Category Archives: American History

First Blood: The Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina (October 22, 1862)

Dock, Hilton Head, South Carolina, circa 1862 (Sam Cooley, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

They knew they were being ordered to move deeper into enemy territory, but thought their superiors had researched and planned their expedition thoroughly — down to the last bullet they might need if misfortune would befall them.

Confidently boarding their respective transport steamships during the evening of October 21, 1862, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers and their fellow Union soldiers from the U.S. Army’s Tenth (X) Corps were ready to head out from the U.S. Department of the South’s main base at Hilton Head, South Carolina on their expedition to Pocotaligo.

According to reports penned later that month by senior Union Army officers, the troops involved in what was initially labeled the “Expedition to Pocotaligo” (as if it were a planned North Pole exploration, rather than a U.S. Army action against a state that had seceded from the Union), would total roughly 4,500 men who were enrolled in the following units:

  • 6th Connecticut Volunteers (500 men);
  • 7th Connecticut Volunteers (500 men);
  • Hamilton’s Artillery Battery (one full section plus 40 additional men);
  • 3rd New Hampshire Volunteers (480 men);
  • 4th New Hampshire Volunteers (600 men);
  • 1st Massachusetts Cavalry (100 men);
  • New York Mechanics and Engineers (250 men);
  • 48th New York Volunteers (300 men);
  • 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers (600 men);
  • 55th Pennsylvania Volunteers (400 men);
  • 76th Pennsylvania Volunteers 430 men);
  • 1st Regiment, U.S. Artillery, Company M (one full section plus 40 additional men); and the
  • 3rd Rhode Island Volunteers (300 men);

The after cabin inside of the U.S. Steamer Ben Deford, circa 1860s (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

They departed shortly after 12:01 a.m. on October 22, 1862. The Paul Jones, with U.S. Navy Captain Charles Steedman and his small team, steamed away first, followed by the Ben Deford (towing flat-boats with artillery), the Conemaugh and Wissahickon, the Boston (towing flat-boats with artillery), the Patroon and Darlington, the Relief (a steam tug towing a schooner), and the Marblehead, Vixen, Flora, Water Witch, George Washington, and Planter. The flat-boats carried Union Artillery howitzers and/or the light ambulances and wagon that would transport supplies and wounded men. Each of the 4,500 infantrymen involved was equipped with just one hundred rounds of ammunition, which, in hindsight, would prove to be an underestimation of the firepower needed to achieve the mission’s objectives — to destroy the Pocotaligo bridge and as much of the Charleston & Savannah Railroad as possible in the time allotted for the mission.

In addition to Union troops, each of the largest ships also carried a member of the U.S. Army’s Signal Corps to facilitate communication between the vessels, and was staffed by ship pilots from the area — Black men who were experienced navigators who knew exactly where the water hazards were along the Broad River and its tributaries — the Coosawhatchie, Tulifinny, and Pocotaligo rivers, the latter of which was more creek than river.

The first warning of potential trouble ahead came from Mother Nature. “The night proved to be smoky and hazy, which produced some confusion in the sailing of the vessels, as signal lights could not be seen by those most remote from the leading ship.”

Landing of the U.S. Tenth Army Corps at Mackay’s Point, South Carolina at the start of the Expedition to Pocotaligo, October 22, 1862 (“The commencement of the Battle near Pocotaligo,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, October 1862, public domain; click to enlarge).

But the Union transports steamed on anyway, slowly progressing toward the mouth of the Pocotaligo River — a distance of roughly twenty-four miles. If all went according to Mitchel’s plan, they would drop anchor at Mackay’s Point, their soldiers protected in their debarkation by their fleet’s gunboats:

There [was] a good country road leading from the Point to the old town of Pocotaligo, then entering a turnpike, which leads from the town of Coosawhatchie to the principal ferry on the Salkehatchie River. The distance to the railroad was only about 7 or 8 miles, thus rendering it possible to effect a landing, cut the railroad and telegraph wires, and return to the boats in the same day…. Presuming that the enemy would make his principal defense at or near Pocotaligo, I directed that a detachment of the Forty-eighth New York, under command of Colonel Barton, with the armed transport Planter, accompanied by one or two light-draught gunboats, should ascend the Coosawhatchie River, for the purpose of making a diversion, and in case no considerable force of the enemy was met, to destroy the railroad at and near the town of Coosawhatchie.

The “landing was effected rapidly and in perfect safety,” according to Mitchel, but as the poet Robert Burns sagely warned in 1785, “proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley.” (The best laid plans often go astray.)

Highlighted version of the U.S. Army’s map of the Pocotaligo-Coosawhatchie Expedition, South Carolina, October 22, 1862. Blue Arrow: Mackay’s Point, where the U.S. Tenth Army debarked and began its march. Blue Box: Position of Union troops (blue) and Confederate troops (red) in relation to the Pocotaligo bridge and town of Pocotaligo, the Charleston & Savannah Railroad, and the Caston and Frampton plantations (blue highlighting added by Laurie Snyder, 2023; public domain; click to enlarge).

Just shy of Mackay’s Point, one of the larger Union ships ran aground, forcing the commanding officers on the scene to slow the expedition’s advance, which caused a delay of between three to four hours, and gave “the enemy full opportunity to make every disposition of his available troops for defensive purposes, and also to telegraph to Charleston and Savannah for reinforcements,” according to Mitchel.

When the transports finally did reach Mackay’s Point, the infantrymen and artillery soldiers quickly pulled together their gear, debarked, formed up for their march, and stepped off toward their intended targets. But, here again, General Mitchel’s planning was off. Completing just three miles of the anticipated “seven or eight” that the primary group was expected to cover to reach its intended target, the Tenth Army infantrymen suddenly ran smack into strongly entrenched Confederate troops.

They fought valiantly, driving the Confederates up and across the Pocotaligo River, and then destroyed the bridge the Confederates had battled so hard to protect. But they were forced to waste precious ammunition and physical energy to do so.

At that point, according to Mitchel, the Tenth Army continued on, re-engaging with the enemy at various points during their advance along narrow, swamp-flanked paths:

The march and fight continued from about 1 o’clock until between 5 and 6 o’clock in the afternoon. The officers and troops behaved in the most gallant manner. One bayonet charge was made over causeways with the most determined courage and with veteran firmness. The advance was made with caution, but with persistent steadiness, driving the enemy over a distance of more than 3 miles, and finally compelling him to seek safety by crossing the Pocotaligo River and the destruction of the bridge. The fight was continued on the banks of the Pocotaligo, but the coming on of night and the exhaustion of our ammunition, as well as the impossibility of crossing the river, rendered it necessary for the troops to return to their boats. This was done in perfect order and with great deliberation. It was impossible for the enemy to harass our troops, as they were on the opposite side of the river and the bridge was destroyed.

So far as I know all the dead and wounded were brought off.

Nothing whatever fell into the hands of the enemy, while they were compelled to abandon two of their caissons, with ammunition, which was returned to them (the ammunition) on the banks of the Pocotaligo from our naval howitzers….

 Revising his estimates later in this same report to his superiors, Mitchel wrote:

I regret to say that the main body, under the command of Brigadier-General Brannan, suffered severely in killed and wounded in the three fights, which constituted almost one continuous battle during the afternoon.

I inclose [sic] a list of casualties, which I think is nearly complete, and from which it appears that our loss amounts to about 50 killed and 300 wounded. The loss of the enemy it was of course impossible for us to ascertain.

A few prisoners have fallen into our hands, and we have every reason to believe that the enemy suffered severely.

The greatest activity prevailed on the railroad, and trains of cars with troops appear to have been sent from both Charleston and Savannah.

The 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were among those Union Army troops that Mitchel was referring to in the first and second paragraphs of that quote above.

* Note: While all of that was unfolding, the second part of the expeditionary force was carrying out Mitchel’s orders to target a western segment of the Charleston & Savannah Railroad. According to Mitchel, a detachment of Forty-eighth New York Volunteers steamed toward the village of Coosawhatchie aboard the Planter stopping a mile and a half outside of town.

A landing was effected, and the troops of Colonel Barton, accompanied by a detachment of Engineers and Mechanics, marched upon the village. When within about 100 yards of the railroad a train of eight or ten cars came up at high speed, and was received by a volley from our infantry and a discharge from one of the naval howitzers. As the troops were mostly upon platform cars, and very much crowded, this fire must have been very destructive. The engineer was killed, but the train was stopped in the village, and these troops were added to those already guarding the bridge, and this force made it necessary to draw off the Engineers, who were engaged in tearing up the track, having taken with them the tools required for this purpose, and the entire detachment fell back, under the protection of the armed transport and gunboat. The enemy pursued, supposing the Planter to be an unarmed transport, but her heavy guns soon drove them back in disorder, and Colonel Barton, having determined, in his dash upon the village, the position of the village and the depot, shelled them both with his 30-pounder Parrotts for nearly two hours during the afternoon. Before dark he returned to Mackay’s Point, with no loss except the wounding of Lieutenant Blanding, of the Third Rhode Island, whose arm was shattered and his side pierced by a Minie ball.

“Destruction of Railroad Track by Federal Troops” and “Attack on a Rebel Train by 48th Volr. RG.” (“The commencement of the battle near Pocotaligo River,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, October 1862, public domain; click to enlarge). Note: The “48th Volr.” RG.” pictured here was most likely the 48th New York Volunteer Infantry.

How the Battle Actually Unfolded

Charleston & Savannah Railroad, South Carolina (Harper’s Weekly, March 4, 1865, public domain).

The initial battle report prepared by Major-General Mitchel proved to be short on details and rosier than the reality.

According to Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan, the commanding officer of the expedition who was actually on site (as opposed to Mitchel who was back at Hilton Head, ailing with yellow fever), Brannan “assumed command of the following forces, ordered to destroy the railroad and railroad bridges on the Charleston and Savannah line”:

A portion of the First Brigade (Brannan’s), Col. J. L. Chatfield, Sixth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, commanding, effective strength 2,000; a portion of Second Brigade, Brig. Gen. A. H. Terry commanding, effective strength 1,410; detachment of Third Rhode Island Volunteers, Colonel Brown commanding, effective strength 300; detachment of Forty-eighth Regiment New York State Volunteers, Colonel Barton commanding, effective strength 300; detachment of First Massachusetts Cavalry, Capt. L. Richmond commanding, effective strength 108;  section of First U.S. Artillery, Lieut. G. V. Henry commanding, effective strength 40; section of Third U.S. Artillery, Lieut. E. Gittings commanding, effective strength 40; detachment of New York Volunteer Engineers, Lieutenant Colonel Hall commanding, effective strength 250. Total effective strength, 4,448 men.

Departing from Hilton Head with the expeditionary force “on the evening of October 21, and proceeding up Broad River,” Brigadier-General Brannan “arrived off Pocotaligo Creek at 4:30 a.m. with the transport Ben De Ford [sic, Ben Deford] and the gunboat Paul Jones.”

Col. William B. Barton, Forty-eighth Regiment New York State Volunteers, 50 men of the Volunteer Engineer Corps, and 50 men of the Third Rhode Island Volunteers, in accordance with my order, delivered early that morning, proceeded direct to the Coosawhatchie River, to destroy the railroad and railroad bridges in that vicinity. The other gunboats and transports did not all arrive until about 8 a.m. on October 22. I immediately effected a landing of my artillery and infantry at Mackay’s Point, at the junction of Pocotaligo and Tulifiny [sic, Tulifinny] Rivers. I advanced without delay in the direction of Pocotaligo Bridge, sending back the transports Flora and Darlington to Port Royal Island for the cavalry, the First Brigade being in advance, with a section from the First U.S. Artillery, followed by the Second Brigade, with Colonel Brown’s command, the section of the Third U.S. Artillery and three boat howitzers, which Captain Steedman, commanding the naval forces, kindly furnished for this occasion, and a detachment of 45 men from the Third Rhode Island Volunteer Artillery, under Captain Comstock, of that regiment.

“The Commencement of the Battle near Pocotaligo River” (Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, October 1862, public domain).

On advancing about 5½ miles and debouching upon an open rolling country the rebels opened upon us with a field battery from a position on the plantation known as Caston’s. I immediately caused the First Brigade to deploy, and, bringing my artillery to the front, drove the rebels from this position. They, however, destroyed all small bridges in the vicinity, causing much delay in my advance. These, with the aid of the Engineer Corps, were reconstructed as we advanced, and I followed up the retreat of the rebels with all the haste practicable. I had advanced about 1¼ miles farther, when a battery again opened on us from a position on the plantation called Frampton. The rebels here had every advantage of ground, being ensconced in a wood, with a deep swamp in front, passable only by a narrow causeway, on which the bridge had been destroyed, while, on our side of the swamp and along the entire front and flanks of the enemy (extending to the swamps), was an impervious thicket, intersected by a deep water ditch, and passable only by a narrow road. Into this road the rebels threw a most terrific fire of grape shot, shell, canister, and musket balls, killing and wounding great numbers of my command. Here the ammunition for the field pieces fell short, and, though the infantry acted with great courage and determination, they were twice driven out of the woods with great slaughter by the overwhelming fire of the enemy, whose missiles tore through the woods like hail. I had warmly responded to this fire with the sections of First and Third U.S. Artillery and the boat howitzers until, finding my ammunition about to fail, and seeing that any flank movement was impossible, I pressed the First Brigade forward through the thicket to the verge of a swamp, and sent the section of First U.S. Artillery, well supported, to the causeway of the wood on the farther side, leaving the Second Brigade, with Colonel Brown’s command, the section of Third U.S. Artillery, and the boat howitzers as a line of defense in my rear. The effect of this bold movement was immediately evident in the precipitate retreat of the rebels, who disappeared in the woods with amazing rapidity. The infantry of the First Brigade immediately plunged through the swamp, (parts of which were nearly up to their arm-pits) and started in pursuit. Some delay was caused by the bridge having been destroyed, impeding the passage of the artillery. This difficulty was overcome and with my full force I pressed forward on the retreating rebels. At this point (apprehending, from the facility which the rebels possessed of heading [to] Pocotaligo Creek, that they would attempt to turn my left flank) I sent an infantry regiment, with a boat howitzer, to my left, to strike the Coosawhatchie road.

Excerpt from the U.S. Army map of the Pocotaligo-Coosawhatchie Expedition, October 22, 1862, showing the positions of the Caston and Frampton plantations in relation to the town of Pocotaligo, the Pocotaligo bridge and the Charleston & Savannah Railroad (public domain; click to enlarge).

The position which I had found proved, as I had supposed, to be one of great natural advantage to the rebels, the ground behind higher on that side of the swamp, and having a firm, open field for the working of their artillery, which later they formed in a half circle, throwing a concentrated fire on the entrance to the wood we had first passed.

The rebels left in their retreat a caisson full of ammunition, which later, fortunately, fitting the boat howitzers, enabled us, at a later period of the day, to keep up our fire when all other ammunition had failed.

Still pursuing the flying rebels, I arrived at that point where the Coosawhatchie road (joining that from Mackay’s Landing) runs through a swamp to Pocotaligo Bridge. Here the rebels opened a murderous fire upon us from batteries of siege guns and field pieces on the farther side of the creek. Our skirmishers, however, advanced boldly to the edge of the swamp, and, from what cover they could obtain, did considerable execution among the enemy. The rebels, as I had anticipated, attempted a flank movement on our left, but for some reason abandoned it. The ammunition of the artillery here entirely failed, owing to the caissons not having been brought on, for the want of transportation from Port Royal, and the pieces had to be sent back to Mackay’s Point, a distance of 10 miles, to renew it.

The bridge across the Pocotaligo was destroyed, and the rebels from behind their earthworks continued on the only approach to it, through the swamp. Night was now closing fast, and seeing the utter hopelessness of attempting anything further against the force which the enemy had concentrated at this point from Savannah and Charleston, with an army of much inferior force, unprovided with ammunition, and not having even sufficient transportation to remove the wounded, who were lying writhing along our entire route, I deemed it expedient to retire to Mackay’s Point, which I did in successive lines of defenses, burying my dead and carrying our wounded with us on such stretchers as we could manufacture from branches of trees, blankets, &.c., and receiving no molestation from the rebels, embarked and returned to Hilton Head on the 23d instant.

Was the U.S. Tenth Army Corps Ambushed?

Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan, U.S. Army, circa 1862 (public domain).

Brigadier-General Brannan pulled no punches during his post-combat assessment of the Battle of Pocotaligo (now known as the Second Battle of Pocotaligo or the Battle of Yemassee). In his first report to Major-General Mitchel, he made these stunning observations:

Facts tend to show that the rebels were perfectly acquainted with all our plans, as they had evidently studied our purpose with care, and had two lines of defense, Caston and Frampton, before falling back on Pocotaligo, where, aided by their field works and favored by the nature of the ground and the facility of concentrating troops, they evidently purposed making a determined stand; and indeed the accounts gathered from prisoners leave no doubt but that the rebels had very accurate information of our movements.

I greatly felt the want of the cavalry, which, in consequence of the transports having grounded in the Broad River, did not arrive till nearly 4 p.m., and which in the early part of the day would perhaps have captured some field pieces in the open country we were then in, and would at all events have prevented the destruction of the bridge in the rear of the rebels.

Brannan also made clear that the blame for the troops’ tragic lack of ammunition — the primary cause of the Tenth Army’s high casualty rate — rested on Mitchel’s shoulders, and Mitchel’s shoulders alone:

The fitting out of the expedition, as relates to its organization, supplies, transportation, and ammunition, was done entirely by the major-general commanding the department, who at first purposed to command it. I was not assigned to the command till a few hours previous to the sailing of the expedition from Hilton Head.

Commendations for the Valiant

Colonel Tilghman H. Good, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, shown circa 1863, was praised for his performance during the Battle of Pocotaligo in 1862.

Hearteningly, Brigadier-General Brannan devoted a significant portion of his report to Major-General Mitchel by giving credit where credit was actually due — to the officers and enlisted members of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps who, despite being hampered by their superiors’ poor, pre-expedition munitions and terrain assessments, still managed to destroy one bridge and inflict significant damage on another segment of the Charleston & Savannah Railroad.

I desire to call the attention of the major-general commanding the department to the gallant and distinguished conduct of First Lieut. Guy V. Henry, First U.S. Artillery, commanding a section of light artillery. His pieces were served admirably throughout the entire engagement. He had two horses shot. The section of Third U.S. Artillery, commanded by First Lieut. E. Gittings, was also well served. He being wounded in the latter part of the day, his section was commanded by Lieutenant Henry.

The three boat howitzers furnished by Captain Steedman, U.S. Navy, commanding the naval forces, were served well, and the officers commanding them, with the crews, as also the detachment of the Third Rhode Island Volunteers, deserve great credit for their coolness, skill, and gallantry. The officers commanding these guns are as follows: Lieut. Lloyd Phoenix and Ensigns James Wallace, La Rue P. Adams, and Frederick Pearson.

1st Lieutenant William W. Geety, Co. H, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, shown here circa 1863, was grievously wounded during the Battle of Pocotaligo (public domain).

The conduct of my entire staff – Capt. Louis J. Lambert, assistant adjutant-general; Capt. L. Coryell, assistant quartermaster, and Lieuts. Ira V. German and George W. Bacon, aides-de-camp – gave me great pleasure and satisfaction. My orders were transmitted by them in the hottest of the battle with great rapidity and correctness. To Col. E. W. Serrell, New York Volunteer Engineers, who acted as an additional aide-de-camp, I am much indebted. His energy, perfect coolness, and bravery were a source of gratification to me. Orders from me were executed by him in a very satisfactory manner. Lieut. G. H. Hill, signal officer, performed his duties with great promptness. He acted also as additional aide-de-camp, and gave me much assistance in carrying my orders during the entire day.

With respect to the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry’s performance, Brannan singled out two of its officers:

Col. T. H. Good, Forty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers (Colonel Chatfield being wounded early in the day), commanded the First Brigade during the latter part of the engagement with much ability. Nothing could be more satisfactory than the promptness and skill with which the wounded were attended to by Surg. E. W. Bailey [sic, Baily], Forty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, medical director, and the entire medical staff of the command.

Private Jacob Hertzog, Co. K, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, wearing the support device which facilitated his recovery from a gunshot wound during the Battle of Pocotaligo (George A. Otis, public domain).

Regarding the performance of the enlisted and non-commissioned members of the Tenth Army, he noted that:

The troops of the command behaved with great gallantry, advancing against a remarkably heavy fire of musketry, canister, grape, round shot, and shell, driving the enemy before them with much determination. I was perfectly satisfied with their conduct.

It affords me much pleasure again to report the perfect cordiality existing between the two branches of the service, and I was much indebted to Capt. Charles Steedman, U.S. Navy, for his valuable aid and assistance in disembarking and re-embarking the troops; also in sending launches, with howitzers, to prevent an attack on our pickets while we were embarking to return to Hilton Head.

First Lieutenant and Regimental Adjutant Washington H. R. Hangen, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, shown here circa 1864, was seriously wounded in the leg during the Battle of Pocotaligo (public domain).

In his follow-up report to Mitchel, which was penned at Hilton Head, South Carolina on November 6, 1862, Brannan presented a detailed list of the commendations he recommended be issued to the most heroic members of the Tenth Army, many of whom had been killed or grievously wounded at Pocotaligo:

I herewith transmit the reports of Brig. Gen. A. H. Terry and Col. T. H. Good, Forty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, who commanded brigades during the late expedition, under my command, to Pocotaligo, S.C., and would beg respectfully to bring them to the favorable notice of the department for their gallant and meritorious conduct during the engagement of October 22; as also Col. J. L. Chatfield, Sixth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, who commanded the First Brigade until severely wounded, in the early part of the engagement, while gallantly leading it to the charge. Great praise is also due to General Terry for his care and unremitting exertions during the night of the 22d in superintending the removal of the wounded to the transports.

I also forward the report of Col. E. W. Serrell, First New York Volunteer Engineers, chief engineer of the department, of the part taken by their several commands.

Accompanying General Terry’s report is the report of the success of Lieut. S. M. Smith, Third Regiment Rhode Island Volunteer Artillery,* who was sent up before daylight on the 22d to Cathbert’s Island, on the Pocotaligo Creek, to capture the rebel pickets there stationed.

* Note: General Terry’s reports stated Third New Hampshire Volunteers.

2nd Lieutenant Christian K. Breneman, shown here circa 1863, assumed command of Co. H, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers during the Battle of Pocotaligo when 1st Lieutenant William Geety was grievously wounded (public domain).

In addition to those officers mentioned in my report of the expedition I have great pleasure, on the recommendation of their respective commanders, in bringing to the favorable consideration of the department the following officers and men, who rendered themselves specially worthy of notice by their bravery and praiseworthy conduct during the entire expedition and the engagements attending it:

First Lieut. E. Gittings, wounded, lieutenant Company E, Third U.S. Artillery, commanding section, who served his pieces with great coolness and judgment under the heavy fire of a rebel battery; Lieutenant Col. G. W. Alexander, Forty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; Maj. J. H. Filler, Fifty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; Capt. Theodore Bacon, Seventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, acting assistant adjutant-general Second Brigade; First Lieut. Adrian Terry, Seventh Connecticut Volunteers, and Second Lieut. Martin S. James, Third Regiment Rhode Island Volunteer Artillery, staff of Brigadier-General Terry;

Captain John Peter Shindel Gobin, Co. C, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, shown here circa 1863, went on to become Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania after the war (public domain).

Capt. J. P. Shindel Gobin, Company C, Forty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; Capt. George Junker, killed, Company K, Forty-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers; Captain Mickley, killed, Company G, Forty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; First. Lieut. W. H. R. Hangen, adjutant, wounded, Forty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; First Lieutenant Minnich, Company B, Forty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; First Lieut. W. W. Geety, severely wounded, commanding Company H, Forty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers; Second Lieutenant Breneman, Company H, Forty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; Private Michael Larkins [sic, Larkin], wounded, Company C, Forty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; Captain Bennett, Company E, Fifty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; First Lieut. D. W. Fox, commanding Company A, Fifty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; First Lieutenant Metzger, adjutant Fifty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; First Sergt. H. W. Fox, Company K, Fifty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; Private Peter McGuire, Company A, Fifty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; Lieut. S. S. Stevens, Sixth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, acting assistant adjutant-general First Brigade; Commissary Sergt William H. Johnson, Sixth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers; Sergeant [Charles H.] Grogan, Private G. Platt, and Private A. B. Beers, Company I, Sixth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers; Private R. Wilson, Company D, Sixth Connecticut Volunteers; First Lieut. Edward S. Perry and Private William Crabbe, Company H, Seventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers; Artificer Patrick Walsh, Company B, First U.S. Artillery; Sergt. Michael Mannon, Light Company E, Third U.S. Artillery; Sergt. N.M. Edwards, First New York Volunteer Engineers, and Sergts. Henry Mehles, Lionel Auyan, and Fisher, First New York Volunteer Engineers.

I would also mention that I am much indebted to Mr. Cooley, sutler of the Sixth Connecticut Volunteers, for his care and attention to the wounded and his care and his exertions in carrying them on the field and placing them on the transports.

Brannan then closed this second report by attaching “a complete and accurate list of the killed, wounded, and missing during the entire expedition, giving their names, rank, companies, and regiments, with a description of the nature of their wounds.” The New York Times initially estimated that the 47th Pennsylvania, alone, had suffered 140 casualties (killed and wounded), the equivalent of roughly one-and-a-half companies of men, and described the regiment as “terribly shattered.”

Shattered, but valiant. Newspapers across America subsequently carried the following tribute to the 47th Pennsylvania:

They were steady, true and brave. If heavy losses may indicate gallantry, the palm may be given to Col. Good’s noble regiment, the Forty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers. Upon this command the brunt of battle fell. Out of 600 who went into action, nearly 150 were killed or wounded. All of the Keystone troops did splendidly, as did the Connecticut Volunteers, under Chatfield and Hawley.

 Next: The Battle of Pocotaligo from the Perspective of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers

 

Sources:

  1. “General Orders, Hdqrs., Department of the South, Numbers 40, Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., September 17, 1862” (announcement by Major-General Ormsby M. Mitchel that he has assumed command of the newly formed Department of the South), in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV, Serial 20, p. 382. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
  2. “Report of Maj. Gen. Ormsby M. Mitchel, U.S. Army, commanding Department of the South and Return of Casualties in the Union forces in the skirmish at Coosawhatchie and engagements at the Caston and Frampton Plantations, near Pocotaligo, S.C., October 22, 1862,” in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
  3. Reports of Brig. Gen. John M. Brannan, U.S. Army, commanding expedition, in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
  4. “The Department of the South: The Recent Attack on the Charleston and Savannah Railroad. Official Report of the Operations at Coosahatchie [sic].” New York, New York: The New York Times, November 11, 1862.

 

First Blood: The Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina (Planning and Preparation: Mid-October 1862)

Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Commanding Officer, U.S. Department of the South and Tenth Corps, U.S. Army, circa 1862 (public domain).

On the heels of his army’s successful capture of Saint John’s Bluff, Florida and related events in early October 1862, Union Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, commanding officer of the United States Army’s Department of the South, directed his senior staff and leadership of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps (X Corps) to intensify actions against the Confederate States Army and Navy in an effort to further disrupt the enemy’s ability to move troops and supplies throughout Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. As part of this directive, he engaged his senior officers in planning a new expedition — this time to Pocotaligo, South Carolina. According to Mitchel, preparations for that event began in earnest in mid-October, with an eye to the following objectives:

First, to make a complete reconnaissance of the Broad River and its three tributaries, Coosawhatchie, Tulifiny [sic], and Pocotaligo; second, to test practically the rapidity and safety with which a landing could be effected; third to learn the strength of the enemy on the main-land, now guarding the Charleston and Savannah Railroad; and fourth, to accomplish the destruction of so much of the road as could be effected in one day….

This 1856 map of the Charleston & Savannah Railroad shows the island of Hilton Head, South Carolina in relation to the town of Pocotaligo (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain; click to enlarge).

Mitchel then worked with his subordinate officers to determine how much of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps would take part in the expedition, assess the potential weak spots in his strategy and revise planning details to improve his soldiers’ likelihood of success:

The troops composing the expedition were the following: Forty-seventh Pennsylvania, 600 men; Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania, 400 men; Fourth New Hampshire, 600 men; Seventh Connecticut, 500 men; Third New Hampshire: 480 men; Sixth Connecticut, 500 men; Third Rhode Island, 300 men; Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania, 430 men; New York Mechanics and Engineers, 250 men; Forty-eighth New York, 300 men; one section of Hamilton’s battery and 40 men; one section of the First Regiment Artillery, Company M, battery and 40 men, and the First Massachusetts Cavalry, 100 men. Making an entire force of 4,500 men.

Every pains [sic] had been taken to secure as far as possible success for the expedition. Scouts and spies had been sent to the main-land to all the most important points between the Savannah River railroad bridge and the bridge across the Salkehatchie. A small party was sent out to cut, if possible, the telegraph wires. Scouts had been sent in boats up the tributaries of the Broad River. All the landings had been examined, and the depth of water in the several rivers ascertained as far as practicable. Two of our light-draught transports have been converted into formidable gunboats and are now heavily armed, to wit, The Planter and the George Washington. By my orders the New York Mechanics and Engineers, Colonel Serrell, had constructed two very large flat-boats, or scows, each capable of transporting half a battery of artillery, exclusive of the caissons, with the horses. They were provided with hinged aprons, to facilitate the landing not only of artillery but of troops from the transports.

Owing to an accident which occurred to the transport Cosmopolitan during the expedition to the Saint John’s River I found myself deficient in transportation, and applied to the commanding officer, Commodore Godon, of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, who promptly placed under my orders a number of light-draught gunboats for the double purpose of transportation and military protection.

The after cabin inside of the U.S. Steamer Ben Deford, c. 1860s (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

As planning progressed, details were firmed up regarding the Union Navy’s anticipated support. According to Mitchel:

On the evening of the 21st, under the command of Captain Steedman, U.S. Navy, the gunboats and transports were arranged in the following order for sailing: The Paul Jones, Captain Steedman, without troops; the Ben De Ford, Conemaugh, Wissahickon, Boston, Patroon, Darlington, steam-tug Relief, with schooner in tow; Marblehead, Vixen, Flora, Water Witch, George Washington, and Planter. The flat-boats, with artillery, were towed by the Ben De Ford and Boston. The best negro pilots which could be found were placed on the principal vessels, as well as signal officers, for the purpose of intercommunication. The night proved to be smoky and hazy, which produced some confusion in the sailing of the vessels, as signal lights could not be seen by those most remote from the leading ship. The larger vessels, however, got under way about 12 o’clock at night.

Union Army map, Pocotaligo-Coosawhatchie Expedition, 21-23 October 1862 (public domain; click to enlarge).

Mitchel and his leadership team also worked out the details of the expedition’s landing and debarkation plans, decided upon the weaponry they would need to disrupt and permanently disable the railroad tracks and the bridge at Pocotaligo and identified other possible actions to be undertaken by the expeditionary force:

After a careful examination of the map I ordered a landing to be effected at the mouth of the Pocotaligo River, at a place known as Mackay’s Point. This is really a narrow neck of land made by the Broad River and the Pocotaligo, in both of which rivers gunboats could lie and furnish a perfect protection for the debarkation and embarkation of the troops. There is a good country road leading from the Point to the old town of Pocotaligo, then entering a turnpike, which leads from the town of Coosawhatchie to the principal ferry on the Salkehatchie River. The distance to the railroad was only about 7 or 8 miles, thus rendering it possible to effect a landing, cut the railroad and telegraph wires, and return to the boats in the same day. I saw that it would be impossible for the troops to be attacked by the enemy either in flank or rear, as the two flanks were protected by the Pocotaligo River on the one hand and by the Broad and by the Tulifiny [sic, Tulifinny], its tributary, on the other. Presuming that the enemy would make his principal defense at or near Pocotaligo, I directed that a detachment of the Forty-eighth New York, under command of Colonel Barton, with the armed transport Planter, accompanied by one or two light-draught gunboats, should ascend the Coosawhatchie River, for the purpose of making a diversion, and in case no considerable force of the enemy was met, to destroy the railroad at and near the town of Coosawhatchie.

In addition to our land forces we were furnished by the Navy with several transports, armed with howitzers, three of which were landed with the artillery, and thus gave us a battery of seven pieces. All the troops were furnished with 100 rounds of ammunition. Two light ambulances and one wagon, with its team, accompanied the expedition.

The Integral Role of the 47th Pennsylvania

Design of the U.S. Army’s insignia for the Tenth (X) Army Corps, which would have been sewn onto uniforms of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and displayed on a flag carried by the regiment during the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina on 22 October 1862 (public domain).

The Union Army regiments selected for participation in the Pocotaligo expedition were part of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps (X Corps), which was part of the U.S. Army’s larger Department of the South, which was headquartered at Hilton Head, South Carolina and oversaw Union military operations in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina during this time. Established on 13 September 1862, the Tenth Corps served under the command of Union Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel from the time of its founding until his death from yellow fever on 30 October of that same year. It was then placed under the command of Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan, who had also assumed command of the U.S. Army’s Department of the South, a position he held until 21 January 1863.

Among the regiments attached to the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps in the U.S. Department of the South during fall of 1862 was the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which would later make history as the only regiment from Pennsylvania to participate in the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign across Louisiana. The 47th Pennsylvania, which had been founded on 5 August 1861 by Colonel Tilghman H. Good, remained under Colonel Good’s command. Regimental operations were also overseen by Good’s second-in-command, Lieutenant-Colonel George Warren Alexander.

As preparations continued to be refined, Brigadier-General Brannan determined, in his new role as commanding officer of the expedition, that he would need one of his subordinate officers to take his place on the field as the expedition began. He chose Colonel Good of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, who would go on to become a three-time mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania after the war. Good then placed Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander in direct command of the 47th Pennsylvania. A New Hampshire native, Alexander had served as captain of the Reading Artillerists in Berks County, Pennsylvania prior to the war; post-war, he founded G. W. Alexander & Sons, a renowned hat manufacturing company that was based in West Reading.

What all of those Union Army infantrymen did not know at the time they boarded their respective transport ships on 21 October 1862 was that they would soon been engaged in combat so intense that the day would come to be described in history books more than a century later as the Second Battle of Pocotaligo (or the Battle of Yemassee, due to its proximity to the town of Yemassee, South Carolina).

This encounter between the Union and Confederate armies would unfold on 22 October 1862 between Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina on the banks of the Pocotaligo River in northern Beaufort County, South Carolina.

Next: The Second Battle of Pocotaligo

 

Sources:

  1. “General Orders, Hdqrs., Department of the South, Numbers 40, Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., September 17, 1862” (announcement by Major-General Ormsby M. Mitchel that he has assumed command of the newly formed Department of the South), in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV, Serial 20, p. 382. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
  2. “Report of Maj. Gen. Ormsby M. Mitchel, U.S. Army, commanding Department of the South and Return of Casualties in the Union forces in the skirmish at Coosawhatchie and engagements at the Caston and Frampton Plantations, near Pocotaligo, S.C., October 22, 1862,” in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.

In Their Own Words: The Vocabulary of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (“Skedaddle”)

Image: Definition of “Skedaddle,” a term frequently used by the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers when describing Confederate troop movements during the American Civil War (fair use screenshot, courtesy of Merriam Webster, 2022).

“Skedaddle” or “skedaddling”:  Words frequently used by officers and enlisted members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry to describe the behavior of Confederate States Army troops unfortunate enough to encounter the 47th Pennsylvania during the American Civil War. (See also: bolt, flee, hightail it, run away, and retreat.)

Example (October 1862):

“After my arrival at the bluff, it being then 7:30 o’clock, I dispatched Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander with two companies back to the last-named camp (which I found, from a number of papers left behind, to have been called Camp Hopkins and occupied by the Milton Artillery, of Florida) to reconnoiter and ascertain its condition. Upon his return he reported that from every appearance the skedaddling of the enemy was as sudden as in the other instances already mentioned, leaving their trunks and all the camp equipage behind; also a small quantity of commissary stores, sugar, rice, half barrel of flour, one bag of salt, &c., including 60 tents, which I have brought in this morning. The commissary stores were used by the troops of my command.”

— Colonel Tilghman H. Good in his report to Union Army superiors from the 47th Pennsylvania’s encampment at Saint John’s Bluff, Florida, 3 October 1862

To learn more about the involvement of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and other Union troops in the capture of Saint Johns Bluff, Florida, visit the “Official Battle and Campaign Reports” section of our website.

The Demographics of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

Lieutenant-Colonel George Warren Alexander, second-in-command, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, with officers from the 47th at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, Florida, circa 1863 (public domain).

Recruited primarily at community gathering places in their respective hometowns, the majority of soldiers who served with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry were enrolled at county seats or other large population centers within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The youngest member of the regiment was a 12-year-old drummer boy; the oldest was a 65-year-old, financially successful farmer who would attempt to re-enlist, at the age of 68, after being seriously wounded while protecting the American flag in battle.

Roughly 70 percent were residents of Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, including the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton and surrounding communities in Lehigh and Northampton counties. Company C, which was formed primarily of men from Northumberland County, was more commonly known as the “Sunbury Guards.” Company D and Company H were staffed largely by men from Perry County. Company K was formed with the intent of creating an “all-German” company that would be composed of German-Americans and German immigrants.

In point of fact, a number of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were immigrants or first-generation Americans. A significant percentage of each of the regiment’s companies were men whose families still spoke German or “Pennsylvania Dutch” at their homes and churches more than a century after their ancestors emigrated from Germany in search of religious or political freedom. Others traced their roots to Ireland; one had been born on Spain’s Canary Islands, and at least two were natives of Cuba.

In early October of 1862, several African American men who had been freed from enslavement on plantations near Beaufort, South Carolina, joined the ranks of the 47th Pennsylvania, followed by the April 1864 enrollment of other formerly enslaved men in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Their final resting places span the nation, from Maine to California and from the State of Washington to Florida.

 

Alpha and Omega: The First and Last Duty Stations of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

Camp Curtin (Harper’s Weekly, 1861; public domain).

Established just north of the Pennsylvania State Capitol building in Harrisburg by Pennsylvania’s Civil War-era governor, Andrew Gregg Curtin, on April 18, 1861—just three days after the fall of Fort Sumter to Confederate States Army troops—and initially named “Camp Union,” Camp Curtin was a key staging and training point for the United States Army at the dawn of the American Civil War. Within a few short months of its creation on eighty acres of land that had previously been used for Dauphin County’s Agricultural Fairgrounds, this camp site became the largest military facility in Pennsylvania and the nation during the war.

It was here, in mid-August of 1861, that new recruits and seasoned soldiers, who had just recently completed their Three Months’ duty, came together to form the newly-created 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. 

After completing weeks of grueling, basic training in light infantry tactics, the members of the 47th Pennsylvania were personally given their regiment’s First State Color by Governor Curtin on September 20, 1861. An American flag emblazoned with the regiment’s state name and volunteer unit number, that flag was kept safe by the regiment’s color-bearer unit, Company C, from that moment until the regiment returned home to Pennsylvania nearly five long years later.

Camp Cadwalader and the German Hospital, 1876 (David Johnston Kennedy, courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, public domain).

Arriving at Camp Cadwalader in Philadelphia in early 1866, the majority of the surviving 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were given their final discharge papers on January 9, 1866, after having been officially mustered out from the regiment at its duty station in Charleston, South Carolina on Christmas Day in 1865.

This latter camp was named after Major-General George Cadwalader (1806-1879), a native of Philadelphia who had been appointed by Governor Curtin as Major-General of the Pennsylvania Volunteers at the beginning of the American Civil War.

To learn more about each of these Union Army facilities, read these camp profiles:

Learn More About the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers

First State Color, 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (presented to the regiment by Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin, 20 September 1861; retired 11 May 1865, public domain).

Largely forgotten by mainstream historians, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was a Union Army unit which served for nearly the entire duration of the American Civil War. Formed by the fruit of the Great Keystone State’s small towns and cities, the regiment was born on August 5, 1861, when its founder, Tilghman H. Good, received permission from Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin to form an entirely new regiment in response to President Abraham Lincoln’s call for additional volunteers to help preserve American’s Union. It ended its service during the early months of the nation’s Reconstruction Era, officially mustering out at Charleston, South Carolina on Christmas Day in 1865, its members receiving their final discharge papers at Camp Cadwalader in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in early January of 1866.

Along the way, the 47th Pennsylvania made history, becoming an integrated regiment in 1862 and the only regiment from Pennsylvania to participate in the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign across Louisiana. Its members also distinguished themselves in battle, repeatedly, including during Union General Philip Sheridan’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign, which unfolded between August and December of 1864.

Learn more about key moments in this regiment’s history by reading the following posts:

1861:

1862:

1863:

1864:

1865:

New Website Tells the Story of Nine Black Soldiers of the American Civil War

Largely forgotten for more than a century after honorably completing their historic military service during the American Civil War, nine formerly enslaved Black men who enlisted with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry have been repeatedly overlooked by mainstream historians over the years as potentially important subjects for research and have also been an ongoing source of mystery and frustration to their descendants because the majority of their military service records have still not been digitized by state and national archives.

Until now.

Thanks to a special initiative of “47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment’s Story,” researchers have been locating and digitizing a wide range of local, state and federal records over the past five years—records that have uncovered critical details about the lives of each of these nine Black soldiers—four of whom were from South Carolina, five of whom were from Louisiana/Mississippi.

“Many of these documents hold the potential to help family history researchers feel closer to their Civil War-era ancestors while also enabling historians, teachers, students, American History enthusiasts, and Civil War buffs to deepen their understanding of one of the most painful chapters in the American narrative,” explains Laurie Snyder, the founder of and managing editor for the project. “One soldier’s U.S. Civil War Pension file revealed the name of his father and wife, as well as the surname of the family in Louisiana that had enslaved him prior to the Civil War while the U.S. Freedmen’s Bureau records for a second man shined a light on what his life was like after the war ended.”

It was this newly uncovered data that led Snyder to create a new website to make these records easily available, free of charge, for researchers and the general public. That website, “Freedmen of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry,” launched on Labor Day weekend 2022, and is already receiving positive reviews.

“We’re still in the process of adding records to the site, and will continue to do so throughout the next year as more records are found and digitized, but the data contained in these records is so important that I wanted to make the documents we’ve already amassed available now so that historians at colleges and universities across the United States and educators teaching history in middle and high school classrooms across Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina can begin making use of the site this fall.

About “Freedmen of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry”

“Freedmen of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry” is a special educational initiative dedicated to researching, documenting and presenting the life stories of nine formerly enslaved Black men who enlisted with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during two of the regiment’s most eventful years of service to the nation during the American Civil War—1862 and 1864.

About the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

Recruited primarily at community gathering places in their respective hometowns, the soldiers who served with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry were primarily men of German heritage whose families still spoke German or “Pennsylvania Dutch” more than a century after their ancestors emigrated from Germany in search of religious and political freedom. Still others were recent immigrants from Germany, Ireland and Cuba. Formerly enslaved Black men who had been freed by the regiment from plantations in South Carolina and Louisiana were added to regimental rosters in 1862 and 1864.

In addition to fighting in the battles of Sabine Cross Roads/Mansfield, Pleasant Hill and Monett’s Ferry/Cane River during the Red River Campaign, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers also engaged in the defense of Washington, D.C. in 1861 and again in 1865, following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln; the capture of Saint John’s Bluff, Florida and Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina (1862); the garrisoning of Forts Taylor and Jefferson in Key West and the Dry Tortugas, Florida (1863); Union Major-General Philip Sheridan’s tide-turning Shenandoah Valley Campaign (1864), including the battles of Berryville, Opequon, Fisher’s Hill, and Cedar Creek; and provost (military police) and Reconstruction duties in Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina (1865). Most were finally released from duty when the regiment formally mustered out on Christmas Day in 1865.

Learn More and Support

To learn more about the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers and lend your support to this historic initiative, visit the websites of “47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment’s Story” and “Freedmen of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry,” and follow the project’s updates on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

On Detached Duty: Attempting to Repair the Cape Florida Lighthouse, Key Biscayne, Florida (April 1862)

Cape Florida Lighthouse, Key Biscayne, Florida, circa 1996 (courtesy of the Florida Memory Project, public domain).

Erected roughly a year after the U.S. Government purchased the Florida barrier island where the present-day community of Key Biscayne is located, the Cape Florida Lighthouse was built in 1822 by an act of the U.S. Congress, which wanted to ensure that “shipping in the hazardous straits of Florida” would be protected, according to the Florida Association of Museums:

The first lighting occurred on December 17, 1825. In July 1836, an Indian attack in the early months of the Second Seminole War resulted in heavy damage to the tower. Rebuilt in 1846, the tower was heightened to 95 feet in 1855…. With the advent of the Civil War, Confederate sympathizers overwhelmed the lighthouse keeper in August 1861, damaged the central prism, and removed the reflector, rendering the lamp too dim for visibility by ships.

Just under a year later, a detachment of soldiers from the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was ordered to leave its garrison at Fort Taylor in Key West and head for the island where the Cape Florida Lighthouse was located. According to the Florida Association of Museums:

In April 1862, a group of carpenters accompanied by troops of the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry were sent to repair the lighthouse by Union authorities. [But] they found the damage to be too extensive to repair, and the lighthouse remained darkened for the duration of the war. Lighthouse service was restored on April 15, 1866. Service was discontinued in 1878.

Although those 47th Pennsylvanians were ultimately unsuccessful, the lighthouse is still considered to be an important piece of the regiment’s history because it served as a key point of reference for the officers and enlisted members of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry as they traveled back and forth between South Carolina and Florida for various military expeditions during 1862 and 1863—and from New Orleans to Washington, D.C., as the regiment returned from duty in the Union’s Red River Campaign across Louisiana to the Eastern Theater of war for participation in Major-General Philip H. Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign in Virginia. An 1863 diary entry penned by Private Henry J. Hornbeck, provides an example of one such reference:

Thursday February 26th, at sea…. Running very near coast all day. Today being Wm. Ginkinger’s birthday, I took dinner with him at the table. Had a splendid dinner consisting of roast duck & the &c. Lighthouse in sight at 3 p.m. Passed Cape Florida Lighthouse at 4 p.m. At 9 p.m. passed Carysfort Lighthouse. Retired at 9:30. Sea rough.

 

Sources:

  1. “Cape Florida Lighthouse,” in “Florida Civil War Heritage Trail,” p. 70. Tallahassee, Florida: Florida Association of Museums, retrieved online 7 August 2022.
  2. “History of Island of Key Biscayne,” in “About Key Biscayne.” Key Biscayne, Florida: Village of Key Biscayne, retrieved online 7 August 2022.
  3. Schmidt, Lewis G. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
  4. Staubach, Lieutenant Colonel James C. “Miami During the Civil War: 1861-65,” in Tequesta: The Journal of the Historical Association of Southern Florida, Vol. LIII, pp. 31-62. Miami, Florida: Historical Museum of Southern Florida, 1993.

 

 

Research Update: More New Details Regarding the Lives of Formerly Enslaved Black Men Who Enlisted with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

Union Army at Morganza Bend, Louisiana, c. 1863-1865_USLOC, pubdom

Union Army base at Morganza Bend, Louisiana, circa 1863-1865 (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

Researchers investigating the lives of nine formerly enslaved Black men who enlisted with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War recently uncovered new details about two of those soldiers.

In addition to finding more data related to the immediate post-war life of Aaron French (learn more about him in this article here), including how and why he ended up settling in Mississippi following the Civil War, researchers have also now found important information about the life of Hamilton Blanchard—who enrolled with Bullard on the same day.

Born into slavery in Natchitoches, Louisiana sometime around 1843, Hamilton Blanchard was able to secure his freedom twenty-one years later when the United States Army arrived in town as part of an expedition led by Union Major-General Nathaniel P. Banks. Determined not to be forced back into bondage after the Union troops moved on in their ill-fated quest to capture the city of Shreveport, he chose to enlist with one of the units serving under Banks—the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry—the only regiment from Pennsylvania that was involved in the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign across Louisiana.

After enrolling in the military, Hamilton Blanchard was then assigned to Company D at the rank of “Cook” on 5 April 1864.

Crop_Bullard, Aaron and Hamilton Blanchard_Co. D, 47th PA_Muster Roll

Muster roll entries for Aaron Bullard and Hamilton Blanchard, Company D, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers (U.S. National Archives, public domain).

The official muster-in of Blanchard, Aaron Bullard, and three other young Black men who enrolled that day did not take place immediately, however, because the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were ordered to move out shortly after their arrival, and were quickly drawn into intense combat with enemy troops commanded by Confederate Major-General Richard Taylor (a plantation owner and son of Zachary Taylor, former President of the United States). Battered badly during the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads near Mansfield, Louisiana on 8 April and in the Battle of Pleasant Hill the next day (9 April), they fought the Confederate Army again on 23 April near Monett’s Ferry in the Battle of Cane River and on 16 May in the Battle of Mansura near Marksville.

Continuing on toward the southeastern part of Louisiana, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers marched for Morganza, which had been held in Union hands since the fall of 1863 and was now the site of a major Union Army encampment. While there, the officers of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry officially mustered in all nine of the formerly enslaved Black men who had enlisted with the 47th Pennsylvania in Beaufort, South Carolina (1862) and Natchitoches, Louisiana (April 1864)—a process which took place between 20-24 June 1864.

From that point on, those nine men traveled with the 47th Pennsylvania as it returned to the East Coast and engaged in multiple battles associated with Union Major-General Philip Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign across Virginia, the protection of the nation’s capital following the April 1865 assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and the early days of Reconstruction in Georgia and South Carolina.

On Christmas Day in 1865, Hamilton Blanchard then joined his fellow 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers in mustering out from their final duty station in Charleston, South Carolina.

Post-War Life

Having been honorably discharged from the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry when the regiment mustered out, at least two of the nine formerly enslaved Black men who had enlisted with the regiment evidently made their way north—possibly when the other members of their former regiment returned home to Pennsylvania. (It is also possible, however, that they made the journey independently of their former regiment because both men appear to have resettled in the Washington, D.C. area, post-war, while the other 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were transported by ship directly to New York City and then by train to Camp Cadwalader in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they were given their final discharge papers on 9 January 1866.)

Blanchard-Bullard_Madison Co., MS_Freedmen's Bureau Contract, Feb-Dec 1866, p. 1

Freedmen’s Bureau contract between Madison County, Mississippi farm owner John P. Arvile [sic] and farm laborers Hamilton Blanchard, Aaron Bullard, et. al., Washington, D.C., 16 February 1866 (excerpt, p. 1, U.S. National Archives).

What is known for certain is that Hamilton Blanchard and Aaron Bullard made contact with a representative of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands sometime in late 1865 or early 1866. They then signed a contract with the Freedmen’s Bureau during the early winter of 1866 in which they both agreed to join a large group of formerly enslaved Black men, women, and children who would be providing farm labor to a man named John P. Avrill (alternate spellings: “Averile”, “Averill”, “Arvile”, “Arville”, or “Avrille”) at his property in Canton, Madison County, Mississippi.

That Freedmen’s Bureau contract was slated to be in effect between 16 February and 16 December of 1866, and begins with a cover page which states:

Washington D.C.
February 1866
Contract No.
John P. Arvill
With (66) Freedmen

John Arville
Contract with
46 Farm Hands

The main body of the document goes on to reveal the following details of the contract:

Articles of Agreement made and concluded this the Sixteenth day of February 1866 between John P. Arvile of Canton P.O. County of Madison State of Mississippi party of the first part and

Charles Matthews, Henry Long, Joseph Thompson, Samuel Johnson, Robert Johnson, John Thomas … Charles Ford, Caroline Carter, Agnes Fitzhugh and child (infant), Benjamin Smith, Anna Smith, Thomas Reed [sp?], Aaron Bullard, Hamilton Blanchard, Isaiah Wiggins, James Lewis, Charles K. [illegible], Baily Taylor, William Carter, and Andy Hampton [sp?].

The next paragraph lists Hamilton Blanchard and Aaron Bullard a second time, along with multiple names from the aforementioned group of farm laborers. Subsequent paragraphs spell out further points of the agreement:

All of Washington City, County of Washington, District of Columbia, parties of the second part, the said Charles Matthews, Henry Long, Joseph Thompsen, Samuel Johnson, Robert Johnson, John Thomas … Aaron Bullard, Hamilton Blanchard, Isaiah Wiggins, James Lewis … Field Laborers, agree to enter the service of the said John P. Averile as Laborers and that they will faithfully and diligently apply themselves and perform the duties of Laborers on the premises of said John P. Averile for and during the period of time from the Sixteenth day of February 1866 until the sixteenth day of 1866; and they further agree that their employer shall retain one half their monthly wages until the expiration of their term of service.

And the said John P. Arvile hereby agrees to employ them (the said Field laborers) for the period of time aforesaid. Viz from the Sixteenth day of February 1866 until the sixteenth day of December 1866; and to pay for their services the sum set opposite their respective names per month, monthly (one half of which shall be retained each month) and all stoppages and arranged promptly, paid at the expiration of their respective terms of service to wit…..

In equal monthly payments; and the said John P. Arvile further agrees to furnish said Freed laborers … quarters, fuel, full substantial and healthy rations, and all necessary attendance and supplies in case of sickness, in addition to the compensation … named, and that he will assist and encourage efforts for the education of the children of his employees, and it is further agreed by the said John P. Arvile, that in case he at any time fails to perform his part of this contract agreement he will pay to each of the said laborers the full sum of One hundred and twenty dollars [strikethrough made by someone’s hand to original contract], as fixed, agreed and liquidated damages. This contract can be annulled by the mutual consent of the Employer and the employee, but only in the presence of an Authorized Agent of the Bureau of Refugees Freedmen and Abandoned Lands and such annullment [sic] on the part of the Employer and anyone [sic] employee shall in no wise affect the validity of the Contract in respect to the employer and the other employees and should either party violate this contract then the other party shall make complaint to the nearest authorized agent of the Bureau Refugees Freemen & Abandoned Lands.

The contract continues on, specifying that both Aaron Bullard and Hamilton Blanchard were to each be paid a wage of $10 per month, and stating that some of the other men on the list would be paid as much as $12 per month while others would be paid $8 per month. (Teenaged boys and women on the list were to be paid even less—$6 per month.)

In all cases, the reality was far different. Per the contract, they were initially paid only half of what their monthly wages were because the Freedmen’s Bureau agent in charge of looking out for the welfare of these formerly enslaved men, women, and children allowed the white farmer—their “employer”—to “retain one half their monthly wages until the expiration of their term of service.”

No further data has been uncovered from Freedmen’s Bureau records about the status of those unpaid wages or the outcome of that contract, but because these Black men, women, and children were essentially returned to an unequal system of servitude by the Freedmen’s Bureau agent (as evidenced by the manner in which this contract was drafted—favoring the White “employer” over the Black “field laborer” and including multiple after-the-fact revisions, such as word insertions and strikethroughs)—it is highly unlikely that Hamilton Blanchard, Aaron Bullard, or the other Black men, women, and children mentioned in the contract were ever paid the full amount they were entitled to for what was most assuredly very hard labor.

Blanchard-Bullard-Chapman_Treasury Inquiry, 10 Nov 1866

Letter of inquiry from J. H. Chapman on behalf of Hamilton Blanchard to E. B. French, second auditor, U.S. Treasury Department, 10 November 1868 (Freedmen’s Bureau records, U.S. National Archives). 

This hypothesis posed by researchers investigating the history of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry is backed up by a letter of inquiry penned on 10 November 1868 by J. H. Chapman, a Sub-Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau working at an office in Vicksburg, Mississippi, to E. B. French, Second Auditor of the U.S. Department of the Treasury in Washington, D.C.

In this letter, Chapman asks French that he “be informed what disposition has been made of the claim of Hamilton Blanchard, late of Co. “D” 47 Penn Vol. Inft., his discharge was received by J. R. Schuchard [sp?]” of the “Freedmen’s Aid Commission, March 15, 1866.” Chapman added that he was requesting this update on Blanchard’s behalf “for the purpose of prosecuting his claim against the Gov.” He then also requested “information concerning the claim of Aaron Bullard (Col.) who belonged to same company & regiment.”

* Note: An unidentified individual added an undated notation to the bottom of this letter in handwriting that is clearly different from that of the original letter writer, Chapman. That notation correctly states: “The 47th Pa was not a colored regt. See Form R enclosed. A.M.R. 103.” (The 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry became an integrated regiment on 5 October 1862, but its African American members were not considered to be part of the U.S. Colored Troops, also known as the USCT.)

Researchers have not yet located the “Form R” referred to in the notation to Chapman’s letter, but will be pursuing this lead, as well as investigating the claims filed by Hamilton Blanchard and Aaron Bullard, and searching for additional information regarding what happened to Hamilton Blanchard during and after the 1870s. 

An additional avenue of inquiry will be the potential relationship that may have developed between Aaron Bullard and E. B. French during or after this time—a new theory being considered in light of the discovery of French’s name on this letter. (Aaron Bullard changed his surname, “Bullard,” which had been associated with his enslavement in Louisiana, to “French” sometime between his 1868 appeal to E. B. French in the U.S. Treasury Department and the day he was visited at home in Issaquena County, Mississippi by an enumerator of the 1870 U.S. Census—possibly indicating that he wanted to both shed his “slave name” and honor someone who had been helpful to him.)

Sources:

  1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
  2. Civil War Muster Rolls, in Records of the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs (Record Group 19, Series 19.11). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1861-1865.
  3. Civil War Veterans’ Card File. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
  4. “Records of the Field Offices for the District of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1870” (NARA Series Number: M1902; NARA Reel Number: 18; NARA Record Group Number: 105; NARA Record Group Name: Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1861 – 1880; Collection Title: District of Columbia Freedmen’s Bureau Field Office Records 1863-1872: Aaron Bullard and Hamilton Blanchard, 1866 and 1868). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  5. Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
  6. Wharton, Henry D. Letters from the Sunbury Guards. Sunbury, Pennsylvania: Sunbury American, 1861-1868.

The Lincoln Assassination: A Union Army Chaplain’s Angry, Heartsick Response

Rev. William DeWitt Clinton Rodrock, chaplain, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas, Florida, 1863 (courtesy of Robert Champlin, used with permission).

In an April 30, 1865 report sent to Brigadier-General L. Thomas, the Adjutant General of the U.S. Army, the Rev. William DeWitt Clinton Rodrock, chaplain of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, expressed his ire and grief regarding the recent assassination of President Abraham Lincoln:

“Sir.

The present month claims more than an ordinary place in our National history. In the very hour of general exultation and rejoicing for vouchsafed blessings and victories on our arms, promising speedy restoration of internal peace and return of prosperity and happiness, our great and good Chief Magistrate, Abraham Lincoln, was slain by the hand of foul conspiracy and vile assassination. For the first time the annals of the country have been stained by a political assassination! It is a crime against God, against the Nation, against humanity and against liberty, that has thus been perpetrated! It is the madness of Treason and murder! And the day that commemorates the Crucifixion of the Saviour of Man is henceforth made forever memorable by a new crime against the Law of God and Country.

But we must bow low, before the Almighty Hand that thus shows us the weakness and wickedness of man and the vanity of all human calculations!

May this fearful blow recall us all to our duties! We will draw near to the Altar of our country, also, as we approach the Altar of our God. We have great duties in this crisis. And the first is to forget selfishness and passion and party, and look to the salvation of the Country.

As to our lamented President, let us do justice to his memory! He dies in the hour of his country’s restored greatness, and in the full fruition of his own personal triumph. The assassin’s blow, will rank him in the memory of mankind among the martyrs of freedom.

The 19th inst. – the day set apart for the funeral of our late President, was duly observed with appropriate ceremonies for our Brigade. The Regiments present were the 47th Pa. V.V.’s, 8th Vermont, 12th Conn. and 153rd N.Y. It became my duty to officiate on the occasion, and it was one of the most solemn and impressive scenes I ever witnessed.” 

Rodrock then went on to report on the morale and health of his regiment, leaving the “solemn and impressive” gathering of soldiers to the reader’s imagination. What is known for certain is that the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were unable to participate in the President’s funeral parade, as many other Union troops did, because the 47th Pennsylvanians and their fellow brigade members were still on duty. Assigned to protect Washington, DC in the wake of Lincoln’s assassination, they grieved collectively during Rodrock’s brief memorial service and individually as battle-hardened soldiers when their respective schedules allowed time for rumination.

Over the next two weeks, one member of the 47th Pennsylvania would be given the honor of guarding the late President’s funeral train while others would be assigned to guard Mary Surratt and the other key conspirators in Lincoln’s assassination during the early days of their imprisonment.

To read more of Chaplain Rodrock’s reports, please see the Religion and Spirituality section of this website.