“Following
Lincoln’s call for volunteers to be used against the Southern States,
North Carolina seceded from the Union on May 20, 1861. In Onslow, as
elsewhere in the South, excitement was high and passions were at white
heat.
Musters,
as the countrywide meetings of the militia were called, were utilized
as recruiting days. On muster day the young men of the county
volunteered for duty at once. Their names were recorded on the Minutes,
signed by Sheriff W.D. Humphrey [and certified] This September 3, 1861.
The
County Court lost no time in backing to the limits, its volunteer
soldiers. Bonds for $10,000 were ordered sold and a military tax
levied. Volunteers were offered a bonus of $150 and given $5 in pocket
change. Volunteers brought whatever guns they had, one being listed as
having a pistol and Bowie knife. Several citizens were appointed to a
committee to look after the families of soldiers absent from home.”
Two companies of the Third North Carolina Regiment were from Onslow: the “Onslow Greys” (Company E), and Company G.
Company
E was recruited early in 1861 with Marquis L.F. Redd, Captain. He was
succeeded by W.T. Ennett, who distinguished himself and was later
promoted to major [and commanded] the regiment in early April, 1865.
About the same time Company G was organized under Edward H. Rhodes,
Captain, who was killed while leading his men in the battle of
Sharpsburg.
The
Fourteenth Volunteers was organized at Weldon on July 18, 1861 and
included Company B from Onslow under the command of George T. Duffy.
They marched at once to the Kanawha Valley in western Virginia to
reinforce Gen. John B. Floyd’s army, then returned to Murphreysboro
where they were reorganized as the Twenty-fourth North Carolina
regiment. With this unit the Onslow men saw action at Seven Days’,
White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, Drewry’s Bluff, City Point, Sharpsburg,
Fredericksburg, Plymouth, and Petersburg.
The
“Onslow Rough and Ready’s” mustered at Jacksonville on September 6,
1861 and moved at once to Camp Mangum, Raleigh under Onslow merchant,
Captain Claude Barry. The unit was organized as Company A, Thirty-fifth
North Carolina Regiment commanded by Captain Simon B. Taylor. Taylor
was born in Lenoir county but resided in Onslow as a merchant. The
Thirty-fifth saw action in the Virginia campaigns as well as in eastern
North Carolina.
The
Forty-first Regiment, Third North Carolina Cavalry, contained two
companies of Onslow County soldiers. Company B organized in 1861 under
Captain E.W. Ward and assumed the name “Gatling’s Dragoons” with a full
strength of 139 men. After the capture of New Bern, the duty of Company
B was to picket the streams of Onslow County but had skirmishes with
the enemy at New Bern and Washington. Company H, Humphrey Troops was
organized in 1862 under Captain J.W. Moore and numbered 99 men. This
unit participated in routing the enemy at Reams Station in 1864.
Company
K of the Sixty-first North Carolina Regiment was known as “Koonce’s
State Guerrillas” with men from Onslow, Jones, Lenoir and Duplin
counties. It was led by Onslow law professor, Captain Francis Duval
Koonce, and Captain Stephen W. Noble. The Sixty-first saw action in
eastern North Carolina as well as South Carolina, Petersburg, Drewry’s
Bluff, Bermuda Hundreds, Cold Harbor, Wilmington, and Bentonville.
Sources: The Commonwealth of Onslow, A History, J.P. Brown, 1960; North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865, A Roster
No comments:
Post a Comment