The Fourth Battalion, four hundred strong, was organized at Camp
Holmes, near Raleigh, N. C., on 30 May, 1864, by the election of
J. M. Reece, of Greensboro, Major; John S. Pescud, of Raleigh,
was appointed Adjutant. Pescud was a brave, true-hearted lad, and
is now an honored citizen of Raleigh. The battalion was sent to
Goldsboro 2 June. It was composed of the following companies:
COMPANY A--_From Guilford County_--John W. Pitts, Captain; J.
N. Crouch, First Lieutenant; T. A. Parsons and George M. Glass,
Second Lieutenants.
Upon the resignation of all the company officers, W. W. King was
elected First Lieutenant and Davis S. Reid Second Lieutenant. The
former was in command of the company at Fort Fisher, Kinston and
Bentonville. He also acted as Regimental Adjutant for a time,
when D. S. Reid commanded the company. Both of these officers
were intelligent, brave and efficient.
COMPANY B--_From Alamance and Forsyth Counties_--A. L. Lancaster,
Captain; A. M. Craig, First Lieutenant; William May and C. B.
Pfohl, Second Lieutenants.
COMPANY C--_From Stokes and Person Counties_--R. F. Dalton,
Captain; G. Mason, First Lieutenant; G. W. Yancey and J. H.
Schackelford, Second Lieutenants.
COMPANY D--_From Rockingham_--A. B. Ellington, Captain; J. P.
Ellington, First Lieutenant; F. M. Hamlin and William Fewell,
Second Lieutenants. This company was added to the Battalion 15
June. Captain Ellington was promoted to the Majority when the
regiment was formed.
Lieutenant J. P. Ellington in July, 1864, was drowned in Masonboro
Sound, while in the discharge of his duty as officer of the day,
visiting the pickets on the beach. His body was recovered by
exploding torpedoes in the sound.
Lieutenant F. M. Hamlin was promoted to the First Lieutenancy and
commanded the company until he was made Adjutant of the regiment.
The battalion soon after its organization was ordered to Goldsboro
to report to Brigadier-General L. S. Baker, commanding the district
of Southern Virginia and Eastern North Carolina. It was sent
thence to Kinston and there did guard and picket duty. On 15 June
it was ordered to report to Lieutenant-Colonel Frank S. Armistead
at Weldon. He had been placed in command of the defences at that
point. On 26 June the battalion was ordered to report to General W.
H. C. Whiting, at Wilmington, the only remaining blockade-running
port of the Confederacy. The battalion thereupon was stationed at
Camp Davis near Wilmington, on Masonboro Sound, under command of
Colonel George Jackson, an efficient officer, and did picket and
guard duty on the sound and the beach to prevent the landing of the
enemy, the escape of slaves to the blockaders and all communication
with the passing vessels. It was here that young Ellington, of
Company D, lost his life, crossing the Sound in a storm while on
his rounds as officer of the day. He was a zealous and capable
officer. The salt works, from which large supplies of salt were
obtained for the army, were in the vicinity of this camp, and were
guarded by the battalion.
From Camp Davis the battalion moved to Sugar Loaf, on the Cape
Fear River, about fifteen miles below Wilmington, six miles above
Fort Fisher and one mile from the ocean, where it drilled and did
guard and picket duty. “Sugar Loaf” is a singular formation. It
is a high sand hill running from the river bank half way across
the peninsula, steep on the exterior, but sloping on all sides to
a basin in the centre. It is a natural fortification, which the
engineering skill of General Whiting, by fosse and rampart, had
converted into an almost impregnable intrenched camp, containing
perhaps one hundred acres.
On 9 December, 1864, the battalion went from Sugar Loaf to
Belfield, Virginia, in company with the Seventh and Eighth
Battalions. Its future movements will be described in connection
with the other two battalions.