37th North Carolina Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War

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Spring 1864 brought a new campaign launched by the Army of the Potomac.

Although not heavily engaged in the Wilderness, the 37th suffered high casualties in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. During that fight, on the morning of May 12, the brigade helped seal the breach in the Confederate lines caused by a Union assault against the notorious Mule Shoe.

That afternoon, General Lee personally ordered a detachment of Lane’s sharpshooters, commanded by a captain in the 37th, to reconnoiter a Yankee battery that was enfilading the Confederate position. When the sharpshooters reported back that the battery was unsupported, Lee ordered two brigades, including Lane’s, to capture it. The 37th emerged from the woods just as a division from Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s IX Corps passed on the opposite side of the cannons. The 37th captured the battery, then slammed into the flank of the 17th Michigan and 51st Pennsylvania. A brief melee ensued, with Lane’s brigade capturing three Federal flags, two by members of the 37th. But the Federals fought valiantly, earning three Medals of Honor during the fight and capturing Colonel Barbour.

Due to a lack of support, the Tar Heels were unable to continue the fight. Nevertheless, the force of their attack had halted Burnside’s advance. The troops of the 37th could proudly say that they had saved the Confederate lines in the Mule Shoe.

After his capture, Colonel Barbour was taken to Old Capital prison in Washington. On June 15, he and 49 other Confederate officers were sent to Charleston, S.C., to be used as human shields by the Federal Army. Earlier, the Confederates had housed 50 Union officers in Charleston where, along with civilians, they came under fire from Federal artillery. After three tense weeks, an exchange agreement was made and the 50 Confederate officers managed to avoid being used as shields. Barbour was back with the 37th by the first week of August.

As the summer of 1864 wore on, the 37th was seriously engaged along the North Anna River, but not at Cold Harbor. On August 16, Colonel Barbour was wounded in the left leg and submitted his resignation, but returned to his regiment before it was accepted. On September 30, at the Battle of Jones Farm, near Petersburg, he was again wounded, this time in the right hip. He was taken to Petersburg, where he died on October 1. Command devolved to Major Jackson L. Bost, a doctor from Union County. Bost would lead the regiment for the rest of the Petersburg campaign.

On March 24, 1865, Lane’s brigade went into position as a reserve for Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon’s attack on Fort Stedman. The attack failed, and the 37th went back into the trenches near its winter quarters. On March 29, the 37th’s troops were forced to extend their intervals due to the redeployment of other brigades. The soldiers were spread so thin, according to Maj. Gen. Cadmus Wilcox, that they were 10 feet apart from each other.

A Federal attack on the morning of April 2 overwhelmed the 37th’s thinned ranks, and during the short fight a member of the 37th Massachusetts captured its flag. The North Carolinians scattered, some falling into the works at Fort Gregg, where they helped halt the Federal advance and provide time for Lt. Gen. James Longstreet to arrive from Richmond.The war was all but over for members of the 37th. Many had been captured on April 2; many others started to work their way home. On April 12, when the 37th stacked its rifle-muskets, only 115 officers and men were left to surrender out of the 2,000 that had served with the regiment.

This article was written by Michael C. Hardy and originally appeared in the May 2003 issue of America’s Civil War.

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Tags: 19th Century, America's Civil War, American Civil War, Historical Conflicts

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