37th U.S.C.T. Infantry Regiment

The early history of the 37th was similar to that of North Carolina’s other two U.S.C.T. infantry regiments: the 35th U.S.C.T. and 36th U.S.C.T. The soldiers enlisted in both North Carolina and Virginia. The regiment consolidated in Portsmouth, VA and finally mustered in February 1864. Colonel Nathan Goff, Jr., a veteran commander wounded earlier in the war, became commander of the new regiment.

Donnell Plantation Enslaved Enlist
Formerly enslaved men who came from nearby Hyde County to Roanoke Island in 1863 formed Company E in the regiment. From the Donnell plantation, they contacted the Union Army after the owner fled the incoming Union army. Union officers launched an expedition to find over 200 formerly enslaved people at the plantation. After locating them, they helped bring them to the Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony. Once the families settled, fifty-eight of the men enlisted for service. Much of what we know of the Donnell colonists comes from the widow pensions of Fanny Whitney and Julia Benson.

Richmond and the Following Battles

Goff led the regiment at the battle of New Market Heights outside of Richmond and later against Fort Fisher in North Carolina. While not involved in the direct assault on the Confederacy’s last blockade runner port, they advanced on Wilmington, splitting the Confederate army’s attention. The regiment operated in eastern North Carolina for the rest of the war. Their advance brought valuable supplies and reinforcements inland for Major General William T. Sherman’s army as it marched through the South.

After the war, the regiment garrisoned various points in the state until it mustered out of service on February 11, 1867.