The Rowan Rifle Guards: A History of Company K, 4th North Carolina State Troops 1857-1865

The Rowan Rifle Guards formed in 1857 as a Volunteer rifle company in Salisbury, North Carolina, in an era when zealous young men viewed membership as more of a social stepping stone than military service. When the Civil War erupted in 1861 the naive volunteers hastily stepped forward to help garrison the North Carolina coast against an expected Federal invasion. Soon re-designated as Company K, 4th North Carolina State Troops, the Rowan Rifles served in every bloody engagement waged by the Army of Northern Virginia. As in all wars, the harsh realities of active campaigns quickly destroyed any misconceptions of finding glory in war, and the excited volunteers soon became battle hardened veterans. This work offers candid, personal accounts written by soldiers who participated in the epic struggle that tested not only their devotion to principle, but also to each other. In this way, the reader sees the war from a common soldier’s perspective, rather than relying on secondary narratives focused on dry statistics and strategies alone to tell the story. Ultimately, a shattered Company K surrendered sixteen survivors at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, as a testament to the terrible price paid for their devotion.