November 27, 1862
Page 2
This officer has tendered to the Adjutant General of the Confederate States the resignation of his commission, received from the Governor of North Carolina, as Colonel of the Fifth Regiment.
In his letter to Gov. Vance, setting forth the reasons which prompt him to this step, he states facts which have too long been suffered to pass unnoticed by the brave and gallant soldiers of this State. When fighting, hard fighting, is to be done, the North Carolina boys are in brisk demand; their blood has flowed freely on every field, and the prowess of their own arms has changed the fortunes of many a doubtful day. Yet, we have heard of but few instances of her gallant sons receiving that meed of praise, even in an official report, which they had so justly earned, and which was so richly their due. The treatment of our officers, too, in regard to appointments and promotions, has been positively shameful. Col. McRae complains that in several instances he has been compelled to see junior officers promoted over him—officers who had not, and who have not yet, seen a battle. His complaint that Col. Iverson, of Georgia, his junior, and who has been under his own command for two months, has been appointed Brigadier in his brigade, is not without cause, and we cheerfully commend the following paragraph which we extract from his letter to the Governor:
But, severe as is the trespass upon the individual pride of North Carolina officers who have lately been obliged to submit to the promotion, in several instances, of citizens of other States, to the command of brigades exclusively North Carolinian, the slur upon the State is broader, and demands the resentment of her sons in the only mode they can manifest it. In the spirit of an earnest protest against this injustice, individual, and to my State, I resign my commission.
The matter of which Col. McRae so justly complains is alluded to by Governor Vance, in his Message to the Legislature, with the recommendation that something shall be done to prevent this gross neglect of entirely ignoring North Carolina merit, and we sincerely trust that the abuse may be speedily corrected. The idea of appointing offices from other States to command North Carolinians, when we have men among ourselves capable and worthy, is outrageous, and the practice is becoming intolerable.
[Transcribed by Sharon Strout]