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During the Battle at Gaines Mill, VA, Major General Ewell
ordered the 7th Regiment to change its position from the
woods and to cross a swamp and felled trees,. Then the 7th
Regiment was to go up a hill to where the Union forces were
entrenched. The 7th Regiment commander, Colonel Campbell,
was mortally wounded in the charge. Corporal Henry T. Fight
(Rowan County , NC) of Company F was carrying the colors
when he was shot down. Then Corporal James Harris of Company
I grabbed the colors and he, too, was shot. It was at this
point that Colonel Campbell took the colors. Ordering his
men not to shoot until he gave the order, he advanced 20
paces in front of his men. Campbell was also shot and died
on the field. Lt. Duncan Haywood, commanding Company E.
seized the flag and he too was killed. The flag of the 7th
Regiment was then carried from the field by Corporal L.B.
Peavy of Company C. The flag staff had been shot into. By
that time, it was nightfall Nearly half of the 7th Regiment
had been destroyed. The flag had literally been shot to
pieces and had 32 mini-ball holes in it. The Battle Flag
attested to the heavy fire that the 7th Regiment endured in
this battle.
During the battle of Gettysburg, on July 3, 1863, this
battle flag was captured by Union troops during the
Picket-Pettigrew charge against Cemetery Ridge. It was later
returned to the State of North Carolina and is now in the
museum of the North Carolina Office of Archives and History.
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