During the Civil War, Confederate military courts sentenced to death more soldiers from North Carolina than from any other state. This study offers the first exploration of the service records of 450 of these wayward Confederates, most often deserters. Arranged by army, corps, division and brigade, it chronicles their military trials and frequent executions and offers explanations of how the lucky and the clever were able to avoid their fate. Focus on court activity by company allows for comparisons that emphasize the wide disparity in discipline within a regiment and brigade. By stressing the effectiveness of these deadly decisions as deterrents to others, this work maintains that an earlier and wider reliance on execution would have strengthened the Confederacy sufficiently to force a negotiated end to the war, thus saving many Confederate and Federal lives.

Aldo S. Perry, a retired project engineer for IBM, lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Aldo S. Perry
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 382
Bibliographic Info: tables, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6585-9
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8857-5
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Preface 1
Introduction: Confederate Duty, Discipline and Death 3
Part I: Army of Northern Virginia
1. History of North Carolina Troops in the Army of Northern Virginia 15
2. Third Corps, Wilcox Division, Branch-Lane-Barry Brigade 20
3. Third Corps, Wilcox Division, Pender-Scales Brigade 42
4. Third Corps, Heth Division, Pettigrew-Kirkland-MacRae Brigade 65
5. Third Corps, Heth Division, Cooke Brigade 88
6. Second Corps, Rodes Division, Daniel-Grimes Brigade 108
7. Second Corps, Rodes Division, Anderson-Ramseur-Cox Brigade
120
8. Second Corps, Early Division, Hoke-Godwin-Lewis Brigade 134
9. Second Corps, Early Division, Garland-Iverson-Johnston-Toon Brigade 149
10. First and Third North Carolina Infantry Regiments 158
11. First Corps 176
Part II: Department of North Carolina
12. History of North Carolina Troops in the Department of North Carolina 177
13. Ransom Brigade 180
14. Clingman Brigade 199
15. Martin-Kirkland Brigade 209
Part III: Army of Tennessee
16. History of North Carolina Troops in the Army of Tennessee 243
17. Fifty-Eighth and Sixtieth North Carolina Infantry Regiments 247
18. Twenty-Ninth and Thirty-Ninth North Carolina Infantry Regiments 262
19. Palmer Brigade 268
20. Jackson Brigade 273
Part IV: Attached Units and Local Defense
21. Cavalry 275
22. Artillery 287
23. North Carolina Local Defense Force 307
Epilogue: March Off, Straggle Home 311
Chapter Notes 325
Bibliography 343
Index 349

“remarkable”—ARBA; “substantial…a very important work…of value”—Civil War News; “meticulous… research…valuable”—The North Carolina Historical Review.