SOUTH CAROLINIANS WITH LONGSTREET AND LEE--WAUHATCHIE--MISSIONARY
RIDGE--KNOXVILLE--THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN OF 1864--FROM THE WILDERNESS
TO THE BATTLE OF THE CRATER.
Following the battle of Chickamauga, Bragg's army occupied Lookout
mountain and Missionary ridge, beleaguering Rosecrans, whose troops
soon began to suffer for want of food. Longstreet, in command on
the left, had the important duty of holding the river line of
communication, and cutting off Rosecrans' supplies. Hood's division,
at this time, was commanded by Brig.-Gen. Micah Jenkins, and Col.
John Bratton commanded Jenkins' brigade, which joined Longstreet
after Chickamauga. The First regiment was under command of Col. F. W.
Kilpatrick; the Second Rifles, of Col. Thomas Thompson; the Fifth,
of Col. A. Coward; the Sixth, of Col. M. W. Gary, and the Palmetto
Sharpshooters, of Col. Joseph Walker.
In October, 1863, Rosecrans was replaced by Thomas, Grant became
commander-in-chief in the West, and prompt efforts were made by them
to relieve Chattanooga. On Longstreet's part Law's brigade of Jenkins'
division was moved down the river below Lookout mountain, and on the
25th the brigade observed a force from Chattanooga cross the river and
seize a strong position, where it was soon reinforced by Hooker's corps
from Virginia. On the 28th Longstreet arranged for a night attack upon
Geary's division, marching down Lookout valley toward Brown's ferry,
in which Bratton's division was to assail the enemy's rear.[I] The
South Carolinians made a gallant attack, and, Colonel Bratton reported,
"drove the enemy through their camp, and entirely beyond their wagon
camp." The brigade became seriously engaged, and apparently had
prospects of success, if supported, but the Federal divisions of Carl
Schurz and O. O. Howard were close at hand, and Bratton was ordered to
withdraw. The loss was heavy, 31 killed, 286 wounded and 39 missing.
Colonel Kilpatrick, distinguished for gallantry and efficiency, was
shot through the heart early in the engagement. Capt. James L. Coker,
of Bratton's staff, was seriously wounded. In an account of this
combat, Captain Coker has written:
General Geary's division was attacked by Jenkins' South Carolina
brigade. No other troops fired a shot at Geary's men that night. When
the order to retire was received, the brigade was withdrawn in good
order. General Howard [marching to the support of Geary] made such
progress that Jenkins' brigade was in danger of being cut off from the
crossing over Lookout creek.
With this understanding it is interesting to read General Geary's
report:
The enemy pressed forward vigorously with a continuous line of
fire.... The guns of Knap's battery ... were served ... with spherical
case with short fuses.... Charge after charge was made, each with
redoubled effort upon our left, but each time the enemy's lines were
hurled back under the unintermitting fire, both from infantry and
artillery, that like a wall of flame opposed them. Prisoners began to
come in, and we discovered that we were opposing Hood's division of
Longstreet's corps.... After nearly half an hour's desperate fighting
... the enemy extended his attack without cessation of fire on the
left, to the right of my center, front and left flank.... The infantry
suffered considerably, but dealt destruction into the rebel ranks as
correspondingly overwhelming as were their numbers to those of our own
Spartan band.... The veteran division of Hood had sought to annihilate
us.... The enemy was driven from the field, after a most desperate
struggle of three hours' duration.... [Geary reported his total
present at about 2,400, loss 216.]
[Footnote I: Col. Robert E. Bowen, then senior captain commanding the
Second Rifles, in a description of this battle of Wauhatchie, Will's
Valley, or Lookout Valley, as it is variously called, says that during
an observation of the Federal movements from the summit of Lookout,
General Jenkins asked permission to attack and capture "the supply
train for Rosecrans' army," for which Hooker's troops were mistaken,
and the attack was made with that understanding, Law's brigade being
stationed at the river to prevent reinforcements from Chattanooga.
Captain Bowen commanded the brigade skirmish line of six companies,
which drove in the Federals, until he found them in heavy force in line
of battle, when he notified General Jenkins, and was ordered to go
as far as possible. His men opened fire, lying down to load, and the
brigade advanced to their line, within a hundred yards of the Federals,
and there stopped on account of the evident strength of the enemy.
Captain Bowen was severely wounded, and Sergt. G. W. Bradley, a noble
soldier, was killed.]
Early in November, Longstreet, with the divisions of McLaws and Hood
(under Jenkins), including the South Carolina brigades of Jenkins and
Kershaw, and Fickling's battery, was ordered up the Tennessee valley
to wrest Knoxville from Burnside and to divert to that region some of
the heavy reinforcements Grant was massing against Bragg. The South
Carolina brigades participated in the combats of the advance and
the investment of Knoxville. Jenkins' brigade bore the brunt of the
engagement at Lenoir's Station, November 15th, in which the gallantry
and dash of the skirmishers, said Jenkins, were never surpassed.
Lieutenant-Colonel Logan, Hampton's legion, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Wylie, Fifth South Carolina, were particularly distinguished. The
brigade lost 18 killed and 106 wounded.
On November 18th, before Knoxville, General Kershaw's brigade was
ordered to assault the advance line of the enemy occupying breastworks
of rails, upon a hill, and the Armstrong houses. The charge was
brilliant and successful. Colonel Nance, of the Third, reported it "was
the most desperate encounter in which the regiment was ever engaged."
Among the mortally wounded was Lieut. D. S. Moffett. Colonel Kennedy,
of the Second, was wounded. Maj. J. F. Gist, the brave and intrepid
commander of the Fifteenth, was killed by a Federal sharpshooter,
the command devolving on Capt. J. B. Davis. James' battalion lost 27
killed and wounded. Part of Kershaw's brigade was in action during
the unsuccessful assault of November 29th, and both brigades, with
occasional fighting and continuous suffering for want of shoes,
clothing and rations, passed the inclement winter in rugged east
Tennessee.
On November 20th the South Carolina commands with Bragg on Missionary
ridge were the Tenth and Nineteenth, Maj. James L. White (Manigault's
brigade); the Sixteenth, Colonel McCullough, and Twenty-fourth, Colonel
Stevens (Gist's brigade), and Ferguson's battery. These troops fell
back with the army on November 25th, and passed the winter of 1863-64
in the vicinity of Dalton.
While their comrades were thus engaged in the West, the South
Carolinians in the army of Northern Virginia were undisturbed except
by the Bristoe campaign in October, and the Mine Run campaign in
November. Abner Perrin, promoted to brigadier-general, commanded
McGowan's brigade; Col. D. H. Hamilton, the First regiment; Col. J. L.
Miller, the Twelfth; Col. B. T. Brockman, the Fourteenth; Col. F. E.
Harrison, Orr's Rifles. This brigade, with Lane's, Scales' and Thomas'
formed the division of Maj.-Gen. C. M. Wilcox, A. P. Hill's corps.
General Hampton, promoted to major-general, commanded a division of
the cavalry corps, and his old brigade, under Brig.-Gen. M. C. Butler,
included the First and Second South Carolina cavalry, under Colonels
Black and Lipscomb. Hart's battery was still with the cavalry, the Pee
Dee artillery with the Third corps, Garden's with Maj. J. C. Haskell's
battalion of the reserve artillery. Butler's cavalry brigade, under
Col. P. M. B. Young, early in October was distinguished at Bethsaida
church. "The enemy were drawn up in line to meet us," General Stuart
reported, "but being gallantly charged in flank and rear by the First
South Carolina cavalry, Lieut.-Col. J. D. Twiggs, broke and fled
in confusion." Pursuing to James City, Kilpatrick's whole division
was encountered. During the skirmishing which followed, a dash of
the enemy at the horse artillery was gallantly met and repulsed by
150 sharpshooters under Capt. R. Ap C. Jones, First South Carolina
cavalry. Fighting followed around Brandy Station, and Young's brigade
made a successful stand at Fleetwood hill on the 12th. On the 19th, at
Haymarket and Buckland mills, when Kilpatrick was finally routed with
the loss of 250 prisoners and General Custer's headquarters baggage,
the First South Carolina gallantly led in the impetuous charge of
Stuart's troopers. "The rout at Buckland," said Stuart, "was the most
signal and complete that any cavalry has suffered during the war."
When the great Federal army under Grant and Meade crossed the Rapidan
in May, 1864, Longstreet had his corps again in Virginia, with
headquarters at Gordonsville. Brig.-Gen. J. B. Kershaw was in command
of McLaws' division, and his brigade was led by Col. John W. Henagan.
Lieut.-Col. Franklin Gaillard commanded the Second, Colonel Nance the
Third, Capt. James Mitchell the Seventh, Lieut.-Col. E. T. Stackhouse
the Eighth, Col. John B. Davis the Fifteenth, Capt. B. M. Whitener the
Third battalion. General Jenkins was in command of his brigade, in the
division now led by Maj.-Gen. C. W. Field, and the First regiment was
commanded by Col. James R. Hagood, the Second (rifles) by Col. Robert
E. Bowen, the Fifth by Col. A. Coward, the Sixth by Col. John Bratton,
the Palmetto Sharpshooters by Col. Joseph Walker. General McGowan
was again in command of his brigade, of Wilcox's division, on the
Rapidan. The South Carolina cavalry brigade, under Gen. M. C. Butler,
composed of the Fourth regiment, Col. B. Huger Rutledge; Fifth, Col.
John Dunovant, and Sixth, Col. Hugh K. Aiken, was assigned to General
Hampton's division. Garden's battery, the Palmetto artillery under
Captain Fickling, the Pee Dee under Zimmerman, and Hart's battery
continued in their former assignments.
On the night of May 5, 1864, General Lee telegraphed to President Davis:
The enemy crossed the Rapidan yesterday at Ely's and Germanna fords.
Two corps of this army moved to oppose him--Ewell's by the old
turnpike, and Hill's by the plank road.... A strong attack was made
upon Ewell, who repulsed it.... The enemy subsequently concentrated
upon General Hill, who, with Heth's and Wilcox's divisions,
successfully resisted repeated and desperate assaults.
In this first fight in the Wilderness, May 5th, McGowan's brigade was
hurried into action, the line being formed of the First regiment,
Orr's Rifles, Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth, from right to left.
In this order the brigade made a charge in which the enemy were
driven through the thickets, and in the onset, though suffering heavy
losses, it captured a considerable number of prisoners, including a
brigadier-general.
The attack of the Federals on the 6th fell upon the right flank and
front of McGowan's brigade, forcing it to double up and fall back on
Poague's artillery, where it was reformed. At this juncture, Kershaw
reached the field, with the head of Longstreet's corps, and Colonel
Henagan formed his brigade in line of battle just in time to screen
the retreating masses of Heth's and Wilcox's divisions. "Almost
immediately," says Kershaw, "the Federals were upon us." He continues:
Ordering Colonel Henagan forward to meet them with the right of his
command, I threw forward the Second South Carolina regiment on the
left of the road and deployed and pushed forward Brigadier-General
Humphreys with his brigade, also, on the right of the road. This
formation was made successfully and in good order under the fire of
the enemy, who had so far penetrated into the interval between Henagan
and the road as to almost enfilade the Second South Carolina, which
was holding the left of the road, and some batteries which were
there stationed. Humphreys was pushed forward as soon as he got into
position, and made for a time steady progress.
In the meantime General Bryan's brigade coming up, was ordered into
position to Henagan's right. That officer, in obedience to orders, had
pushed forward and driven the enemy in his front for some distance
through the dense thicket which covered the country to the right of
the plank road; but they being heavily reinforced, forced him back
to the line which Humphreys had by this time reached. Here the enemy
held my three brigades so obstinately that I placed myself at the
head of the troops and led in person a charge of the whole command,
which drove the enemy to and beyond their original line and occupied
their temporary field works some half mile or more in advance. The
lines being rectified, and Field's division and Wofford's brigade
having arrived, a movement was organized to attack the enemy in flank
from our right, while we continued to hold the enemy in front, who
was at intervals bearing down upon our lines, but always without any
success. This movement, concealed from view by the dense wood, was
eminently successful, and the enemy was routed and driven pell-mell
as far as the Brock road, and pursued by General Wofford to some
distance across the plank road, where he halted within a few hundred
yards of the Germanna road. Returning with General Wofford up the
plank road, and learning the condition of things in front, we met
the lieutenant-general commanding, coming to the front almost within
musket range of the Brock road. Exchanging hasty congratulations upon
the success of the morning, the lieutenant-general rapidly planned
and directed an attack to be made by Brigadier-General Jenkins and
myself upon the position of the enemy upon the Brock road before he
could recover from his disaster. The order to me was to break their
line and push all to the right of the road toward Fredericksburg.
Jenkins' brigade was put in motion in the plank road, my division in
the woods to the right. I rode with General Jenkins at the head of his
command, arranging with him the details of our combined attack. We had
not advanced as far as the position still held by Wofford's brigade
when two or three shots were fired on the left of the road, and some
stragglers came running in from that direction, and immediately a
volley was poured into the head of our column from the woods on our
right, occupied by Mahone's brigade. By this volley General Longstreet
was prostrated by a fearful wound; Brigadier-General Jenkins, Capt.
Alfred E. Doby, my aide-de-camp, and Orderly Marcus Baum were
instantly killed.
I have not the particulars of casualties at hand, except those in
Kershaw's brigade, which were 57 killed, 239 wounded and 26 missing.
Among the losses of that brigade were two of the most gallant and
accomplished field officers of the command--Col. James D. Nance,
commanding Third South Carolina regiment, and Lieut.-Col. Franklin
Gaillard--both gentlemen of education, position and usefulness in
civil life and highly distinguished in the field. Captain Doby had
served with me as aide-de-camp from the commencement of the war. He
distinguished himself upon every battlefield.
Colonel Bowen, in describing the service of his regiment (Jenkins'
brigade), says:
General Longstreet did not fall from his horse, but rode the
length of the regiment (Second rifles), when he began to reel, and
Lieutenant-Colonel Donnald and Sergt. T. J. Bowen caught him and
lifted him down from his horse. Colonel Bowen formed his regiment
across the plank road in order to repel an attack in case the enemy
should return. Just at that time Gen. R. E. Lee rode up and ordered
Colonel Bowen to form the brigade on the right and left of the Second
rifles. Colonel Coward came up and threw himself, weeping, over the
dead body of the gallant Jenkins. General Anderson was called to
take command of the corps and Colonel Bratton took command of the
brigade. The sharpshooters and the Second rifles were then ordered
to the front and right, and after a half mile's march found that
the enemy had improved the brief lull in the fight by throwing up
intrenchments, from behind which they opened a terrific fire. The
advance regiments held their position and suffered a heavy loss,
until, as reinforcements came up, the enemy fell back.
The return of Colonel Hagood, of Jenkins' brigade--10 killed and 82
wounded out of 261--indicates the losses of the troops engaged. The 7th
passed without a general engagement, but instead the positions of both
armies were changed from day to day, and a part of Kershaw's command
fought with success on the 8th, at one time using the bayonet. Repeated
and heavy assaults were made on Ewell's corps during the 10th, and on
the 11th the two armies confronted each other at Spottsylvania Court
House, ready for the awful battle of the 12th of May.
The great struggle over the possession of the "bloody angle" began just
before dawn by the successful sweep of the Federal divisions through
Gen. Edward Johnson's line of intrenchments, thus threatening the
overthrow of Lee's army. The particulars of this fearful encounter,
which resulted, after the day's bloody fighting, in the defeat of
Grant's purpose, will not be given here, but the part taken by
McGowan's brigade deserves special mention. This brigade, stationed far
out on the Confederate right, was summoned to action about sunrise,
May 12th, and after a march of two miles to the left, was moved at
double-quick along Ewell's line. General Rodes, seeing them approach,
asked: "What troops are these?" and was answered, "McGowan's South
Carolina brigade." "There are no better soldiers in the world," was his
inspiring reply. Almost immediately the South Carolinians entered the
fight, the Twelfth on the right, and the First, Thirteenth, the Rifles
and the Fourteenth extending to the left consecutively. At double-quick
and with the "rebel yell" they went into the inner line, where McGowan
was wounded by a minie ball, and compelled to yield the command to
Colonel Brockman, who in turn being quickly disabled by a wound, was
succeeded by Col. J. N. Brown.
"At that time," says Col. I. F. Hunt, in his account of the battle,
"the position of the Thirteenth regiment was in an open field, and
about fifty yards in rear of a line of works occupied by Confederate
troops (Harris' Mississippians), a position where we could do no good,
while subjected to a terrific fire from the enemy, somewhat on our
right. I saw General Gordon passing, and obtained permission to move
the regiment to the right. He ordered me to take it to the point where
the fighting was hardest." In moving to the right Colonel Hunt was
informed that all his seniors had been killed or wounded and he took
command of the brigade. He found the right of the brigade in a short
line of reserve works, and perceiving that his men must either charge
or retreat or die where they stood, he ordered a charge, and drove the
enemy from the salient, or "bloody angle." In occupying that work the
left of the brigade connected with and possibly lapped other troops,
but the right was unprotected, and as far down the right as Hunt
could see, the Federals held the opposite side of the works, with the
captured Confederate guns turned against him. The ammunition soon began
to give out, and although it appeared to be certain death to leave the
shelter of the works, Privates William Kelly and Chance Evans of the
First volunteered to, and did bring ammunition from, the rear in boxes
and tent flies during the entire engagement. At 1 p. m., the enemy
about ten paces distant, raised a white flag, and a general advanced
who, when met by Hunt, demanded a surrender, which was promptly
refused. Soon afterward Col. J. N. Brown took command.
The fierceness of this close engagement by McGowan's brigade,[J]
in which Harris' Mississippians bore an equally gallant part, on
the left, was probably not exceeded in any war. The firing, when
resumed after the parley above mentioned, continued incessantly all
the remainder of the day and far into the night. Just before day the
brigade was withdrawn without pursuit to a position near a part of
Longstreet's corps, and there rested with their Confederate comrades
ready for the enemy, who did not choose to advance. In this battle
the brigade lost 86 killed, 241 wounded and 117 missing. Among the
missing, it was afterward learned, were a large number wounded and
left in the trenches and others that were killed. Among the casualties
were Lieut.-Col. W. P. Shooter, of the First, and Col. B. T. Brockman,
of the Thirteenth, killed; Col. C. W. McCreary, of the First, and
Lieut.-Col. G. McD. Miller, of the Rifles, wounded.
[Footnote J: Colonel Hunt says: "Accident gave the brigade the position
in front of the salient, and it sustained its reputation by charging,
retaking and holding it for seventeen hours. No one can describe what
we endured during that struggle. The trunk of that oak tree now on
exhibition in Washington tells better than words the heroic endurance
of the Confederate soldier, and gives a faint idea of the storm of
minie balls hurled at us. When we took the works, the bark on it was
intact. It stood near the right center of the salient. A little to
the left and in front of it stood a hickory tree about eight inches
in diameter, of which I have never seen any mention. The hickory was
shot down before night and fell across the works, catching some of the
men in its branches. Its body and branches were chipped into splinters
by minie balls.... I saw some very reckless acts of individuals, for
instance Private W. W. Davenport, of the Thirteenth, and a boy of the
Twelfth, whose name I cannot recall, mounted ammunition boxes, not over
ten feet from the hickory, and fired over the salient while three or
four men loaded guns for them until the minie balls almost stripped
the clothing from them. During the afternoon the enemy's front line
would seek protection under cover of our works and fire by placing the
muzzles of their guns below the top logs of the works, while their
second line would fire over their heads. Frequently our men would seize
their muzzles and direct their fire to the rear."]
On the same day General Bratton's brigade (Jenkins') was in battle on
the Brock road, on the right of Kershaw's brigade, and the two repulsed
a heavy assault. Bratton reported that his brigade was about 1,250
strong, and lost not more than 15, but the enemy left 500 dead in its
front. During the night Bratton's brigade covered the withdrawal of
McGowan's brigade from the bloody angle, and without firing a gun, lost
70 men.
On the Cold Harbor line, June 1st, when a strong Confederate movement
by the right was ordered, a diary of the First corps says:
Kershaw puts in his own brigade, supported by another. Keitt's big
regiment gives way, and in the effort to rally it, Keitt is mortally
wounded. Pickett is closed into the right on Kershaw, and the latter
on Hoke. Field closes in on Pickett. In the afternoon a furious
attack is made on the left of Hoke and the right of Kershaw, enemy
penetrating an interval between them.... Kershaw brings up the Second
and Third South Carolina and regains Bryan's lost ground, and captures
prisoners and a stand of colors.... [On June 3d] Kershaw's salient
is weak.... The expected battle begins early. Meantime the enemy is
heavily massed in front of Kershaw's salient. Anderson's, Law's and
Gregg's divisions are there to support Kershaw. Assault after assault
is made and each time repulsed.
The South Carolina cavalry and horse artillery participated in this
memorable campaign under Stuart, until that famous leader fell at
Yellow Tavern, then under Hampton. In Hampton's successful battle with
Sheridan at Trevilian, Butler's South Carolina brigade opened the
attack and was distinguished throughout. Among the wounded was Colonel
Aiken, of the Sixth cavalry. Before the battle of Nance's Shop, Hampton
was joined by Brig.-Gen. M. W. Gary, with a brigade including the
Hampton legion cavalry and Seventh South Carolina cavalry. Gary opened
the battle at Nance's shop and contributed materially to the victory.
Meanwhile other gallant South Carolinians had been on duty under
General Beauregard, guarding the approaches to the Confederate capital,
and holding back the advance of the Federal army under Gen. Ben Butler.
These South Carolina commands were Brig.-Gen. Johnson Hagood's brigade;
Evans' brigade, under Col. Stephen Elliott; the Seventh cavalry, Col.
W. P. Shingler, and Kelly's battery (Chesterfield).
The Twenty-first and part of the Twenty-fifth arrived at Port Walthall
junction on May 6th, and at once went out under Colonel Graham to
meet the enemy. They were successful in checking the enemy. The whole
brigade, arriving, was engaged in battle at the junction on the 7th,
repulsing the enemy, and at Swift Creek on the 9th. The brigade loss
was 177. The brave Lieutenant-Colonel Dargan fell at the head of his
men; Colonel Graham was wounded in two places; Lieutenant-Colonel
Pressley, and Captain Stoney, of the staff, were seriously, and
Lieutenant-Colonel Blake, Twenty-seventh, and Captain Sellers,
Twenty-fifth, slightly wounded.
At the battle of Drewry's Bluff, May 16th, according to General
Beauregard's report, "Hagood and Bushrod Johnson were thrown forward
and found a heavy force of the enemy occupying a salient of the outer
line of works.... Hagood with great vigor and dash drove the enemy from
the outer lines in his front, capturing a number of prisoners, and
in conjunction with Johnson, five pieces of artillery. He then took
position in the works." The casualties of the brigade were 433 out of
2,235. Captain Brooks, of the Seventh, received three severe wounds.
Fifty-seven bullet marks were found upon the flag of the Seventh
battalion after the fight, and in one of its companies 19 were killed
and 46 wounded. It was by such heroic fighting that Petersburg and
Richmond were held in May, 1864.
Brig.-Gen. Stephen Elliott reported a severe fight on June 2d, in which
the Seventeenth and Twenty-second South Carolina were engaged, and the
latter regiment lost its colonel, O. M. Dantzler, who fell mortally
wounded while leading a charge.
Grant having transferred his army south of the James, Bratton's brigade
was sent across to Beauregard's line near the Howlett house, on June
16th. Taking position on the right, they saw next morning that the
enemy was still in partial possession of part of Beauregard's line.
"About the middle of the day the division (Field's) made a sort of
spontaneous charge," as Bratton put it, "in which my skirmish line
participated, and recovered the line." Next morning, relieved by
Pickett, Bratton moved to the Petersburg line beyond the Appomattox,
taking position on the right of where the mine was sprung later. Here
for several days, during the first assaults of Grant's army, under
incessant fire night and day, Bratton's men had their severest tour
of duty in all the four years. On June 24th they were relieved by
Elliott's South Carolinians, and took other positions on the line until
transferred north of the James.
Hagood's brigade served with distinction in the Petersburg battles of
June 16th to 18th, repelling all assaults. Reaching Petersburg from the
Drewry's bluff line on the night of the 15th, the brigade pushed out
at the City Point road where the Confederates were being driven from
the outer intrenchments. Under a fierce shelling on the 16th and 17th,
many were killed. Captains Hopkins and Palmer and Adjutant Gelling,
of the Twenty-second, were killed by the shells. Lieutenant Allemand
was mortally wounded. So they fell all through the first two months in
Virginia, till many of the best and bravest were laid to rest.
On the 18th Hagood fought to hold and did hold Hare's hill, the scene
of Gordon's desperate sally in February, 1865. Lieutenant Harvey,
Seventh battalion, was killed that day, and Lieutenant Felder,
Twenty-fifth, and Major Rion, Seventh battalion, were wounded. The
brigade lost about 220 in the three days. On the 24th Hagood's brigade
occupied a single line of intrenchments, on the left of the Confederate
line, the Twenty-seventh, Twenty-first and Eleventh between Appomattox
creek and the City Point road, the Twenty-fifth and Seventh battalion
south of the road, facing the enemy, who was intrenched in three lines.
At dawn the South Carolinians were told that a general engagement was
ordered, which they were to open, after a heavy cannonading of the
enemy by the batteries north of the Appomattox. The three regiments
north of the road were to charge and wheel to the south, and supported
by other brigades, it was hoped to roll up the Federal flank and drive
them beyond Hare's hill. Lieutenant-Colonel Nelson, Seventh battalion,
was put in command of 400 picked men for the skirmish line, a detail
which left only 550 men of these regiments in the second line. The
attack was made, and the enemy driven from his rifle-pits and part of
the first line of intrenchments, but the South Carolinians were too
few to go further, and their expected support did not arrive in time.
So the battle failed, but Hagood held the Federal rifle-pits all day.
The loss in the three regiments and Seventh battalion was very heavy,
25 killed, 73 wounded and 208 whose fate was at the time unknown.
Lieutenant-Colonel Nelson was missing; Captain Axson, Twenty-seventh,
was killed; and Lieutenants Huguenin and Trim, Twenty-seventh,
Chappell, Ford and Vanderford, Twenty-first, and Smith, Eleventh,
wounded; Captains Mulvaney and Buist (wounded) were captured; Captain
Raysor and Lieutenants Reilly, White and Clemens, missing.
On the 29th of July, Bushrod Johnson's division was arranged in the
works with Ransom's North Carolinians on the left, Elliott's South
Carolinians next, then Wise's Virginians, and Colquitt's Georgians on
the right. A projecting part of the works known as Pegram's salient was
occupied by Pegram's battery, with the Eighteenth South Carolina on its
left and the Twenty-second behind it and to the right. To the left of
the Eighteenth were the Twenty-sixth and Seventeenth, and to the right
of the Twenty-second was the Twenty-third, all along the parapet. A
second line of intrenchments, behind, Elliott did not have men enough
to occupy. Upon these devoted South Carolinians in the parapets was to
fall a tremendous blow, which was expected to open a way for Grant's
army into Petersburg.
About 4:55 on the morning of July 30th, after a moment's appalling
rumbling and trembling, the earth burst like a volcano beneath them,
and great masses were cast in the air. Mingled in this horrible
eruption which followed the explosion of the Federal mine, were the
bodies of men, who fell nearly all of them lifeless, while scores of
others were buried as the upheaval settled about the great "crater,"
nearly 100 by 150 feet, and 30 feet deep. Five companies of the
Twenty-second South Carolina were blown up with the left of the
battery, and four companies of the Eighteenth were thrown in the air
or buried. The loss of the first regiment was 170; of the latter, 43
killed, 43 wounded, and 76 missing--buried or captured. Stunned by the
shock of this explosion, both Federals and Confederates for a little
while made no move, but when the torrents of dust had subsided, the
Federals were seen pouring into the breach, and at the same time there
was another and more deafening outbreak--that of the Federal artillery,
all along the line, in a torrent of shot and shell and continuous
reverberation, surpassing any previous artillery fire in the war. But
Lee's undaunted veterans held firm.
First to meet the advancing enemy were the Twenty-third and Seventeenth
South Carolina regiments and the survivors of the Eighteenth and
Twenty-second. The remainder of the division hurried to the firing
line, and Wright's battery and Major Haskell's mortar batteries came
into action with terrible effect upon the crowded masses of the
Federals. General Elliott fell dangerously wounded, but his place
was taken by Col. F. W. McMaster, Seventeenth, and Colonel Smith,
Twenty-sixth, formed a line to the left and rear of the crater composed
of his regiment, part of the Seventeenth, and the Twenty-fourth North
Carolina. The Twenty-third, under Captain White, and the remnant of
the Twenty-second, under Captain Shedd, held the trenches on the
right. "The South Carolina troops on that side," said General Johnson,
"succeeded in placing a barricade on the side of the hill and planting
themselves in it and the sunken ways running to the rear, maintained
their position within 30 yards of the crater for about five hours,
during which the enemy never drove them a foot to the right, though
they made several assaults and attempted several times to form a line
in rear of our works, so as to move on the flank and rear of this
gallant little band. In the events of the 30th of July there will
perhaps be found nothing more heroic or worthy of higher admiration
than this conduct of the Twenty-second and Twenty-third South Carolina
regiments."
After Mahone's division came up, Colonel Smith's line joined in
a charge which cleared the enemy from part of the second line of
intrenchments, and the final charge which resulted in the complete
rout of the enemy was participated in by the Seventeenth under Major
Culp, and Captain Shedd's line, which captured three flags and many
prisoners. "For every buried comrade," General Johnson said, the South
Carolinians "took a two-fold vengeance on the enemy." In the last
charge Sergt. J. W. Connelly, Twenty-second, captured the colors of the
First Michigan sharpshooters. The loss of Elliott's South Carolinians
on that terrible day was 15 officers killed and 18 wounded; 110 men
killed and 204 wounded; 14 officers and 337 men missing; total, 698.
This was the main part of the Confederate loss. The Federal return of
losses was 4,400.
Grant's demonstrations north of the James, on the old Seven Days'
battle ground, to draw Lee's forces away from the vicinity of the mine
explosion, had caused Bratton's brigade to be sent across at Drewry's
bluff to Fussell's mill on the 29th, and thence to New Market heights.
Kershaw had taken position at Chaffin's bluff several days before, and
on the 28th, Conner's (Kershaw's) and Lane's brigades attempted to
dislodge the enemy from the Long Bridge road, causing a severe fight.
Heth's, Field's and Kershaw's divisions were massed here; the enemy
abandoned the advanced position and Kershaw recrossed the James on the
30th.
On July 27th, Hampton was ordered from Drewry's to intercept Wilson's
cavalry expedition, returning from Staunton river bridge to Grant's
army. He attacked at Sappony church, next day, and his thin line held
the enemy in check all night, 200 of the Holcombe legion infantry,
under Crawley, in the center. At dawn, the whole command, including
Butler's brigade, charged, drove the enemy from two lines, pursued his
scattering forces two miles, and captured over 800 prisoners, while
Fitzhugh Lee was fighting with like success at Reams' Station. The
gallant Lieutenant-Colonel Crawley was severely wounded. This pursuit,
General Hampton reported, closed the operations begun on June 8th, a
period of twenty-two days, during which his command, poorly fed and
without rest, had marched over 400 miles, fought six days and one
night, captured over 2,000 prisoners, and many guns and small-arms, and
defeated two formidable Federal expeditions, at a loss of 719 men.