D. H. Hill, Jr., Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 4, North Carolina
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

[287]

Biographical.

[288] [289]

Major-Generals and brigadier-generals, provisional army of the Confederate States, Accredited to North Carolina.

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Brigadier-General George Burgwyn Anderson

Brigadier-General George Burgwyn Anderson, the oldest son of William E. Anderson and his wife, Eliza Burgwyn, was born near Hillsboro, Orange county, N. C., April, 1831. At an early age he entered the State university at Chapel Hill, and on graduation divided first honors with three others of his class. He was appointed to the United States military academy when seventeen years old, and was graduated tenth in a class of forty-three in 1852, with a commission in the Second dragoons. After a few months, at the cavalry school at Carlisle he was detailed to assist in the survey of a railroad route in California, after that duty rejoining his regiment at Fort Chadbourne, Tex. Having been promoted first lieutenant in 1855, he commanded his troop in the march from Texas across the plains to Fort Riley, Kan.; accompanied his regiment as adjutant in the Utah expedition of 1858, and remained in that territory until 1859, when he was ordered on recruiting service at Louisville, Ky. There he was married in November following to Mildred Ewing, of that city. When the crisis of 1861 arrived he promptly resigned, being, it is said, the first North Carolinian in the old army to take this step, and offered for the defense of his State the sword which he had worn with honor, and which descended to him from his uncle, Capt. John H. K. Burgwyn, U. S. A., who was killed at Puebla de Taos during the Mexican war. Anderson was at this time a magnificent specimen of manhood, full six feet, erect, broad-shouldered, round-limbed, with a deep, musical voice, and a smile wonderfully gentle and winning. Being commissioned colonel of the Fourth regiment [290] by Governor Ellis, he rapidly completed its organization, and soon after the battle of July 21st, reached Manassas Junction, where he was appointed post commandant and charged with the construction of the defensive works. He remained in command here until March, 1862, and meanwhile was strongly recommended for promotion to brigadier-general by Gens. D. H. Hill and J. E. Johnston, but this was for some reason withheld until forced by the unsurpassed gallantry of his regiment at the battle of Williamsburg. It is sufficient evidence of the magnificent training and discipline of his men to record that out of 520 rank and file which the regiment carried into action, 462 were killed or wounded, and out of 27 commissioned officers, all but one were killed or wounded. This was not a foredoomed forlorn hope or a charge of a ‘Light Brigade,’ but surpassed any such recorded in history, both in loss and achievement, for they went in to win and did win. During this fight Colonel Anderson seized the colors of the Twenty-seventh Georgia and dashed forward leading the charge, and though his men, cheering wildly as they followed, lost scores at every step, their courage was irresistible, and Anderson planted the colors on the stubbornly-defended breastworks. This was witnessed by President Davis, who at once promoted Anderson to brigadier-general. His brigade included the Second, Fourth, Fourteenth and Thirtieth North Carolina regiments. During the bloody Seven Days fighting which followed, he was conspicuous for skill in detecting the weak points of the enemy and boldness and persistence in attack. While leading a desperate charge at Malvern Hill he was severely wounded. His next serious engagement was at South Mountain, Md., where his brigade, with the others of D. H. Hill's division, held back half of McClellan's army till nightfall. Three days later at Sharpsburg, on September 17, 1862, he was for the last time distinguished in battle. During an assault of — the enemy, [291] in which a large part of Hill's division fell back through a mistake in conveying orders, General Anderson and his men nobly held their line, until he was struck by a ball in his foot near the ankle, which brought him to the ground. It was a most painful injury, and he suffered great agony in being carried to Richmond and thence to Raleigh, where finally an amputation was made. He sank under the operation, and died on the morning of October 16, 1862. He was a man of spotless purity of life, integrity and honor, as well as dauntless courage. His ennobling influence upon the North Carolina soldiery can hardly be overestimated.

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Brigadier-General Lawrence S. Baker

Brigadier-General Lawrence S. Baker, distinguished as a cavalry officer in the service of the Confederate States, was born in Gates county, N. C., in May, 1830. His family is an old and honorable one, founded in America by Lawrence Baker, who came to Virginia from England early in the seventeenth century and became a member of the house of burgesses. His descendant, Gen. Lawrence Baker, of North Carolina, was a leader in the movement for independence, served in the Revolutionary war, and was one of the two representatives of North Carolina in the Continental Congress. His son, John B. Baker, M. D., father of Gen. L. S. Baker, was a wellknown physician and prominent citizen of North Carolina, in the legislature of which he sat as a member from Gates county. General Baker received his early education in his native State and at Norfolk academy, and then entered the United States military academy at West Point, where he was graduated in the class of 1851. At his graduation he was promoted second lieutenant of the Third cavalry, and by meritorious and gallant service he had passed the grade of first lieutenant, and had been promoted captain, when he resigned after his State had announced its adherence to the Confederacy, in order that he might tender his services for the defense of North [292] Carolina. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, Confederate States cavalry, to date from March 16, 1861, and on May 8th was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Ninth North Carolina regiment, afterward known as the First North Carolina cavalry. With this command he joined the cavalry brigade of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, in 1861, and on March 1, 1862, he was promoted colonel of his regiment. During the opening of the Seven Days battles which followed, he served upon the right wing of the army, and on June 29th commanded the Confederate cavalry in the affair on the Charles City road, which was, in fact, a reconnaissance in which the Federal cavalry were driven back until reinforced by heavy bodies of infantry, when Colonel Baker was compelled to retire. After this campaign the cavalry division was organized and Colonel Baker and his regiment were assigned to the brigade of Gen. Wade Hampton. With the active and heroic work of this brigade through the campaigns of Manassas and Sharpsburg, Colonel Baker was gallantly identified. He fought with his regiment at Frederick City, Md., and in defense of the South Mountain passes; took part in the battle of Sharpsburg, and subsequently skirmished with the enemy at Williamsport. During the many cavalry affairs that preceded and followed the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, he rendered valuable service. Particularly at the battle of Fleetwood Hill, preceding the movement into Pennsylvania, he displayed his soldierly qualities. Here, on June 9, 1863, in command of his regiment and supported by the Jeff Davis legion, he charged upon the enemy, and after what may truly be said to have been in point of the number of men who crossed sabers, the most important hand-to-hand contest of cavalry in the war, drove the Federals from their position. At Upperville he was again distinguished, and it was to his regiment that Hampton turned in the moment of greatest peril, drawing his saber and crying, ‘First North Carolina, follow [293] me!’ The regiment participated in Stuart's Pennsylvania raid, and reaching the field of Gettysburg on July 3d, engaged in the desperate hand-to-hand cavalry fight on the right of the army. In this bloody action