“Press On, Men, Press On!”: The 21st North Carolina on July 1

The 21st North Carolina on July 1 sion it from the lush farms and factories just two states over from Virginia— in Pennsylvania. On June 3 the Second Corps packed up and headed back toward the Valley of Virginia. Th e destination remained a secret; but soon the 21st North Carolina passed into familiar territory, the battle“Stonewall Jackson died on May 10 and the whole South mourned,” but Robert E. Lee had prevailed in Chancellorsville, and hopes were high for Jackson’s replacement, Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell.1 Indeed, in order to create better troop control, Lee created the Th ird Corps, to be commanded by the former head of the hardfi ghting Light Division, Lt. Gen. Ambrose Powell Hill. Lt. Gen. James Longstreet continued as commander of the old First Corps. Aft er the Battle of Chancellorsville, the sixtyeight thousand soldiers constituting the Army of Northern Virginia shift ed toward Fredericksburg and pulled picket duty for the rest of May. Ewell’s new command, including the 2,064 men of Brig. Gen. Robert Hoke’s Tar Heel Brigade and the 21st North Carolina, 467 strong, patrolled along the Rappahannock between Deep Run and Smithfi eld. As the result of Hoke’s wounding at Second Fredericksburg, young Col. Isaac Avery assumed command of the brigade. Avery, thirtyfour years old, had risen from captain of Company E of the 6th North Carolina to lead that regiment. Now he also commanded the 21st North Carolina, 54th North Carolina, and 57th North Carolina as brigade commander in the division of Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early. Early also commanded the Louisiana brigade of Brig. Gen. Harry Hays, the Virginians of Brig. Gen. William “Extra Billy” Smith, and the Georgians of Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon. It had become apparent that Virginia could no longer support seventy thousand Confederates and who knew how many Yankees. Lee decided to take his army north and see what he could do to provi-