Confederate North Carolina Junior Reserve Line

At this position, the North Carolina Junior Reserves stood as the Army of Tennessee made its last grand charge against Carlin’s division at the Cole plantation on March 19, 1865. Assigned to Hoke’s Division were three regiments and one battalion of Junior Reserves: the 70th, 71st, and 72nd North Carolina regiments, also known as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Junior Reserves, and Millard’s 20th Battalion. Numbering nearly 1,000 muskets in the field, the Junior Reserves were called the “seed corn of the Confederacy.” Eight battalions of North Carolina Junior Reserves, boys 17 to 18 years old, were created in the summer of 1864. They saw action at Weldon, Fort Fisher, and Wise Fork, yet despite that service they were still underestimated for their fighting skills, and Gen. Braxton Bragg did not use them in the main Confederate assault on March 19. When the Confederate line was realigned on March 20, the Junior Reserves, with only makeshift breastworks, fought against Union skirmishers and held their position for the rest of the battle.

North Carolina · United States