The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Monday, November 8, 2010

North Carolina Confederate Marine and Sailor Roster

From the August 15th News 14 Carolina "Historian to create Confederate Marine and sailor roster" by Andrea Pacetti.

Generally, very little is known about the Confederate Navy and Marines, but Sion Harrington, a historian with the North Carolina Department of Archives and History is making a complete roster of all North Carolinians who served in the two branches.

He figures around 2,500 out of the 135,000 to 140,000 were from the state.

One was Lt. Francis Hawkes Cameron of Hillsborough who later became North Carolina's Adjutant General.

The Archives and History department has what is considered to be the largest collection of enlisted Confederate Marine correspondence in the world written by two Washington County brothers.

One said he was going to be put in the Marines and he didn't even know what they were. He further even misspelled it "mariens." He considered serving in it a better deal as he got better clothes and food.

There were many transfers from the Army to the Navy because it was less strenuous. Some had been wounded and could no longer endure rigorous marching.

Even though the Confederate Navy and Marines were tremendously outsized by the Army and their Union counterparts, they still participated in many operations and battles.

If anyone has any information, they are urged to contact Harrington at 1-919-807-7310.

Making a Little-Known Aspect of the War More Known. --Old B-Runner

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