SEVENTY-SECOND REGIMENT.
| 1. John W. Hinsdale, Colonel. | 5. H. W. Connelly, 2d Lieut., Co. C. |
| 2. W. Foster French, Lieut-Colonel. | 6. J. M. Bandy, 2d Lieut., Co. E. |
| 3. W. W. King, 1st Lieut., Co. A. | 7. D. S. Reid, 2d Lieut., Co. K. |
| 4. Jno. W. Harper, 2d Lieut., Co. C. | 8. C. W. Taylor, Orderly Sergt., Co. C. |
| 9. J. L. McGimpsey, Private, Co. B. | |
The troops were complimented in general orders by General Bragg for their heroism and gallantry. The heaviest loss suffered by any one command in the fort was by the Junior Reserves. Thus ended the first glorious defence of Fort Fisher.
When the news was flashed to Raleigh that Butler’s ships had appeared off Fort Fisher, Lieutenant-General Holmes promptly tendered his services to assist in repelling the threatened attack and was assigned to duty by General Bragg in the city of Wilmington, where he was put in charge of the movement of troops at that point. The writer who accompanied General Holmes as his Adjutant-General, unfortunately did not participate in the battle of Fort Fisher. He is indebted to Lieutenant-Colonel French for most of the foregoing details.
On 26 December, the reserves were moved to camp on Bald Head Island, where they remained on guard and picket duty for several days when they were ordered to Camp McLean, at Goldsboro, N. C.
On 6 December, there had been an attempted consolidation of these three battalions near Sugar Loaf, when Captain William R. Johns was elected Colonel; Captain C. N. Allen, Lieutenant-Colonel; and A. B. Johns, Major. Captain W. R. Johns, a disabled officer, was then in the enrollment service under Colonel Peter Mallett, the Commandant of Conscripts of North Carolina, and being unable to undergo the hardships and exposure of camp life, declined the election. Captain Allen, the Lieutenant-Colonel, declined for the same reason. Major Johns was never assigned and never entered upon the discharge of the duties of Major and so the battalions continued to serve under separate organizations. Major Johns afterwards formally tendered his resignation, which was accepted.
ORGANIZATION.
On 3 January, 1865, while the regiment was at Camp McLean, near Goldsboro, it was finally organized by the election of Captain John W. Hinsdale, Colonel; W. F. French, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Captain A. B. Ellington, Major. On 7 January the last two were assigned to duty. Frank M. Hamlin, one of the gallant young officers who refused to surrender with Major Reece, was appointed Adjutant. But from time to time Lieutenants W. W. King, Andrew J. Burton and Frank S. Johnson, son of Senator R. W. Johnson, of Arkansas, who had shortly theretofore left the University of North Carolina and volunteered in the Third Regiment, acted as Adjutant. J. K. Huston was appointed Quartermaster Sergeant, and George B. Haigh, of Fayetteville, grandson of the Hon. George E. Badger, Commissary Sergeant. Drs. E. B. Simpson and J. S. Robinson were assigned to the regiment as Surgeon and Assistant Surgeon.
The companies composing the regiment were then lettered and designated as follows: