Chronology
March 1862-March 1863: In February 1862 the state authorized three heavy artillery companies to be recruited for the defense of forts along the Cape Fear River near and below Wilmington.
March 25, 1863: The three companies organized as the 1st Battalion N.C. Heavy Artillery.
March 1863-January 1865: The companies continued to serve at various locations in defense of Wilmington and the Cape Fear River. In January 1864 detachments from the first three companies of the battalion were organized as Company D.
January - March 1865: Most members of the battalion escaped the fall of Fort Fisher and were assigned to Brigadier General Johnson Hagood’s Brigade#, Major General Robert Hoke’s Division and served with that command through the Battle of Bentonville, March 19-23, 1865.
March-April 1865: The battalion moved briefly to Tarboro and Weldon and then to Elizabethtown in Bladen County. There was no surrender, the battalion disbanded and the men went home.
Field Officer
Major Alexander McRae
McRae, a New Hanover County resident, had served as a captain in the 22nd Regiment N.C. Militia (1861 organization). In April 1862 he organized a heavy artillery company known as "Captain Alexander McRae's Company Heavy Artillery." In March 1863 he received a promotion to major and commander of the 1st Battalion N.C. Heavy Artillery. Surviving records show he was present or accounted for through August 1864 and in May 1865 was paroled at Wilmington.
Companies
Company A, “The Clark Artillery." Organized May 15, 1862. Members of the company were principally from New Hanover County (76 men) and Robeson County (59 men). Total enrollment in the company was 190 men and included smaller contingents from other counties, the state of South Carolina, and men whose county of residence is unknown. Served as an independent company known as "Captain Robert G. Rankin’s Company, Clark Artillery” until designated Company A, 1st Battalion N.C. Heavy Artillery, March 25, 1863.
Company B, “The River Guards.” Organized May 2, 1862. Members of the company were principally from New Hanover County (119 men), Duplin County (88 men), and Sampson County (21 men). Total enrollment in the company was 238 men and included smaller contingents from other counties, the state of South Carolina, and men whose county of residence is unknown. Served as an independent company known as “Captain Charles D. Ellis’s Company, River Guards, N.C. Heavy Artillery” until designated Company B, 1st Battalion N.C. Heavy Artillery, March 25, 1863.
Company C. Organized April 9, 1862. Members of the company were principally from Robeson County (65 men), Bladen County (40 men), Columbus County (30 men), Brunswick County (26 men), and New Hanover County (25 men). Total enrollment in the company was 215 men and included smaller contingents from other counties, the state of South Carolina, and men whose county of residence is unknown. Served as independent company known as “Captain Alexander McRae’s Company Heavy Artillery” until designated Company C, 1st Battalion N.C. Heavy Artillery, March 25, 1863.
Company D. Organized January 13, 1864, with the transfer of contingents from Companies A (25 men), B (30 men), and C (32 men), 1st Battalion N.C. Heavy Artillery. Members of the company were principally from Robeson County (62 men) and Duplin County (31 men). Total enrollment in the company was 138 men and included smaller contingents from other counties, the state of South Carolina, and men whose county of residence is unknown.
Enlistments and transfers from other units
|
1862 |
1863 |
1864 |
1865 |
Unknown |
Total |
| Company A |
116 |
53 |
18 |
0 |
3 |
190 |
| Company B |
150 |
73 |
14 |
0 |
1 |
238 |
| Company C |
169 |
39 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
215 |
| Company D |
-- |
-- |
46 (87) |
1 |
4 |
51 (87) |
| Field and Staff/Misc |
0 |
1 (4) |
(1) |
0 |
4 |
5 (5) |
| Total |
435 |
166 |
85 |
1 |
12 |
699 (92)* |
*Ninety-two men served in more than one company of the 1st Battalion N.C. Heavy Artillery
Campaigns, Battles, and Casualties
Battle |
Date |
BD |
WIA |
PW |
WPW |
Total |
| First Fort Fisher, North Carolina |
12/24/64 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| Second Fort Fisher, North Carolina |
1/15/65 |
17 |
0 |
60 |
17 |
94 |
| Fort Anderson, North Carolina* |
2/20/65 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
10 |
| Wyse's Fork, North Carolina |
3/8/65 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| Bentonville, North Carolina |
3/19-23/65 |
8 |
6 |
21 |
0 |
35 |
Miscellaneous and unknown |
--- |
0 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
7 |
| Total |
--- |
26 |
15 |
92 |
19 |
152** |
*Also known as the Battle of Town Creek, North Carolina.
**One member of the 1st Battalion N.C.Heavy Artillery was paroled at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, April 9, 1865.
Non-battle deaths
|
1862 |
1863 |
1864 |
1865 |
Unknown |
Total |
| Company A |
7 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
13 |
| Company B |
8 |
11 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
23 |
| Company C |
6 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
13 |
| Company D |
-- |
-- |
6 |
13 |
0 |
19 |
| Field and Staff/Misc |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Total |
21 |
14 |
17 |
16 |
0 |
68 |
Thirteen members of the 1st Battalion N.C. Heavy Artillery died in Federal prisons-of-war:
Elmira, New York: 7 men
Point Lookout, Maryland: 6 men
Desertions
Desertions were apparently a minimal problem in the 1st Battalion N.C. Heavy Artillery. Only 22 instances of desertion are recorded in surviving records, 3.4% of the battalion strength. Remarkably, Company B had no recorded instances of desertion at all.
Bibliography
Walter Clark, ed., Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War, 1861-'65, 5 vols (Raleigh and Goldsboro: State of1), IV:303-313.
Louis H. Manarin et al., North Carolian Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster, 16 vols. to date (Raleigh: Office of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 1966--), I:1-38.