.....The “Duplin Rifles” (organized at Kenansville in 1859) entered the army in April, 1861, as volunteers, under Thomas S. Kenan, Captain; Thomas S. Watson, First Lieutenant; William A. Allen and John W. Hinson, Second Lieutenants; and was immediately ordered into the Camp of Instruction at Raleigh.  It was mustered in for six months with the First Regiment of Volunteers, and assigned to it under Colonel D.H. Hill, but as this regiment had more companies than the number allowed by army regulations, the “Duplin Rifles” and “Lumberton Guards” were taken out, and with eight other companies, formed the Second Volunteers and elected Sol. Williams, Colone; Edward Cantwell, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Augustus W. Burton, Major; the “Duplin Rifles” being company C.
.....The regiment was ordered to Virginia in May, 1861, (a few days after the First Regiment) and served in and around Norfolk, without special incident , except at Sewell’s Point, where a detachment consisting of this and three other companies was subjected to repeated shellings from the long-range guns of the Union troops stationed at the “Rip-Raps.” At the expiration of the term of service of the “Duplin Rifles” and “Lumberton Guards” they were mustered out, and the regiment supplied with other companies in their stead, and numbered the Twelfth Regiment of State Troops, after the re-organization.
.....Upon the return of the company to Duplin county, it was reorganized under a notice dated 23 December 1861, for the war, by electing Thomas S. Kenan, Captain; James G. Kenan, First Lieutenant; Robert B. Carr and John W. Hinson, Second Lieutenants; ordered to Raleigh in March, 1862, and assigned to the Forty-third Regiment as Company A. It therefore belonged to three different regiments.
.....Some of the officers and men of the company, “C,” organized other companies in Duplin county and likewise enlisted for the war.
.....From a roster kept by Sergeant B.F. Hall, it appears that there were fifty-six on the roll at the close of the war, thirty-five of whom were either in prison, on parole or detail, and no deserter from the company during the entire war.  Twenty-one surrendered with the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox on 9 April, 1865, to-wit: Thomas J. Bostic, William R. Kenan, Benjamin F. Hall, William B. Blalock, William N. Brinson, James D. Brown, LaFayette W. Brown, Alex. Chambers, Thomas E. Davis, Lewis J. Grady, R.M.S. Grady, Alex. Guy, James G. Halso, Jesse Horne, Hargett Kornegay, Jere J. Pearsall, Lewis J. Rich, Calvin I. Rogers, John E. Smith, Jere Strickland, Frank A. Simmons.
.....The roster also shows that the number killed was 25, died of disease, 22; disabled by wounds, 1-; discharged for disability, 12; transferred to other regiments, or companies, 5.

THOS. S. KENAN
Raleigh, N.C.,
9 April, 1901

(Source: Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-’65.  Written by members of the Respective Commands. Edited by Walter Clark, Lieut. Colonel Seventieth Regiment, N.C.T. Vol. III. Published by the state. 1901. Pages 19-20)