Assessing the Strength of the 47th North Carolina Based on Extant Quartermaster Reports

Tom Elmore

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Summary: My rough estimate of the strength of the 47th North Carolina as of June 30, 1863, based on post-battle quartermaster records and casualty numbers, works out to 39 officers and 651 enlisted men, with 34 officers and 585 enlisted men being directly engaged in the battle. By comparison, a standard reference on regimental strengths estimated the number engaged as 29 officers and 538 enlisted men. In a letter written by an unidentified 47th North Carolina soldier on July 9, which had been retrieved by Uriah N. Parmelee of the 6th New York Cavalry, the soldier had written home that they entered the fight with 600 men.

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In May 1863, the 47th North Carolina Regiment left North Carolina and arrived in Virginia to join Lee’s army. The regiment became part of the brigade led by Brigadier General James Johnston Pettigrew. On May 12, 1863, a special requisition for multiple items of clothing was filled by the regimental quartermaster, presumably in preparation for the active campaigning season, and involved all ten companies; seven of these reports still exist in the service records (Fold3) of the company commanders. For each company, the number of caps, shirts, pants, socks and drawers issued is the same number, as follows:

A – 114
B – 90
C – 75
D – Not available (estimate 87)
E – 91
F – 72
G – 80
H – Not available (estimate 87)
I – Not available (estimate 87)
K – 89

The average for the above seven companies on which data is available is 87, allowing us to project the number of enlisted men in the regiment as about 870. Adding perhaps 40 officers yields a total strength of roughly 910 – a very large, albeit untested, regiment for this point in the war.

Of course, not that many made it to Gettysburg, owing to illness, details, etc. My edition of Regimental Strengths and Losses at Gettysburg, by John W. Busey and David G. Martin, gives the estimated June 30 strength as 30 officers and 573 enlisted men, of whom 29 officers and 538 enlisted men were actually engaged in the battle. I have attempted an independent verification of those numbers using the following data.

An interesting set of reports prepared by the quartermaster is the fuel (firewood) requisition/allocation used in camp (Orange Court House) for the month of August 1863, which lists personnel numbers by company:

A – 1 officer, 46 [enlisted] men.
B – 1 officer, 43 men.
C – Not available (estimate 1 officer, 35 men).
D – 2 officers, 29 men.
E – 2 officers, 38 men.
F – 1 officer, 25 men.
G – 1 officer, 40 men.
H – 2 officers, 26 men.
I – 1 officer, 27 men.
K – 2 officers, 39 men.
Total: 14 officers, 348 enlisted men – presumably an accurate snapshot of post-battle strength.

Now extracting the number of killed, captured and those wounded brought back to Virginia (who by my estimate were still absent from the regiment in August), as listed in John W. Busey and Travis W. Busey’s Confederate Casualties at Gettysburg, yielded:

A – 1 officer, 30 [enlisted] men.
B – 2 officers, 26 men.
C – 3 officers, 20 men.
D – 1 officer, 23 men.
E – 1 officer, 32 men.
F – 2 officers, 30 men.
G – 3 officers, 41 men.
H – 2 officers, 23 men.
I – 1 officer, 42 men.
K – 1 officer, 36 men.
Total: 17 officers, 303 enlisted men.

Conclusion: Combining the above two categories gives a grand total of 31 officers (plus three field grade officers and perhaps five more regimental staff officers) and 651 enlisted men. (One can also compare the relative strengths of the individual companies.)

The following field grade and staff officers were engaged in the fight:
Colonel George H. Faribault, wounded July 3.
Lieutenant Colonel John Azariah Graves, wounded and captured July 3.
Major Archibald D. Crudup, wounded and captured July 3.
First Lieutenant and Adjutant Thomas C. Powell, wounded and captured on July 3.

Records indicate the following company commanders entered the fight:
A – Captain John Houston Thorp.
B – Captain Joseph J. Harris.
C – Captain Campbell T. Iredell, mortally wounded on July 1.
D – Captain George N. Lewis.
E – Captain John H. Norwood.
F – First Lieutenant Julius Scovey Joyner, captured July 3. (Captain William C. Lankford was released from Hospital #4 in Richmond on June 26, according to his service records, the same day the regiment marched into Pennsylvania.)
G – Captain Joseph Jonathan Davis, wounded and captured on July 3.
H – Captain Sidney W. Mitchell.
I – Captain John W. Brown, wounded July 3.
K – Captain Robert H. Faucette.
 
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