1st North Carolina Cavalry - Historical Perspective

1st North Carolina Cavalry - Historical Perspective

Over the last fifteen years of the Regiment's westcoast/eastcoast existence, many a re-enactor has come to me with the same question as to why or how I came to decide on the Regiment's name, the 1st North Carolina Cavalry Regiment (9th Regiment N.C. State Troops). It was very simple. The 1st North Carolina Cavalry Regiment (1st NC Cav.) held a very honorable and distinguished record during the war. The gallant men of the 1st NC Cav. participated in more than one hundred and sixty various engagements during the war, beginning with a skirmish at Hunters Creek, VA., 10 November, 1861 and ending at Appomattox Court House, VA., on the 9 of April, 1865. Although the 1st NC Cav. was listed among the troops surrendered at Appomattox, it, like other cavalry units of the Army of Northern Virginia, managed to cut its way through the lines and escape, thus avoiding surrender, and disbanded several days later when it became clear that it would be impossible to reach General Joe Johnston's forces in North Carolina.

The following are excerpts from some of the research documents which have been compiled:

The 1st NC Cav. was the first full regiment of Cavalry organized in defense of the confederate States.

There is no regiment in the cavalry that had the post of honor assigned to it so often as did the 1st NC. Whenever the commanding general, be he Stuart, Hampton, Lee, Baker, Gordon, or Barringer, had a desperate movement to make, the call was always made for the 1st NC. When General Stuart went on his raid into Pennsylvania in 1862, Lt. Barrier, of "I" Co. led the advance across the Potomac, and Capt. Cowles, with "A" Co., protected his rear and was the last to cross the same on the return to Virginia.

Again, when at Auburn Mills, lines of federal infantry surrounded General Stuart's entire command, he called for the 1st NC to open a way for him to withdraw.

Not only did the superior officers call for this regiment in critical emergencies, but I have known them to refer other commands to it as a means of enticing them to deeds of daring... on one occasion, in the heat of battle, General Hampton dashed up to his command and thus addressed them: "Men of the 3rd NC Cav, I want you to charge the enemy, and I want you to go at them like the 1st goes at them."

An officer of the 1st Maine (Cav), after the surrender, speaking of his regiment, made the proud boast that it was never driven from the field of battle but once during the war, but said he: "...we consider that no disgrace or reflection, for it was done by the 1st NC Cav".

At the battle of Sharpsburg the picket line of the 1st NC Cav. was the last troops to be withdrawn from the battlefield.

A commission in the 1st NC Cav. means "a hole in your hide!" Every field officer it ever had, except Colonel Ransom, was either killed or wounded.

At the famous cavalry battle at Brandy Station, on June 9, 1863, Colonel Baker reported that the regiment was engaged at various times from early in the morning to late in the evening. In the morning the entire regiment was engaged in fighting the enemy's infantry and successfully drove them back. Later the regiment made two charges on cavalry, capturing the standard of the Tenth Regiment New York Cavalry and routing them.

The 1st NC Cav. had the honor of leading the Cavalry in all review occasions; they occupied the right.

The day before the battle of Brandy Station, Jeb Stuart's Cavalry Corps of 9,000 troopers conducted a grand review for General Lee. At one point Jeb Stuart turned to General Lee and proudly acclaimed and boasted that the 1st NC Cav. was his finest Cavalry Regiment in the Corps.

"The Old Guard of Napoleon never on any field of battle more forcibly illustrated the effect of discipline and the power of cool courage than did the 1st NC Cav..." The Tribune, Columbia, S.C., March 4, 1862.

"It was my good fortune to have the 1st NC Cav, in my command during the war, and I always attributed much of the efficiency of this notable regiment to its first colonel," said afterwards by the distinguished General Robert Ransom. "To him was due, in large measure, those soldierly qualities which won his old regiment its high reputation (a reputation it deserved), for, in my opinion, there was no finer a body of men in the Army of Northern Virginia than those composing the 1st NC Cav."

"On every field this regiment displayed conspicuous gallantry, your State, which furnished so many gallant soldiers to the Confederacy, gave none who upheld her honor and reflected a glory on our flag more bravely than did the First Regiment of North Carolina Cavalry", General Wade Hampton.

In short, the discipline, courage, and honor of the First North Carolina Cavalry is well documented by historians of the day. As re-enactors, we owe it to the original men who were members of the "First" to up-hold the name, tradition, honor, and reputation they earned with their blood. With work and dedication on the part of all members, we can be recognized as the "finest in the field" and set standards by which other units will want to follow.

Another thing to keep in mind when you go on the field representing the "First" is that this unit was one of the most disciplined and respected unit of cavalry on either side during the war. It was not an undisciplined, partisan ranger group.

Our predecessors set the standards exceptionally high... and we, members of the 1st NC Cav, have our work cut out for us!

As previously stated our period of impression is basically mid- to late-war (1863-65). Considerable research has been conducted by both present and past members of the regiment and is an on-going effort by various members.