(THIRD JUNIOR RESERVES.)
It affords the writer pleasure to respond to the invitation
of Judge Walter Clark, himself a distinguished officer of the
boy-soldiers, to make a lasting memorial of the courage and heroism
of the brave and patriotic lads who composed the Third Regiment
of Junior Reserves, known since the war as the Seventy-second
Regiment of North Carolina Troops. It is to be regretted that the
task has not been performed at an earlier day, before the stirring
scenes in which these youths took so conspicuous a part have faded
into the dim outline of a shadowy dream. Some inaccuracies must
now necessarily creep into this sketch. The writer was Assistant
Adjutant-General of Lieutenant-General Theophilus H. Holmes,
who commanded the Reserves of North Carolina, and he has in his
possession many valuable records pertaining to that office, access
to which has been of great assistance in the preparation of this
regimental history.
It is deemed not inappropriate here to narrate some things of a
general nature concerning the Reserves.
The year 1863 closed with depression and gloom throughout our young
Confederacy. Missouri, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee and the
Arkansas and Mississippi Valleys had been lost. Vicksburg, with
its ill-fated commander, had surrendered. Gettysburg, in spite of
the heroic efforts of Carolina’s best and bravest, had been turned
by Longstreet’s default into a Union victory. All of our ports had
been blockaded. Sherman with his army of bummers, was preparing
for his infamous march through Georgia and the Carolinas, in which
he emulated the atrocities of the Duke of Alva, proclaiming as his
excuse that “War is hell,” and violating, with fire and sword,
every principle of civilized warfare. Grant had been placed in
command of all the Union armies and was preparing to take personal
charge of a campaign of attrition against the Army of Northern
Virginia, willing to swap five for one in battle, if need be, in
order to exhaust his straitened adversary--a process by which with
his unlimited resources of men, he knew he was bound to win in the
end.
It was in such dire distress that the Confederate Congress 17
February, 1864, aroused to a full sense of the magnitude of the
struggle, and recognizing the necessity for putting forth our whole
strength in the contest for Southern independence, passed an act
for the enrollment of the Junior and Senior Reserves--the former,
lads between 17 and 18 years--the latter, old men, between 45 and
50 years--thus, in the language of President Davis, “robbing the
cradle and the grave.”
Lieutenant-General T. H. Holmes was entrusted by President Davis
with the organization of the reserve forces in North Carolina.
General Holmes was the son of Governor Gabriel Holmes. He graduated
at West Point in 1829, and was assigned to duty with the Seventh
Regiment of Infantry. With this regiment he served with distinction
in the Seminole War and also in the Mexican War, in which he was
brevetted Major for conspicuous gallantry at Monterey. With his
keen sense of honor, pure Christian character, devotion to duty and
utter forgetfulness of self, he was fit to be a companion of the
knights who sat at King Arthur’s round table. A true son of the Old
North State, he had promptly responded to her call, and resigning
a Major’s commission in the United States Army, had been appointed
by the President first Colonel, then Brigadier, then Major-General
and finally Lieutenant-General. As courageous as a lion, he was
as gentle as a woman. At the battle of Helena, Arkansas, amid a
storm of shot and shell, with a coolness which the writer has
never seen surpassed, he rode into Graveyard Hill, upon which was
concentrated the fire at short range of fifty cannon and five
thousand muskets. It was a daring and fearless ride. Like General
Pettigrew, he was one of the few men who declined promotion. Well
does the writer remember the receipt by General Holmes, when
commanding the Trans-Mississippi Department in Little Rock, of
a Lieutenant-General’s commission, all unsought and unexpected.
He at once dictated a letter to the President, declining with
grateful thanks the high honor and requesting him to bestow it upon
a worthier man. It was only upon Mr. Davis’ insistence that the
promotion was afterwards accepted.
Mr. Davis in his “Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government,”
says of him:
“He has passed beyond the reach of censure or of praise, after
serving his country on many fields wisely and well. I, who knew
him from our school boy days, who served with him in garrison
and in the field, and with pride watched him as he gallantly
led a storming party up the rocky height at Monterey, and was
intimately acquainted with his whole career during our sectional
war, bear willing testimony to the purity, self abnegation,
generosity, fidelity and gallantry which characterized him as a
man and as a soldier.”
A truer, braver, purer heart never beat under the Confederate gray.
General Holmes on 28 April, 1864, established his headquarters at
Raleigh, N. C., and undertook the task of organizing the Reserves
of the State. His staff consisted of:--
Lieutenant-Colonel Frank S. Armistead, a graduate of West Point,
as Inspector-General. He was later elected Colonel of the First
Regiment of Junior Reserves and was afterwards assigned to the
command of the Junior Reserves brigade consisting of the first
three regiments. He was recommended by General Holmes for the
appointment of Brigadier-General in terms of high praise.
Captain John W. Hinsdale, as Assistant Adjutant-General, who had
served in this capacity on the staffs of Generals J. Johnston
Pettigrew at Seven Pines, and William D. Pender, through the
Seven Days’ Fight around Richmond, and also with General Holmes
in the Trans-Mississippi.
First Lieutenants Charles W. Broadfoot and Theophilus H. Holmes,
Jr., Aides-de-Camp. The latter, a mere boy, soon afterwards gave
his young life to his country while gallantly leading a cavalry
charge near Ashland, Virginia. The former, a member of the Bethel
Regiment, rose from private to Lieutenant-Colonel of the First
Junior Reserves, and is now the first lawyer of the upper Cape
Fear.
First Lieutenant Graham Daves, appointed Aide-de-Camp after the
death of young Holmes and the promotion of Lieutenant Broadfoot.
He was a brave and efficient officer of scholarly attainments and
high integrity.
A. W. Lawrence, of Raleigh, Ordnance Officer.
Major Charles S. Stringfellow, now one of Richmond’s most
distinguished lawyers, succeeded Captain Hinsdale as Assistant
Adjutant-General upon the latter’s promotion to the Colonelcy of
the Third regiment of Junior Reserves.
A roster in the writer’s possession shows that the Medical
Department of the Reserves was organized as follows:
Dr. Thomas Hill, now an eminent physician of Goldsboro, North
Carolina, Medical Director.
Dr. G. G. Smith, Assistant Surgeon of the First Regiment of
Junior Reserves.
Dr. A. W. Eskridge, Assistant Surgeon of the Second Regiment of
Junior Reserves.
Dr. E. B. Simpson, Assistant Surgeon of the Third Regiment of
Junior Reserves.
First Lieutenant J. M. Strong, Assistant Surgeon of the Fourth
Regiment of Senior Reserves.
Dr. W. L. Glass, Assistant Surgeon of the Fifth Regiment of
Senior Reserves.
Dr. A. W. Nesbitt, Assistant Surgeon of the Sixth Regiment of
Senior Reserves.
Dr. David Berry, Assistant Surgeon of the Eighth Regiment of
Senior Reserves.
Dr. G. H. Cox, Assistant Surgeon of the Eighth Regiment of Senior
Reserves.
Dr. James S. Robinson, Assistant Surgeon of the Second Battalion
of Senior Reserves.