The North Carolina Junior Reserve at Ft. Fisher

CSA Today

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Honored Fallen Comrade
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
Location
Laurinburg NC
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"It gives me real pleasure to bear testimony to the gallantry of the North Carolina Junior Reserves at Fort Fisher when Porter and Butler were repulsed. The first life sacrificed there in defence of Carolina homes was that of an heroic boy; and another Junior Reserve, who volunteered for a desperate task, was killed in performing the perilous duty. On that Christmas day, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, when North Carolinians won imperishable renown by repelling the most formidable fleet that ever sailed, two out of every three that were killed outright were Junior Reserves. No language can more forcibly describe the bravery and heroism of these boys than this statement of this fact."

Colonel William Lamb - 36th North Carolina (2nd North Carolina Artillery).

Photo: Colonel John Wetmore Hinsdale - 3rd Regiment N.C. Junior Reserves. In 1861 he left The University of North Carolina to enlist in the Confederate Army and served with distinction under Generals Holmes, Pettigrew, Pender and Price before being elected colonel of the Third Regiment Junior Reserves.
 
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Confederate North Carolina Junior Reserve Line Marker
By Bill Coughlin, August 18, 2006

Inscription. In front of you is where the North Carolina Junior Reserves stood as the Army of Tennessee made its last grand charge against Carlin’s division at the Cole plantation on March 19, 1865. Three regiments and one battalion of Junior Reserves were assigned to Hoke’s Division – the 70th, 71st, and 72nd North Carolina regiments (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Junior Reserves); and Millard’s (20th) Battalion.

The Junior Reserves, assigned to Hoke’s Division, numbered nearly 1,000 muskets in the field. Called the “seed corn of the Confederacy,” eight battalions of North Carolina Junior Reserves (boys 17 to 18 years old) were created in the summer of 1864. The Junior Reserves saw action at Weldon, Fort Fisher, and Wise Fork. Despite that service, they were still underestimated for their fighting skills and Gen. Braxton Bragg did not use them in the main Confederate assault on March 19. However, when the Confederate line was realigned on March 20, the Junior Reserves – with only makeshift breastworks – fought against the Union skirmishers and held their position for the rest of the battle.

http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=5845
 

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Ancestor John B. Melvin was a 2nd Lieutenant in Bryan’s Company (Unit Raised in Sampson County in May 1864) of the 8th Senior Reserves aka 78th Infantry Regiment. It was organized as the 3rd Battalion, North Carolina Senior Reserves, with three companies at Goldsboro NC on 31 May 1864. It was increased to a regiment and designated as the 78th Infantry Regiment (8th Senior Reserves) in early 1865. Fought in the Wilmington Campaign February 11 to 22, 1865 under Colonel Allmand M. McKoy
 
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