battle of Cedar Creek was about the last of the Valley Campaign. Indeed, the Valley was so devastated by Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan that our army could hardly find subsistence. During his advances and withdrawals, according to his own dispatch to his Government, "the whole country from the Blue Ridge to the North Mountain had been made entirely untenable for a rebel army. This destruction embraced the Luray Valley and The Little Fort Valley as well as the main Valley." Such cruelties and barbarities shall ever remain as a stain upon Maj. Gen. Sheridan's character, and upon the War Department for not rebuking him, and upon Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who directed it, and concluded his letter to Sheridan by adding: "If the war is to last another year, let the Shenandoah Valley remain a barren waste."

Towards the close of the fall the 6th NC Regiment, together with the remaining troops of Maj. Gen. Ramseur's and Maj. Gen. Rodes' Divisions, were placed under Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon (AL) and sent back to Petersburg. The 6th NC Regiment occupied the line of entrenchments opposite the "Tall Tower" until January of 1865, when it was carried to the right, near Burgess's Mill and Dabney's Mill [aka Hatcher's' Run]. The enemy made a determined effort to turn the Confederate right about the 5th to 6th of February. The 6th NC Regiment was heavily engaged in the attempt to beat him back. In this fighting Brig. Gen. John Pegram (VA), commanding our division, was killed. Lt. Gen. Grant was trying to get to the South Side Railroad; he failed in this, but he secured an extension of his lines to Hatcher's Run. Fighting was now going on constantly on the outposts and picket lines.

Soon after the battle of Dabney's Mill, the 6th NC Regiment was carried back again through Petersburg to the trenches opposite Fort Stedman. There it remained in the mud, as many of them expressed it, holding this part of the line until the 25th of March.

Before day, on the 25th of March, the 6th NC Regiment and other troops were ordered to move out noiselessly in front of the trenches, and to dash across the narrow space that divided the two armies (not more than one hundred and fifty yards); men with axes were to cut and tear away the abatis; and as soon as it could be done, the men were to rush in, capture the fort and the lines to the right and left. That the men might know their friends, each man of the attacking force was to have a piece of white cloth tied around his left arm. This looked like a desperate attack. The 6th NC Regiment and other troops immediately in front of Fort Stedman, the lines being nearest together there, were to lead. They did what they were ordered to do, and, perhaps to the surprise of our own people, and certainly to the surprise of the enemy, it worked well for a while. Every one did his part. The abatis was cut and pulled away in short order. The men rushed Hare's Hill and captured Fort Stedman and the batteries to the right and left of it. A large number of prisoners were taken and several pieces of artillery. The troops that were to support this movement on the right, towards Fort Haskell, did not succeed so well, and failed to capture it. Daylight soon came; the Federals recovered from their surprise and turned upon us their artillery, which, together with the massed lines of infantry, made it, to use the words of one of the 6th NC Regiment, "a very hell for us."

It soon became evident that the position was untenable. The supporting troops were being withdrawn. The 6th NC Regiment had, in desperation, been charged against a mass of infantry coming up in their front, and they were the last to withdraw. They returned to their ditches under a severe crossfire—more to be dreaded than any forward movement; but, to use the language of one who was there, "they came back leaving none but their dead."

Within a few days General Robert E. Lee's army was compelled to abandon Petersburg. The battle at Five Forks was lost on April 1st, and at daybreak on Sunday, April 2nd, the Confederate line in front of Petersburg was broken and the Federal artillery opened all along our front. When night came the Confederates, although ground had been lost, were still holding Petersburg, but the evacuation of the city, and, as a consequence, of Richmond also, had been determined on. That night the army withdrew, and whilst fires were blazing up here and there, and heavy explosions which shook the very ground followed each other in rapid succession along the Confederate lines from Petersburg to Richmond, the Federals failed to move forward to ascertain the cause; and by daylight of the 3rd the Confederates were all on the Chesterfield side, and well away from the two cities, on the roads towards Amelia Court House.

In the almost continued movements, fightings and skirmishings of the next few days the regiment bore its part with Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon's (AL) Corps. Hoping to find at Amelia Court House commissary stores, the troops, having then been without rations for nearly two days, were told that no rations were there. The foragers who were sent out to seek supplies returned with almost nothing. Many of them were captured in their search for food. The road to Burkeville was occupied by the enemy, and the retreat bore further to the north through Deatonsville, and thence toward Farmville. The enemy's cavalry was striking all along the retreating line, sometimes repulsed and sometimes capturing artillery and wagons which the horses were too weak to move with any degree of rapidity.

On the 6th the Appomattox River was crossed at the High Bridge. On the morning of the 7th a sharp attack was made near Farmville and a rush made for the Confederate wagon train. Maj. Gen. Gordon turned on them and compelled them to withdraw, capturing some prisoners. The retreat was then continued.

On the evening of the 8th Appomattox Court House was reached. It was then an insignificant court house village. It is now an historic place, for there, on the 9th of April, 1866, the Amy of Northern Virginia ceased to contend with the armies of the United States, and General Robert E. Lee on that day accepted the terms of surrender offered by Lt. Gen. Ulysses. S Grant. Having mentioned Lt. Gen.Grant's inhumane directions to Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan in the fall of 1864 to devastate the Valley, it is a pleasure now to note that the terms of surrender were generous; and he is to be commended, in that afterwards, when blood-thirsty civilians were disposed to disregard them, he insisted that his Government should comply with them, and used his power and influence to that end.

A flag of truce appeared on Maj. Gen. Gordon's line. General Lee was seen riding back to the village, and it was soon known all along the line that the army was to be surrendered. When General Lee returned from his interview with Lt. Gen. Grant, the lines of battle broke and the men crowded up around him, anxious to take him by the hand. Many attempts have been made to describe the great soldier's final farewell to his troops as, overpowered by his feelings, he sobbed: "Men, we have fought through the war together—I have done the best I could for you," and sadly rode away. The emotions of that scene—a great general and his brave, faithful soldiers weeping farewell to each other—cannot be described. The soldier victors were generous and gave rations to the half-starved Confederates without any insulting taunts.

The 10th and 11th of April were occupied in preparing the lists and schedules and other papers for the surrender, and on the morning of April 12th the troops, the remains of the Army of Northern Virginia, formed for the last time. The artillery was drawn up by poor, bony horses and parked, the arms were stacked, the accoutrements deposited and the battle flags laid down. The 6th NC Regiment was there, and of the perhaps two thousand (2,000) men whose names had been on the roll, about one hundred and forty-three (143) answered to that final roll-call.

We had a regimental flag, a beautiful silken banner, on which the sister of Colonel Charles F. Fisher had beautifully embroidered the coat-of-arms of North Carolina and presented it to the regiment at its organization. It was highly prized; it waved over the regiment at the capture of Eickett's Battery at 1st Manassas, and over Eickett's Battery and Weidrick's Battery on Cemetery Heights at Gettysburg, July 2nd, 1863. It was not always used in battle, especially after battle flags had been distributed to the army. It was generally brought out on parades and general reviews; but it was not displayed at Appomattox. It was carefully preserved and brought to North Carolina. It is the same that was shown at the laying of the corner-stone of the Confederate Monument at Raleigh, May 20, 1894.

The war was over; the 6th NC Regiment had served out the time for which it had enlisted—for "the duration of the war."

The North Carolina State Legislature met in extra session (May 1-13, 1861) and called a convention of the people to meet in May (May 20th). Colonel Charles F. Fisher and others—men of broad views and cool heads—thinking that they foresaw a protracted and bloody struggle, prevailed upon the Legislature to pass a bill authorizing the formation of ten regiments of men enlisted for three years or the war, and empowered the Governor to appoint the regimental staff and company officers. Colonel Fisher was selected by Gov. John W. Ellis as Colonel of the 6th NC Regiment, and he began with characteristic energy to select men to aid him in recruiting ten companies. Fisher was the current president over the North Carolina Railroad (NCRR).

After some of the companies were drilled for a time at Charlotte, all of them were brought together, organized and drilled as a regiment at Company Shops, now Burlington. Honorable William T. Dortch (Speaker of the House of Commons) was first appointed Lieutenant Colonel, and Charles E. Lightfoot, a Virginian, who had been a teacher at Tew's Military Academy at Hillsborough, was commissioned as Major. Major Lightfoot devoted himself to drilling the regiment while it was at Company Shops. Colonel Fisher worked day and night, and divided his time between providing uniforms and equipment for his men, advancing out of his own means the money needed for the purpose, and reviewing, with a committee of directors, of which Mr. Edwin Holt was chairman, the railroad accounts during his administration of the affairs of the company.

As the result of Col. Fisher's restless energy, liberality and capacity for organization, the 6th NC Regiment was the first of the ten war regiments ready for the field. Before it was fully equipped he was heard often to say, in response to some expression of fear by the young officers that they would be too late to participate in the struggle, that our people ought to be educated up to the idea of fighting long and desperately. He had graduated at Yale, knew the Yankee character, and realized, as few of our leading men did, the incalculable advantage of having a navy sufficient to blockade our ports, and opportunity not only to manufacture war supplies in the immense establishments in the Eastern States, but to bring them without hindrance from abroad.

On the day that Col. Fisher reported his regiment ready to go to the front, our first war Governor, John W. Ellis, died, and the regiment commanded by his friend and townsman was taken to Raleigh to act as funeral escort. Honorable Henry T. Clark, being Speaker of the Senate, was inaugurated as Governor, and Lt. Colonel William T. Dortch, being the Speaker of the House of Commons, and next in the line of succession to Governor Clark, was induced to resign. Maj. Lightfoot became Lt. Colonel, and Capt. Robert F. Webb, senior Captain, was commissioned Major.

From Raleigh the regiment was sent to Richmond, where it was reviewed by President Jefferson Davis, accompanied by General Robert E. Lee, and ordered on the same day to embark on the train for Winchester, where General Joseph E. Johnston was in command—with Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson, Brig. Edmund Kirby Smith, and Brig. Gen. Barnard E. Bee as subordinates. The regiment left Richmond with rations for a day only, and failed to get supplies in passing Manassas. Consequently at Strasburg and on the first march thence to Winchester the men for the first time had a foretaste of the privations in store for them during the years that were to follow. Except the two mountain companies (D and E), the men were without food from the time they reached Strasburg till the second morning after, when they had taken their place in the line north of Winchester. The regiment was assigned to Brig. Gen. Bee's Brigade, composed then of the 2nd and 11th Mississippi, the 4th Alabama, and the 1st Tennessee Regiments. Col. Fisher had Robert M. McKinney commissioned Captain of Company A, and the writer of this account was commissioned a 1st Lieutenant, but Capt. McKinney was elected Colonel of the 15th NC Regiment before a vacancy occurred amongst the field officers, and the writer exchanged with Lt. Samuel S. Kirkland and took the same position in Company E, in order to satisfy the men recruited by him.

On the second morning after the regiment arrived at Winchester drums began to beat, brigade after brigade fell into line and marched into the town of Winchester. All day we could hear the terrific old rebel yell as the men passed through the open field beyond the town; but it was not till near night that we moved under orders to the same point, and were halted to hear for the first time a battle order, full of the Napoleonic ring. General Johnston announced, by having this order read to each regiment as it passed, that the President had called upon him to make a forced march to reinforce General P.G.T. Beauregard (SC) at Manassas, and save the country. The men forgot for the time the pangs of hunger and the sting of blistered feet, and moved off as if willing to run to the relief of their threatened comrades. The raw recruit never forgets, though he may not be able to describe, the suffering endured in undergoing, the tortures of such a hardening process, so soon after enjoying the ease and luxury of home life. It is the first test of his powers of physical endurance, his strength of will and of constitution. After such an experience comes the camp fevers, invited by the depleted condition of the system, and then is witnessed in a physical sense the survival of the fittest. The regiment arrived at Piedmont Station a short time before daylight, and the men fell rather than laid down amongst the thickly stacked shocks of a wheat field just harvested. We had not then begun to practice the apostolic plan of rubbing out the wheat for food, but some of us stretched on a hillside upon shocks used as beds, covering head and all, and found in the morning that a heavy rain had washed out trenches under us and between the bundles.

The regiment had marched near the rear of the column and had separated from Brig. Gen. Bee's other regiments, and, as we rested in the field, it seemed for a time that we would be the last to embark on the train from Piedmont Station for the scene of conflict. In volunteering to render an important service, Col. Fisher won for his regiment the right to a place in advance of Brig. Gen. Kirby Smith's Brigade, and the opportunity, which proved fatal to him, to take part in the first great battle of the civil war. It was reported to him that a train had been derailed, a portion of it wrecked, and that the movements of the remaining regiments would be greatly delayed. He sought the senior officer and told him that he himself was a railroad president and a railroad contractor, and had in his command civil engineers and enlisted men who had been employed in track laying and section work. As a reward for hurriedly putting the track in order, the 6th NC Regiment embarked on the next train that left for Manassas.

The first Confederate troops that opposed Federal Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell's flanking column, after it crossed Bull Run on the left of our line, was the command of Colonel Nathan G. Evans (SC), composed of eleven companies of infantry and two field pieces, stationed in the woods, near the intersection of the Warrenton Turnpike and the Sedley Road. "Here he (Evans) was attacked by the enemy in immensely superior numbers, against which he maintained himself with skill and unshrinking courage." Brig. Gen. Bee, moving toward the enemy, guided by the firing, with a soldier's eye selected the position near the Henry House and formed his troops upon it. They were the 7th and 8th Georgia, 4th Alabama, 2nd Mississippi, and two companies of the 11th Mississippi, with Imboden's Battery.

Being compelled, however, to sustain Col. Evans, he crossed the valley and formed on the right and somewhat in advance of his position. Here the joint forces, little exceeding five regiments, with six field pieces, held the ground against about fifteen thousand (15,000) Federal troops for about an hour, until, finding themselves outflanked by the continually arriving troops of the enemy, they fell back to Brig. Gen. Bee's first position, upon the line of which Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson (VA), just arriving, formed his brigade at Stanard's Battery. Colonel Wade Hampton, III (SC), who had by this time advanced with his legion as far as the turnpike, rendered efficient aid in maintaining the orderly character of the retreat from that point, and here fell the gallant Lt. Colonel B.J. Johnson, his second in command.

Up to this time the 6th NC Regiment, having been detached and left behind the rest of Brig. Gen. Bee's command, which was now increased by the addition of Bartow's and another Georgia regiment, had not arrived on the field. It was not until about two o'clock in the afternoon that Col. Fisher reported with our regiment at the Lewis House, after General Joseph E. Johnston had left Colonel Smith upon the field and established his headquarters there. Col. Fisher halted his regiment in a road running along a line of fence under the hill from the Lewis House, and had his horse crippled so as to force him to dismount in going up the hill or returning from the Lewis House, where he reported for orders.

The time of Col. Fisher's arrival on the battlefield was two o'clock in the afternoon. The regiment advanced from a point a few hundred yards to the left of the Lewis House. Col. Fisher had reconnoitered in our front and his evident purpose was to lead us by the flank up a deep ravine, which could not be seen on account of intervening woods, by Rickett, who was in command of a section of Sherman's Battery, or by the Brooklyn Zouaves, who were supporting it, and who were stationed on the hill above the upper end of the ravine. The regiment moved up this ravine by the flank. When the column reached a point near the upper end of the ravine, however, the enemy on the hill discovered its approach and opened with shrapnel from the field pieces which had previously been shelling the hill near the Lewis House, but they were unable to depress their guns so as to reach us with the shrapnel, even after the regiment moved out of the gulley. Instead of moving forward into line all of the rear companies, a movement that might have been contemplated by Col. Fisher but for the fire of the enemy, the men in front filed to the right and those nearer the center, including most of seven companies, moved forward into line without orders through a piece of woods till they came into an open field about eighty yards from the guns and the supporting line. Three companies (A, C, and D), with a portion of a third company, with whom Lt. Col. Charles E. Lightfoot remained, did not go into action, being cut off in the rear.

Lt. Col. Lightfoot took offense because Col. Fisher refused his request to allow him to give the commands to the regiment about the time it advanced towards the enemy. The soldiers delivered a well-aimed and fearfully destructive fire into the line of the enemy's infantry, but especially into the artillerists. After firing a number of rounds, every soldier loading and firing at will, the enemy's guns were silenced, and but few muskets were being fired by the Zouaves. At this juncture Col. Fisher was standing near Capt. Isaac E. Avery, who was commanding the color company, when Capt. Avery said to Col. Fisher: "Colonel, don't you think we ought to charge?" Col. Fisher's reply was "Yes, Captain," and addressing the men, "Charge!" Most of us charged straight up the face of the hill towards the field pieces, but Col. Fisher, after giving this command, his last utterance, advanced obliquely towards the left, having discovered evidently at this early stage a reserve line of the enemy in the woods to the right and rear of the battery. In the rush his movements were unobserved and his body was found far in advance of the point reached by any one on the left of our line, except Sergeant Hannah, of Company A, who evidently advanced with him and fell by his side.

When we reached Rickett's guns we found every horse killed and the ground covered with the bodies of the dead and wounded artillerists, and of the Brooklyn Zouaves, who were distinguished by their loose red pants. The writer distinctly recalls the fact that he saw upon the hill after the charge Maj. Robert F. Webb, Lt. (afterwards Captain) Benjamin F. White, Capt. Isaac E. Avery and his Lieutenants, James H. Burns and John A. McPherson, Captain (afterwards Colonel) James A. Craige, Lieutenants Benjamin R. Smith and James T. Roseborough, Captain William K. Parrish, Lieutenant John S. Lockhart, and more distinctly his old college friend, Lieutenant William P. Mangum, who about five minutes later received a wound in the side which proved fatal.

After the regiment had driven back the supports and captured the guns, a fire was opened on the men from the woods on the right and rear of the battery by soldiers dressed in gray uniform, and our men began to return the fire with spirit. At this juncture a number of the officers ordered the men to cease firing, telling them that they were firing on their friends, and called to the soldiers in the woods to cease firing; but the firing became heavier, and when no longer allowed to return it, the soldiers of the 6th NC Regiment fell back and reformed in the open field from which Col. Fisher had led them into the ravine. Here they missed their brave Colonel, and after they had reformed they were joined by Lt. Col. Lightfoot, who assumed command, and was ordered to move further to the left. We occupied our place in line in time to see the advance of Brig. Gen. Kirby Smith (VA) and Brig. Gen. Jubal Early (VA) on the left, and to observe from the hill the wavering of the Federal army as its line receded for a while in a series of curves, and finally broke and stampeded towards Centreville. We saw President Jefferson Davis ride up to the lines and heard him speak, and then we moved forward till we were halted, at dark or afterward, in the midst of the knapsacks and guns strewn along the line of retreat.

It was because of Lt. Col. Charles E. Lightfoot's general criticism of Col. Charles F. Fisher that NC Gov. Henry T. Clark appointed Colonel William D. Pender to succeed Colonel Fisher.

The 6th NC Regiment spent rather an uneventful winter a few miles above Dumfries, at Camp Fisher, named in honor of our fallen Colonel. The condition of the 6th NC Regiment when it left that camp for Fredericksburg in March of 1862, was a vindication of the wisdom of Governor Clark in appointing Col. Pender to succeed Col. Fisher. The rank and file shared in the pride of Col. Pender, when on review at Fredericksburg, General Joseph E. Johnston declared it superior in drill and discipline to any other regiment in the Army of Northern Virginia. Col. Pender was still more elated at Yorktown when the regiment responded to the alarm signal at midnight by forming in battle array at the place assigned it on the line far ahead of any other regiment of Smith's Reserve Corps. These achievements were the first fruits of the patient training of the best "all-around" soldier, in the writer's opinion, in the Army of Northern Virginia—excepting only a few of our officers of high rank.

The march from Fredericksburg to Yorktown would have been devoid of special interest but for the terrible mortality amongst the new recruits, who were being stricken down with measles every day, as the troops moved to and then down the Peninsula. Of forty-six (46) recruits taken to Company E by the writer, more then twenty (2) fell by the wayside.

Brig. Gen. W.H.C. Whiting's (VA) Brigade was composed of the 6th NC Regiment, 2nd and 11th Mississippi and the 4th Alabama Regiments—being the command of Brig. Gen. Barnard E. Bee at Manassas, except the 1st Tennessee, which had been transferred to Brig. Gen. Robert H. Hatton's (subsequently Brig. Gen. James J. Archer's) Brigade, and formed a part of the Corps of Maj. Gen. Gustavus W. Smith (KY). This command had been sent hurriedly to reinforce Brig. Gen. Lawrence O'Bryan Branch (NC), near Hanover Junction; but had returned and spent the night before the battle of Seven Pines, or (as the Federals called it) Fair Oaks, in a camp near Richmond.

It moved to the junction of the New Bridge and Nine Mile roads. Major Generals Daniel H. Hill (NC) and James Longstreet (VA) attacked the left of Federal Maj. Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes's command at two o'clock p.m. of May 31, 1862, after waiting from early morning, about six hours, for Maj. Gen. Benjamin Huger (SC) to get into the position assigned him by General Joseph E. Johnston's orders. Owing to the peculiar condition of the atmosphere neither the fire of musketry nor of cannon by Maj. Gen. Longstreet's and Maj. Gen. Hill's commands could be heard by MAj. Gen. Smith's Corps, which was accompanied by President Jefferson Davis and General Joseph E. Johnston. At length Maj. Jasper Whiting, of General Johnston's staff, was sent to the right, and returning just before four o'clock p.m., reported that the battle was raging on the right.

The first regiment put in motion on the Confederate left was the 6th NC Regiment, under Col. William D. Pender. He was ordered to press forward rapidly, with the assurance that he would be supported, but was led to believe that the enemy was not very near to his front. Hence he moved into the dense woods, a short distance from us, by the flank, until the head of the column reached a road, when the enemy's picket fired into him. The regiment was halted instantly and ordered forward into line at double-quick. Though the movement was executed in dense woods, the regiment had, in a few seconds, formed a perfect line along the road, and in the shortest possible time thereafter Company K under Capt. James W. Lea, was thrown out as skirmishers, and was advancing at a quick-step, followed by the regiment in supporting distance.

Though a number of men in the line of battle were killed and wounded, the company of skirmishers was not driven back upon the main line until the regiment reached the woods, where a part of Federal Maj. Gen. Darius N. Couch's command was said to have been in camp near Fair Oaks Station. The advance of the regiment was not, however, checked for a moment there, though wistful eyes were cast at the full haversacks and boiling pots as it passed through the deserted camp of Maj. Gen. Couch. Col. Pender, true to his training, obeyed orders by moving straight to the front, trusting to his superiors for support. The regiment passed rapidly over the road leading to Maj. Gen. Couch's center, and advanced several hundred yards east of it, when a sergeant called the writer's attention to the fact that several Federal flags were visible to our left and rear, the Federal regiments being so posted that they could in five minutes have moved rapidly down the road which the 6th NC Regiment had crossed and cut it off from retreat or support.

The writer, whose position as 1st Lieutenant of the color company, threw him near to Col. Pender, and said: "Colonel, there are three Yankee flags." Without replying, Col. Pender said, in a low tone, "Sergeant Bason, lower your flag." Then with the ringing voice, which could always be heard, and was always heeded, he gave the command, "By the left flank, file left, double-quick!" This was the only possible combination of commands that could have saved us from capture, and they were molded into a single order without hesitating for an instant. But the danger of capture or annihilation was not over still. No supporting troops were in sight. The enemy's regiments—the head of Maj. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner's Corps, which had crossed the Chickahominy River, but had not yet effected a junction with Maj. Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes—were resting in column by company to our left and rear in an open field, with a swamp on their right. Whether they had mistaken the 6th NC Regiment for Federals, or had determined to allow it to go unchallenged into danger, they were without doubt unprepared for Col. Pender's next movement. When the center of the regiment reached the road leading towards Fair Oaks—without halting—Col. Pender gave the command, "By the right flank, charge bayonets!" Meantime, as we were moving double-quick towards the road, Col. Pender had said to his Adjutant: "Go rapidly to the rear and hasten the advance of the other regiments." When the regiment had charged within about one hundred yards of the enemy, still massed in column by company. Col. Pender gave the order to halt and to deliver a fire into him.

This well directed fire threw the columns of Federal Maj. Gen. Sumner into confusion and gave Col. Pender time to fall back a short distance and form on the right of the Mississippi regiments, which had now come up. In a few moments the regiment went forward, with the Mississippians on its left, to a point within eighty yards of the enemy, and in the open field. This position it held, delivering a steady fire until it was almost dark, and until the commands of Brig. James J. Pettigrew (SC), Brig. Gen. Robert H. Hatton (TN) and Brig. Gen. Wade Hampton, III (SC) had made unsuccessful attacks on the enemy posted in the swamps to the left of Col. Pender. President Jefferson Davis witnessed the movements of Col. Pender's 6th NC Regiment, and when the battle was over, said to him: "Your commission as Brigadier bears date of today. I wish that I could give it to you upon the field." Col. Pender afterwards said to his friend, Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Lee: "I could have coveted no greater honor than to be promoted by the President on the field of battle."

The attack on the left was not a success. Brig. Gen. Hatton was killed. Brig. Gen. Hampton wounded, Brig. Gen. Pettigrew wounded and captured, while the aggregate loss of the Confederates was nearly twelve hundred (1,200) killed and wounded. The 6th NC Regiment won the proud distinction of being the first to engage the enemy and the last to leave the field.

Capt. John A. McPherson (then 1st Lieutenant), of Company E, 6th NC Regiment, who was acting as Aid-de-Camp to Col. Isaac E. Avery, gives the following account of the movements and conduct of the brigade during the battle of Gettysburg:

"Colonel Isaac E. Avery commanded [Brig. Gen. Robert F.] Hoke's Brigade [NC], composed then of the 6th, 21st, 27th (the 54th having been detached and left in charge of the prisoners captured at Winchester). This brigade attacked a portion of [Federal Maj. Gen. John F.] Reynold's command intrenched, with a strong fence in front of the trenches, and after marching across an open wheat field without faltering, drove Reynolds from his position and through the town to the wall on Cemetery Hill. Here brave Captain James H. Burns, of the 6th, was killed (in fulfillment of a wish often expressed) instantly by a ball piercing the brain. The brigade halted in a wheat field near and to the right of the Gulp House, where it remained all night and until just before sundown on the next day, when it was ordered to move forward with [Brig. Gen. Harry T.] Hays's {LA] Brigade and attack Cemetery Heights. In this attack Colonel Avery led the brigade on horseback, being the only mounted man of the command, until he fell from his horse mortally wounded by a ball which passed through his neck and shoulder. After falling from his horse he took from his pocket a pencil and piece of paper, on which he wrote in indistinct characters: 'Tell my father I fell with my face to the enemy.' His command moved forward and scaled the heights."

All of the eye-witnesses concur in stating that the 6th NC Regiment, commanded by Major (afterwards Lt. Colonel) Samuel McDowell Tate, was gallantly led, and engaged in a hand-to-hand encounter with the enemy entrenched behind the wall on the heights, in which men were not only killed by bayonets and pistol shots, but were clubbed by muskets and ramrods of artillerists. A letter from W. A. Hall, of Company K, states that a body of Brig. Gen. Harry T. Hays's Louisiana troops planted their flag upon one of the enemy's guns on the heights, and about the same time the color-bearer of the 6th NC Regiment was knocked senseless while planting his colors on another gun in the Federal line.

Summing up all of the evidence, there is no room for doubt that the North Carolinians commanded by Col. Isaac E. Avery, one and all, covered themselves with glory at the battle of Gettysburg. If the 6th NC Regiment encountered the line where it was strongest, it was their good fortune to find the opportunity for which all alike were asking, to show their devotion to the cause. It is equally true that the veteran command of Brig. Gen. Hays, which had so often marched, side-by-side to victory, with their Carolina friends, did not falter in the face of the terrible hail of shot and shell that rained upon them from Cemetery Hill, as they moved in an unwavering line across the memorable field to the harvest of death.

The 6th NC Regiment was on the left of the Confederate line, and hence was not in the thickest of the third day's fight. It enjoyed again, however, proud distinction in being a part of the only command that stormed and occupied any portion of the enemy's line along the heights, from the beginning to the end of the three days' struggle.