Covered with Glory

About the Book

Here, fully told for the first time, is the unforgettable story of the 26th North Carolina Infantry at the Battle of Gettysburg. In July 1863 the regiment's eight-hundred-plus troops--young men from North Carolina's mountains, farmlands, and hamlets--were thrust into the firestorm of Gettysburg, the greatest battle ever fought in North America. By the time the fighting ended, the 26th North Carolina had suffered what some authorities would calculate to be the highest casualties of any regiment in the Civil War.

Following a bone-wearying march into Pennsylvania with the rest of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, the soldiers of the 26th found themselves in ferocious, almost face-to-face combat with some of the hardest-fighting troops in the Federal army--the heralded Iron Brigade. The bloody contest on McPherson's Ridge produced some of Gettysburg's fiercest fighting, and the troops involved--men from North Carolina, Michigan, and Indiana--established an enduring legacy of American fortitude and will.

On Gettysburg's third day of battle, the 26th North Carolina was placed in the front ranks of Pickett's Charge. Following a massive artillery barrage, the tattered regiment was commanded to go the distance in what would prove to be the most famous assault of the war. At one point, as he watched the men of the 26th in battle, Brigadier General James J. Pettigrew dispatched a message to the regiment's commander: "Tell him his regiment haas covered itself with glory today."

The story of the 26th North Carolina at Gettysburg is an American saga of duty performed in the worst of warfare. It unfolds through the lives of key characters--the regiment'stwenty-one year old commander, Colonel Henry K. Burgwyn, Jr.; its second-in-command, twenty-six-year-old farmer-turned-lieutenant colonel John R. Lane; twenty-two-year-old Major John Jones, who had abandoned his college studies to join the army; and common soldiers like Private Jimmie Moore, a North Carolina mountain boy who had gone to war at the age of fifteen.

"Covered In Glory is an intensely personal narrative based on exhaustive research into the diaries, letters, memoirs, and official records of the men who struggled on the bloody field at Gettysburg. It is a powerful, moving account of American courage and sacrifice.

Review :
"No regiment was braver or more sacrificial than the 26th North Carolina, and no historian could have told its story better or more fully than Rod Gragg. This volume is a must for aficionados of the Civil War's common soldiers."James I. Robertson, Jr., author of Stonewall Jackson"Rod Gragg's stirring account of the 26th North Carolina's fiery ordeal at Gettysburg reveals the valiant spirit of the Southern fighting man. In a minute by minute, blow by blow description, the fascinating details emerge as fresh as the next incredible moment. Here is a book rich with history and powerful in its message of the stout fiber of our American heritage."Wiley Sword, author of Embrace an Angry Wind and Shiloh: Bloody April"Covered with Glory is a story that has long been waiting to be told. No one could be better able to tell it than Rod Gragg. A superb story has met a superb writer. Battle history does not get any better than this."Clyde N. Wilson, author of Carolina Cavalier: The Life and Mind of James Johnston Pettigrew and The Most Promising Young Man of the South: Pettigrew and his Men at Gettysburg"In ?Covered With Glory: The 26th North Carolina Infantry at Gettysburg? Rod Gragg has done an admirable job of bringing to life the men who made up this storied regiment. Well-researched and written, this book will make a welcome addition to anyone's bookshelf."B. Keith Toney,Historian/Licensed Battlefield Guide, Gettysburg National Military Park"This book finally tells a story that has long needed telling. The horror and sacrifice endured by these brave North Carolinans perhaps eclipses any other story from that most bloody of battles: Gettysburg."Randal Garrison, Reenactor Captain, 26th North Carolina Troops, Reactivated