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Summary
of Pickens Co., SC CSA Companies
Pickens
County contributed many companies and men to Confederate Service,
both at the national and local level. The best source of information
on the service of her sons is Louise Bell's Rebels in Gray,
Soldiers from the Pickens District, 1861-65. Rosters and other
information are available in this wonderful book. Hopefully, it
can be reprinted again shortly! What follows is a short sketch
of the primary units that served outside the state. This sketch
does not cover militia or state service units. There are other
units and companies that had many men from Pickens County, but
these represent, her major contributions.
Orr's
First South Carolina Rifles
Orr's
Rifles or the First South Carolina Rifles had a very large contingent
from Pickens County. Rosters for Companies A, C, E, F, and L may
be found in Rebels in Gray. First commanded by its namesake,
James L. Orr, the flashy Congressman from South Carolina, he soon
turned the unit over to J.F. Marshall. Orr's Rifles would serve
most of the war in Gregg's - McGowan's Brigade of the Army of
Northern Virginia. Involved in some of the worse fighting of the
War Between the States, Orr's rifles would serve from Gaines Mill
to Appomattox. Much of that service was with the mighty corps
of Stonewall Jackson and then Hill's Light Corps. The unit was
engaged in places like the Mule Shoe or the Bloody Angle at
Spotsylvania
and Second Manassas where it ended the day commanded by a Captain.
These who perished in the railroad cut had fought Pope to a deadly
draw, not alone but as an integral element of Maxey Gregg's Brigade.
Few
units would fight harder or see more action than the First Rifles.
One of many amazing things about the unit was the claim of the
last commander, Lt. Colonel J.T. Robertson. He stated that he
fought in every action the unit participated in. As colorful as
the time and as tough as Pickens County, nobody fought harder
or pushed further than the magnificent men of Orr's Rifles.
Moore's
Second South Carolina Rifles
Moore's
Rifles, or the Second South Carolina Rifles, was formed from the
nucleus of companies that were left after the formation of Orr's
Rifles. Units from Pickens County included Companies B, C, D,
H and K. In many ways, it was more exclusively a Pickens County
unit than Orr's First. The first commander of the regiment, Colonel
J.V. Moore was killed in action at Second Manassas. Other commanders
included Thomas Thomson and R.E. Bowen. Bowen's name is associated
with some of her toughest battles. Moore's Second S.C. Rifles
found itself serving in one of three South Carolina brigades in
the Army of Northern Virginia that could rival Gregg-McGowan's
Brigade in length of service. The Second Regiment of Rifles was
to be found with the glamorous and long remember Prince of Edisto,
Micah Jenkins and his brigade.
Fighting
first in the Peninsula Campaign, the Second would follow the old
warhorse, Longstreet, for three bloody years. Fighting in both
the east and the west she would see action at all the major eastern
battles, except when detached. Ironically, Jenkins' Brigade was
left in Virginia during Gettysburg. Therefore, they became the
only element of Pickett's Division not to make the horrible charge
on the third day of that battle. Longstreet's Crops was also detached
during Chancellorsville. However, as if to make up for those sins
of omission, the men were heavily involved in the night gamble
at Wauhatchie where Colonel Bowen was wounded. This was after
Longstreet's Crops had moved West to support Bragg. It is one
of the bitter ironies of an ironic war that on at least two occasions,
Jenkins and Evander Law from Alabama, former friends from the
Citadel, would let their egos cost the south victories. While
I tend to fault Laws and favor Jenkins in these issues, it is
a mark against both men. That case is certainly one for a higher
court, but many good man died because of Law's vanity at Wauhatchie.
The fighting for Moore's Second continued on to Knoxville and
then back across the mountain. Here Old Pete was once again under
the familiar hand and loving eye of General Lee. Heavily involved
in the fighting of the last year of the war, the Second Rifles
were close by, at the death of Jenkins and the wounding of Longstreet
in the Wilderness. They would fold their flag with Field's Division
at Appomattox, walk home and the few that were left would embark
on the most bitter of journeys the attempt to reconstruction them.
They would tell you they were never reconstructed, only redeemed
by Hampton in '76, but that is another story.
Fourth
South Carolina Volunteers
The
old fourth, was one of the sadder units from South Carolina. When
the Army of Northern Virginia reorganized in 1862, the Fourth
Regiment became Mattsion's Battalion or the Fourth Battalion.
Most of her men left her for other units. She fought on until
nothing was left after Sharpsburg. At that point, numbering less
than two companies, she was absorbed by the few survivors of the
Hampton Legion Infantry, both units having been terribly used
at Second Manassas and Sharpsburg. During the reorganization of
1862, at least one of the companies from Pickens County, went
with Micah Jenkins to form the Palmetto Sharpshooters. Since all
of these units served in Jenkins Brigade, most of these men from
Pickens District would have followed the path of Jenkins through
the years of conflict.
Pickens
County also furnished at least two companies to the solid Twelfth
South Carolina Volunteers. Serving with Gregg and McGowan they
blazed a path of light across the heavens of Bobby Lee's Virginia.
Commanded first by the colorful Dunavant on the coast and later
under the steady hand of Miller they would follow the trail of
Jackon and Hill with their friends and neighbors from Orr's First
South Carolina Rifles.
Cavalry
and Other Units
Units
or men from Pickens could be found in both the First and Second
South Carolina Cavalry. Pickens men served in most South Carolina
units and the units of other states as well. Perhaps most glorious
of all, and certainly the best remembered, is the service of Bernard
Bee who lived only to fight one battle. His words were a meteor
that burst forth from First Manassas. At that battle, he would
boldly point to a distant figure on Henry House Hill and cry,
"Look! There stands Jackson, like a stone wall!" No
one ever discovered if this was a compliment or a condemnation.
One hundred and fifty years later it matters not, for all the
world sees is the rock hard virtue and craggy visage of the man
from valley Marse Robert's strong right arm. Old Jack!
So
many stories, so much hope, buried forever in the charred and
broken path of Sherman and Stoneman. Sherman was the only man
who knew that we must be ground to dust, and even he said it would
only be good for a hundred and fifty years or so if we were not
assimilated. True to form the south will forever rise like the
Phoenix of old, with one eye turned forever on that which was
and the other focused on that which can be. May we learn the lessons
of the past and commit them to a bright and glorious future. We
know that the men of Pickens District, like their fathers of old,
will always be in the fore. What follows is a small part of the
story of these men and this district.
The
preceding article was written by Steve
Batson © 1999. You can find other articles by him at:
16th South Carolina CSA.
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Sons of Confederate Veterans