Recommended Reading: More Terrible than Victory: North Carolina's Bloody Bethel Regiment, 1861-65 (368 Pages). Description: Craig Chapman presents the definitive history of the First North Carolina Volunteers / 11th Regiment North Carolina Troops--the legendary Bethel Regiment. The 1st North Carolina Volunteers struck history as it engaged in the Civil War's first land battle and witnessed the first soldier killed in the great conflict. Chapman conveys the compelling history of these brave men as they left hearth and home in defense of their state, beliefs and ideals. Continued below...

Most of the unit's raw, young recruits had never traveled outside of North Carolina, nor fired a weapon in combat. "That all changed, and it dramatically changed their lives forever..." After an enlistment of six months, North Carolina's First Regiment disbanded. Most of the men then enlisted in the Eleventh NC Regiment, commonly referred to as the Bloody Bethel Regiment, and fought in the bloodiest battles and campaigns of the Civil War. About the Author: Craig S. Chapman commands one of the North Carolina National Guard infantry battalions that traces its lineage to the Eleventh Regiment North Carolina Troops, the unit that started out as the First North Carolina Volunteers and nicknamed the Bethel Regiment. Chapman resides in Raleigh, North Carolina.