C O L L E CT ION

Originally published June 2023 · pp. 37

Left: Thomas Alston Martin enlisted May 8, 1861, into Company E, 13th North Carolina State Troops as a private, he would soon be promoted to corporal and then sergeant. His leadership skills leading his company did not go unnoticed. He received his 1st commission as 3rd lieutenant. April 26, 1862, he would be promoted twice more until a captain November 17, 1862. Captain Martin is photographed wearing regulation double breasted frock coat with captain’s collar insignia probably late 1862 after promotion.

Right: Captain Martin is photographed here mid-war just before Gettysburg, less than a year older, but now has grown a little facial hair. He is apparently wearing the same frock coat worn more casually with open collar and stylish headgear from the above photograph. Captain Martin led his men in Dorsey Pender’s Division against Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg July 1, 1863, where he was badly wounded with a gunshot to left hip. He was evacuated to a Richmond military hospital, then sent home to recuperate. It would take over a year for his rehabilitation, but he returned to the 13th NC in July 1864 and was promoted to major January 1865. He surrendered with the Thirteenth at Appomattox and returned home to his family only to die three years later at the age of 26 from lingering effects of his wound. At Gettysburg there were 232 men and officers of the 13th North Carolina Infantry engaged; 28 were killed, 112 were wounded, 22 were captured, and one missing. Over 2,400 men would serve in the 13th over the course of the war, only 22 officers and 193 men surrendered at Appomattox. He died in 1868.