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25th North Carolina Infantry

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Muster In: Organized on August 15, 1861. Reorganized in about April 1862.1
Muster Out: April 9, 18652

Commander(s):
Colonel Henry M. Rutledge
Henry M. Rutledge 25th NC3

Lieutenant Colonel Samuel C. Bryson
Commander Image

Lieutenant Colonel Matthew N. Love
Commander Image

Major William S. Grady
Commander Image

Major William Y. Morgan
Commander Image

First Offensive Order of Battle: Ransom’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia | Confederate Army4

  • Commander:
    • Colonel Henry M. Rutledge (?)(wounded in June 1864)5
    • Lieutenant Colonel Samuel C. Bryson (wounded June 17, 1864)6,7
    • ? (June 17-18, 1864)
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Second Offensive Order of Battle: Ransom’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia | Confederate Army8

  • Commander:
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Third Offensive Order of Battle: Ransom’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia | Confederate Army9

  • Commander:
    • Major William S. Grady (mortally wounded on July 30, 1864)10,11
    • ? (July 30-31, 1864)12
  • Unit Strength: 286 officers and men PFD at the Crater (July 30, 1864)13
  • Weapons:

Fourth Offensive Order of Battle: Ransom’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia | Confederate Army14

  • Commander: Captain Matthew N. Love15
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Fifth Offensive Order of Battle: Ransom’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia | Confederate Army16,17

  • Commander:
    • Colonel Henry M. Rutledge (but commanded the brigade on at least September 1-2 and 15-16, 1864)(was put under arrest September 16, 1864)18
    • ? (while Rutledge commanded the brigade or was under arrest)19
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Sixth Offensive Order of Battle: Ransom’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Fourth Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army20

  • Commander: Colonel Henry M. Rutledge21
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Seventh Offensive Order of Battle: Ransom’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Fourth Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army22,23

  • Commander:
    • Colonel Henry M. Rutledge (no reason given for absence in November) (November 1864)24
    • Captain (Major) Matthew N. Love (promoted to Major on November 5, 1864) (November & December 1864)25,26
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Eighth Offensive Order of Battle: Ransom’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Fourth Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army27,28,29,30,31

  • Commander:
    • Lieutenant Colonel Matthew N. Love (promoted to Lt. Col. on January 1)(January & February 1865)32,33,34
    • Colonel Henry M. Rutledge (no reason given for any absence in February)(February 1865)35
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Ninth Offensive Order of Battle: Ransom’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Fourth Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army36,37

  • Commander:
    • Henry M. Rutledge (at least March 25 and April 1)(March & April 1865)38,39
    • Lieutenant Colonel Matthew N. Love(present on at least March 27)(March 1865)40
    •  

      Major William Y. Morgan (April 1-2, 1865)41

  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Dyer’s/Sifakis’ Compendium Info:
Siege of Petersburg Battles42:

  • Petersburg Siege (June 1864-April 1865)
  • The Crater (July 30, 1864)
  • Globe Tavern (August 18-21, 1864)
  • Fort Stedman (March 25, 1865)
  • Dinwiddie Court House (March 31, 1865)
  • Five Forks (April 1, 1865)
  • Sayler’s Creek (April 6, 1865)
  • Appomattox Court House (April 9, 1865)

Bibliography:

    Siege of Petersburg Documents Which Mention This Unit:

    Sources:

    1. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: North Carolina by Stewart Sifakis, pp. 120-121 ↩
    2. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: North Carolina by Stewart Sifakis, pp. 120-121 ↩
    3. Clark, Walter. Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-’65, Volume 2 (Nash Brothers: 1901), pp. 290-291: There is an illustration showing the field officers of the 25th North Carolina between pages 290-291 in this famous reference work. ↩
    4. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., p. 115 ↩
    5. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., p. 115 ↩
    6. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., p. 115 ↩
    7. “Interesting Letter from Ransom’s Brigade.” Raleigh Confederate. June 23, 1864, p. 2 col. 4: “Lieut. Col. Bryson, of the 25th N. C., also acted very well, displaying his usual coolness in the charge of his regiment, though he was wounded very early in the action, but not dangerously hurt.” ↩
    8. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., p. 115 ↩
    9. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 124 ↩
    10. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 124 ↩
    11. Clark, Walter. Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-’65, Volume 2 (Nash Brothers: 1901), pp. 298-301 ↩
    12. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 124 ↩
    13. Clark, Walter. Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-’65, Volume 2 (Nash Brothers: 1901), pp. 298-301: There were apprxoximately 250 effectives at the Crater on July 30, 1864. “Immediately after the explosion the Twenty-fifth regiment, then numbering about two hundred and fifty men…”  Taking Steven H. Newton’s method for converting effectives to PFD, we get (250/.93) * 1.065 = ~286 officers and men PFD ↩
    14. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 133 ↩
    15. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 133 ↩
    16. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 141 ↩
    17. Sommers, Richard J. “Grant’s Fifth Offensive at Petersburg: A Study in Strategy, Tactics, and Generalship.  The Battle of Poplar Spring Church, the First Battle of the Darbytown Road, the Second Battle of the Squirrel Level Road, the Second Battle of the Darbytown Road (Ulysses S. Grant, Virginia).” Doctoral Thesis. Rice University, 1970. Print. p. 1314. ↩
    18. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 141 ↩
    19. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 141 ↩
    20. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 150 ↩
    21. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 150 ↩
    22. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 158 ↩
    23. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 167 ↩
    24. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 158 ↩
    25. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 158 ↩
    26. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 167 ↩
    27. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 176 ↩
    28. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLVI, Part 2 (Serial Number 96), page 1174: “Organization of the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General R. E. Lee, January 31, 1865”; This list contains many commanders who were not there.  They were the “official” commanders but may have been gone on leave.  I have used none of the leaders from this list as a result. ↩
    29. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLVI, Part 2 (Serial Number 96), page 1183: “Organization of the Army of Northern Virginia, General R. E. Lee, C. S. Army, commanding, January 31, 1865”; This order of battle was based off of inspection reports from January 26-31, 1865, and the leaders should be accurate for this time frame. ↩
    30. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 186 ↩
    31. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLVI, Part 2 (Serial Number 96), page 1273: “Organization of the Infantry and Cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia, General R. E. Lee, C. S. Army, commanding, February 28, 1865”; This order of battle was based off of inspection reports from February 28, 1865.  However, leaders listed are from January.  I’ve chosen to ignore the leaders and just use this source for the organization of the order of battle. ↩
    32. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 176 ↩
    33. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLVI, Part 2 (Serial Number 96), page 1183: “Organization of the Army of Northern Virginia, General R. E. Lee, C. S. Army, commanding, January 31, 1865”; This order of battle was based off of inspection reports from January 26-31, 1865, and the leaders should be accurate for this time frame. ↩
    34. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 186 ↩
    35. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 186 ↩
    36. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 194 ↩
    37. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 204 ↩
    38. Clark, Walter. Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-’65, Volume 2 (Nash Brothers: 1901), pp. 298-301: “After the enemy retook Fort Steadman and was advancing in front and while the regiment was suffering the effects of an enfilading fire from the left, the Colonel (almost definitely Henry M. Rutledge) walked along the line of his regiment with his cap on sword, shouting to his men, “Don’t let them take our front, Twenty-fifth, the Twenty-fifth has never had her front taken.”” “I can do no better in giving the description of the battle of Five Forks than to do so in the language of the gallant and beloved Colonel (Henry M. Rutledge) of the regiment. He says: “At Five Forks I was more proud of the regiment than I had ever been before, and that is saying a great deal. I have thought of them and compared them to the ‘Stonewall’ of Manassas. They were surrounded on three sides by many times their own numbers, but there they stood, a solid mass of mountain men, broad sides from the enemy being poured into them, and there they stood like the rock of Gibraltar. When I remember that heroic scene…” ↩
    39. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 194 ↩
    40. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 194 ↩
    41. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 194 ↩
    42. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: North Carolina by Stewart Sifakis, pp. 120-121 ↩

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