Confederate 1/2 Pl. Ambro of William Penn Metts, New Bern Light Infantry, N.C. For Sale

Confederate 1/2 Pl. Ambro of William Penn Metts, New Bern Light Infantry, N.C.
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Confederate 1/2 Pl. Ambro of William Penn Metts, New Bern Light Infantry, N.C.:
$6500.00

Up for sale is a super rare 1/2 plate ambrotype of Lieutenant William Penn Metts when he served in the New Bern Light Infantry militia organization. The image is in excellent condition and off the charts for clarity, contrast and composition. It has a three dimensional look about it. Lt. Metts is seated cradling his officers sword and wearing a double-breasted dress jacket with swallow tails and his summer dress trousers. His officers shako is adorn with ostrich feathers and sits on the table with the initials NLI (New Bern Light Infantry) pinned to the front. I purchased it at a North Carolina sale several years ago and it has been in my collection ever since. It comes in the original full leatherette case with identification applied to the felt by the family. Good luck offerding.
Greg Mast, a North Carolina historian and author of State Troops and Volunteers: A Photographic Record of North Carolina\'s Civil War Soldiers provided the following information:

William Penn Metts


It is very probable that he is in the \"Elm City Rifles,\" a New Bern volunteer company when the photo was taken just before the war. However, the letters on the hat appear to me to be N L I in mirror. That would be the \"New Bern Light Infantry,\" another volunteer company (Note: \"New Bern\" is the original and the modern spelling of the town. In the mid-nineteenth century it was usually spelled \"Newbern.\"

The \"Elm City Rifles\" became Company K, 2nd Regiment N.C. State Troops, and the \"New Bern Light Infantry.\"

After the war started, he was firstlieutenant of a volunteer company in the Craven County militiaregiment known as the \"Athens Guard.\" When Burnside\'s expedition cameinto North Carolina in early 1862, the militia in the coastal counties aroundNew Bern were called out. Instead of using the existing militia regiments, themen were organized into a unit called \"Clark\'s Special Battalion N.C. Militia,\"comprising men from several counties. Metts was first lieutenant of Company Bof that unit.

The militia battalion fought in theBattle of New Bern. Unaccountably, they were deployed in the very center of theConfederate line, in the most vulnerable place around a brickyard. They ofcourse broke very quickly and that made the Confederate lines untenable andensured the defeat. They did however sustain pretty heavy casualties. Theyseemingly were disbanded about a week after the battle.

Metts enlisted in a local defensecompany, Company A, 8th Battalion N.C. Partisan Rangers, on June 27, 1862. Hewas captured in an unspecified action on January 23, 1863 and was subsequentlyparoled (and presumably declared exchanged). The 8th Partisan Rangers Battalionbasically operated in the no-man\'s-land between Kinston and New Bern. In August1863 the battalion was converted to regular infantry and consolidated withanother battalion, the 13 Battalion N.C. Infantry, to form a new regiment, the66th Regiment N.C. Troops. Metts served in Company F until he deserted onOctober 10, 1863. on December 22 he enlisted in Company F, 2nd Regiment N.C.Infantry (U.S.) He died of pneumonia in a New Bern hospital in March 1864.


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