Who was the highest ranking officer from nc during the civil war?

Answer 1

Theophilus H. Holmes, who was promoted to Lieutenant General (three stars) while serving west of the Mississippi. Lee had had Holmes transferred out of his Army of Northern Virginia because he felt Holmes, who was mostly deaf and fairly old, did not measure up. He was not popular in the Trans-Mississippi Department, either.

The only other North Carolinian to serve as a Lieutenant General was Daniel Harvey Hill. He was a much better general than Holmes, but was very outspoken. He may have offended the wrong people, because even though he was nominated to the rank of Lieutenant General, he was never confirmed in that rank by the Confederate Congress. So, officially, Hill's highest rank was Major General, though he did command a corps in both the eastern and western theaters - normally a job for a three star.

North Carolina seems not to have been completely trusted by the Confederate government, perhaps for its perceived tardiness in seceding, or for its fractious governor, whose campaign platform was "fight with the Yankees and fuss with the Confederacy". North Carolina provided more troops to the southern armies than any other southern state (including Virginia) and had more dead than any other southern state (including Virginia). This leading contribution was not recognized by promoting North Carolinians in proportion to high rank. There were eight full, four star Confederate generals. One of them, Braxton Bragg, was born in North Carolina but was more closely associated with Louisiana, which he claimed as his home. There were twenty-three Confederate Lieutenant Generals and only the two above were from NC.

Answer 2

Army General William White Hartzog, a native of Wilmington, NC