Major Battles & Links

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New Bern

"The 10th Connecticut . . . dug in about 200 yards from the Confederate breastworks and fought an intense rifle duel with the 27th and 37th North Carolina Regiments."

William R. Trotter
Ironclads and Columbiads

Seven Days

"On the 27th of June, 1862, the memorable 'Seven Days Fight' around Richmond began. The Grays formed a portion of the reserve under Gen. Holmes, and were marched from battle field to battle field, receiving the shells of the enemy, and acting as targets for their sharp shooters."

Captain John A. Sloan
Reminiscences of the Guilford Grays

Sharpsburg

"At one critical juncture during the battle, the 27th North Carolina, the 3rd Arkansas, and 250 men from Cobb's Brigade of McLaws's Division, under the command of the 27th's Colonel John Rogers Cooke, held their position for two-and-a-half hours without a single cartridge. At one point, Longstreet sent Moxley Sorrell to remind Cooke that his men must hold their position at all costs. Cooke replied, 'Major, thank General Longstreet for his good words, but say, by God Almighty, he needn't doubt me! We will stay here, by J.C., if we must go to hell together!'"

"Six weeks later, Cooke was promoted to Brigadier General and Cooke's North Carolina Brigade, consisting of the 15th, 27th, 46th, and 48th NC regiments, was organized."

Stephen W. Sears, 

A Landscape Turned Red 

Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland

The Civil War Home Page - Antietam (Sharpsburg)

Fredericksburg

"The 27th North Carolina hesitated only a moment, 'in the midst of a terrific fire,' before it surged down the hillside to the Sunken Road. Gunners 'began to throw up their hats and cheer' the charging regiment. The Carolinians responded with a yell and set off for the bottom of the hill. Cobb's Georgia units met the incoming Confederates with more shouts and cheers. The 27th North Carolina lost a dozen soldiers while descending Willis Hill, among them their commander. Colonel John A. Gilmer hobbled into the road with a painful wound to his knee. Major Joseph C. Webb sustained a glancing shot to his wrist, which, he wryly noted, 'hurt my coat worse than it did my hide.' The reinforcements [from the 27th N.C.]  mingled with Cobb's troops, making the men roughly four files deep."

Francis Augustin O'Reilly
The Fredericksburg Campaign

Bristoe Station

"Cooke's Brigade was slaughtered. . . . The magnificent Twenty-seventh North Carolina, which had earned immortality at Sharpsburg, sacrificed thirty-three of its officers and 290 of its 416 men."

Douglas Southall Freeman,

Lee's Lieutenants

"One incident of this fight I will mention, which shows the coolness of some men under all circumstances. We had just drawn new clothing -- gray jackets and blue pants -- and our men, anxious to keep their clothing bright and new, had most of them put on their old clothes during the march and had them on at this fight. As we were falling back up the hill, Private Laughinghouse, of Company E, from Pitt county, finding his knapsack too heavy, determined to to throw it away, but as he did not wish to lose his new clothes -- having his old ones on -- stopped, changed clothes under heavy fire, and then picking up his blanket and gun, made his way up the hill unhurt."

James A. Graham, Captain, Co. A
Twenty Seventh Regiment
Clark's North Carolina Regiments
Vol. II, Page 444

And Then A. P. Hill Came Up - This is a great site! Click on the button at the left for the site's homepage.

For the brigade's after-action report on Bristoe Station, written by by E. D. HALL, Colonel, Commanding, and Maj. R. H. FINNEY, Assistant Adjutant-General, click here. Scroll to the bottom of the new page that opens and click on the "Cooke's Brigade" link.

The Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna

Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania
National Military Park, Fredericksburg, VA

"After dark (on May 5), we were relieved by Kirkland's brigade. As we were retiring from our position, we got into a country-road, parallel to the 'Plank-Road,' and had proceeded but a short distance, when my attention was directed to a similar body of troops, marching quietly in the road with us; the night was very dark, and it was difficult to distinguish friend from foe. I felt some anxiety, as they seemed to possess uniform knapsacks and were of better appearance than our men, to know who they were. I therefore approached their column, and found to my utter astonishment that they were 'blue-coats.' . . . The surprise was so great . . . a hasty retreat was made on both sides and each soon lost the other in the darkness. They were evidently on the wrong road 'to get out of the Wilderness.'"

Captain John A. Sloan
Reminiscences of the Guilford Grays

Cold Harbor

"On the 3d of June the two armies were brought face to face at Cold Harbor . . . about 8 o'clock they began to attack, and kept up their assaults until late in the evening. Brigade after brigade was hurled against us until the ground in our front was literally covered with their dead and wounded. . . . The prisoners we captured denounced and cursed Grant for this slaughter, and dubbed him the 'champion butcher.'"

Captain John A. Sloan
Reminiscences of the Guilford Grays

Petersburg

Petersburg National Battlefield,
Petersburg, VA

"I feel as ever, confident of our success. Gen'l Lee's Army is numerically stronger now than when we opened the Campaign of '64, while in experience it is twofold stronger. That Grant has an inferior Army, to the one we fought last year, no one doubts."

Lt. Col. Joseph Webb, 27th N.C., in a letter dated January 24, 1865. 

Appomattox

Canadian WBTS Site, included here for the reading of General Lee's last orders, recorded in the mid-1950's and read by Edmund Jennings Lee IV of Virginia.