Unit History

The 27th N.C. Infantry Regiment was formed in New Bern, North Carolina, in June 1861, as the 9th Regiment. Reorganized in September as the 17th, its designation was later changed to the 27th. Company D of the 27^th, was organized on June 20^th, 1861 in Lenoir County near New Bern. Their first battle was a total disgrace. On August 27^th, Union General Ambrose Burnside landed 13 veteran regiments of infantry to give battle to the six regiments of newly recruited, poorly equipped and poorly trained Confederates. The 27^th was on the left of the Confederate line. When Burnsides veterans smashed through the center, much of the regiment bolted to the rear without even firing a shot. This was not uncommon; any time new recruits were attacked by a larger body of seasoned veterans, they rarely held their ground for long. But after a lot of training and drill, the 27^th was destined for great things in the Confederate army.

The 27^th fought at Seven Pines, the first engagement of what would later be known as the Seven Days battles, but sat out most of the Peninsula Campaign and was left out at 2^nd Manassas. In an undefeated army, there was little place for regiments with reputations like the 27^th. Then, in the autumn of 1862, General Lee invaded the North. General George B. McClellan rushed to meet him (something he almost never did); the two armies collided on September 17^th, near a little town called Sharpsburg.

The 27^th North Carolina was assigned to Manning's Brigade; Walker's Division, of Longstreet's Corp, but was sent with Gen. ‘Stonewall’ Jackson for the battle of Harpers Ferry. The 27^th helped take Loudoun Heights, which effectively surrounded the Union garrison under Col. Dixon Miles. Harpers Ferry was a bloodless battle for the 27^th, since Miles foolishly left the dominating peak of Loudoun Heights unoccupied. But this streak of good luck was not to last. After the Harpers Ferry garrison surrendered, the men of the 27^th were ordered to Sharpsburg.

At Sharpsburg, the 27^th was placed on the far right of the Confederate line near the Rohrbach bridge (later known as Burnside’s Bridge). When fighting commenced on the Confederate left (the cornfield), Walker’s Division was ordered to the left to support Jackson, the 27^th NC and the 3^rd Arkansas were ordered to fill in a gap in the Confederate lines in between D.H. Hills men in the sunken road and the east woods. The two small regiments were under the overall command of Colonel John R. Cooke of the 27^th. These 700 men helped repulse several Union assaults against Jackson’s men. During a lull in the fighting, Cooke ordered his men to lie down in a cornfield, 20 paces from the front line to spare them some of the withering fire that was pouring into the Confederate line. With D.H. Hill’s men being attacked by fresh Union infantry and Lee’s army crumbling, Gen. Longstreet ordered Cooke’s 650 remaining men to charge the Union lines.

These brave Tar Heels and Arkansans swept through the Union resistance. Three times a rally line was formed to halt their progress, and three times that line was shattered by the rushing Confederates. Despite being greatly outnumbered (after all, they were taking on a whole corps of Union infantry) and being shot at from all sides, those 650 men from North Carolina and Arkansas broke the Union center. Longstreet and Jackson had been hammering away at the Federals all morning, but only Cooke’s light brigade broke through. The charge had so badly damaged the Federals that seven Union regiments had to be sent out of the fight to lick their wounds.

2,000 fresh Union troops under William Irwin finally forced Cooke’s remaining men to retreat through a horrible fire to their original position in the Confederate line. Had they been supported by Ransom’s brigade, as was intended, the 27^th might have been able to push on and achieve a greater success. However, being unsupported, cut off and almost surrounded, and taking fire from all sides, the rebels eventually broke and ran back toward their lines. Once the remaining men reached their original position, they all stopped and about faced to begin firing into the Federals that had finally driven them back. Soon, the men of the 27^th and 3^rd Arkansas were completely out of ammunition; but rather than being sent to the rear so they could re-supply, they had to stay where they were since there were no reserves available to fill the gap. At one point, General Lee himself rode up to the men of the 27^th, telling them that if they broke, the entire Army of Northern Virginia would be destroyed. Col. Cooke and his men were forced to stand with fixed bayonets, trying to ward off the Federals that were peppering their line with bullets. Finally, Gen. Longstreet and his staff found an abandoned gun and began firing into the Federals shooting mercilessly into the 27^thwhile the Confederates could not return fire. Soon, another battery of artillery arrived and the guns finally drove off the Federals.

The men of the 27^th, along with the 3^rd Arkansas, held their position for the duration of the battle. They penetrated deep into the Federal lines, and saved the Confederate center from destruction. These brave men held their ground against impossible odds, taking 61% casualties in the process. The casualties for the entire brigade were 917 men; 140 killed, 684 wounded, and 93 captured or missing. Compare this to the 186 men lost in Ransom’s brigade (which is also in Walker’s division), and you can clearly see most of those casualties were from Cooke’s charge against the Union center. See “27^th at Sharpsburg” by Dean Harry for more information.

The 27^th had redeemed itself; and from then on, it fought in almost every major engagement of the war. One of the bloodiest defeats in the war came at Bristoe Station, near Manassas. After Jackson was killed at Chancellorsville, the 27^th was put into A.P. Hill’s 3^rd Corps. At Bristoe Station, A.P. Hill ordered his men to attack a section of Gen Warren’s corps while it was crossing a ford. Hill failed to send out a reconnaissance, which would have discovered two divisions of fresh Union troops hiding behind a railroad. It was a trap. Gen Cooke protested against the attack, saying that a reconnaissance should be made, but Hill ignored him and ordered the attack. Cooke’s brigade was on the far right of the Confederate line, so when two divisions of Union infantry loosed a massive volley at the advancing Confederates, the North Carolinians bore the brunt of the fire. Bristoe Station was one of the bloodiest battles ever fought by the 27^th, second only to Sharpsburg and the Wilderness, but the unit survived and went on to fight for the rest of the war.

The 27^th’s next major battle was the Wilderness. On May 5 & 6, 1864, Lee gave battle to the Union army of the Potomac under now Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. The Wilderness was a large area of almost impenetrable forest. Lee chose this spot because the thick foliage mitigates the effectiveness of Union armies superior numbers & artillery. The 27^th again played a crucial role in the battle. Cooke’s Brigade (Cooke was promoted after Sharpsburg) was positioned along the Orange Plank Road, on the right of Lee’s line. Against them was Hancock’s 2^nd Corps, which was one of the best corps in the Army of the Potomac. Throughout both days, the 27^th was heavily engaged. First the men of the 27th lead Hill’s attack against Hancock’s corps. Finally, they were forced to stop once they ran up against stouter Union resistance. The 27^th then helped to repulse Union Col. Lewis Grant’s brigade when it attacked in advance of the rest of Hancock’s corps. The Federals poured in more reinforcements, but they too were pinned down by the terrible fire coming from Cooke’s brigade. The arrival of Mott’s Union 2^nd Corps division did nothing more than to give the Confederates more things to shoot at. It seemed that nothing could dislodge the rebels atop this ridge. The scathing fire routed Mott’s division, and the jubilant Confederates pursued until stopped by the 124^th New York regiment, which was held in reserve. Cooke’s men were then attacked by Wheaton’s brigade, and both sides settled down to a grueling firefight, in which the Federals were pinned down and butchered by the Tar Heels. The 27^th then helped to support a counter attack made by Stone’s and Scale’s brigades. By the end of the day, thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers had fallen in the terrible fighting along the Orange Plank Road. The next morning, Hancock again tried to push the Confederates out of their positions. This time, he was successful. Cooke’s brigade was the only brigade to stand and fight for any period of time during Hancock’s initial attack. The men of the 27^th fought bravely to stem the advancing tide of blue attackers. Finally, Cooke ordered his men to retreat, but they still managed to drag off the guns they were supporting. The Battle of the Wilderness was the second bloodiest battle for the men of the 27^th, second only to Sharpsburg.

The 27^th would go on to fight in all of the major battles of the Overland Campaign and in the siege of Petersburg. The regiment ended the War with one of the best reputations of the Army of Northern Virginia, which had a lot of good reputations.

Of the 123 soldiers for whom records exist; here is the list of battles that 27^th NC, Co D fought in as well as casualties sustained in the fights (Some men are listed several times if they qualified for several different places in the chart):

Gum Swamp
    (May 22, 1863)
South Anna Bridge
    (July 4, 1863)
Bristoe Campaign                                             1
    (October-November 1863)

North Anna
    (May 22-26, 1864)
Cold Harbor 1
    (June 1-3, 1864)
Petersburg Siege                               2              1                   6
    (June 1864-April 1865)

Globe Tavern
    (August 18-21, 1864)
Reams' Station                                 1                2
    (August 25, 1864)

Jones' Farm
    (September 30, 1864)
Squirrel Level Road
    (September 30, 1864)
Harman Road
    (October 2, 1864)
Hatcher's Run                                                    1                    4
    (February 5-7, 1865)

11 soldiers deserted.
31 soldiers died of illness.
9 soldiers discharged because over/under age.
8 soldiers discharged due to illness/injury.
1 soldier transferred to the CS Navy.
1 soldier transferred to the regimental band

Only 15 soldiers of Company D, 27 NCT lived to surrender at Appomattox. 108 soldiers died, were wounded, or were captured/discharged. Co D of the 27^th North Carolina suffered 88% casualties.

Born in 1833, John Rogers Cooke was the son of Philip St. George Cooke of the US army. When war came, the young Cooke resigned his commission in the US army, joined the Confederacy, and became colonel of the 27^th NC. His father stayed in the Union army and achieved a rank of Major General. Cooke led the 27^th at Seven Pines where he was wounded. Cooke led a light brigade at Sharpsburg and is famous for his charge against the Union center. Here too he was wounded. Cooke went on to fight in many more battles with the 27^th. He was promoted to Brigadier General for bravery at Sharpsburg and was wounded seven times in the course of his career. He was one of the best Southern commanders and after the war; he was a prominent person in Richmond. He married Nannie G. Patton, of Fredericksburg and they had 8 children. Cooke died on April 10^th, 1891.

q Special Thanks to the staff of the Oak View Library, for all of their help sifting through the archives there.

By: Paul Laurent