The battalion soon after its organization was ordered to Goldsboro to report to Brigadier-General L. S. Baker, commanding the district of Southern Virginia and Eastern North Carolina. It was sent thence to Kinston and there did guard and picket duty. On 15 June it was ordered to report to Lieutenant-Colonel Frank S. Armistead at Weldon. He had been placed in command of the defences at that point. On 26 June the battalion was ordered to report to General W. H. C. Whiting, at Wilmington, the only remaining blockade-running port of the Confederacy. The battalion thereupon was stationed at Camp Davis near Wilmington, on Masonboro Sound, under command of Colonel George Jackson, an efficient officer, and did picket and guard duty on the sound and the beach to prevent the landing of the enemy, the escape of slaves to the blockaders and all communication with the passing vessels. It was here that young Ellington, of Company D, lost his life, crossing the Sound in a storm while on his rounds as officer of the day. He was a zealous and capable officer. The salt works, from which large supplies of salt were obtained for the army, were in the vicinity of this camp, and were guarded by the battalion.
From Camp Davis the battalion moved to Sugar Loaf, on the Cape Fear River, about fifteen miles below Wilmington, six miles above Fort Fisher and one mile from the ocean, where it drilled and did guard and picket duty. “Sugar Loaf” is a singular formation. It is a high sand hill running from the river bank half way across the peninsula, steep on the exterior, but sloping on all sides to a basin in the centre. It is a natural fortification, which the engineering skill of General Whiting, by fosse and rampart, had converted into an almost impregnable intrenched camp, containing perhaps one hundred acres.
On 9 December, 1864, the battalion went from Sugar Loaf to Belfield, Virginia, in company with the Seventh and Eighth Battalions. Its future movements will be described in connection with the other two battalions.
THE SEVENTH BATTALION.
The Seventh Battalion, 300 strong, was organized at Camp Lamb, near Wilmington, in June, 1864, by the election of W. F. French, of Lumberton, Major, and E. F. McDaniel, of Fayetteville, was appointed Adjutant. This battalion was composed of the following companies:
Company A—From Cumberland, Robeson and Harnett Counties—T. G. Hybart, Captain; D. S. Byrd, First Lieutenant; C. C. McLellan and C. S. Love, Jr., Second Lieutenants.
Upon the death of Captain Hybert, on 9 September, D. S. Byrd was promoted to the Captaincy.
Company B—From New Hanover, Brunswick and Columbus Counties—John D. Kerr, Captain; J. B. Williams, First Lieutenant; E. H. Moore and B. F. Gore, Second Lieutenants.
Company C—From Richmond County—Donald McQueen, Captain; A. B. McCollum, First Lieutenant; A. C. McFadyen and S. A. Barfield, Second Lieutenants.