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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