[Walter Clark, editor of the source cited below, gave this regiment the nomenclature of 77th NC Regiment, but it was never known as this contemporaneously. There were no legitimate NC Regiments numbered past the 69th NC Regiment (7th Cavalry). Later regiments were created for Reserves and for Detailed Men, which had their own numbering schema.]

These last two (2) were disabled officers on light duty and were released in November when their successors were selected.

From Lt. John G. Albright's sketch and from Lt. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes' [NC - Commandant of all Reserves] order book also, it appears that their successors were elected at Camp Davis, on Masonboro Sound, on November 28, 1864, when Lt. Col. Barnett and Major Dobbin were ordered to other duties [Inspectors of Conscription], upon the regiment being sent south.

In Moore's Roster, Volume 4, p. 345-358, where it is erroneously given as the 73rd NC Regiment, we find the muster rolls of seven (7) companies, the names of whose officers were given below, and on pages 333-335 we find the muster roll of what is given there as Company A, 73rd NC Regiment, but which we know from Lt. Albright's narrative, printed in "Our Living and Our Dead," October, 1874, pp. 134-137, was Company A, of this regiment. The roster of officers, if those given in Moore's Roster (amended by adding Company A) is correct is as follows:

Company A—Alamance—Capt. William S. Bradshaw; 1st Lieutenant, John G. Albright; 2nd Lieutenant, Alfred Sharp; 3rd Lieutenant, James Gilliam. This company was organized on June 13, 1864.

Company B—Stokes —Capt. William M. Clinard; 1st Lieutenant, Samujel N. McGee; 2nd Lieutenant, Briggs B. Cook; 3rd Lieutenant, Israel Moser. This company was organized on June 23, 1864.

Company C— Guilford—Capt. W. B. Johnston; 1st Lieutenant, William R. Pearson; 2nd Lieutenant, John Blaylock; 3rd Lieutenant, Frederick Smith. This company was organized on June 18, 1864.

Company D— Guilford—Capt. Jacob C. Boon; 1st Lieutenant, George W. Kirkman; 2nd Lieutenant, Tennyson M. Woodburn; 3rd Lieutenant, John Soots. This company was organized on June 18, 1864.

Company E—Stokes—Capt. William H. Watts; 1st Lieutenant, William G. Haynes; 2nd Lieutenant, Dempsey Bailey; 3rd Lieutenant, and Matthew Phillips. This company was organized on June 23, 1864.

Company F—Rockingham—Capt. William P. Williams; 1st Lieutenant, J.O. Core; 2nd Lieutenant, Lewis Waynick; 3rd Lieutenant, Eli Friddle. This company was organized on June 18, 1864.

Company G—Forsyth—Capt. Eli E. Holland; 1st Lieutenant, John H. Shore; 2nd Lieutenant, DavidShouse; 3rd Lieutenant, Solomon Tise. This company was organized on November 14, 1864.

Company H—6th Congressional District—Capt. George F. Fisher; 1st Lieutenant, B. Turner; 2nd Lieutenant, Gatano C. Pucci; 3rd Lieutenant, John Stacey. This company was organized on July 7, 1864.

Company I—Person—Capt. R. S. Davis; 1st Lieutenant, Thomas H. Brooks; 2nd Lieutenant, Chesley Hicks; 3rd Lieutenant, Alfred Blalock. This company was organized on June 21, 1864.

Company K— Caswell— Capt. Alfred A. Mitchell; 1st Lieutenant, Joshua S. Glass; 2nd Lieutenant, Alexander M. Fuller; 3rd Lieutenant, John J. Chandler. This company was organized on June 23, 1864.

The muster rolls of two (2) companies are not given in Moore's Roster.

[Lt. Albright's numbering was not correct. The above are corrected per official records, and include the missing two companies.]

As this regiment was in the midst of organizing, it was ordered to Raleigh on October 27, 1864, and on November 1st, Lt. General Theophilus H. Holmes [NC - Commandant of all NC Reserves] telegraphed General Braxton Bragg (LA) at Wilmington that he had sent him this regiment together with Maj. Lawson P. Erwin's Battalion - Senior Reserves; three (3) companies of Millard's 1st NC Battalion - Junior Reserves, and thirteen (13) other companies of Senior Reserves, and that there were no others except those guarding prisoners at Salisbury. The thirteen (13) companies of Senior Reserves were probably the ten (10) [or nine of the ten] soon after organized into the 8th NC Regiment Senior Reserves and three (3) of the four (4) [or all four] companies that formed the 3rd NC Battalion - Senior Reserves. On November 10th, it was reported at Wilmington with nine (9) other companies of Senior Reserves, 89 Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1207, at Masonboro Sound.

On November 28, 1864 the regiment elected:

Charles Eugene Shober, as Colonel.

Ezekiel Wheeler Hancock, as Lieutenant Colonel, who was promoted to full Colonel on February 4, 1865, back-dated to January 26, 1865, upon the resignation of Col. Shober. Hancock replaced James A. Barnett, who had been released from duty as Lt. Colonel on the same date.

James R. McLean, as Major, replacing James Cochran Dobbin, Jr., who had been released from duty on the same date.

The 7th NC Regiment Senior Reserves was soon sent south and as appears from the above Official Records it left Charleston for Savannah on December 7th, and on December 9th, it was in the battle of Tullifinny, SC (aka Coosawhatchie) under the command of Brig. Gen. Beverly H. Robertson (VA), 92 Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 446, and on 26 December it was in the skirmish at Tulifinny Iron Works, 130 of the regiment being present. Another detachment of 263 were in Brig. Gen. Thomas Harrison's (TX) Brigade at Tulliffinny, same Vol., pp. 992, 999. From January to March of 1865, inclusive, it was in a brigade commanded by Col. Washington M. Hardy, of the 60th NC Regiment, composed of this regiment, the 50th NC Regiment, and 10th NC Battalion-Heavy Artillery, which brigade belonged to Maj. Gen. LaFayette McLaw's (GA) Division.

So far this sketch has been taken from Lt. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes's (NC) Order Books and the above Official Records published by the United States Government. What follows is the above cited sketch of 1st Lt. John G. Albright, of Company A. It probably gives a fair idea of the scope of duties imposed upon the Senior Reserves. To read it causes us to regret that the histories of the other regiments of Senior Reserves were not obtained from members of those commands, while it was possible to do so. Lt. Albright's interesting sketch is as follows:

LIEUTENANT ALBRIGHT'S HISTORY.

The Senior Reserves of Alamance County, having been conscripted, met in Graham in June of 1864, and elected the following officers: William S. Bradshaw, Captain; John G. Albright, 1st Lieutenant; Alfred Sharp, 2nd Lieutenant; James Gilliam, 3rd Lieutenant. These officers were never commissioned, but were ordered into the service. Fifteen (15) men were selected out of the company and were sent to Greensborough as a guard at that place. In a short time the remainder were ordered into the southern part of the county to catch deserters from the army. A detachment under the 1st Lieutenant was sent to scour the Cane Creek Mountains, where they caught a deserter and found five (5) caves, dug for the purpose of hiding provisions, etc., in which was found one quilt, one large jug, tin cups, etc, which had just been deserted by the proprietors.

The detachment went on to Cane Creek Factory. The officer in command sent to a man's house to see if he was at home, when two (2) men leaped out of the back door and started through a cornfield at the top of their speed. One of them was a large man and the other a small one. At first the superior strength of the large one gave him the advantage, but before they got to the end of the field the small one was before. It was the most ludicrous foot race ever witnessed by the writer. Each one ran, not as running from danger, but as if for a thousand dollar wager. The large man was at first supposed to be a deserter, but was not, for he had once been taken to Camp Holmes and presented for service, but not accepted. The small one was the one to whom the house belonged. After the race was over the officer went in and told the good woman that the running would be of no service to her husband, and told her to tell him that the company had to go to Greensborough, and that he must come on immediately, which, be it told to his credit, he did. He belonged to our company.

From Cane Creek Factory we went to Greensborough, where we were put in a regiment of other reserves, and a set of Field Officers placed over the company. Our next move was to Ashborough. Here our small man who ran so at the factory came up and delivered himself to the authorities. He had gone to Greensborough just in time to be too late, and had followed us to this place. At Greensborough, he was furnished with gun and cartridge box. On his way to Ashborough he came across one, like himself who was a deserter and Senior Reserve, and on whom he prevailed to go with him to camp.

We drove over the mountains in Randolph County, scaring up wild turkeys, foxes, and owls in great abundance, but no deserters. The turkeys were scared so terribly that they could not get out of the way. One of the men wanted to shoot, and when the officer would not let him, he tried to bayonet it.

About this time we received orders to forage on those who had sons in the bushes, which was done to some extent. This rigid system brought up a great many who were sent off as conscripts, and not deserters.

We were sent from Ashborough to Wilmington. From Wilmington we were ordered to Camp Whiting, thence to Plymouth, thence back to Wilmington, thence to Camp Davis, on Masonboro Sound, where our young field officers disappeared [Maj. James C. Dobbin, Jr, and Lt. Col. James A Barnett were released from duty so both could serve as Inspectors of Conscription].

There we had an election for the officers of Lieutenant Colonel and Major on November 28, 1864. Ezekiel Wheeler Hancock, of Rockingham County, was elected to the former and James Robert McLean, of Guilford County, to the latter office. We had no fight there but could see the enemy frequently in their vessels.

From Camp Davis we were ordered to Savannah, from thence to the Coosawhatchie River in South Carolina. The next day after our arrival we got in a fight with Federal Maj. Gen. John G. Foster's forces, which numbered about seven thousand (7,000) men, while ours were only about three thousand (3,000). We held the fort (at Savannah) for 37 days and nights they shelling us nearly all the time from a fort nearby. We had nothing but rifle pits to protect us from their fire. After the fall of Savannah, Federal Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman being about to surround us, we evacuated our position, setting fire to the bridge across the Tulifinny River, which, not burning rapidly, was cut down by a detachment which had been felling trees across the road. When we reached New Pocataligo the enemy was within a quarter of a mile of us. We would have been captured had it not been for the 50th NC Regiment, which kept the enemy at bay until we got by. We retreated across the Saltehatchie River, about a mile above the railroad crossing, where we remained some time.

There our commanding Colonel Charles E. Shober left us [he was elected to the NC Council of State], and the command devolved upon Ezekiel Wheeler Hancock, the Lieutenant Colonel, but the brigade was commanded by Col. Washington M. Hardy of the 60th NC Regiment, for we were brigaded with the 50th NC Regiment and the 10th NC Battalion-Heavy Artillery, ours being called the 7th NC Regiment Senior Reserves. We were marched up the Salkehatchie River to Buford's Bridge to prevent Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's crossing. While we were there he succeeded in crossing at Rivers' Bridge, after having a pretty lively time with a Georgia regiment, who captured some of his advance guard. We were next marched to Branchville and stationed on the Edisto River, while Maj. Gen. Sherman passed on towards Columbia. We next went to a place called Ridgeville, where a great many wounded and sick men were relieved from duty by Dr. Cherry, the only man who seemed to have any mercy or humanity. Several of those relieved died soon after getting home.

From Ridgeville we were marched to Florence, where we got on the train and went to Cheraw, and from Cheraw to Wall's Ferry. While there the men got completely disheartened, went to the officers and asked them what they must do for something to eat, who told them that they could do nothing for them. Upon this some of the men went home.

From there we were marched fifteen (15) miles west of Fayetteville, where Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton (SC) charged Federal Maj. Gen. Hugh J. Kilpatrick, capturing some of his men, and from there to Averasborough, where we halted for a day or two. We were marched back a mile or so, where we threw up breastworks by cutting down pine trees and chinking underneath with pine knots. There we were attacked by Federal Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's forces. The line of battle extended from the Cape Fear River to a small stream eastwards. If two (2) brigades next to the river had not given way, we could have held our own, but as they did Maj. Gen. Sherman proved too hard for us. Under cover of the darkness we retreated from the place in good order and marched on to Bentonville, where we engaged Maj. Gen. Sherman on one Sunday morning (March 19). In the evening our brigade was double-quicked from the left to the right of the line, where Col. Washington M. Hardy rushed us up within twenty (2) feet of the enemy's breastworks, telling the officers it was to relieve our men.

We received a terrible volley, upon which one of the officers called out to cease firing, that they were shooting their own men. Still the firing went on. We took shelter the best we could behind the pine trees, except some of us who were in a pond about sixty or seventy (60-70) yards wide. These retreated across the pond, the officers shouting all the time, "You are shooting your own men." There we lost about fifty-one men (51) in about half a minute, out of about four hundred (400). When the firing ceased, Capt. William S. Bradshaw ordered Lieutenant Blalock to go forward and see if they were our own men who fired into us. When he got within fifteen or twenty feet (15-20) of their works, two (2) videttes leaped out, took him by the arms and led him across the breastworks. Then, knowing who they were, we fired into and drove them from their works.

After the firing ceased two (2) of the officers gathered up all the men they could find, marched out about three hundred (300) yards and built small fires of pine rails—one for Col. George Wortham's regiment (50th NC Regiment) and one for the 7th NC Regiment Senior Reserves.

The men being ordered to look after the wounded, split lightwood rails, and, having lighted them, went back to the breastworks and brought them out to the fires, where they were placed into ambulances and carried away. We marched back about half a mile, where we encamped for the night. At daylight the firing was renewed, and continued until Tuesday night at 12 o'clock. The enemy never broke our lines during the whole fight.

After the battle we were marched four (4) miles out towards Smithfield, when we were ordered into line of battle again. Federal Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's forces ceased to pursue us, and we went on to within about two (2) miles of Smithfield, where we rested two or three (2-3) days. Here, to the gratification of all, Col. Washington M. Hardy was relieved, the 10th NC Battalion-Heavy Artillery and the 50th NC Regiment being ordered into Brig. Gen. Johnson Hagood's (SC) and Brig. Gen. William W. Kirkland's (NC) Brigades. Here, also, we were joined by those who had left us at Wall's Ferry. From Smithfield we went to Raleigh (March 27th) when Lt. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes (NC) gave our regiment a furlough for twenty (20) days. Two (2) days before this had expired General Joseph E. Johnson (VA) had surrendered.

Thus ended the connection of the Senior Reserves, of Alamance County, with "The Lost Cause."

John G. Albright,
Graham, N.C.,
27 March, 1874