THE FOURTH LOUISIANA BATTALION AT THE BATTLE OF SECESSIONVILLE, S. C.
BY H. J. LEA, WINNSBORO, LA,
I have been a constant reader of the CONFEDERATE Veteran for many years, and would not be without it, for I find in each issue something worth more to me than the price paid for the entire year. In the October number, page 368, is an interesting account of the battle of Secessionville, S. C., by R. de T. Lawrence, of. Marietta, Ga., which I recognize as true in the main, but with a slight variation as to the part taken therein by the 4th Louisiana Battalion; and the purpose of this article is to correct the report in that respect, so I will give an account of this affair according to my knowledge of it, having participated therein.
I was a member of Capt. J. W. Walker's company, which enlisted and went out from Monroe, La., March 2, 1862. We went to Savannah, Ga., and there were attached to and made part of the 4th Louisiana Battalion, commanded by Col. John McEnry, also of Monroe, which became a part of Harrison's Brigade, commanded by Col. George. P. Harrison of the 32nd Georgia Regiment, which brigade was composed of the 32nd Georgia and, I believe, the 47th Georgia and the 4th Louisiana Battalion. In the early part of June, 1862, this brigade was ordered to Charleston, S. C. On our arrival there we were ordered to cross over to James Island, just in front of Charleston, a few days later, the Yankees having landed a force on the east or southeast side of the Island. On June 10 our brigade crowded them back through the thick jungle to their vessels, where they took refuge. Night came on, and we were ordered to fall back to open ground, a short distance away, where we remained during the night, with orders to be quiet to prevent the Yankees from getting our range or location, as they were throwing shells from the mortars constantly, which exploded high in the air above us; and occasionally a shell would come down, strike the ground, and then explode, the fragments scattering everywhere with the usual whistling noise familiar to veterans but not to boys. just merged into service. Needless to say that no one there was sleepy that night. But there was not much to this affair, and the enemy made no further attempt to land at this place. We retired to the rear of our fortified line a little farther up near the fort, where we remained in camp till the morning of the 16th. I refer to our battalion only, as I do not recall the location of the Georgia regiments composing our brigade at this time.
At the break of day on the morning of the 16th, firing wa® heard up in front of the fort, the alarm given, and the long roll beat, and the line was quickly formed with orders to march in double-quick time. The distance was as much as three-quarters of a mile or more to the fort. We went up the road along the west side of the line to the bridge, which was about two hundred yards long, crossed over, and turned to the east about four hundred yards to the fort. Just before the head of our line reached the fort, the Yankee regiment, having formed on the opposite side of Lighthouse Creek, at this point about one hundred yards distant, opened fire on us. We were ordered to halt, face to the right, and fire. This continued but a short time; the storming party in front was crowding in, and we were ordered to face to the left and rush to the fort, where the Yankees were scrambling for the top of the parapets, crowding forward in great numbers with a desperate determination to capture the fort. We arrived just at the critical moment; a few minutes later would have been too late. They were repulsed, routed, and fled in the
same quick time that they came, with the rifles and artillery playing on them to the extreme range.
It seemed that every man there in defense of the fort felt as though the whole responsibility of holding the fort rested on him, for it would have been impossible for any force of the same size to have done more. As soon as the storming party in front gave way and fled, the flanking party across the creek also fled hurriedly, for had they remained, even for a short time, they would have been cut off and captured or killed. Our Captain Walker was shot through the body and dangerously wounded by the party across the creek just before reaching the fort, and others were killed and wounded by them. Lieut. Ike Doyle and private John Reagan of Company C were killed at the fort. I notice there was no mention made in the report of the casualties of officers of Lieutenant Doyle's having been killed, and no mention of the 4th Louisiana Battalion having rushed to the assistance of the fort. The citizens and newspapers of Charleston had much to say at the time about the conduct of the brave Colonel McEnry and his 4th Louisiana Battalion in action at that time. The report says that the 4th Louisiana came up in a run, fell upon the regiment across the creek, and routed them. The facts are as above stated.
Had the flanking party across the creek been a little stronger so as to maintain their position there while four or five hundred more continued down the creek, crossed the bridge behind us, and made their attack in front, flank, and rear, they might have succeeded, though it would have been a bold movement. It looks like they might have had a good chance, as we had no infantry in the trenches in the vicinity of the bridge; in fact, there was not a very strong Confederate force on the Island.
Comrade Lawrence says the regiment across the creek was sheltered by jungle about the marsh and the bank of the creek. My recollection is that the marsh and jungle referred to were farther up the creek to the east of the fort, and that the body of water and the land on both sides were open as far up as the fort; and as the land was only four or five feet above high tide level, there could not have been any banks to shelter them. They were in plain open view of us. He says the north end of the fort was on Big Folly Creek. I do not know the name of the two bodies of water between which the fort was situated, my only information being derived from his article. He calls the one on the south side Lighthouse Creek and the one on the north side Big Folly Creek. The north end of the fort was on a body of water which must have been as much as a mile wide, and which I understood to lie between James Island and Morris Island. A few days after the battle I saw a vessel steam up from the east or northeast through this water, near enough as I thought for our batteries to fire on her, but they did not, and I presume the distance may have been too great. She stood there a few minutes then retired. I remember a tower which stood at the south end of the fort, two or three hundred feet high, on which a guard was constantly on duty to observe the movements of the enemy. I was permitted to go up on one occasion, and the sentry kindly let me have the use of his glasses for a short time.
Comrade Lawrence says a fatigue party of one hundred picked men started about one o'clock to cross the bridge to go to the fort to assist in the work of mounting a gun, and that they arrived about daylight, just in time to render assistance in the battle. He does not say where they started from, and I cannot think he means to say it would take them all that time, from one o'clock to daylight, to cross the bridge and reach the fort, when the distance was only four hundred yards. I am inclined to think the arrival of the working
party may have been confused with that of the 4th Louisiana, as we arrived on the scene about the time they are reported to have been there; but I would not at all detract from the bravery of this party or any others who may have been there in action. He says the 4th Louisiana was ordered there by Colonel Haygood, but I do not know why Colonel Haygood should be giving orders to Colonel McEnry, since we were in Harrison's Brigade and subject to his orders. There may be some way to explain that, as we may have been temporarily detached from the brigade at this time.
This battle was one of great importance, considering the effect it may have had on the Confederacy had we failed, for, as I remember it, this point was in reach of Charleston and the enemy, if successful, might have reversed our own guns and brought them to bear on that city.
Captain Walker was discharged from the service on account of his dangerous wound, and I did not see him again, but was informed that he died at his home in one of the hill Parishes of Louisiana, west of Monroe, several years after the close of the war. When we went to James Island, we crossed over just south of the city. On our departure we boarded a steamer at the point of the peninsula and steamed around by Fort Sumter to Charleston, then went back to Savannah and remained there till November. Vessels having been sighted off the coast of Wilmington, N. C., our brigade was sent up there, and we remained on the coast just above Wilmington till March, 1863, then returned to Savannah, where we remained till May, when the 4th Louisiana was ordered to Jackson, Miss., and there attached to Gen. W. H. T. Walker's Brigade. He was promoted to major general soon after, and Colonel Wilson was placed in command of the brigade. We were in all of the Mississippi campaign under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, then went to North Georgia and joined Bragg's army just before the battle of Chickamauga. We were then in Wilson's Brigade, Walker's Division, Polk's Corps, and occupied the right wing of General Bragg's army, in which battle our losses were very great. We lost every commissioned officer, either killed or wounded, except one lieutenant, and fifty per cent of the men. Our battallion was then transferred to Gen. R. L. Gibson's Louisiana Brigade, where it remained to the close, Colonel McEnry receiving a serious wound through the shoulder. After being transferred to Gibson's Brigade, General Gibson assigned Capt. John McGrath (now president of Louisiana Pension Board), of the 13th Louisiana Regiment, to take charge of the 4th Louisiana Battalion till some of its officers were able to return for duty.
After the battle of Missionary Ridge, we were in winter quarters at Mill Creek Gap, Rocky Face Mountain, near Dalton, Ga., till the spring of 1864. We were then under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in all of the Georgia campaign from Dalton to Atlanta. Colonel McEnry was again seriously wounded in the battle of Resaca, and our Maj. Duncan Buie was wounded in the battle of Ezra, just west of Atlanta, on July 28, 1864. Neither of them was ever able to return for duty. Our General Polk was killed at Pine Mountain and Gen. W. H. T. Walker, in the battle of Atlanta, on July 22, then under General Hood, General Johnston having been relieved just before the battles of Atlanta. The battle of Jonesboro, just south of Atlanta, was the last before the evacuation of Atlanta, then General Hood made his bold move around and went up into Tennessee. French's Division fought the battle of Atlanta, Ga., which, I believe, was the last of the Georgia campaign, Our brigade crossed the Tennessee River at Florence, Ala., in pontoon boats. The enemy occupied the town on the opposite side; the army was crossed over and remained there till all preparations were made,
then proceeded on up by way of Columbia, where we were stopped to guard the crossing of Duck River while the army went on to Franklin and Nashville, where terrible battles were fought. Quite a lot of prisoners were sent back to us with instructions to deliver them at Corinth, Miss., which was accordingly done. Our brigade was then ordered to Mobile, being so greatly reduced in number on account of hard service and casualties. An order came to General Maury, commanding the post of Mobile, to grant a furlough to one of every seven for sixty days, which was accordingly done on February 28, 1865, and the writer was so fortunate as to draw a furlough. In company with Maj. Ned Austin, of Austin's Battalion, Capt. John Clayton, of the 25th Louisiana Regiment, and two or three others, I left Mobile by train on March 1. We left the noble Major Austin at Jackson, his home being in New Orleans, and the other members of our party walked to the river and were taken over by a negro man in a skiff. Landing on Louisiana soil, we proceeded to our respective homes. Our furloughs would have expired April 28. General Lee's army surrendered April 9, and General Johnston's a few days later, and, other organizations rapidly following, the Confederate government merged into history. I have not been back since, but remain an unreconstructed Confederate.