17th North Carolina Infantry Regiment

During its first formation in the spring of 1861, the regiment was called the "7th North Carolina Volunteer" (not to be confused with the 7th North Carolina Infantry ). His companies were recruited in the districts of Poskotank, Edgecomb, Hertford, Berti, Carritack and Beaufort in northeast North Carolina. Due to the critical situation on the coast, these companies were not brought into a regiment in a special camp, but one was transferred along the coast.

The regiment commander was Colonel William Martin, Lt. Col. George Johnson, Major - Henry Gilliam.

In August 1861, companies of the regiment were distributed along the coast near the island of Hatteras. Butler’s expedition appeared off the coast of North Carolina on August 27. Companies of the Washington Greys, Tar River Boys, Hertford Light Infantry , and Morris Guards were immediately transferred from Oregon Inlet to Fort Hatteras. They arrived in the evening of August 28, after the end of the battles of that day. On August 29, the federal fleet resumed bombardment, firing long-range guns from positions inaccessible to the 32-pound guns of the fort. At noon on August 29, the garrison of Fort Hatteras surrendered. All companies were captured, except for two, standing at Fort Bertow on Roanoke Island. General Burnside attacked Roanoke a little later, but two companies of the regiment ( John Harney Guards and State Guards ) in Fort Bertow (under the command of Captain Fearing and Lieutenant Elliot) repelled the fleet's attack and surrendered only after the feds landed on the island.

After the battle for Fort Hatteras, only two companies survived ( Roanoke Guards and Hamilton Guards , 49 people), who crossed the island to the mainland and were subsequently included in the 31st North Carolina Infantry Regiment , forming company C in it. Some other surviving privates also transferred to this regiment in company G.

The captured 6 companies were transported to New York aboard the USS Minnesota . Regiment officers were sent to Fort Columbus, and privates to Castle William on Governors Island. Due to poor living conditions, they were transported to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor in November. All prisoners were conditionally released in early May, and all privates were subsequently released on an exchange on February 20, 1862. After being released, five companies expired and were disbanded in March-April. The Sixth Company ( Independent Greys , 61 people) was transferred to Company B of the 32nd North Carolina Regiment .

Two companies captured on the island of Roanoke were conditionally released almost immediately, but their full liberation only occurred in August 1862. They remained in the army as independent companies. State Guards Company was disbanded on March 4, 1863, and John Harvey Guards Company was disbanded on May 1, 1863

• Hicks, George W., North Carolina Confederate Regiments: 1861, PublishAmerica, 2012 ISBN 146269120X
• Weymouth T. Jordan, Jr. and Louis H. Manarin, “North Carolina Troops (1861-1865): A Roster” Office of Archives and History: Raleigh, NC 1973, ISBN 1626368112

• 17th North Carolina Infantry Regimental History - Histories of the Several Regiments from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-65, Volume 2, Written by Members of the Respective Commands, Edited by Walter Clark, Lieutenant Colonel Seventeenth Regiment NCT, Published by the State, 1901
• 7th Regt. North carolina volunteers