The total white population of the eleven seceding states was 5,441,320 – North Carolina’s was 629,942, and it was third in white population. North Carolina, however, provided more troops to the Confederacy than any other Southern state. 

On November 19, 1864, Adjutant-General R. C. Gatlin, a most careful and systematic officer, made an official report to the governor on this subject. The following figures, compiled from that report by Mr. John Neathery, give the specific information: 

--Number of troops transferred to the Confederate service, according to original rolls on file in this office: 64,636

--Number of conscripts between ages of 18 and 45, as per report of Commandant of Conscripts, dated September 30, 1864: 18,585

--Number of recruits that have volunteered in the different companies since date of original rolls (compiled): 21,608

--Number of troops in unattached companies and serving in regiments from other states: 3,103

--Number of regular troops in State service: 3,203

Total offensive troops: 111,135

--To these must be added: Junior reserves: 4,217

--Senior reserves: 5,686

Total troops in active service: 121,038

--Then, organized and subject to emergency service in the State, Home Guard, and Militia: 3,962

Total troops, armed, equipped and mustered into State or Confederate service: 125,000 

Remarkable proof of the State’s brave devotion to the Confederacy is noteworthy in this connection. As shown by the 1860 census, the total number of men in North Carolina between the ages of 20 and 60, the extreme limits of military service, was 128,889. Subtract the 125,000 troops furnished, and it reveals the extraordinary fact that there were only 3,889 men subject to military duty who were not in some form of military service. Most of these 3,889 were exempted because they were serving the State in the following civil capacities: magistrates, county officers, dispensers of public food, etc. So, practically, every man in the State was serving the State or the Confederacy.

Source: North Carolina and the American Civil War

Transcribed by Matthew D. Parker

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