26th North Carolina Regiment

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment


caption=North Carolina State flag circa 1861
dates= 1861 to April 19, 1865
country= Confederate States of America
allegiance= CSA
branch= Infantry
equipment=
battles=American Civil War

The 26th North Carolina Regiment was a Confederate States Army regiment during the American Civil War and is famous for being the regiment with the largest amount of casualties on both sides during the war.

History

The regiment was raised in 1861 from central and western North Carolina, with Zebulon B. Vance as its first colonel. Vance was elected Governor of North Carolina in 1861 and command of the unit passed to 20 year old Col. Henry King Burgwyn, Jr.. The 26th spent the next year defending the North Carolina coast, seeing its first action at New Bern, North Carolina. It then went north and fought in the Seven Days Battles before returning to the North Carolina coast.

In 1863, it marched northwards to became attached to General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia where they were given the distinction of being not only the largest, but the best trained regiment present. Gen.Pettigrew's brigade was attached to the 3rd Corps led by A.P. Hill.

From there the 26th North Carolina marched ever northward in Maryland and later into Pennsylvania. On July 1 1863 the 26th North Carolina became engaged in the Battle of Gettysburg, fighting at McPherson's Ridge. The regiment lost heavily during a fight with the "Iron Brigade"'s 24th Michigan, losing Burgwyn, the lieutenant colonel, and 588 men out of a strength of 800. The second day of Gettysburg was resting near McPherson's Ridge. On the last day of the battle, the 26th were chosen to take part in the Pettigrew/Pickett's Charge on Cemetery Ridge, losing an additional 120 men and the regimental flag was captured. The regiment lost more men than any other regiment, Union or Confederate, during the battle, including the entire Company F. However, the 26th did penetrate the federal line on Cemetery Ridge further than the troops led by General Armisted of Pickett's division.

Later in the war, the regiment fought during the Overland Campaign and Siege of Petersburg, and remained in the Army of Northern Virginia until its surrender at Appomattox, Virginia.

References

* Gragg, Rod "Covered With Glory - The 26th North Carolina Infantry at the Battle of Gettysburg" HarperCollins 2000
* Hess, Earl J. "Lee's Tar Heels: The Pettigrew-Kirkland-MacRae Brigade." (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2002. ISBN 0807826871
* Underwood, George C "History of the Twenty Sixth regiment of the North Carolina Troops in the Great War 1861 - '65" Broadfoot Publishing 1978 (facsimile copy of the Nash Brothers edition)

External links

* [http://www.26nc.org 26th North Carolina reenacting group]