The banner of the South and planters' journal. (Augusta, Ga.) 1870-18??, December 17, 1870, Page 8, Image 8
8
(ffonfrfcerate fHroiorials
Reoort of the Executive Board of the
Survivors Association of the State
of South Carolina
The Executive Board respectfully
report the duty of preserving the his
tory of the events ot the late war be
tween the Confederate and United
States, which are Btill fresh in the
memory of its survivors, and of col
lecting the many Confederate records
which yet exist, but which will be for
gotten- and destroyed unless at onee
oollected and put in permanent form
is reorganized and assumed in the
basis of organization of this-Associa
tion.
To perform this duty it is provided
in the constitution that there shall be
an Executive Board consisting of seven
members appointed by the President,
which shall l>e charged with the collec
tion, arrangement and preservation of
the records of the Association, and
shall have the general superintendence
and control of the Bureau of Records.
It is also provided that the Executive
Board shall annually elect a Librarian,
who shall be charged with the imme
diate custody of all books, papers and
records committed to his care by them,
and of their arrangement and record
under the superintendence of the
Board, and who shall receive such com
pensation as the Board shAll determine.
Under the provisions of the constitu
tion the undersigned were appointed
upon the Executive Board, and entered
upon their duties.
There appear to the Board to be two
classes of records which it is desirable
to preserve. The first relates to the
general history of the war. The sec
ond to the number, organization and
personal history of the troops furnished
by the State to the Confederate army.
The Board belie es that a large
amount of loose, but most valuable
material for the first exists, Rueh as re
ports, orders, letters, <tc., scattered
about in private portfolios, which will
be lost not only to the State, but to the
individual possessors, unless systemati
cally preserved, and they are anxious
to obtain these papers at least for the
purpose of making copies.
They would recommend that the
Board be authorized to purchase it'thev
cannot otherwise procure a complete file
of the official reports issued from the
war office of the Confederate States, and
Such other histories of the war as they
may consider worthy of preservation
for the use of the Association, and as
its means may permit
They regard, however, the second
class of records by far the most perti
nent to the designs of this Association,
and they believe it to be that which
first demands our efforts to preserve.
The largo number of able and promi
nent officers interested in the history of
the general operations of our armies is
some guarantee that an effort will be
made to obtain a fair statement of what
was done by the Confederate troops in
the field. But there is another part of
the history’ of the times which it be
hoves us carefully to preserve, and
in which as none arc so immediately
and personally interested is in more
danger of being lost.
The war having ended disastrously
to our cause the whole Southern peo
ple turn upon us the most scrutinizing
inquiry as to tlfc part our State took in
the war she inaugurated. And this is
but just. As we gloried in having
rushed foremost into the fray, and as
our action compiled the people of our
sister Southern States either to stand
by and see us, and with us, their own
cause Subjugated, or to join in the
struggle, so now, in their own and our
own defeat, it becomes us to show that
we were not laggards in the strife to
which we called them.
And this we can do. We believe
that we can show out of a voting popu
lation of Ires than 68,000 we gave
44,000 volunteers during the first 18
months of the war, and during the
whole war at least one soldier for eve
ry vote cast tor secession. We believe
that we can show that our State gave
more than 12,000 lives for the South
ern cause. And we believe that- we
can show that of the remnant of the
glorious Army of Northern Virginia
which stood by its chieftain to the last,
one-fifth of the whole were South Caro
linians, and that though she was one
BANNER OF THE SOUTH AND PLANTERS’ JOURNAL.
I of the smallest of the nine States whose
! troops composed his army.
But all this must be shown not
merely asserted. And how can we
show it ? The records of both State
and Confederate States have been de
stroyed, and facts and names are fast
passing from our memory. Unless we
can gather at oned all the remaining
rolls and supply the missing from such
memoranda as may yet exist, we shall
soon be left to bare assertion.
There is yet another and as grave a
reason why our first efforts should be
directed to the personal history of our
troops.
In an article in a recent English re
view on the government scheme of
Army Reform submitted to Parliament
it is said:
“The enfant* perdu of the world are your
, “beat soldiers, the men who liavc lost, all
“taste for civil life, who are no Joss to civil
“society, who.have weighed life in the bal
“ance and found it wanting—men of wreck
“ed prospects and rained hopes—men who
“seek in the wild excitement of the strife an
‘‘escape from the memory of bright days
‘‘gone by from the thought of fortunes once
‘‘fair, now blasted—frimi the broken dream
‘‘of faith in woman's love. Such men tilled
‘‘the ranks of the zouave battalions of
‘‘France during the Crimean war. Such
‘‘men were to be found in numbers in the
‘‘European Regiments of the Old company's,
‘‘service in India. Men very hard to hold
‘‘in peace, but harder still to light in war.”
And such, doubtless, were the men
wlto have composed moat armies of
the world. But Such were not the men
who marched with Jackson, who
fought at Chickamauga, who stormed
the heights of Gettysburg, who charged
with Hampton, or who stood frnndst
Sumter's crumbling walls.
To describe the characters of those
who composer? the armies of the Con
federate States, is but to describe the
character of our people. The rich and
the poor, the educated and ignorant,
the farmer and merchant, the student
laborer stood side by side in our
ranks.
The general historian will tell of
the operations in the field, and will
give as far as the imperfect, records
will enable him an estimate of the
number engaged. But who will tell
of the host of privates, our friends,
our brothers, who, with bare and
bleeding feet, struggled over rocky
gnd frozen roads to fall unknown in
bartle ?
To those of us who survive, though
it has fallen to our lot to bear the hu
miliation of deteat from which tie/
have been spared, there yet remains
the op|)ortuiuty of straggling for our
native land, and the hope some day of
realizing the objects for which we
fought, though not in the form we de
sired. But for those who fell no such
hope remains. They gave their lives
for our cause, it becomes us to pre
serve their memories.
The Executive Board were author
ized to appoint a Librarian to take
charge of the books, papers and
records of the Association. It was
known to the Board that. Professor W:
J. Rivers had been engaged during
and since the war in collecting the
names of the dead aud gathering in
formation in regard to the organization
and number of our troops. They
sought, therefore', to obtain invaluable
assistance in this capacity. But
though generously putting all the
material lie had collected at the dis
posal of the Association, circumstances
prevented his assuming the charge of
our records, lie consented, however,
•for the present to aid the Board in
their work.
In a preface to the papers tendered to the
Association, Prof. Rivers says : "The plan
"devised for tic- arrangement of the mate
rnal collected consists of two parts. First
"an introduction containing (lj a ehrono
‘‘logical account of the raising of trooi>s for
“State and Confederate service, (2) a brief
“account of the career of each organization
“during the war with ;ui appended group
ing together of the dead of each regiment
“or battalion, (8) statistical tables showing
“the number killed in battle, the number of
“those.who died of wounds, of disease or
“from accident; the number who died be
“tweeu the age of 15 and 20, 20 and 25, and
“so on the number from each district, and a
“list of the engagements in which our State
“troops participated. The second consists
“of the roll or an alphabetical list of all who
“perished with the district from which each
“soldier came, his rank, company, regi
“ment, arm of service, date of death, cause
“aud place of death aud age.”
lie now offers to the Association
the work thus far completed hv him,
viz ; The introduction to fiis collection
containing, as he proposed, a chrono
logical account of the raising of troops
! for State and Confederate service, in
itself a most valuable work, and one of
great historical importance, mid also
sketches prepared by him (from in
formation furnished by the officers) of
tlia careers of the following regiments,
to-wit: Ist S. C. V. (Ilagoods); 2nd
8. C. V., 7th S. C. V., 10th 8. C. V.,
13th S. C. V., 18th S. C. V., 20th S.
C. V., 22nd S. C. V., 24th S. C. V.,
(Holcombe Legion), 2d S. C. Rifles,
3th and 7th S. C. Cavalry and 7th S.
C. Battalion, together with a list of
the battles in which the troops from !
this State were engaged arranged in j
chronological order, amounting in all
to the n tmber of one hundred and
and eight, not including the general
operations of the Beige of Petersburg
lasting 10 months, and that of Claries
ton lasting three years.
It appears from the Adjutant Gen-!
eral’s lieport in appendix to Journal of
4th session of the Convention which is ;
quoted by Prof. Rivers, that upon the
30th of August, 1862, the State of
South Carolina had in the field 41,873
volunteers and 1100 conscripts, and
that it was estimated t hat the number
of men contributed by the State |
up to that time to the Confederate
service exceeded 45,000, besides which
she then had in active service 8,000
reserves, and that during the last year
of the war we had in the field 32 Regi
ments and 3 Battalions of infantry, of
which 8 regiments of cavalry and 2
regiments, 2 battalions and 22 batteries
of artillery, with 4 regiments of re
serves, besides the corps of State
cadets.
This enumeration does not include
the officers and men ‘of the General
Staff, to-wit: the Engineer, Ordnance,
Adjutant,Quartermasters, Commissary,
Signal and Medical Corps, of which we
have not, as yet, been able 'to obtain
estimates.
. But the most valuable material offer
ed to the Association by Prof. Rivers in
the opinion of the Board are the names
of the dead collected by him. This
roll he had made up from all sources
within his reach, newspaper reports,
reports of friends, auQ some official re
ports. Thus collected they had been
put down only in al|ihabetical order,
that is the names were only collected
together by the initial letters, and so
in looking for any given name in many
cases hundreds had to l»e read. Gath
ered moreover from various sources
and put down from tifflo to time it was
impossible, but that it should lmpj>en
that some names would be t wioe or
even three times entered, and this was
the more likely to happen, as in the
hurry of the official reports, the diffi
culty of deciphering illegible writing,
and through the mistakes of the press,
combined with the arbitrary method of
spelling names, the same name rei>ort
ed from different sources was often so
varied as to make a doubt as tot its
identity.
The Board, therefore, undertook to
have this collection of names rear
ranged, lexicographically and fairly
written out, and engaged a lady, the
widow of a Confederate officer, to per
form the task. This work lias l>een
done and supervised with the assist
ance of Prof. Rivera, and we herewith
present to the Association a roll of
10,000 South Carolinians who gave
their lives to the' Southern cause, with
an appendix of 2,000 more collect
ed from sources not as authentic. The
lady who undertook this work agreed
to doit for the sum of SIOO, and that
amount has been advanced to her by
meml*era of this Board. But it is not
considered, a sufficient remuneration
for the labor it has cost. She has been
[ obliged to procure assistance, and the
j task has occupied the whole summer.
The Board tkuik that an inspection of
| the work will show that the Associa
tion is indebted to the ladies who have
performed it, and recommend that the
Treasurer lx: authorized and instructed
to pay them the further sum of $25 as
soon as in funds.
The Board are well aware that some
names are still wanting, they them
selves could supply a fewoinisions, but
they have determined to recommend
that it be published as it is, in two edi
tions. the first with a preface inviting
corrections and additions to lie submit
ted to the Board by the friends- of
those who fell, the second with the
additions and corrections thus made
in a better and more permanent form.
The Board have obtained estimates
', of the cost of publishing the Roll, to
! get her with J'rof. River’s history of
j the raising of troops in this State in
[the two editions, and report that
.Messrs. Walker, Evans <fc Cogswell, of
[Charleston, offer to publish 1,000
copies of each edition for $2 50 a copy,
to be paid on delivery'. If then we
can obtain 1000 subscribers at $5 for
the two editions, this great memorial
of our dead and valuable historical
j work of our State will be secured..
The Board herewith present printed 1
forms for subscription lists, and feel
confident that if the plan is adopted
the number of subscribers will soon be
found.
While thus securing the remem
brance of those who tell, the Board
have felt tliat all who offered their
lives were equally entitled to have
their names recorded upon the glori
; ous roll of those who tought for our
| cause.
To this end the President of the
Association in conference with the
Board issued a circular appealing earn
estly to all who (vere in the service to
| co-operate with the Association in their
effort to up the work commenced
by Prof. Rivers during the war and to
goon with it, to obtain aud perfect rolls
of companies, the records of regiments
and the history of brigades. (A copy
of this circular is annexed to this re
port marked A.)
In furtherance of this object they
prepared a printed form of rolls (a:
copy of which is also annexed marked
B) to be issued to the officers last in
command of companies or to other
suitable persons. These circulars and
blanks they proposed to issue through
the officers last in command of regi
ments. To obtain the names and ad-j
dresses of such officers inquiries were
addressed to each officer last in com
mand of the brigade of troops of this
State. The names and addresses of
officers last in command of the regi
ments aud batteries, not brigaded with
South Carolina troops, they ascertained
as Iwst they could, and believe they
have been successful in most instances
in some they still need information.
In answer to their inquiries they
have received replies from Generals j
Hagood, McGowan, M.-migault, Brat
ton, Connor, Capers and Gary'. Major j
Barker furnished the information of the |
brigade of cavalry last commanded by 1
General Logan, who has removed
from the State. From the officer whet’
commanded the Brigade of Regulars
the Board have received no reply to I
their communication.
Upon the recommendation of the 1
Brigade commanders they sent circu
lars (see copy appended marked C) to!
the officers named in the list hereto j
annexed marked D, and with each eir-1
cular a package containing printed i
forms for rolls, and envelopes with i
printed address of the Chairman of!
the Board in which to return the rolls
when completed.
The Board could not obtain the ad
dresses of the officers last in command
of the regiments, battalions and bat
teries named in the annexed lists
marked E, with sufficient accuracy to
issue circulars and forms of rolls,
though many of their names are well
known. They have received returns
w ith rolls of their companies from the
officers named in the list marked F.
Asa matter of historical interest
they append to this report a list mark-1
ed G, of the General officers of this!
State, and of the regiments, battalions i
and lotteries, as they were ultimately
organized, with the names of the com
manders as far :is known to the Board,
together with the brigade organizations
as they were at the end of the war.
They invite corrections and addi
tions to these lists, if any’ mistakes or
ommissious are detected in them.'
The Board hope by the next meeting j
to be able to report a roll of the Field
and Stall' officers of the State. They j
regret that they have no information !
to report in regard to the naval forces
of the State, but Hope in another year •
to jiave something in regard to that
branch of the service to submit
The Board did not feel themselves
authorized to employ a Librarian until
some definite arrangement had been
made in regard to the finances of the
Association. But they are anxious to
have this office tilled at once. The
correspondence in regard to the rolls
now’ being prepared is large, the custo-
dyot the papers a matter of responsi
bility, and their arrangement a wor fc
j requiring more time and attention than
can be given, but by a person regularly
employed to attend to it. They think 1
i l * lat f°r the small salary of SIOO they
; could obtain the sendees of a compe
j tent person to jierform these duties.
,It is of great consequence too, that
: the records should be kept in a secure
place accessible to aIL They think
they can effect an arrangement by
; which such a place of deposit will be
[ found, and this only at the cost of fix
ing a few si‘elves and boxes for the
j books and records.
They submit an estimate (see ap
;pendix II.) of the expenses already in
cured by the Board and of the ex
. penses for the n<fxt year,
i The Board cannot close this report
without calling the attention of the
[ Association still more particularly to
•the patriotic and laborious efforts of
Prof. Rivers to collect and preserve
the material for the history ot the
troops furnished by the State, aud to
his admirable arrangement of the
material collected by him, as well as
to the generous manner in which he
has placed the results of his labor at
the disposal of this Association.
Prof. Rivera, it is true, was engaged
by the Legislature of the State in
1864 to undertake this w’ork, but it
should be known that he never re
ceived one cent for his services dur
| ing the time he was acting under its
authority. His work had,' indeed, but
been commenced w hen the war ended,
and his official connection with the
matter ceased. The great mass of the
material has been collected since
the end of the war by his disinterested
efforts. The people of the State gen-
I erallpr, but particularly those of whose
services he has endeavored to preserve
the record, ftwe to him a debt of grati
tude. The friends of those whose
names' this, his exertion, and found
upon the glorious Roll of South Caro
lina matyred dead, should appreciate
and gratefully remember the services
he has rendered them.
In conclusion the Board would
recommend the adoption of the follow
ing resolutions :
1. Resolved, That the estimate of ex
penses submitted by the Executive-
Board be referred to a special com
mittee of three to devise a plan for
raising the amount so reported as
necessary to meet the expenses already
incurred and for the expenses of the
next year, and report*the same to this
meeting.
2. Resolved , That the Treasurer
be authorized to pay to the Executive
Board the sum of one. hundred and
twenty-five dollars ($125) for the ladies
who have rearranged and engrossed
the Roll of the Dead, and also to pay
the bill of Messrs. Walker, Evans &
Cogswell reported due by the Board,
amounting to eighty-three dollars and
seventy-nine cents (SB3 79).
3. Resolved , That the Executive
Bbad be authorized to publish by sub
scription upon the plan reported by'
them the Roll of the Dead prepared by
Prof. Rivers as now rearranged, in two
editions, the first edition for correc
tions and additions, and the second so
corrected and added to in permanent
form.
4. Resolved, That the Executive
Board be authorized to purchase as
soon as the Treasurer shall be in suffi
icient funds after having paid the
■ amounts already ordered, a complete
! tile of the official reports issued by the
War Department of the Confederate
States, and such other histories as they
! may deem it important at once to ob
tain, and to draw on the Treasurer
1 when- so in funds, therefor to an
I amount not. exceeding one hundred
! and twenty-five dollars ($125).
; 5. Resolved, That the Executive
j Board be authorized to obtain a place
j of deposit for the records and books of
the Association, which shall be accessi
ble to all?anil to expend upon the
same a sum of not more than twenty
five dollars ($25) for shelves, <&c.
6. Resolved, That this Association
requests all persons having original re
ports of or letters describing battles,
marches, reconuoisances, sieges or
other papers relating to the operations
of the war, to permit the Executive
Board to have copies of the same
taken for preservation.
7. Resolved, That this Association
[concluded on page bis.]