Hill's Third Corps, Heth's Division, Lane's Brigade
In July of 1861 the 18th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, formerly the 8th Volunteers, was organized at Camp Wyatt, near Carolina Beach, North Carolina. Its soldiers were drawn from Wilmington and the counties of Robeson, New Hanover, Bladen, Columbus, and Richmond.
The 18th Regiment moved to South Carolina, returned to North Carolina, and in the spring of 1862 proceeded to Virginia to serve in Branch's and Lane's Brigades of the Army of Northern Virginia. After fighting at Hanover Court House, the regiment participated in the Seven Days' Battles; Cedar Mountain; Second Manassas; Sharpsburg; Chancellorsville; Gettysburg; Bristoe Station; Mine Run; Wilderness; Spotsylvania; Cold Harbor; and Petersburg. It was present at the end of the war at Appomattox.
The 18th North Carolina Regiment was organized with 1,100 men, lost fifty-seven percent of the 396 engaged during the Seven Days' Battles, and reported 14 casualties at Cedar Mountain and 12 at Second Manassas. There were 13 killed and 77 wounded at Fredericksburg and 30 killed and 96 wounded at Chancellorsville. Of the 346 in action at Gettysburg, about twenty-five percent were disabled. It surrendered 12 officers and 81 men.
The field officers were Colonels John D. Barry, Robert H. Cowan, Thomas J. Purdie, and James D. Radcliffe; Lieutenant Colonels Forney George, John W. McGill, and Oliver P. Meares; and Majors George Tait and Thomas J. Wooten.
Captain V.V. Richardson
Soldier's Notes
