History of the Seventy-Second Regiment of the North Carolina Troops in the War Between the States, 1861-'65

by John Wetmore Hinsdale

BELFIELD, VA.

On 8 December, 1864, General Whiting was notified by General Lee that the Fifth and Second Corps of Grant’s army, with Bragg’s Division of Cavalry, were moving under General Warren upon Weldon, and that they were near Belfield and that Hill and Hampton were following them. One object of this raid was to destroy the railroad bridge at Weldon and thus cut off supplies for Lee’s army from that direction. General Whiting at once ordered Colonel George Jackson to proceed with the Fourth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Battalions of Junior Reserves and four pieces of Paris’ Artillery with three days’ cooked rations, to Weldon, and there report for temporary service to General Leventhorpe, commanding. The latter, an Englishman by birth, was the first Colonel of the Thirty-fourth and then of the Eleventh North Carolina Regiments, and had done splendid service in clearing the enemy from the Roanoke river and in defending the Wilmington & Weldon Railway.

The four battalions assembled in Wilmington from Sugar Loaf and Smithville. Through the efforts of Major French, the troops were here shod. They were placed on flat cars and thus exposed, were transported to Weldon. The weather was intensely cold. More than once the train had to be stopped, fires made in the woods and some of the boys lifted from the train and carried to the fires and thawed out. Many went to sleep in their wet clothes to find them frozen stiff upon awakening. This suffering was undergone without a murmur. The old guard of Napoleon on the retreat from Moscow, never displayed more heroism and fortitude than did the boy-soldiers—the “Young Guard of the Confederacy.”

Under the law, the reserves could not be required to cross their State lines, but without hesitation and without an exception, the brave boys at Weldon hurried on to Belfield, Virginia, there to meet the invading foe. The Federals withdrew, leaving their dead unburied, after a sharp fire and repulse from the reserves who had just reached the battlefield, and the latter joined in the pursuit across the Meherrin river at Hicks’ Ford. On 17 December, 1864, the General Assembly of North Carolina, recognizing their heroism, passed the following resolutions:

“Whereas, The Legislature has heard with satisfaction of the good conduct of the officers and soldiers of the Junior Reserves and Home Guards, who volunteered to cross the State line into Virginia, in order to repel the late advance of the public enemy on Weldon; therefore,

“Resolved, That the officers and soldiers of the Junior Reserves and Home Guards, so acting, deserve the commendation of their fellow citizens, and are entitled to the thanks of this Legislature.”

“Resolved, That a copy of these proceedings be transmitted to Lieutenant-General Holmes and Major-General R. C. Gatlin, that it may be communicated to the commands which they are intended to honor.”

From Belfield the four battalions, together with the First and Second Regiments of Junior Reserves, were ordered, under Colonel Leventhorpe, to Tarboro to repel a Federal raid from Washington, N. C. The command moved to Hamilton, some miles below Tarboro. The enemy retired upon the advance of the Confederate troops. The battalions remained there a day or two and returned to Tarboro. The troops camped about a mile northeast of the town for several days. The boys were without overcoats, tents or tent flies, and lay upon the bare ground in the rain and sleet and snow. Many of them were frost bitten. A good old farmer along side of whose fence the boys camped on the first night of their stay, kindly gave them leave to start their fires by using the top rail of his fence. When he came back next morning there was not a rail to be seen. When he protested with some warmth, saying that they had taken more than he had given them leave to take, one wag said: “No, sir; as long as there was a top rail, we had your permission to burn it. We never took any but the top rail.” The old man laughed good naturedly and left.

The severity of the experience of the Reserves on the Belfield expedition may be realized when it is stated that although they had been in camp over six months and had been somewhat enured to a soldier’s life, over one-half of them were sent to the hospital when the battalions returned to Wilmington.

The command was marched from Tarboro to Goldsboro and by train was conveyed to Wilmington, and thence back to Sugar Loaf. There they remained under the command of General W. W. Kirkland until the battle of Fort Fisher. This officer was a splendid fighter and a superb soldier. He was Colonel of the Twenty-first North Carolina Regiment, and afterwards commanded Early’s Brigade, Pettigrew’s Division. He had taken part in many of the desperate battles of Virginia and had been twice severely wounded. He was transferred to Wilmington late in December and established his headquarters at Sugar Loaf.