Colonel Henry K. Burgwyn, Jr. had never seen such deadly fighting. Although only 21, the "boy colonel" had endured enemy fire at the battles of Malvern Hill and New Berne — but he had never envisioned the firestorm his regiment would encounter on the first day of battle at Gettysburg. Held in reserve on July 1,1863, the men of the 26th North Carolina watched and waited for hours as the fighting raged back and forth before them. Finally, at 2 p.m., they were ordered into battle, charged with driving Federal forces off McPherson's Ridge. They advanced in a battle line, their color-bearer leading the way. After crossing a shallow, briar-infested creek called Willoughby Run, they headed up the wooded slope of McPherson's Ridge into "a galling fire" unleashed by the Federal army's heralded Iron Brigade.
One after another, the 26th's color-bearers were shot down. Second Lieutenant George Wilcox was the llth man to pick up the 26th's fallen flag. "After we had driven the enemy slowly but steadily about halfway up that long wooded hill," Wilcox later recalled, "I saw Captain [W.W. McCreery] in front of me, lying flat on the flag, dead. I pulled it from under him and started on with it. I was shot twice, the second time in the foot, which for a few moments numbed my leg so that I had to stop."

Seeing Wilcox go down and the charge wavering, Colonel Burgwyn took the flag. Scores of men had already fallen around him, and part of the young officer's sword scabbard had been shot away. Every man who had carried the flag had been killed or wounded, but the troops had to be rallied — so Burgwyn held the flag aloft. Within seconds he was mortally wounded. Another soldier took up the flag and was shot down, then the bloodied banner was picked by Burgwyn's second-in-command, Lieutenant Colonel John R. Lane. "Twenty-sixth, follow me," Lane shouted and the North Carolinians rushed forward "yelling like demons." Moments later, Lane too was shot down and the flag fell for the fourteenth time. However, the Federal line broke and the first day at Gettysburg belonged to the Southerners.

The 26th North Carolina Infantry, according to one of its commanders, was composed of men from "the great middle class that owned small farms in central and western North Carolina." The regiment was organized at Camp Crabtree near Raleigh on August 27,1861. Its first commanding officer was Colonel Zebulon B. Vance. On September 2,1861, the regiment was transferred to the North Carolina coast near Morehead City. Under the instruction of Lieutenant Colonel Henry K. Burgwyn, Jr., an alumnus of the Virginia Military Institute and the University of North Carolina, the 26th gained a reputation as one of the best-drilled regiments in Confederate service.
The regiment's baptism of fire came on March 14,1862 at the Battle of New Berne, where the 26th was serving in a 4,000-man force under General Lawrence Branch. Although compelled to retreat with the rest of Branch's force, the 26th North Carolina distinguished itself in battle. The regiment was also engaged in the Seven Days Battles near Richmond, seeing action at King's School House and Malvern Hill as part of General Robert Ransom's brigade. In August of 1862, the regiment was transferred to General James Johnston Pettigrew's brigade, and served in southern Virginia and eastern North Carolina.

In June of 1863, the 26th North Carolina — serving in Pettigrew's Brigade, General Henry Heth's Division, General A.P. Hill's III Corps — joined the Army of Northern Virginia for General Robert E. Lee's Northern invasion. At Gettysburg on July 1,1863, the 26th North Carolina broke the Federal defensive line on McPherson's Ridge — but at a horrendous cost. The regiment began the assault with approximately 800 troops; when it ended, less than 250 were alive and unhurt. Moments before he was killed in the charge, Colonel Burgwyn received a message from General Pettigrew: "Tell him his regiment has covered itself with glory today."
The 26th rested on the second day of battle, then joined Pettigrew's Brigade for Pickett's Charge on July 3. Pettigrew's Brigade covered the longest distance of the famous, failed assault — and troops of the 26th were not turned back until face-to-face with the Federal defenders atop Cemetery Ridge. Afterwards, when the regiment's surviving troops assembled for roll call, no more than three officers and 67 men were available to answer. By some accounts, the 26th North Carolina suffered the highest number of casualties in a single battle of any regiment in the war and became known as "The Bloody 26th."
After Gettysburg, the 26th North Carolina suffered further losses at the Battle of Bristoe Station. The regiment remained in the Army of Northern Virginia, although its ranks were severely depleted. In 1864 and 1865, the regiment was engaged in some of the bloodiest fighting of the Virginia theater — Battle of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Reams' Station, and Hatcher's Run. The battered but valiant 26th remained a part of Lee's army until the end, surrendering at Appomattox on April 9,1865. Of the estimated 1,200 troops who had served in "The Bloody 26th" during the war, only 120 were present at Appomattox.