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American Civil WarSoldiers
20th North Carolina Infantry Regiment
The 20th North Carolina
Infantry Regiment, formerly the 10th Volunteers, were assembled at
Smithfield and Ft. Caswell North Carolina in July of 1861. It's
members were drawn from the counties of Brunswick, Columbus, Cabarrus,
Duplin, and Sampson. After serving in North Carolina, the unit moved
to Virginia 14 November 1861 where it was assigned to Alfred Iverson's
Brigade under Rhodes Division of the 2nd (Jackson's) Corps. It's field
officers were; Cols Alfred Iverson and Thomas F Toon - Lt Cols Johns S
Brooks, Franklin J Faison, Nelson Slough and William H Toon - Major
Duncan J Devane. The 20th mustered out 09 April 1865.
The 20th
participated in various campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia
from the Seven Days' Battles (93 killed, 281 wounded, 6 mia) to Cold
Harbor and later took part in the Appomattox operations. Other
casualty reports include: 30 wounded in the Maryland Campaign, 3
wounded at Fredericksburg, 77 casualties at Chancellorsville and of
the 372 engaged at Gettysburg, more than 65% were disabled. The unit
surrendered with 4 officers and 71 men of which only 9 were armed.
In February 1866 North Carolina Governor Johathan Worth sent
out a request to all sheriffs to compile a list of veterans who had
lost limbs. The General Assembly passed a resolution to provide
artificial legs at no charge or to give $75. to amputees who wished to
buy their own prostheses or live without one.
According to the
North Carolina Historical Review more Tar Heels served in the
Confederacy than from any other state, about 126,000 men. Almost a
third of them died during the war. North Carolina soldiers who were
killed in battle during the war totaled 19,673, one fourth of all
Confederate battle deaths. Approximately 20,602 Tar Heel soldiers died
of disease during the war. The combined total of 40,275 deaths came to
about one-sixth of all Confederate fatalities.
[Sources: North Carolina Troops 1861-65, A
Roster
American Civil War Soldiers Database@Ancestry.com; Joseph
Crute: Units of the Confederate Army
Ken Jones NC Military Look Up;
The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer]
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