South Carolinians in the Battle of Gettysburg

July 1, 1863. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee advanced across the Pennsylvania countryside toward the small town of Gettysburg—less than 90 miles from Washington, D.C.—on a collision course with the Union Army of the Potomac. In Lee’s ranks were 5,000 South Carolina troops destined to play critical roles in the three days of fighting ahead. From generals to privates, the Palmetto State soldiers were hurled into the Civil War’s most famous battle—hundreds were killed, wounded or later suffered as prisoners of war.

The life-and-death stories of these South Carolinians are here woven together here with official wartime reports, previously unpublished letters, newspaper accounts, diaries and the author’s personal observations from walking the battlefield.

Derek Smith was a crime reporter in Savannah, Georgia, for almost ten years and has written extensively on the Civil War. He lives in Bishopville, South Carolina.

Derek Smith

Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 235
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2021
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8477-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4275-8
Imprint: McFarland

Prologue 1
1. “Cover Themselves in Glory” 11
2. “Go In, South Carolina!” 19
3. “All the Yankees Born Can’t Hurt Me” 29
4. “Tomorrow I Am Going to Lose My Life” 41
5. “Shrieking, Crushing, Tearing, Comes the Artillery Fire” 56
6. “The Ghastly Dead Upon the Fields of Blood” 73
7. “Carnival of Hell” 86
8. The Cavalry Fights and Monumental Decisions—July 3 97
9. “Death Freed Many from Their Sufferings” 108
10. “Locked in the Embrace of Morpheus” 118
11. Carolinians Left Behind: The Gettysburg Wounded 125
12. The Grieving Home Front 137
13. Sunset Years 151
14. Reunions: “One God, One Flag, One Country” 170
15. “Taps” for the Last Gettysburg Carolinians 176
Appendix: Odds and Ends 185
Chapter Notes 191
Bibliography 209
Index 213