Men from Mount Pleasant met here in August, 1861, to organize a unit for service in the Confederate Army, many of them students of the North Carolina College in Mount Pleasant. The unit became Company H, Eighth North Carolina, the “Cabarrus Phalanx,” in the brigade of General Thomas Clingman. Of the 165 men who served in this Mount Pleasant company, 70 were killed and 40 more were wounded. From 1861 to 1865, Company H fought for the Confederacy at Roanoke Island, Goldsboro, Morris Island, Plymouth, Drury’s Bluff, Bermuda Hundred, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Fort Harrison, Darbytown Road, Kinston, and Bentonville. These men fought for states rights and southern independence.