I hope this will help a bit........and hope my typing and pselling isn't too bad. Edward Harding Sons of Confederate Veterans NC Division Genealogist The North Carolina 55th was a part of Davis' Brigade, who on July 3, 1863, during Longstreet's final assault, were located on the left side of the field of battle, between Brockenbrough's Brigade (left) and Pettigrew's Brigade (right). Lane's Brigade was behind Davis' Brigade. Company F was known as the "South Mountain Rangers," and was raised primarily in Cleveland County in April-May, 1862. It was mustered into service at Camp Mangum, near Raleigh, on May 30, 1862, and assigned to the 55th Regiment N.C. Troops. The following information is from "North Carolina Regiments 1861-'65", by Charles M. Cooke, Adjutant. GETTYSBURG " The regiment crossed the Potomac with the Army of Northern Virginia in fine spirits, and when it reached Cashtown on the night of 29 June, it was in splendid condition. The regiment marched out of Cashtown early on the morning of 1 July, going down the Chambersburg Turnpike toward Gettysburg. We came in sigt of the thown about 9 o'clock a.m. The Union forces were on the ridge just outside of the town and formed across the Turnpike to dispute our advances. Marye's battery was placed by General Heth on the south side of the turnpike and opened fire on the enemy. Davis' Brigade was immediately thrown into line of battle on the north of the road and ordered to advance. Archer's Brigade was formed on the south of the road and was ordered forward about the same time. There was a railroad which had been graded but not ironed, which ran nearly parallel with the turnpike and about one hundred yards from it. The Fifty-fifth Regiment was on the left of the brigade, and owing to the character of the ground was the first one to come into view of the enemy, and received the first fire in the battle. It was a volley fired by the Fifty-sixth Pennsylvania Regiment, commanded by Colonel Hoffman, of Cutler's Brigade. Two men in the color guard of the regiment were wounded by this volley. The regiment mmediately returned the fire and inflicted considerable loss upon the Fifty-sixth Pennsylvania Regiment. The Eleventh Mississippi Regiment was on detail duty that morning, so only three regiments of our brigade, the Second and Forty-second Mississippi Regiments, and the Fifty-fifth North Carolina, were present. The regiments in our front were the Seventy-sixth New York, the Fifty-sixth Pennsylvania and the One Hundred and Forty-seventh New York of Cutler's Brigade. After the enemy's position became known by their first fire, our brigade charged them in magnificent style. The left of our regiment extended considerably beyond the right of the enemy's line---and at the proper time our left was wheeled to the right. The enemy fled from the field with great loss. From the beginning of this engagement it was hot work. While the regiment was advancing, Colonel Connally seized the battle flag and waving it aloft rushed out several paces in front of the regiment. This drew upon him and the color guard the fire of the enemy and he fell badly wounded in the arm and hip. His arm was afterwards amputated. Major Belo, who was near him at the time, rushed up and asked him if he was badly wounded. Colonel Connaly replied: "Yes, but do not pay any attention to me; take the colors and keep ahead of the Mississippians." After the defeat of the forces in front of us, the brigade swung around by the right wheel and formed on the railroad cut. About one-half of the Fifty-fifth Regiment being on the left extended beyond the cut on the embankment. In front of us there were then the Ninety-fifth and Eighty-fourth New York (known as the Fourteenth Brooklyn) Regiments, who had been supporting Hall's battery, and were the other two regiments of Cutler's Brigade, and the Sixth Wisconsin, of the Iron Brigade, which had been held in reserve, when the other regiments of that brigade were put in to meet Archer's advance. Just then the order was received to retire through the road-cut, and that the Fifty-fifth North Carolina cover the retreat of the brigade. The Federal Regiments in front of us threw themselves into line of battle by a well executed movement notwithstanding the heavy fire we were pouring into them, and as soon as their line of battle was formed, seeing a disposition on our part to retire, charged. They were held in check, as well as could be done, by the Fifty-fifth Regiment covering the retreat of the brigade; a part of the regiment was in the road-cut and at a great disadvantage. One of the Federal officers on the embankment, seeing Major Belo in the cut, threw his sword at him, saying: "Kill that officer, and that will end it." The sword missed Major Belo, but struck the man behind him. Major Belo directed one of the men to shoot the officer and this was done. This somewhat checked their charge, and we fell back to another position. The loss of the regiment was very great in killed and wounded, and a large number were captured in the road-cut. From that time until 3 o'colock in the afternoon we were not engaged. About that time Early came in with fresh troops from the left. We formed in line with them on their right and were hotly engaged in the battles of that afternoon, driving the enemy before us and capturing a number of prisoners. At sundown we were in the edge of Gettysburg, and the regiment was placed behind the railroad embankment just in front of the Seminary. In the afternoon Lieutenant_Colonel Smith, while the regiment was waiting in reserve, walked towards the right to reconnoitre and was mortally wounded and died that night. Major Belo was also severely wounded in the leg just as the battle closed that evening. Davis' Brigade, during the night, was moved from its position on the railroad cut near the Seminary to a piece of woods across Willoughby Run, west of the mineral springs, and there rested during the 2d. On the night of the 2d it was moved to its position on the Confederate line known as Seminary Ridge, on the right center, and stationed in McMillan's woods. Our Division (Heth's) on the left of Longstreet, and Davis' Brigade the left centre of the division. General Heth had been wounded on the 1st and General Pettigrew was in command of the division. General Pickett's Division of Longstreet's Corps was on the right of Heth's Division, and occupied a position just in the edge of Spangler's woods. It was from these positions that we moved out to that last fatal charge, on the afternoon of 3 July. Heth's Division was not supporting Longstreet, as has been repeatedly published, but was on line with his troops. Our regiment had sufered so greatly on the 1st that in this charge it was commanded by Captain Gilreath, and some of the companies were commanded by non-commissioned officers. But the men came up bravely to the measure of their duty, and the regiment went as far as any other on that fatal charge, and we have good proof of the claim that a portion of the regiment lef by Captain Satterfield, who was killed at this time, reached a point near the Bennet barn, which was 'more advanced than that attained by any other of the assaulting columns.' Lieutenant T.D. Falls, of Company C, residing at Fallstown, Cleveland County, and Sergeant Augustus Whitley, of Company E, residing at Everitt's, in Martin County, who were with Captain Satterfield, have recently visited the battlefield, and have made affidavit as to the point reached by them. This evidence has been corroborated from other sources and the place has been marked by the United States commission, and the map herewith copied from the United States official survey of this historic field will show the position attained by these men of the Fifty-fifth Regiment, in relation to other known objects on the battlefield such as the Benner barn and the Bronze Book which marks the high-water mark of the struggle for Southern independence. The measurements for the map were made by the late Colonel Batchelder, of the United States Commission, and by Colonel E.W. Cope, United States engineer, for the field. This map shows that those killed 'farthest to the front' belonged to the Fifty-fifth North Carolina Regiment. The forces engaged in this last chance which settled, not only the result of the battle of Gettysburg, but the fate of the Confederacy, were as follows: Longstreet's Corps, composed of: 1) Pickett's Division - Kemper's Brigade, First Third, Seventh, Eleventh and Twenty-fourth Virginia Regiments; Garnett's Brigade, Eighth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-eighth and Fifty-sixth Virginia Regiments, supported by Armistead's Brigade, Ninth, Fourteenth, Thirty -eighth, Fifty-third and Fifty-seventh Virginia Regiments in the second line. 2) Heth's Division, commanded by Brigadier-General Pettigrew; Archer's Brigade, commanded by Colonel Fry, Thirteenth Alabama Regiment, Fifth Alabama Battalion, and the First, Seventh, and Fourteenth Tennessee Regiments; Pettigrew's Brigade, commanded by Colonel Marshall, Eleventh, Twenty-sixth, Forty-seventh, and Fifty-second North Carolina Regiments; Davis' Brigade, Second, Eleventh, and Forty-second Mississippi Regiments and teh Fifty-fifth North Carolina Regiment; Brockenborough's Brigade, Fortieth, Forty-seventh, and Fifty-fifth Virginia Regiments, and Twenty-second Virginia Battalion. 3) One half of General Pender's Division, to-wit.: Scales' Brigade, commanded by Colonel Lowrance, Thirteenth, Sixteenth, Twenty-second, Thirty-fourth, and Thirty-eighth North Carolina Regiments, and Lane's Brigade, Seventh, Eighteenth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-third, and Thirty-seventh North Carolina Regiments. So there were eighteen regiments and one battalion from Virginia, fifteen regiments from North Carolina, three regiments from Mississippi, three regiments from Tennessee, and one regiment and one battlaion from Alabama, in the assaulting columns. The contention between Pickett's Division and Heth's Division, the latter commanded then by Pettigrew, has doubtless arisen from the following: The portion of the enemy's forces just in front of Pickett's Division was behind a low rock wall which terminated at a point opposite Pickett's left. About eighty yards to the rear of this point there was another stone wall which commenced there and ran along by Benner barn towards the cemetery, and the enemy, instead of continuing his line to his right from the termination of the first wall, and through the field, dropped eighty yards to the second wall, and continued his line behind that. So to have reached the enemy in Pettigrew's front, his troops must have marched eighty yards beyond a continuation of their line from the point where Pickett reached the enemy in his front. Some of Pickett's men passed over the first line of the enemy and a few of them reached a point some forty yards in the rear of the line and near the Federal battery. Some of the Fifty-fifth North Carolina Regiment reached a point within nine yards of the rock wall in front of them. That was seventy-three yards beyond a continuation of the line of the first wall, and allowing two yards for the thickness of the first wall, and adding to that the forty yards beyond the rock wall to the point reached by some of Pickett's men, and continuing beyond the most advanced point by the men of the Fifty-fifth Regiment, it will be found that the latter point is thirty-one yards in advance of that line. The Fifty-fifth Regiment was a part of the rear guard on the retreat, and in the attack made upon them at Falling Waters, they lost several killed and wounded. The loss of the regiment at Gettysburg amounted to 64 killed and 172 wounded, including the few casualties at Falling Waters and the number of captured, about 200, added to these made an aggregate of more than one-half the number of men in the regiment. All of the field officers and all of the Captains were either killed, wounded, or captured. Lieutenant M. C. Stevens, of Company G, was the ranking officer, and commanded the regiment on the retreat until it reached Falling Waters, when Captain Whitted had sufficiently recovered from his wound to take command. Captain R.W. Thomas, of Company K, however, returned to the regiment soon after we went to camp on the Rapidan, and commanded the regiment with great acceptability until Lieutenant-Colonel Belo's return the following winter. In the official report of his division at Gettysburg, made by General Heth, and found in the records published by the United States Government, Colonel Connally, Lieutenant-Colonel Smith and Major Belo are particularly mentioned for gallant and meritorious conduct, but Col. Connally was so severly wounded that he was never able again to command the regiment. This was a great loss, for he was not only brave and loyal in his support of the Southern cause, but his sentiments and conduct were so chivalric, that he impressed all the men and officers of the regiment with his own lofty ideals, and Lieutenant-Colonel Smith was dead. The very sould of honor, he was older and less impetuous than Colonel Connaly, but gentle and refined as a woman; he was conscientious and painstakingly in the discharge of every duty he prescribed for himself. No hasty utterance and no unclean word ever escaped his lips, and by his daily life, he taught us what a beautiful thing it is to be a Christian gentleman. Colonel Connaly was left in a house near the battlefield and fell into the hands of the enemy. His left arm was amputated and from that and the wound in his hip it was thought for a long time he would die. His brave spirit pulled him through. As a lawyer and in politics he attained high position in Galveston, Texas, and Richmond, Va., but after several years he became an eloquent preacher of the Gospel and now resides at Asheville, N.C."