150 years ago today a 40 year old farmer from Lenoir County, North Carolina enlisted in the military forces of his home state.  While miles inland, Lenoir County was uncomfortably close to Palmico Sound, where a Union expeditionary force under Ambrose Burnside was organizing for offensive operations onto the mainland from Hatteras Inlet.  Today we’ll look at what we know about Davis, whose regiment would find itself in many tough situations throughout the war.

From what we can tell Hardy Davis was borne in North Carolina in 1820.  He was probably the son of a farming family, as that is the profession he took up, and what he was doing on the eve of the Civil War in 1860:

From the 1860 census we can see that Davis was married with 7 children living in his household.  While the family was not rich, we can see from the numbers in the two right hand columns that they owned their own land and did have some money on hand.  While the Civil War may have seemed distant to those living in eastern North Carolina in the first few months of the war, it became clear by the fall of 1861 that the Union’s monopoly on the ocean made the coastal state vulnerable to invasion from the sea.   This may have been the reason why the 40 year old Hardy Davis decided to enlist in January of 1862 when early Union gains at Hatteras Inlet were being followed up with a fresh expedition.

Above we see Davis’ enlistment information form 150 years ago today.  He was 42 years old and 5’ 6” in height.  We gather that he was illiterate, as the signature line bears an “x” with the word “his mark.”  His regiment was the 33^rd Regiment of North Carolina State troops, which had not yet been mustered into the Confederate service.  This would occur in February, as Burnside’s Union troops began to make their moves onto the North Carolina Coast.

The 33^rd missed the first notable battle of the campaign at Roanoke Island on February 7^th and 8^th, 1862, but the following month would find themselves in the city of New Berne, North Carolina.  It was at New Berne on March 14, 1862 that federal forces launch an attack against Hardy Davis and the men of the 33^rd North Carolina along with a ragtag force of militia.  The Confederates were overwhelmed in the Union assault, and in the chaos Davis was captured and sent north to Virginia.  Davis remained in Union custody until August, when he was exchanged along with other Confederate soldiers at Aiken’s Landing, Virginia.

After his exchange Davis’ regiment was sent north to form part of the Army of Northern Virginia in the division of A.P. Hill.  His records are no complete during the fall of 1862, but we know his regiment was engaged at Second Manassas and Antietam.  Being of above average age for a soldier, Davis was likely more susceptible to the diseases which ran rampant in Civil War armies.  We think this is how he died on December 6^th, 1862 in his regiment’s camp in Virginia.

We don’t know where Hardy Davis was buried after his death, but we do know that his loss must have profoundly affected his large family back in North Carolina.  His story is a sad and tragically common one which was repeated many thousands of times during the war.