"...pork and crackers."

This well-armed and probably early-war Confederate is one of the unidentified images from the Library of Congress.

Wednesday, May 10, 1865, Hammond Crossroads

We had to leave Columbia, and not just because we want to go home. There is nothing there anymore. There was nothing there to keep us so this morning, we left the capital city. Those of us whose homes were nearby left the party to return to home and hearth. The rest of us wanted to revitalize ourselves before leaving for Charleston. Rations were foremost in our mind as our haversacks were nearing empty. We also needed a place to sleep as it was too late to resume our travel.

We were hoping that, even after the fire that there Yankees set, there would be at least one government storehouse operating under the jurisdiction of the Commissary Department. To this end, we made our way to such a storehouse near the railway station. It was there that we met a Major
Rhett of the Quartermaster Department. He confirmed what we already knew from our own observations. There was nothing to be had; the storehouse was all burned up. He said that we could stay inside the burnt hulk as it provided some shelter.

Once we entered, we quickly began looking for anything that could be consumed by hungry soldiers. We moved rubble and burned timbers in our efforts. We found, after much exertion which further famished us, one box of hardtack crackers and a barrel of salt pork. Both box and barrel had been ruptured and a good deal of the contents were spoiled. Out came our pocket knives and off came the spoiled parts. Had we been much more hungry, we would not have cared.

Before building a cook fire, we had to clear off a circle on the dirt floor lest we burn down Columbia again. There was no end of usable firewood around us. There was no water to drink nearby so a water party was formed with all our canteens. Half of us, that is to say, five, as there are only ten of us left, were to make our way to the river while the other five stayed in the storehouse to guard our very invaluable valuables. I was part of the water party and all of us were armed.

We experienced no trouble in filling our canteens but it was difficult finding good water. All those left behind were relieved to see us and not just because we had water. We cooked all we could by way of the discovered pork and crackers and packed as much in our haversacks as would fit for the morrow which is today.

When we left the storehouse, after breakfast, we went to the river to fill our canteens before resuming our march. We made it to the Columbia-Charleston Turnpike and turned there. This is a turnpike in name only. It is little better than a wide trail. Some of us will be losing our shoes before we reach Charleston.

There are just ten of us now, less than half of what left Lancaster on the fourth. Among us are two captains, a first sergeant, an Ordnance Sergeant and six high privates. Everyone served with the First. I am the only one from the Twelfth. They all seem like good men. Five of us, including Captain Kelly, have been wounded in combat with the enemy. Samson has a leg wound that bothers him as we march. We take turns shouldering his knapsack and rifle. Hw would do the same for us.

We are here for the night. This place, this crossroads, is nothing at all. There are no intact buildings present . Tomorrow, we will leave this place. We have told ourselves that we will be on half-rations until we arrive at Charleston. This is nothing; we have been on short rations for most of the war.

God willing, we will be in Charleston in four days.


I Send You These Few Lines.

This new party of travelers consist of nine members of Company K and Company L plus some field and staff personnel of the 1st South Carolina Regiment. Of the 10 companies of the 1st, two, these two, were raised in Charleston, the rest coming from other areas of the state. All during the war, perhaps as many as 200 soldiers served in these two Charleston Companies. Of these 200, only these nine are left. Company K is represented by two men, Michael McGuire and William Aiken.

The two captains are William Aiken Kelly and Edward D. Brailsford. Kelly received a gun shot wound above the clavicle in May of 1864. The first sergeant is Patrick Henry Reilly who was wounded twice during the war. Samson is Abraham J. Samson who took a gun shot wound to the right thigh in 1864. He was also captured at Falling Waters, Maryland at the conclusion of the Gettysburg campaign. John H. Howell, a fellow Hornet from Tooms' company, was captured at Falling Waters. He was later exchanged, returned to duty and wounded a few days before the fall of Petersburg.

The remaining members of this marching and (sans) chowder society are Hezell W. Crouch, Frederick W. Leseman, John Cleapor, Ordnance Sergeant Benjamin F. Brown and the diarist, David Tooms.

Major Roland Rhett was a Quartermaster Department officer stationed in Columbia during the burning. The Commissary building the party stayed in was located at the northeast corner of Gervais and Wayne in Columbia.

The observations that Tooms made concerning the turnpike were quite correct. The road from Columbia to Charleston was chartered years before the war and rapidly fell into neglect. The route is now US 176, otherwise known as the Old State Road.

Today, 150years ago, Jefferson Davis and his party were captured by Union cavalry near Irwinville, Georgia.

Four days to a safe haven in Charleston. Tooms has five or six more days to go.