2nd Lieutenant Franklin Harrison Weaver
Dublin Core
Title
2nd Lieutenant Franklin Harrison Weaver
Subject
Company H (the “Iredell Independent Grays”), 4th Regiment N.C. State Troops
Description
When the men of the 4th Regiment N.C. State Troops filed into Bloody Lane on the morning of September 17, 1862, taking position between the 14th North Carolina on their left and 30th North Carolina on their right, they numbered no more than 150 men, commanded by a handful of officers. Nearly five hundred of their comrades had fallen in the summer battles from Seven Pines to South Mountain, and hundreds more were absent because of sickness and exhaustion.
The appearance of the enemy to their front offered a glimpse of war’s glory: “mounted officers in full uniform, swords gleaming, banners, plumes and sashes waving, and bayonets glistening in the sun.” Advancing with “stead tramp and confident mien,” the Federals marched straight at the waiting Tar Heels, who rose and volleyed with “terrible effect.” Nevertheless, the enemy returned again and again, and the ranks of the 4th North Carolina rapidly dwindled. Captain William Marsh of Company I, temporarily commanding the regiment, fell mortally wounded. Command passed briefly to Captain Edwin A. Osborne of Company H before he too was shot down. One by one the other officers were killed or wounded, until only Second Lieutenant Franklin Harrison Weaver remained. Bravely grasping the regimental colors, Weaver tried to rally the remaining handful, but he was killed. Casualties in the 4th North Carolina at Sharpsburg amounted to fifteen men killed or mortally wounded, more than twenty wounded, and thirty-two captured: no extraordinary number for that day’s butchery but nearly half the little regiment’s strength.
Weaver (born ca. 1840) resided in the Olin community of Iredell County, and was probably a harness maker by trade. He enlisted at Statesville on June 13, 1861, as a sergeant in a company known as the “Iredell Independent Grays,” possibly an already existing volunteer militia company. The “Grays” volunteered for a term of three years or the duration of the war and were subsequently designated Company H, 4th Regiment N.C. State Troops. Weaver was promoted to third lieutenant in July-August 1861 and to second lieutenant in November-December. He was granted a thirty-day furlough in January 1862 and was otherwise present or accounted for until his death at Sharpsburg.
Weaver was survived by a widow and child. On October 13, 1862, his father, Amos Weaver, filed a claim for his son’s back pay. The claim was settled on May 20, 1863 for $125.33.
Another image of Franklin H. Weaver photographed with two comrades (a private and a sergeant) appears in Volume One of State Troops and Volunteers, p. 343.
The appearance of the enemy to their front offered a glimpse of war’s glory: “mounted officers in full uniform, swords gleaming, banners, plumes and sashes waving, and bayonets glistening in the sun.” Advancing with “stead tramp and confident mien,” the Federals marched straight at the waiting Tar Heels, who rose and volleyed with “terrible effect.” Nevertheless, the enemy returned again and again, and the ranks of the 4th North Carolina rapidly dwindled. Captain William Marsh of Company I, temporarily commanding the regiment, fell mortally wounded. Command passed briefly to Captain Edwin A. Osborne of Company H before he too was shot down. One by one the other officers were killed or wounded, until only Second Lieutenant Franklin Harrison Weaver remained. Bravely grasping the regimental colors, Weaver tried to rally the remaining handful, but he was killed. Casualties in the 4th North Carolina at Sharpsburg amounted to fifteen men killed or mortally wounded, more than twenty wounded, and thirty-two captured: no extraordinary number for that day’s butchery but nearly half the little regiment’s strength.
Weaver (born ca. 1840) resided in the Olin community of Iredell County, and was probably a harness maker by trade. He enlisted at Statesville on June 13, 1861, as a sergeant in a company known as the “Iredell Independent Grays,” possibly an already existing volunteer militia company. The “Grays” volunteered for a term of three years or the duration of the war and were subsequently designated Company H, 4th Regiment N.C. State Troops. Weaver was promoted to third lieutenant in July-August 1861 and to second lieutenant in November-December. He was granted a thirty-day furlough in January 1862 and was otherwise present or accounted for until his death at Sharpsburg.
Weaver was survived by a widow and child. On October 13, 1862, his father, Amos Weaver, filed a claim for his son’s back pay. The claim was settled on May 20, 1863 for $125.33.
Another image of Franklin H. Weaver photographed with two comrades (a private and a sergeant) appears in Volume One of State Troops and Volunteers, p. 343.
Creator
Unknown Photographer
Source
1860 U. S. Census, Olin, Iredell, North Carolina, population schedule, page 69-70, dwelling 531, family 511, D.W.F. Weaver household; Manarin et. al., North Carolina Troops 4 (second printing with addenda) 35, 746; Mast, “North Carolina Casualties”; Mast, State Troops and Volunteers, 1:360; Edwin A. Osborne, “Fourth Regiment,” in Clark, Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 1:246-248; service record files of Franklin H. Weaver, 4th Regiment N.C. State Troops, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers from the State of North Carolina (M270), RG109, NA.
Contributor
Paul Weaver
Files
Citation
Unknown Photographer, “2nd Lieutenant Franklin Harrison Weaver,” Tar Heel Faces, accessed April 25, 2024, https://tarheelfaces.omeka.net/items/show/15.
Comments