The Wee Nee Volunteers of Williamsburg District, South Carolina, in the First (Hagood's) Regiment

The Wee Nee Volunteers of Williamsburg District, South Carolina, in the First (Hagood's) Regiment.

By Major John G. Pressley, of the Eutaw Battalion, South Carolina

Volunteers.

About the middle of August, 1861, it being their purpose to join the regiment of Colonel Johnson Hagood, many of the old members of the Wee Nee Volunteers and quite a number of recruits met in the courthouse, in pursuance of a call from the captain, and reorganized the company. No one thought of opposing the captain, but there was a spirited contest for some of the other places. The following was the result of the election : Captain, John G. Pressley , First Lieutenant, Thomas J. China; Second Lieutenant, Calhoun Logan ; Junior Second Lieutenant, Henry Montgomery, Jr.

Both Hagood's regiment and Gregg's were known as the First South Carolina volunteers. Colonel Gregg's was called the First because organized first in regard to time, and was the only regiment organized under the call of the Convention for troops for the Fort Sumter campaign. Upon its reorganization and reception by the Confederacy it was allowed to retain its name. Colonel Hagood's was organized under an act of the Legislature providing for the raising often regiments and in designating these regiments so raised, it: was designated as the First. It was, in August, 1861, encamped at Summerville. Captain Pressley at once reported the organization of his company to Colonel Hagood, and soon after received orders to report for duty in Charleston.

The following letter from the regimental quartermaster may be of interest, as showing the preparation which soldiers were then required to make for service :

Camp Hagood, Summerville, S. C. Captain J. G. Pressley,

Kingsiree Postoffice, South Carolina:

Dear Sir, — I write to inform you that it will be well for each of your men to bring his blanket with him, otherwise he will have to supply himself out of the money allowed him to buy his clothes.

It is also advisable for each of the officers to come prepared with all his camp equipage except tents, axes, hatchets and spades, as these are the only articles allowed them. Yours truly, etc.,

G. B. Lartigue. August 2j, 186 1,

About the first of September the company took the train for Charleston, the most of them embarking at Kingstree. The men were all in high spirits. Joseph Ard, from the neighborhood of Clocktown, deserves special mention. Owing to a defect in his organs of speech, he could not make himself understood by one not accustomed to hearing him talk. Some days before the company took its departure he applied for membership, and was kindly, but firmly, refused by me, because of his infirmity. While standing on the platform superintending the embarkation of the men and their baggage, in the dim twilight of the morning, Ard approached me in company with one of his friends, who came with him to interpret. He tried to tell me something, which the interpreter said was that he was very anxious to go with the company.

"Ard," said I, "the government would not take you as a soldier. I am very sorry, but you cannot go."

With tears in his eyes, Ard addressed something to the interpreter, at the same time giving me a most beseeching look. The poor fellow, no doubt, believed that it rested entirely with me whether he would be allowed to serve his country with his brother and neighbors, who were members of the company. I can remember now, after the lapse of more than twenty-one years, just how he looked. My heart was touched, and I felt that I could not resist his appeals.

" What does he say ? " I inquired.

" Captain," said the interpreter, " he says if he can't be a soldier he can cook."

" Well," said I, " if you are so anxious to go, get aboard."

His face became at once radiant with joy, and my own heart was lightened by the knowledge that I had made a good, kind hearted fellow happy. When the mustering officer came and the roll was called, Joe Ard was very particular in answering in accents which he had been practising so as to conceal his defect of speech. Perhaps I may have been guilty of a dereliction in duty in being a party to mustering him in, but he made such an excellent soldier that none of us, who were parties to the fraud (if it was a fraud), need have any qualms of conscience on that subject.

Upon their arrival in Charleston, the men were embarked on a steamboat at a point near the Northeastern Railroad depot, and were landed at Fort Johnson on James Island.

On the 7th of September I wrote a letter, from which I extract the following :

"I arrived here safely, after a very fatiguing journey, on the day that I left home. We are in the old barracks, prepared here for the accommodation of the United States soldiers, and we are tolerably comfortable. I find my hands very full with a large company of very green men to drill (many of the company were recruits). A large number joined us, on our way down, from the neighborhoods of Graham's Cross-Roads, Kingstree and Gourdin's. Many of them I did not know were coming. They are mostly poor men, and will, when drilled, make good and self-sacrificing soldiers. They seem all to be in high spirits, except one or two who are sick. One is very sick and, as we have no means here of taking proper care of the sick, I intend sending him to Charleston to the hospital this evening, where he can receive proper attention. A lady, living in the village here, sent him a dish of soup, but the poor fellow was too sick to eat

it. One of my men is without shoes, but I have sent to Charleston to buy him a pair. There are a good many of them who will suffer this winter, unless the people of Williamsburg will do their duty and supply them with clothing suitable for cold weather. We have no regular communication with Charleston. There comes a boat occasionally. I expect a steamer down this evening to bring another company. I hear that we are to have regular communication by means of a sail boat in a day or two. I do not suppose that we will be here very long, I think we will go to Cole's Island."

On the 9th day of September, 1861, Captain P. K. Molony, Adjutant of Colonel Hagood's First regiment South Carolina volunteers, came to the post and the company was by him regularly mustered into the Confederate service.

The company was drawn up in line, the muster-roll called by the mustering officer, and each man answered to his name. The following pledge was signed by the officers and men :

" We, the undersigned, hereby agree to be mustered into the Confederate service, unconditionally, until the 12th day of April, 1862."

And the Wee Nees were soldiers of the Confederate States of America. The twelfth day of April was fixed as the limit, because the term of service of the regiment expired on that day.

With the men mustered in by Captain Molony, and those who afterwards joined, the Wee Nees numbered four commissioned officers, nine non-commissioned officers, and eighty-two privates. They were, while in this regiment, designated as Company E.

A relief society was started in the neighborhood of Kingstree for the purpose of furnishing to the soldiers in the field such supplies as they most needed. I wrote, on the 14th September, i86i,from Fort Johnson, a letter, from which I extract the following :

" My company is getting on very well, improving very fast in drill, and are a very quiet, obedient set. I do not think that I shall have much trouble with them. A good many of them are poorly provided with clothing, and I hope the ladies who are at work will remember them. I think four -fifths of them are making great sacrifices to serve their country."

Unremitting attention was paid to drill and instruction in the duties of the soldier. On the 16th of September I wrote, " My soldiers are getting on pretty well. Some of them have been sick, but are all better. They improve very fast, and will soon be able to take the field."

About the 18th of September, the company was transferred to

Cole's Island, near the mouth of the Stono river, and there joined the regiment. The trip from Fort Johnson was made by steamer, and was a very pleasant one. We embarked early one morning, passed up the bay through Wappoo Cut and into Stono, down that river to a point near its mouth, and up a creek which separates Folly from Cole's Island. After landing, we were assigned our position in the regimental camp next to the St. Matthews Rifles, a company from Orangeburg district and one of the best in the regiment. My friend, Olin M Dantzler, was then First Lieutenant of that company. His agreeable companionship and that of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas J. Glover, are among my most pleasant recollections of Cole's Island. The Confederacy had no braver or more patriotic soldiers than were these two officers, both of whom laid down their lives, in the later years of the war, for the cause they loved so much.

Colonel Johnson Hagood was in command of all the troops on the island. His command consisted of his own regiment and a battalion of regulars, under the command of Major J. J. Lucas. Lieutenant Thomas J. Glover, assisted by Major O'Cain, commanded the First regiment. There were several heavy batteries of artillery on the island. One was near the lower end and, with one in an old circular work, said to have been built by the Spaniards, about midway of the first island, commanded the Stono river. There was a line of breastworks that ran lengthwise across the island, and was about a couple of hundred yards from the river. I never could understand why these breastworks were not located as near the water as they could have been built. They were constructed by officers of the Engineer Corps, and perhaps it would not be in good taste for a line officer, as I was at that time, to criticise them. Perhaps these officers had been taught a system different from that which I studied at the military academy.

I heard the remark jocularly made, that " the design was to let the Yankees land so we could ' bag ' all we did not kill."

These breastworks were flanked by a battery of very heavy guns on the creek which separates the island which we were on from the small pine-covered island next above. The breastworks were not parallel to the beach, but receded as they ran up the island, and these heavy guns were several hundred yards from the river, up which, from the ocean, the enemy's ships were expected to come. I never heard who was responsible for the engineering. I am satisfied that Colonel Hagood was not, because, like myself, he had a leaning towards the system taught us at the Citadel, and had never learnt the

one of getting as far as possible with his guns from the object to be struck. One of the men accounted for the retirement of these guns by telling me that " their range was so long that they must be put well back or they would fire too far." The old circular fort was far in advance of our breastworks, and as near the water as it could well be built. It was a work of great interest. Whether it was built by the whigs of the Revolutionary war to keep out the British, or, as was said when our troops were using it, by the French or Spaniards two centuries ago, the antiquarians must settle. I do not know. The heavy guns were served by Lucas battalion, and the First regiment were the infantry supports. Colonel Hagood and his staff, and Major Lucas and the officers of his battalion occupied houses, all but one of which were temporary structures built for war purposes. The other house was once the residence of the planter who owned the island, but who had, with his negroes, retired into the interior. The men of Lucas battalion and the First regiment were in tents. The tents of the Wee Nees were good, and the men were now, with such articles as were furnished them by the Quartermaster and the kind ladies of Williamsburg, tolerably comfortable. There was some fever and a good many cases of measles on the island, but the Wee Nees suffered hardly as much as some of the other companies.

On the 3d of November, 1861, a large fleet of the enemy's war vessels passed the mouth of the Stono river going south. It was not long till it was ascertained that Beaufort and Port Royal were their objective points. Heavy firing was heard in that direction on the night of the 4th and all of the morning of the 5th. We were not greatly apprehensive of disastrous results. The history of military operations shows that well constructed and properly armed fortifications have so great an advantage over a fleet, that such attacks have seldom been successful. This was before the days of monitors and ironclads. Port Royal was of so much value to us, and its acquisition would give the enemy so great an advantage, not only on the coast of South Carolina, but on the coast of the whole Confederacy, that no one thought it would ever be allowed to pass out of our hands. Its possession by the enemy would give them a safe place of refuge for their vessels operating along our coast. They could also assemble an army there and make it a base of operations for movements by land on either Savannah or Charleston. Its occupation by the enemy would necessitate the presence of a large army on our part to prevent destructive raids and the overrunning of the country. The places where a landing can be effected, when protected by fortifica-

tions, can be held by comparatively a small force. On the 8th of November, the most unexpected and terrible news reached us that the whole of the enemy's fleet had gotten in, and that their land forces had been disembarked and were in possession of our works at Port Royal. The reason given for the disaster was, that the supply of powder was insufficient. If this was true, some one must have been guilty of inexcusable negligence. The derelict officer should have been discovered and the severest punishment meted out to him. Many of the planters in the neighborhood of Port Royal left as soon as the landing of the enemy was known. Some of them managed to take a few of their negroes with them, but the most of them failed to get anything away from their plantations. All of their household goods and tens of thousands of negroes were left to fall into the hands of the invaders. A perfect panic, in fact, seized the planters when they ascertained that the Confederates had fallen back. There was

" No stop, no stay, no thought to ask or tell

Who escaped by flight, or who by battle fell ;

T'was tumult all and violence of flight."

The coast from the mouth of the Savannah to the mouth of theStono, and all of the intermediate islands, were now exposed to the ravages of the Federal forces. It was expected that the enemy would follow up their success by an immediate attack on Charleston. The excitement in that city was intense. The militia was ordered out to reinforce the troops, and everything done to put the city in a thorough state of defence. We were in daily expectation of a fleet in the Stono, co-operating with an army moving on Charleston. Non-combatants began to leave the city, and almost every family was making inquiries for a place of safety in the country. The military authorities desired to reduce the population of Charleston to men capable of bearing arms, so that there would be no useless mouths to feed and no women and children to be endangered in case the city was reduced to a state of siege. There was a report in circulation that the citizens of Charleston had resolved to make it a second Moscow, rather than allow it to fall into the hands of the enemy. There was, probably, some such talk, but such purpose was not seriously entertained by any considerable number of the thinking portion of the population. The burning of Moscow destroyed Napoleon's army and saved Russia because of the rigor of the climate. No such effect would have been produced on the Federal army by the destruc-

tion of Charleston. With our coast and harbors in the possession of the enemy, the United States army had a base of operation which the destruction of every house in Charleston would not materially affect. If the advantage gained at Port Royal had been followed by an immediate advance and vigorous attack by land and sea on Charleston, that city would have fallen. The delay of the enemy enabled the Confederates to perfect their plans for defence. By the 12th or 15th of November the opportunity to capture the city had passed.

On the 7th of November John F. Cook reached camp, and took fever the night of the same day. He was one of the Wee Nees in Gregg's regiment, and was very anxious to come when the company left home in September, but could not then leave his family. He was sent to the regimental hospital, where he received careful nursing and the best of medical attention. Nothing that his comrades or Dr. Martin Bellinger, the surgeon of the regiment, could do for him was left undone. His case developed into a typhoid fever of very malignant type, and neither the skill of the surgeon nor the sympathy of comrades was of any avail. His spirit took its flight to God who gave it.

John F. Cook was a Christian, and one of the best among many excellent soldiers. He discharged his duties promptly, cheerfully, and without murmur or complaint. We selected a beautiful spot under the pines, on the upper end of the island, and with the honors of war laid him in his last resting-place. As a mark of the estimation in which he was held, the company sent to Charleston and bought a handsome marble tombstone, with an appropriate inscription carved on it, and erected it at his head. There

" His silent tent is spread, And glory guards with solemn round The bivouac of the dead."

And when the last reveille shall sound, and upon the shores of eternity the mustering angel shall call the roll of the faithful, John F. Cook will answer.

A sad occurrence took place at Colonel Hagood's quarters about the 10th of November, by which Lieutenant Barnwell, of Lucas' battalion, a very promising young officer, lost his life. He had borrowed a pistol from Adjutant Molony, and when returned, it accidentally went off in Molony's hands, mortally wounding Barnwell. He was sent to his friends in Charleston, and lived only a few days. No blame whatever could be attached to Molony. He was trying the lock of the

pistol, when the hammer slipped out of his hand and the pistol was discharged.

On the night of the nth there was considerable excitement in our camp. It was reported that the enemy had landed on John's Island, a few miles from Cole's Island. The report reached Charleston, and at once a counter movement was commenced. All of the troops in the city marched out to meet the invading army. It was ascertained on the 1 2th that the report was a false alarm, and the troops marched back to their places of encampment.

About this time the military telegraph, connecting Cole's Island with headquarters in the city, was completed. We now had the means of hearing the news from Charleston every day. Commissioned officers had the privilege of sending and receiving private dispatches free of charge, when the wires were not in use transmitting military messages. They were also permitted to send messages for the men. This was a very great comfort. Previously communication with Charleston was very irregular and uncertain. It sometimes happened that for a week at a time no boat left or came to the island.

The giving up of so much of our coast was very distasteful to our army. The apparent lack of energy on the part of our generals was the constant topic of conversation among officers of equal rank. We made the best excuse we could to the men for the apparent remissness of those high in authority. I know that the men were impatient to be led against our invaders, and recapture some of our lost territory. The officers discouraged any feeling of dissatisfaction and spirit of fault-finding among them, and made every possible excuse for our enforced inactivity.

About the 9th of December I was put in charge of two batteries — one was a battery of one large gun, 128-pounder, and the other a two-gun battery of 18-pounders. The Wee Nees soon became expert in handling heavy artillery. These batteries were so poorly supplied with some of the necessary implements as to be almost useless. This was not Colonel Hagood's fault, but lay with some ordnance officer, which one I never knew. Hagood was a strict disciplinarian, and in every way a most excellent officer. The deficiencies were soon supplied, and had the enemy attempted to enter the Stono, the Wee Nees would have given a good account of themselves.

The military authorities in Charleston thought that there were some of the enemy on Folly Island. Colonel Hagood was directed to sweep that island with a line of skirmishers, commencing at the southern end and going north to meet a similar force that was directed

to come from Folly Inlet. The colonel put me in command of the expedition, and gave me a detail consisting of the Wee Nees, a detachment from the Edisto Rifles and one from one of the Barnwell companies belonging to the regiment. We went down the creek and landed near the mouth of the Stono. The line was formed extending across the island. Folly Island was covered with an almost impenetrable thicket of scrub live-oaks, palmettos, pines, briers, etc. A heavy rain, which came on about the time the movement was commenced, added to our difficulties. Everybody was soon soaked to the skin. We found it impossible to preserve regular intervals between the men on the skirmish line. In many places no progress could be made without going " on all fours." The skirmishers necessarily became grouped, but the reconnoisance was made sufficiently well to enable me to report that the enemy were not occupying Folly Island. Nothing was seen of the force that was to co-operate with us. We returned to camp after performing a very arduous day's service.

About the last of December the troops that were garrisoning Fort Pickens, on Battery Island, were relieved by a detachment made up of details from every company of the First regiment. I was put in command of the post, which was a well constructed work, commanding the Stono river. The armament consisted of five smooth-bore 24-pounders. The magazine was well supplied with ammunition, and all the appliances necessary for an effective battery. I also had command of a one 42-pounder howitzer battery at Green Creek Bridge. The quarters for officers and men were very comfortably built barracks. I had a table, desk and stove as the furniture of my room. The lieutenant's quarters were as well provided. We had also a dining-room for our mess. The men's quarters had stoves and bunks. Wood was tolerably plenty. The post was supplied with excellent water brought in a boat from Charleston and kept in a large tank near the wharf, which was situated a little above the battery. There was also a well, the water from which we used for washing and cooking purposes. This island is about two miles above Cole's Island, and was connected with the latter by an excellent military road, running close to the river till reaching the marsh bordering Green Creek. It then leaves the river and follows the edge of the marsh to a point where Green Creek strikes the high land. There we had a howitzer, to sweep the creek and protect a long bridge across it. The road from the bridge passed over some lew lands, across a thick " bay " and on to Cole's Island. A considerable

portion of the road from Battery Island to Green Creek was over a causeway. Battery Island is separated from the island next below by a marsh two hundred yards wide. The road crossed this marsh and the creek (near its middle) on a substantial bridge. There was a good road leading from Battery Island to the city. At the time of which I write, Wappoo Cut was crossed at a ferry near its entrance into Stono river. Thence the road, then traveled, ran over the main land to the Long Bridge across Ashley river. A pontoon bridge and a fixed bridge, just above it across Wappoo, were both built subsequently. Battery Island is separated from James Island by a narrow creek and contained about seven or eight acres. A marsh borders the river for a mile or more above. The fort, barracks and parade ground covered about one-half of the island.

On the nth of January the whole of Company E was sent up from Cole's Island, and the detachments from the other companies were sent back to the regiment. The Wee Nees (Company E) now found themselves very comfortable. Rations were plenty and of good quality, partly by the government and partly by the patriotic ladies of Williamsburg ; they were comfortably clad. I never had my command as comfortably quartered again during the war. They had passed through the diseases incidental to camp-life with the loss of only one man, and were now in good health. They were thoroughly drilled as artillerists. A small detachment was kept at Green Creek bridge and had charge of the howitzer there. This detachment was frequently changed so that all could alike enjoy our comfortable quarters. B. P. Brockinton, the Orderly Sergeant, a most efficient officer, shared my quarters with me. Garrison duty was faithfully attended to and discipline rigidly enforced, to which, almost without exception, the men submitted cheerfully and without complaint. We were separated from our excellent surgeon, Dr. Martin Bellinger, but his place was filled by Dr. Thomas Grimke, who was the surgeon of the post. He was well supplied with medicines, kept in an office in vials and boxes, all neatly labeled. In his absence I attended at surgeon's call and prescribed for the men. As malaria was the cause, either immediate or remote, of nearly every case of sickness, the most common dose was ten grains of quinine. When any of the men were very ill, Dr. Bellinger was called in for consultation. I had the satisfaction of knowing that my prescriptions were approved by the Doctor in every case but one. To that one, instead of the usual dose, castor oil had been given. The Doctor said that was a mistake, and administered an emetic. No very serious consequence

resulted. John Markee was hospital attendant for Dr. Grimke, until the old man allowed a rather cruel experiment to be tried by one of the men on a rooster which he owned, and then the Doctor fell out with him, and he was made hostler and cart driver for the post.

We could frequently hear the guns of the Federal gunboats, as they went up the rivers and inlets among the islands south of our post. They frequently amused themselves shelling the plantations and deserted villages. One of these villages, Legareville, was just opposite us on John's Island. It was easily approached after crossing the river. There was nobody, either white or black, in the town. The furniture, or at least a considerable portion of it, had been left in some of the houses in the hurry of the owners to get away. The soldiers were not permitted to remove anything of value. I think now that it would have been as well if we had been permitted to use such things as had been abandoned by the owners, and could have added to our comfort. Later in the war, Confederate soldiers lost some of their respect for the rights of private owners.

The salt question began to trouble us about this time, and those of us whose families at home were endeavoring to cure their own bacon felt great uneasiness. The supply in Charleston was exhausted. The last sack had been sold for twenty-five dollars. Confederate money had not then suffered much depreciation. We saw it first on Cole's Island, and it was preferred, when we were first paid of! in it, to any other currency, and would have sold for its face in gold coin. The price of salt continued to rise till, a few months after the time of which I am now writing, it reached seventy-five dollars a sack. Salt works were established all along the coast. The salt that was made at first was not good, but the art of boiling it was soon learnt, and the country was independent of the supply from abroad.

On the ioth of January, four of Lucas battalion, who had the confidence of their officers, received permission to go in a boat to gather oysters in the Stono river. As soon as they thought they were out of reach of the guns on Cole's Island, they pulled for the blockading fleet, one of the vessels of which was lying off the mouth of the river. A boat, with an officer and a detachment of men, was sent in pursuit, but they had too far the start to be caught. The pursuers only got near enough to see them go aboard the blockader. The report which these deserters carried to the commanding general of the Federal forces must have satisfied him that we were in condition to give him a warm reception, or he would probably have come in and tried our strength. These deserters were not South Carolinians.

We had preaching several times while we were at Fort Pickens, Once, Rev. James McDowell visited James Island to see some of his acquaintances in Captain Benbow's command and, hearing of him, one of the Montgomery's went for him in our cart. He came and spent the night with us. This was on the 12th of January. After that date, Rev. W. D. Rice, a Baptist preacher from Sumter, visited us and gave us a sermon. The chaplain of the regiment was a Rev.

Stevens, a Methodist minister. He left Cole's Island before or

about the time that we did, and did not visit us on Battery Island.

Not long after the capture of Port Royal and Beaufort, General Sherman advanced his forces, and about the 1st of January, 1862, a fight took place at Port Royal Ferry. The result was more favorable to the enemy than to our forces. In the early part of the engagement victory seemed inclined to us, but our troops fell back and the enemy succeeded in establishing himself on the main land. It was said that the Confederates were then posted so as to have a very great advantage over the enemy if they attempted to advance further. This sort of talk did not satisfy the soldiers who were in daily intercourse with me. We could not see the propriety of giving up so much territory without greater effort to hold it.

On the 18th of January we heard that a fleet of the enemy's vessels had sailed from Port Royal. It was supposed that it went to co-operate with the Burnside expedition, the destination of which we did not know at this date, but heard afterwards that Roanoke Island was the objective point. Our works on that island fell about as easy a prey into the hands of the enemy as Port Royal had done.

About the middle of February we heard the news of the fall of Nashville and the capture of thirteen thousand of our troops. This news had a very disheartening and depressing effect on us. It made us contemplate the possibility of the failure of pur cause. Until about this time, failure was not regarded by the army as among the possibilities. It seemed to us that thirteen thousand men ought not to surrender to any force. We hoped the affair was exaggerated, and that when full particulars were received there would not be so much cause for discouragement.

About this time news reached us that the Federals had established themselves on Edisto Island. They were nearer to us, but we were still uncertain whether it was the design of General Sherman to move first on Charleston or Savannah.

About the 3d of March the garrison at Fort Pickens was reinforced by the addition of two companies, Washington Light Infantry, Com-

panies A and B, under the command of Captain C. H. Simonton. They brought with them Muller's band, composed mostly of Germans, who were professional musicians. The music made by this band was greatly enjoyed by the men. Stag dances became a very popular amusement. Private W. D. Dukes procured a suit of female apparel and played the belle to perfection. There was quite a rivalry among the dancers for the regards of the handsome young "lady."

In order to pass off the long winter evenings, the men organized a debating society. The barracks, where they slept, was the debating hall. My presence seemed to be a damper on their eloquence, though I encouraged every innocent pastime. I heard but one debate, and then the speakers did not know that I was present. I stood back among the crowd of spectators. The debaters were Privates Singletary, E. G. Ard and one of the Camerons. The question for debate was: "Which exercises the greater influence over man, the love of money or the love of woman? " Cameron took the side of money, and greatly amused his hearers by some joke on Singletary as to his destroying a counter worth a good many dollars in pursuit of a ten-cent piece which had fallen into a crack. The joke was taken in good part and very much enjoyed by the society. Ard took the side of woman and "brought the house down" by his argument.

" Mr. President," said he, "if I had a five-dollar bill in my hand and you were to say ' that is bad money,' I would not be vexed with you, but suppose a fellow should have his sweetheart on his arm and you were to say ' that is a bad girl,' wouldn't he knock you down and wouldn't he serve you right?" A slight impediment of speech made Ard's reply much funnier than it is on paper. Before the laugh raised by this argument subsided, I left the room and did not hear Cameron's reply.

General Robert E. Lee came to Charleston early in March to take command. Our great leader had not then made his immortal reputation. He had not been successful in his operations in West Virginia, and our soldiers had not learnt to appreciate him and love him as they afterwards did. He visited the various military posts around the city and made himself acquainted with the system of fortifications. I saw him when he came to examine the works on Cole's Island, and might have made his acquaintance, but not knowing then that I was losing the opportunity of taking by the hand the greatest man that America ever produced, I failed to improve that opportunity. My friend, O. M. Dantzler, of whom I have spoken, had just finished

repeating to me some unfavorable criticisms of his West Virginia campaign, which he had recently heard from an officer whom he had met, when the General rode up to Colonel Hagood's quarters. This criticism deterred both of us from seeking his acquaintance. These were the last words of censure of our great captain which I ever heard from a soldier's lips.

I have no doubt that Dantzler regretted, as I shall do as long as I live, that we lost the opportunity of standing in the presence of, and hearing the voice of the man whom every Confederate soldier soon learned to love so much. He never issued the order announcing that he had taken command of the department of South Carolina, but instead, we were informed that he had gone to Richmond to command all the armies of the Confederacy, and that General Pemberton was our commanding officer.

The new general visited Battery Island about the ioth of March unannounced. I was not favorably impressed by him, and I now believe that I was not then mistaken in my estimate of the man. After inspecting my batteries and dining with me, he went to Cole's Island. I have reason to think that on this visit he came to the conclusion to abandon the Stono as a line of defence.

On Sunday, the 9th of March, Mr. Mellichamp, an Episcopal minister, visited us and held service in our camp. He had a good many acquaintances in the Washington Light Infantry. He preached a good sermon, and everybody was pleased with the venerable man of God.

On Monday, the 17th day of March, I left the company in command of Lieutenant T. J. China, and went to the city, in obedience to orders received the previous week, for the purpose of taking my seat as a member of a court-martial. I went in the cart which belonged to the post, and was driven by Private Garner to the camp of the regiment, commanded by Colonel L. M. Keitt. After a soldier's breakfast with the Colonel and my friend, Dantzler, who had left the First regiment and been promoted to be Lieutenant-Colonel, these gentlemen kindly sent a detail of men to row me across Cooper river to Charleston. Their camp was almost opposite White Point. Colonel J. Foster Marshall was president of the court, Captain J. M. . Perrin, of Gregg's old regiment, who had been my much esteemed friend in the Fort Sumter campaign, now a captain in Colonel Marshall's regiment, was judge advocate. Colonel J. M. Gadberry, Major

Edward Manigault, Major White, and Captain J. V. Glover

were members of the court. The court sat at the Military Hall, on

Wentworth street, in the room usually occupied by the officers of the Fourth brigade, South Carolina militia. There was a great deal of business before us. Our session was protracted till very nearly the close of my term of service, and would have lasted longer, but for the ability of the judge advocate and president. I was the junior officer on the court in rank and age, and, according to the law governing courts-martial, the duty of casting: the first vote devolved on me. I learnt then that old men are not as charitable in their judgment, nor as lenient in punishment, as young ones. Captain Glover was next to me in age and rank. Our views of the evidence and punishment usually accorded. The older members of the court were more severe. Knowing how much our army afterwards suffered by reason of lax discipline, I am now inclined to think that the older members of the court were right. Major Manigault and the writer of this are the only members of that court who survived the war.

General Pemberton, soon after he took command, concluded to evacuate both Cole's Island and the defence at the entrance to Winyah Bay, below Georgetown. This latter move would open a large extent of very productive country to the enemy and endanger the whole of the northeastern portion of the State. Day by day we were losing territory, upon which our armies were dependent for provisions. These proposed movements caused great dissatisfaction among soldiers and people. The Governor and Council protested, but in vain. The batteries on Cole's Island were ordered to be dismantled. After the guns were dismounted, this order was countermanded. But it was not long after the First regiment left it till that place was abandoned. The defences below Georgetown were abandoned earlier, and on the 3d of April the Tenth South Carolina volunteers, which had been in charge of these defences, reached Charleston and went into camp at Mount Pleasant, where they remained till they went West. General W. J. Hardee was sent to expostulate with General Pemberton, but it was of no use. That general could not be induced to rescind the orders which were working such dissatisfaction among the people and with the army, and which were familiarizing them with the idea of defeat. There was talk of sending Hardee to Richmond with the protest of the State authorities, but I never knew what was done about it. My convictions as to what should be done were very decided, but I did what I could to sustain the military authorities and prevent demoralization by unfavorable criticism, without reference to my own opinions. The truth of history compels me to say now that it would have been better for our cause if General J. C. Pern-

berton had never had command. Some of our generals did us more harm than if they had been with our enemies.

The expiration of the term for which Company E had enlisted had now almost arrived. I heard from some of my faithful friends at Battery Island that efforts were beingmade by some ambitious spirits in the company to reenlist the Wee Nees and elect a different set of officers. I do not blame these aspirants. They now knew something of the art of war, and, very naturally, desired promotion. They did me no harm in causing the company to declare their preference for me above all others.

My friends were more alarmed than I was. Their devotion and confidence fully compensated for any hardships which 1 had endured in the line of duty. I sent an urgent application to General Pemberton to be relieved from further service on the court, so that I might return to Fort Pickens and re-enlist my company. This request could have been granted by the general without the slightest injury to the service, as all of the other members of the court were present and there was a quorum for business without me. If he deemed it necessary to have a full court, my place could have been filled by an officer whose presence with his command was not so necessary. My application was refused. No other course was left me but to return to my post on Saturday afternoon after the court adjourned for the day, and attend to the re enlistment of the men on Sunday. Mr. Gale, the carriage merchant and maker, kindly loaned me his pony for the trip. No other means of transportation could be procured. All opposition melted away upon my arrival. The matter of re-enlistment was talked over during the day, and the men were assembled that night, the 6th of April, in their barracks, and all who desired to re-enlist for the war under my command were called upon to come forward. Almost the whole company responded promptly, and I had once more very gratifying proof of the regard of the men whom I had learnt to love. The necessary papers were signed, an election was held, John G. Pressley was declared elected captain, and Thomas J. China, Calhoun Logan, and Henry Montgomery, Jr., lieutenants. The Wee Nee Volunteers were now in the service of the Confederate States for the war, unconditionally. The next morning I returned to the city and resumed my place on the court-martial, which finished its business and adjourned before the end of the week.

The Government had called on the State of South Carolina for additional troops. The Governor and Council had extended the call,

and announced by proclamation that ten regiments would be raised, troops to be received by companies, and field officers to be appointed by the Governor and Executive Council. Captain Charles H. Simonton agreed to join me and organize a regiment. As Captain Simonton had two companies and I had then but one, it was agreed between us that he should be colonel and I lieutenant-colonel of the proposed regiment.

Before the expiration of the term of the First regiment, Captain John V. Glover had reorganized his company, the Edisto Rifles, and the St. Matthew's Rifles, another company of Orangeburgers, had reorganized with Martin A. Sellers as captain, and both of these companies declared their purpose to unite their fortunes with the Washington Light Infantry and Wee Nees. Thus was formed the nucleus of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers.

There were eleven companies organized by the men and officers constituting Colonel Hagood's First regiment. Eight remained with that organization which was soon filled by the addition of two others. Colonel Hagood was soon promoted to be brigadier-general, and Colonel T. J. Glover, who succeeded him, fell gallantly leading that command on one of the bloodiest fields in Virginia.

On the 13th day of April, 1862, Lieutenant R. A. Blum, then in command of Company B, Washington Light Infantry, receipted to me for ordnance stores at Fort Pickens and Green Creek Bridge, and early in the morning of the 14th day of April, 1862, the Wee Nees came up to the city, and thence to their homes, on a furlough, which was granted to the whole company preparatory to their entering upon their third term of service, for which they had enlisted.

The furlough of the Wee Nees was not as long as they had expected. In less than two weeks from the time they reached home an order was sent to me to report with the company at Bamberg, in Barnwell district. This did not accord with our plans. The men had re-enlisted with the understanding that they were to form a part of a new regiment. It was expected that when the companies which intended to go into the new organization should be called together, they would assemble in Charleston. The Washington Light Infantry (two companies, " A and B") were in the field on James Island. It will be remembered that they succeeded the Wee Nees as the garrison of Fort Pickens on Battery Island. I went at once to Charleston, and, with the assistance of Captain Simonton, before I returned, succeeded in having so much of the order as required the companies

that were acting in concert with us to report at Bamberg countermanded.

On Wednesday, the 28th of April, 1862, I again left home with the Wee Nee Volunteers and reported for duty in Charleston. The company was sent into quarters at Chisholm's Mill, where it remained for a day or two, and then went to Secessionville to join the battalion. I proceeded at once to Columbia for the purpose of presenting to the Governor and Council the rolls of seven companies, and to ask that they be organized into a battalion. I reached that city on the 29th of April and had an interview with Colonel James Chesnut, who was acting as Chief of the Military Department of the State Government. The Council readily granted the request of the companies which I represented, and orders were issued to organize them into a battalion of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers, to be known as the Eutaw battalion. Commissions were issued by General Wilmot G. DeSaussure, then acting as Adjutant-General of the State, to Charles H. Simonton, as Lieutenant-Colonel, and John G. Pressley, as Major. The companies received and assigned to this battalion were : Washington Light Infantry, Co. A, Captain James M. Carson; Washington Light Infantry, Co. B, Captain E. W. Lloyd; Wee Nee Volunteers, Captain Thomas J. China; St. Matthew's Rifles, Captain Martin A. Sellers; Edisto Rifles, Captain John V. Glover; Beauregard Light Infantry, Captain R. D. White, and Ripley Guards, Captain W. B. Gordon. The Washington Light Infantry and Beauregard Light Infantry represented Charleston; the Edisto Rifles and St. Matthew's Rifles were from Orangeburg District, and the Wee Nee Volunteers and Ripley Guards from Williamsburg.

On the 1st of May I reached Secessionville, on James Island, where the two Orangeburg companies and Wee Nees were encamped. These were soon joined by the three Charleston companies, and before the end of the month by the Ripley Guards and the Marion Rifles, Captain W. J. McKerral, and Yeaden Light Infantry, Captain Samuel L. Hammond, the last two companies having been, at their own request, attached to the battalion since its organization. Very few of the men in either of these two companies had ever been in the field before. All of the other companies of the battalion had seen more or less service.

On the 13th of May the enemy commenced operations against James Island. Their gunboats came into Folly river and up the Stono. Cole's Island was taken possession of, and they began to push their way up to James Island. F. N. Bonneau, who had com-

mand of a small gunboat, had the first engagement with them. His boat was in the creek which separates Taylor's from James Island, and one of the enemy's gunboats was a little above Battery Island in the Stono. Bonneau fired six or eight shots; the enemy but three, before they drew off. It was thought that Bonneau's shots had done considerable execution. Before this affair, one of the vessels of the enemy threw a few shells into the camp of the regiment of Colonel C. H. Stevens. As the colonel had no artillery and could make no effective return of the fire, he moved inside of our line of breastworksAbout the same date Captain G. H. Moffet and the writer went on a private reconnoisance of the enemy's gunboats. We were discovered by the man in the mast-head of one of the vessels, and fire was opened upon us promptly. Their shells burst quite near, and we concluded to restrain our curiosity to examine a gunboat till some more fitting occasion.

June ist, 1862.— Lieutenant James F. Izlar, of the Edisto Rifles, was to-day sent out in command of a small detachment of sharpshooters to pick off men on the enemy's gunboats. His command was made up of a detail from several different companies. He met one of the gunboats and drove it down the river and out of the reach of his rifles. The enemy replied with shell and grape-shot, but without doing Izlar's command any damage. The lieutenant reported the men as having behaved splendidly.

At this time the neck of the bottle shaped peninsula, on which Secessionville is situated, had a strong work running across it from the marsh, which separates James Island from Long Island, to the marsh bordering the Salt creek, which separates the peninsula from the mainland of James Island. This creek and marsh extend to what was then known as the Secessionville road. This road led past Secessionville by the Rivers House, which stood about three-quarters of a mile irom the neck or isthmus of the peninsula, and almost in front of the work which I have mentioned. After passing the house the road led across a marsh, on a good causeway, and thence by way of Legare's Upper and Lower House to Battery Island. After passing Legare's Lower House, it ran quite near the creek which separates James from Taylor's Island. Just below the Lower House a road leaves it and goes across a causeway and bridge to Taylor's Island. The marsh on the side of the peninsula, towards Charleston, is nearly or quite half a mile wide. This marsh, and the creek near its middle, was crossed on a military bridge, quite substantial but too narrow at first for vehicles. It was afterwards built a little higher up towards

the head of the marsh, and made wide enough for any purpose. This bridge struck the mainland of James Island as one travels from Secessionville towards the city, below Clark's House. A redoubt, in which two or three heavy guns were mounted, had been built above Clark's House. A line of breastworks commenced below Clark's House and ran in a northeasterly direction to New Town Cut and thence to Wappoo Cut, below the house of Dr. Robert Lebby, Jr. Freer' s Store, situated on the Fort Johnson road where the Secessionville roads leaves it, was outside of these works and about half a mile west. A road led from the direction of Lawton's House (which will be remembered as standing just above the remarkable clump of pines so conspicuous from White Point) to and across the Fort Johnson road, and thence across the Secessionville road to the Presbyterian church and beyond that church. About a half mile from the church the road forked, one went by way of Dill's to the mouth of Elliott's Cut on the Stono; the other led to GrimbalPs House and then over a causeway, and intersected the road from Secessionville to Battery Island near Legare's Lower House.

June 2d, 1862. — Colonel Simonton received orders to-day to select another camp inside of the line of breastworks, and across the marsh in a northeasterly direction from Secessionville. Captain Moffet, our adjutant, and I, had gone out and were looking for a suitable place, when the enemy's gunboats in Stono river came up as far as Grimball's House and opened fire on Secessionville. We heard the shelling and returned to camp. The battalion marched across the bridge by Clark's House, and went into camp on the road leading from the Presbyterian church towards Lawton's plantation, where that road crosses a marsh and some low grounds, and about three hundred yards inside of the lines.

June 3d, 1862. — This day opened with a fight between the pickets of our army, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Ellison Capers, of Colonel Stevens' regiment, and the enemy. Capers made the attack after the pickets of the enemy had opened fire on him. His force consisted of the Charleston battalion and the Beauregard Light Infantry, Captain White, of the Eutaw battalion. A captain and about eighteen or twenty men of the enemy were captured. Four of Captain White's men were wounded, and a few of the Charleston battalion were killed and wounded. Colonel Simonton was ordered to reinforce Capers, and I was sent in command of four companies: Washington Light Infantry, Company A, Captain Carson ; Wee Nees, Captain China; St. Matthew's Rifles, Captain Sellers; and

Ripley Guards, that day in command of Lieutenant F. J. Lesesne. The men were in excellent spirits, and were eager for the fight. Capers' muskets could still be heard. We took the road to Secessionville, but arrived at the scene of action just too late to join in the pursuit of the enemy. We saw Capers returning with his prisoners. We met Brigadier General S. R. Gist just before reaching the Rivers House. He directed me to file to the right in the direction of Grimball's, on the Stono river, and after leaving the road about a quarter of a mile to file to the left, pass through a strip of woods and take position in front of a field, across which I was told to expect the enemy. My instructions were to hold that position. We found ourselves behind a ditch, on the banks of which the bushes had grown into a thin hedge. The banks of the ditch would have afforded some protection against an attack of infantry, but were none against the shot and shell from the fleet of gunboats in the Stono, about three-quarters of a mile in front of us. It began to rain before we got into position, and continued at intervals through the whole day and night. We were soon thoroughly wet. Brigadier-General Mercer, of Savannah, Georgia, a West Pointer, and once in the United States army, who had for years been in civil life, was in command on the island. General S. R. Gist was assisting him. The commandinggeneral deeming our line too weak to withstand the attack, which was momentarily expected, Colonel Simonton, with the remaining companies of the Eutaw battalion, was ordered up. He soon joined us, and took command of the whole battalion. Other troops were also brought to the front. Our line of battle, when the colonel came up, was parallel to the Secessionville road. We then changed front, and took up a position in the woods at right angles to our first line. Before the end of the day it became very evident that our generals did not understand the topography of the island. This want of acquaintance with the ground upon which we were operating accounts for so many changes in our position during the day. After occupying our new position for a short time we again changed front, and got back to our first place behind the ditch-bank and hedge. The enemy's gunboats opened fire upon us by the time we first got into position in the morning, and continued to shell us furiously all day. Their shells were mostly from rifled guns, and were percussion. A great many of them failed to explode. If time-fuses had been more generally used we could not have failed to suffer greatly from their fire. In the afternoon the enemy attempted to advance across the causeway below Rivers House. The shelling from the fleet be-

came perfectly furious, and now a great many shells were bursting around and over us, time-fuses being used. We were directed to fall back through the woods on our right, and take position in a field between the point of woods and the Secessionville road. Our line of battle was now perpendicular to the one which he had last been on. We were supporting the Preston Light Battery, which did some splendid practice, sweeping the causeway, and compelling the enemy to desist from their efforts to cross. After the enemy were driven back, we were ordered to resume our former position. The gunboats still kept up a furious shelling. Musketry firing commenced on our left and quite near us. In a few minutes about half a company of men came running from that direction in confusion, and reported that the enemy were upon us, and coming from towards the left direction. We again changed front and prepared to meet them. After waiting awhile in our new position, and no enemy appearing, it was deemed best to return to our place along the ditch and hedge, where we could observe the field through which we had been told the enemy would come. An advance was threatened on our front, from towards GrimbaH's, and on our left flank from towards Legare's. About dark, which was hastened by heavy clouds that had been pouring down rain upon us in showers all day, a body of troops were seen advancing in a well-preserved line of battle across the field in our front. The men were directed to hold their fire for short range, and every man got ready to make the most effective use of his weapon. One man, near the left of the battalion, became so eager for the fight, that he fired, but fortunately without effect. Just then the discovery was made that the troops which had been mistaken for the enemy were Colonel Johnson Hagood's regiment, First South Carolina volunteers. Our feelings, when we discovered how narrowly we had escaped what would have been our most painful war experience, can be more easily imagined than described.

When night came on Colonel Simonton, with the battalion, was directed to report to Colonel Hagood at the Rivers House. The other troops, some two or three thousand, were ordered back to Secessionville. The Eutaw battalion and First regiment were detailed, by order of General Mercer, to hold the front during the night and receive the first shock of the enemy's advance, which was very confidently expected early the next morning. The day had been spent apparently in preparing for a general engagement. Colonel Hagood, as he afterwards proved on many a bloody field, was well qualified for the duty assigned him. An order was sent to him by General

Mercer directing that the muskets of the command be discharged,, so as to be ready for the next day's work with freshly loaded guns. The firing disclosed our whereabouts to the gunboats in the Stono, and their fire, which had ceased at dark, was immediately re-opened and continued through the night. It was found that only about one musket in ten would fire. It was impossible to extract the balls and reload the guns, for want of ball screws. In arranging our pickets for the night, some of the First regiment came in contact with the pickets of the enemy and some firing ensued.

The field-officers of the First and the Eutaws held a council of war to talk over the situation. Every indication pointed to a heavy fight early the next morning. The men at the front had been wet all day, and it was still raining. Two or three thousand troops were within a mile, spending the night in comfortable houses at Secessionville. The oldest veterans, with unserviceable arms in their hands, could hardly be expected to stand the shock of well-armed troops in the vigor of a first attack. Some of the companies of both the Eutaws and the First had never been in a regimental line, even on drill, till within a very few days before. It looked hardly within the range of possibility that, under the circumstances, an unbroken front could be maintained. The result of the conference was, that I was directed to find General Mercer and, without asking to be relieved, lay our condition before him, in the hope that he would send fresh troops to lead in the expected fight of the next day. After a very fatiguing ride and much inquiry, I found the general at Rev. Mr. Mellichamp's house, about six miles in the rear. I was shown into his room, found him in bed, and made the statement which had been agreed upon.

"Are the men supplied with bayonets? " inquired General Mercer.

"Yes, sir," said I.

" Well, Major," was his reply, "tell Colonel Hagood to use the bayonet in the morning."

"Very well, General, it will be done," I replied.

I got back to Rivers' about daylight and communicated to Hagood and Simonton the result of my mission, having been nearly the whole night in the saddle.

June 4th, 1862. — The First regiment and the Eutaws marched from Rivers House, as they had been directed by General Mercer, confident that the fight would very soon begin. Notwithstanding the fatigues of the last twenty-four hours and the unserviceable condition of their arms, the men showed no hesitation. The gunboats ceased shelling just before daylight. The enemy did not advance, and

showed no disposition to bring on the general engagement, which was so confidently expected. It was still raining. After remaining in line of battle till n o'clock, all of the troops were withdrawn and fell back within the breastworks.

June 5th. — Our pickets were posted in the woods, between the Presbyterian church and Grimball's, the line being perpendicular to the road and extending north towards Dill's House and south towards Secessionville. The line crossed the road between the forks and Grimball's. A reserve was kept at the forks of the road, and sometimes a larger reserve at the church. To-day the detail from the Eutaws consisted of a detachment of the Ripley Guards, commanded by Lieutenant F.J. Lesesne. The rest of the pickets in our front were a detachment from Colonel Stevens' regiment. The enemy advanced, and a brisk skirmish ensued. Stevens' men gave way ; Lesesne, with his command, held the enemy in check. The detachment from Colonel Stevens' regiment rallied and returned to the fight. Mistaking Lesesne's men for the enemy, they opened fire on them. They were for awhile under two fires. Succeeding first in driving off the enemy, Lesesne displayed his handkerchief on the end of his sword and surrendered, with his command, to his friends. Private Isaac Browder was slightly wounded. No other casualties.

June 8th. — Whole battalion went out for picket duty this morning. Colonel Simonton and five companies remained at the cross-roads with Preston's battery. I was posted with four companies at and below the Presbyterian church. The enemy were discovered upon taking our post, but soon disappeared. Spent a part of the night at the Presbyterian church and the balance below the church, towards Grimball's, at the forks of the road. About daylight our advance pickets were pushed further down the road towards the camp of the enemy, which was at Grimball's. In making the movement Private Brown, of the Wee Nees, had a narrow escape. The squad that he was with on the road came suddenly on about thirty of the enemy's pickets. The enemy fired and fell back. Brown's rifle missed fire. Three balls were put through his clothing. Private Meredith, of the Edisto Rifles, had a shot and thinks he killed an officer.

June gth. — We were relieved about half-past 10 o'clock A. M. by the Louisiana battalion, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel McHenry. Soon after returning to camp, the Eutaws were again ordered out, and took post behind the breastworks. This was done to be ready for a possible attack, which a movement about to be made by the Forty-seventh Georgia might provoke. This movement was a reconnoisance

in force of the woods in front of the enemy's position. Colonel Hagood, with the First regiment, was sent to reinforce the picket. The Georgians pressed forward through the woods on the left of the picket line. The Forty-seventh drove the enemy from their position behind a ditch-bank and then fell back themselves, being in their turn driven back. The enemy either rallied or were reinforced. The woods were very thick, and the Forty-seventh regiment became separated in marching through. Captain Cone's company, upon getting out of the woods, discovered a body of men near by. An officer beckoned them on. Captain Cone, mistaking them for friends, approached with his company, when fire was opened on him and fifteen of his men were shot down and the captain wounded. The fight became very severe. Captain Williams' company and Captain Cone's were almost annihilated. The Forty-seventh then drew ofT, leaving their dead and many of their wounded in the hands of the enemy. Hagood and McHenry were entirely successful on the right. They drove the enemy before them, killing a good many without any loss on their part. The Eutaws remained in the trenches till half-past 2 o'clock the next morning, when they were ordered forward to meet the enemy, reported advancing. We marched to the cross-roads, where we spent the balance of the night. The shells from the enemy's gunboats and batteries were falling all around us. Their infantry did not succeed in passing our pickets, who were skirmishing with those of the enemy nearly all night.

June ioth. — Battalion relieved from further watching shortly after sunrise and marched back to our camp. The reported loss of the Fortyseventh Georgia in the battle of yesterday was sixty-five killed, wounded and missing.

June 12th. — To-day the battalion was ordered to the front to protect Goodlet's regiment South Carolina volunteers, which was detailed as a working party to cut down the woods east of the Secessionville road, to prevent the enemy using it as a cover to attack the works in front of Secessionville. Took position on the road between the enemy and the working party. The enemy did not fire, though they were quite near. It was not our purpose to interfere with the working by bringing on an engagement.

It was reported to-day that one of our scouts had gotten near enough to the enemy's camp to count seventy coffins for the killed in the engagement yesterday, and to overhear their pickets discussing the fight. They spoke of a mounted officer having been killed, and said that they got the worst of the fight.

General N. G. Evans arrived to-day from Adams Run with three additional regiments. He is now the ranking brigadier on the island.

June 141/1, 1862. — Eight companies of the battalion, under the command of Colonel Simonton, marched to the Presbyterian church for picket duty this morning. Three of these companies under my command were sent forward to the forks of the road below the church. The battery in front of Secessionville, under the command of Colonel J. B. Lamar of the First regiment of artillery of South Carolina volunteers, fought the enemy's gunboats in the Stono and a landbattery in front of Grimball's all day, and kept up a slow fire during the night. The shells from the gunboats above Grimball's were passing over our heads all night. The Charleston battalion, encamped on the Secessionville peninsula in the rear of Lamar's battery, lost one man, who was killed by a shell, which passed through five tents. The man who lost his life was in one of them.

Our advanced pickets were pushed considerably nearer the enemy than the advanced post occupied by the pickets which we relieved. Our outposts were fired into early in the night. The fire was returned, and our pickets fell back. Our post was at once re-established near the point which it first occupied. Later in the night the enemy's pickets resumed their firing, and kept it up at intervals in our front all night.

Dill's house, which had been occupied by the enemy, was set on fire by the pickets of the regiment on our right. The dwelling, which was still occupied by the enemy, was fired by setting fire to the out-buildings.

During the night a trooper's horse got through our lines and went off towards the enemy's camp.

June 15th, Sunday. — Battalion relieved, and spent a quiet day in camp. Rev. A. Toomer Porter is our chaplain. He is an Episcopalian minister, and the rector of the Church of the Holy Communion in Charleston. It had been said that he was a " High Churchman" in the extreme, but I found him a man of liberal views. He is zealous in the discharge of his duties, a very agreeable companion, untiring in his efforts to promote the comfort of the men, and very popular with them. Two services are held on Sunday when it is possible, and a meeting for prayer every night. His addresses and sermons are much enjoyed, and are doubtless productive of much good.

June 16th, 1862. — Orders were sent to Colonel Simonton just before reveille to move at once with the battalion towards Secession-

ville. The enemy are reported advancing on that place. The men were under arms in a very few minutes, and the command marching towards the Presbyterian church. Before reaching the cross-roads, we were directed to file to the left and march across the fields towards the woods between the battery above Clark's House and the Secessionville road. These woods had been cut down a few days before, and the trees left just as they fell. We were put in position by Colonel Johnson Hagood (who was that day acting as a brigadier-general) immediately upon the edge of the woods. The enemy were advancing to attack the battery at the neck or isthmus of the Secessionville peninsula, known as " Lamar's Battery," and had sent the Third Rhode Island and the Seventh Connecticut regiments to get position, so as to enfilade the battery from across the marsh north of Secessicnville. An attack on the heavy battery above Clark's House, and on Boyce's Light Battery stationed near by, was probably also a part of the purpose of these two regiments. Colonel C. H. Stevens rode up and urged us not to fire, telling us that the troops in the woods, that we could plainly hear, were a part of his regiment, driven from the picket line. The Eutaws were eager for the fight, and had the impression, which turned out to be correct, that the enemy and not friends were in our front. In a very few minutes the enemy began to make their appearance on our side of the woods. A group came out in front of Company B, Washington Light Infantry (which was on this occasion commanded by Lieutenant Blum), and private Jervey shot one down. We restrained the men no longer, and firing, which now began on the left of the battalion, extended towards the right. The enemy were very near us, but owing to the thickness of the woods very few of them could be seen. Their fire was in the direction from which ours first came, and consequently was concentrated to a great extent on Company B. In a very few minutes Lieutenant Grier, Sergeant F. Lanneau, Jr., and two men, were killed. Lieutenant Samuel Burger and nine men were wounded, some of them mortally. Two in Captain Sellers' company were also wounded, Lieutenant F. J. Lesesne, of the Ripley Guards, was grazed by a ball, and Private Walters, of the Wee Nees, had his gun shot through. Sergeant Horton, of the Yeadon Light Infantry, was slightly wounded. (I very much regret my inability to give the names of all the private soldiers killed and wounded.) There were no casualties in any of the other companies of the battalion. Our fire, as well as that of the enemy, was very rapid, but did not last very long. After the firing ceased, Captain Sellers was sent with a few men to

ascertain if the enemy had left the woods. He soon returned with three prisoners, whom he had taken, and reported that they had gone, leaving their dead and wounded. There were six dead and one mortally wounded in one spot in front of Company B. A detail was then sent out to gather the arms and wounded. Six more wounded prisoners were brought in, and arms enough, of the most approved pattern, to replace the inefficient weapons, which, up to this time, were in the hands of several of the companies of the battalion. From the time we took our position, and for a long time afterwards, in fact, till after the enemy retired from the field in front of Secessionville, we were under a heavy artillery fire from the enemy's fleet of gunboats in the Stono and from their land batteries. No damage was done us by the artillery. Quite a number of Congreve rockets were flying over and around us in very eccentric directions. When we got into position, the men were ordered to lie down for better protection, and were lying down when the fight commenced. The field and staff-officers were in rear of Company B. After the enemy began to come out of the woods, and Company B commenced firing, I passed along the line to communicate with Colonel Stevens, who was in the rear of our right, endeavoring to prevent the men firing, still believing that the men in the woods belonged to his regiment. As I passed along, one of tne enemy fired at me over our men from behind a stump. The ball struck the ground near my feet. I pointed him out, and after the battle he was found with three or four balls through his body. After assuring Colonel Stevens that the enemy and not his men were in our front, and causing the companies on the right to commence firing, I returned to my place. The battalion behaved splendidly. I saw but two men during the day who were not acting like heroes. Sergeant-Major Samuel W. Dibble drove one from his hiding place behind a tree about four inches in diameter, which he supposed in his fright covered his whole body. Colonel Hagood stopped the other, who was making his way to the rear and brought him back. No captain would claim either of them. Every one was ashamed to acknowledge that they belonged to his company, and I am not sure that either of them were of the Eutaws. They probably belonged to some other command. May have been some of the demoralized pickets who had been driven in. One company of Colonel Stevens' regiment had fallen in with us and behaved very well. Both Stevens and Hagood acted very coolly. The former was not at all to blame for causing us to hold our fire so long, though this circumstance was unfortunate, as, had the whole battalion

commenced firing as soon as it got into position, the enemy's fire would not have been concentrated on one of our companies, nor would we have fought at such close quarters.

The work across the neck of the Secessionville peninsula was about fifty yards in length, and was a very well constructed line of entrenchments. The ramparts were about fifteen feet from the level of the ground. There was a ditch in front about ten or fifteen feet in width. The exterior slope was so nearly perpendicular that it was impossible to get up in front without scaling ladders. The enemy were not provided with these. The principal defect was the want of a glacis in front, which would have prevented the enemy getting under the line of fire. The left flank had a gentler slope and men could, with difficulty, climb up. There were five heavy guns mounted in the work. These guns were served by a detachment of Colonel Lamar's regiment. The infantry supports were the Louisiana battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel McHenry (since the war elected Governor of his State), Charleston battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel Peter G. Gaillard, Smith's battalion, LieutenantColonel Smith, and a detachment of the Twenty-second regiment South Carolina volunteers. Several companies of these troops came up after the battle commenced. Some of the companies present of Lamar's regiment had fortunately been ordered to the battery that morning to assist in mounting some more guns. Colonel J. B. Lamar was the ranking officer in the battery, and a very brave man he was. The enemy formed under cover of the woods, between Secessionville and Grimball's, and advanced very rapidly. The pickets in front of Secessionville were from the Charleston battalion and under the command of Captain T. Y. Simons. The enemy drove them rapidly, without firing or being fired upon, and reached the works with the pickets and in pursuit of them. Two Federal regiments, supported by a large force in reserve, charged the battery. They came up obliquely, directing their advance to the left flank of the work. Their approach was a complete surprise. They were so near, when the guns were manned, that it was found impossible to depress the pieces sufficiently to make them effective. Our troops had to rely on the musket and bayonet. For awhile there was a hand-to-hand fight in the battery. A captain was the first to get into our work, and received, for his daring, a ball which ended his career, but not before he had killed Captain Reed, of Lamar's regiment. One of the Federal soldiers seized a man of that regiment by the collar at one of the guns, and actually carried him off a

prisoner when driven out of the battery. The charge was daring, 10

dashing and impetuous, but the enemy were at length repulsed with terrific slaughter. They were rallied, reformed and advanced three times, but did not succeed again in getting into our works. Colonel Sargent, mounted on a cream -colored horse, displayed great gallantry in rallying his broken regiment. It was of no use. The brave fellow and his horse were killed by a shell that tore the animal almost to pieces.

The enemy left all of their dead and many of their wounded, and a great many arms and accoutrements on the field. Our troops buried two hundred and fifty-six of them and took one hundred and seven prisoners, forty of whom were wounded. The Confederate loss was thirty-six killed and sixty wounded. Among the killed were several gallant officers and some of our best men. I wish I could name them all, and offer a tribute to the memory of each one who, on that day,

" Gave to the roll of death his glorious name."

I rode over a part of the field after the battle and, notwithstanding the furious cannonading, I saw but two men and one horse killed by artillery. All the others seemed to have been killed by musket balls. An unusually large number were shot in the head, showing that our troops fired too high. (This was, as I afterwards found, a very common mistake by the troops on both sides.) The enemy's wounded were carefully looked after by our surgeons.

The ambulance corps was not then well organized. We were obliged to send our wounded to the rear by details made upon the occasion. Company B was never very large, and it required all of them not disabled to carry their dead and wounded to the Field Infirmary.

June 17, 1862. — To-day we were assigned to the command of Brigadier-General S. R. Gist. It was reported that he had been put in command of the east end of the entrenchments and that we would be moved nearer the city. Our pickets report as many of the enemy's unsepulchred dead on the west side of the Secessionville road as were left on the field. Some more of the enemy's dead left on the field were buried to day by the Confederates. The enemy were perfectly quiet all day.

June 18th. — The enemy sent a flag of truce to inquire after their dead and wounded. A suspension of hostilities was agreed upon for the day to enable them to bury such of their dead as the Confederates had not already interred. Before the truce was out, a gun-

boat in the Stono fired on our picket line. Colonel Goodlet, of the Twenty-second South Carolina volunteers, who was in command of the Confederate pickets, rode boldly up to the Federal picket line and demanded an explanation. As soon as the Federal general could be communicated with, he sent an apology. The shots had been fired by a naval officer who had not been advised of the armistice.

June igth. — Battalion on picket line to-day. Relieved Nelson's battalion. Headquarters at the cross-roads, Colonel Simonton in command. I was in command of the advanced pickets, with headquarters at the forks of the road between the Presbyterian church and Grimball's. The enemy were perfectly quiet all day and night. Their drums, bands and trumpets were distinctly heard. Terrific thunder storm during the night. The mosquitos fearfully troublesome. Some kind ladies of Charleston had provided us with coverings for our heads made of pavilion gauze. The heat was so great that sometimes we could not use these coverings.

June 20th. — The battalion was relieved by Goodlet' s regiment, Twenty-second South Carolina volunteers.

June 2jd. — Battalion again on picket line. Some of the reserves at the Episcopal church and a part at the Presbyterian church. Our line was now from a point in front of the bridge across New Town creek, in a southwesterly direction to meet the pickets in front of Secessionville. The enemy's pickets and ours in sight on some portions of the line. They tried to open communications with our pickets, but were not encouraged*

June 24th. — Relieved by the Twenty-second South Carolina volunteers.

June 25th. — All quiet along the lines to-day. Not a gun fired. The works at the cross-roads, commenced some time ago, approaching completion.

June 26th. — Something, which was not communicated to the troops at the front, induced General Pemberton to expect an attack upon our entrenchments. Accordingly, the battalion was roused at 3 o'clock this morning and remained in line on the color-front till after daylight.

June 2jth> — Battalion on picket to-day. Five companies under

* Later in the war a much better understanding was established between pickets, but on James Island we never exchanged as many civilities as our army in Virginia and the Federal pickets are said to have done.

my command constituted the left, wing of our advanced forces. The head of the Secessionville avenue was made the picket headquarters. The Secessionville battery opened fire on the enemy's battery, which was being enlarged. The firing continued all the afternoon and night, the shells passing over our heads. The artillery practice was at first good, but there was afterwards a falling off in accuracy. The enemy made no reply. Our picket line was along the Secessionville road. That of the enemy was in plain view on the opposite side of the field in our front and about two hundred and fifty yards distant. Some of our pickets were sent up into trees the better to observe the enemy. There was a dense growth of corn in a part of the field, now in tassel. This field, being between the lines of the two armies and on neutral ground, had so far escaped the fate which overtook the balance of the crops on the island. The planters had been sent off in May with their negroes and such stock as was not needed for the use of the army. I had been appointed ProvostMartial and superintended their removal. Their crops were left standing in the field, and made the very best forage for our animals. The men have been feasting on " roasting ears."

In the night a scouting party approached our line coming through the thick corn. They were soon driven back, and, upon returning, were fired into by their own friends. "Now, you have done it," some one in their line was heard to exclaim, "you have killed the officer of the guard." A desultory fire was kept up by both lines of pickets through the whole night.

June 28th. — The Twenty-second South Carolina volunteers took our places on the picket line this morning. Secessionville battery still firing on the enemy and with greater accuracy than on the previous evening. The news of the rout of McClellan's army before Richmond reached us and increased our rejoicing. The prospects of the Confederate cause seemed to be brightening, and the end of the war and a return to our homes seemed almost in sight.

The steamer Racer, of the British navy, came into Charleston harbor. Foreign vessels of war are always welcome visitors. We desire that their officers should be witnesses of our ability to maintain our independence, and hope that a favorable report to their government might induce recognition.

June 29th. — Additional details reached us to-day of the defeat of McClellan's army.

One large steamer, one ship and two schooners came into the Stono to-day. [We learned afterwards that these vessels came for

the purpose of removing the enemy's forces from James Island, but at the time it was thought that they may have brought reinforcements.]

June joth. — At 3 o'clock A. M., the battalion was roused and held on the color-front till after daylight, so as to be in readiness for any movement that the enemy might make. Our generals thought that if the vessels which came in on yesterday brought reinforcements, a forward movement might be expected.

The Secessionville battery still reminding the enemy of their disastrous failure of the 16th by an occasional shot.

July isl, 1862. — The enemy reported this morning advancing in three columns. One towards Secessionville, one towards the Presbyterian church, and the other towards the Episcopal church. All of our forces on the island were soon under arms. The Eutaw battalion and Fifty-first Georgia are formed just outside the line of entrenchments in readiness to reinforce the picket at the Presbyterian church, or to strengthen any other point where more troops might be needed. Lieutenant-Colonel Simonton is sick and the battalion is to-day under my command. The enemy did not continue to advance.

At half-past 8 o'clock A. M., we started on another tour of picket duty. I made my headquarters at the cross-roads. The picket line was at the usual place below the Presbyterian church. We had a day of perfect quiet all along the line ; not a gun fired.

July 2d. — The battalion was relieved this morning by Goodlet's and Hagood's regiments. The enemy withdrew their forces from Dill's and Grimball's, but are reported to be still at Legare's.

Malarial fever is very common among the troops. Quinine is regularly issued and taken as a prophylactic. It is now worth $9.60 an ounce, and very scarce. A decoction is also used, made by steeping bark in whiskey, and is kept by the medical staff among the hospital stores by the barrel. Many of the men are not fond of " bitters," and it is with difficulty that they can be made to take it. Some who liked their "daily bitters" get a little more than they need "for their stomach's sake or their often infirmities."

July jd. — When the news of the defeat of McClellan's army was fully confirmed, General Pemberton directed that the batteries all along our lines fire a national salute. Some of the pickets at the front were not apprised of the purpose, and a Georgia captain with his command, supposing that the enemy had gotten to his rear and were attacking the lines, came running in to the nearest point of the

entrenchments. Charges of cowardice were preferred against him, and we heard to-day that he was cashiered for his very natural mistake. The sentence seems a very unjust one.

July 4th. — The enemy fired a national salute. A gun was fired for each of the Confederate States as well as the United States. Some prisoners, whom the Yankees released, brought us information that five hundred and fifty of the enemy's sick and wounded have been sent from this island to Fort Pulaski.

July gth. — Lieutenant-Colonel Simonton returned and took command of the battalion now on the picket line established through the camp lately occupied by the enemy at Grimball's, which place was made the headquarters. Five companies were soon relieved, and the other four left under my command. Pushed our outposts as far down as Battery Island. After night-fall established a line across the island from the Stono River to the causeway below Rivers House. Some quartermasters' stores, but of no great value, had been left in the enemy's camp, which the men of the battalion got. A great many letters were picked up, some paper found with printed heads, intended to be used when they got to Charleston, and would date their letters from that city. From some of these letters we learned that the Federal loss on the 16th of June, in killed, wounded and missing, was estimated by them at eight hundred men. The camp at Grimball's was entrenched with flanking arrangements. Regular approaches had been commenced, but only one of their lines had been finished. One battery in the second line was finished. There is plenty of evidence near this one, in the marks of shot and shell, of the effectiveness of the fire of the Secessionville battery. Sergeant Haney, of a Federal regiment, is buried near by. This we learn from his marked grave.

Captain James M. Carson, of Company A, picked up a memorandum made by a Federal officer, showing the troops which had been on the island and opposed to our forces. These troops were : Rockwell's battery, Hamilton's battery, Rhode Island and New York batteries ; Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth, and Seventy-ninth New York volunteers; Forty-fifth, Fiftieth, Fifty-fifth, Sixty-seventh, Ninetyseventh, and One Hundredth Pennsylvania volunteers ; Eighth and Ninth Maine volunteers ; Fourth New Hampshire volunteers ; First and Twenty-eighth Massachusetts volunteers ; Eighth Rhode Island, Seventh Connecticut and Eighth Michigan volunteers ; total, eighteen regiments and four batteries. General H. W. Benham had been in command and General Horatio G. Wright second in rank.

Our whole force on the island never, at any time, amounted to more than one-half of the land force of the enemy. If this large force had, on the 16th of June, been brought against our defences in two or three strong columns, their defeat would have been a matter of much greater difficulty than the victory which we achieved at Secessionville. Our lines were very long and the breastworks weak. To have defended their whole length would have so scattered our forces that it would have hardly been possible to resist the onslaught of such troops as we met. They were adversaries worthy of our steel. Their gallant impetuosity was not sufficient, however, to compensate for the mistake made by General Benham in hurling his best regiments against the strongest part of our works.

July lotk, 1862. — We commenced to-day to move our camp to a point on the plantation of Dr. Robert Lebby, Jr., not far from Wappoo Cut. Left wing of the battalion, under my command, marched to the new camp.

July nth. — Right wing, with Colonel Simonton, came to the new camp, which is named and designated as " Camp Connor." We were now relieved from duty on the, picket line. Sentinels around our camp is the only guard kept by us.

July 13th. — We had heard before this date that the Twenty-first regiment South Carolina volunteers, of which R. F. Graham was colonel, had eleven companies. I opened communication with the colonel, having first ascertained that the Clarendon Guards, Captain Y. N. Butler, were desirous of being transferred to our battalion. Colonel Graham, knowing that he would not be allowed to retain more than ten companies, readily consented to aid us in having the transfer made, preferring that the men should be indulged in their inclinations and that we be helped to complete our organization. The colonel had been first lieutenant in Gregg's First regiment, and I had known him as an efficient officer in the Fort Sumter campaign. The order of transfer was made and we received it to-day. The Twenty-first regiment is stationed on Morris Island at this time.

From the 13th to the 22d of July nothing occurred to break the monotony of camp life, except the fearful increase of the sick-list. Its daily range was from seventy to one hundred. Numbers were every day sent up to the city hospitals. Nearly all of the sickness is fever of a malarious character and very malignant type. Many of the cases took on a typhoid condition and were protracted. One man of the Ripley Guards died in camp ; two from Marion Rifles

and two from Company A, Washington Light Infantry, died in Charleston.*

On the 22d day of July, 1862, the Clarendon Guards reported for duty, and the Eutaws ceased to exist as a battalion and became the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers.

July ig to August si- — There were no further active operations on James Island during the summer. Picketing, watching and waiting, with plenty of drilling, were our occupations during the month of August. General Taliaferro, of Virginia, was in command on the island. Brigadier-Generals Hagood and Colquitt were also there, and Colonel Simonton was still in command of a portion of the lines. The new lines were commenced and soon completed. Why the old lines were ever located on the ground occupied by them, was one of the mysteries known only to the Engineer Department. The new lines ran from a point opposite the neck of the Secessionville Peninsula to the Stono river, between Grimballs and Dills. They were scarcely one-fourth the length of the old, and enabled the Confederates, with a smaller force, to hold a much larger portion of James Island. They were well constructed, with proper flanking arrangements, and were very strong. They looked like works designed to be held, and not for temporary shelter and protection. Their construction diminished the chances of the capture of the island four-fold.

During the month the regiment broke camp at " Camp Pettigrew " and went to "Camp Gadberry," at Freer' s Store. I was, in general, ably and cheerfully assisted by the line officers in maintaining discipline. It might not, perhaps, be fair to attribute any part of their zeal to an order issued while we were at the latter camp. (It is merely mentioned now as a matter of history.) The order alluded to announced to the command that no private soldier would ever be punished for any negligence in the discharge of duty, which might, by the exercise of diligence, have been prevented by the officer in charge, but that officers alone would be held accountable, and their' s would be a strict accountability. The principle was proper, and I had the support of my subalterns in its enforcement. A necessity for invoking it was seldom found. The knowledge that it would certainly be

* I regret that I am unable to give the names of these men. They gave their lives to their country, and are as much entitled to honorable mention as if they had fallen in battle. Death is shorn of some of his terrors by the glamour which surrounds his approach on the field of carnage. The greatest heroism is required to meet the dread Conqueror amid the sufferings of the hospital.

enforced, was generally quite sufficient to deter any so disposed from being either negligent or too indulgent.

The feebleness with which the enemy pressed the siege in our front on the island, was more than compensated by their energy and activity in the harbor and on Morris Island. A constant bombardment of our forts and batteries was kept up by their ironclad fleet and land batteries, which they had erected on that island. Their fleet consisted of the new Ironsides, one of the most powerful vessels ever built, and five or six monitors. The armament of the Ironsides consisted of sixteen n-inch guns and two 200-pound Parrotts. Eich of the monitors carried a 15-inch gun. The Confederate Battery Wagner, known also as " Fort Wagner," was built entirely across the island where it narrows, thirteen hundred yards from Cummins Point and twenty-seven hundred yards from Fort Sumter. This was a very strong work, built on the most scientific principles. It was provided with bomb-proofs and covered ways and was well armed, except that there was a deficiency of mortars. The armament was arranged for defence against an attack from the front, as well as offensive operations against a fleet attempting to come in, but the guns on the sea face did little damage to the fleet of ironclads. Battery Gregg was situated at Cummins Point, and was built and armed exclusively for operations against a fleet. On the nth* of July the enemy attempted to carry Wagner by assault, but failed. On the 18th, as I have already said, a much more vigorous and determined attempt was made. They were repulsed with great slaughter, though this attempt came near being successful. Some of the assailants actually got into the work, but were either driven out, killed or captured. Finding that Wagner could not be carried by assault, General Gilmore, on the 19th, commenced a system of regular approaches. His first parallel was thirteen hundred and thirty yards from our works. On the night of the 23d of July the second parallel was completed, six hundred yards in advance of the first. About the 9th of August a third parallel was constructed, at a distance of five hundred yards from the fort. On the 2 1st of the same month the fourth was completed, about three hundred yards from the fort, and approaches were commenced for the fifth. Behind the third and fourth, heavy Parrott batteries were erected, which pounded away on Fort Sumter incessantly night and day, firing over Fort Wagner. Since the 18th of July the latter work had been greatly strengthened by the Confederates. The ditch was not short of twenty-five feet in width, and was lined with very

sharp pikes. The distance from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the parapet was about thirty feet. A torpedo was imbedded in nearly every square foot of the glacis. It was impossible to enter the fort from the front without the use of scaling ladders. The heavy guns bearing on Sumter were frequently turned on Wagner, and there was an incessant fire from sharpshooters and bombardment from the enemy's mortars. By the 21st, the walls of Fort Sumter were breached on two sides. The south side, towards Morris Island, was pounded to powder. It now presented the appearance of an immense pile of brick and sand. The northwest face was also breached. The shot passed entirely through. The whole fort presented the appearance of a shapeless mass of ruins. A few of its guns, however, were still fit for service. General Gilmore thought its condition was such that General Beauregard would listen to terms of surrender, and on that day sent a demand for the evacuation of Morris Island and Fort Sumter, accompanied by a notification that in case of refusal Charleston would be shelled. Fire was opened on the city and a few shells thrown in before Beauregard's refusal was received. A large number of non-combatants left the city. A great many, who had paid no attention to General Beauregard's repeated warnings, now became anxious to leave. For awhile, the railroads were not able to carry the people and their household goods fast enough. There were, however, many who still refused to leave.

The garrison of Fort Wagner was made up of two or three regiments of infantry and a sufficient number of artillerists to man the guns, and was changed every three or four days. Some of the troops in and around Charleston had had more than one tour of duty in that fort. The Twenty -fifth South Carolina volunteers were in daily expectation of an order detailing them for the post of honor and danger, and were becoming impatient doing camp and picket duty, while the other troops were doing the heavy and dangerous work of the siege.

On the 26th of August the enemy on Morris Island attacked and carried the Confederate rifle-pits, constructed behind a sand ridge about two hundred yards in front of Fort Wagner. General Gilmore immediately commenced his fifth and last parallel, just two hundred yards from the walls of Wagner.

The long-expected orders for the Twenty-fifth to proceed to Wagner at length came, and we were to go on the 30th of August to form a part of the garrison. General Taliaferro, however, was of the opinion that we could not be spared from James Island, and had

influence enough at headquarters to get the order countermanded. Our disappointment was considerably mollified when, on the morning of the 31st, we heard that, on the night before, the steamer engaged in transferring troops had been mistaken by our batteries for a vessel of the enemy's and sunk with all on board. Fortunately, it was not in very deep water, and there were very few casualties. One man swam to Mount Pleasant, almost entirely across the harbor, another to Fort Sumter, and the rest were taken off by another boat.

September 1st, 1863. — Orders received this morning directing me to conduct the Twenty-fifth to Johnson, there to take steamer to-night for the purpose of being transferred to Morris Island to constitute a part of the garrison of Fort Wagner, relieving one of the regiments in that fort. These orders were not this time countermanded, and the regiment, in fine spirits, marched to Fort Johnson in the afternoon. There we found a row-boat large enough to carry one company. This boat was turned over to Company A, under the command of Lieutenant H. B. Olney, which embarked upon it and started late in the afternoon for Cummins Point. The rest of the regiment was embarked on a steamer about dusk. The changes of the garrison were always made at night to prevent the enemy from sinking our boats, as nearly the whole of the harbor was under the fire of their batteries. It was the custom to make a detail of boats from our naval vessels in the harbor to transfer the troops from the transport steamers to Cummins Point. The steamer, on which the Twenty-fifth was embarked, stopped near Fort Sumter. The usual detail from the navy failed to report, and the steamer was deficient of sailors to man the few boats which she had on board. One boat with a few men pushed off. The captain of the steamer offered me a scow large enough to carry about fifty men if I could find oarsmen. There was no difficulty in this. A number of men, mostly from the Beauregard Light Infantry and Wee Nee Volunteers, expressed their desire to go and ability to row. I soon had the scow full, and with Dr. W. C. Ravenel, our surgeon, Lieutenant F. J. Lesesne, acting Adjutant, and about fifty men and officers, started to Cummins Point, When about half way, the monitors came up and commenced to bombard Fort Sumter. The steamer, with the balance of the regiment on board, being in great danger, returned to Fort Johnson. The harbor was not very rough, the moon shone brightly, and spurred on by the expectation of a shot from the monitors, my oarsmen made rapid progress. We were soon wading out of the water under the guns of Battery Gregg. The boat drew so much water

that she could not get near enough to the beach to enable us to land on terra firma. Company A had reached Cummins Point, and, with the men brought with me, I had a command of eighty or ninety. There was no prospect of getting the remainder of the regiment before the next night. This detachment was marched to Fort Wagner, where I reported to General Colquit, who was then in command. As I had not men enough to relieve any of the battalions or regiments in the fort, he ordered me to return to the sand hills, between Wagner and Gregg, and protect my command as well as I could. All that part of the island was under the enemy's fire, and their shell was continually dropping. We retired to what the soldiers called 11 private bomb-proofs." These were holes in the sand large enough to hold two men. There a man was safe, except from shell bursting immediately overhead or falling vertically. I did not find a "hole in the ground" very comfortable, and so Lieutenant Lesesne and I spread our blanket between two sand hills, and under the shelter of a small bush passed the balance of a very disagreeably cold night. The monitors bombarded Sumter all night. Battery Gregg, on Morris Island, Fort Moultrie and the batteries on Sullivan's Island kept up the fight, and did some excellent shooting. The monitors would belch out columns of flame from their 15-inch guns in their turrets. When the shot from our batteries struck them, they would seem to be covered by sheet-lightning. Fort Wagner and the enemy's batteries in front exchanged shots all night, but not very rapidly.

September 2d. — This morning the last parallel of the enemy, two hundred yards from Wagner, was nearly completed. Both the garrison and the enemy were working like beavers — the former repairing damages and the latter pushing forward their trenches. The garrison kept up a slow fire. My detachment was detailed as a working party for Battery Gregg, where another gun was to be mounted. I marched them down there and turned them over to the engineer officer in charge. Captain R. Press Smith, of the regular infantry, was in command. Lieutenant Edgerton, of the same regiment, formerly a sergeant in the Washington Light Infantry, Company B, was assisting him. The enemy poured their shell into Sumter, Wagner and Gregg all day. At dusk, as instructed, I reported with my detachment at Fort Wagner, and we commenced our tour of duty. By 10 or 11 o'clock the rest of the regiment arrived. The companies did not all come together, and they were stationed around the parapet as they reported, relieving a North Carolina regiment, which left the island by the same boats that brought the Twenty-fifth South

Carolina volunteers. The Twenty -eighth Georgia, a small regiment, occupied a part of the land face. The balance of the land face, all of the sea face and flank wall outside, running from the fort to the water, were occupied by the Twentyfifth South Carolina volunteers. Major Glover was assigned to the command of the flank wall and the sea face. I had command of the land face and the general supervision of the whole regiment. The two regiments mentioned, and several companies of the Second South Carolina artillery constituted the garrison inside the fort. The Twenty-seventh Georgia was kept in the sand hills as a reserve. Battery Gregg was garrisoned by a company of regulars. These troops constituted the whole Confederate force on the island. The fire of the enemy was not very brisk during the night, but there was very little chance for any rest on the part of our garrison. We were in our places on the parapet of the fort all night. I made the salient angle regimental headquarters. Major F. F. Warley, of the Second South Carolina artillery, was Chief of Artillery and had the general supervision of all the guns. During the night Colonel Lawrence M. Keitt, of the Twentieth South Carolina volunteers, came down and relieved General Colquit, who left the island.

September jd, Thursday. — Enemy still approaching. One or two of our guns and one mortar keeping up a steady fire. The men of the Twenty fifth were in high spirits, a great many of them went to work building defences with sand bags on the walls of the fort. They constructed loop-holes in these defences, through which to shoot at the enemy, whose works were provided with similar means of offense and defence. Firing from these loop-holes had become very dangerous, yet it was steadily kept up. As soon as light was seen through one of these holes the Federal sharpshooters fired, and not unfrequently succeeded in sending their balls through. Each side fired at the flashes of the rifles of the other. Our men, after firing, shoved their hats into the loop-holes to darken them before they drew out their muskets, which, when reloaded, were put carefully back and the hole covered by a man before the hat was withdrawn. One man, Private Wallace, of Company C, received a ball in his piece, which, happening to be of larger calibre than the enemy's gun, did not lodge. He took it out, put down a charge of powder and sent the ball back to its former owner. Musketry firing and hissing of balls were incessant. The enemy did not to-day use their artillery very briskly, but were hard at work in their trenches. Not a man could be seen, but a long line of spades was visible as they were lifted up

to throw the sand out of the trench on the side towards us. Our James Island batteries and Fort Moultrie were cannonading the enemy's trenches all day. The fleet came up, as was the custom, early in the morning, and opened fire upon us, throwing n-inch and 15-inch shells. They were often thrown with small charges of powder, ricochetted along the water and striking near the top of the covered ways, fell nearly vertically, searching every part of our work. Some of the 15-inch shells were loaded with smaller shells, and when the large shells burst the fuses of these would ignite and explode, scattering their pieces in every direction, doing much damage. During the day from one-fourth to one -third of the men were kept on the parapet. The rest were allowed to remain in the bomb-proofs. At nightfall they were all turned out and kept at their places on the parapet all night. The enemy had gotten so near that they could hear us turning the men out. Their fire was then quickened, and shot and shell came, literally, like iron hail. The garrison had a great deal of work to do constantly repairing damages It was soon apparent that this fort was near its last day. The exterior slope of the salient was drifting slowly into the ditch under the enemy's fire. When not visiting the rest of the command I was with that part of the regiment stationed in the salient.

September 4th, Friday. — The enemy commenced a lively cannonade this morning. Quite a number of our sharpshooters' stands were knocked down. Sharpshooters were still very brisk on both sides, and continued so all day. The United States flag was put up by the enemy at the head of their trenches now, about one hundred yards from the salient. It was the opinion of the engineer officers that the salient was the intended point of attack. My opinion was that the intention of General Gilmore was to pass the fort at low tide, and assail us from the rear. There was about fifty yards of hard beach, at low water, between our flank wall and high water line. This was one of the defects of the work. There was a time when a line of palisades might have been driven down to high water mark. The engineers thought that the salient would be the point of assault. This would have been in accordance with a scientific approach and assault. I expressed my dissent from the engineers, and urged Colonel Keitt to allow me to strengthen our force of two companies left on the outside behind the flank wall, to meet any effort that might be made to pass the fort. He agreed with the engineers, and did not deem it necessary to increase the force on the outside.

The batteries on James Island kept up an unremitting fire and were

doingsome excellent practice, particularly the one at Shell Point, called " Battery Simkins," in honor of the gallant Lieutenant-Colonel Simkins, who fell during the assault on this fort on the 18th of July.

Major F. F. Warley was struck in the afternoon by a piece of shell, which made a painful flesh wound on one of his legs. He was soon after started to the city in BrigadierGeneral Ripley's boat, which came down to bring dispatches. An account of the condition of the fort was given Major Warley for General Beauregard. On the way up to the city, one of the enemy's boats, commanded by Lieutenant Charles Craven, of the navy, fell in with Major Warley and captured him and his boat's crew, who were greatly outnumbered by Lieutenant Craven's party. Major Warley had the presence of mind to tear open the envelope containing the communication for General Beauregard, and, after putting an oarlock inside, threw it overboard before he surrendered. The enemy were in the habit of sending boats from the creek between James Island and Morris Island, around Cummins Point and between Sumter and Gregg, and out towards the bar every night. WTarley was captured by this boat picket. (I have met Lieutenant Craven and heard from him an account of the incident since the war.) Captain Thomas Huguenin, of the First South Carolina infantry, who had, with his company, relieved Captain R. Press Smith and the garrison of Battery Gregg, was ordered up from that work and made Chief of Artillery in Warley' s place. One of Captain Huguenin' s lieutenants was left in command at Gregg. A more worthy successor of Warley could not have been selected. Huguenin was without fear; had been trained at the Citadel Academy, and was thoroughly acquainted with all of the duties of an artillery officer.

Our working parties were hard at work all day repairing damages occasioned by the enemy's fire.

Corporal Newcomer, of Company A, was killed and several men wounded this afternoon. Several men were killed and a good many were wounded of the other regiments of the garrison. The enemy's fire slacked a little after nightfall. A calcium light was displayed, but turned on the creek, which was lighted up brilliantly. Captain Sellers and Company F (St. Matthew's Rifles) were with me in the salient for two nights. I had been directed to remain in there when my presence was not needed elsewhere. Both men and officers got so they could sleep under fire when permitted to take a little rest. The shells from Fort Moultrie passed directly over the salient, and as they were now timed to burst just two hundred yards beyond us,

the danger of a slightly premature explosion was great, when it is remembered that Moultrie was nearly two miles away. Besides this danger, and the danger from the enemy's shot and shell, the trenches were now so near that pieces from our own mortar shells occasionally came back into the salient.

September jt/i, Saturday. — The last parallel of the enemy was now completed, and their guns and mortars behind it ready for action. In the bombardment of to-day shot and shell from seventeen siege and Cohorn mortars, and thirteen ioo, 200, and 300-pound Parrott guns, all in the enemy's land batteries, were incessantly poured into the fort. These, with the fire of the 15-inch guns of the monitors, and the sixteen 11 -inch broadside and 200-pound Parrott bow and stern guns of the Ironsides, added to the thunders of Moultrie, Johnson, and the batteries on James and Sullivan's Islands, made an artillery fight the fury and grandeur of which can hardly be conceived. It is beyond my powers of description, surpassing the most highlycolored accounts which I have ever heard, No words in the English language can exaggerate it. The mortar shells of the enemy, which could be seen throughout their entire flight, fell so fast that they could not be counted. The Parrott guns were so near that the explosion of their shells in the fort drowned the report of the guns. Many men were killed and wounded ; some of them, without being struck, rendered for a while completely insensible by concussion. All of our guns in the fort were silenced. It was impossible for the artillerists to work them under such a fire. When directed to any one spot, as it was whenever our artillery opened, it became impossible for anything to live, and the working of the guns was, therefore, out of the question. It was impossible to stand even for a few minutes on any part of terreplein or parade of the fort, without being covered with sand thrown up by the bursting shells. The hats of the soldiers got as much as the rims would hold. Men could be seen ducking their heads and instinctively leaning in the direction from which the enemy's shot were coming, as in a hail storm. We kept about one-fourth of the infantry behind the parapet, without any other protection. The suffering of the men in the bomb-proofs from heat and want of water was terrible. The supply of water brought from the city was very inadequate. That got from the wells on the island was horrible. Extreme thirst alone drove the men to drinking it, and it was almost as much as a man's life was worth to visit a well for the purpose of getting it.

A great many sights, too horrible to relate, which will remain in

the minds of those of us who witnessed them as long as life lasts, were to be seen. Private Moses A. Rawlinson, of Company G (Edisto Rifles), was knocked from the parapet, where he was fearlessly doing his duty as a sharpshooter, to the middle of the parade, a distance of forty or fifty feet, going fully twenty feet in the air in his passage. The brave fellow never let his rifle go, but fell with it in his hands. Private Robert E. Dukes, of Company C (Wee Nee Volunteers), who was one of the litter-bearers for the day, was standing by me at the entrance of one of the covered ways. He and another member of the infirmary corps (whose name I would like to mention, but I have forgotten it) started to bring Rawlinson into the bomb-proof hospital to the surgeon. I stopped them, because it seemed to me to be almost certain death to go to him till the iron hail slacked a little. I thought he was dead. In a few minutes he was discovered to move a little. I then told them he must be brought in. They did their duty fearlessly, but their tenderness to the poor fellow and their bravery was useless. He died in a few minutes after he was brought in. Lieutenant Henry Montgomery, Jr., of Company C, was killed about ten or eleven o'clock in the morning. A piece of shell took off the greater portion of his head. A Christian gentleman, true-hearted patriot, and brave soldier was lost in him.

A good many of the mortar shells being visible, as they came hissing and spluttering into our works, could be avoided. The Parrott guns sent their shells without warning. The fort was now being so rapidly demolished that it soon became evident that it could not stand a much longer continuation of the bombardment. The parapet of the salient was gone, and the ditch at that point was filling with the drift. Other parts of the fort were going rapidly, and it seemed that the bomb-proofs would soon succumb to this destructive fire.

There were two guns still mounted this morning on the sea face of the fort. The one nearest the magazine was thrown from its carriage by the enemy's fire, and the mass of ruins, made up of the platform on which it had stood and the gun-carriage, was set on fire by the exploding shells. This gun was heavily loaded, and when it fell was pointing directly towards our magazine, in which a large quantity of powder was stored. For a while it seemed that the magazine was in great danger from the burning mass and from our own gun, which we expected momentarily would be fired by the heat. As I have already said, it was next to impossible for anything to live at any point upon which the fire of the enemy was concentrated. The extinguishing of the flames was, therefore, a work of difficulty and great danger.

It was, however, done in time to prevent any greater calamity. Private J. T. Barrineau, of the Wee Nees (Company C), distinguishing himself in his fearless and successful efforts to put out the fire. He was the first to reach the ruins and go to work in this hell of fire. Others, inspired by his example, went to his assistance.

The other gun, which Gilmore and Dahlgren seemed determined should stand no longer, was on the sea face, south of the bomb proof headquarters. The fleet and land batteries were crossing their fire over it and doing their best to strike it. One of the stands for sharpshooters was very near it. This stand had been occupied by Private W. A. Dotterer, of Company A, and Private M. Williams, of Company H. I regarded their destruction as so certain, that I did not think the injury they were doing the enemy with their rifles was sufficient to compensate for the loss of two such men, and allowed them to leave the post and take shelter from the terrible storm in one of the uncovered passages leading from one bomb-proof to another. They were by no means safe there, but the danger was not so great as on the parapet, It was not long before Major Bryan, the Assistant Adjutant-General, called my attention to the abandonment of the post. I told him that I had authorized it, as I did not think the damage done the enemy was worth the sacrifice of the men. The Major said that Colonel Keitt's orders were that the post should be filled. Dotterer and Williams were present and heard the conversation. I turned to them and said, " You have heard the orders.'' Said Dotterer, " Well, colonel, we will go, but our chance of returning is not worth ten cents." They both went immediately back without the tremor of a muscle, or the least appearance of fear. They kept up a steady fire through the day, and managed to live by leaving the post after firing, and returning when they had reloaded their guns. There was no want of promptness on their part, nor loss of time in driving down their cartridges when in a place not quite so much exposed as the stand from which they delivered their fire. With every precaution which they could possibly take, I deemed their escape little less than a miracle. [When we left the fort and returned to our camp, I considered it my duty to recommend both of these men for promotion. Captain Hammond made Williams a sergeant, and some months afterwards Dotterer was killed in Virginia while acting as a lieutenant. There was no vacancy, and consequently he was never commissioned.]

A portion of our Signal Corps had been specially detailed to observe the signals of the enemy. Every dispatch signaled between

General Gilmore, of the Federal army, and Admiral Dahlgren, of the navy, was transmitted by our signal officers to General Beauregard in the city, and such as he desired us to know were then sent to Colonel Keitt for his information and guidance. One of these dispatches, which was read by Colonel Keitt to a few of us who were in his confidence, detailed the plan of attack on Battery Gregg, which had been agreed upon between Gilmore and Dahlgren. An arrangement was made by which Dahlgren was to furnish the boats and Gilmore the men, and Battery Gregg, at Cummins Point, was to be surprised. But for this information, it seems almost certain that Gregg would have fallen, and the Confederates on Morris Island cut off from all hope of escape. The expedition was to come in boats, with muffled oars, from the creek which separates Morris from James Island, and when the keels of the boats struck the beach, the men were to jump out and charge the battery. Captain Martin A. Sellers, with his Company (F), and Company E, under the command of Lieutenant A. J. Mims, with a detachment of fifty men from the Twenty-eighth Georgia, under the command of Captain Hayne, were detailed as reinforcements for Battery Gregg. The whole detachment was put under the command of Captain Sellers. Company B, of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers, under the command of Lieutenant R. A. Blum, was a part of the force in charge of the flank wall on the outside of the fort, and was nearest to the sally-port. When the Georgians marched out they missed Captain Sellers, and Captain Hayne halted his detachment and entered into conversation with Lieutenant Blum, expecting, probably, to be able to learn something of Sellers and the rest of the detail. The flank wall and the ground behind it were as much exposed to fire as any part of the interior of the fort, and upon this occasion there was a perfect storm of shot and shell. Blum and Hayne were both killed by the same shell, and at the same instant. The Georgians were left without a commander, and if they had not been men of the most indomitable courage would have sought shelter in the sally-port. I went out to see whether Captain Sellers had gone, and found these brave men seated quietly on the sand amid this terrific shelling. I did not at first know why so many men were sitting idly there, and inquired of one of them what it meant.

"We are the Georgians," said he, "sent to report to Captain Sellers, and we have missed him."

" Where is your officer?" I inquired.

" He has been killed, sir ; and we have no one to command us."

" Well, you are certainly brave men," said I, "to remain here without a commander in this terrible fire, and if you will just stay where you are a little longer I will see that some other officer is sent to lead you."

I went into the fort and reported what had occurred. Another officer was sent, who led these brave men down to Cummins Point, where they joined Captain Sellers and the rest of the detail. It very seldom falls to the lot of an officer to witness such a display of heroism as those fifty Georgians that day showed.

We lost in Lieutenant R. A. Blum an officer who had no superior in the service. [When we were leaving the island, it was thought that it would not be possible to bring away our fallen heroes, and orders were issued forbidding any attempt to remove the dead. Lieutenant Blum's company showed their love for him by concealing his body, wrapped in a blanket, among them on the night of the evacuation, and safely delivering their sacred trust to the mother who had yielded up her noble son to our cause.]

The enemy came according to programme, but they were the parties surprised. As soon as their boats struck the beach they were greeted with a volley in their faces and a discharge of grape and canister from the n-inch guns on the parapet of Battery Gregg. Not a man landed, and their boats pushed off in confusion, returning, as they left, a desultory fire. They were soon out of sight in the darkness. We lost one man belonging to Company E, who was killed by the sabot from one of the guns of Gregg fired over the heads of our men on the beach. It was very hard to depress these guns sufficiently to make them effective. The battery had not been constructed with the expectation of an attack from that direction.

It was apparent that it would not be practicable to keep the whole force on the parapet to-night as usual. It was determined to reduce it as much as at all consistent with prudence, and depend on getting the balance of the garrison out in time to meet an assault should the enemy attempt one. The men were directed to protect themselves as well as possible by keeping near the parapet, which afforded some shelter, except against shell bursting overhead. The salient angle became untenable, and only a small squad of Company F was left there. In making our arrangements for the night, a good many men

were killed and wounded. I posted Lieutenant Ramsay, of

Company H (who had been before this time commissioned to succeed F. C. Jacobs), with eight men in the angle made by the face and flank of the bastion, and proceeded to make proper arrangements

for the balance of the land face of the fort. I returned in about ten minutes and found Ramsay at his post alone. I inquired where his men were. He said that they were all killed or wounded except one» and he had left him. I told him that I would send him another detachment. The cool courage of Lieutenant Ramsay filled me with admiration.

The bombardment was terrific and grand all night. The fleet withdrew at the approach of darkness, as was their custom. The fire of the Parrott guns slackened somewhat, but the mortars kept it up incessantly. Four or five shells could be seen to start from a battery behind their last parallel at the same instant of time. They would come flaming through the air like comets, or rather like meteors, bursting, as the enemy's gunners seemed to design they should, sometimes in the air, sometimes on the parade and sometimes on the parapet.

During the night it was reported that the enemy were advancing to charge our works. It was a relief to men and officers to believe that the last struggle was about to be made, and that this awful cannonade was about to be exchanged for musketry and a hand-to-hand fight with the bayonet. The enemy displayed a calcium light, and lighted up our works brilliantly. Except in the shadows, it was light enough to read ordinary print. To have tried the experiment, however, would have been certain death. The men kept in the shadows of the parapet and traverses. I made my headquarters at the magazine on the land face, about the centre of that part of the regiment under my immediate command. Lieutenant F. J. Lesesne remained with me and rendered invaluable assistance, promptly bearing my orders whenever and wherever required. Major John V. Glover had the supervision of two companies, and was charged with the defence of the sea face and the flank wall outside of the sally-port.

September 6th, Sunday. — Daylight came at last, and with it the quickening of the fire from the Parrotts of the enemy. The fleet came up again and joined in the bombardment, and it soon became as grand and terrible as it was on yesterday. The fort was going rapidly. A large working party was constantly at work, but the covered ways and entrances to the magazines and bomb-proofs could scarcely be kept open. The entrance to the covered way leading into the salient was entirely closed by the sand-drift caused by exploding shells. The bombardment was a repetition of yesterday's. Men fell on every side, and the litter bearers and surgeons had as much as they could do. It was the custom to send the wounded up to the

city at night. Our opportunities permitted us to remove very few of the dead from the island during the latter days of the siege.

The suffering of the men was somewhat allayed by digging wells in the bomb-proofs. Tolerably good water was thus obtained, but not in sufficient quantities. The heat was intense, and the air in the bomb-proofs became very foul and hardly supported life. The light of the lamps, kept constantly burning, could hardly penetrate the gloom. Rev. A. F. Dickson, our worthy and efficient chaplain, held the usual Sunday's religious services in the bomb-proof, and the voices of the men singing the praises of God could be heard amid the screaming of solid shot and bursting of shells.

To prevent as much as possible over-crowding of the reeking bomb-proofs, Companies C and E were sent out to the sand hills north of the fort. It must not be imagined that they were in a place of safety. The enemy were dropping their shells all over the island from Wagner to Gregg. When a message was sent from one work to another it was borne by a mounted courier, who rode at full speed. Whenever any signs of life were seen by the fleet, the Ironsides or the monitors would sweep the island with their guns, sometimes being near enough to use grape shot for that purpose. Private Hugh M. Pressley, of Company C, was wounded by a piece of shell thrown at him from one of the guns of the Ironsides. Major Bryan, A. A. General for Colonel Keitt, not only to-day, but on every day during the time he was in the fort, distinguished himself by his close attention to his duties, skill and valor. He is entitled to the gratitude of his country, and carried away with him the lasting admiration of both officers and men of the garrison. I think he deserves more credit than any other one officer of the garrison.

About 2 o'clock P. M., Colonel Harris and Captain S. D. Lee, of the Engineer Corps, came down from the city to inspect the fort and report its condition to General Beauregard. Colonel Harris was of the opinion that the fort could not be held longer. The work was, in his judgment, untenable. Captain Thomas Lee was the engineer in charge. He was completely worked down, but was still discharging his duties bravely. Under his direction, the damages done by the enemy's guns had been promptly repaired till the last parallel of the besiegers was completed. It was then no longer possible, and it was very hard to keep from being entirely buried by the sand-drifts occasioned by the bursting shells. Constant work was necessary to effect this. The parapet of the salient was entirely gone, and the ditch in front rilled for a space of fifty feet or more.

At dark the enemy's sap reached the ditch at a point to the east of this fill.

About 4 o'clock, after Colonel Harris and Captain Lee had made their report, we received the order of General Beauregard, through the Signal Corps, to evacuate the fort. The plan of evacuation had been talked over and agreed upon by Colonel Keitt, Major Bryan, Captain Huguenin, Captain Crawford, commanding Twenty-eighth Georgia, Major Gardner, commanding Twenty-seventh Georgia, and myself. It was a joint invention. No One of us can claim for himself the honor of its arrangement. The order of General Beauregard did not fix the details nor change the plan that we had agreed upon in anticipation of its reception. In the event of its not coming, we had resolved to hold the fort while there was a man left. A sortie had been talked of, and would probably have been made if the general commanding had not come to the conclusion to make an effort to save the garrison, or rather to permit us to make an effort to save ourselves. The work could not have been held, but we were resolved to sell our lives as dearly as possible, and I have no doubt but that our resistance would have been a very honorable death struggle. In accordance with our plan of evacuation, I was to have the honor, with a part of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers, of covering the retreat of all of the troops from the fort, except a small party detailed under Captain Huguenin to blow up the magazine and fire the last gun. On the approach of night the Wee Nees and Beauregard Light Infantry (Companies C and E) were ordered to march in from the sand hills. This, no doubt, created the impression on the enemy that the garrison was being changed, and that fresh troops were coming in to take the place of those on duty. At dusk, Captain Crawford, with the Twenty-eighth Georgia, moved out of the fort. This regiment took with them a 1 2-pound howitzer to be used (if occasion required) by the Twenty-seventh Georgia in covering the embarkation of the troops at Cummins Point. This duty had been, at the request of Major Gardner, assigned to the Twenty-seventh. A breastwork was hastily thrown across the island not far above Battery Gregg, where they were to make a stand in the event of our being followed by the enemy. Our guns had been silent for thirty-six hours. We now re opened fire from the only mortar which we had fit for use. The only other one in the fort was an old Revolutionary piece, which I recognized as having seen at the Citadel when I was a cadet. It had been spiked by the breaking of the priming wire, and had been useless for several days. (I thought that

168 Southern Historical Society Tapers.

if the fort had been better supplied with mortars it could have been held longer.) The firing was at irregular intervals. Besides this mortar, one gun was also used. As soon as the Twenty-eighth Georgia left, the portion of the wall occupied by them was covered by spreading out the Clarendon Guards (Company I), now under the command of Captain Joseph C. Burgess, who had been promoted upon the resignation of Captain Y. N. Butler. The sharpshooters were directed to keep up a steady fire, not so rapid as to create the impression that it was done for effect, nor yet so slow as to induce the belief that the garrison had been weakened. The firing was more spirited than it had been during the day or on the previous night. Fresh troops fired more rapidly than soldiers worn out by days and nights of constant service. We were anxious to make the enemy believe that this new life was occasioned by fresh arrivals. This firing was an# innovation of my own on the plan of evacuation, not, however, inconsistent with it but rather an addition. The fire of the enemy was kept up briskly, and their shells were falling all around.

As soon as I had information that the Twenty-eighth Georgia had embarked and that the boats were ready for another detachment, I sent off Companies B, D, E, G and H. They, like the Georgians, carried a 12-pound howitzer. We tried to conceal the fact that we were evacuating the fort from our own men, and did all that we could to lead them to think that the garrison was only being changed. Great circumspection and caution was required. The enemy were in our ditch and not more than fifty feet from us. A panic among our men would have been at once fatal to the whole movement. No troops could have behaved better than the garrison of Fort Wagner during the evacuation.

Soon after dark, Lieutenant S. N. McDonald, of Company K (Ripley Guards), was mortally wounded while leading his company with unflinching gallantry. Captain W. B. Gordon had been wounded some time before, and First Lieutenant F. J. Lesesne was acting as adjutant of the regiment. McDonald was consequently in command of his company when he fell. He was carried away by his men. There was no time to amputate his crushed leg or possibly the life of this brave and valuable officer and good man might have been saved. About the same time Company K lost one man killed and several others wounded.

Lieutenant Lesesne was sent to command his company, and Lieutenant James A. Ross, of Company A, an intelligent, active, adven-

turous and brave young officer, was detailed as adjutant. He filled the place as perfectly and satisfactorily as Lesesne had done.

The St. Matthew's Rifles (Company F), Captain Martin A. Sellers, were posted behind the flank wall on the outside of the fort, after the company which had occupied that dangerous post had been dispatched to Cummins Point. While the events just narrated were transpiring inside of the fort, First Sergeant Carson of that company was killed. Company F was one of the best companies of the regiment. It was composed oi men worthy of being commanded by the great captains of history (as indeed were many of the men of the other companies of the regiment). Sergeant Carson was one of the best non-commissioned officers in the service. He would have done himself credit in a much higher position, and, had he been spared, would certainly have attained a rank more suited to his abilities. His comrades, with their bayonets, dug a grave in the sand behind the flank wall and buried him there. The booming of the enemy's guns and bursting of shells were his funeral salute. Truly he was buried with the honors of war !

A courier arrived from Cummins Point with the information that the last detachment had embarked. I next sent off Companies A, C and K. Colonel L. M. Keitt and his staff left about this time. I had now with me inside the fort Company I onlv. Our suspense was very great. Every slack in the enemy's fire caused our hopes of escape to sink. The next shot was welcomed as the harbinger of success. We knew then that our movements were not discovered. Company I had been filling all the posts made vacant by the withdrawal of the others. Any unsteadiness on the part of the men would certainly have been most disastrous in its consequences. They behaved with great coolness and nerve during the whole time they were under my immediate observation, and it would be impossible to use words of commendation to which they were not entitled. Both they and the men of Company F, in the most trying position ever filled by soldiers (covering a retreat with the full knowledge that .if pursued they must be overwhelmed by superior numbers), behaved with a courage that never was surpassed by the veterans of any army.

A messenger at length came with intelligence that the last detachment sent was off and the boats again ready. I led out Company I in perfect order, and was joined at the sally-port by Captain Sellers with Company F. Lieutenant F. B. Brown and ten men of Company I were detailed to report to Captain Huguenin. That officer,

with this detail and a few more men of other commands, was directed by Colonel Keitt to light a slow match communicating with the magazine, in which was a quantity of powder, and so timed that it would be blown up after he and the men with him had reached Cummins Point. The last firing was done by Captain Huguenin and his detachment after we left the fort. The journey to Cummins Point was a perilous trip. Shells were falling and bursting all around and over us. We kept in the shadow cast by the fort, which extended nearly to Cummins Point. The calcium light of the enemy lighted up the fort as brilliantly as on the previous night.

The sailors of the Confederate ironclad gunboats rowed the boats upon which we embarked, and we were carried to steamers in waiting just below Fort Sumter. An officer of the navy commanded each of the small boats. The skill of the oarsmen was surprising. The boats kept abreast, with the length of an oar from the gunwale to the end of the blade separating them. The oars, thus interlocked, never touched or interfered with each other. The bombardment of Wagner by the enemy was still going on after we reached the steamers. It had not then been discovered that the work had been evacuated. The boats returned for Huguenin arid his party, but before they came back we heard firing of small arms in the direction of Cummins Point, and great fears were entertained that the brave captain and his detachment had been overtaken. In a few minutes, however, he and the officers left with him and nearly all of the men arrived. The boats which had returned from the steamers to Cummins Point for Huguenin's party were overhauled by the Federal picket-boats as they (the Federals) came out of the creeks and were making their nightly rounds. We lost fifty-seven prisoners, a few of them naval officers and the rest sailors and soldiers. Six of the men of Company I were among the missing. One sailor jumped out of one of the boats and swam to Fort Sumter. Sending so many boats back for so small a number of men was the only mistake made during the evacuation and retreat. I never heard to whose oversight the error was attributable. We reached Fort Johnson and disembarked in safety. As soon as the news was communicated to our batteries that the evacuation of Morris Island had been accomplished, they and the gunboats in the harbor opened with all their guns on that island. Three rockets were sent up, which was the pre-arranged signal for opening fire. I went to the quarters of Colonel R. F. Graham, of the Twenty-first South Carolina volunters, near Fort Johnson, where I was entertained till the next morning.

September j th, Monday. — Returned to camp and, when all of the detachments of the regiment had arrived, found that the killed, wounded and missing footed up one hundred and thirty-two, nearly one-fourth of the number taken to Fort Wagner. Besides six of the men left with Lieutenant Brown, three others were missing. When the men were all turned out of the bomb proof on the evening of the 6th, one man complained to me that he was sick and desired to remain in the bomb-proof. Ordinarily, he would have been excused from duty, but it was then impossible. I could not tell him why my orders were so peremptory that he should go with his company on the parapet, because it was not a part of our plan that the men should be informed that we were evacuating the fort. The poor fellow no doubt returned to the bomb-proof, and did not discover that I had not treated him with great harshness till he was captured. The other two could not be accounted for.

I heard to-day full particulars of the plan of attack that was to have been made on Fort Wagner at 9 o'clock this morning. Gilmore and Dahlgren's correspondence was interpreted by our Signal Corps as it was signalled between them. The fleet was to come up at the usual hour and join the land batteries in the bombardment, which was to continue with great fury till 9 o'clock, the hour of low tide. During the cannonade, troops were to be massed behind the last parallel. At the hour appointed for the assault the Ironsides was to run up a red flag. The batteries and ships were at this signal to cease firing. A brigade of infantry was to pass on the beach between the flank wall of the fort and low water and attack us in the rear, while another body of troops came over the last parallel and stormed us in front. The rear walls of the fort could be climbed in many places without much difficulty. Wagner was not constructed with the expectation that an attack would be made from the rear. The ditch in front of the bastion was filled by sand-drifts (the effect of the enemy's shot and shell) for a space almost wide enough to admit a company in line. General Beauregard did not inform us before the evacuation that he knew the enemy's plan of attack, but this knowledge, no doubt, hastened the order to evacuate. The attack from the rear was the plan which I told Colonel Keitt (on the 3d, when I asked him to allow me to increase the force behind the flank wall on the outside of the fort) the enemy would be likely to pursue. I subsequently expressed the same opinion to Colonel Harris, but neither of these officers agreed with me.

September 8th. — The enemy's ironclad fleet came up this morning,

and a tremendous artillery fight took place between these vessels and Fort Moultrie and the batteries on Sullivan's Island. A night attack was made on Fort Sumter, but the garrison was prepared and the attack was a most signal failure. As none of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers were engaged, it is not my purpose to describe this attack or to say more than that quite a number of the enemy were killed and captured with small loss to the Confederates.

September oth to 30th. — We were allowed several days of perfect rest, which the men greatly needed. The enemy were very quiet during the remainder of the month of September. We heard that a deserter from one of the Georgia regiments went to the enemy about the time the evacuation of Morris Island was completed, and informed them that we were gone. The movement had been made with so much skill that the statement was not credited. He was told that he would be held as a hostage while a sergeant and a file of men were sent around to the sally-port of Wagner to ascertain the true condition of the fort. If the story proved false the deserter was to be shot. The sergeant, found that we had gone, and entered the fort in time to extinguish the slow match which Captain Huguenin had lighted to blow up the magazine. The regiment resumed the routine of camp life, and one day was spent very much like the others. Drills and dress-parades, guard-mountings and picketing with monotonous regularity filled up the time.

One of the topics of interest in camp was the two great guns brought from England by a blockade-runner and mounted in White Point Garden (the battery) in Charleston. They were enormous pieces of artillery, about five feet in diameter between the trunnions and the base of the breech, and carrying an oblong shot of seven hundred pounds weight. One was badly damaged in firing some experimental shots and had to be strapped with iron hoops. It was found that the cracking of the metal was due to some mistake in loading, and when directions were received from the maker, it was said that they could be used without further danger of bursting. They were two useless pieces of ordnance. I never heard of their doing the enemy any damage.

October 1st to November 30th. — The regiment moved from " Camp Gadberry " to the field immediately in front of the Presbyterian church and on the opposite side of the road. The new lines, which ran from a point on the marsh south of the neck of the Secessionville peninsula to the Stono river above Dill's, were completed, and the woods between the church and Grimball's, in which there had been

so many skirmishes between the pickets of the two armies, were being rapidly cut down. Wood was plenty, and the men were comfortable. There was some fever, but in the main the command was healthy. Private George Gist, of Company C (Wee Nees), got my permission to beat up volunteers to build me a house, and I soon had a shanty made of poles and clap-boards (split by these kind-hearted soldiers'), with a good wide clay chimney, board bedstead and table, and was as comfortable as a soldier in the field ought to be. There were other shanties built by the men for themselves and some of the officers of the regiment. Our camp began to present quite the appearance of a village. We used the Presbyterian church as our chapel, and had some excellent discourses from Rev. A. F. Dickson, and occasionally from other ministers of the Gospel, who were either visiting the troops or connected with the regiments on the island. Captain Thomas, of the Twenty-first South Carolina volunteers, should not be forgotten. He was the pastor of the Baptist church in Bennettsville, Marlboro district, and went into service in command of a company composed largely of the young men of his congregation. His influence was highly beneficial to his regiment. His bravery as a soldier was equal to his eloquence and fervor as a preacher. Musician Mueller, chief of the regimental band, added much to the interest of the religious services. The performers on the brass horns, belonging to the band under his direction, made music surpassing the finest organ. The sound was much more like that of an organ under the hand of a first-class performer than anything else which I have ever heard, but the music was decidedly better. Every member of the band deserves special mention. The sweet music which they discoursed beguiled camp life of much of its tediousness.

Assistant Surgeon Dr. J. M. Warren was detached from the regiment and sent to another command in Virginia. Dr. Warren was a kind-hearted gentleman, able and intelligent, and thoroughly familiar with the mysteries of his profession. Our loss seemed irreparable, but we were exceedingly fortunate in having a gentleman, Dr. A. J. Beale, of equal ability assigned to us in place of Dr. Warren. Dr. Beale was a Kentuckian, and had been a lieutenant in Company D, Ninth Kentucky infantry. He was engaged with his regiment in the battles of Shiloh and Murfreesboro. At the latter place he was severely wounded. He took up a gun which had fallen from the hands of a disabled soldier, and dropping upon one knee to fire, was hit by a ball which made six holes in his body, passing through both

thighs and calf of one leg. He was taken prisoner, and confined in Fort Delaware. While there he was promoted to be captain, but when he was exchanged, finding his health much broken, he returned to his profession, was made assistant surgeon, and assigned to the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers. The place made vacant by the death of Lieutenant Blum, of Company A, was filled by the promotion of the next lieutenant in rank of his company, and Lieutenant Callahan was elected Junior Second Lieutenant. In Company K, after the death of Lieutenant McDonald, the organization was completed by the election of Charles Lesesne, Junior Second Lieutenant. S. I. Montgomery became a lieutenant in Company C, and J. R. China became junior second lieutenant of the same company. J. M. Felder had been promoted in Company I after the resignation of Captain Y. N. Butler.

December ist to yth. — Reg'ment moved to Secessionville, and encamped between the line of houses and the marsh towards the north. The field and staff officers occupied houses. Headquarters were in the red-top house owned by Mr. Lawton. The post was under my command. The garrison consisted of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers, and two companies of the Second South Carolina artillery, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Brown.

This place had been greatly strengthened since we occupied it last July. Strong breastworks and formidable batteries had been built along the creek south of the peninsula, and just in front of the line of houses. A large bomb-proof had been constructed about one hundred and fifty yards northwesterly from Lawton's House. Battery Lamar, across the neck of the peninsula, had been put in first-rate condition; in fact, the post was in a thoroughly defensive state.

December gth. — The quiet*of the post was disturbed this evening. A steamer of the enemy's, going from the creek or river which separates Folly Island from Taylor's and James Island towards Folly Inlet, passed between this post and Long Island, opposite this place. I ordered fire on her, but think that she was not hit. The enemy returned our fire from a battery near Folly Inlet. The enemy used percussion shells from long-range rifled guns. Some of their shells passed over us and fell in the marsh beyond, some fell in our camp, but very few exploded, and no damage was done. It was very evident that the enemy's guns were of longer range than ours.

December 10th, i86j, to March loth, 1864. — Some time before the assault of Fort Sumter, of 8th of September, Colonel Rhett and his command (the First South Carolina regular artillery) were re-

lieved from duty at that fort. Major Stephen Elliott (afterwards promoted to be brigadier-general) was placed in command, with a garrison made up of details from different regiments. No entire regiment or battalion was sent, because it was not the purpose of General Beauregard to send any officer there who would rank Major Elliott. The honor of commanding that post was to be left to him. For a considerable period of time details were made from the Twenty-fifth by companies to form a part of the garrison. Every company in the regiment had the honor of being at least once at this post of danger. Neither day nor night passed without the enemy sending their compliments to Major Elliott and his brave garrison in the shape of shot and shell. The Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers gave its share to the roll of the noble dead who gave their lives to their country on the spot where her flag first waved over captured works. Thirteen men, one Georgian and twelve of the Washington Light Infantry (Company A), were one night relieved from a tour of duty on the parapet (or rather where the parapet had been, for Sumter was now a shapeless mass of ruins) and allowed to take a little rest. They spread their blankets on the floor of one of the casemates towards the city; all, except one, were soon sleeping, and probably dreaming of loved ones at home. "Children in their low trundle bed," were no doubt in the visions of some. This restless one, finding that "Nature's sweet restorer" had departed his eyelids, got up and went out to the parade ground of the fort. A shot came ricochetting over the sea face, struck the key-stone of the arch which supported the roof of the casemate, and the whole structure fell. Twelve brave men answered to their names on —

" Fame's eternal camping ground."

When the ruins were removed the next day, they were found exactly in the position in which they went to sleep. I did not hear the name of the Georgian. The men of Company A were, Sergeants W. L. Owens and J. Adger Stevens; Privates S. W. Anderson, O. J. Burn, S. L. Burrows, F. M. Burrows, James Calder, W. S. Gibson, J. W. Jones, L. S. Lee, and W. N. Patterson.

The regiment remained at Secessionville all of the winter. For a long time we had daily artillery duels with the enemy. Whenever their steamers passed in reach of our guns we indulged in artillery practice. Our attentions were promptly returned with interest. In one of these fights Private Hugh M. Pressley, of Company C, had one of the bones of his hand broken by a piece of shell, and suffered

for a long time from the wound. Brigadier General Hagood, to whose brigade we now belonged, came to the conclusion that the damage we were inflicting on the enemy was not worth the ammunition which we were using, and sent me an order not to fire on the enemy's steamers unless they came nearer than was their habit, or unless they first opened fire on us. This order stopped our diversion, and camp life sometimes became again a little monotonous. By way of variety, however, we had a great many battalion drills and inspections, and frequently marched about two miles and a half to a field near Freer's House and joined several other regiments in brigade drills. On the 7th of February, 1864, General Beauregard had a grand review of nearly all the troops on the island, and the day was ended by a drill in evolutions of the line.

Before General Hagood stopped our daily exchange of compliments with the enemy, an incident which, as such a thing has never, in the history of modern warfare, so far as my knowledge goes, occurred under fire, I deem worthy of special mention. Private Jack Lambert, of Company C (Wee Nee Volunteers), and Miss Scott, of Williamsburg District, were married. Chaplain A. F. Dickson performed the marriage ceremony. The bride and groom were happy, and the soldiers present enjoyed the occasion, though there were no great festivities. I am not sure that General Gilmore gave a ball in honor of the occasion, but he so often entertained us in that way that one sent us just then would not have greatly interfered with the hilarity of the wedding party.

Several times during the winter our supply of meat gave out, and for weeks at a time we were on dry rations. The men and officers, who were able to have supplies sent them from home, fared better than those who were not so well provided. I am not sure that any of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers got to eating rats, which were very numerous and large at the post, but some of the officers and soldiers of the artillery indulged in savory messes of those delicate rodents. A fat rat was worth ten cents. On the nth of January Lieutenant-Colonel Brown and Dr. Thomas Grimke invited me to a rat supper. I went, but was not sufficiently hungry to partake of the viands. The Colonel and Doctor pronounced the repast excellent.

March nth to April 14th, 1864. — The regiment was relieved from further duty at Secessionville and went into camp just inside the new lines, on the right hand side of the road leading from the Presbyterian church to Dills'. The new camp was about four or five hundred

yards from the church and a little further from the point where the new lines struck the Stono river, and in a field between the road and woods. Private George Gist again took charge of a volunteer detail and soon built me a comfortable shanty, with mud chimney and wide fireplace. Wood and timber were plenty and convenient, and a good many shanties soon went up. The meat ration was being regularly issued, and the command was as comfortable as we had been at Secessionville. Till within a short time before this period, officers were allowed to purchase supplies from the commissary at government prices. An order was then issued prohibiting purchases, and putting them on rations identical in kind and quantity as those drawn by the men. This order worked great hardship to commanders of regiments and posts, and officers of higher rank ; because such officers frequently found it absolutely necessary to entertain visitors, both official and private. Major Glover and I often wished, upon days of inspection and other official visitations, and no doubt our guests did also, for as many sweet potatoes as Marion set before the British officer. The opinion was often expressed that the sacrifices made by the patriots of the Revolution were very much overrated, especially in the matter of rations. The new order worked such hardships that it was soon countermanded, and we were allowed to purchase in limited quantities as previously. We found, while we were on short rations, that orange leaves were a pretty good substitute for tea, and young and tender shoots of the common chainey-brier ate a little like asparagus. Sugar could seldom be had.

An act of Congress was passed giving the color-bearer of regiments the rank of first lieutenant. Our Color-Sergeant, J. M. Pendergrass, was promoted, as he well deserved to be. As lieutenant, he bore the regimental colors as gallantly as he had done while a sergeant. He was supported by as brave a color-guard as ever stood under the folds of the "Stars and Bars." (The lieutenant was the only one of the guards who survived the war, and he would probably have laid down his life had he not been wounded and unable to bear his flag through the streams of fire poured upon it in Virginia.)

To those who have no experience as soldiers, war and festivities seem very incongruous. Yet nothing relieved the tedium of camp life more than an opportunity in pleasant intercourse with ladies, to forget for awhile that perhaps on the morrow carnage begins. Many of the officers of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers, and of other commands on James Island, had such opportunity, through the kindness and hospitality of Major J. J. Lucas and his excellent wife.

Mrs. Lucas gave an entertainment in Lawton's House, at Fort Pemberton (which the Major commanded), of the most recherche kind. The band of the regiment, under Muller, furnished the music. A good many ladies from Charleston ably sustained Mrs. Lucas. I have never been a society editor of a newspaper, or I might be able to do justice in a description of the scene. A brilliant assemblage of brave men and fair women filled the Major's parlors. [The names of the ladies present and a description of their dresses would no doubt interest their daughters, who are now the leaders of fashionable society in Charleston, and would be an interesting reminiscence of the war, but unfortunately I am unable to give either.]

The enemy were not at this time on James Island, but were occupying Taylor's, Battery and Cole's Islands. The narrow creek, which separates Taylor's from James Island, constituted the line between our forces and theirs. Our pickets were made up of details from different commands, and a field-officer of the day was charged with the supervision of the fort.

April i^ th. — Had charge of the picket line. The details to-day consisted of a part of the Second regiment South Carolina volunteer artillery. A gunboat went up the Stono, a little above Battery Island, and opened an enfilading fire of time-fuse shells on my line. At the same time a brisk fire was opened with rockets from Taylor's Island. Two sizes were used, and for about a half hour the firing was very rapid. I am inclined to think that on this occasion they were trying experiments with some new kinds of rockets. The larger ones would have weighed about forty or fifty pounds, and were about two feet long. The smaller were about half the size. It was rather interesting, but not so comfortable, to see an illustration of the " fable of the boys and the frogs," we being in the place of the frogs. However, we did not need to make the complaint which the frogs did, for none of us were hurt. I think the experiment was not satisfactory, as no more rockets were fired at our troops while the regiment remained at James Island. Very few of them exploded. They went in all sorts of zigzag and curvelinear directions and, failing to explode, fell harmless. I got one or two of each size and sent them to headquarters in the city.

April 1 6th to 30th. — In the spring of 1864, it became the purpose of the Confederate Government to transfer a large portion of the forces commanded by General Beauregard, and that General himself, to the Army of Northern Virginia. Towards the close of the last week in April, Hagood's brigade had orders to move. As soon as

I ascertained that we were going to Virginia, I got permission to march up to the city and wait there for transportation.

General Taliaferro, commanding on James Island, signified his desire to retain Colonel Simonton. It was represented to him that his promotion, which had been recommended, would now surelycome. He was told that it would be reported to the War Department at Richmond that his services were so necessary that it was thought best to send his regiment to Virginia without him. The colonel consulted freely with me, and as it seemed that both his promotion and mine would probably be the result of his remaining, I concurred in opinion with him that it would be proper for him to consent to remain on detached duty.

May ist, 1864. — The regiment took up the line of march and reached Charleston in the afternoon. We went into camp on the Citadel Green. After posting a camp guard, I allowed all the men, whose homes were in Charleston, to visit their families. Many of the officers, and a large number of the men, when night came on, started out with Chief Musician Muller and his band to serenade General Samuel Jones, who was then commanding in the city. Captain James M. Carson, of Company A, Lieutenant F. J. Lesesne, of Company K, Assistant Surgeon A. J. Beale, and one or two others, were the speakers at the general's quarters. After a merry time at headquarters, the party went on a general serenading tour. Music and gaiety were the order of the night. I did not accompany them, but learned from the doctor upon their return that they had "a rousing good time." As it was certainly the last opportunity that many of the officers and men would ever have of enjoying the freedom of the dear old city which, for the last three years, they had so bravely defended, I thought that for one night there would be no impropriety in releasing them from the restraints of the rigid discipline to which they had learnt to submit without complaint or murmur. They had well earned such relaxation. I knew full well that when Galway, our bugler, sounded the assembly, pleasure seeking would be laid aside, and the men would be found in ranks. I also knew my brave men well enough to feel assured that they would do nothing to tarnish the fair fame of the Twentyfifth. I had no cause to regret the liberty which was allowed them. [I think the breast of every surviving officer must, as mine does, swell with pride when he thinks of the grand old regiment which we led out of Charleston. How sad the thought that so many of these heroes never again returned, but gave their lives for their country's liberties, a useless, precious sacrifice.]

May 2d, 1864, Sunday. — A large number of the men and officers availed themselves of the opportunity of hearing our former Chaplain, E. T. Winkler, D. D. The Citadel Square Baptist church was nearer full of gray coats than it had ever been before (or ever has been since). The presence of the men with whom he had served and who never ceased to love him, together with the certainty that he would never again look into the honest, war-worn faces of many of them, seemed to inspire the speaker. His last exhortation and words of love and advice were delivered with earnestness and eloquence.

May 3d. — We took the cars of the Northeastern Railroad for Wilmington. Two companies of the Twenty-first were attached to my command and went with us. In passing through Williamsburg a few of the men, but, I am glad to say, in comparison with the number of absentees from other regiments, very few, could not be restrained from stopping at their homes to bid their families farewell. It would have been one of the very greatest pleasures of my life to have had it in my power to permit them all to say " good-bye " to loved ones, but duty forbade, and I felt compelled firmly to refuse every application for such indulgence. It was painful to refuse brave men permission to look into their homes when passing in sight of the smoke from their own hearth-stones, around which wife and children were sitting talking of father and husband, not knowing that they were so near. Before we got beyond Marion Courthouse, we lost nearly all of the men constituting the two companies of the Twenty-first South Carolina volunteers. The men of the Twenty-fifth, in a very few days, saw the necessity of the stringency of the orders in relation to furloughs.

May 4th. — We arrived at Wilmington and marched out of the city to a field outside of the lines, to the west or northwest of the racecourse and went into camp. The Twenty-first regiment and Brigadier-General Hagood and his staff had preceded us. The Twenty-first was encamped not far from us and nearer the city. The Twenty-seventh, Eleventh and Seventh battalion constituted the balance of the brigade, and were coming from Charleston as rapidly as transportation could be furnished. The men of the Twenty-first and the few of the Twenty-fifth, who left us while on our way from Charleston, began to come in by the next day after our arrival here.

The brigade was moving to Virginia as rapidly as the Quartermaster's Department could furnish transportation. Some of the companies of the Twenty-first had already gone under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Dargan. Major Glover, with companies F,

G and — , by order of General Hagood, reported to Colonel R. F. Graham, who, with these companies and three of his own regiment, started on the cars of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad.

May 5th. — On the morning of this day the following order was received by me :

Headquarters East Lines,

James Island, May 5th, 1864.

LietitenantColonel Pressley,

Twenty -fifth South Carolina Volunteers :

Have the rest of your regiment at the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad depot at 12 M. to take transportation to Richmond. By command of

Brigadier General Hagood. P. K. Maloney,

A. A. G.

[This was the last written order ever received by me from our gallant assistant adjutant-general, and I have therefore kept it, and now insert a copy in these reminiscences. His own State was always uppermost in the mind of this noble Carolinian, and the force of habit caused him to forget that he had left her borders ; hence the mistake in dating his order "James Island" instead of "Wilmington."]

This order was promptly obeyed, and before the appointed time the remaining companies of the Twenty-fifth were at the station near 11 Camp Cobb," a place from which we always moved with pleasure. The recollection of that camp brings to mind nothing but discomfort. We were not detained very long. General Hagood and his staff went on the train with us. We had one car attached for their horses and for one horse for each regimental commander of the brigade. The rest of our horses and all of our baggage, except such as the men could carry and our camp equipage, were left to come on by wagon train in charge of Captain J. Elison Adger, our Quartermaster, and Captain R. Press Smith, Sr., Quartermaster of the Twenty-seventh regiment. There was no more efficient officer in the service than Captain Adger. Had every quartermaster in the Confederate army discharged his duties with as much promptness and fidelity, there never would have been any complaint of that department. Captain Smith, of the Twenty-seventh, was also a most excellent officer.

May 6th. — At a point between Goldsboro and Weldon, we heard of the landing of Butler and his army at Bermuda Hundreds. Gen-

eral Hagood received a dispatch directing him to report to General Pickett at Petersburg. Before the end of the day we heard that our three companies, with Graham, had met Butler's forces.

LieutenantColonel Dargan, with the part of the Twenty-first which first arrived at Petersburg, had been sent to Drewry's Bluff. He was soon ordered to leave that place and proceed at once to Walthall Junction, a station on the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad, about six miles from Petersburg. There, about 1:45 P. M., he was joined by Colonel Graham and the companies under his command. The colonel discovered that the enemy were in heavy force in his front, and at once selected a position and formed line of battle along a road on the edge of a field, about three hundred yards east of the railroad. I extract from the report of Colonel Graham as follows : " I had hardly formed my line of battle, when I was attacked by a force estimated to be at least two brigades with several pieces of artillery. They were driven back in confusion. They again formed for an attack and attempted to turn my left flank. Perceiving this, I sent all my force that could be spared to this point. They (the enemy) were met with such a deadly fire that they retreated in confusion from the field, leaving some of their dead and wounded on the field.

" I cannot fail to mention the gallant conduct of both officers and men. The right of the line was commanded by Lieutenant -Colonel Dargan and the left by Major Glover, Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers.

" I lost in this action thirty-five men (two killed and twenty-eight wounded of the Twenty-first South Carolina volunteers, and five wounded of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers)."

The train which bore us went into Petersburg and stopped in front of Jarratt's Hotel as the sun was setting. Both sides of the railroad were lined with men, women and children, who cheered us as we passed them. General Hagood went to report to General Pickett, and we were left to wait at the place where we disembarked. We had had nothing to eat since leaving Wilmington, except hardtack and raw bacon, and our appetites were unusually good even for sol diers. A genial gentleman came among the men inquiring for the officer in command. When he found me he told me that his supper was ready and that I was the person he was looking for. I told him that I could not go with him, as I was momentarily expecting the return of the general, and it would not do for me to be absent when he came back. He insisted, and upon his assurance that he would not detain me long, I found that inclination had so far mastered duty

that, after putting Captain E. W. Lloyd, of Company B (who, since we left Charleston, had been acting as major), in command, I went with Mr. John Kevan to his house near by, where, around a table loaded with good things, were seated some charming ladies. I soon dispatched the last meal to which I sat for many a day thereafter, and hurrying back, sent Captain Lloyd with Mr. Kevan to make way with some more of the good things of that excellent gentleman.

Soon after night-fall General Hagood returned, and the command was put in motion. We marched first to the commissary's store, where our haversacks were replenished, and crossing the Appomattox river on the iron bridge took the road toward Walthall. The full moon made it almost as bright as day. General Roger A. Pryor, who had resigned his commission and was acting in the capacity of a scout, and one or two mounted couriers, had been sent to act as our guides. They soon created the impression on my mind that they were not well acquainted with the roads. By direction of General Hagood, I made a detail of eight or ten picked men as our advanced guard. These were followed by myself in company with the general and his staff and our guides. A few paces behind us came the seven companies of the Twenty-fifth. Our march was slow and cautious. We did not know but that at any moment we would be fired upon by the Federal pickets. We were not certain of our way, nor whether the enemy might not be between us and our point of destination. The light of Butler's camp fires could be seen on our right, but at a considerable distance off. Once or twice we halted and sent our guides in advance to reconnoitre.

May jth, 1864. — Reached Walthall Junction about two hours before day. Here we found General Bushrod R.Johnson with a small brigade of Tennesseeans, and Colonel Graham and his command. The battalion under my command was put into line of battle in a wheat field east of the railroad and a little to the right of Craig's House, and not far in rear of the line occupied by Colonel Graham's command on the 6th. Soon after we reached Walthall, the Twenty-seventh regiment joined us, having reached Petersburg during the night, and been sent immediately forward. When daylight came no enemy was to be seen in our front. The companies which had been in the fight of the 6th took their places in the regimental line, and the Twenty-fifth had full ranks once more. We found ourselves in a wheat field. On our right was a wood. In our front a road with a growth of trees on each side, and a field on the further side. To the left of this field were some densely wooded hills. There was con-

siderable evidence in the field of the effectiveness of the fire of our men.

We remained in line of battle till about 8 o'clock A. M., were then put in motion and marched across a field and running stream to the hills in a northeasterly direction from railroad station. The Twenty-seventh led our forward movement, the Twenty-fifth followed, and the Twenty-first brought up the rear. General Bushrod R. Johnson ranked Hagood, and had directed him to go into the woods and feel for the enemy. The object of the movement was not made known to the men, not even to the regimental officers. The men consequently moved off with their knapsacks on their backs, but soon discarded them and left them piled in the field before we reached the woods. There was a considerable interval between the regiments. We were not long in the woods before the Twenty-seventh was lost to sight. The Twenty-fifth had proceeded about one-half or three-quarters of a mile when brisk firing was heard in our front. The Twenty-seventh had struck the enemy and the fight had commenced. It was soon ascertained that Butler was advancing to attack us, and General Hagood determined to fall back before him to the line of the railroad. I was directed to halt the regiment and throw out three companies as skirmishers. I detached Company B (Washington Light Infantry), Company C (Wee Nee Volunteers), and Company K (Ripley Guards) and led them forward. The firing soon became very brisk in our front, though, owing to the density of the woods, we could not as yet see the enemy. Their balls were striking the trees all around and about us. As soon as I got our skirmish line well established I put it under command of Major Glover and rode back to where I had left the other seven companies. They were gone, and for awhile I was on the field without a command. I was not long in doubt, however, till I met an officer who informed me that General Hagood had withdrawn my seven companies towards the railroad. I soon overtook them marching back by the same route which we had come. The men recovered their knapsacks as we returned. I was directed by General Hagood to take post on the railroad with my right resting a little to the left of Craig's House, and to remain there till directed to move by him. During all of this time the firing in the woods, from which we had come and where our three companies and the Major were left, was very lively. We found ourselves in an excellent position, the battalion which I now commanded being in a railroad cut, the sides of which were about breast high. The Tennesseeans were on our right and the Twenty-seventh

and Twenty-first South Carolina volunteers on our left, but, owing to the character of the country, not in sight. The enemy's artillery came up and took post in the field in our front, where their line of battle had been on the 6th, and just beyond the road which I have mentioned. Some of their pieces could be seen by us, though a good view of their batteries could not be obtained because of the two rows of trees and bushes on the sides of the road. I am unable to say how many guns were pouring their fire upon us. Our artillery (six pieces) was in our rear. None of the enemy's infantry could be seen in our immediate front, and as their artillery was not in effective range of our rifles we were for several hours spectators of the fight. Their artillery did not pay my battalion much attention, but kept up an incessant fire directed against the battery in our rear, which sent them shot for shot. Both the enemy's shells and our own were passing over our heads. One or two men were struck by pieces of the sabots, I think, probably of our own shells. The enemy's battery being further off, the sabots from their shells were likely to be lost before reaching our line. One of their caissons was exploded by a shot from our artillery. The Confederate battery suffered but little damage.

We had not been in our position very long before we could see long lines of the enemy's infantry coming in splendid order from the woods in which the fight had commenced, and moving to our left with the design, as it transpired later in the day, of turning our flank. As these lines had passed over the ground where Major Glover and our three companies had been left, and as I had not seen them since we fell back, I became very uneasy for their safety, and for awhile seriously feared that they had all been killed or captured. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon the firing on our extreme left became perfectly furious. The fight was raging there and it became very evident that one side or the other must soon give way. General D. H. Hill, whom I had observed riding over the field and displaying the utmost coolness and disregard of danger, came up in my rear and inquired for the commanding officer of the troops before him. I told him that I was in command. He said: " Colonel, your brigade is getting the worst of it on the left and I think you had better move with your regiment in that direction."

" Well, general," said I, "my brigadier directed me to remain here till directed by him to move, but if you will take the responsibility of my moving without his orders I will go at once."

I knew that he had no command, having been relieved of his com-

mand of the western army and not having been assigned any other. He was acting as a volunteer aid of General Beauregard, and that general had not as yet reached Virginia.

" I will take the responsibility of your moving," said he.

I at once started the battalion, marching by the left flank along the railroad. We had not moved very far, till, greatly to my relief, we found Major Glover and our three companies on the railroad track. The pleasure of meeting our comrades, for whose safety we had felt so much solicitude, was very much marred by learning that they had sustained some loss. Private Tharin, of Company B, a brave and highly estimable young man, was lying on the track shot through the head. There had been other casualties. When our skirmish line was driven in the major and his command were posted where we found them, and had held their position since. He was not at liberty to leave his post, and he and the companies under his command could not accompany us. About the time that I found Glover I met Captain Mazyck, of General Hagood's staff, coming with orders for me to move towards the left. Hagood's orders had been anticipated by General Hill's advice. The ground over which we had been passing was of such a character that I could not have used my horse, and he had been sent in charge of a man to the rear. Mazyck directed me to leave the railroad, turn to the left at an acute angle, and after marching about a couple of hundred yards further to take position in the edge of a field, our line being parallel to the railroad, with the woods about thirty yards in our rear. The enemy had gotten possession of the railroad, and both the Twenty first and Twenty-seventh had suffered severely. As soon as we got in line in our new position we opened fire on the enemy on the railroad in our front. I soon perceived that while the enemy's shots were passing through our ranks and telling on our numbers, ours were doing them no harm. The railroad cut and the embankment (where the cut left the hill and reached the lower ground) effectually protected them. Besides this, quite a number of men belonging to the Twenty-first and Twenty-seventh were coming from the left, and passing in confusion immediately in our rear. I concluded, under these circumstances, that there was danger of disorder in my ranks, and that we might be swept back to the woods in our rear. The surest way to prevent such a disaster was to move a force towards the enemy. I gave the command, and the men moved forward with a yell. There was no wavering or hesitation. [I was under the impression, till long afterwards, that my forward movement was without orders from General

Hagood, but that officer has informed me since the war that he had sent one of his staff to bear an order to me to move, and that at the same time he ordered the Twenty-first and Twenty seventh forward. The order never reached me. Probably the officers seeing my command in motion concluded that I had anticipated the general's wishes, and that it was unnecessary to deliver the order. It was not known to me nor (do I think) to the regiment that the Twenty-first and Twenty-seventh were moving upon the enemy.] The men were somewhat exhausted by the rapid march to the left. About half way from where we started in our advance we came to a ravine which afforded shelter from the enemy's bullets, then making sad havoc in our ranks. I ordered a halt, to enable the men to take breath. It then occurred to me that the enemy might make a counter movement and charge us from their cover in the railroad. I happened to be in the part of the line filled by Company G. Desiring to have a look out kept on the movements of the enemy while we rested, and knowing that such service was hazardous in the extreme, I called for volunteers to go up the banks of the ravine and watch. Sergeant M. V. Izler, and private J. T. Shewmake, of Company G, at once responded. I had little expectation of seeing either of them alive when we again moved forward up the slope of the ravine. I have never seen minie-balls fly thicker than the shower poured upon us from the time we commenced the forward movement till the enemy left the railroad, and when it is remembered that for a few minutes these two men were the targets for all of Butler's line in our front, their heroism in exposing their lives to prevent surprise can be appreciated. I recommended both of them for promotion. The whole command behaved as gallantly as it was possible for men to do. I know many of both officers and men deserve to be specially mentioned, but I could not observe the deeds of daring of each one. I called on the men and officers to move forward, and if there were any who were disposed to be laggards I did not see them. The Beauregard Light Infantry, by their impetuosity, first destroyed the correctness of our alignment. Before they were seized by the fervor of battle our line was well preserved. But these gallant Irishmen seemed determined to be the first to reach the enemy in their advantageous position on the railroad track. That company soon got into the shape of a V, with the apex towards the enemy. Lieutenant V. Due was in the lead, and for a time was considerably in advance of the battalion. The rest of the men were inspired by the same spirit which moved the Beauregards, and all seemed determined that the

honor of being first upon the enemy should be claimed by no particular company.

My attention was particularly drawn to Private R. D. Zimmerman, of Company F. He was pressing nobly forward and passed me several paces when I saw him turn back. As I passed him I noticed that the brave fellow was endeavoring to stop the flow of his heart's blood, which was spouting from his breast. His struggle was fruitless, he could follow us no further. Captain G. H. Moflett, our Adjutant, showed himself every inch a soldier and behaved with his usual gallantry. While we were moving forward, Lieutenant F. G. Hammond, of Company H (Yeadon Light Infantry), informed me that Colonels Graham and Dargan and Captain W. E. Stoney, of General Hagood's staff had fallen, and that I was in command of the brigade. I told him that that did not put me in command as General Hagood was still there and unhurt. The lieutenant went back to his company, and I never saw him again. (He fell at Swift Creek two days afterwards.) Before we reached the railroad the enemy broke and left in confusion. When we reached the track we swept the field in our front with a murderous fire. We did not rest long. I saw a line of bushes that I took for a hedge growing on the bank of a ditch about two hundred or three hundred yards beyond the railroad, and I concluded that it would afford excellent shelter for my men. The battalion again ordered forward, with a view of getting nearer the enemy. We had not gone more than fifty or sixty yards beyond the railroad when my sword fell from my hand. I became conscious that I was struck. Ascertaining the extent of my injuries and seeing that I could lead the brave men, who were all willing to follow even into the jaws of death, no further, and that I must leave to some one else the pleasure of finishing the day's glory, I directed Sergeant W. V. Izler to pick up my sword and assist me to the rear. I got back to the railroad, but was able to go but a few steps further. By my direction Sergeant Izler left me and went in search of the litter-bearers. While I was waiting for the return of Izler, General Hagood passed me going towards the front. I asked him to look after the regiment, as I was no longer able to command it, and I directed the men who were with me to go to the front. They all obeyed except one or two of the Twenty seventh regiment, who assisted Sergeant Izler to bear me further to the rear, where we met Dr. A. J. Beale, our assistant surgeon. He administered some restoratives to me, which, but for the fact that I was unable to walk, would have made me forget my wound. A kind-hearted minister of

the Christian church (a Mr. Wellon), in a spring wagon, looking for wounded men came up, and, with the assistance of Sergeant Izler, took me to the South Carolina hospital in Petersburg. As we were leaving the field we met Lieutenant Shuler, of Company F, in charge of some men who had gotten off the cars when we were on the way to Wilmington and remained temporarily behind to bid their friends adieu. The last order which I ever gave to any part of the regiment was that these men be released from arrest and join their companies at once. We lost in killed and wounded in this the last engagement in which I had the honor of commanding the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers, the regiment which I loved so much, and the men of which, I feel sure, had as high a regard for me, the following officers and men.

Lieutenant-Colonel John G. Pressley severely wounded in shoulder.

Company A. Killed : Privates, J. J. Small and D. A. Mahoney. Wounded : Sergeant W. D. Cochett, severely in wrist ; privates T. B. Chapman, slightly in the head ; W. B. Cowperthwaite, severely in the head ; J. M. Mellichamp, slightly in arm ; C. Provost, slightly in shoulder ; W. H. Steinmeyer, severely in shoulder ; L. B. Lovegreen, slightly in head.

Company B. Killed : E. B. Tharin.

Company C. Wounded : Private D. S. Wilson, slightly in arm and breast.

Company D. Wounded: Private W. D. Beverly, severely.

Company E. Killed: Privates Thomas Ryan and R. W. Owens. Wounded : Sergeant J. F. Sanders, slightly in two places ; Corporal John Manning, severely in leg ; privates John Boyce, slightly ; A. Vocelle, slightly in thigh ; S. Wetherhorn, slightly in abdomen.

Company F. Killed: Private R. D. Zimmerman. Wounded: Captain Martin A. Sellers, slightly in arm ; Color Corporal J. W. Myers, mortally in abdomen ; Corporal John Pritchett, mortally in abdomen ; Corporal T. W. Ulmer, severely in temple ; privates H. F. Dantzler, slightly in leg ; H. Griffin, slightly in breast ; J. Jones, slightly in breast ; E. B. Stroke, slightly in arm.

Company G. Killed: Sergeant J. E. Rast ; private L. W.Jenkins. Wounded : Privates E. E. Inabinet, severely in leg ; J. M. O* Holman, slightly ; E. Ott, slightly in head ; S. R. Hall, severely in leg.

Company H. Killed : Private G. M. Howard. Wounded : Sergeant R. A. Horton, severely in hand ; J. H. Pricket, slightly in head ; W. H. Matthews, slightly in thigh.

Company I. Wounded : Sergeant R. F. Ridgway, severely in

arm ; W. A. Lowder, severely in hand ; privates Jesse Tobias, severely in hip; P. W. Tobias, severely in chest; J. B. Hodge, severely in abdomen ; }. H. Evans, slightly in face ; Isaac Haily, severely in chest : John Pelt, severely in hand.

In this battle the Confederate forces, besides the artillery already mentioned, aggregated twenty-six hundred men, of which fifteen hundred were of Hagood's brigade, and the rest Bushrod R. Johnson's. The Federal army greatly outnumbered us. Northern papers published lists of killed and wounded from five brigades. The estimated loss of the Federals was one thousand men, though prisoners captured (of which there were twenty-one) put it much higher. The Confederates lost twenty-three killed, one hundred and thirty-eight wounded, and twelve missing. There were of these one Tennesseean killed and six wounded ; all of the rest were from Hagood's brigade. General Butler's inefficiency is the only conceivable reason for his not turning our right flank and cutting us off from Petersburg. There were no troops between us and that city. The credit of saving that place belongs to the brigades of Generals Hagood and Bushrod R. Johnson.

At 10 o'clock on the night of the 7th of May these two brigades and the artillery fell back towards Petersburg, and before daylight on the 8th crossed Swift Creek. Captain James F. Izler, of Company G, Twentyfifth South Carolina volunteers, was left in command of the pickets to protect the Confederate rear in this retrograde movement. On the morning of the 8th the Captain withdrew his pickets and rejoined the regiment. On the 9th of May the enemy advanced and took position on the north side of Swift Creek, in front of the Confederates.

I am unable to give an account of the desperate reconnoisance led by General Hagood on the 9th of May in order to ascertain the strength of the enemy in front of the Confederate position. The general took with him the Eleventh and Twenty-first, and a detachment of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers, composed of Companies A, C, H and K, under the command of Captain James M. Carson, of Company A. Nor can I detail the incidents of the fighting near Drewrv's Bluff on the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th of May. The regiment, in these last-mentioned engagements, was commanded by Major John V. Glover, an officer in every way most worthy of the veterans of the Twenty-fifth. He furnished me with a list of the killed and wounded in these battles, and I here give them, with the hope that some " survivor " may put on record an account of these

operations as well as of the various other battles in which the Twenty-fifth took part till it was captured at the surrender of Fort Fisher in North Carolina. There was a small remnant left, some of whom fell or were captured at New Town Creek, below Wilmington, and the rest laid down their arms at the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston. Would that I could have shared the dangers and hardships which fell to the lot of my comrades till our flag was folded forever; but God willed it otherwise.

The casualties at Swift Creek on the 9th of May, were as follows :

Company A. Killed : Private W. L. Jeter. Wounded : Corporal J. H. Dickerson, slightly in the head and arm ; private E. F. Cross, slightly in the face and arm ; P. Gowan, slightly in thigh ; W. S. Lanneau, slightly in thigh. Missing: Corporals T. W. Miller and F. W. Locke.

Company C. Wounded : J. K. Gamble.

Company H. Killed : Captain T. L. Hammond ; Second Lieutenant F. G. Hammond; Corporal W. A. Rochester; privates J. Goin and W. Cunningham. Wounded: Sergeant E. W. Rush, slightly in hand ; Privates P. C. Dobbins, by concussion ; J. A. Carmichael, severely in hand ; P. P. Hodgson, severely in thigh. Wounded and captured: Sergeant J. H. Fagin and Corporal K. Lamb. Missing : Privates A. Thompson and L. D. Murphy.

Company K. Killed : First Lieutenant F. J. Lesesne, Corporal J. J. Ard, privates P. H. Lesesne, F. J. N. Dennis, J. D. Wilder, John Davis, J. G. Player, E. Ard, E. Browder, J. E. Cubstead, W. D. Duke, W. R. Byrdick, W. V. Stukes. Wounded: Second Lieutenant Charles Lesesne ; Corporals S. Mitchum, severely in shoulder ; W. E. Mitchum, slightly in arm; C. M. Matthews, slightly in thigh ; privates J. H. Hodge, stunned ; W. Byrdick, severely ; W. W. Thorn, severely in hip ; B. R. Ard, slightly ; J. C. Hodge, severely in thigh; J. B. Tanner, slightly in thigh; S. Wilder, slightly.

Casualties in the trenches near Drewry's Bluff on the 13th, 14th and 15th of May :

Company A, Killed: Private John Hall. Wounded: Captain James M. Carson, severely in arm.

Company C. Killed : Sergeant S. Montgomery. Wounded : First Lieutenant C. Logan, severely in leg ; privates Wrilliam Guess, severely in leg ; M. A. Brown, severely in thigh (found with thigh amputated by Federal surgeons) ; H. J. Brown, severely in arm and breast ; J. H. Bradham, slightly in nose ; H. L. Grayson, severely in arm and side; J. F. Montgomery, severely in thigh; B. E. Dukes,

severely in breast ; J. A. Feagin, mortally in breast. Wounded and missing : R. B. Walters, severely in thigh. Missing: R. E. Duke, F. J. Duke, J. A. Bradham, J. W. Joyroe, H. S. Garner, J. M. Owens, S. W. Browder and J. H. Reagin.

Company D. Killed: Private B.Johnson. Wounded: Sergeant W. D. Currav, severely in side; privates S. H. Read, slightly in hand; N. N. Tart, slightly.

Company G. Wounded: Private O. J. Syphred, severely in side.

Company I. Wounded : Corporal H. V. Haily, severely in hand ; privates T. M. Teats, mortally in abdomen ; R. W. Burgess, mortally in temple.

Company K. Wounded: Private L. Player, slightly in arm.

Casualties in battle near Drewry's Bluff on May 16th :

Field and Staff. Ensign J. M. Pendergrass, severely in shoulder.

Company A. Killed: Corporal F. M. Kellers; private W. A. Dotterer, while in charge of a piece of artillery and displaying great gallantry. Wounded: First Lieutenant H. B. Olney, severely in shoulder and jaw ; Sergeant D. H. Jones, slightly in leg ; privates J. L. Honor, severely in side and arms ; P. H. Seabrook, slightly in leg; J. B. McNamee, stunned.

Company B. Killed: Second Lieutenant J. E. Bomar; private R. Blakely. Wounded : First Lieutenant S. J. Burger, leg fractured (afterwards amputated) ; Second Lieutenant R. M. Taft, mortally (died on 18th) ; privates J. S. Caldwell, slightly in hand; J. J. Boyce, slightly in head; J. F. Grady, slightly in breast.

Company C. Wounded: Captain Thomau J. China, mortally (died on 18th); privates Isaac Montgomery, severely in head; D. M. Smith, mortally (died on 19th); J. Wilson, severely in side; H. Tyler, severely in leg; S. A. McClary, slightly in leg; D. S. McClary, severely in thigh; E. S. Ellis, slightly in head ; J. H. Young, slightly in head.

Company D. Killed : Private R. Freman. Wounded : First Lieutenant P. B. Bethea, slightly in leg ; Second Lieutenant M. L. Smith, severely in leg ; Corporal G. Turbiville, severely in leg ; privates G. Moore, slightly in arm ; P. Turbeville, severely in face ; M. Turbiville, stunned ; M. Allford, stunned.

Company E. Killed: Private J. Callahan. Wounded: Second Lieutenant V. Due, slightly in head ; Second Lieutenant G. M. Lalane, severely in shoulder; Sergeant J. E. Prince, severely in wrist ; Sergeant S. H. May, slightly in leg ; Sergeant G. R. Dunn, severely in leg ; Sergeant John McLeish, severely in ankle ; privates

M. Broderick, slightly in leg ; H. Hodson, slightly in foot ; John Martin, slightly in hand; L. Vocelle, severely in hand and hip.

Company F. Killed: Private L. Shurlmite. Wounded: Second Lieutenant F. E. Shuler, mortally (died on the 19th); private O. S. Davis, mortally (died on the 17th); B. A. Mclver, mortally in hip; J. E. Heaner, J. W. Wannamaker, severely in nose; E. Speigner, slightly in hand; R. Smith, slightly; C. Felder, slightly in ear, and S. Ott, slightly in head.

Company G. Killed : Second Lieutenant G. H. Elliott, Corporal J. R. Kennerley, Color Corporal M. L. Austin ; private G. W. B. Fairy. Wounded : Sergeant B. P. Izler, severely in leg ; Sergeant J. H. Hook, severely in arm ; Corporal F. Kohn, severely in arm ; private J. Ash, severely in leg (amputated) ; B. H. Sanders, severely in thigh; E. H. Irick, severely in the shoulder and arm; F. S. Inabinet, mortally; J. H. Avant, slightly in shoulder; H. Brown, slightly in leg ; M. Robinson, slightly in head, and H. Baily, slightly in neck.

Company H. Killed : Private H. W. Matthews. Wounded : Corporal F. W. King, slightly in leg, and Private S. E. Son, slightly in arm.

Company I, Killed: Privates W. M. Rodgers and J. M. Bell.

In the engagement at Drewry's Bluff (16th May) the regiment again covered itself with glory. In one charge it captured many of the men, all of the guns, horses, and entire outfit of a battery of field artillery. It paid for its fame with some of its noblest officers and men. If Major Glover were writing this, he would, no doubt, make special mention of many who distinguished themselves by their deeds of daring on that bloody day. But he sleeps in the bosom of the State for which he fought so gallantly, and as fate denied to me the glory of participating in the events of that memorable occasion, I am not able to designate any who may have distinguished themselves beyond their fellows. I cannot close these reminiscences, however, without mentioning three young men, one of whom fell on the 9th and two on the 16th of May. There were other equally noble spirits in the regiment, but I found these three young men so congenial, and they were so often around the camp-fire of regimental headquarters, that I became very intimate with them. It was impossible to know them without entertaining the highest regard and admiration for them. I allude to Lieutenants F. J. Lesense, J. E. Bomar and R. M. Taft. It would be hard to fix the limits of their

usefulness to their country had they been spared. 13

The following list of casualties in the engagement at Clary's Farm was also furnished me by Major Glover, but the memorandum is without date.

Company A. Wounded: Privates D. C. Marsh, slightly in elbow, and J. W. Carter, slightly in arm.

Company C. Wounded: Privates F. R. Parsons, mortally in leg, and W. E. Graham, severely in hand (amputated).

Company D. Wounded : Privates A. Owens, and S. A. Owens, slightly in hand.

Company F. Wounded: Privates J. W. Rucker, slightly in thigh; C. Stroman, severely in the arm.

Company I. Killed: Private G. F. Gibbons. Wounded: Private J. H. Richbourg, severely in side.

Major John V. Glover and the other mounted officers of the regiment procured remounts from the horses of the battery captured on the 16th of May at Drewry's Bluff. A few days afterwards the major was kicked on the leg by his vicious horse. Though lamed, he continued to lead the regiment with his accustomed ability and gallantry for two or three weeks afterwards, till a shot from the enemy's lines took off his little finger. I am unable to state the place or date, but it was near Richmond, where the command was fighting behind breastworks. The major was sent to the hospital, where erysipelas supervened on his wounds, and South Carolina lost another of her brave sons, and the Twenty fifth South Carolina volunteers an officer, honored, respected and loved by every officer and man of the regiment.