26th North Carolina Infantry The 26th North Carolina Regiment was an infantry regiment of the Confederate States Army regiment during the American Civil War . The regiment was composed of ten companies that came from various counties across North Carolina and Virginia . It is famous for being the regiment with the largest number of casualties on both sides during the war . Organization and muster . The state of North Carolina seceded from the Union on May 20 , 1861 and subsequently joined the Confederate States of America . After seceding , then North Carolina Adjutant General John Hoke called for 30 , 000 troops to be recruited to support the Confederacy in the war . Congressman Zebulon Baird Vance initially supported the Union but after hearing of the attacks on Ft . Sumter , he then advocated for the Confederacy . In local towns people then tried to form companies who would then enter into state service . To encourage enlistment , the state offered a $ 10 bounty for any man who enlisted into a company . The soldiers in each of the ten companies that made up the 26th North Carolina came primarily from one county , while a few usually came from neighboring counties . The first company to form as a part of the 26th North Carolina was from Moore County in May 1861 . Nine more companies followed suit with soldiers coming from the following counties in North Carolina : Ashe , Union , Wilkes , Wake , Chatham , Caldwell , and Anson . One company also contained soldiers from Grayson County in Virginia . Each of the ten companies had their own nickname that they chose . 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 and 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 suffered heavy casualties during a fight with the " Iron Brigade " ' s 24th Michigan ( which suffered the most casualties of any Union regiment at Gettysburg ) , losing Burgwyn , the lieutenant colonel , and 588 men out of a strength of 800 , but forced the 24th into a retreat . A marker stands near where the regiment fought and bled . The second day of Gettysburg was resting near McPherson ' s Ridge . Pettrigrew and the surviving officers worked to bring men not severely wounded back into the ranks . On the last day of the battle , the 26th were chosen to take part in the Pettigrew / Pickett ' s Charge on Cemetery Ridge , it was second from the left in the brigade ' s line . The 26th North Carolina suffered artillery fire and then small arms fire as it advanced . The regiment lost 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 . There is some controversy over whether the Carolinians penetrated the federal line , but they were among the last troops repelled . Moreover , the 26th advanced farther than the troops led by General Lewis Addison Armistead 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 . Maj , later LTC , John Jones led the regiment at the Battle of Bristoe Station . LTC John Randolph Lane was promoted to Col while recovering from his Gettysburg wound . He took charge of the regiment in late 1863 . Lane was wounded again in the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5 , 1864 . LTC Jones was mortally wounded a day later . Lane was wounded twice more during the war and was sent home to recover in the spring of 1865 . Consequently , he was absent from the final campaign of the Army of Northern Virginia .