About That 'First at Bethel, Farthest to the Front at Gettysburg, Last at Appomattox' Slogan-- Part 1

In the last post, I wrote about Sgt. Ivey Ritchie of the 14th North Carolina Infantry Regiment being the last member of the Army of Northern Virginia to lose his life and that happened on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox.  That was the day Robert E. Lee surrendered his vaunted army.

Imagine fighting the whole war and then getting killed on the last day of your fighting in it?  That's hard to take.

Then I remembered an oft-repeated honor that I've heard many times growing up in North Carolina and since, a tribute to the soldiers from North Carolina who fought for the Confederacy:  "First at Bethel, Farthest to the Front at Gettysburg, and Last at Appomattox."  Only, I'd always heard it as "First at Bethel, Farthest at Gettysburg and Last at Appomattox."

I had to wonder if that Last at Appomattox might have referred to Sgt. Ritchie.

--Old Secesh

About That 'First at Bethel, Farthest to the Front at Gettysburg and Last At Appomattox' Slogan-- Part 2: A Great Honor

According to the NCpedia this is a traditional  saying honoring the role of  North Carolina soldiers in the Civil War  Editor  Walter Clark, later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, encouraged its use as early as 1901

The initial three words "First at Bethel," holds double meaning.  The first regiment of North Carolina  Volunteers was instrumental in winning a Confederate victory at the Battle of Bethel, Virginia, on  10 June 1861, the first land battle of the war.  In this engagement,  Tarboro resident  Henry Lawson Wyatt, became the first Confederate soldier to die in the war.

During the Battle of Gettysburg, North Carolina soldiers advanced the  the greatest distance under the withering Union gunfire on July 3, 1863, in what became known as Pickett's Charge.  Some also credit the 58th North Carolina Regiment had the deepest penetration of enemy lines on Snodgrass Hill at the Battle of Chickamauga on  20 September 1863, although at least one historian contends that battle conditions made the claim impossible to substantiate.

Finally, the men of Company  D, 30th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, fired he last shots at Union forces at Appomattox on 9 April 1865, the day that Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to  Union General Ulysses S. Grant.

I might add now that this was also the death of Ivy (Ivey) Ritchie.

--Old Secesh

Answers to the 'Frank' Questions-- Part 3: Who was Sgt. Ivy Ritchie?

And I should have known this because I had written about him back in 2008.  My excuse?  That was a real long time ago.

He was a member of the 14th North Carolina Infantry Regiment and is considered the last member of the Army of Northern Virginia to be killed at Appomattox.

That would have to be rough to go through most of the war and then get killed on the very last day for your army.

Is he the one the North Carolina traditional saying that honors the state's Confederate soldiers with the words "First at Bethel, Farthest at Gettysburg and Last at Appomattox" was referring to?

Can't Remember Much and Forgot the Rest.  --Old Secesh