For 20 years following the Civil War period, the thought of war and of marching feet was unpopular in Alamance County. The memories of teh privations of that conflict and the terrors of the Reconstruction were to vivid to permit a martial spirit to gain much headway. The times were essentially peaceful, and little need was seen for a local militia. In the late 1880's E.C. HOLT of Burlington travelled to Europe and observed the military establishments of several of the countries there--notably that of the newly powerful Prussia. He returned home with plans to form a body of militia in Alamance County modelled after the Prussian Army in uniforms and organization. In 1890, he organized this unit, Company F of the Third North Carolina State Guard, Light Infantry. The uniforms wre quite distinctive, with Prussian-type blouses and spiked metal helmets. HOLT commanded the unit as captain; W.H. CARROLL, later a county judge, was first lieutenant; James H. HOLT, brother of Captain HOLT, was second lieutenant, W. K.(Kirk) HOLT was the company first sergant. The outfit functioned under Captain HOLT for four years, and then Lieutenant J.H. HOLT became captain and company commander. The drills were held on a field behind the Burlington coffin Company factory, and the unit had an armory on the corner that is the present site of the RAYLASS department store. In 1898, "Remember the Maine!" flashed in from Cuba, and Captain HOLT immediately arranged to increase his company of volunteers and take them to war. The trainload of patriots, who called themselved the "Alamance Regulators," left Burlington for Raleigh, but the men as a unit were destined never to see Havana harbor nor to climb the slopes of San Juan Hill. Regulations required that company strength must be 113 men before it could be mustered into the regular United States forces, and the Alamance unit was far below this level in number. After the group reached Raleigh, it remained there a month whild Captain Holt tried vainly to recruit new men. E. H. MURRAY, later Alamance County clerk of the court, was one of the volunteers in that company. He said later: "We were bedded down in straw near the State Fairgrounds for a month while Captain HOLT tried to get new recruits. He even tried to buy enough men to fill out his company. He bartered with another aspirant for a captaincy from Washington, N. C. offering to pay for the men and take the leader into his company as a lieutenant . . . and I think he paid over $600 and never got one man." The unit returned home but some of the men joined other companies and saw action in the war. In 1917 Company F became Company I, 120th Infantry, in the National Guard. But by that time war was raging in Europe, and once again Alamance County must answer the call to arms. ==== NCORANGE Mailing List ==== Larry Noah - lrnoah@bigfoot.com - Listowner - NCORANGE mailing list Orange Co, NC USGenWeb site is at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncorange USGenWeb Orange Co, NC Archives site is at http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/nc/orangnc.htm