This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
This collection was processed with support, in part, from the Randleigh Foundation Trust. Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the microfilming of this collection.
Size | 41 items |
Abstract | Ancram W. Ezzell (b. 1837) was a dry-goods merchant of Duplin County, N.C., and captain in the Confederate Army. Ezzell enlisted in the North Carolina State Troops in July 1861, and helped recruit the "Lenoir Braves," an independent artillery group that was captured at Fort Hatteras in August 1861 and, while imprisoned, was assigned as Company K to the 32nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment. When paroled for exchange in February 1862, the company reorganized as Company A, 40th North Carolina Artillery Regiment. Ezzell became captain in October 1862. After the Civil War, he returned to Duplin County to operate a dry goods business. The collection is comprised of 40 enlistment forms, July-August 1861, and a volume, 1861-1865, 1873, 1876-1879, documenting the enlistment, service, daily operations, and command of Ezzell's company and his postwar business activities. Enlistment forms provide biographical information and a physical description of each soldier; volume entries record soldiers' pay, furloughs, transfers, absences, desertions, casualties, and deaths. The volume also contains more than 50 orders, October 1864-January 1865, relating to the company's command while stationed at Fort Fisher, N.C., just prior to the fort's capture by Union forces, and ordnance reports for Fort Campbell, Fort Lee, Fort Davis, and Fort Meares. Postwar accounts are for groceries and dry goods. There are also medical receipts, a sharecropping agreement, and an undated speech by Ezzell to the voters of Duplin County. |
Creator | Ezzell, Ancram W., b. 1837. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Jill D. Snider, June 1999
Encoded by: Jill D. Snider, June 1999
Updated by: Laura Hart, June 2021
This collection was processed with support, in part, from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the microfilming of this collection.
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Ancram W. Ezzell (b. 1837) was a dry-goods merchant in Duplin County, N.C., and a captain in the Confederate Army. He enlisted in the North Carolina State Troops on 9 July 1861 and received a commission as lieutenant. Between July and August, he helped recruit the "Lenoir Braves," an independent artillery group, also known as "Captain Sutton's Company," for its first captain, William Sutton. The Lenoir Braves were captured at Fort Hatteras on 19 August 1861 and confined on Governor's Island, N.Y., and later at Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, Mass. While imprisoned, they were assigned as Company K, 32nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment, but never served in this capacity. Upon their parole for exchange in February 1862, they reorganized as Company A, 40th North Carolina Artillery Regiment.
Ezzell assumed the captaincy of Company A in October 1862 when William Sutton resigned. He served as commander for the remainder of the Civil War. From 1862 to 1865, the company was assigned to several North Carolina locations, including Fort Lane near New Bern, Fort Holmes on Smith's Island, Fort Fisher below Wilmington, and Fort Anderson in Brunswick County. The company was engaged in defending Fort Fisher when the fort fell to Union forces in January 1865. After the war, Ezzell returned to Duplin County, where he operated a dry goods business.
Back to TopThe collection includes 40 North Carolina State Troops enlistment forms, July-August 1861, and a volume, 1861-1865, 1873, 1876-1879, documenting the enlistment, service, command, and daily operations of the "Lenoir Braves" (later known as Company K, 32nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment and Company A, 40th North Carolina Artillery Regiment) and the postwar business activities of Ancram W. Ezzell, a captain in the Confederate Army and later a dry-goods merchant in Duplin County, N.C. The enlistment forms provide birthplace, age, occupation, and physical description of soldiers enlisting in Lenoir County, N.C., and Hyde County, N.C. The volume includes additional data on soldiers, including pay, furloughs, assignments, transfers, reenlistments, absences, desertions, casualties, and deaths. It also contains more than 50 written orders, October 1864-January 1865, relating to the company's command immediately prior to the capture of Fort Fisher and to its subsequent move to Fort Anderson. Also included are ordnance reports for Fort Campbell, Fort Lee, Fort Davis, and Fort Meares. Ezzell's postwar accounts are for groceries and dry goods supplied to A. W. Whitfield, Pompey Whitfield, Haywood Whitfield, Wiley Whitfield, and A. G. Davis. Additional items in the volume include medical receipts, a copy of a sharecropping agreement between A. W. Whitfield and Henry Sasser, and an undated speech by Ezzell to the voters of Duplin County.
Back to TopFolder 1 |
Enlistment forms, 1861: July-August |
Folder 2 |
Volume, 1861-1865, 1873, 1876-1879 |
Reel M-4960/1 |
Microfilm copy of collection, 1861-1879 |