On June 9, 1862, Colonel George B. Anderson of the 4th North Carolina Infantry was promoted to brigadier general and given command of a new brigade of four North Carolina regiments in Major General Daniel Harvey Hill’s Division of Longstreet’s Command, Army of Northern Virginia.

The four regiments were:
2nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Colonel Charles C. Tew, from the Department of North Carolina.

4th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Anderson’s former regiment, now commanded by Colonel E.A. Osborne, from Featherston’s Brigade.

14th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Colonel Risden Tyler Bennett, from Featherston’s Brigade.

30th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Colonel Francis M. Parker, from the Department of North Carolina.

On July 1 at the Battle of Malvern Hill Anderson was wounded. Command of the brigade was assumed by Colonel Tew of the 2nd North Carolina until after the Second Battle of Manassas, when Anderson returned.

Anderson was mortally wounded in the Battle of South Mountain on September 14, 1862. He would die on October 17. Colonel Charles C. Tew briefly took command of the brigade before he was killed, when Colonel Daniel H. Christie from Garland’s Brigade took temporary command. Finally Colonel R. Tyler Bennett of the 14th North Carolina took over. He would command the brigade as senior colonel until November 7, 1862, when Colonel Stephen Dodson Ramseur was promoted to brigadier general and assigned to the brigade, which would afterwards bear his name.