April 12
On this day in 1862, one year to the day after the firing on Fort Sumter, Richard Elwell Reeves (1825-1890) lost his position as Major of the 28th North Carolina Regiment. When the war came in April 1861, the 35-year old Reeves–a prosperous slaveholding farmer and two-term Democratic representative from Surry County in the state legislature--eagerly recruited men to serve in the “Surry Regulators,” which became Company A of the regiment. Appointed its Captain, the regiment elected him as its Major on September 21, 1861. But Reeves developed a vicious case of pneumonia that lasted for months. Though he returned to the unit from an extended medical furlough in the late winter of 1862, he was still too ill to march when the 28th North Carolina was ordered to New Bern on March 13, 1862. The regiment arrived after the city had fallen to Union forces on March 14, and joined the retreat to Kinston, where the unit re-organized as a three-year regiment, days before the Conscription Act mandated such changes. Elections of officers occurred on April 12. The Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel were re-elected easily, but as one soldier wrote, “For Major we had some warm balloting.” Many soldiers likely feared that Reeves’ health was too fragile, and elected another officer as Major.
His defeat led to ugly rumors back home, where some opponents accused Reeves of feigning illness to avoid battle. Fourteen regimental officers wrote to strongly assert that Reeves was “a brave man.” The Lt. Colonel stated that he had ordered the sick Reeves to stay behind, and regimental surgeon Robert Gibbon declared that Reeves “followed the Regiment the next day against the wishes of his surgeon and friends.” By airing these testimonials in the Western Sentinel of Winston, NC, on May 16, 1862, Reeves cleared his name, but he never served in the army again. His story reflects the fragile nature of a soldier’s honor.
Surgeon Robert Gibbon, who testified to Reeves’ illness
Sources
Weymouth T. Jordan, Jr., comp., North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster, 8:110, 112; 1860 U.S. Census: Surry County; John L. Cheney, Jr., ed., North Carolina Government, 1585-1974, 325-326; Walter Clark, ed., Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 468; Western Sentinel [Winston, NC], May 16, 1862.
