Fourth in a series on the 62nd N.C. Infantry, which organized in Waynesville 160 years ago this month

The history of the N.C. 62nd Infantry, dismal as it was, would be even more so were it not for a remnant who escaped surrender at Cumberland Gap, to fight another day.

This remnant would endure to the end of the war, facing off in the Battle of Asheville in April of 1865 and then heading for Waynesville for a very different kind of surrender than the one demanded at Cumberland Gap.

The unit had formed in July of 1862, a month after Robert G.A. Love had advertised the plans to create another infantry unit for the Confederacy, one comprised of men from Western North Carolina. Those who joined came from Rutherford, Clay, Macon, Jackson, Henderson and Transylvania counties as well as Haywood, with Haywood men comprising four of the 62nds nine companies. These men had fought Union sympathizers, bushwhackers and Union soldiers in eastern Tennessee and had guarded Cumberland Gap against Union siege until Brig. Gen. John Frazer surrendered his 2,300 Confederates to Gen. Ambrose Burnsides army without a fight on Sept. 9, 1863.

But another portion, about 180 men, chose to go with their field commander at the time, Col. Byron Gibbs McDowell, who had told Frazer he would not surrender. McDowell, a Macon County native, called up the men of 62nd and invited them to join him in making a run for their lives. About 180 of his men were among the 300 to 600 at Cumberland who defied the order to surrender.

While most of their comrades starved, sickened and suffered as prisoners of war, this 180 would keep the adventures and the military activity of the 62nd alive. Their first challenge was to escape Union-held territory and return across the mountains into North Carolina, which was still held by the Confederacy. According to McDowells account, all of those who refused to surrender started out together.

In all about 600 responded, and led by Colonel Slemp and a man from Abingdon, Virginia, whose name was Page, as I remember, both of whom were perfectly familiar with the country, we moved out of the Gap, eastward, passing Kains Battery (a fortified point high on nearby East Mountain) and pushing one rifle piece over the cliff as we went along, McDowell later wrote.

We made our way along the north side of the mountain, on the Kentucky side, until we reached a point opposite Jonesville, where we encountered a pursuing force of Federal cavalry.

Our entire escaping force had kept their guns and ammunition, expecting a collision as we went out, and being thus prepared, an immediate dash was made by our men. Having the decided advantage of position, we forced the Federal cavalry to retire and were permitted to pass on, the Federals returning to the Gap, after burning the little town of Jonesville, in Lee county, Virginia, We made our way to Bristol, Tennessee, and Zollicoffer (a town now known as Bluff City), and I at once reported the surrender to Major C. S. Stringfellow, Adjutant-General, and awaited further orders from the General commanding.

With all the disasters surrounding the 62nd, McDowell found time for romance. His biographical sketch states that during the war Major McDowell met Miss Margaret Rhea near Bristol, Tennessee. They were married at Bluff City, Tennessee. Their first encounter may well have taken place at the time McDowell describes, as his remnant retreated into Confederate held territory in that area.

At some point after reaching Confederate-held territory, McDowell and his fellow soldiers returned to North Carolina.

After the surrender of Cumberland Gap, the men of the Sixty-second Regiment who were at home on furlough, and all those who escaped capture went into camp at Pigeon River, in Haywood County, N.C., McDowell wrote. After remaining there for a few days, they entered again into active service and never for one moment flinched from any duty assigned them, nor from constant danger to which they were exposed, to the end of the war.

By April 1864, seven months after the Cumberland Gap surrender, the escaped portion of the 62nd was stationed at Asheville. Its numbers would fluctuate from the time of the surrender until the end of the war like many Confederate soldiers, those in the 62nd were embittered by what seemed to be a rich mans war, and being so near their homes, some would slip off for a time to care for their families. At one time, one officer recommended the 62nd and 64th be sent to Charleston for service, as they would never be efficient so near their homes. That did not happen.

Meanwhile, the organizer of the unit, Col. R.G.A. Love, who had battled ill health throughout the war, became too ill to continue, and resigned as colonel of the regiment. George W. Clayton was promoted to colonel, and McDowell became the units lieutenant colonel. Asbury Thornton Rogers, from Upper Crabtree, was promoted to major, though Rogers was in a prisoner of war camp apparently his superiors thought he might be included in an officer exchange, though that did not take place.

This remnant went back and forth across the Tennessee-North Carolina line, much as it had done in its early days, fighting in the divided mountain regions against both Union forces and sympathizers with the North, not to mention deserters from both armies.

In March 1865, those left of the 62nd went under the command of Gen. James Martin, who was the Confederate commander in charge of troop movements in Western North Carolina. At times, some of their companies would be stationed at camps along the Pigeon or Tuckaseegee rivers, or even on Spring Creek in Madison County. As part of Martins forces, some of these men would see one more battle, followed by one last skirmish.

On April 6, 1865, Col. Isaac Kirby led 900 Union troops from Greeneville, Tenn. into Asheville, coming along the French Broad River Valley. Gen. Martin was not in the area, having taken some of the 62nds troops and gone off in pursuit of Union raider Col. George W. Kirk. Col. Clayton, the lead officer for the 62nd, gathered what troops he could, probably about 300 men, and they hunkered down with two cannons behind earthworks constructed along the river.

It was, in reality, a bluff. But the earthworks and trenches, combined with the cannon fire, may have convinced Kirby that he was facing a large force. He ordered a retreat, rather than trying to take the city. The historical marker in Asheville commemorating the battle credits the victory in which the only death was that of a Union soldier who reportedly drowned in the river to the forces under Claytons command.

For Asheville, the Kirbys retreat was a reprieve rather than a victory, for two weeks later Maj. Gen. George Stoneman moved through Asheville. Despite an agreement that the Union forces would march unchallenged and leave the city unattacked, Stonemans forces later turned back and pillaged the city.

After witnessing Stonemans treatment of Asheville and its citizens, Gen. Martin and his men, likely including that remnant of the 62nd, retreated westward, where they would meet up with William Holland Thomas and about 200 members of Thomas Legion. There, Thomas and Martin would negotiate a surrender that would allow their troops to keep their weapons as well as protect Waynesville from the ravages that had befallen Asheville.

A few of the members of the 62nd who had escaped the surrender at Cumberland Gap likely witnessed the last surrender of Confederate forces in North Carolina. But this surrender was different Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia the month before, and leaders recognized that the Civil War was practically over. This time, the men left fighting for the 62nd could accept the terms of surrender, knowing their next destination was not a prison camp, but home.

The men of this regiment were the very last men to lay doawn their arms, McDowell wrote. No braver or more noble hearted men ever lived than those composing the Sixty-second North Carolina Regiment of Infantry.

Sources for this story include the websites thomaslegion.net, which includes the history of the 62nd by B.G. McDowell and carolana.com: North Carolina in the American Civil War.

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62nd N.C. infantry: The remnant who fought on - The Mountaineer