James T. Rozzell of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina joined his older brother William in Co. B (Hornets Nest Rifles), 1st North Carolina Infantry on 23 June 1861. Rozzell was mustered out on 12 November 1861, but the regiment was reorganized and on 9 May the 19-year old Rozzell was reunited with his brother in Co. E, 11th North Carolina State Troops at Camp Holmes near Wilmington. James Rozzell was present in the ranks during the 11th’s early campaigns in defense of eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, and was promoted 1st Corporal on 12 July 1862. At the engagement at White Hall on 16 December 1862 the 11th “drove the enemy in confusion from the field”. As a result of his actions during this engagement, James T. Rozzell was promoted 4th Sergeant effective 16 December 1862. Unlike his brother, Sergeant James Rozzell survived the Battle of Gettysburg and was present in the ranks when the 11th North Carolina fought at Bristoe Station on 14 October 1863. But James Rozzell’s run of good fortune was about to end. At the Battle of the Wilderness on the morning of 5 May 1864, as part of William W. Kirkland’s brigade the 11th formed the advance guard of Henry Heth’s division and spearheaded an attack down the Orange Plank Road which nearly resulted in the capture of a key road junction. That afternoon Kirkland’s brigade was initially held in reserve behind the division’s center on Orange Plank Road, but during the course of a four-hour struggle against elements of five Federal divisions Kirkland’s regiments were parceled out to left and right in support of the front line located mainly in dense thickets and underbrush. During this engagement Sergeant James Rozzell was mortally wounded; he is listed as having “died of wounds received…May 5 1864”. It is probable James Rozzell’s remains are among the 2,100 unknown graves of Confederate soldiers at the Confederate and City Cemeteries, Fredericksburg, Virginia. James T. Rozzell’s name appears on the Roll of Honor of the 11th Regiment, North Carolina Troops. The period photograph shows wounded soldiers at Fredericksburg in 1864.