May 7 

 

          On this day in 1862, Onslow Meigs Reagan (1839-1926) was discharged from the 24th North Carolina Infantry for “threatened phthisis pulmonalis,” or tuberculosis–an act that likely saved his life. A tall, dark-haired young man with an olive complexion, Onslow was a student at the University of North Carolina when the war broke out. After completing the spring term, he returned home to Lumberton and enlisted alongside his older brother William on June 4, 1861, in Robeson County’s “Highland Boys,” soon to become Company G of the 24th North Carolina. Onslow mustered in as a corporal and was promoted to sergeant just four months later. In the late summer of 1861, the regiment was deployed to western Virginia, where harsh weather, poor rations, and exhausting marches quickly took their toll. During the                                                                                                fall, Onslow developed a persistent respiratory illness,                                                                                              which worsened over time. By the time the unit                                                                                                            relocated to Murfreesboro, North Carolina, on February                                                                                            21, 1862, his condition had deteriorated. After treating                                                                                              him for 60 days in which he was unfit for duty,                                                                                                            regimental surgeon William Wilson became convinced                                                                                              that Onslow’s ailment was, or would soon become,                                                                                                      tuberculosis and recommended his discharge. Though                                                                                              disappointing at the time, the decision spared Onslow a                                                                                            fate that claimed so many others–including his brother                                                                                            William, who was killed defending Petersburg in August                                                                                            1864. Instead, he recovered his health, earned a                                                                                                          medical degree from Jefferson Medical College (now                                                                                                  Sidney Kimmel Medical College) in Philadelphia in                                                                                                    1868, and settled in Alabama. There, he served as a country doctor for 55 years, safely delivering over 900 babies and helping nearly 200 patients survive typhoid fever. In 1911, his alma mater honored him with an honorary degree. Along the way, he married twice and fathered twelve children, living the full life that William and so many other Tarheel soldiers never got to enjoy.

 

Photo: Onslow Meigs Reagan, late in life

(from his findagrave.com webpage)

 

Sources:

Weymouth T. Jordan, Jr., comp., North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster, 7:252, 318; Onslow Regan, Compiled Military Service Record; The Robesonian [Lumberton, NC], July 25, 1929; 1860 U.S. Census: Robeson County; Greensboro Record, May 31, 1911

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