Edward Cary of the 44th Virginia pictured with his sister Emma.

CSA Today

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Honored Fallen Comrade
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
Location
Laurinburg NC
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He enlisted at the age of 18 with his brother William, Edward Cary was killed at the Battle of Port Republic, June 9, 1862.
 
I wonder if they are cousins of Hetty Cary, whom Henry Kidd Douglas described as "the most beautiful woman of her day and generation" who married artillerist Willie Pegram's brother John. Her sister was Jennie and Constance was a cousin.
 
He served in Company I. ‘"Mossingford Rifles from Charlotte County. One of two from his company killed at Port Republic. His sister was born in 1845 and lived until 1918.
 
Edward Cary, an 18-year-old from Drake's Branch in Charlotte County, Virginia, enlisted with the 44th Virginia Infantry of the Confederate army on May 8th, 1861, as the American Civil War was barely beginning. He fought in an engagement at Rich Mountain, West Virginia, and the battle of Greenbrier River, West Virginia, where a four-hour fight drove the Confederates back to their entrenchments and left six dead.

October 3rd, 1861, the day of the Greenbrier River battle, was also the day that Cary’s brother William, who had also enlisted with the regiment, took leave to recover from illness at home.

The regiment avoided conflict until the next May and early June, when it fought in a string of battles throughout Virginia. First was at McDowell, Virginia, on May 8th, when the regiments attempted to plant a battery on Bull Pasture Mountain but were driven back until nightfall and lost 75 men.

A confrontation two weeks later at Front Royal saw more success for the Confederate forces, as they were not fooled by a Union ploy to give the false appearance of greater strength. Though the retreating Union troops burned the nearby river’s bridges, the Confederate cavalry soon crossed and captured most of the force.

On June 2nd, 1862, the regiment faced a skirmish at Strasburg, then were overcome at Woodstock and lost many men, along with their fort, to the Union army.

The Battle of Port Republic began six days later. The first day saw some success for the Confederates, including Cary’s regiment, who were first driven back by Colonel Samuel Carroll’s Union troops, but then returned in force and caused a Union retreat.

The next day, the Confederates attacked the Union troops under James Gavin, and succeeded in capturing their batteries. The Confederates turned the captured guns onto the Union troops, who fell back for four or five miles until reinforcements arrived. Perhaps it was during this resurgence that Edward Cary fell. He was one of just two Confederate soldiers killed.

His brother William had returned to the regiment just a month earlier, on May 15th. He would remain with it, despite three periods of hospitalization, at least until September of 1864, when his name fades from the record.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/SoldierbiosCary.html
 
Edward Cary? Edward Cary? That name rings a bell and it really bugged me.
Where have I heard it?

Edward Cary Walthall (April 4, 1831 – April 21, 1898) , Brigadier General, who commanded a Brigade of Mississippi troops that included my ancestor's at Battle of Lookout Mountain and later at Franklin and Nashville, etc.
 
Edward Cary? Edward Cary? That name rings a bell and it really bugged me.
Where have I heard it?

Edward Cary Walthall (April 4, 1831 – April 21, 1898) , Brigadier General, who commanded a Brigade of Mississippi troops that included my ancestor's at Battle of Lookout Mountain and later at Franklin and Nashville, etc.

IMO Walthall was a fine commander that doesn't get the credit that he deserves.
 
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