Primary sources

Confederate Military History, Volume V

Ellison Capers’ South Carolina, 1899 — the nine Charleston chapters, whole.

The fifth volume of Confederate Military History is the South Carolina volume, written by Brigadier-General Ellison Capers and published at Atlanta in 1899. Twenty-one chapters carry the state through the war. Nine of them are Charleston, and all nine are here, entire — 50,769 words, from the militia of 1860 to the surrender of the city in February 1865.

Capers wrote this volume about a war he had fought. The volume's own biographical section, pages 383 to 386, has him born in Charleston in 1837, major of the First regiment of Rifles at Castle Pinckney and on Morris, Sullivan's, James and John's islands, and with Beauregard's army at the attack on Fort Sumter; lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-fourth South Carolina when it opened the James Island campaign and fought at Secessionville; wounded at Jackson, at Chickamauga and at Franklin; commissioned brigadier-general on 1 March 1865. He was consecrated Bishop of South Carolina in July 1893, which is the man the frontispiece shows. The Charleston chapters here are therefore a participant's account written thirty-eight years afterwards, for a series whose purpose was commemorative. Read them as that.

How this collection was made sets out what was published, what was not, how every page number was settled against the scan, and how far the transcription can be trusted.

Ellison Capers. The volume's frontispiece, facing page 1.

The Charleston chapters

Chapter	Subject	Pages	Words
I	Spirit of Secession, and the Fall of Fort SumterSpirit 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	4–28	8,078
II	Affairs on the Coast, and Lee in CommandAffairs 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	29–42	4,263
IV	The Coast in the Summer of 1862, and SecessionvilleThe Coast of South Carolina, Summer of 1862—Operations under General Pemberton—Engagement at Old Pocotaligo—Campaign on James Island—Battle of Secessionville	76–93	5,778
V	Beauregard in Command, and the Defenses of CharlestonGeneral 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	94–110	5,628
X	The Spring of 1863, and Du Pont's Ironclad AttackOperations 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	188–202	4,841
XIII	Gillmore Opens against Fort SumterOperations 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	223–234	3,756
XIV	Battery Wagner, and the Evacuation of Morris IslandSecond Assault on Battery Wagner—Siege of Wagner and Bombardment of Fort Sumter—Evacuation of Morris Island	235–256	7,000
XVII	The Siege of CharlestonThe 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	291–309	5,790
XXI	Honey Hill, Sherman, and the Evacuation of the CityBattle of Honey Hill—Sherman's Advance into South Carolina—Organization of the Confederate Forces—Burning of Columbia—Battles of Averasboro and Bentonville—Conclusion	354–372	5,635

What Capers says the volume is

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.

The Introductory, page 3, entire.

The other twelve chapters

Every chapter of the volume was read. These twelve are South Carolina troops in other theaters; the test here is the subject, not the state, and none of them is a Charleston chapter. Each is listed with what it covers and a link to the page in the scanned volume, so that the reading can be checked.

Chapter III, pages 43–75 — The Peninsula: Williamsburg, Eltham's Landing, Seven Pines and the Seven Days. South Carolina regiments in Virginia; no Charleston operation. In the scanned volume
Chapter VI, pages 111–119 — The western army: Manigault's and Lythgoe's regiments at Corinth, the Kentucky campaign and Murfreesboro. In the scanned volume
Chapter VII, pages 120–139 — Northern Virginia in 1862: the Rappahannock maneuvers, Second Manassas and Ox Hill. In the scanned volume
Chapter VIII, pages 140–164 — The Maryland campaign: South Mountain, Harper's Ferry, Sharpsburg and Shepherdstown. In the scanned volume
Chapter IX, pages 165–187 — Hampton's Maryland raid and the battle of Fredericksburg. In the scanned volume
Chapter XI, pages 203–212 — Mississippi: the engagement near Jackson, the Vicksburg campaign and the siege of Jackson. In the scanned volume
Chapter XII, pages 213–222 — Chancellorsville, and the service of Kershaw's and McGowan's brigades. In the scanned volume
Chapter XV, pages 257–276 — The Gettysburg campaign, and Hampton's cavalry at Brandy Station. In the scanned volume
Chapter XVI, pages 277–290 — Chickamauga: the organization of the two armies and the South Carolina commands engaged. In the scanned volume
Chapter XVIII, pages 310–327 — Wauhatchie, Missionary Ridge and Knoxville, then the Virginia campaign of 1864 from the Wilderness to the Crater. In the scanned volume
Chapter XIX, pages 328–345 — The Atlanta campaign, Hood's move into north Georgia, and Franklin. In the scanned volume
Chapter XX, pages 346–353 — The closing scenes in Virginia: Richmond and Petersburg, Fort Fisher, and the South Carolina commands at Appomattox. In the scanned volume

Fifty-one pages of sketches of the general officers accredited to South Carolina, pages 373 to 424. Charleston runs all through it — a good many of these men were born in the city or commanded in the harbor — but the section's subject is their careers, and a career is not a Charleston operation. It is on the scan, and linked from the method page. In the scanned volume