“Camp Whelden”, King’s Plantation, May 3^rd 62

On the 3^rd of May we removed our camp to King’s Plantation, also on the banks of the Toogoodoo River and called it “Camp Whelden” in honor of our lieutenant; the was a most beautiful spot, a fine house with garden, fruit orchard and grove of old oaks attached, the latter full of birds that have made their nests among the branches and gave us every morning a most melodious greeting. In the neighborhood of this camp was a house built before the revolution the same being of brick was in good repair; in one of the rooms were shown two old portraits wherein the british soldiers had made holes with their bayonets when they had possession of the country in the revolution.

“Camp Gladden” Wilton Road, May 12^th 62

This being not considered [55] a suitable place for a camp, as it was too near the river we remained there only till the 12th May when we again moved, this time to the Wilton Road which we called after Col. Gladden, formerly of the Palmetto regiment in Mexico but who again distinguished himself in Virginia.

“Camp Gladden” Furlough, 24 hours, May 12/62

On the day of the removal I received permission to visit the city for 24 hours; at the expiration of my furlough I went to the ferry to take the cars to the camp when I learnt that an order that day gone in effect that no one could leave the city without a special pass from the Provost Marshal. Not having one, nor time more to procure the same, I had to stay “nolens voleus”; several of my comrades who had come down with me shared my fortune or misfortune (?) while others who were aware of the order and had provided themselves accordingly with the necessary document and could of course report to the Capt. the cause of our not reporting. After the first disappointment was over we were only glad enough for the longer time vouchsafed us; the next day, [56] having the papers required, we reported for duty. We found the location of our new camp a very dreary one, surrounded on all sides by old fields.

Expedition to Legareville

During our stay at this camp we made an expedition to John’s Island to attack the enemy at Legareville where they had landed a force but owing to mismanagement on the part of Gen. Evans or some of his officers, we came back without being able to say “We have met the enemy” and much “less”, they are “ours”, although at one time they were near enough as we afterwards learned from a deserter, who mentioned several names on our roll, to hear the roll call of our company. In fact during the command of Gen. Evans over our district the mismanagement was complete, the Gen. did not do his duty, the Quarter Master neglected his, and the Commissary left his undone, so we were not paid, had little or nothing to eat, and clothing of any kind was hard to get; while our horses fared even worse than the men; at the time that Gen. Hagood arrived to succeed Gen. Evans our poor horses had for forty five consecutive days [57] nothing more to eat than what they could graze in an old field, and that in the month of July, so that they were at last so weak that if they lay down they were hardly able to get up again.

“Camp Hagood” Adam’s Run, July 25^th 1862

On the 25th July we received orders to remove our camp to the village of Adam’s Run, the headquarters of Gen. Hagood, we did so, naming the same in honor of the Gen. “Camp Hagood.” Adam’s Run was a neat little place, the summer residence of the planters of the neighborhood who at that time had most of their families there yet; this made it seem a little more civilized to us, to have ladies about, and as we were camped just on the outskirts of the village the men paid more attention to their appearance. Under Gen. Hagood, who by the way is now comptroller general of the state, and his staff, everything worked well, men and horses were well cared for, so that under a good system of drills we soon gained the honor and distinction of being the best drilled and equipped battery in the department.

Inspection Jan 17^th 63

On the 14^th Jan. 1863 we were inspected [58] by Maj. Sanders, of Gen. Beauregard’s staff, after a drill of several hours’ duration, embracing every movement by battery and detachments, stables and everything to the battery was taken note of that the inspecting officer was well pleased with the condition and discipline of our battery we could see but we surely did not expect the praise bestowed upon us in the following Gen. Orders read at dress parade a few days after;

This complimentary order caused the men to take no little pride in their company; in fact this feeling was shared as well by Gen. Hagood, who took especial pains to show our battery drill to any distinguished officers that visited him. On one occasion we were called out for grand review when we went through the firings with blank cartridges causing no little trepidation to the fair ones who had honored us with their presence.

Furlough, Sep. 19^th - 23/62

Having in this description of the inspection anticipated the regular run of my narrative, I must now go to Sept. 19th 1862 when I received my turn for furlough for three days, to return on the 23rd. I can only compare these furloughs to a soldier to the holidays of the school children, the time was looked for no less anxiously by the one than the other are wont to do and the arrival of the long expected day no less greeted; as our company was large and movements of the enemy would often interrupt all furloughs, our turns came “like angels’ visits, few and far between.”

Torchlight procession Oct 1st 62

On the 1^st October we had by permission [61] of Gen. Hagood a torchlight procession through the camp and village; some of the costumes in the same were most ludicrously gotten up. On the return to camp an effigy of Abe Lincoln that had been carried in the procession was burnt amid the cheers of the men.

Reduction of Battery to 4 guns.

By orders of the War Department all light batteries were reduced from six to four guns, as result of this order we received on the 16^th Dec. two 4 Pounder Parrotts, steel rifled guns and returned our four six pounders. After this change our battery consisted of the two Howitzers and the two Parrotts, the latter were especially effective for long range, while the Howitzers answered better for a close fight for canister and shrapnel.

The winter of 1862-63 passed quietly, the men trying in every way to make camp life less monotonous, some of them musically inclined made up a brass band that by steady practice under the leadership of our bugler, Prof. Theodore Maassoon acquired no little skill in their new vocation, and soon our dress parade in the evening became quite attractive [62] to the ladies of the village who would often grace them by their presence. The band a fixed fact, they next organized a “Histrionic Society”, which when by the combined help of all the members an impromptu theatre with stage was erected on the outskirts of our camp, a glee club came next, the same proving, as we had some excellent voices in the company, quite a success. By the united efforts of these members a series of entertainments were given during the season that were quite creditable to the company. To these “Varieties” as they were called, Gen. Hagood and his family, his staff, and a large number of men from other commands, and last, but not least, the ladies of the village were invited, and gave us the pleasure of their company. These entertainments served to enliven the dull routine of our life, and the recurrence of them made hardly less commotion among our men than the occasion of some grand ball does at this day, uniforms were overhauled and brushed, shoes polished, a white shirt or collar donned and the hair given an extra dressing, and perhaps [63] the mustache an extra twist, no doubt among the ladies they occasioned also no less preparation.

Routine of Camp

Even with these little diversions the routine of duties went on as regularly almost as clockwork, and allowed no default on pain of extra guard duty, unless properly excused by the Surgeon or officers. They began at 6 o’clock in the summer or 7 in the winter with “reveille”, ¹/₄ after “assembly”, when the men had to fall in for “roll call”, from which none but the guard was excused, immediately after roll call those who felt so inclined attended prayers at the officers tent, the next, the third call was “stable call” when those who had charge of horses had to feed and clean them; I counted myself unfortunate when I had to answer this call, when my turn came to take care of a pair, as the cannoneers all had to in the absence of any driver by sickness or furlough. I preferred rather any amount of guard duty than that to me unpleasant task; the fourth call was “Surgeon’s call” and only concerned the sick, unless it was in the sickly season, when we all had to go for our ration of quinine, as a preventive [64] against the scourge of the country chills and fever; the ration of quinine was sometimes varied by that of “prophylactic” as we called it, being nothing less than medicated whiskey, this was, on account of the whiskey, much more sought after than the quinine and one could always find some always ready and willing to draw their own and others’ share.

1^st on the list was “breakfast call”, which was generally answered by the clatter of plates and spoons, when you could soon see the men returning from the cooks with their share of hominy or mush, the molasses to which the men had to draw from the commissary themselves every three days while the grist was issued to the cooks, 8 ³/₄ heard the first and 9 o’clock the second call for guard mounting, when the new guard, that for the day relieved the old, that had been on the day before, the latter were after that free from duty until dress parade; 9 ¹/₂ o’clock was call for drill, when the company either drilled as detachments at the guns, in which case the drivers would go under charge of a Lieutenant a couple miles down some road to exercise [65] the horses; if the order was “battery drill” the whole battery was harnessed up and the same proceeded to an old cornfield in the neighborhood where we were put through an hour’s drill over the corn hills, accompanied by a succession of jolts and jars on the limber boxes, or runs and tumbles on foot, a good treatment for dyspeptics, with which malady we were not troubled, though, through the kind care of our government that never gave us so large a ration that we could not easily digest it, mostly the trouble was the other way, our digestion or appetite greater than the ration. At these battery drills some “high and lofty tumbling” took place some times, on one occasion one of our members sitting on the limber chests bounced like an india rubber ball over the wheel to the ground on account of one of the wheels passing over a stump, or old root of a tree; at another time I found myself lying sprawling of the ground, fortunately lengthwise so that the gun passed over me without harming me; the worst time was when the battery was going at full trip obliquely over the corn hills when the cannoneers had to hold on with a grip as of iron to save themselves from bouncing [66] off. Having returned to camp from our drills, the drivers had “water call” to water the horses, that is, ride them to some well or branch to drink. 1 o’clock gladdened our ears, or rather our hungry stomach, after its anti-dyspeptic treatment, with the notes of the “dinner” or “grub call” when to each man was portioned out, by the cooks, his share of about six spoonfuls of Hopping John with a small piece of fat bacon, cooked, or oftenest the same quantity of plain rice and fried bacon, which we would sometimes vary by the addition, if we could, though sometimes the government did it for us, of some of Gen. Marion’s revolutionary dish, sweet potatoes. Our appetite satisfied, as much as our scant and humble fare could do it, we lounged about until 4 o’clock summoned us for drill, which was only a detachment drill of about a ¹/₂ hours duration, sometimes as necessary, this was changed to police duty, that is to clean camp or some other work; next on the list of duties was “dress parade” abut 5 o’clock when the members were required to appear in their best uniform, at this parade any orders to [67] be made known to the men were read out. The last call of interest to the men was “supper call” which was an invitation to call at the cooks to get a piece of corn bread about the size of a man’s hand, and about as thick as his finger, or a “corn dodger,” a large biscuit made of cornmeal. After this came the last call to fall in for roll call “tattoo”, here too all assemblies were noted and reported for extra duty; after this men would, the winter, general assemble around a large fire built in the center of the camp for which the extra duty men had to cut wood, huge pine and oak logs. officers and men mingled in friendly converse, discussion the news of the day, or the orders for the morrow; perhaps the song or a joke or tale played a prominent part midst the laughter of the men at some joke or witty remark; but if some disaster, defeat, or the loss of some prominent officers had befallen one of our armies, the song and laughter were hushed and a gloom rested upon the faces of the men and portrayed their sorrowing hearts, and the talk of the lip [68] would be but of what the heart was full. Perhaps too some one would seat himself in the light of the campfire to write to his loved ones; how eagerly will that letter be looked for, and how eagerly those words, perhaps to those absent ones of so much import, be read; others again had succeeded in getting hold of some interesting books, which generally had to go the rounds of the camp, and were deeply interested in its chapters. Who can ever gather the many sayings and doings of the men who wore the gray, and the campfires of our armies.

Nine o’clock brought the last call, when the bugle sounded “taps” which meant “lights out” though we never had any to boast of; this would generally disperse the assembly around the campfire, and the camp became quiet, the quietness only broken when the sergeant or corporal of the guard would pass along the row of tents or cabins to awaken some of the men for their round on duty; or the call for the “stable guard” when some restive horse had slipped its halter would bring the driver on duty out, perhaps too the challenge [69] of the sentinel is heard, on the still night air, when with his “Halt! who goes there?” he gives a command which even the highest general must obey on penalty of making an unpleasant acquaintance with some cold steel or worse yet a bullet. During the summer the campfires were naturally wanting, when the men would sit outside their tents or walk in couples up and down the streets of the camp conversing; while from one of the tents are heard voices singing: “Do they miss me at home, do they miss me?” or “When this cruel war is over!” to which the frogs in the pond near would give their deep bass, and a cricket in the neighboring trees chirp their shrill tenor as accompaniment. the moon gave the benefit of its bright light the men would take, singly or in couples, as their feelings prompted them, walks in the village or down some road, the latter was mostly my pleasure, to go in the twilight some distance down a pineland road, and let my mind wander to home and loved ones.

But these were the brighter scenes [70] of camp life, alas! though when the weather is bad; when from the dark sky above the rain pours as if another deluge seems about to visit this earth; ิtis then the soldiers’ spirit sinks like the barometer ’tis then he thinks most of “Home Sweet home;” and wishes himself there.

Furlough Jan 10^th - 14^th 63

On the 10^th of January 1863 I received another furlough of 3 days to visit the city during which I made arrangements for Mother and John to go to Walhalla where I thought they would be best off, and for which place they left on the 15^th. At every repeated visit the old city seemed more dear to me, and I felt more loath to leave it.

Expedition to John’s Island May 9^th 63

On the 9^th May 1863 our battery received orders to start next morning for John’s Island, an expedition having been planned to attack the enemy’s gunboats with our torpedo boats, the former were lying off White Point; the same time our troops should attack the enemy’s land forces on Leabrook’s Island. This would have proved a success had not some of the crew of our torpedo boats [71]deserted and informed the enemy of our plans. While crossing the bridge at Church Flats I saw my old school mate, George Weber, who was on one of the torpedo boats lying in the Stono river at that point; while on the island I heard that Orr’s regiment was near and sent word to Hermann Kere who was with them to visit me, my messenger had forgotten my name, so he did not know whom he was to visit.

“Going West” May 13^th 63

On the 13^th May we received orders to return to Adam’s Run, preparatory to going out west with Gen. Hagood, Gen. Beauregard having been ordered to send 3 brigades there from his department; news caused our march back to appear on the part of some men as if it were a funeral, while others shouted for joy, this was always alluded to ironically afterwards as “when on our way to the west”; on reaching camp I wrote to inform Mother of our leaving, but had hardly mailed my letter when the order was countermanded, Gen. Beauregard having sent Gist’s and Colquitt’s Brigades but could spare no more. The same courier that brought the countermanding order, brought also one for one [72] section of our battery to report immediately to Maj. Jenkins commanding advance * as on John’s Island, when the first section was sent. On one of our marches we had been followed from one of the plantations by a hound dog, he was adopted by the men and called “Wash” an abbreviation of the name of the company, and soon became familiar with them, and followed our battery on all of our marches as if he belonged to it; one peculiarity of this dog was to sit, when the bugler blew the calls, on his haunches in front of them and howl; when he after some time died he was long missed by the men.

Advanced Forces. John’s Island May 63

On the 16^th May our section under Lieut. Horsey was sent to John’s Island to relieve the right section under Lieut. Salvo, &c. was to cover our Picket Station there as the enemy had a large force on Seabrook’s Island an adjoining one to John’s.

“Camp Von Lauten” May 16^th 63 John’s Island

Arrived there we took our quarters at Matthews’ house and called it “Camp Von Lauten” after our third Lieutenant. Here I was appointed by Lieut. Horsey, Lance or Acting Corporal and as such did duty. About a week after our arrival there I did the [73] only extra duty during my whole time of service and undeserved too at that. More laughable than otherwise I will here state the occurrence; our section had with it some of the “wildest boys” in the company who were always ready for fun or mischief; on occupying the house we had quartered ourselves according to inclination, in the various rooms of the same, the one in which I was being just over that occupied by Lieut. Horsey. One night these “boys” seemed more than usually inclined to have some sport. Having brought an old stone jug from one of the outhouses and, when all had retired placed it on the topmost step of the stairs to our floor, when the corporal came to awake the guard he unconsciously gave it a kick so that it rolled down the whole length of the stairs, waking up the Lieutenant who came out to learn the cause of the noise, of course he found out what had done it but not who had been the one to place the jug there, so he again retired, all remaining quiet that night. But the one following, some of the men in the room at the foot of the stairs, further incited by the success of the preceding [74] night’s frolic, got another jug and tying a long string to the handle of the same put it again, after all had retired, in the same place at the head of the stairs keeping the end of the string where they were lying at the foot of the stairs, when all was quiet they gave the string a jerk and the old jug rolled again down the stairs breaking into pieces at the foot of the same; one of men in the room I was took an old stool and threw it after the jug so that the two combined made almost noise enough to wake the dead. The Lieutenant, aroused by the din, came out and inquired who had done it receiving no information he ordered the occupants of the two rooms upstairs, thirteen, among them myself, to dress and report in a half hour to him in the yard, after a while the unlucky thirteen came one by one to the place appointed,

A midnight moonlight drill

when after all had assembled we were ordered to fall in, and the Lieutenant gave us a half hour’s drill in the moonlight, at double quick, the others, the real doers of the mischief stood on the piazza laughing at us, for a long time we bore the name [75] of “the moonlight trampers,” from our midnight drill.

“Camp Cannon” June 12^th 63 John’s Island

“Camp Von Lauten” being too far to the rear, we were on the 12^th June removed to the left of Jenkin’s house where we pitched our tents calling it after our Surgeon, “Camp Cannon”.

Engagement with the enemy, Leabrook’s Island June 17^th 63

Here we received news on the 17^th June that the enemy were advancing and were already at the Hamlover Bridge, connecting John’s and Leabrook’s Islands, having, after great trouble in getting the horses that had been turned out to graze, together, harnessed up we started off at a run for the expected meeting with the enemy, when near the bridge, one of our men, Mr. V. Lauer, in trying to mount on the gun while in motion, slipped and fell and had one leg run over by one of the wheels, so that we had to lay him by the roadside till our return. Arriving at the bridge we found that the enemy had fallen back to his old position; we crossed over and cautiously approached within range, when we opened on them with our rifle gun the howitzer, on which I served, meanwhile guarding a flanking road; it did not [76] take long to provoke a reply from the enemy, so we had in a short time quite a lively exchange of shots, quite harmless to us. A gunboat having come up opened up her heavy guns on us and soon made the place untenable, so we retired, and picking up Mr. Lauer where we had left him, returned to camp quite satisfied with our little exploit.

“Parting Shots,” Leabrook’s Island July 18^th 63

On the 18^th July, the pickets reported the enemy as embarking on their vessels so we were ordered to go down and give them a parting shot; reaching the scene of the former action we took our position and opened on them, the howitzer this time participating in the cannonade, but as we fired quite a number of shots without eliciting a reply our pickets went forward to reconnoiter, but soon returned with the news that “the enemy had skedaddled” pickets and all, leaving in their haste to get away, their supper behind them, to which the hungry rebels were not loath to help themselves, brought us some of the yankees’ wheat bread, which luxury our men had already long been without, and was of course [77] much sought after, after learning of the exit of the enemy we again returned to the camp.

Everything remained quiet after this, and having nothing to do, we roamed almost at will over the neighboring plantations, even crossing over Bohieket Creek to those on Wadmalan Island; some these I found very beautiful places and it made me feel sad to see the state of neglect and ruin they were in, and to think how hard for the people to exile themselves from home and leave their possessions at the mercy of the stranger, or even worse the enemy.

“Mallett Hall” John’s Island

One of these plantations in the neighborhood of our camp, belonging to Mr. Solomon Legare and called, “Mallett Hall” was particularly interesting; a fine large brick house with all comforts and conveniences, fine orchard of fruit trees, beautiful garden with fountains and statues, in which several large century plants were in full bloom, and also a magnificent alley of osage orange trees several hundred feet long, called “Lovers’ Lane,” in which we were told quite a number of happy couples had [78] made their vows. I do not doubt the same, for it was just the place one would seek for such a purpose, it must have been contagious there, for, while walking along the charmed spot, I thought to myself that I would have no serious objection, were only the necessary person with me, to popping the question myself there, and adding one more to the number of happy (?) ones; under the circumstances I had to leave this undone.

Well may these islands be called the garden spots of our coast; the planters must have lived there, to use an expression we had in camp, “like fighting cocks,” a soil producing everything, particularly, the noted and much sought after long staple or “sea island cotton,” that was always “as good as gold” to the owner, fish abounding in the creeks and rivers, and if not enough, an ocean full at hand, cattle roaming almost at large over Edesto Island, some of which our pickets, the “Leono Scouts” composed mostly of young men natives of these islands, who knew every foot [79] of ground thereon, killed and brought over to us, which we found the best we had ever eat.

With all these blessings at their hand, a refined and cultivated society to move in, funds or credit ever at their command, slaves and servants to do their bidding, at their beck and call for every little service, surely the planters must have been as kings in their possessions. But alas! Times have changed there too, war has made its appearance, and the results have told manifold on the planter’s condition, the large plantations without their necessary number of hands are more an encumbrance than a possession.