Richard Gatlin and the Confederate Defense of Eastern North Carolina

by James L. Gaddis Jr.

Overview

After the Confederate shelling of Fort Sumter in April 1861, North Carolina took steps toward war. Governor John Ellis commandeered Federal forts, raised regiments and enlisted the aid of Mexican War hero and Kinston native Richard C. Gatlin. Under the new Confederacy, Gatlin commanded the Confederate Department of North Carolina as a brigadier general. He was charged with the defense of the Tar Heel State, and his failure to prevent the Union takeover of the coast has been lost in the annals of Civil War history. Join author and historian James L. Gaddis Jr. for an overlooked yet harrowing tale of power, politics, tragedy and war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626198425
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	03/23/2015
Series:	Civil War Series
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

James L. Gaddis Jr. is a retired computer software designer and database administrator. Gaddis is president of the Kinston Civil War Round Table and a long-time member of the CSS Ram Neuse Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1427 in Kinston, North Carolina. He served with the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam and earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics from North Carolina State University. Married with two adult children and five grandchildren, Gaddis makes his home in Lenoir County, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

Preface 7

Acknowledgements 11

Prologue. "Specter of Yankees": Disaster at New Bern 13

1 "Cope of Heaven": Caswells, Gatlins and Kinston 15

2 "God-Forsaken Place": West Point 20

3 "In Consequence of the Cholera": The Black Hawk War 24

4 "Charnel House of the Army": On the Indian Frontier 29

5 "Remember the Caroline": The Patriot's War 43

6 "I Did My Duty": The Seminole War 52

7 "Halls of the Montezumas": The Mexican War 61

8 "Gloomy Endurance of a Shrouded Future": Mid-Century Joy and Tragedy 71

9 "A Great Event Has Happened": Into the West and Back 78

10 "The Undersigned Hereby Assumes Command": North Carolina Coastal Commander 88

11 "These Defenses Have Been Too Long Neglected": Yankee Invasion 98

12 "It Is to Be Regretted That General Hill Should Have Been Removed": Counting on the Confederacy 106

13 "North Carolina Has to Fight Her Own Battles": The Burnside Expedition 127

14 "These Failures Do Not by Right Rest with Me": After the Fall 144

15 "I Shall Turn Gurilla": North Carolina Adjutant General 149

16 "My Former Military Life Has Not Peculiarly Fitted Me for a New Occupation": Return to Fort Smith 160

Epilogue 167

Notes 169

Bibliography 179

Index 185

About the Author 191