The Raleigh Farmer and Mechanic
January 05, 1909.
COL JOHN R LANE
HAS PASSED AWAY
Was Colonel of Famous
N. C. Regiment
FUNERAL TOMORROW
Valiant Leader Of The 26th North Carolina Regiment Passes Away At His Home At Ore Hill, In Chatham County, —After An Illness Of Several Months Was A Brave Soldier, A Valiant Officer And One Of The States Best Citizens, Loved And Revered By Thousands.
1. J. R. Lane 2. H. K. Burgwyn 3. Z. B. VanceThree Colonels of the Famous 26th North Carolina Regiment.
(Special to News and Observer.)
Ore Hill. N. C. Dec. 31. Col. John R. Lane died at his home here this afternoon at four o'clock. His name is known throughout the State and the South as the valiant leader of the famous Twenty-Sixth North Carolina Regiment, in the Confederate army. He had been ill for several months and his death was not unexpected, yet it comes as a. shock to his friends here, and the announcement will bring sadness to the hearts of the veterans of the State, as well as thousands of others who knew him as a citizen and soldier.
Col. Lane was one of the wealthiest citizens of Chatham county, but was a quiet, unimposing and unpretentious gentlemen of the very flower of the school of the Old South. He was a kindly husband and father, a lovable and congenial neighbor and a most excellent citizen. His death is a distinct loss to Chatham county. He was a loyal member of the Baptist church.
The deceased is survived by his wife, one son. Mr. Leon T. Lane, and Mrs. R. N. Gorrell, all of Ore Hill.
The funeral will be conducted from the residence Saturday at noon, and the interment will be made in the burying ground near by.
Sketch of Col. Lane's Life.
Col. John Randolph Lane had passed his seventy-third birthday on the Fourth of July, 1908, and until a short time ago was in vigorous manhood, having become after the war a prosperous merchant and large land owner in his native county. Rightly placed among: the bravest of the brave, a soldier of soldiers, a man among men, he was beloved and esteemed and admired by a great host, friends who knew him and friends who had only heard of him. That his critical condition was not realized until a few days ago, when Mr. H. C. Brown, of this city, his nephew, arrived. In Volume two of Judge Walter Clark's Regimental Histories the following sketch of his life is given:
John Randolph Lane was born in Chatham county, 4 July, 1835, and was a direct descendent of Joel Lane, of Wake county, from whom the land on which the city of Raleigh is located was bought. General Joe Lane, the Vice-Presidential candidate in 1860, on the Breckinridge and Lane. ticket, was his near relative.
He inlisted as a private in Company G, and soon became a Corporal. On the resignation; of his captain, in 1861, he was elected over the heads of all his commissioned officers to command the company. He was reelected Captain at the reorganization of the regiment in the spring of 1862. At the battle of New Bern, Captain Lane was complimented for bravery and coolness under fire, and in the night attack on June 25, 1862, upon his regiment, while on picket, referred to in the body of this history, his company was one of the three which stood firm under such a trying ordeal.
On the promotion of Lieutenant Colonel Burgwyn, to the Colonelcy, the position of the major also being vacant, owing to the death of Major Kendall, Captain Lane was promoted over several senior Captains to be Lieutenant-Colonel. After the battle of Gettysburg, he was made full Colonel, his commission bore the date of July 1, 1863, in recognition on that battlefield. Seeing his Colonel fall, he immediately assumed command, and realizing that if the death of their Colonel was known it would have a depressing effect upon the men, he did not impart it to the regiment, but inspired his men with the cheering words that fell from the lips of his stricken commander, and seizing his flag, calls upon his men to follow him. All depended now on Colonel Lane. There is a line of the enemy yet to be broken, and there is only a handful of his men left to do the work. We have now seen how the crisis was met and the glorious victory and its cost. General Pettigrew anxiously watching the contest, when he saw the enemy giving away on their last line before the desperate charge of the regiment, with Colonel Lane at its head, exclaims: “It is the bravest act I ever saw.” As described in the body of this article. Colonel Lane was thought to be mortally wounded, but escaping capture, he returned to duty in the fall of 1863. Wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness, May 3, 1864, he refused a furlough. Again wounded in right leg at Yellow Tavern, south of Petersburg, in the summer of 1864, but refused to leave the field. At Reams' Station, August 23, 1864, he was wounded in left breast, just over the heart by a piece of shell, fracturing two ribs and breaking one, and tearing open the flesh to the bone. Supposed to be mortally wounded, he wonderfully recovered and returned to duty November, 1864; remained in command until broken down by exposure and suffering from his wounds he went to the hospital for treatment, and was at Daiville, Va., when the remnant of his heroic regiment surrendered at appomattox. He was paroled at Greensboro, N. C, on May 2, 1865, and returned to his home to take up the struggle for a living he had laid aside four years before.
Since the war Colonel Lane has become a prosperous merchant and large land owner in his native county, all accumulated by his untiring energy, business ability and thrift. He was conspicuous for his liberality and devotion to the old comrades of his immortal regiment.
The Farmer and Mechanic, Raleigh, N.C., January 05, 1909, Page 8.