CONFEDERATE
MILITARY HISTORY
[Illustration]
A LIBRARY OF CONFEDERATE
STATES HISTORY, IN TWELVE
VOLUMES, WRITTEN BY
DISTINGUISHED MEN OF THE SOUTH,
AND EDITED BY GEN. CLEMENT
A. EVANS OF GEORGIA.....
[Illustration]
VOL. V.
[Illustration]
Atlanta, Ga.
Confederate Publishing Company
1899
[Illustration]
COPYRIGHT, 1899,
BY CONFEDERATE PUBLISHING COMPANY.
[Illustration]
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER I. Spirit of Secession--The State Militia--Charleston
and the Forts--The Violated Agreement--Major Anderson
Occupies Fort Sumter--South Carolina Occupies Pinckney
and Moultrie--The Star of the West--Fort Sumter
Surrendered--Carolinians in Virginia--Battle of Manassas 4
CHAPTER II. Affairs on the Coast--Loss of Port Royal Harbor--Gen.
R. E. Lee in Command of the Department--Landing
of Federals at Port Royal Ferry--Gallant Fight on
Edisto Island--General Pemberton Succeeds Lee
in Command--Defensive Line, April, 1862 29
CHAPTER III. South Carolinians in Virginia--Battle of
Williamsburg--Eltham's Landing--Seven Pines and Fair
Oaks--Nine-Mile Road--Gaines' Mill--Savage Station--Frayser's
Farm--Malvern Hill 43
CHAPTER IV. The Coast of South Carolina, Summer of 1862--Operations
under General Pemberton--Engagement at
Old Pocotaligo--Campaign on James Island--Battle of
Secessionville 76
CHAPTER V. General Beauregard in Command--The Defenses
of Charleston--Disposition of Troops--Battle of
Pocotaligo--Repulse of Enemy at Coosawhatchie Bridge--Operations
in North Carolina--Battle of Kinston--Defense
of Goldsboro 94
CHAPTER VI. South Carolinians in the West--Manigault's
and Lythgoe's Regiments at Corinth--The Kentucky Campaign--Battle
of Murfreesboro 111
CHAPTER VII. With Lee in Northern Virginia, 1862--The
Maneuvers on the Rappahannock--Second Manassas Campaign--Battle
of Ox Hill 120
CHAPTER VIII. The Maryland Campaign--The South
Mountain Battles--Capture of Harper's Ferry--Battles of
Sharpsburg and Shepherdstown 140
CHAPTER IX. Hampton's Cavalry in the Maryland Raid--The
Battle of Fredericksburg--Death of Gregg--South Carolinians
at Marye's Hill--Cavalry Operations 165
CHAPTER X. Operations in South Carolina, Spring of 1863--Capture
of the Isaac Smith--Ingraham's Defeat of the
Blockading Squadron--Naval Attack on Fort Sumter--Hunter's
Raids 188
CHAPTER XI. South Carolina Troops in Mississippi--Engagement
near Jackson--The Vicksburg Campaign--Siege of
Jackson 203
CHAPTER XII. South Carolinians in the Chancellorsville
Campaign--Service of Kershaw's and McGowan's Brigades--A
Great Confederate Victory 213
CHAPTER XIII. Operations in South Carolina--Opening of
Gillmore's Campaign against Fort Sumter--The Surprise of
Morris Island--First Assault on Battery Wagner--Demonstrations
on James Island and Against the Railroad--Action
near Grimball's Landing 223
CHAPTER XIV. Second Assault on Battery Wagner--Siege
of Wagner and Bombardment of Fort Sumter--Evacuation
of Morris Island 235
CHAPTER XV. The Gettysburg Campaign--Gallant Service
of Perrin's and Kershaw's Brigades--Hampton's Cavalry
at Brandy Station 257
CHAPTER XVI. South Carolinians at Chickamauga--Organization
of the Armies--South Carolinians Engaged--Their
Heroic Service and Sacrifices 277
CHAPTER XVII. The Siege of Charleston--Continued Bombardment
of Fort Sumter--Defense Maintained by the Other
Works--The Torpedo Boats--Bombardment of the City--Transfer
of Troops to Virginia--Prisoners under Fire--Campaign
on the Stono 291
CHAPTER XVIII. South Carolinians with Longstreet and
Lee--Wauhatchie--Missionary Ridge--Knoxville--The Virginia
Campaign of 1864--From the Wilderness to the Battle
of the Crater 310
CHAPTER XIX. The Atlanta Campaign--Battles around
Atlanta--Jonesboro--Hood's Campaign in North Georgia--The
Defense of Ship's Gap--Last Campaign in Tennessee--Battle
of Franklin 328
CHAPTER XX. The Closing Scenes in Virginia--Siege of
Richmond and Petersburg--Fall of Fort Fisher--South Carolina
Commands at Appomattox 346
CHAPTER XXI. Battle of Honey Hill--Sherman's Advance
into South Carolina--Organization of the Confederate
Forces--Burning of Columbia--Battles of Averasboro and
Bentonville--Conclusion 354
BIOGRAPHICAL 373
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FACING PAGE.
BEE, BARNARD E. 392
BONHAM, M. L. 392
BRATTON, JOHN 392
BUTLER, M. C. 380, 392
CAPERS, ELLISON 1, 409
CHARLESTON, DEFENSES (Map) Between pages 296 and 297
CHESTNUT, JAMES 392
CONNOR, JAMES 416
DRAYTON, THOS. F. 392
DUNOVANT, JOHN 392
ELLIOTT, STEPHEN, JR. 392
EVANS, N. G. 392
FERGUSON, S. W. 416
GARY, M. W. 392
GIST, S. R. 416
GREGG, MAXCY 416
HAGOOD, JOHNSON 416
HONEY HILL, BATTLE (Map) 356
HUGER, BENJAMIN 409
JENKINS, MICAH 416
JONES, DAVID R. 416
KENNEDY, JOHN D. 416
KERSHAW, J. B. 409
LOGAN, J. M. 416
MCGOWAN, SAMUEL 409
MANIGAULT, A. M. 409
PERRIN, ABNER 409
PRESTON, JOHN S. 416
RIPLEY, ROSWELL S. 409
SOUTH CAROLINA (Map) Between pages 372 and 373
STEVENS, C. H. 409
VILLEPIGUE, J. B. 409
WALLACE, W. H. 409
[Illustration: ELLISON CAPERS]
SOUTH CAROLINA
BY
BRIG.-GEN. ELLISON CAPERS.
INTRODUCTORY.
The writer of the following sketch does not attempt, in the space
assigned him, to give a complete history of the various commands of
Carolinians, who for four years did gallant and noble service in the
armies of the Confederacy.
A faithful record of their names alone would fill the pages of a
volume, and to write a history of their marches and battles, their
wounds and suffering, their willing sacrifices, and their patient
endurance, would demand more accurate knowledge, more time and more
ability than the author of this sketch can command.
He trusts that in the brief history which follows he has been able to
show that South Carolina did her duty to herself and to the Southern
Confederacy, and did it nobly.
CHAPTER I.
SPIRIT OF SECESSION--THE STATE MILITIA--CHARLESTON AND THE FORTS--THE
VIOLATED AGREEMENT--MAJOR ANDERSON OCCUPIES FORT SUMTER--SOUTH
CAROLINA OCCUPIES PINCKNEY AND MOULTRIE--THE STAR OF THE WEST--FORT
SUMTER SURRENDERED--CAROLINIANS IN VIRGINIA--BATTLE OF MANASSAS.
From the time that the election of the President was declared, early
in November, 1860, the military spirit of the people of South Carolina
was thoroughly awake. Secession from the Union was in the air, and when
it came, on the 20th of December following, it was received as the
ultimate decision of duty and the call of the State to arms. The one
sentiment, everywhere expressed by the vast majority of the people,
was the sentiment of independence; and the universal resolve was the
determination to maintain the secession of the State at any and every
cost.
The militia of the State was, at the time, her only arm of defense, and
every part of it was put under orders.
Of the State militia, the largest organized body was the Fourth brigade
of Charleston, commanded by Brig.-Gen. James Simons. This body of
troops was well organized, well drilled and armed, and was constantly
under the orders of the governor and in active service from the 27th
of December, 1860, to the last of April, 1861. Some of the commands
continued in service until the Confederate regiments, battalions
and batteries were organized and finally absorbed all the effective
material of the brigade.
This efficient brigade was composed of the following commands:
First regiment of rifles: Col. J. J. Pettigrew, Lieut.-Col. John L.
Branch, Maj. Ellison Capers, Adjt. Theodore G. Barker, Quartermaster
Allen Hanckel, Commissary L. G. Young, Surg. George Trescot, Asst.
Surg. Thomas L. Ozier, Jr. Companies: Washington Light Infantry, Capt.
C. H. Simonton; Moultrie Guards, Capt. Barnwell W. Palmer; German
Riflemen, Capt. Jacob Small; Palmetto Riflemen, Capt. Alex. Melchers;
Meagher Guards, Capt. Edward McCrady, Jr.; Carolina Light Infantry,
Capt. Gillard Pinckney; Zouave Cadets, Capt. C. E. Chichester.
Seventeenth regiment: Col. John Cunningham, Lieut.-Col. William P.
Shingler, Maj. J. J. Lucas, Adjt. F. A. Mitchel. Companies: Charleston
Riflemen, Capt. Joseph Johnson, Jr.; Irish Volunteers, Capt. Edward
McGrath; Cadet Riflemen, Capt. W. S. Elliott; Montgomery Guards,
Capt. James Conner; Union Light Infantry, Capt. David Ramsay; German
Fusiliers, Capt. Samuel Lord, Jr.; Palmetto Guards, Capt. Thomas W.
Middleton; Sumter Guards, Capt. Henry C. King; Emmet Volunteers, Capt.
P. Grace; Calhoun Guards, Capt. John Fraser.
First regiment of artillery: Col. E. H. Locke, Lieut.-Col. W. G. De
Saussure, Maj. John A. Wagener, Adjt. James Simmons, Jr.
Light batteries: Marion Artillery, Capt. J. G. King; Washington
Artillery, Capt. George H. Walter; Lafayette Artillery, Capt. J. J.
Pope; German Artillery (A), Capt. C. Nohrden; German Artillery (B),
Capt. H. Harms.
Cavalry: Charleston Light Dragoons, Capt. B. H. Rutledge; German
Hussars, Capt. Theodore Cordes; Rutledge Mounted Riflemen, Capt. C. K.
Huger.
Volunteer corps in the fire department: Vigilant Rifles, Capt. S. V.
Tupper; Phœnix Rifles, Capt. Peter C. Gaillard; Ætna Rifles, Capt. E.
F. Sweegan; Marion Rifles, Capt. C. B. Sigwald.
Charleston, the metropolis and seaport, for a time absorbed the
interest of the whole State, for it was everywhere felt that the issue
of secession, so far as war with the government of the United States
was concerned, must be determined in her harbor. The three forts which
had been erected by the government for the defense of the harbor,
Moultrie, Castle Pinckney and Sumter, were built upon land ceded by the
State for that purpose, and with the arsenal and grounds in Charleston,
constituted the property of the United States.
The secession of South Carolina having dissolved her connection with
the government of the United States, the question of the possession
of the forts in the harbor and of the military post at the arsenal
became at once a question of vital interest to the State. Able
commissioners, Robert W. Barnwell, James H. Adams and James L. Orr,
were elected and sent by the convention of the State to treat with
the government at Washington for an amicable settlement of this
important question, and other questions growing out of the new relation
which South Carolina bore to the Union. Pending the action of the
commissioners in Washington, an unfortunate move was made by Maj.
Robert Anderson, of the United States army, who commanded the only
body of troops stationed in the harbor, which ultimately compelled the
return of the commissioners and led to the most serious complications.
An understanding had been established between the authorities in
Washington and the members of Congress from South Carolina, that the
forts would not be attacked, or seized as an act of war, until proper
negotiations for their cession to the State had been made and had
failed; provided that they were not reinforced, and their military
status should remain as it was at the time of this understanding, viz.,
on December 9, 1860.
Fort Sumter, in the very mouth of the harbor, was in an unfinished
state and without a garrison. On the night of the 26th of December,
1860, Maj. Robert Anderson dismantled Fort Moultrie and removed his
command by boats over to Fort Sumter. The following account of the
effect of this removal of Major Anderson upon the people, and the
action of the government, is taken from Brevet Major-General Crawford's
"Genesis of the Civil War." General Crawford was at the time on the
medical staff and one of Anderson's officers. His book is a clear and
admirable narrative of the events of those most eventful days, and
is written in the spirit of the utmost candor and fairness. In the
conclusion of the chapter describing the removal, he says:
The fact of the evacuation of Fort Moultrie by Major Anderson was soon
communicated to the authorities and people of Charleston, creating
intense excitement. Crowds collected in streets and open places of the
city, and loud and violent were the expressions of feeling against
Major Anderson and his action.... [The governor of the State was ready
to act in accordance with the feeling displayed.] On the morning of
the 27th, he dispatched his aide-de-camp, Col. Johnston Pettigrew, of
the First South Carolina Rifles, to Major Anderson. He was accompanied
by Maj. Ellison Capers, of his regiment. Arriving at Fort Sumter,
Colonel Pettigrew sent a card inscribed, "Colonel Pettigrew, First
Regiment Rifles, S.C.M., Aide-de-Camp to the Governor, Commissioner to
Major Anderson. Ellison Capers, Major First Regiment Rifles, S.C.M."
... Colonel Pettigrew and his companion were ushered into the room.
The feeling was reserved and formal, when, after declining seats,
Colonel Pettigrew immediately opened his mission: "Major Anderson,"
said he, "can I communicate with you now, sir, before these officers,
on the subject for which I am here?" "Certainly, sir," replied Major
Anderson, "these are all my officers; I have no secrets from them,
sir."
The commissioner then informed Major Anderson that he was directed to
say to him that the governor was much surprised that he had reinforced
"this work." Major Anderson promptly responded that there had been no
reinforcement of the work; that he had removed his command from Fort
Moultrie to Fort Sumter, as he had a right to do, being in command
of all the forts in the harbor. To this Colonel Pettigrew replied
that when the present governor (Pickens) came into office, he found
an understanding existing between the previous governor (Gist) and
the President of the United States, by which all property within the
limits of the State was to remain as it was; that no reinforcements
were to be sent here, particularly to this post; that there was to be
no attempt made against the public property by the State, and that the
status in the harbor should remain unchanged. He was directed also
to say to Major Anderson that it had been hoped by the governor that
a peaceful solution of the difficulties could have been reached, and
a resort to arms and bloodshed might have been avoided; but that the
governor thought the action of Major Anderson had greatly complicated
matters, and that he did not now see how bloodshed could be avoided;
that he had desired and intended that the whole matter might be fought
out politically and without the arbitration of the sword, but that now
it was uncertain, if not impossible.
To this Major Anderson replied, that as far as any understanding
between the President and the governor was concerned, he had not
been informed; that he knew nothing of it; that he could get no
information or positive orders from Washington, and that his position
was threatened every night by the troops of the State. He was then
asked by Major Capers, who accompanied Colonel Pettigrew, "How?" when
he replied, "By sending out steamers armed and conveying troops on
board;" that these steamers passed the fort going north, and that he
feared a landing on the island and the occupation of the sand-hills
just north of the fort; that 100 riflemen on these hills, which
commanded his fort, would make it impossible for his men to serve
their guns; and that any man with a military head must see this. "To
prevent this," said he earnestly, "I removed on my own responsibility,
my sole object being to prevent bloodshed." Major Capers replied that
the steamer was sent out for patrol purposes, and as much to prevent
disorder among his own people as to ascertain whether any irregular
attempt was being made to reinforce the fort, and that the idea of
attacking him was never entertained by the little squad who patrolled
the harbor.
Major Anderson replied to this that he was wholly in the dark as
to the intentions of the State troops, but that he had reason to
believe that they meant to land and attack him from the north; that
the desire of the governor to have the matter settled peacefully and
without bloodshed was precisely his object in removing his command
from Moultrie to Sumter; that he did it upon his own responsibility
alone, because he considered that the safety of his command required
it, as he had a right to do. "In this controversy," said he, "between
the North and the South, my sympathies are entirely with the South.
These gentlemen," said he (turning to the officers of the post who
stood about him), "know it perfectly well." Colonel Pettigrew replied,
"Well, sir, however that may be, the governor of the State directs
me to say to you courteously but peremptorily, to return to Fort
Moultrie." "Make my compliments to the governor (said Anderson) and
say to him that I decline to accede to his request; I cannot and will
not go back." "Then, sir," said Pettigrew, "my business is done," when
both officers, without further ceremony or leavetaking, left the fort.
Colonel Pettigrew and Major Capers returned to the city and made their
report to the governor and council who were in session in the council
chamber of the city hall. That afternoon Major Anderson raised the
flag of his country over Sumter, and went vigorously to work mounting
his guns and putting the fort in military order. The same afternoon
the governor issued orders to Colonel Pettigrew, First regiment of
rifles, and to Col. W. G. De Saussure, First regiment artillery,
commanding them to take immediate possession of Castle Pinckney and
Fort Moultrie. Neither fort was garrisoned, and the officers in
charge, after making a verbal protest, left and went to Fort Sumter,
and the Palmetto flag was raised over Moultrie and Pinckney. In the
same manner the arsenal in Charleston was taken possession of by a
detachment of the Seventeenth regiment, South Carolina militia, Col.
John Cunningham, and Fort Johnson on James island, by Capt. Joseph
Johnson, commanding the Charleston Riflemen. The governor also ordered
a battery to be built for two 24-pounders on Morris island, bearing on
Ship channel, and his order was speedily put into execution by Maj. P.
F. Stevens, superintendent of the South Carolina military academy, with
a detachment of the cadets, supported by the Vigilant Rifles, Captain
Tupper. This battery was destined soon to fire the first gun of the
war. In taking possession of the forts and the arsenal, every courtesy
was shown the officers in charge, Captain Humphreys, commanding the
arsenal, saluting his flag before surrendering the property.
By the possession of Forts Moultrie and Pinckney and the arsenal in
Charleston, their military stores fell into the hands of the State
of South Carolina, and by the governor's orders a careful inventory
was made at once of all the property and duly reported to him. At
Moultrie there were sixteen 24-pounders, nineteen 32-pounders, ten
8-inch columbiads, one 10-inch seacoast mortar, four 6-pounders,
two 12-pounders and four 24-pounder howitzers and a large supply of
ammunition. At Castle Pinckney the armament was nearly complete and
the magazine well filled with powder. At the arsenal there was a
large supply of military stores, heavy ordnance and small-arms. These
exciting events were followed by the attempt of the government to
succor Major Anderson with supplies and reinforce his garrison.
The supplies and troops were sent in a large merchant steamer, the Star
of the West. She crossed the bar early on the morning of January 9,
1861, and steamed up Ship channel, which runs for miles parallel with
Morris island, and within range of guns of large caliber. Her course
lay right under the 24-pounder battery commanded by Major Stevens
and manned by the cadets. This battery was supported by the Zouave
Cadets, Captain Chichester; the German Riflemen, Captain Small, and the
Vigilant Rifles, Captain Tupper. When within range a shot was fired
across her bow, and not heeding it, the battery fired directly upon
her. Fort Moultrie also fired a few shots, and the Star of the West
rapidly changed her course and, turning round, steamed out of the range
of the guns, having received but little material damage by the fire.
Major Anderson acted with great forbearance and judgment, and did not
open his batteries. He declared his purpose to be patriotic, and so
it undoubtedly was. He wrote to the governor that, influenced by the
hope that the firing on the Star of the West was not supported by the
authority of the State, he had refrained from opening fire upon the
batteries, and declared that unless it was promptly disclaimed he would
regard it as an act of war, and after waiting a reasonable time he
would fire upon all vessels coming within range of his guns.
The governor promptly replied, justifying the action of the batteries
in firing upon the vessel, and giving his reasons in full. He pointed
out to Major Anderson that his removal to Fort Sumter and the
circumstances attending it, and his attitude since were a menace to
the State of a purpose of coercion; that the bringing into the harbor
of more troops and supplies of war was in open defiance of the State,
and an assertion of a purpose to reduce her to abject submission to
the government she had discarded; that the vessel had been fairly
warned not to continue her course, and that his threat to fire upon the
vessels in the harbor was in keeping with the evident purpose of the
government of the United States to dispute the right of South Carolina
to dissolve connection with the Union. This right was not to be debated
or questioned, urged the governor, and the coming of the Star of the
West, sent by the order of the President, after being duly informed
by commissioners sent to him by the convention of the people of the
State to fully inform him of the act of the State in seceding from the
Union, and of her claim of rights and privileges in the premises, could
have no other meaning than that of open and hostile disregard for the
asserted independence of South Carolina. To defend that independence
and to resent and resist any and every act of coercion are "too
plainly a duty," said Governor Pickens, "to allow it to be discussed."
To the governor's letter Major Anderson replied, that he would refer
the whole matter to the government at Washington, and defer his
purpose to fire upon vessels in the harbor until he could receive his
instructions in reply. Thus a truce was secured, and meanwhile active
preparations for war were made daily by Major Anderson in Fort Sumter
and by Governor Pickens on the islands surrounding it. War seemed
inevitable, and the whole State, as one man, was firmly resolved to
meet it.
The legislature had passed a bill on December 17th providing for the
organization of ten regiments for the defense of the State, and the
convention had ordered the formation of a regiment for six months'
service, to be embodied at once, the governor to appoint the field
officers. This last was "Gregg's First regiment," which was organized
in January, 1861, and on duty on Sullivan's and Morris islands by
the 1st of February following. The governor appointed Maxcy Gregg,
of Columbia, colonel; Col. A. H. Gladden, who had been an officer of
the Palmetto regiment in the Mexican war, lieutenant-colonel; and D.
H. Hamilton, the late marshal of the United States court in South
Carolina, major. On March 6, 1861, the adjutant-general of the State
reported to Gen. M. L. Bonham, whom the governor had commissioned
major-general, to command the division formed under the act of
December 17, 1860, that he had received into the service of the State
104 companies, under the said act of the legislature, aggregating an
effective force of 8,836 men and officers; that these companies had
been formed into ten regiments and the regiments into four brigades.
These regiments were mustered for twelve months' service, were numbered
respectively from 1 to 10, inclusive, and commanded by Cols. Johnson
Hagood, J. B. Kershaw, J. H. Williams, J. B. E. Sloan, M. Jenkins, J.
H. Rion, T. G. Bacon, E. B. Cash, J. D. Blanding, and A. M. Manigault.
The brigadier-generals appointed by the governor under the act above
referred to, were R. G. M. Dunovant and P. H. Nelson. By an act of
the legislature, January 28, 1861, the governor was authorized to
raise a battalion of artillery and a regiment of infantry, both to be
formed and enlisted in the service of the State as regulars, and to
form the basis of the regular army of South Carolina. The governor
appointed, under the act, R. S. Ripley, lieutenant-colonel in command
of the artillery battalion, and Richard Anderson, colonel of the
infantry regiment. The artillery battalion was afterward increased to a
regiment, and the regiment of infantry converted, practically, into a
regiment of artillery. Both regiments served in the forts and batteries
of the harbor throughout the war, with the greatest distinction, as
will afterward appear. These troops, with the Fourth brigade, South
Carolina militia, were under the orders of the government and were
practically investing Fort Sumter.
The States of Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and
Texas, having left the Union during the month of January, and the
Confederate government having been organized early in February,
at Montgomery, President Davis, on the 1st of March, ordered
Brigadier-General Beauregard to Charleston to report for duty to
Governor Pickens. Thenceforward this distinguished soldier became the
presiding genius of military operations in and around Charleston.
Repeated demands having been made upon Major Anderson, and upon the
President, for the relinquishment of Fort Sumter, and these demands
having been refused and the government at Washington having concluded
to supply and reinforce the fort by force of arms, it was determined
to summon Major Anderson to evacuate the fort, for the last time.
Accordingly, on April 11th, General Beauregard sent him the following
communication:
Headquarters Provisional Army, C. S. A.
Charleston, April 11, 1861.
Sir: The government of the Confederate States has hitherto foreborne
from any hostile demonstrations against Fort Sumter, in hope that
the government of the United States, with a view to the amicable
adjustment of all questions between the two governments, and to avert
the calamities of war, would voluntarily evacuate it.
There was reason at one time to believe that such would be the course
pursued by the government of the United States, and under that
impression my government has refrained from making any demand for the
surrender of the fort. But the Confederate States can no longer delay
assuming actual possession of a fortification commanding the entrance
of one of their harbors and necessary to its defense and security.
I am ordered by the government of the Confederate States to demand
the evacuation of Fort Sumter. My aides, Colonel Chestnut and Captain
Lee, are authorized to make such demand of you. All proper facilities
will be afforded for the removal of yourself and command, together
with company arms and property, and all private property, to any post
in the United States which you may select. The flag which you have
upheld so long and with so much fortitude, under the most trying
circumstances, may be saluted by you on taking it down. Colonel
Chestnut and Captain Lee will, for a reasonable time, await your
answer.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
G. T. BEAUREGARD, Brigadier-General Commanding.
Major Anderson replied as follows:
Fort Sumter, S. C., April 11, 1861.
General: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your
communication demanding the evacuation of this fort, and to say,
in reply thereto, that it is a demand with which I regret that my
sense of honor, and of my obligations to my government, prevent my
compliance. Thanking you for the fair, manly and courteous terms
proposed, and for the high compliment paid me,
I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
ROBERT ANDERSON,
Major, First Artillery, Commanding.
Major Anderson, while conversing with the messengers of General
Beauregard, having remarked that he would soon be starved into a
surrender of the fort, or words to that effect, General Beauregard was
induced to address him a second letter, in which he proposed that the
major should fix a time at which he would agree to evacuate, and agree
also not to use his guns against the Confederate forces unless they
fired upon him, and so doing, he, General Beauregard, would abstain
from hostilities. To this second letter Major Anderson replied, naming
noon on the 15th, provided that no hostile act was committed by the
Confederate forces, or any part of them, and provided, further, that
he should not, meanwhile, receive from the government at Washington
controlling instructions or additional supplies.
The fleet which was to reinforce and supply him was then collecting
outside the bar, and General Beauregard at once notified him, at 3:20
a. m. on the morning of the 12th of April, that he would open fire on
the fort in one hour from that time.
The shell which opened the momentous bombardment of Fort Sumter was
fired from a mortar, located at Fort Johnson on James island, at 4:30
on the morning of the 12th.
For over three months the troops stationed on the islands surrounding
Fort Sumter had been constantly employed building batteries, mounting
guns, and making every preparation for the defense of the harbor,
and, if necessary, for an attack on the fort if the government
at Washington persisted in its refusal to order its evacuation.
Lieut.-Col. R. S. Ripley, an able and energetic soldier, commanded
the artillery on Sullivan's island, with his headquarters at Fort
Moultrie, Brigadier-General Dunovant commanding the island. Under
Ripley's direction, six 10-inch mortars and twenty guns bore on Sumter.
The guns were 24, 32 and 42 pounders, 8-inch columbiads and one 9-inch
Dahlgren. The supports to the batteries were the First regiment of
rifles, Colonel Pettigrew; the regiment of infantry, South Carolina
regulars, Col. Richard Anderson; the Charleston Light Dragoons, Capt.
B. H. Rutledge, and the German Flying Artillery, the latter attached
to Col. Pettigrew's command, stationed at the east end of the island.
These commands, with Ripley's battalion of South Carolina regular
artillery and Capt. Robert Martin's mortar battery on Mount Pleasant,
made up the force under General Dunovant.
On Morris island, Gen. James Simons was commanding, with Lieut.-Col. W.
G. De Saussure for his artillery chief, and Maj. W. H. C. Whiting for
chief of staff. The infantry supports on the island were the regiments
of Cols. John Cunningham, Seventeenth South Carolina militia, and
Maxcy Gregg, Johnson Hagood and J. B. Kershaw, of the South Carolina
volunteers. The artillery was in position bearing on Ship channel,
and at Cummings point, bearing on Sumter. The fleet making no attempt
to come in, the channel batteries took no part in the bombardment of
Sumter.
On Cummings point, six 10-inch mortars and six guns were placed.
To the command and direction of these guns, Maj. P. F. Stevens was
specially assigned. One of the batteries on the point was of unique
structure, hitherto unknown in war. Three 8-inch columbiads were put
in battery under a roofing of heavy timbers, laid at an angle of
forty degrees, and covered with railroad T iron. Portholes were cut
and these protected by heavy iron shutters, raised and lowered from
the inside of the battery. This battery was devised and built by Col.
Clement H. Stevens, of Charleston, afterward a brigadier-general and
mortally wounded in front of Atlanta, July 20, 1864, leading his
brigade. "Stevens' iron battery," as it was called, was "the first
ironclad fortification ever erected," and initiated the present system
of armor-plated vessels. The three mortars in battery at Fort Johnson
were commanded by Capt. G. S. James. The batteries above referred
to, including Fort Moultrie, contained fifteen 10-inch mortars and
twenty-six guns of heavy caliber.
For thirty-four hours they assaulted Sumter with an unceasing
bombardment, before its gallant defenders consented to give it up, and
not then until the condition of the fort made it impossible to continue
the defense. Fort Moultrie alone fired 2,490 shot and shell. Gen. S. W.
Crawford, in his accurate and admirable book, previously quoted, thus
describes the condition of Sumter when Anderson agreed to its surrender:
It was a scene of ruin and destruction. The quarters and barracks
were in ruins. The main gates and the planking of the windows on the
gorge were gone; the magazines closed and surrounded by smouldering
flames and burning ashes; the provisions exhausted; much of the
engineering work destroyed; and with only four barrels of powder
available. The command had yielded to the inevitable. The effect of
the direct shot had been to indent the walls, where the marks could
be counted by hundreds, while the shells, well directed, had crushed
the quarters, and, in connection with hot shot, setting them on fire,
had destroyed the barracks and quarters down to the gun casemates,
while the enfilading fire had prevented the service of the barbette
guns, some of them comprising the most important battery in the work.
The breaching fire from the columbiads and the rifle gun at Cummings
point upon the right gorge angle, had progressed sensibly and must
have eventually succeeded if continued, but as yet no guns had been
disabled or injured at that point. The effect of the fire upon the
parapet was pronounced. The gorge, the right face and flank as well
as the left face, were all taken in reverse, and a destructive fire
maintained until the end, while the gun carriages on the barbette of
the gorge were destroyed in the fire of the blazing quarters.
The spirit and language of General Beauregard in communicating with
Major Anderson, and the replies of the latter, were alike honorable to
those distinguished soldiers. The writer, who was on duty on Sullivan's
island, as major of Pettigrew's regiment of rifles, recalls vividly
the sense of admiration felt for Major Anderson and his faithful little
command throughout the attack, and at the surrender of the fort. "While
the barracks in Fort Sumter were in a blaze," wrote General Beauregard
to the secretary of war at Montgomery, "and the interior of the work
appeared untenable from the heat and from the fire of our batteries
(at about which period I sent three of my aides to offer assistance),
whenever the guns of Fort Sumter would fire upon Moultrie, the men
occupying the Cummings point batteries (Palmetto Guard, Captain
Cuthbert) at each shot would cheer Anderson for his gallantry, although
themselves still firing upon him; and when on the 15th instant he left
the harbor on the steamer Isabel, the soldiers of the batteries lined
the beach, silent and uncovered, while Anderson and his command passed
before them."
Thus closed the memorable and momentous attack upon Fort Sumter by the
forces of South Carolina, and thus began the war which lasted until
April, 1865, when the Southern Confederacy, as completely ruined and
exhausted by fire and sword as Fort Sumter in April, 1861, gave up the
hopeless contest and reluctantly accepted the inevitable.
The following is believed to be a correct list of the officers who
commanded batteries, or directed, particularly, the firing of the guns,
with the commands serving the same:
On Cummings point: (1) Iron battery--three 8-inch columbiads, manned
by detachments of Palmetto Guard, Capt. George B. Cuthbert directing,
assisted by Lieut. G. L. Buist. (2) Point battery--mortars, by Lieut.
N. Armstrong, assisted by Lieut. R. Holmes; 42-pounders, Lieut. T.
S. Brownfield; rifle gun, directed by Capt. J. P. Thomas, who, with
Lieutenant Armstrong, was an officer of the South Carolina military
academy. Iron battery and Point battery both manned by Palmetto Guard.
(3) Trapier battery--three 10-inch mortars, by Capt. J. Gadsden King
and Lieuts. W. D. H. Kirkwood and Edward L. Parker; Corp. McMillan
King, Jr., and Privates J. S. and Robert Murdock, pointing the mortars;
a detachment of Marion artillery manning the battery, assisted by a
detachment of the Sumter Guards, Capt. John Russell.
On Sullivan's island: (1) Fort Moultrie--Capt. W. R. Calhoun,
Lieutenants Wagner, Rhett, Preston, Sitgreaves, Mitchell, Parker, Blake
(acting engineer). (2) mortars--Capt. William Butler and Lieutenants
Huguenin, Mowry, Blocker, Billings and Rice. (3) Mortars--Lieutenants
Flemming and Blanding. (4) Enfilade--Captain Hallonquist and
Lieutenants Valentine and Burnet. (5) Floating battery--Lieutenants
Yates and Frank Harleston. (6) Dahlgren battery--Captain Hamilton.
On Mount Pleasant: (1) Mortars--Captain Martin and Lieuts. F. H.
Robertson and G. W. Reynolds.
On Fort Johnson: (1) Mortars--Capt. G. S. James and Lieut. W. H. Gibbes.
Immediately upon the fall of Sumter the most active and constant
efforts were made by Governor Pickens and General Beauregard to repair
and arm the fort, to strengthen the batteries defending the harbor, and
to defend the city from an attack by the Stono river and James island.
General Beauregard inspected the coast, and works of defense were begun
on James island and at Port Royal harbor.
But South Carolina was now to enjoy freedom from attack, by land or
sea, until early in November, and while her soldiers and her people
were making ready her defense, and her sons were flocking to her
standard in larger numbers than she could organize and arm, she was
called upon to go to the help of Virginia. William H. Trescot, of South
Carolina, in his beautiful memorial of Brig.-Gen. Johnston Pettigrew,
has described the spirit with which "the youth and manhood of the
South" responded to the call to arms, in language so true, so just and
so eloquent, that the author of this sketch inserts it here. Writing
more than five years after the close of the great struggle, Mr. Trescot
said:
We who are the vanquished in this battle must of necessity leave to
a calmer and wiser posterity to judge of the intrinsic worth of that
struggle, as it bears upon the principles of constitutional liberty,
and as it must affect the future history of the American people; but
there is one duty not only possible but imperative, a duty which we
owe alike to the living and the dead, and that is the preservation in
perpetual and tender remembrance of the lives of those who, to use
a phrase scarcely too sacred for so unselfish a sacrifice, died in
the hope that we might live. Especially is this our duty, because in
the South a choice between the parties and principles at issue was
scarcely possible. From causes which it is exceedingly interesting to
trace, but which I cannot now develop the feeling of State loyalty
had acquired throughout the South an almost fanatic intensity;
particularly in the old colonial States did this devotion to the State
assume that blended character of affection and duty which gives in
the old world such a chivalrous coloring to loyalty to the crown....
When, therefore, by the formal and constitutional act of the States,
secession from the Federal government was declared in 1860 and 1861,
it is almost impossible for any one not familiar with the habits and
thoughts of the South, to understand how completely the question of
duty was settled for Southern men. Shrewd, practical men who had no
faith in the result, old and eminent men who had grown gray in service
under the national flag, had their doubts and their misgivings; but
there was no hesitation as to what they were to do. Especially to that
great body of men, just coming into manhood, who were preparing to
take their places as the thinkers and actors of the next generation,
was this call of the State an imperative summons.
The fathers and mothers who had reared them; the society whose
traditions gave both refinement and assurance to their young ambition;
the colleges in which the creed of Mr. Calhoun was the text-book
of their studies; the friends with whom they planned their future;
the very land they loved, dear to them as thoughtless boys, dearer
to them as thoughtful men, were all impersonate, living, speaking,
commanding in the State of which they were children. Never in the
history of the world has there been a nobler response to a more
thoroughly recognized duty; nowhere anything more truly glorious than
this outburst of the youth and manhood of the South.
And now that the end has come and we have seen it, it seems to me that
to a man of humanity, I care not in what section his sympathies may
have been matured, there never has been a sadder or sublimer spectacle
than these earnest and devoted men, their young and vigorous columns
marching through Richmond to the Potomac, like the combatants of
ancient Rome, beneath the imperial throne in the amphitheater, and
exclaiming with uplifted arms, "_morituri te salutant_."
President Lincoln had issued his proclamation calling for 75,000
volunteers to coerce the South; Virginia had withdrawn from the Union,
and before the end of April had called Lee, J. E. Johnston and Jackson
into her service; the seat of the Confederate government had been
transferred from Montgomery, Ala., to Richmond; and early in May,
General Beauregard was relieved from duty in South Carolina and ordered
to the command of the Alexandria line, with headquarters at Manassas
Junction. He had been preceded by General Bonham, then a Confederate
brigadier, with the regiments of Colonels Gregg, Kershaw, Bacon, Cash,
Jenkins and Sloan--First, Second, Seventh, Eighth, Fifth and Fourth
South Carolina volunteers.
Before General Beauregard's arrival in Virginia, General Bonham with
his Carolina troops had been placed in command of the Alexandria line,
the regiments being at Fairfax Court House, and other points of this
line, fronting Washington and Alexandria.
These South Carolina regiments were reinforced during the month of July
by the Third, Colonel Williams; the Sixth, Colonel Rion, and the Ninth,
Colonel Blanding. The infantry of the Hampton legion, under Col. Wade
Hampton, reached the battlefield of Manassas on the morning of July
21st, but in time to take a full share in that decisive contest.
On the 20th of June, General Beauregard, commanding the "army of the
Potomac," headquarters at Manassas Junction, organized his army into
six brigades, the First commanded by Bonham, composed of the regiments
of Gregg, Kershaw, Bacon and Cash. Sloan's regiment was assigned to the
Sixth brigade, Early's; and Jenkins' regiment to the Third, Gen. D.
R. Jones. Col. N. G. Evans, an officer of the old United States army,
having arrived at Manassas, was assigned to command of a temporary
brigade--Sloan's Fourth South Carolina, Wheat's Louisiana battalion,
two companies Virginia cavalry, and four 6-pounder guns.
On the 11th of July, General Beauregard wrote to the President that
the enemy was concentrating in his front at Falls church, with a force
of not less than 35,000 men, and that to oppose him he had only about
half that number. On the 17th, Bonham's brigade, stationed at Fairfax,
met the first aggressive movement of General McDowell's army, and was
attacked early in the morning. By General Beauregard's orders Bonham
retired through Centreville, and took the position assigned him behind
Mitchell's ford, on Bull run. The Confederate army was in position
behind Bull run, extending from Union Mills ford on the right to the
stone bridge on the left, a distance of 5 miles.
The brigades were stationed, from right to left, as follows: Ewell,
D. R. Jones, Longstreet, Bonham, Cocke, and Evans on the extreme
left. Early was in reserve, in rear of the right. To each brigade a
section or a battery of artillery was attached, except in the case of
Bonham who had two batteries and six companies of cavalry attached
to his command. Seven other cavalry companies were distributed among
the other brigades. Bonham's position was behind Mitchell's ford,
with his four regiments of Carolinians; Jenkins' Fifth regiment was
with General Jones' brigade, behind McLean's ford, and Sloan's Fourth
regiment was with Evans' brigade on the left, at the stone bridge. With
this disposition of his little army, General Beauregard awaited the
development of the enemy's movement against him.
At noon on the 18th, Bonham at Mitchell's ford and Longstreet at
Blackburn's ford, were attacked with infantry and artillery, and both
attacks were repulsed. General McDowell was engaged on the 19th and
20th in reconnoitering the Confederate position, and made no decided
indication of his ultimate purpose. The delay was golden for the
Confederates. Important reinforcements arrived on the 20th and on the
morning of the 21st, which were chiefly to fight and win the battle,
while the main body of Beauregard's army held the line of Bull run.
General Holmes, from the lower Potomac, came with over 1,200 infantry,
six guns and a fine company of cavalry; Colonel Hampton, with the
infantry of his legion, 600 strong, and the Thirteenth Mississippi;
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, from the Shenandoah, with Jackson's, Bee's and
Bartow's brigades, 300 of Stuart's cavalry and two batteries, Imboden's
and Pendleton's.
The reinforcements were put in line in rear of the troops already in
position, Bee and Bartow behind Longstreet, covering McLean's and
Blackburn's fords, with Barksdale's Thirteenth Mississippi; Jackson in
rear of Bonham, covering Mitchell's ford; and Cocke's brigade, covering
the fords further to the left, was strengthened and supported by a
regiment of infantry and six guns, and Hampton was stationed at the
Lewis house. Walton's and Pendleton's batteries were placed in reserve
in rear of Bonham and Bee. Thus strengthened, the army of General
Beauregard numbered about 30,000 effectives, with fifty-five guns.
General Beauregard had planned an attack on McDowell's left, which was
to be executed on the 21st; but before he put his right brigades in
motion, McDowell had crossed two of his divisions at Sudley's ford,
two miles to the left of Evans, who was posted at the stone bridge,
and while threatening Evans and Cocke in front, was marching rapidly
down the rear of Beauregard's left. Satisfied of this movement, Evans
left four companies of the Fourth South Carolina to defend the bridge,
and taking the six remaining companies of the Fourth, with Wheat's
Louisiana battalion and two guns of Latham's battery, moved rapidly to
his rear and left and formed his little brigade at right angles to the
line on Bull run and just north of the turnpike road. In this position
he was at once assailed by the advance of the enemy, but held his
ground for an hour, when Bee, who had been moved up to stone bridge,
came to his assistance. Evans, with his Carolinians and Louisianians;
Bee, with his Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee regiments, and
Bartow with his Georgia and Kentucky battalions, and the batteries
of Latham and Imboden, with heroic fortitude sustained the assault
for another hour, before falling back south of the turnpike. It was
then evident that the battle was not to be fought in front of Bull
run, but behind it, and in rear of General Beauregard's extreme left.
Both generals, whose headquarters had been at the Lewis house, three
miles away, hurried to the point of attack and arrived, as General
Johnston reported, "not a moment too soon." Fifteen thousand splendidly
equipped troops of McDowell's army, with numerous batteries, many of
the guns rifled, were driving back the little brigade of Evans and the
regiments of the gallant Bee and Bartow, and the moment was critical.
The presence and example of the commanding generals, the firm conduct
of the officers, and the hurrying forward of Hampton with his legion,
and Jackson with his brigade, re-established the battle on the line of
the Henry house, a half mile south of the turnpike and two miles in the
rear of the stone bridge. Beauregard took immediate command on the
field of battle, and Johnston assumed the general direction from the
Lewis house, whose commanding elevation gave him a view of the whole
field of operations. "The aspect of affairs (he says in his report)
was critical, but I had full confidence in the skill and indomitable
courage of General Beauregard, the high soldierly qualities of Generals
Bee and Jackson and Colonel Evans, and the devoted patriotism of the
troops."
At this first stage of the battle, from 8:30 to 11 a. m., the troops
from South Carolina actively engaged were the Fourth regiment, Colonel
Sloan, and the legion of Hampton. Two companies of the Fourth, thrown
out as skirmishers in front of the stone bridge, fired the first gun of
the battle early in the morning, and the regiment bore a glorious part
in the battle which Evans fought for the first hour, and in the contest
of the second hour maintained by Bee, Bartow and Evans. The Fourth lost
11 killed and 79 wounded.
Hampton arrived at the Lewis house in the morning, and being connected
with no particular brigade, was ordered to march to the stone bridge.
On his march, hearing of the attack on the rear, and the roar of the
battle being distinctly heard, he changed the direction of his march
toward the firing. Arriving at the Robinson house, he took position in
defense of a battery and attacked the enemy in his front. Advancing
to the turnpike under fire, Lieut.-Col. B. J. Johnson, of the legion,
fell, "as, with the utmost coolness and gallantry, he was placing our
men in position," says his commander. Soon enveloped by the enemy in
this direction, the legion fell back with the commands of Bee and Evans
to the first position it occupied, and, as before reported, formed an
important element in re-establishing the battle under the immediate
direction of Generals Beauregard and Johnston.
The troops ordered by the commanding generals to prolong the line of
battle, formed at 11 o'clock, took position on the right and left as
they successively arrived, those on the left assaulting at once, and
vigorously, the exposed right flank of the enemy, and at each assault
checking, or repulsing, his advance. No attempt will be made by the
author to follow the movements of all of these gallant troops who thus
stemmed the sweeping advance of strong Federal brigades, and the fire
of McDowell's numerous batteries. He is confined, particularly, to the
South Carolina commands.
The line of battle as now re-established, south of the Warrenton
turnpike, ran at a right angle with the Bull run line, and was composed
of the shattered commands of Bee, Bartow and Evans on the right, with
Hampton's legion infantry; Jackson in the center, and Gartrell's,
Smith's, Faulkner's and Fisher's regiments, with two companies of
Stuart's cavalry, on the left. The artillery was massed near the Henry
house. With this line the assaults of Heintzelman's division and the
brigades of Sherman and Keyes, with their batteries, numbering some
18,000 strong, were resisted with heroic firmness.
By 2 o'clock, Kershaw's Second and Cash's Eighth South Carolina,
General Holmes' brigade of two regiments, Early's brigade, and Walker's
and Latham's batteries, arrived from the Bull run line and reinforced
the left. The enemy now held the great plateau from which he had driven
our forces, and was being vigorously assailed on his left by Kershaw
and Cash, with Kemper's battery, and by Early and Stuart. General
Beauregard ordered the advance of his center and right, the latter
further strengthened by Cocke's brigade, taken by General Johnston's
order from its position at the stone bridge.
This charge swept the great plateau, which was then again in possession
of the Confederates. Hampton fell, wounded in this charge, and
Capt. James Conner took command of the legion. Bee, the heroic and
accomplished soldier, fell at the head of the troops, and Gen. S. R.
Gist, adjutant-general of South Carolina, was wounded leading the
Fourth Alabama. Reinforced, the Federal troops again advanced to
possess the plateau, but Kirby Smith's arrival on the extreme left,
and his prompt attack, with Kershaw's command and Stuart's cavalry,
defeated the right of McDowell's advance and threw it into confusion,
and the charge of Beauregard's center and right completed the victory
of Manassas.
In the operations of this memorable day, no troops displayed more
heroic courage and fortitude than the troops from South Carolina, who
had the fortune to bear a part in this the first great shock of arms
between the contending sections. These troops were the Second regiment,
Col. J. B. Kershaw; the Fourth, Col. J. B. E. Sloan; the Eighth, Col.
E. B. Cash; the Legion infantry, Col. Wade Hampton, and the Fifth, Col.
Micah Jenkins. The latter regiment was not engaged in the great battle,
but, under orders, crossed Bull run and attacked the strong force in
front of McLean's ford. The regiment was wholly unsupported and was
forced to withdraw, Colonel Jenkins rightly deeming an assault, under
the circumstances, needless.
The following enumeration of losses is taken from the several reports
of commanders as published in the War Records, Vol. II, p. 570:
Kershaw's regiment, 5 killed, 43 wounded; Sloan's regiment, 11 killed,
79 wounded; Jenkins' regiment, 3 killed, 23 wounded; Cash's regiment, 5
killed, 23 wounded; Hampton's legion, 19 killed, 102 wounded; total, 43
killed, 270 wounded.
Gen. Barnard Elliott Bee, who fell, leading in the final and triumphant
charge of the Confederates, was a South Carolinian. Col. C. H. Stevens,
a volunteer on his staff, his near kinsman, and the distinguished
author of the iron battery at Sumter, was severely wounded. Lieut.-Col.
B. J. Johnson, who fell in the first position taken by the Hampton
legion, was a distinguished and patriotic son of the State, and Lieut.
O. R. Horton, of the Fourth, who was killed in front of his company,
had been prominent in the battle of the early morning. At Manassas,
South Carolina was well represented by her faithful sons, who willingly
offered their lives in defense of her principles and her honor. The
blood she shed on that ever-memorable field was but the token of the
great offering with which it was yet to be stained by the sacrifices of
more than a thousand of her noblest sons.
The battle of Manassas fought and won, and trophies of the Confederate
victory gathered from the plateau of the great strife, and from the
line of the Union army's retreat, the South Carolina troops with
General Beauregard's command were put into two brigades, Bonham's, the
First, and D. R. Jones', the Third. The Second, Third, Seventh and
Eighth regiments made up General Bonham's brigade; the Fourth, Fifth,
Sixth and Ninth, General Jones' brigade. Gregg's First regiment was
at Norfolk, and Hampton's legion was not brigaded. Headquarters were
established at Fairfax Court House, and the Confederate line ran from
Springfield on the Orange & Alexandria railroad to Little Falls above
Georgetown. No event of great importance occurred in which the troops
of South Carolina took part, in Virginia, during the remainder of the
summer.