Adjutant Joseph William Holden
Dublin Core
Title
Adjutant Joseph William Holden
Subject
31st Regiment N.C. Troops
Description
Joseph William Holden was the son of William Woods Holden, an editor and politician who led the peace movement in North Carolina during the war. Young Holden, a cadet at the North Carolina Military Institute at Charlotte, enlisted in summer 1861, in a company known as the “Auburn Guards,” named for a community in eastern Wake County. On September 18, the “Guards” were designated Company D, 31st Regiment N.C. Troops and Holden, mustered in as first sergeant. He was promoted to third lieutenant on October 4, and to adjutant of the 31st North Carolina on November 27.
In December 1861 the 31st North Carolina moved to Roanoke Island, where it spent the ensuing two months building fortifications. Two members of the regiment were killed in action during the bombardment and battle at Roanoke Island on February 7-8, 1862, and eight were wounded. Eight companies of the 31st, numbering 539 men and including Adjutant Holden, were part of the surrendered garrison. The prisoners remained on Roanoke Island until February 21, when they were transferred to Elizabeth City, paroled, and returned to their homes.
Paroled members of the 31st North Carolina were exchanged in August 1862 and the men were ordered to Camp Mangum, near Raleigh, for reorganization. Holden ran for captain in the Company D officer elections but was defeated. Still under the age of eighteen, he enrolled at the University of North Carolina and studied there until spring 1863. Holden intended to return to military service, but his father, who had become increasingly prominent as leader of the peace movement, persuaded him to accept a job as a printer at the North Carolina Standard, the family newspaper. The Confederate conscription laws provided an exemption for printers, and young Holden spent the remainder of the war as a printer and journalist.
Like his father, Joseph W. Holden was prominent in the bitter political strife of Reconstruction North Carolina. When William W. Holden was elected governor in 1868, Joseph assumed the editorship of the North Carolina Standard and was also elected to the House of Representatives, where he served two terms. He was elected Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives at the age of twenty-four.
In the early 1870s Holden edited a newspaper in Leavenworth, Kansas, but, his health failing, he returned to North Carolina. He was elected mayor of Raleigh in 1874. He died of an alcohol-related illness in 1875. Holden was a poet of some distinction, and a posthumous volume of his poetry was published. His best known work is “Hatteras,” which can be found online.
Joseph W. Holden (September 30, 1844-January 21, 1875) is buried at Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh.
In December 1861 the 31st North Carolina moved to Roanoke Island, where it spent the ensuing two months building fortifications. Two members of the regiment were killed in action during the bombardment and battle at Roanoke Island on February 7-8, 1862, and eight were wounded. Eight companies of the 31st, numbering 539 men and including Adjutant Holden, were part of the surrendered garrison. The prisoners remained on Roanoke Island until February 21, when they were transferred to Elizabeth City, paroled, and returned to their homes.
Paroled members of the 31st North Carolina were exchanged in August 1862 and the men were ordered to Camp Mangum, near Raleigh, for reorganization. Holden ran for captain in the Company D officer elections but was defeated. Still under the age of eighteen, he enrolled at the University of North Carolina and studied there until spring 1863. Holden intended to return to military service, but his father, who had become increasingly prominent as leader of the peace movement, persuaded him to accept a job as a printer at the North Carolina Standard, the family newspaper. The Confederate conscription laws provided an exemption for printers, and young Holden spent the remainder of the war as a printer and journalist.
Like his father, Joseph W. Holden was prominent in the bitter political strife of Reconstruction North Carolina. When William W. Holden was elected governor in 1868, Joseph assumed the editorship of the North Carolina Standard and was also elected to the House of Representatives, where he served two terms. He was elected Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives at the age of twenty-four.
In the early 1870s Holden edited a newspaper in Leavenworth, Kansas, but, his health failing, he returned to North Carolina. He was elected mayor of Raleigh in 1874. He died of an alcohol-related illness in 1875. Holden was a poet of some distinction, and a posthumous volume of his poetry was published. His best known work is “Hatteras,” which can be found online.
Joseph W. Holden (September 30, 1844-January 21, 1875) is buried at Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh.
Creator
Unknown Photographer
Source
1860 U. S. Census, City of Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, population schedule, page 80, dwelling 666, family 666, W.W. Holden household; Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, s.v. “Holden, Joseph William”; William C. Harris, William Woods Holden: Firebrand of North Carolina Politics (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987), 130-131; Manarin et. al., North Carolina Troops 8:429, 454; Mast, “North Carolina Casualties”; Mast, State Troops and Volunteers, 1:234-235; service record files of Joseph W. Holden, 31st Regiment N.C. Troops, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers from the State of North Carolina (M270), RG109, NA; http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Holden&GSfn=Joseph+&GSmn=W&GSbyrel=all&GSdy=1875&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=27878643&df=all&
Contributor
North Carolina Office of Archives and History
Files
Citation
Unknown Photographer, “Adjutant Joseph William Holden,” Tar Heel Faces, accessed May 18, 2024, https://tarheelfaces.omeka.net/items/show/76.
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