"We shot them down like dogs."

This image, from the Library of Congress, does not identify the Confederate by name but does identify his unit. The 1st Mississippi Cavalry Battalion served west of the Appalachians.

Friday, May 13, 1865,  Orangeburg County

For us, this war was supposed to be over. Our Lee had surrendered us and the Yankees paroled us to go home without a trip to a prisoner of war camp. We had properly signed parole papers that permitted us to return home in peace and stay there in peace. Others may still be in the field, fighting, but not us.

The war came back to us today at Cameron Crossroads in this county. As the ten of us were making our way (I cannot say that we were marching), towards Charleston on the turnpike, we heard hoofbeats coming towards us from somewhere behind us. They sounded as if there was deliberation in their movement. We could not tell if these were Yankees, renegade or otherwise. Even if they had legitimate business for their being on this road, eight of us were armed, and once the Yankees saw us, they might open fire, capture us and send us all to prison.

Captain Kelly quickly gave us orders. Five of us, with all of the rifles, would go hide in the brush along the road. The remaining five, all without arms, except Captain Brailsford who kept his pistol after the surrender, would stay on the side of the road opposite those hidden. If their intentions were peaceful, everyone would go their own way. If otherwise, they would receive a warm reception.

We had not long to wait. No sooner had Captain Kelly and his men hid themselves than the party of horsemen caught up to us and reined themselves in. They were Confederate cavalry, a dozen of them and all armed. Their lieutenant addressed our captain in terms no inferior officer should use with a superior. Their lieutenant, a disgrace to the uniform, demanded our surrender. He stated that they were Wheeler's men and we were about to be separated from anything they deemed of use to them. We were to comply or be killed. Their bushwhacking leader noticed the captain's pistol and demanded he surrender it to him.

Our captain refused, stating that Southerner should not rob fellow Southerners. The renegade said that he would take the pistol either before or after he kills the captain, that it made no difference to him.

Upon hearing this, Captain Kelly ordered his men to open fire. After discharging their rifles, some reloaded while the others took the spare rifles and fired again. I suppose that this made the bushwhackers think that they were outnumbered. They turned to fire back but we had the upper hand. We shot them down like dogs. A few shots were fired in our direction. I was hit by one of them. I was wounded but not badly so. My wound did not stop me from diving for cover into the brush as did all of us on the road except Captain Brailsford who managed to discharge his pistol at the robbers.

In less than a minute this little skirmish was over. Of their dozen, eight were shot dead from their saddles including their leader. The other four, one appearing to be wounded, charged back the way they came. We fired a few rounds in their direction as they fled but we probably did not hit anyone.

Cleapor attended to my wound with a sock from my pack. On our side, I was the only casualty.
My wound is not at all serious. No bone was struck, praise be. Both my legs are still attached but my pace will be slowed, I'm sure.

Brown and McGuire went over to the dead to see what we might find useful. Captain Kelly stopped them. He said that we should not degrade the South our ourselves by descending to their level. He did permit us to take anything edible and any weapons so that all of us would be armed should there be other such encounters. My own musket, in the hands of Samson, was struck in the stock and destroyed. We are all armed now, including myself. I have a carbine which had come to the Confederacy via our overseas friends in the old country. Brown inspected it and pronounced it first rate.

We are now in a barn without a roof for the night. Three of us, armed, are standing watch. Our supper was adequate in quantity if not in quality, our rations being supplemented by that earlier incident. Tomorrow, we will again take to the road to Charleston.

I cannot but help to laugh. During this entire war, through several severe battles, with my comrades falling all around me, no enemy bullet found me. The one and only time that I am shot and it happens to me after the war is over from one who used to be on our side.

Charleston by Sunday.


I Send You These Few Lines.


Cameron Crossroads in now located in Calhoun County, created in 1908 from Orangeburg County.
The county is named after former Vice-President and Senator John C. Calhoun.

John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.

It is hard to say which side Wheeler and his men were on during the war. Wheeler was touted as a daring and capable cavalry commander but a poor disciplinarian. Some of his men got into a firefight with the 45th North Carolina while the former was attacking a Confederate storehouse.  D.H. Hill, a Confederate general officer, stated, "The whole of Georgia is full of bitter complaints of Wheeler's cavalry."

Joe Wheeler, in 1865,, was promoted to Lieutenant General in spite of the reputation of his men.

Daniel Harvey Hill was just one of many Southerners with harsh things to say about Wheeler.

Tooms' new firearm is a Maynard carbine. Produced in calibers .50 and .52, it was touted a a very good weapon, favored by Southern cavalrymen. It was not produced in great numbers, perhaps 20,000 total both before and during the war with 3,000 being used in Confederate service. It fired a metallic cartridge which was rare for Southern arms. Being a breech-loader, also a rarity, gave the cavalrymen a rate of fire that was much faster than a muzzle-loader.

Maynard carbine. The lever, when down, would tilt the barrel downward to allow the shooter to load a fresh cartridge into the breech.

The war is becoming much, much smaller. Tooms could not know that the last major Confederate force left east of the Mississippi has surrendered. Richard Taylor, son of President Zachary Taylor and brother-in-law to Jefferson Davis via Davis' first wife. Taylor's Department of Alabama, Georgia and East Mississippi surrendered on May 8.

A post-war image of former Lieutenant General Richard Taylor.

Confederate forces still remain in the field west of the Mississippi but their turn is coming.

Jefferson Davis and his party, all prisoners since their capture on May 10, are in Macon, Georgia en route to Savannah. It may not be very clear to the reader why I keep mentioning the ex-Confederate President when supposedly, the last connection between Davis and Tooms was on April 27. See the diary entry Tooms made on that same date for details. I discovered one other connection not too long ago and will include it in this blog when the time comes. There's some talk about a new historical marker to this effect.

Between now and then, Tooms and his comrades still have to get to Charleston without any more trouble. And after that, Tooms will be on his own.