Lieutenant Williamson had asked for four of us to volunteer for a mission but offered no details. Hancock, Terry, Vincent and myself stepped forward and offered ourselves for what we knew not. We are not fresh fish; we have been together since the beginning in the camp of instruction. We knew better than to volunteer.
It was boredom that moved us to place ourselves at risk. The boredom, the cold, the hunger and the frustration all conspired to overrule our self-preservation instincts. The entire army is fully aware, as are the Yankees, that the improving weather brings sooner the time that both sides will again awake from the winter's slumber and proceed to kill each other. They kill to enslave us and we kill to win our liberties. If we can strike them before they strike us, so much the better. And besides, Captain Kerr mentioned that Yankee haversacks were full of cheese. That was what moved us.
Captain Kerr, who now commands our regiment since there are no higher officers any more, was with the lieutenant. We knew that if the regimental commander and our lieutenant, who is also our company commander, was requesting volunteers, that we were not being asked to go on a firewood detail. Corporal Flynn volunteered to be our non-commissioned officer although none was asked for.
With the captain and the lieutenant as old Jim Adams. I say old, he was mustered in with us in Columbia in '61. He was eighteen, then but now looked quite older. He was now serving with the brigade's sharpshooter battalion. Adams was to be our escort to the battalion. On the way he told us what was to happen.
The battalion was going out on a raid that night and was short some men just as every other regiment and battalion was in the army. We four, volunteers, plus Corporal Flynn, would come along as flankers. We have had no training as raiders so we were to protect one flank of the raiding party. I suspect that a similar group would protect the other flank. The raiding party of experienced veterans would be the ones to ambush the Yankees in their rifle pits.
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| A Confederate sharpshooter. |
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| The Union recruited sharpshooters as well. This recruiting poster is for the 1st United States Sharpshooters, known better as the Berdan's, after the commander. |
Sergeant Plexico, of Company A, of our regiment, said as much to us when were were brought by Adams to report to him. We waited in the picket line until it was dark. We asked what have we done but it was too late to shirk our duty now. At a silent signal, we advanced, ever so quietly. Plexico said that he would shoot the first man who made a noise. We covered the raiding party's right.
We listened to every sound, no matter how slight, listening for any evidence that the Yankees had discovered our purpose and were waiting with fixed bayonets. The darkness helped to conceal our location and purpose. As we crept further forward, we could hear the Yankees talking. Somewhere in the darkness, they were playing cards. One was complaining that his pipe would not light. On we crawled.
Plexico's raiding party stormed one of their rifle pits. We could hear muffled sounds to our left and prayed that no Yankees on our right heard anything. They did. We could not see that the slight rise that we were crawling up was the front part of another pit. One Yankee, not more that a foot from me, raised his head above the protection of the pit. We dared not have allowed him to raise the alarm. As hard as I could, I struck him with my rifle butt. He went down hard. We then had to be raiders ourselves to silence the rest of them so over the top we went.
It was over quite quickly. Two of the Yankees were dispatched with bayonets. Two, including my Yankee, were taken alive. None of us were hurt badly. Hancock suffered a bruised shoulder. Before we could be discovered, we left the pit and rejoined Sergeant Plexico's party. They had captured four of the enemy. Corporal Flynn told Plexico what had happened with us. He expressed surprise that we, in our inexperience, could successfully take prisoners without loss.
We gave them our prisoners but not before we liberated everything useful to us. They lost their overcoats, haversacks, canteens and shoes. My Yank, with a powerful headache, surrendered to me his overcoat and haversack less his letters and a photograph from home. As it was approaching daylight, we were ordered, with thanks, to return to our company. We had to be careful as we were wearing blue overcoats.
Back within our own lines, with our cards, we regained all with our stories. Everyone envied our overcoats. When I inspected the contents of my new haversack, I found four crackers, a small poke of rice and a piece of salt horse. It all went into the cook pot and we shared. There was no cheese but there was some smoking tobacco which I gave to Vincent.
To my surprise, there was a newspaper, called, "The New South", inside the haversack. This is a Yankee paper published where I live in Beaufort County. I read aloud the advertised delicacies being offered by the garrison sutlers until Vincent threw a shoe at me.
Just before Plexico sent us back here, he honored us by saying that he would like to have us return to be on the next raid. No. Not for a haversack stuffed with cheese. No.
I Send You These Few Lines
During the later course of the war, the Army of Northern Virginia ordered the creation of several battalions of sharpshooters drawn from the various brigades. Ideally, the men picked were good shots. Sometimes, these sharpshooters would man the picket lines. When there was a need for information, or perhaps cheese, the battalion would organize raiding parties to do exactly what was described above. An actual order to gather intelligence read:
HEADQUARTERS THIRD CORPS
JANUARY 8, 1865
It is represented that the enemy intends renewing their attack on Wilmington, and that troops have left here to that end. Can not you ascertain whether or not any troops have left your front or any changes occurred?
Respectfully,
A.P. HILL Lieutenant General
The above order came from the corps commander to Major General Wilcox, one of Hill's division commanders, who endorsed it and sent it on to Brigadier General McGowan, one of Wilcox's brigade commanders. McGowan endorsed it and sent it on to his battalion of sharpshooters commanded by Captain W.S. Dunlop.
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| A. Powell Hill, corps commander |
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| Cadmus Wilcox, division commander under Hill. |
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| Samuel McGowan, brigade commander under Wilcox. |
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| William Dunlop, sharpshooter battalion commander under McGowan. |
Robert M Plexico, had been with A Company of the 12th South Carolina before becoming a sharpshooter. James B. Adams had been in Tooms' own company I. So had Benjamin Howell, not mentioned above.
Robert M. Kerr, senior captain of the 12th, commanded the regiment. All of the majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels have long been killed, wounded, or invalided out of the war. Lieutenant Williamson commands the Lancaster Hornets since the company has no captains left.
The, "New South", newspaper was printed on Hilton Head Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina by Union interests which have occupied the area since November of 1861 following the Battle of Port Royal Sound. Blog readers of long standing may remember that Tooms and the 12th were there as part of the garrison of Fort Walker.
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| Port Royal was the Union naval base on Hilton Head Island. |
Tooms took the haversack and newspaper from a private in the 48th New York. The 48th had been stationed in Beaufort County prior to its' transfer, with other regiments, to Virginia and the Army of the Potomac.
Readers may have noticed that these diary entries are being posted more often than usual. Things are getting hot.
What neither Tooms nor any of his pards know is that that raid took place for a specific reason which may or may not be revealed to Tooms before very long.
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