www.southernguard.org

Although still in the final stages of construction in1860, Ft. Sumter dominated Charleston harbor. Not only did it pose a threat to shipping entering and leaving the port, but its occupation by Federal troops insulted South Carolina’s newly declared sovereignty. Overnight, national attention focused on South Carolina Governor Francis Pickens’ demands for the fort’s surrender.

Governor Pickens called the Charleston’s Forth Brigade of South Carolina State Militia – the First Regiment of Rifles and the Seventeenth Regiment of Militia - into active service, and construction began on a ring of batteries surrounding Charleston harbor. Although primarily intended for use in the reduction of Ft. Sumter, if necessary, these fortifications also deterred any attempt to relieve the Ft. Sumter garrison by sea. On January 5, 1861 guns placed on Morris Island prevented the steamer Star of the West from delivering reinforcements and supplies to Anderson and his men.[2]

In February, South Carolina joined the Confederate States of America. The following month, Confederate Brigadier General Pierre G.T. Beauregard assumed command of military operations in Charleston harbor. Although Governor Pickens urged an immediate attack on Ft. Sumter, Beauregard, backed by Confederate president Jefferson Davis, felt that the Southern forces were unprepared for such action. Under Beauregard’s supervision, Charleston improved its defenses while a steady stream of volunteers arrived from throughout the state. Infantry stationed on Morris and Sullivan’s islands drilled and scanned the horizon for a rumored Federal attack fleet. Cavalry patrols ranged up and down the beaches. Patrol boats guarded the area’s many inlets and ranged the harbor at night, watching for any Federal attempt to land supplies or troops at Sumter. Four Drummond searchlights placed around the harbor swept the waters at night. Ironically, Major Anderson also feared a night-time amphibious landing against Ft. Sumter by Confederate forces.[3]

On Sullivan’s Island, Ft. Moultrie had been strengthened by employing palmetto logs and sand bags to convert the gun positions on the parapet from barbette to embrasure, covering the magazine with sand bags, and constructing traverses and covered ways between the gun emplacements.[4] Additional earthworks to either side of Ft. Moultrie stretched along the length of Sullivan’s Island. Further fortifications and improvements arose at the opposite end of Charleston harbor on Morris Island, and at Fort Johnson and Castle Pinckney. By April 1861, nearly 6000 men occupied these positions or stood by in close support, including Charleston’s Fourth Brigade of South Carolina State Militia, the First South Carolina Volunteer Infantry (Gregg’s), the First South Carolina Artillery Battalion (Regulars), and the First South Carolina Infantry (Regulars).[5]

Figure 1: Ft. Sumter National Monument, Official National Park Handbook #12 (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1952) [online]; available from http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/12/hh12e.htm, accessed 30 Nov. 1861.

As negotiations continued between the United States and the Confederacy over the fate of Ft. Sumter, the residents of Charleston attempted to carry on with their lives under the looming shadow of war. Southern patriotism ran high, fueled by a steady stream of military parades, inspections, public drills, speeches, and concerts. Ardent secessionists, newspaper correspondents, and curious observers all flocked to the city. The arrival of so many prominent guests prompted an endless series of social gatherings among the city’s elite. Many residents and visitors obtained passes to visit the military encampments on the islands and visit friends and relatives in the service. The port of Charleston remained open, although the passage between the opposing gun emplacements must have caused some apprehension aboard ship.[6]

Major Anderson’s position in Ft. Sumter had grown increasingly desperate. The small garrison could only watch helplessly as Confederate forces hauled additional cannon into position. Confederate officers plied the harbor in small boats, taking range measurements. Southern gun crews drilled at their pieces, occasionally firing practice shots to get the range of their pieces. On several occasions, these gun crews accidentally fired into Ft. Sumter during their exercises, heightening the atmosphere of tension and expectation.[7]

Major Anderson and his men were also rapidly running out of food. Without a shipment of fresh supplies, the garrison could not hold out longer than the middle of April. However, any attempt to resupply the fort might be seen by Confederate authorities as an attempt to land reinforcements and provoke a hostile response. President Abraham Lincoln decided to risk sending a Northern fleet to resupply Ft. Sumter. Lincoln notified Governor Pickens of his intent, declaring that the ships only carried provisions. Historians today continue to debate whether Lincoln hoped by his actions to provoke the Confederacy into firing the first shot, thereby making the South the aggressor and unifying Northern opinion against the South.[8]

Ordered to prevent the resupply of Ft. Sumter, Beauregard issued a final surrender demand to Anderson at 3:20 AM on April 12, which was refused. At 4:30 AM, a mortar shell fired over the harbor from Ft. Johnson signaled the beginning of a general bombardment. The Ft. Sumter garrison returned fire intermittently, limited by a short powder supply. Most of the landward guns had been placed en barbette, but overwhelming fire soon forced the defenders to seek shelter in the lower casemates. Their efforts to return fire prompted cheers from the Southern soldiery. Exuberant spectators soon lined the rooftops of Charleston harbor as exploding shells shook the ground and rattled windows. A few wept at the final dissolution of the Union.[9]

The bombardment continued throughout April 12 and into the next day. On the morning of April 14, Ft. Sumter’s barracks buildings caught fire. The heat and smoke became nearly unbearable for Anderson’s command, and flames soon threatened the fort’s powder magazine. At 2:30, Major Robert Anderson surrendered his command. After a surrender ceremony on April 14, Anderson and his men sailed North with the Federal relief fleet, which had arrived during the bombardment.[10]

The fire directed from Fort Moultrie and the Sullivan’s Island batteries proved instrumental in causing Ft. Sumter’s surrender. Only the guns placed on Cumming’s Point on Morris Island inflicted as much damage. In return, Moultrie, the Enfilade Battery, and the Floating Battery were all subjected to heavy fire, damaging gun carriages, displacing sand bags and palmetto log defenses, and badly damaging the Ft. Moultrie barracks buildings. Miraculously, the only casualties consisted of a handful of wounded.[11]

In January 1861, the South Carolina General Assembly passed legislation to establish the “regular military service of South Carolina,” to consist one regiment of infantry, one battalion of artillery, and one battalion of dragoons, each enlisted for one year. New recruits in the regular service received an enlistment bonus, although the amount of compensation is not known. Although most recruits were native South Carolinians, numbers of men enlisted at recruiting centers in New Orleans, Baltimore, Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville. A few reported arrived from Texas in company with Louis T. Wigfall.[12] One wonders whether those men who enlisted in other states were expatriate South Carolinians or possessed some other ties to the state.

The act establishing the South Carolina regular service specified that its soldiers would be subject to the pay, regulations, and articles of war then practiced by the army of the United States. In February 1861, Adjutant and Inspector General S.R. Gist announced that South Carolina had adopted the drill manuals of the United States, namely Hardee’s Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics, the 1841 System of Cavalry Tactics, and the 1860 Instruction for Field Artillery. Both Scott’s and Macomb’s manuals were adopted for infantry of the line.[13]

Initially authorized to raise eight companies, a portion of the First South Carolina Infantry (Regulars) assembled on February 6, 1861. The General Assembly had previously confirmed appointments for field and staff officers in January, with Richard H. Anderson commissioned as colonel, Bernard E. Bee as lieutenant colonel, and John Dunovant as major.[14] The regiment reported for duty at Ft. Moultrie by March 6, where Lt. Col. R.S. Ripley of the First South Carolina Artillery (Regulars) reported that the forces at Moultrie consisted of 53 men of the Vigilant Rifles, “some 290 indifferent artillerymen,” and “318 helpless infantry recruits, almost without arms, without clothing, and totally and entirely unfit to meet the enemy.”[15] The entire regiment may not have been present, as a notice from the Keowee Courier reported that Lieutenant D.G. Calhoun was still recruiting in that district, but that “the ranks of the regular army of the state will soon be filled.”[16] Colonel Anderson and Major Dunovant apparently had done “little or anything…to organize the regiment,” which may account for their poor showing in Ripley’s eyes. Confusion seems to have arisen regarding the seniority of the company officers, since all held commissions of the same date. Anderson was “oblivious to the importance of a prompt and decisive course of action,” and it took Lt. Col Bee to resolve the situation by having the captains draw lots for seniority.[17] Bee did much to instill proper discipline, efficiency, and military bearing within his command.[18]

By April 4, Governor Pickens and General Beauregard observed the regulars “in a high state of drill” and performing their “exercises very handsomely” during an inspection of Ft. Moultrie.[19] While most of the regiment performed as infantry during the Ft. Sumter crisis, three companies were assigned artillery detail. Company A, under Captain William Butler, served the Mount Pleasant mortar battery. Captain Robert Martin’s Company G was stationed at the Maffitt Channel battery and mortar battery No. 2. Company E (also known as Company K), Lieutenant Jacob Valentine commanding, occupied the Enfilade Battery under the supervision of Captain James Hallonquist of the First South Carolina Regular Artillery.[20] These detachments took part in the bombardment of Ft. Sumter on April 12-13 while the remainder of the regiment stood by in support, prepared to fend off any attempted Federal amphibious landing. The Enfilade Battery was credited with inflicting considerable damage to Ft. Sumter,[21] and was itself subjected to heavy return fire. Some credited this battery with firing the first shot against Ft. Sumter after the signal shell was fired from Ft. Johnson, prompting the men of Company E to rename their post “Battery Beauregard.”[22]

During the engagement, the men of the Enfilade Battery were assisted in their endeavors by Charles Farelly, a citizen of Charleston who was “untiring and active in the performance of his volunteer duty.” Also, Mr. F. Blake assisted the officers of the First Artillery in Ft. Moultrie. Other civilians may have been present during the action, but their presence is not recorded.[23]

During the remainder of 1861, the First Regulars continued to improve its drill. Col. Anderson having been transferred to Virginia, Lt. Col. Bee assumed command. Under Bee, the regiment was “ fully organized and brought up to a full state of discipline, daily Company and Regimental drills, parades and guard mountings soon brought things to a great state of proficiency, and we had a magnificent Regiment.” In a few months Bee himself was ordered to Virginia and met his death at First Manassas. Major Dunovant now took command as colonel. By fall of 1861, the entire regiment began drilling as heavy artillery, and was described as an artillery unit “in all but name.”[24]

The First Regulars continued to perform coastal garrison duty around Charleston, mostly on Sullivan’s and Edisto islands. In early 1862, two additional companies were added to the unit. The year 1862 passed by pleasantly enough, especially considering that “these regular commands were probably better fed, better clothed, and better cared for generally than any other soldiers of the Confederacy.” Nevertheless, the strictness of the discipline applied to the regular units, combined with continued rivalries within their officer corps, led to widespread rumors around Charleston that a mutiny was planned.[25] The fact that so many regulars hailed from “foreign” states led some to question their loyalty and dedication to the Confederacy. After investigation, General Beauregard (returned from the trans-Mississippi) judged these fears as groundless.[26]

In 1863, the First South Carolina Regulars entered a long period of near constant combat operations. In April, while stationed at Ft. Moultrie, they participated in repulsing the attempt of the Federal ironclad fleet to reduce Ft. Sumter. In June, the regiment was redesignated the Third South Carolina Heavy Artillery in recognition of its actual service as an artillery unit, but this designation was never confirmed or used. In July, the First Regulars/ Third Heavy Artillery saw service in the Morris Island campaign, with several companies stationed the siege of Battery Wagner in September.[27] During the siege of Charleston in 1864, portions of the regiment were briefly stationed on James Island, at the Battery in downtown Charleston, and in Ft. Sumter. The majority of the unit, however, remained headquartered at Ft. Moultrie and its adjacent batteries, regularly exchanging fire with Federal monitors. During this time, General Beauregard’s son H.T. Beauregard, a cadet from the Arsenal Academy in Columbia, was assigned to Company A as a lieutenant.[28]

After the evacuation of Charleston in February 1865, the First Regular Infantry, the First Regular Artillery, and the Second South Carolina Heavy Artillery were converted to infantry and brigaded together under Col. Rhett of the First Artillery for the Carolina campaign, during which they were assigned to General William Hardee’s rear guard. As one of the largest brigades in General Joseph Johnston’s army, the regulars were heavily engaged in the battles of Averysboro and Bentonville, in which they suffered severe casualties. The regulars surrendered with Johnston’s forces at Durham Station on April 26, 1865.[29]

The act to create the “regular military service of South Carolina” specified that each enlisted man would receive “two suits of clothes, two caps, and two pair of shoes.” Although the act did not specify the uniform to be worn by these troops, newspaper references state that the uniform was to be “the same as that of the U.S. Army” and “almost a copy of United States army regulations.”[30]

Officers’ dress seems to have closely followed that of the United States army, with dark blue frock coats, red sashes, sky blue trousers, and dark blue kepis. Images of the First South Carolina Artillery (Regulars) at this time support this hypothesis (see Figures 7 and 8). It seems that regular officers did not adopt the silver buttons of the South Carolina volunteers, but wore brass instead. It is unknown whether these buttons were of a palmetto pattern. Rank insignia seems to have consisted of four-inch straps of gold lace “like those in use in the Russian army,” captains wearing three straps, first lieutenants two, and second lieutenants one.[31]

For enlisted men, the uniform would have in general consisted of a frock coat, trousers, and kepi. In January, 1861, the Quartermaster General of South Carolina advertised for “dark grey cloth, suitable for making uniforms.” One month later, the state solicited bids for 1000 uniforms, consisting of “plain frock coats and pantaloons, of woolen… everything will be furnished but the labor.” The state also sought suppliers for 5000 pairs of shoes and “woolen socks, country made” for its troops.[32] In addition to providing uniforms for several units throughout South Carolina and Florida, the Charleston firm of C.F. Jackson & Co. filled orders for “uniforms for the regular service.”[33] Similarly, the Charleston hat company of Williams & Brown filled “a large order for the South Carolina Army of the regular line,” as well as orders from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and other parts of South Carolina.[34]

No positively identified images of the First South Carolina Infantry (Regulars) are known to exist. One may assume, however, that South Carolina’s regular forces would have been uniformed identically, and several images exist of the First South Carolina Artillery Battalion (Regulars) at this time. Images of this unit stationed at Moultrie and Sumter shortly after the April 1861 engagement show the men wearing dark grey frocks, kepis, and trousers, the trousers bearing a dark seam.[35] A quartermaster voucher for the First South Carolina Artillery records a purchase of gray satinet cloth.[36]

Figure 2: Members of the First South Carolina Artillery (Regulars) at Ft. Moultrie in April 1861. George B. Davis, Leslie J. Perry, and Joseph W. Kirkley, The Official Military Atlas of the Civil War (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1891-1895; republished New York: Barnes & Noble Publishing, 2003), p. 283

Figure 3: A company of the First South Carolina Artillery at Ft. Moultrie in April 1861. Davis, The Official Military Atlas of the Civil War, p. 283

Figure 4: First South Carolina Artillery occupying Ft. Sumter after its surrender. Robert N. Rosen, Confederate Charleston (Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press, 1994), p. 74. Original in the Valentine Museum, Richmond, Va.

Figure 7: Members of Company D, First South Carolina Regular Artillery manning the Floating Battery during the bombardment of Ft. Sumter; supposedly sketched by a Confederate officer. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated.

Figure 8: Possibly Thomas Sheppard, First South Carolina Infantry (Regulars). Note blue forage cap, palmetto badge, and light trouser seam. Voices of the Civil War: Charleston, p. 29.

Figure 9: Private James B. Keckley, Palmetto Guard. Portraits of Conflict: South Carolina, p. 191.

At the end of 1860, South Carolina held nearly 13,500 U.S. model 1842 muskets in its arsenals. Just over 11,500 of these had been acquired during the seizure of the Federal Arsenal in Charleston. Nearly all weapons issues of early 1861 consisted of 1842 smoothbores, mainly from the Charleston Arsenal. In March 1861, the quartermaster of the 1st South Carolina Infantry (Regulars) requested an issue of 60 Enfield rifles, but was instead issued model 1842 muskets.[1]

It is likely that the Charleston Arsenal held sets of accoutrements for each weapon in its repository. If so, these Federal pattern accoutrements would probably have been issued along with the weapons. Members of the First South Carolina Artillery in Figures 3, 5, and 6 all appear to be wearing black leathers, and not buff militia belts. Ron Field’s research has shown that some artillery companies were issued accoutrements only. Oval “SC” pattern box and belt plates were also issued. The regular infantry likely received a similar issue, although one would expect fewer instances of companies not receiving weapons.[2]

The men in Figure 6 appear well-equipped, with light-colored (perhaps unpainted canvas) haversacks as well as knapsacks with visibly rolled blankets.

During the bombardment of Ft. Sumter, a First National pattern flag of bunting and bearing seven stars flew over Ft. Moultrie. This was not the regular garrison flag; instead, it served to signal a “general engagement” was under way. Governor Francis Pickens had ordered a First National flag from Hugh Vincent of Charleston for Ft. Moultrie, but this flag was not raised until April 14, the day after Ft. Sumter fell. The dimensions of this flag were 18 ½ feet long by 12 ½ feet wide.[1]

A number of other flags flew over Ft. Moultrie before or during the engagement. When South Carolina militia units occupied the fort after its evacuation by Federal troops, they raised the flag of the steamer Nina, which had ferried the troops from Charleston to Sullivan’s Island, over the fort. This banner is described as a red flag with a single white star.[2]

Palmetto flags quickly became symbols of support for the secessionist movement after South Carolina broke from the Union. Southern sympathizers raised these flags across the nation, even as far away as Nebraska.[3]

Numerous palmetto flags waved over the growing defenses of Charleston during the Ft. Sumter crisis. Abner Doubleday reported Charleston was ringed with “…uncouth State flags, representing palmettos, pelicans, and other strange devices.[4]

A blue palmetto flag reportedly flew over Ft. Moultrie during the April 13-14 bombardment. Images of the fort shortly after its occupation show a white flag bearing a dark, possibly green, palmetto tree.[5]

A palmetto flag of this type could have flown over the Enfilade Battery manned by the First South Carolina Infantry (Regulars); one account states that the top of the flagstaff at this battery was shot away during the engagement.[6]

Appendix

1. Ft. Sumter, April 1861 – Order of Battle[7]

Enfilade Battery (later Battery Beauregard): located just east of Ft. Moultrie, probably where Spanish-American era gun emplacements are

30 guns (of these, 3 8-inch Columbiads, 2 32-pounders, and 6
24-pounders bore on Ft. Sumter and were engaged)

Channel battery (aka Star of the West battery): located eastern shore of island

[1] E. Milby Burton, The Siege of Charleston 1861-1865 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1970), p. 9-12; Robert N. Rosen, Confederate Charleston (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1994), p. 49; Ellison Capers, Confederate Military History: Vol. 5 – South Carolina (n.p.: The Blue & Grey Press, n.d.), p. 6-9; Ft. Sumter National Monument, Official National Park Handbook #12 (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1952) [online]; available from http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/12/hh12toc.htm, accessed 30 Nov. 1861.

[2] Burton, Siege of Charleston, p. 15-21; Rosen, Confederate Charleston, p. 50-53; Capers, South Carolina, p. 10-11; Ft. Sumter National Monument.

[3] Capers, South Carolina, p. 15-16; Rosen, Confederate Charleston, p. 66; Burton, Siege of Charleston, p. 24-32; Ft. Sumter Handbook; United States, War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Vol. 1 (Washington D.C: Government Printing Office, 1880; reprinted Harrisburg, Pa.: The National History Society, 1971), pp. 265, 268, 272, 282, 293, 297, 300, 306, 307, 314.

[4] Charleston Daily Courier, 15 April 1861

[5] Capers, South Carolina, p. 15-16; Rosen, Confederate Charleston, p. 66-67; Burton, Siege of Charleston, p. 20-32; Ft. Sumter Handbook.

[6] Rosen, Confederate Charleston, p. 67; C. Vann Woodward, ed., Mary Chesnut’s Civil War (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1981), p. 35-45.

[7] Rosen, Confederate Charleston, p. 66-67; Burton, Siege of Charleston, p. 36-39; Ft. Sumter Handbook; Abner Doubleday, Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1860-61 (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1876), [online] available from http://www.pddoc.com/skedaddle/articles/sumter_and_moultrie.htm; accessed on 29 Nov. 2005.

[8] Rosen, Confederate Charleston, p. 53-66; Burton, Siege of Charleston, p. 33-39; Ft. Sumter Handbook, Doubleday, Reminiscences.

[9] Rosen, Confederate Charleston, p. 68-72; Burton, Siege of Charleston, p. 38-56; Ft. Sumter Handbook; Capers, South Carolina, p. 16-18; Doubleday, Reminiscences; Harper’s Weekly, 4 May 1863.

[10] Rosen, Confederate Charleston, p. 68-72; Burton, Siege of Charleston, p. 38-56; Ft. Sumter Handbook; Capers, South Carolina, p. 16-18; Doubleday, Reminiscences.

[11] Official Records, Series I, Vol. 1, p. 30-37, 42, 54-55, 311.

[12] Frederick P. Todd, American Military Equipage 1851-1872, Vol. II: State Forces (n.p.: Chatham Square Press, 1983), p. 1167-1168; A.S. Salley Jr., South Carolina Troops in Confederate Service, Vol. 1 (Columbia, S.C.: R.L. Bryan Co., 1913); Thomas Abram Huguenin, journal, n.d., [online], available from http://www.huguenin-family.com/tah.html, accessed 30 Nov. 2005; Official Records, Series I, Vol. 1, p. 279, 284; Governor Francis W. Pickens, letter 30 Sept. 1862, and P.G.T. Beauregard, letter 8 Oct. 1962, Governor Francis W. Pickens papers, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, S.C.; Patrick McCauley, archivist at South Carolina Department of Archives and History, conversation 20 Nov. 2005.

[13] Salley, South Carolina Troops; Charleston Daily Courier, 9 Feb. 1861.

[14] Salley, South Carolina Troops; Each of these men had just resigned commissions with the U.S. Army in Texas. Thomas Huguenin journal.

[15] Official Records, Series I, Vol. 1, p. 262-265.

[16] Reprinted in Charleston Daily Courier, 13 March 1861.

[17] Bee arrived from Texas much later than Anderson or Dunovant.

[18] Thomas Huguenin, journal.

[19] Charleston Daily Courier, 4 April 1861.

[20] Doubleday, Reminiscences, Appendix; Capers, South Carolina, p. 15-19; Official Records, Series I, Vol. 1, p. 39-40; Supplement to the Official Record of the Union and Confederate Armies: Part II – Record of Events, Vol. 64 (Wilmington, N.C.: Broadfoot Publishing Co, 1998), p. 291-319; Salley, South Carolina Troops.

[21] The battery fired 125 shots per gun, including a solid shot that had been previously fired at them from Ft. Sumter. Official Records, Series I, Vol. 1, p. 52, p. 311.

[22] Charleston Daily Courier, 15 April 1861, 17 April 1861. Most accounts state the Iron Battery on Morris Island actually fired the first “hostile” shot of the war.

[23] Official Records, Series I, Vol. 1, p. 52-54.

[24] Thomas Huguenin journal; Salley, South Carolina Troops; Supplement to the O fficial Records, Vol. 64; Charles Inglesby, Historical Sketch of the First Regiment of South Carolina Artillery (Regulars) (n.p.: Walker, Evans, & Cogswell, n.d.), p. 2.

[25] Inglesby, First Regiment South Carolina Artillery, p. 8. The 1^st Regular Artillery experienced a series of severe crises with its officers. Lt. Col. Thomas Wagner was killed by the accidental explosion of a cannon, and soon afterwards Major Alfred Rhett killed Colonel Ransom Calhoun in a duel and was placed under arrest. Ron Field, 1^st South Carolina Artillery (Calhoun’s/ Rhett’s) (Glouchestershire, Great Britain: Design Folio), p. 7.