The brigade dashed on, and many had reached the wall, when we received a deadly volley from the left. The whole line on the left had given way, and we were being rapidly flanked. With our thinned ranks and in such a position, it would have been folly to stand, and against such odds. We therefore fell back to our original position in rear of the batteries. After this day's fight, but one field officer was left in the brigade. Regiments that went in with colonels came out commanded by lieutenants. - from the after battle report of Maj J. Jones, Twenty-sixth North Carolina Infantry, commanding Pettigrew's brigade (on the Gettysburg campaign, July 3, 1863)

This was a North Carolina brigade. The first commander was General J. Johnston Pettigrew. Upon his death at the end of the Gettysburg campaign, the brigade passed to first General William W. Kirkland and then General William MacRae.

Image of General James Johnston Pettigrew, commander of the Brigade

First assigned to duty in North Carolina, this brigade joined the Army of Northern Virginia and the Third Corps before the Gettysburg Campaign. Placed in Heth's Division, the brigade fought with the Army of Northern Virginia until Appomattox.

The brigade consisted of the 11th, 26th, 47th, and 52d North Carolina Regiments. There is a book about this brigade titled "Lee's Tarheels" that was written by Earl J. Hess. Although late comers, relatively speaking, to the Army of Northern Virginia, this brigade contained several distingushed regiments and became a famous unit in the Army. By far the 26th Regiment became the most famous unit.

11th North Carolina

• Lt. Col. Francis W. Bird
• Col. Collett Leventhorpe (?-?)
• Col. William J. Martin
• Lt. Col. William Allison Owens (09/19/33-07/19/64)
• Of Charlotte; UNC grad wounded at Spotsylvania; killed at Snicker's Ford.
• Maj. Egbert A. Ross (1842-07/01/63)
• Of Mecklenburg Cty; killed at Gettysburg

26th North Carolina

• Lt. Col. James Theophilus Adams (09/07/39-1918)
• Of Wake Cty; wounded at Malvern Hill & Gettysburg
• Col. Henry K. Burgwyn
• Maj. Abner B. Carmichael (?-03/14/62)
• Of Wilkes Cty; killed at New Bern
• Lt. Col. John T. Jones
• Maj. James S. Kendall (ca. 1838-1862)
• Of New Hanover Cty; died yellow fever 1862 buried Wadesboro, NC
• Col. John R. Lane
• Lt. Col. Oscar Ripley Rand (02/15/33-01/29/1904)
• Of Raleigh; UNC grad captured at New Bern; postwar lawyer & farmer
• Maj. Nathaniel P. Rankin (ca. 1828-?)
• Of Guilford Cty; dropped April 1862
• Col. Zebulon B. Vance
• Governor of North Carolina

47th North Carolina

• Lt. Col. Archibald D. Crudup (ca. 1816-?)
• Of Franklin Cty; farmer in Granville wounded & captured at Gettysburg; resigned 08/64 due to health
• Col. George H. Faribault (ca. 1830-?)
• Wake Cty planter wounded at Gettysburg; resigned 1865 due to illness
• Lt. Col. John A. Graves
• Maj. William C. Lankford
• Col. Sion H. Rogers

52d North Carolina

• Lt. Col. Eric Erson (?-?)
• Lincolnton merchant; born in Sweden; wounded at Gettysburg and August 1864
• Lt. Col. Benjamin F. Little (ca. 1831-?)
• Richmond County farmer wounded and captured at Gettysburg.
• Col. James K. Marshall
• Col. Marcus A. Parks (ca. 1833-?)
• Of Wilkesboro. Wounded in leg and captured at Gettysburg.
• Maj. John Quincy Adams Richardson (1836-7/1863)
• Portsmouth VA native; graduate of VMI 1857. Killed at Gettysburg.

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