Saturday, July 7, 2012

North Carolina Patriots of ’61 – Lieut. J.A. Spencer

North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial
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North Carolina Patriots of ’61 – Lieut. J.A. Spencer of Randolph County

Lieut. J.A. Spencer was born in Randolph County, N.C., December 25, 1840; and died in January, 1905. In his veins flowed the blood of those heroes in America who were the first to resist the tyranny of Great Britain, and who under Herman Husbands fought the Battle of [Alamance], May 16, 1771, and changed Cornwallis’s victorious advance to a hasty retreat at Guilford C.H. This soil enriched by the martyr’s blood produced brave men, worthy sons of noble sires, and in the gage of battle between the North and south these sons were early marshaled beneath the folds of the stars and bars.

Comrade Spencer served with Company F, 46th North Carolina Regiment from its organization [at Camp Mangum], in March 1862, to the end at Appomattox. [The Regiment recruited men from Robeson, Rowan, Burke, Warren, Richmond, Granville, Moore, Randolph, Sampson and Catawba counties. Regimental commanders were Colonel Edward D. Hall of Wilmington and Lt. Col. William A. Jenkins of Warrenton, former Attorney General of North Carolina].

[Lt. Spencer] attained the rank of first lieutenant. Endowed with a bright mind, a cheerful disposition, unfailing humor, and a courageous soul, he was a universal favorite with his comrades, and by his exalted sense of duty and devotion he attracted their attention and commanded their respect and confidence.

He was in many of General Lee’s battles except Gettysburg, [General John R.] Cooke’s [North Carolina] Brigade being held to protect Richmond. No regiment went beyond the 46th on the battlefield, and its flag was never lowered until the curtain went down on the last act of that great drama on the 9th of April, 1865.

He bore bravely the agony of defeat, and with tears for the friends left on numberless battlefields he turned his face to the future, trusting in the god who had brought him safely through the dangers of those years of war, and with his surviving comrades began to build up the impoverished South. He engaged in merchandising, in which he was very successful.

For forty-eight years Comrade Spencer was a member of the Church, and at his death there passed one who had lived not for this life alone.”

(The Last Roll, Confederate Veteran, August 1905, page 373)


North Carolina Patriots of ’61 – Lieut. J.A. Spencer

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