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Chapter 4 Unparalleled Loss |
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| p. 43 "The 26th North
Carolina's journey to Virginia began ominously. At 10 p.m., May 1, the
troops boarded two trains for Richmond. During the night, the one
carrying the "right wing" of the regiment halted to let a mail train
pass. As the first train waited on a sidetrack, the one behind,
transporting the 11th North Carolina, failed to stop and crashed into
the first. James Wright (of Company C) reported that "a great many
freight boxes and flats were badly injured both before and behind me ...
one poor fellow in Company G had his head mashed all to pieces ...
another poor fellow was caught between the boxes at his hips." The
accident killed tow men from the regiment. Another eight or nine were
injured. After the wreckage was cleared, the regiment continued on to
Richmond and on the morning of May 3 reached the city." |
| {The regiment had
been operating on the North Carolina coast for some time. Its exact
location when it embarked for Richmond is unclear, as is the railroad on
which the collision occurred, with the Wilmington & Weldon RR the likely
candidate since they reported a collision at Halifax station on May 2.} |
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| {Quoted from "In
Spite of the World" 26th North Carolina Regimental History, By
David H. McGee, found at www. 26NC.org. Footnoted to Davis, Boy Colonel
of the Confederacy, p. 259 and James Wright to family, May 2, 1863, John
Wright Family Papers, North Carolina Department of Archives and
History.} |
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