MISC, RR 5/2/1863

Chapter 4  Unparalleled Loss

 
   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.}
 
{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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