56th Infantry Regiment completed its organization in July, 1862, at Camp Magnum, near Raleigh, North Carolina. Its members were recruited in the counties of Camden, Cumberland, Pasquotank, Northampton, Orange, Cleveland, Alexander, Rutherford, and Mecklenburg. The unit was on reconnaissance between Goldsboro, Wilmington, and Tarboro, then served on the Blackwater. Attached to M.W. Ransom's Brigade, it fought at Gum Swamp, Plymouth, and Drewry's Bluff, endured the hardships of the Petersburg trenches south of the James River, and saw action around Appomattox. The regiment had 149 men captured at Gum Swamp, lost 4 killed and 84 wounded at Plymouth, and reported 90 casualties at Ware Bottom Church. Many were disabled at Sayler's Creek, and only 9 officers and 62 men surrenderd with the Army of Northern Virginia. The field officers were Colonel Paul F. Faison, Lieutenant Colonel G. Gratiott Luke, and Majors John W. Graham and Henry F. Schenck.