Confederate Veteran James Daniel Moore of Caldwell County, NC : Civil War Remembrances

Joined
Dec 31, 2010
Location
Kingsport, Tennessee
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/hid...s-of-the-civil-war.120774/page-2#post-1260409

james daniel moore.jpg


James was a 20 year-old farmer from Caldwell County when he enlisted, 7/15/1861 into Company F 26th NC Infantry. He was discharged 12/6/1861 “by reason of a stiffness of a knee joint for 60 days depriving him of the use of his leg.” On 3/20/1862 he mustered into “F” Co. NC 26th Infantry.He was Wounded 7/1/1863 at Gettysburg, PA (In the left thigh) He was transferred out on 7/23/1864. On 7/23/1864 he transferred into “D” Co. NC 9th Inf State Troops. In the 2/11/1900 issue of “The Morning Post” (of Raleigh, NC.) a much older James made the following statement concerning the Blalocks :



I was born January 5, 1845; joined Captain Rankin’s (probably Captain Oscar R. Rand’s) company from Caldwell county. This company afterwards became company F, 26th NC Regiment. I was not present at the battle of New Bern, being absent on detail at home to get recruits. I brought back with me about 45 men among whom was a young man who went by the name of Samuel Blalock. It turned out he was a woman, the wife of Keith Blalock, but no one in the company knew of it until she and her husband confided it to me in secret at Salisbury on our way to Kinston to join the regiment. They told me of this, as they said, because from my remark that, “this recruit resembles Keith’s wife so much,” that I suspected she was his wife, and they concluded it was best to make me their confidant, so I would not tell anyone about it. I never told anyone about it except my brother-in-law, Isaac N. Corpening who was also in the company and sutler ( he probably means quartermaster) of the regiment. (Isaac was twice captured during the war) Mr. Corpening now lives at Blowing Rock, NC and is the proprietor of The Watauga Hotel.

Sam Blalock’s disguise was never suspected. She drilled and did the duties of a soldier as any other member of the company, and was very adapt at learning the manual and drill. In about two months her husband, who was suffering from a hernia and poison sumac. (in Keith Blalock’s own words, he removed all clothing and “rolled around in it” in order to get out of the rebel army) was discharged and left Kinston and went to Goldsboro. That night his wife made it known to Capt. Joe Ballew, her Captain,(Capt.Ballew would resign for health reasons on 10/12/1862) that she was not Sam Blalock, but Malinda, the wife of Keith Blalock, and applied for her discharge. Capt. Ballew took her to Colonel Zeb Vance’s tent, with a application for a discharge, and when she appealed to be allowed to go home. Colonel Vance became indignant stating: “You have only been in camp two months. There are men who have not been home in a year since they first enlisted. You must take your turn.” Sam then remarked: “I am a woman and the wife of Keith Blalock.” Vance replied: “The h–l you are ! I don’t believe it.” and said he would require some evidence of the truth of her statement. (I’ve read different accounts that say Vance then had her examined by the Regimental Surgeon, who informed him she was indeed a woman!) Colonel Vance joked her for some time, and after teasing her for some time, he signed her discharge and she left next morning early for Goldsboro to join her husband. She continued to wear her uniform even after she returned home, and I am credibly informed she became a member of her husband’s raiding and robbing parties (gangs) in Caldwell and Mitchell Counties.

One night in the Spring of 1864, while I was at home on furlough from wounds received at Gettysburg, her husband and his gang attacked my father’s (Carroll Moore’s) home at the Globe in Caldwell County. We had a regular battle with them, in which my father was severely wounded, and we wounded two of them, one of whom it was said, was this one-time member of my company, and who I enlisted, Malinda Blalock

Again in the fall of 1864, when I had returned to the Army, Keith Blalock and his gang attacked my father’s house, and my father and Jesse Moore and my young brother, William about 14 years of age, and my cousin Dan Moore’s two boys, named William Patterson and Jesse, aged about 14 and 16 years respectively, were in the house. In this fight the boy, Patterson had his right leg shattered above the
knee and Jesse Moore received a severe wound in the foot, and both were crippled
for life. Jesse Moore shot Keith Blalock’s eye out. Moore used the ball-and-buckshot cartridge, and the shots are still in Blalock’s head. The shooting of Keith Blalock saved the Moore party, and the raiders carried him off on one of the horses in the stable. My father had incurred the enmity of these bushwhackers for his active exertions against them. After this fight Keith Blalock and his wife, Malinda went to Colorado or Montana, but have returned to North Carolina.

(Keith and Malinda actually made their way to east Tennessee, where Keith could be treated for his wounds by Union Army doctors, and after healing, he joined the 10 Michigan Cavalry. About this time Malinda found she was expecting their first child and gave birth to him in Tennessee. After the war, they did go to Texas for a short time, but soon returned to North Carolina.

...........................................................................................................................................................................
I was present at the Battle Of Gettysburg, a private in Company F of the 26th NC.Regiment. Captain R.M. Tuttle’s Company, Pettigrew’s Brigade. In the first day’s battle, we had 87 men for duty. We lost every man, either killed or wounded except one, named Robert Hudspeth. I was the 85th man shot, wounded in the neck and left leg. Henry Coffey, now living near Lenoir,NC.was the 86th man shot. Our company joined the color company of the regiment on the left, and being at the head of the company, I joined the color guard and was by the colors during the fight. The entire color guard was killed or wounded and a number of officers who picked up the colors and carried them forward were also killed or wounded.

Among them, the young and gallant Colonel Burgwyn. When he was struck he turned around once or twice by the force of the ball and tangling up the colors, fell with them wrapped around him. Colonel Burgwyn was killed after we crossed the branch and about where we struck the second line of the enemy.


Lieut-Colonel Lane was severely wounded towards the close of the fight near the top of the hill. He also had the colors in his hands when he was shot. I was wounded at the top of the hill (Cemetery Ridge) from which the last line of the enemy had been driven. At that time there was only three of us left, and I was congratulating myself that I was safe, when I was knocked insensible (senseless) by a piece of a shell striking me on the neck, and at the same time a ball passed through my leg.

Of the two left of my company, Henry Coffey was wounded just after I fell, leaving only Sergeant Robert Hudspeth surviving unhurt out of our entire company.

This Robert Hudspeth came to see me at the field hospital on the fourth of July (day after the battle) and he informed me “that he had gotten some four or five men who were on detail as ambulance and pioneer corps on the first day and were not in the fight on that day, and they went into the fight on the third day. That that day Tom Cozart of company F carried the flag on the right, and that he and all the others except himself (Hudspeth) were killed or wounded in the charge (Pickett’s Charge on the third day). That Cozart fell with the colors just before reaching the stone fence, and about the time the Confederate line was falling back. Hudspeth himself was knocked down by the concussion of a shell as he was falling back.

After the regiment got back to Virginia, Hudspeth was promoted to a Lieutenancy and the company was recruited up to about thirty men. Shortly after the battle Lieutenant Hudspeth was taken sick with a fever, sent to a hospital and died.

After recovering from my wounds, I returned to the regiment in May, 1864, just before the opening of the Wilderness fights. I was in the fight on the 5th day of May, 1864, when Lieut-Colonel Jones of the regiment received his mortal wound. I attended him and saw him draw his last breath. Owing to the effects of my wounds at Gettysburg I became unfit for Infantry service, and after the campaign was over, rather than get discharged, I was transferred to Company D 1st NC.Cavalry, and joined them near Petersburg, in September, 1864. I served in this command till the end of the war. After the war, fearing I might become involved with the bushwhackers in my county, (the Blalocks) I went to Winnamac, Indiana; and got employment in a store in that town. One evening, while talking to a number of Union veterans in the store, one, whose name was Hayes, remarked that he was in the Battle of Gettysburg, and from his account of himself and his location and command, I satisfied myself that he was with the troops we fought at Gettysburg.
on the first day.


While a brief stint as a citizen of Winnamac, Indiana, James believed he actually met the Billy Yank that shot him that terrible day on McPherson’s Ridge.The Iron Brigade was made up of the 2nd, 6th, and 7th, Wisconsin, the 19th Indiana, and 24th Michigan.

James only refers to him by his surname of Hayes. I believe he was probably Luther M. Hayes who served in the 2nd and later the 6th Wisconsin.



Hayes stated that his officers encouraged their men by saying the troops in their front were Militia because of the distance of the colors in their line, showing the regiments were large and therefore could not be veteran troops or a command that had gone through a campaign. Hayes was directly in front of the colors of the regiment which charged him.

I was always alongside of our colors, and therefore immediately in front of Hayes. Hayes stood his ground until our colors were within ten or fifteen paces of him, and then firing his last shot retreated. His weapon was a 44-caliber, and so far as he knew, the only one in his brigade; having lost his enfield rifle that morning, he picked up a cavalry carbine on the march. (Buford’s Yankee cavalry brought on the first day’s fight early in the morning). Hayes said all his men were armed with enfield rifles, 56-caliber. When my wound was examined by the doctors at the field hospital, they remarked the wound must have been made by a carbine, not by a enfield rifle ball, as the hole was smaller than the ball from such a rifle would make; and it was with difficulty they probed the wound with their little finger.

From this and other facts that our conversations brought to light, I am satisfied that Hayes was the man who shot me. He was always a good friend to me as long as I resided in his town. I left Indiana to return home in February, 1868, and have lived in North Carolina ever since.

I am now cashier of the First National Bank, Gastonia,NC. and secretary and treasurer of the Modena Cotton Mills at that place.

James D. Moore
October 11, 1897.

 
Wow, I had heard of the Blalocks, and knew a little bit about what they had done, but I had never been able to find anything this detailed on their exploits. It is my understanding that they had joined the 26th in order to defect to union lines at the first chance, but that the 26th didn't rendezvous with the yankees quick enough for their liking, thus driving Keith to roll about in the poison sumac and bring about his discharge.
 
Although the 1st day doesn't get nearly the attention of the other 2, I don't think there was a more intense, horrific fight than the 26thNC and the 24th Michigan. It was a real blood bath. If memory serves the 26th had around 15 color bearers shot.
 
Wow, I had heard of the Blalocks, and knew a little bit about what they had done, but I had never been able to find anything this detailed on their exploits. It is my understanding that they had joined the 26th in order to defect to union lines at the first chance, but that the 26th didn't rendezvous with the yankees quick enough for their liking, thus driving Keith to roll about in the poison sumac and bring about his discharge.

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/southern-unionist-perspective.72412/#post-458845
 
The boy colonel!

P140680.gif


Colonel Harry King Burgwyn, who succeeded Gov. Zebulon B. Vance
in command of the Twenty-sixth regiment, North Carolina troops,
was a native of North Carolina, born in affluence and of
distinguished ancestry. Before he was of the proper age to
become a cadet at West Point he was offered an appointment there,
where he studied for some time; in 1859 was graduated at the
university of North Carolina in special studies, and then
matriculated at the Virginia military institute, where he
remained until the beginning of the Confederate war.

He shared the services of the cadets as drill-master at Richmond
in the spring of 1861, and in June following was put in command
of the camp of instruction at Crab Tree creek near Raleigh. Here
he served with great efficiency until, on August 27th, he was
elected lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-sixth regiment. In his
first battle he won the admiration and love of his men.

On the retreat from New Bern in crossing Brice's creek, he
saw every man of his command safely across before he embarked;
bore himself with conspicuous gallantry in the Seven Days'
battles before Richmond, and upon the election of Colonel Vance
as governor in August, 1862, was promoted colonel.

During the campaign in North Carolina, at Rawles' Mill, in Martin
county, he met and defeated his old instructor at West Point,
General Foster. A bright military career appeared to be opening
before the young soldier and patriot, then in his twenty-first
year, when he joined the army of Northern Virginia, in
Pettigrew's brigade.

He participated in the Pennsylvania campaign and led his regiment
in the charge upon the enemy on the first day of the battle
of Gettysburg. They were met by a terrible fire, and the color-
bearer fell, when Colonel Burgwyn seized the flag and rushed to
the front cheering on his men.

Turning slightly to the left to see how they were behaving, a
ball entered his left side and passed through both his lungs. He
fell with the colors wrapped about him, and with his last breath
sent a message to his commander: "Tell the general my men
never failed me at a single point." He was laid to rest where
he fell, but in 1867 his body was reinterred in the
beautiful Oakwood cemetery at Raleigh.

Source: Confederate Military History Vol. V
 
Although the 1st day doesn't get nearly the attention of the other 2, I don't think there was a more intense, horrific fight than the 26thNC and the 24th Michigan. It was a real blood bath. If memory serves the 26th had around 15 color bearers shot.

The 26th North Carolina covered such a large front that it actually confronted the 24th Michigan, 2nd Wisconsin, and parts of the 7th Wisconsin and 19th Indiana simultaneously at around 3 p.m. on July 1.
 
View attachment 145760

Colonel Harry King Burgwyn, who succeeded Gov. Zebulon B. Vance
in command of the Twenty-sixth regiment, North Carolina troops,
was a native of North Carolina, born in affluence and of
distinguished ancestry. Before he was of the proper age to
become a cadet at West Point he was offered an appointment there,
where he studied for some time; in 1859 was graduated at the
university of North Carolina in special studies, and then
matriculated at the Virginia military institute, where he
remained until the beginning of the Confederate war.

He shared the services of the cadets as drill-master at Richmond
in the spring of 1861, and in June following was put in command
of the camp of instruction at Crab Tree creek near Raleigh. Here
he served with great efficiency until, on August 27th, he was
elected lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-sixth regiment. In his
first battle he won the admiration and love of his men.

On the retreat from New Bern in crossing Brice's creek, he
saw every man of his command safely across before he embarked;
bore himself with conspicuous gallantry in the Seven Days'
battles before Richmond, and upon the election of Colonel Vance
as governor in August, 1862, was promoted colonel.

During the campaign in North Carolina, at Rawles' Mill, in Martin
county, he met and defeated his old instructor at West Point,
General Foster. A bright military career appeared to be opening
before the young soldier and patriot, then in his twenty-first
year, when he joined the army of Northern Virginia, in
Pettigrew's brigade.

He participated in the Pennsylvania campaign and led his regiment
in the charge upon the enemy on the first day of the battle
of Gettysburg. They were met by a terrible fire, and the color-
bearer fell, when Colonel Burgwyn seized the flag and rushed to
the front cheering on his men.

Turning slightly to the left to see how they were behaving, a
ball entered his left side and passed through both his lungs. He
fell with the colors wrapped about him, and with his last breath
sent a message to his commander: "Tell the general my men
never failed me at a single point." He was laid to rest where
he fell, but in 1867 his body was reinterred in the
beautiful Oakwood cemetery at Raleigh.

Source: Confederate Military History Vol. V
I always wonder how far he would have gone if his life hadn't been snuffed out that day. I'm sure he would've had a very distinguished career.
 
I always wonder how far he would have gone if his life hadn't been snuffed out that day. I'm sure he would've had a very distinguished career.

Here's his younger brother William :
24132900_1412167391.jpg

William Hyslop Sumner Burgwyn : Residence Mecklenburg County NC; 16 years old. Born July 23, 1845. On 9/3/1861 he enlisted and was commissioned into "H" Co. NC 35th Infantry. He was transferred out on 1/15/1864, and commissioned into NC General Thomas Clingman's Brigade. Promotions: 1st Lieut 7/4/1862, Capt 6/23/1863.

As a paroled Prisoner of War in March, 1865, after the passage of the act allowing the recruitment, organizing, and arming of Negro troops, William wrote John Breckenridge, offering to raise a Battalion.

To Raise a Negro Battalion in North Carolina.jpg
 
Here's his younger brother William :
View attachment 145913
William Hyslop Sumner Burgwyn : Residence Mecklenburg County NC; 16 years old. Born July 23, 1845. On 9/3/1861 he enlisted and was commissioned into "H" Co. NC 35th Infantry. He was transferred out on 1/15/1864, and commissioned into NC General Thomas Clingman's Brigade. Promotions: 1st Lieut 7/4/1862, Capt 6/23/1863.

As a paroled Prisoner of War in March, 1865, after the passage of the act allowing the recruitment, organizing, and arming of Negro troops, William wrote John Breckenridge, offering to raise a Battalion.

View attachment 145914
I'm assuming that the battalion never materialized, with the end of the war fast approaching?
 
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