General Lee's Immortals: The Battles and Campaigns of the Branch-Lane Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865
408
General Lee's Immortals: The Battles and Campaigns of the Branch-Lane Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865
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Overview
This storied brigade was first led by Lawrence Branch, and then by James Henry Lane, and served with Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia for its entire existence. These Tar Heels fought in nearly every major battle in the Eastern Theater, including the Seven Days’ Battles, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg (where Branch was killed), Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville (where its members mistakenly shot Stonewall Jackson), Gettysburg (including Pickett’s Charge), the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, the Petersburg Campaign, and the final retreat to Appomattox.
Originally part of A. P. Hill’s famous “Light Division,” the brigade earned high plaudits for its disciplined defensive efforts, hard-hitting attacks, and incredible marching abilities. Its heavy combat exposure, however, resulted in devastating losses. By war’s end, its roll call of casualties far exceeded its number of survivors.
Michael Hardy’s General Lee’s Immortals is based upon years of study and grounded on an impressive foundation of sources, which allows the men to speak for themselves as they describe their time in camp, endless hardships, long marches, bloody battles, increasing hunger, and much more. In addition to a dozen original maps, General Lee’s Immortals also includes scores of rare photos—many of which were previously unpublished—all of which enhance this well-written and engrossing account.
“Combining rigorous research and an innovative organization, General Lee’s Immortals demonstrates what an exceptional unit history can teach us about the Civil War.” —The Civil War Monitor
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781611213638 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Savas Beatie |
| Publication date: | 09/19/2017 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 408 |
| Sales rank: | 862,960 |
| File size: | 21 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
"I do not see how the union is to be saved."
Lawrence O'Bryan Branch
SMOKE DRIFTED FROM THE nearly deserted town of New Bern, North Carolina. Confederate forces under Brig. Gen. Lawrence Branch had set fire to the bridge over the Trent River and to military stores before retreating farther north. Federal soldiers hotly pursued the Confederates, but upon reaching the town, they stopped to extinguish the conflagration before it engulfed the entire city. For Branch, it was an inglorious beginning to a brief military career.
Lawrence O'Bryan Branch was not a military man. He was just the opposite: college educated, railroad president, and a politician, all attainments "true" military men despised in superiors. However, a later biographer praised Branch's "sense of honesty, firmness and common sense men of greater renown did not have." Lawrence Branch was born near Enfield, in Halifax County, North Carolina, November 28, 1820, the son of Joseph and Susan Simpson Branch. After the death of both his parents, the future Confederate general was adopted by an uncle, John Branch, a former governor and sitting United States senator. Lawrence traveled to Washington, D. C., where his private tutors included future secretary of the treasury Salmon P. Chase. The Branch family returned to North Carolina, and Lawrence entered the University of North Carolina in 1835, eventually graduating from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) at the age of 18 in 1837. Branch studied law in Tennessee before being admitted to the bar in 1841 to practice in Florida. For six weeks he served as an aide-de-camp to General Leigh Reid in the Seminole Wars, his only pre-war military experience.
On a return trip from New York in 1843, Branch met Ann (Nancy) Haywood Blount, at a resort in Warren County, North Carolina, and they married the next year. At first, the newlyweds made their home in Florida. Soon thereafter, Branch purchased property in Raleigh and was admitted to practice law in North Carolina. In 1852, Branch was appointed a director for the Raleigh & Gaston Railroad Company, becoming president of the line a few months later. The railroad prospered under Branch. Nevertheless, he chose to resign in 1855 when nominated by the Democratic party to run, successfully, for the U.S. Congress.
Washington was raucous as Branch took up his new responsibilities. A civil war in the Kansas Territory had spilled its violence over into the house and senate chambers. Discussion regarding Kansas continued to foster discord and, "Late night sessions were frequent, and wild, free-for-all shouting matches a daily occurrence." A dinner companion of President James Pierce and friend of Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis, Branch twice won re-election. When President James Buchanan attended the commencement exercises at the university in Chapel Hill in 1856, he and his party stayed at the Branch home in Raleigh.
Like much of the South, North Carolina was in a state of turmoil in 1860. The dominant Democratic party had been completely torn asunder. The presidential election presented four different candidates, three of whom Southerners could support. Branch stumped for the election of Vice President John Breckinridge, the southern rights Democrat from Kentucky. Breckinridge, however, lost the election to Republican Abraham Lincoln, an Illinois lawyer of limited political experience. Lincoln's name didn't even appear on the ballots in the South.
A states' rights man, Branch believed in secession, though he failed to see Lincoln's election as adequate reason to quit the Union. On November 28, he left for Washington for the second session of the 36th Congress, although he confessed to Nancy he did not expect to stay long. Everyone admitted "that the Union will be dissolved, and the only question is how many states will go off," he wrote on December 3. Three days later he added, "I do not see how the union is to be saved from dissolution. Some of the Black Republicans are anxious to conciliate, but others will not consent, on the other hand South Carolina will not be conciliated." When Howell Cobb resigned from President Buchanan's cabinet, Branch was offered the position of secretary of the treasury. He declined, reasoning he could best serve North Carolina during this grave time by staying in the House. One of the state's leading newspapers, Raleigh's The Standard, applauded Branch and former governor Thomas Bragg for standing with the Union. Its Washington correspondent noted:
In taking this position, they are neither submissionist or enemies of the South. They will demand for the South what she ought to claim and will not yield an inch, but will labor with the conservative men of the country to prevent dissolution. If it must come they will go as North Carolina goes. These gentlemen are known to be sound Democrats, but we honor them nevertheless for the manly and conservative position they take.
North Carolina was torn asunder. With pro-Union and prosecession meetings occurring across the state, neighboring South Carolina left the Union on December 20, 1860, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, all by February 1. Branch planned to stay at his post in Washington until brought home by his constituents, or until Congress adjourned. He also advised that the state should prepare to defend itself. On January 24, the General Assembly passed an act initiating a vote on calling for a secession convention and providing it with delegates should the people agree to call a convention. The balloting took place February 28 and was defeated by merely 650 votes. Branch apparently came out in favor of the convention in a letter read during a rally in Green Level, Alamance County, the day before the balloting. Influential Raleigh newspaperman William W. Holden promptly labeled Branch a disunionist, and the two became bitter rivals.
Branch remained in Congress, and on several occasions made strong appeals both in committee and on the House floor for the preservation of the Union. However, the North Carolinian recognized reconciliation was unattainable. "[L]et us separate in peace, and form other and more satisfactory arrangements. … It would be a crime against our fathers to marshal armies for the purpose of holding them in subjugation," he beseeched from the floor of the House. Branch continued to serve until March 4 when Congress adjourned, and he was back in Raleigh by March 6.
April 1861 was a crucial month in North Carolina. Branch actively supported secession for the first time in a meeting on April 3 in Raleigh, telling listeners he had given up on the Union. On April 12, Confederate forces in Charleston, South Carolina, opened fire on Fort Sumter, which capitulated on April 13. Lincoln then issued a call for 75,000 troops, including a portion from North Carolina. "I can be no party to this violation of the laws of the country and to this war upon liberties of a free people," Governor Ellis promptly telegraphed Lincoln. "You can get no troops from North Carolina." Ellis moved quickly, ordering seizure of the forts along the coast, along with the arsenal in Fayetteville and the U.S. Mint in Charlotte. On April 20, the governor called the General Assembly into a special session. On May 1, legislators called for a May 13 election of 120 delegates, to meet in a May 20 convention in Raleigh. One historian considered the group meeting in Raleigh "one of the ablest political bodies ever assembled in North Carolina." By that afternoon, the delegates had adopted an ordinance of secession, which was signed the following day.
Branch got caught up in the excitement of the moment. He enlisted as a private in the Raleigh Rifles, although Holden complained that Branch attended but one drill, and even then had to be summoned by a sergeant. On May 20, Ellis appointed Branch quartermaster and paymaster for the state's troops, with the rank of colonel. Considering how many men were enlisting, the total lack of supplies, and the paucity of weapons and uniforms, Branch's task was difficult. Nonetheless, another member of the department later claimed it "was ably and well managed, as was everything else that Colonel Branch … had anything to do with." When Branch's department was reorganized in September 1861, he resigned. Meanwhile Governor Ellis died in July and was replaced by Henry T. Clark, president of the Senate. Clark sent Branch and George Davis, soon-to-be a Confederate senator, as envoys to Richmond to confer with the Confederate president regarding North Carolina's perilous position, as its coast was being assailed by the Federal navy. Four coastal fortifications along the Outer Banks had fallen, closing the Pamlico Sound. Clark wanted some of the North Carolina regiments stationed in Virginia re-assigned to the state's coastal area. Jefferson Davis demurred, believing such a drain on Confederate forces assembled in Virginia from other states would doom the fledgling Confederacy.
Returning from Virginia, Branch was appointed on September 20 as colonel of the 33rd North Carolina Troops. For the next two months, Branch oversaw the organization, armament, and drilling of his regiment, primarily stationed in the Raleigh area.
In early 1861, the Confederate government created a Department of North Carolina. The department was divided into two districts: the Wilmington area under the command of Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, and the area between the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds under Brig. Gen. Daniel H. Hill. Unhappy with the lack of support along the coast, Hill requested a transfer to the army in Virginia. The day his request was approved, November 16, the Confederate Congress approved the nomination of Branch to the rank of brigadier general. Branch was just shy of his forty-first birthday. The Daily Register in Raleigh was delighted with Branch's promotion: "Should the opportunity offer, we predict that [Branch] will demonstrate the fitness" of his appointment. The officers of the 33rd regiment even drafted a series of resolutions regretting the loss of "so acceptable a commander," who "had endeared himself to his command by a strict, impartial and able attention to his duties." The officers wished him "success in his new field" and recognized Branch as an "accomplished gentleman and good scholar." Branch thanked the men for their kind words, agreeing with their sentiments, and promising his men they would never be disappointed in their first commander.
Not everyone was pleased with Branch's promotion. Holden believed it the responsibility of the general public to "disapprove of and condemn any … appointments made … by the authorities … which puts at hazard the vital interest of North Carolina." Branch was no military man, and had been promoted over older and more experienced men because of his political connections. Through his newspaper, Holden continued to snipe at Branch for the next few months.
About the time Branch was promoted, the Department of North Carolina was divided into a third section. Branch retained command of the District of Pamlico, strengthening existing fortifications below New Bern or building new ones. After the loss of Roanoke Island, Branch's superiors consolidated the widely scattered regiments into a unified force charged with the protection of New Bern. Under his command were the 7th, 26th, 27th, 33rd, 35th, and 37th NC Infantry, six companies of the 2nd NC Cavalry, and five companies of artillery, somewhere around 4,000 men.
Federal soldiers under Ambrose Burnside arrived at the mouth of the Neuse River in mid-March 1862 and slowly began working their way toward New Bern and the Confederate defenses. On March 13, Federal gunboats began shelling the area at Slocum's Creek; with Federal soldiers disembarking later that day. As they advanced up the river, the gunboats kept pace, showering the riverbanks with shrapnel. After spending the night in the rain, Federals resumed their advance. Branch divided his force into two wings. The 27th and 37th Regiments, composing the left wing under Lee's command, stretched west from Fort Thompson on the Neuse River. The right wing was composed of the 7th and 38th NC Regiments, with a company of militia on their left, all under the command of Col. Reuben Campbell. The militia was posted at a brick yard on the Atlantic & North Carolina Railroad Road. The 26th NC and part of the 2nd NC Cavalry stood farther to the right in redoubts, with an independent infantry company securing the far right flank. The 33rd NC was held in reserve, with the rest of the 2nd Cavalry posted to the rear.
On the morning of March 14, Burnside divided his force into three columns, and advanced toward the Confederate position several miles below New Bern. The Federal right, moving along the river, made contact first, but the attack stalled. Confederates also beat back a reinforced second assault. With the battle quieted on the Confederate left, the third column of Federals attacked at the center of the line, and the militia fled, opening a gap in Branch's line. The 35th NC attempted to turn to meet the attack, but in the confusion withdrew from the field. Branch called upon the 33rd NC to plug the gap, and for a short time the Federal attack stalled once again.
A fresh Federal brigade arrived, further exploiting the yawning gap in the Confederate line. The reinforcements flanked the 7th North Carolina, and eventually, the 37th regiment as well. When he saw his left collapsing, Branch called for an orderly withdrawal. It turned out to be anything but. The remaining Confederates on the left bolted, making for the bridge over the Trent River. Confederates on the right sloshed off into a swamp. Branch intended to hold New Bern, but as his soldiers reached its outskirts, a Federal gunboat arrived and began shelling the town. Setting the bridge over the river on fire along with various buildings, and the Confederates made their way toward Kinston.
In his official report, Branch placed his losses at 578 killed, wounded, and captured. Burnside's losses were listed as 483 killed and wounded. Newspaper opinion of the loss varied. Branch's critics jumped to capitalize on the defeat. Naturally W. W. Holden blamed Branch, while Governor Clark blamed others. The Register defended Branch, while the Hillsborough Recorder wrote that General Branch "bore himself bravely and firmly as any man could, preserving his coolness and presence of mind." Wilmington's Daily Journal lamented the quarrel between the papers. Regardless of who was to blame, the Confederacy had suffered another defeat, just one of several in the late winter and early spring months of 1862. As spring crept over the countryside, the future of the Confederacy looked bleak.
CHAPTER 2"We are drilling very hard every day"
The Formation of Branch's Brigade
Initially, the first six months of the war went well for the fledgling nation. From April-October 1861, the Confederacy won two major battles and had advanced into the border states, attempting to "liberate" areas held by the U.S. government. Then the Confederacy hit some snags: enlistments decreased, and leaders allowed their early advantage to slip away. The war entered a second phase in November 1861. Union forces began to embark on major campaigns, and the blockade of Southern ports began to take its toll. By the time the battle of New Bern began, Kentucky and much of Tennessee had been lost. Missouri was in Union hands, as was Port Royal on the South Carolina coast. By the beginning of May 1862, the New Mexico Territory was under Union control, and northern Virginia had been abandoned; Fort Pulaski outside Savannah had fallen to the Union navy, as had the Confederacy's largest city, New Orleans.
Only three days after the battle of New Bern, the War Department created the 2nd North Carolina Brigade, placing Branch in charge. Initially, the brigade comprised the 18th, 25th, 28th, 33rd, and 37th North Carolina regiments. In April, the 25th NC was transferred to Brig. Gen. Robert Ransom's new brigade, and the 7th NC transferred from Brig. Gen. Samuel French's brigade to Branch's brigade.
Of the five regiments under Branch's command, the 18th regiment was the oldest. Three of the companies had been pre-war private militia companies, the most colorful being the German Volunteers, three dozen of whom came from Germany. Ten others were from Prussia, nine from Bavaria, two from Luxemburg, and one each from France, England, and Denmark, plus a great many native-born North Carolinians. These three companies had all been ordered to capture Fort Caswell on Oak Island when North Carolina's secession looked certain. All of the companies in the 18th NC came from the coastal counties of New Hanover, Bladen, Columbus, Robeson, and Richmond. In July 1861, the regiment was mustered into state service at Camp Wyatt, near Wilmington, as a 12-month regiment designated as the 8th North Carolina Volunteers.
Elected to command the regiment was 28-year-old James D. Radcliff, a Charleston native and graduate of the South Carolina Military Academy. Radcliffe was serving as the dean of a military school in Wilmington before the war and as the engineer officer at Fort Caswell since the secession crisis. He was considered "an excellent drillmaster and disciplinarian.".
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "General Lee's Immortals"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Michael C. Hardy.
Excerpted by permission of Savas Beatie LLC.
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Table of Contents
Preface,
Guide to Abbreviations Used in Footnotes,
Chapter 1: Lawrence O'Bryan Branch,
Chapter 2: The Formation of Branch's Brigade,
Chapter 3: The Battle of Hanover Court House,
Chapter 4: The Seven Days' Campaign,
Chapter 5: Cedar Run — Second Manassas — Ox Hill,
Chapter 6: Harpers Ferry — Antietam — Shepherdstown,
Chapter 7: Brigade Medical Care,
Chapter 8: The Fredericksburg Campaign,
Chapter 9: Daily Camp Life,
Chapter 10: Chancellorsville,
Chapter 11: The Gettysburg Campaign,
Chapter 12: The Plight of the Prisoner,
Chapter 13: The Bristoe and Mine Run Campaigns,
Chapter 14: The Overland Campaign,
Chapter 15: Crime and Punishment,
Chapter 16: The Petersburg Campaign,
Chapter 17: To Appomattox,
Chapter 18: Remembering the Branch-Lane Brigade,
Epilogue: The Branch-Lane Brigade's Place in History,
Bibliography,
Acknowledgments,