4th North Carolina Infantry

4th North Carolina Regiment (disambiguation) was also known as the Fourth North Carolina State Troops; 4th NCST; and was nicknamed "The Bloody Fourth" after the high rate of casualties at the Battle of Seven Pines. "The effectiveness, steadiness in combat and the aggressiveness of the men to the enemy by the men of the regiment was demonstrated again and again in the Army of Northern Virginia. They earned their nickname “The Bloody Fourth.”" Not to be confused with the "4th North Carolina Regiment" of the American Revolution, or the "4th North Carolina Regiment" of the Spanish-American War.

The 4th North Carolina Regiment was a Confederate States Army regiment during the American Civil War. 4th Infantry Regiment State Troops completed its organization in May 1862, at Camp Hill, near Garysburg, North Carolina. It recruited its members in Iredell, Rowan, Wayne, Beaufort, Wilson, and Davie counties. Ordered to Virginia, the unit served in General Winfield S. Featherston’s, George B. Anderson’s, Stephen D. Ramseur’s, and William R. Cox’s Brigade. Its field officers were Colonels George B. Anderson, Bryan Grimes, Edwin A. Osborne, and James H. Wood; Lieutenant Colonels David M. Carter and John A. Young; and Majors Edward S. Marsh and Absalom K. Simonton. “The Fourth North Carolina Infantry participated in more than sixty various types engagements during its career.”

History
The 4th North Carolina regiment was raised in 1861 from central and western North Carolina, with George B. Anderson as its first colonel.

At the Battle of Seven Pines the 4th NC regiment justly earned its sobriquet of the “Bloody Fourth.” The regiment was here commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Grimes, who led the charge, and was the only officer surviving the fight unwounded. The Fourth went into battle with 520 men and 25 officers- “the noble 545.” In carrying the works it lost 462 men and 24 officers killed and wounded; this was the bloodiest charge of the war. In this battle the color guard being killed, the intrepid and heroic John Stikeleather became color bearer, and proudly bore the banner to its surrender at Appomattox.

Anderson was mortally wounded at the Bloody Lane during the Battle of Sharpsburg (Battle of Antietam) in 1862 and command of the unit passed to Lt. Col. Bryan Grimes.

The 4th North Carolina marched northward in Maryland and later into Pennsylvania, going as far north as Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. On July 1, 1863 the 4th North Carolina became engaged in the Battle of Gettysburg, fighting at Oak Hill Battle of Gettysburg, First Day. On the first day at Gettysburg, the regiment captured more Union prisoners than the regiment had men. “At Gettysburg he [Colonel Bryan Grimes] and his regiment were the first to enter the town, and they drove the enemy through Gettysburg to the heights beyond, capturing more prisoners than there were men in his command.”

The second day of Gettysburg was spent northwest of Cemetery Hill.

Later in the war, the regiment fought during the Overland Campaign and Siege of Petersburg, and remained in the Army of Northern Virginia until its surrender at Appomattox, Virginia. At Spotsylvania, the Fourth North Carolina again killed more Federal soldiers in their front than there were men in the regiment. “On May 12, 1864, the enemy captured the Confederate breast works at the Horseshoe at Spotsylvania Court House, also many guns and two thousand of General Edward Johnson’s men. The gallant General [Stephen Dodson Ramseur] being wounded in attempting to retake the breastworks, Colonel [Bryan] Grimes on his own responsibility, ordered a second charge, himself leading it, and recovered the entire works and all the guns, capturing many prisoners and killing more of the enemy than the brigade numbered men. General Lee himself rode down and thanked them, telling them they deserved the thanks of the country- they had saved the army.”

At Appomattox, Cox's Brigade fired the last shots from the Army of Northern Virginia.