Memorial service honors confederate veterans

May 28--The annual memorial service in Danbury centered on the men of the 21st North Carolina Regiment who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Lee Sherrill, author of a new book on the 21st North Carolina Regiment, spoke at length on the history of the regiment and the similarities between WWII and the Civil War.

"Over 120,000 men served, 2,100 of them from the 21st North Carolina, the only regiment of North Carolina Volunteers to serve from the opening battle until the bitter end," said Sherrill, describing his history of the regiment as a war book. "I wrote ti to record the actions of these 2,100 young men and boys who fought that war, their bravery and foibles and to make no moral judgments on the causes of the war our brave ancestors on both sides fought 150 years ago."

Sherrill noted that the Civil War and the the American Indian Wars were the only time in history when the United States stated policy declared war on the civilian population of its enemy.

"Confederate armies had to not only fight a superior enemy , but to protect their civilians from a destructive invasion, which they managed to do for three days short of four years," he said. "The Army of Northern Virginia accomplished more with less than any other American volunteer or conscript army before or since."

He compared the mobilization efforts leading up to the Civil War to those in the lead up to WWII.

"The Confederate military was built on civilian volunteers, just as would be the U.S. Army in 1942," said Sherrill. "These skimmed the cream of the crop , the brightest and best. they were young lawyers, doctors and merchants, the educated. They were the farmers and mechanics and blacksmiths, the workers."

He said the 21st North Carolina Regiment was composed of volunteer companies raised in Stokes, Surry, Forsyth, Davidson, Yadkin, Guilford and Rockingham counties.

"These are my heroes and my book details their sacrifices and triumphs, a large part through over 700 letters and memoirs that I have gathered from them," he said, describing how the regiment traveled to the first battles at Manassas Junction, endured a typhoid epidemic the following winter, served under Stonewall Jackson in Virginia and helped, under the leadership of Robert E. Lee to drive the Union Army into a siege on the James River. "The Army of Northern Virginia's next fight was in Sharpsburg, Md. where 30,000 confederates fought to a draw 100,000 Yankees at Antietam Creek."

The 21st North Carolina Regiment also fought at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, according to Sherrill.

"And then came Gettysburg," he said. "The 21st North Carolina drove the Yankees from the brickyard on July 1, and stormed East Cemetery Hill on the night of July 2, the latter a blood bath in which Hoke's Brigade Isaac Avery overcame an impossible assignment and captured the hill but withdrew from lack of support.

"The 21st North Carolina fought at New Bern, Plymouth, Drewry's Bluff, Cold Harbor, Lynchburg, Washington, D.C., Rutherford's Farm, Third Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, Hatcher's Run, Fort Stedman, and the Retreat," said Sherrill. "Finally, these brave young Tar Heel boys, now men, surrendered in tears at Appomattox on Palm Sunday, 1865."

He said over the course of the war the regiment suffered a 50 percent casualty rate, noting that despite the heavy loses the men, like American soldiers throughout history, had been proud to fight to protect their home.

"Draftees, volunteers, men , women, American Soldiers have ever stood ready to do their country's bidding," he said. "The 21st North Carolina accepted its assignment with determination, honor and perseverance and achieved plenty of success against overwhelming odds.

"Within a generation the sons and grandsons of these men fought as American soldiers against the Spanish in Cuba and Germans in the Black Forest," he added. "So on this Memorial Day, be forever proud of your service to our great, great country, love old Glory with all of your hearts as I do, but never forget the sacrifices made 150 years ago by your confederate ancestors."

Sherrill's speech was followed by a memorial service in front of the courthouse where the Brown Mountain Boys, Camp 1540, Sons of Confederate Veterans provided a three-volley salute and played taps.

Following that Sherrill signed copies of his new book.

Nicholas Elmes may be reached at 336-591-8191 or on Twitter @NicholasElmes.

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