Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 24.djvu/24

 16 Southern Histor><-nl No/ /'</// Papers,

carried into battle. The colonel of the 4th at Fair Oaks, and the acting brigade commander, was George Burgwyn Anderson, who had been a student of this University. He had seen service in the West before the war, and was one of the old officers then in the ser- vice of the United States, who offered his sword to his native State. He handled the brigade with such success and skill on this occassion, that it brought him a brigadier's commission within a fortnight. The 4th had other University men among its leaders: Bryan Grimes was its third colonel; Captain John B. Andrews of Company C. , David M. Carter of Company E., and Jesse S. Barnes and John W. Dunham of Company F., were all University men and were con- spicuous for their bravery, two of them falling in battle.

The University of North Carolina lost five of her sons at Shiloh, fuller records would probably double the number; she lost fourteen at Malvern Hill; nine at Sharpsburg, including Anderson and Branch who had both attained the rank of Brigadier. At Fredericksburg the University lost eight, and five at Chancellorsville.

In the Gettysburg campaign, the highwater mark of the Confed- eracy, the University lost 21. It is particularly to our credit to know that the regiment which sustained the heaviest loss of any regiment on either side in a single battle during the war, was under the command of a University man. The 26th North Carolina, had Zebulon B. Vance as its first colonel. He served until his election as governor in August, 1862. He was succeeded by Harry King Burgywn, said to have been at the time of his election, the youngest colonel in the Confederate Army, and not yet twenty-one years of age. The regi- ment was a part of Pettigrew's brigade. It will be more interesting to give its history in the words of Col. William F. Fox, a Federal officer, whose account may be taken as entirely without prejudice. He says in his work, Regimental Losses in the Civil War, (pages 555-556) :

"At Gettysburg, the 26th North Carolina of Pettigrew's Brigade, Heth's Division, went into action with an effective strength which is sta- ted in the regimental official report, as over 800 men ' ' [820]. ' ' They sustained a loss, according to Surgeon General Guild's report, of 86 killed and 502 wounded; * total, 588. In addition there were about 1 20 missing, nearly all of whom must have been wounded or killed;

pronounced by the surgeons as unfit for duty.
 * Under Lee's order of May 14, 1863, this included only those who were