He Survived Gettysburg—Then Came the Horror: 26th North Carolina

On July 1, 1863, the 26th North Carolina Infantry marched into one of the most savage fights of the Battle of Gettysburg. Waiting for them near Willoughby’s Run and McPherson’s Ridge were the men of the 24th Michigan and the famed Iron Brigade. What followed was slaughter. The 26th North Carolina entered the battle with roughly 800 men. By the time the fighting was over, nearly three-quarters of the regiment had become casualties. Among the wounded was a young North Carolinian named Private William R. Payne. Payne survived. His wound was considered slight, and when Robert E. Lee’s army retreated from Gettysburg, Payne was able to leave Pennsylvania on foot. But Gettysburg would only be the beginning of his story. Captured shortly afterward, Payne was eventually sent to the Union prisoner-of-war camp at Point Lookout, Maryland. There, hundreds of miles from his family in Caldwell County, North Carolina, sickness, hunger, exposure and imprisonment began taking their toll. Before Payne died in March 1864, a fellow prisoner promised to send word home to his father. He also cut a lock of Payne’s hair. The message that eventually reached North Carolina contained the heartbreaking final words Payne wanted his father to hear: “Father, I’m coming home.” But William Payne never physically returned home. In this episode of History with Waffles, we walk the actual ground at Gettysburg where the 26th North Carolina fought the 24th Michigan, cross Willoughby’s Run, climb the slopes toward Herbst Woods and McPherson’s Ridge, and follow one young soldier from the bloodshed of July 1, 1863, to his final days as a prisoner of war. This is not simply the story of generals and armies. It is the story of one private soldier—and what happened after the guns of Gettysburg fell silent. #Gettysburg #CivilWar #History #26thNorthCarolina #24thMichigan #PointLookout #AmericanCivilWar #GettysburgBattlefield 00:00 The Horrific Fate of a Gettysburg Survivor 02:08 Battle of Gettysburg — July 1, 1863 07:15 Pvt. William Payne & the 26th North Carolina 12:18 26th North Carolina vs. 24th Michigan 16:46 Battle for Willoughby’s Run & Herbst Woods 24:35 Gettysburg’s Deadly Fight at McPherson’s Ridge 27:41 William Payne Wounded at Gettysburg 28:21 Captured After the Battle of Gettysburg 32:17 Point Lookout — Civil War POW Camp 36:11 “Father, I’m Coming Home” — Payne’s Final Days