Henry Lawson Wyatt.
The First Confederate soldier killed in battle.
It is somewhat remarkable that
North Carolina, which was the last State to leave the
Union, should have furnished the first soldier to the grim monster who during the next four long and weary years was to claim such a host of victims.
Secession was not popular in
North Carolina; the
State was so thoroughly for the
Union that in February, 1861, after seven of the States to the
South had seceded, and after delegates from those States had visited
North Carolina to induce her to secede, her people refused to call even a convention to consider the question of secession.
It was not until
President Lincoln called on
North Carolina for her quota of troops to crush the seceding States that her determination changed.
It then became evident that
North Carolina must fight for her Southern sisters, or against them.
The dispatch in which the
Governor answered the call of
President Lincoln voiced the sentiment of the whole people.
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Governor Ellis telegraphed that the
President could get no troops in
North Carolina.
The die was cast, a convention was called, and on May 20, 1861, the
State left the
Union.
North Carolina was slow in casting the die. But when this was done she entered the
Confederacy with all the
elan of Southern character.
She was to furnish upwards of one-sixth of the whole number of men in the Confederate army; forty thousand of her sons, more than twice as many as came from any other State, were to fall on the field of battle or to die in prison; and her Twenty-Sixth regiment was to suffer on the first day at
Gettysburg a loss of eighty-six and three-tenths per cent., the greatest loss sustained by any one regiment on either side during the war.
1 The resources of
North Carolina were such and had been so well husbanded by her Governor,
Vance, that as far as she was concerned the war might have been continued a
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year longer, and the first soldier who fell in battle for the
Lost Cause was to come from
North Carolina.
2
This soldier was
Henry Lawson Wyatt.
He was born in
Richmond, Virginia, February 12, 1842.
His parents were
Isham Belcher and
Lucinda N. L. Wyatt.
He was apprenticed to the carpenter trade at an early age, and in October, 1856, accompanied his father to
North Carolina, and ultimately settled in
Tarboro, Edgecombe county.
Here he followed his trade and by faithful work and upright deportment made friends in the community.
This is the brief narrative of the first nineteen year's of
Wyatt's life.
From this time his career is a part of the history of a great struggle.
It became evident in April, 1861, that
North Carolina must secede or fight the
Southern States.
Private parties, anticipating the action of the
State, were organizing and drilling troops for service.
One of the first of these companies was the Edgecombe Guards of
Edgecombe county.
It was organized April 18, 1861, and on that day
Henry Lawson Wyatt enlisted in it as a private soldier.
It consisted of eighty-eight privates, nine non and four commissioned officers.
Its captain was
John Luther Bridgers, of
Edgecombe county.
Its
commanding colonel was Daniel Harvey Hill, of
Mecklenburg, who became later a lieutenant-general in the
Confederate service.
The company became known as A, of what was then the First Regiment of North Carolina Volunteers.
This regiment was the first of all the
North Carolina troops to organize and take the field.
Its term of enlistment was for six months and it was disbanded in the fall of 1861.
After the enlistment of ten regiments of State troops, this became known as the Bethel regiment from its first battle, and by this name it has passed into history.
The battle, from which it took its name, was fought Monday, the tenth of June, 1861, at
Bethel, or Big Bethel, or Bethel church, situated on the
Yorktown road, nine miles from
Hampton, Virginia.
It had been occupied on the night of the 6th of June by the
Confederates from
Yorktown.
These troops consisted of the First North Carolina regiment,
Colonel D. H. Hill commanding, with
Lieutenant-Colonel Charles C. Lee as second in command, and four pieces of
Randolph's battery.
Colonel Hill found a branch of
Back river in his front and encircling his right flank.
On his left was a dense and
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almost impenetrable wood except about one hundred and fifty yards of old field.
The rear was covered by the road, a thick wood and a narrow cultivated field.
The position had the inherent defect of being commanded by an immense open field on which the enemy might be readily deployed.
Colonel Hill determined to make an enclosed work.
The bridge over the river to his right was commanded by the artillery, an eminence beyond the creek was occupied and a battery put into place.
The work of fortification was kept up during the 7th and 8th and on the 9th, which was Sunday, the men worked and prayed by turns, They were aroused at three on Monday to advance on the enemy, but finding him too strong fell back on their entrenchments and awaited his approach.
A reinforcement of one hundred and eighty men from the Third Virginia regiment was stationed on the hill on the extreme right.
Company G, First North Carolina, later
Bethel regiment, was thrown over to protect the howitzer, and Company A, First North Carolina, took post in the dense wood beyond and to the left of the road.
The Confederates, about fourteen hundred strong, awaited the enemy in their entrenchments.
At 9 A. M. his heavy columns approached rapidly and in good order.
These troops had been sent out from
Hampton by
Major-General Butler, then commanding in the department of Virginia.
They were commanded by
Brigadier-General E. W. Pierce, and were about thirty-five hundred strong, consisting of eight hundred and fifty men of the Fifth New York Volunteers, under
Colonel Duryea; six hundred and fifty of the Third New York, under
Colonel Townsend; seven hundred and fifty from the Seventh New York, Fourth Massachusetts, and First Vermont, under
Colonel Bendix, of the Seventh New York, with others from the Second New York, under
Colonel Carr, and from the First New York, under
Colonel Allen, with a detachment from the Second United States Artillery with several pieces.
The Federals attacked gallantly, but after a fight of two hours and a half were defeated, having lost eighteen killed, fifty-three wounded and five missing. The Confederates lost one killed and eleven wounded. This death happened towards the close of the action.
A strong column of Federals, consisting of
Massachusetts troops, under the leadership of
Major Theodore Winthrop, crossed over the creek, and appeared at the angle on the
Confederate left.
Here they were opposed by Companies B, C and G, First North Carolina,
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and by
Captain Bridgers, with Company A, who had been recalled from the swamp where he was first posted, and had retaken, in splendid fashion, the work from which
Captain Brown, of the artillery, had been compelled to withdraw a disabled gun to prevent its capture.
The enemy made a rush, hoping to get within the
Confederate lines.
They were met by a cool and deliberate fire, but were concealed in part by a house.
Volunteers were called for to burn this house.
Corporal George Williams,
Privates Henry L. Wyatt,
Thomas Fallon and
John H. Thorpe, of Company A, advanced to perform the duty.
Their duty was to charge across an open field, two hundred yards wide, in face of the enemy's lines, and commanded by his sharp-shooters.
They behaved with great gallantry, but had advanced only about thirty yards when
Wyatt fell, pierced through the brain by a musket ball.
The other three were wounded, and remained on the earth until a shell from a howitzer fired the house, and helped to route the enemy.
About the same time that private
Wyatt fell on the
Confederate side, the gallant
Major Winthrop fell on the other, one of the first officers to fall in the war. He was a native of
Connecticut, and his native State has long since perpetuated his memory.
The conduct of young
Wyatt was spoken of in the highest terms by
J. B. Magruder, colonel commanding the Confederate forces, by his own regimental commander,
D. H. Hill, by
George W. Randolph, then in charge of the
Richmond Howitzers, and afterwards
Secretary of War for the
Confederacy, and by all who on that day were witnesses of his gallant but unavailing heroism.
The remains were taken to
Richmond and interred in the soldier's section in
Hollywood, near where the
Confederate monument now is. A board of pine, inscribed with his name, regiment, time and place of death, was his only monument.
In 1887 this had rotted away and was found face downward.
I do not know that the grave has yet been properly marked.
But the
State of North Carolina has shown her sense of duty and gratitude to the young hero.
The General Assembly, of 1891, ordered an oil painting (25x30) of
Wyatt, to be made at the public expense.
The work was executed by
Miss Mary A. E. Nixon, an artist of
Raleigh, and now adorns the main reading-room of the State Library.
Persons who knew the young soldier in life, say that the artist has caught the very spirit of his daring and chivalrous soul.
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It is also proposed to surmount the
Confederate monument in
Raleigh, of which the corner-stone was laid in October, 1892, with a statute of
Wyatt with an appropriate inscription.
3 
