The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-09-03
The F'OUrt0onfh
North Carolina
Sketch of the Regiment by its Colonel, R. 7.
Bennett.
Bennett.


that no regimenfal commander during
that war, which in "the process of the
suns" has become so tender a memory,
was more fortunate i'm the field, staff
and company officers as q whole than
the commander of the 14th regiment OF
North Carolina troops.
Captain Wilson L. jenkins, Of Com
pany A, was full of courage and cheer
fulness. He is yet spared to the State
and his friends.
Next comes Captain James NJ. Gud-
ger, of Company Il, Trough and Ready
Guard, which Zebulon Baird Vance,
whose memory is ever green in the
homes of our State, originally carried
ont and for some months commanded.
He was fearfully wounded and entitled
to a discharge on account of the DISABLE
ity; but held on to his boys until the war
was fought out. There was no man i'll
the army of the South of his rank who
was more reliable as an officer and
soldier.
Captain Thomas b. Beall, of Com
pany |, Davidson Wild Cats, was as
dear a soul as ever went to battle; as
tender-hearted as the most refined wo-
man, brave and pure. | fetch out of the
very secret chamber of my feelings
this testimony and put it on this white
paper in these characters of mourning to
stand after sometime be passed, that
Thomas Il. Beall was as beautiful
David and Jonathan. | am not insen-
sible to the selfishness and treachery OF
David. His most admirable feature was
| his bravery, not his morality.
The great Napoleon said III his will of
his Surgeon in Chief: "He was the
most yirtuous man / have known" |
cannot say as much of any man, living
or dead, whom | have known. | have
never known the best man.
The military history of all civil wars
is never an exhilarating study. Such
wars necessarily begin in local struggles
determined by political or accidental
circumstances, and regular campaigns
conforming to the higher principles Of
military arts are possible only when the
combatants have become organized and
coherent bodies. The supreme issues
raised in the tremendous conflict begun
in 1861, are yet holly debated.
A great body of our citizens continues
to resist the extravagant claim of pow
er by the general government under
| color of the Constitution, born of the
| iron spirit of the war and nurtured by
success in fighting it.
| My instinct prompts me to make this
sketch set forth in considerable degree
| personal as distinguished from profess
sional features OF the men, the strug
gle, the regiment, the fighting-may be
| it would have fetched me more sympa-
| thy to have gone ON to the accomplish
nlent of my purpose as if unconscious
1 Of 1aa h,If I bn nf
confronting public expectation with this
ayowal.
The 18th regiment of North Carolina
troops was sent quickly after organiza-
ton to the Department at Norfolk.
| The command was stationed at Camp
Bragg, near Suffolk. then at Camp Ellis
in edge of the town of Suffolk and was
marched thence in the autumn to Camp
Bee, near Burwell's Bay where it re-
manned until the spring of 1862. General
| Pemberton was our first br1gadier, then
| General Raleigh T.. Coiston.
When the development of the PENN
sular campaign required it, we went
under orders to the Warwick river, but
returned to Camp Bee after serving on
General Magruder's lines few days.
The stay at camp was soon broken,
Camp Bee was abandoned and we
joined the forces at Yorktown. From
this time until the ''unspeakable sor-
row" at Appomattox the regiment was
part and parcel of the army of Northern
Virginia shared the sorrows and joys
OF that army and made a manly contri-
button to the victories and the record
of that army. The first considerable
march Of the regiment was from Suffolk
towards Burwell's Bay-my observation
of this performance and my experience
of the war satisfied me that the first
requisite and essential in the soldiers
training was marching-a high power OF
locomotion in going towards the enemy
is as necessary as a snaifs gait in going
from him.
1T is imputed to General Thomas
Jonathan Jackson that at Manassas be-
fore the shadow of our victory was
long he said, with ten thousand men
we would take Washington City on the
morrow" / believe he said it and am
confident he meant it. He was then
conscious OF his native genius for war,
more sanguine of success, though not
Drawer than the illustrious Lee. He
must have felt a sort of intoxication for
battle. What a privilege to an ardent
mind with unusual receptiyity of IA
culties to know the inner thought of
SO consummate a soul. / say 1t with
my hand over my face, but it seems to
me if General Robert Il. Lee, General
Jackson, General Joseph e. Johnston,
General Albert s. Johnson had descend
ed now and then to the level of the
ordinary soldier in our armies and had
personal contact with them, it would
have impaired to them more of their
heroic spirit and higher emulation of
their conduct and example. There would
have been no deterioration Of the sol
der by such familiarity. Our men had
reverence for those above them, rever-
ence for themselves and for those be-
meath them. Thackery says: There is
always certain cachet about great
men, they may he as mean on many
points as you or /, but they carry their
great air-they speak of common life
more largely and generously than COM
mon men do. They regard the world
with manlier countenance and see its
real features more fairly than the timid
shutters, who only. dare to look up at
like through blinkers or to have an opin-s
ion when there is a crowd to back it.
Mach of the steadiness and efficiency of