Captain William Hamilton Overman
Dublin Core
Title
Captain William Hamilton Overman
Subject
Company B, 2nd Regiment N.C. Junior Reserves
Description
William Hamilton Overman resided in the town of Salisbury with his parents and four siblings. His father was a wealthy merchant and owned sixteen slaves. William was “seventeen years, 7 mos. and 0 days” old, and by occupation a student, when he was elected captain of a Junior Reserve company from Rowan and Mecklenburg counties on May 23-24, 1864.
Overman’s company was designated Company A, 2nd Battalion N.C. Junior Reserves on May 31. On the following July 15 the 2nd and 5th Battalions N.C. Junior Reserves consolidated to form Anderson’s Battalion N.C. Junior Reserves, and Overman’s boys became Company B of the new command. With the addition of a tenth company in December 1864, Anderson’s Battalion was redesignated 2nd Regiment N.C. Junior Reserves.
Overman was reported present on muster rolls from his company dated August-October 1864 and January 1865. Although law governing the Junior Reserves required the boys to be transferred to regular units at their eighteenth birthdays, an exception was granted for company officers, and Overman remained with his company. He was hospitalized at Greensboro on March 10, 1865, with the notation “transferred from Kinston.” Although the cause of Overman’s hospitalization is not specified, it is likely he was wounded in action at the Battle of Wyse’s Forks, east of Kinston, on March 8-9. Many of the wounded from that battle were evacuated to Greensboro and High Point.
Overman probably returned to duty and was among the seventeen officers and ninety-two enlisted boys of the 2nd Regiment N.C. Junior Reserves who received paroles at Greensboro on May 1, 1865.
William H. Overman (October 19, 1846-July 16, 1901) is buried at Chestnut Hill Cemetery, Salisbury, Rowan County.
Overman’s company was designated Company A, 2nd Battalion N.C. Junior Reserves on May 31. On the following July 15 the 2nd and 5th Battalions N.C. Junior Reserves consolidated to form Anderson’s Battalion N.C. Junior Reserves, and Overman’s boys became Company B of the new command. With the addition of a tenth company in December 1864, Anderson’s Battalion was redesignated 2nd Regiment N.C. Junior Reserves.
Overman was reported present on muster rolls from his company dated August-October 1864 and January 1865. Although law governing the Junior Reserves required the boys to be transferred to regular units at their eighteenth birthdays, an exception was granted for company officers, and Overman remained with his company. He was hospitalized at Greensboro on March 10, 1865, with the notation “transferred from Kinston.” Although the cause of Overman’s hospitalization is not specified, it is likely he was wounded in action at the Battle of Wyse’s Forks, east of Kinston, on March 8-9. Many of the wounded from that battle were evacuated to Greensboro and High Point.
Overman probably returned to duty and was among the seventeen officers and ninety-two enlisted boys of the 2nd Regiment N.C. Junior Reserves who received paroles at Greensboro on May 1, 1865.
William H. Overman (October 19, 1846-July 16, 1901) is buried at Chestnut Hill Cemetery, Salisbury, Rowan County.
Creator
Unknown Photographer
Source
1860 U. S. Census, Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina, population schedule, page 14, dwelling 127, family 126, William Overman household; 1860 U.S. Census, Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina slave schedule, page 2, William Overman, slave owner; Manarin et. al., North Carolina Troops 17:118, 245; service record files of William H. Overman, 2nd Regiment N.C. Junior Reserves, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers from the State of North Carolina (M270), RG109, NA; http://www.findagrave.com/
Contributor
North Carolina Office of Archives and History
Files
Citation
Unknown Photographer, “Captain William Hamilton Overman,” Tar Heel Faces, accessed May 6, 2024, https://tarheelfaces.omeka.net/items/show/73.
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