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Civil War Genealogy Database

14th North Carolina Infantry


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	Sgt. Ivy Ritchie has the distinction of being the last Confederate soldier killed on the day of the surrender, April 9, 1865. The Stanly News and Press (Albemarle, NC) June 5, 2006 Honoring Ivy Ritchie Locals fight to get Civil War headstone corrected By Jim Lisk, Staff Writer Sunday, June 4, 2006 - Once history is written, it sometimes seems to require an act of Congress to straighten things out. Local residents found out just how long and arduous the task can be when they tried to correct the tombstone of Stanly County native Ivy Ritchie, who was the last North Carolina Confederate to die in the Civil War. Here’s what happened to Ritchie, the namesake of a local Confederate Sons of America post. During the early morning hours of April 9, 1865, Confederate forces from North Carolina charged Union cannon positions at Appomattox in an attempt to open an escape route for Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Northern Army of Virginia. As the Confederate forces moved forward, Gen. William Cox’s Brigade encountered deadly Union artillery fire. “The enemy from our left, opened a battery of artillery upon us, firing right up our line, as we went across the open field.....shells burst about 12-15 feet to my left, killing Sgt. Ivy Ritchie and wounding five others,” wrote one member of Cox’s Brigade in his diary. Later that day, Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, bringing to an end the bloodiest war in American history. As the sun set on Appomattox that April 9, Stanly County native Ivy Ritchie, a member of the 14th N.C. Regiment, became the last of more than 40,000 North Carolinians to give their lives in this horrific war. Days later, the 14th Regiment chaplain and two soldiers from the 14th told Ritchie’s younger brother Marvel, a member of the 28th N.C. Regiment, that Ivy had been killed. In his efforts to have Ivy properly remembered in history, Marvel wrote in a 1923 letter of the actions he took when he first learned of his brother’s death. “We went to the freshly dug grave, opened the grave and found it was Ivy....It has been 58 years since and no one has ever disputed this statement,” Marvel wrote. Ivy’s body was later exhumed and reinterred in Poplar Grove National Cemetery near Petersburg, Va. His tombstone today reads: “J. RICHIE, SGT. CO. H. 14TH N.Y. INF. DIED APRIL 9, 1865.” Since he first learned of Ivy Ritchie’s life over 10 years ago, Albemarle businessman Jim Harwood, a Wake Forest history major and self-proclaimed history buff, led efforts to form the Ivy Ritchie Chapter of the Confederate Sons of America. “Our unit is interested in the history of the Civil War. We put Southern Crosses of Honor on the graves of those that served in the war,” Harwood said. “We started with seven members and have grown to over 180 members today.” Back in March 1996, Harwood’s request to have Ivy Ritchie’s homeplace be designated with a N.C. Highway Historical Marker was denied. Efforts to have Ivy Ritchie’s tombstone replaced and to show that he was from North Carolina, not New York, has been a long, arduous task. But with the help of Anthony Way of Indian Trail, who solicited the assistance of Sen. Elizabeth Dole in February 2006, the 10-year effort recently received the long awaited news. In a letter to Dole dated May 9, 2006, Bob Kirby, superintendent of Petersburg National Cemetery wrote: “We were advised that the National Parks Service (NPS) has recently received funding for a major renovation project that will begin in FY 2010, which will involve the replacement of several headstones. NPS has agreed to replace the headstone for Sgt. Ritchie once the renovations project begins.” Harwood was especially appreciative of the efforts of Debbie King in Dole’s Raleigh office for her tireless efforts. “She was a delight to work with and a great help in getting our request approved,” Harwood said. Harwood says that when the tombstone is finally changed, he and other members of the Ivy Ritchie Chapter will travel to Petersburg for a memorial service and to sprinkle Stanly County red clay on the grave of this American hero. Who was Ivy Ritchie? • Born 1839 to Charles and Margaret Ritchie in Montgomery County (now Stanly County after its division from Montgomery) in 1841. • Was a farmer prior to 1861. • Enlisted as a private in the Stanly Marksmen, the first unit in Stanly County, May 5, 1861. • Marched out of Albemarle as young women stood on a second-floor hotel balcony, singing the state song, “The Old North State,” May 23, 1861. • Assigned to the 14th N.C. Regiment Company H and remained in that unit for the duration of the Civil War. • Captured at Sharpsburg. Md., Sept. 17, 1862. • Confined at Fort Delaware, then exchanged at Aiken’s Landing, Va., Nov. 10, 1862. • Married Clara Sophia Christina Ridenhour in Stanly County while on leave, Dec. 14, 1862. • Wounded at Chancellorsville, May 10, 1863 and promoted to corporal two days later. • Rejoined Company H, July-August 1863. • Participated in every major engagement of the Army of Northern Virginia, including the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor in 1864. • Promoted to Sergeant July 1, 1864. • Killed at Appomattox April 9, 1865. • Buried at Appomattox Station. • Body moved to Poplar Grove National Cemetery and interred in Grave 4824 as Ivy Ritchie from New York state.
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