side of the railroad. Constant communication is kept up by couriers
through neighborhood roads and paths. A strong scouting party was
sent up in the neighborhood of Branchville, as soon as we reached this
place, with instructions to find the enemy and ascertain his line of
march, force, character of troops, &c. They have not yet reported, and
I feel confident from that fact that the enemy are not in the immediate
neighborhood of Branchville. Lieutenant Bennett, of Texas troops,
reported to me yesterday evening as a scout, with orders from Major-
General McLaws. He says that the major-general desires us to move
up on both roads until we find the enemy. This is in conflict with
instructions given me by Colonel Fiser and Captain King, assistant
adjutant-general, who said we must keep in supporting distance of our
infantry. If Lieutenant Bennett is properly instructed you will please
inform me. I know nothing of him. His order is signed by Major-
General McLaws and not by an adjutant. I am advancing slowly on
both roads, and hope to be at or above Branchville to-night, scouting
in advance. Will be glad to follow up the enemy s rear and flank it,
agreeable to the major-general s plans. Please forward the accompany
ing to Colonel Colcock.
I have the honor to be, captain, very respectfully, your obedient ser
vant,
H. C. SMART,
Captain, Commanding.
HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF GEORGIA,
February 14, 1865.
Major HAMILTON:
You will relieve to-day Palmer s battalion of artillery ordered to
move with Major-General Cheatham. Two guns will be sent to Granite-
ville and two to Bath to take the place of those at those points. This
relieving battery of your guns will be subject to the order of Major-
1184 OPERATIONS IN N. C., S. C., S. GA., AND E. FLA. [CHAP. LIX.
General Waltball at Graniteville. Your remaining battery will be
placed in position near the crossing of Big Horse Creek by the Beach
Island road, and will be subject to the command of Maj. Gen.
G. W. Smith.
I). H. HILL,
Major- General.
AUGUSTA, February 11,
Brigadier-General FRY,
Commanding Post :
GENERAL: These headquarters having been informed that there are
several local companies in this city armed with Enfield rides, General
Beauregard desires that you will cause their arms to be collected by
Captain Fiuney and turned over to Cheathanrs corps. These com
panies can be supplied with muskets now in charge of Captain Finney.
I annex a list of the companies holding the rifles: Smith s and Pendle-
ton s companies, at powder mills; Markey s and Camiuade s companies,
at machine works; Smythe s company, at arsenal; demons and
Rowley s companies, at shoe and wagon factory; Cross company, at
shoe factory ; Holmes company, at medical depot.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
GEORGE WM. BRENT,
Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General.
AUGUSTA, February 14, 1865.
Maj. E. WILLIS,
Chief Quartermaster:
MAJOR : General Beauregard directs that you report to him at
Columbia, S. C., at once, prepared to visit Richmond, Va.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
GEORGE WM. BRENT,
Colonel and Assistant Adjutant- General.
COLUMBIA, S. C., February 14, 1865.
Hon. G. A. TRENHOLM,
Secretary of Treasury, Richmond, Va. :
General Beauregard left for Charleston yesterday evening and will
return to-morrow morning. General Hampton advises the removal of
Treasury Note Bureau to Charlotte, N. C., or some point beyond. The
information has been extended to Mr. Leitch, assistant treasurer, and
Mr. C. F. Hanckel, of the Treasury Note Bureau.
ALB. FERRY,
Assistant Adjutant- General.
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE WEST,
Columbia, S. C., February 11, 1865.
Major-General CHEATIIAM,
Commanding Corps, Augusta, Ga. :
General Beauregard directs you to hasten your movement on
Columbia.
JNO. M. OTEY,
Assistant Adjutant- General,
CHAP. LIX.J CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. CONFEDERATE. 1185
COLUMBIA, S. 0., February 14, 1865 1.45 p. m.
Lieut, Gen. A. P. STEWART, Neicbcrry, S. C. :
General Beauregard directs you to hasten your movement on
Columbia or to join General Wheeler, as circumstances may best
require.
ALB. FERRY,
Assistant Adjutant- General.
COLUMBIA, S. C., February 14, 1865.
General BEAUREGARD:
The enemy have driven Clayton across the railroad bridge, and it has
been burnt. He reports heavy force moving on McCord s Ferry.
Re-enforcements sent there from Kiiigsville. Cavalry have been skir
mishing with the enemy in front on Little Congaree bridge, and have
checked their advance.
C. L. STEVENSON,
Major- General.
HEADQUARTERS LEE S CORPS,
Near Columbia, February 14, 1865.
Governor MAGRATH, Columbia:
GOVERNOR: Colonel Bartow s forces sent to Kiiigsville to assist in
the defense of the river in that vicinity. Major- General Clayton (with
his division) is there in command, and I am not informed to what point
Colonel Barrow has been assigned, but I suppose with a portion of the
division at one of the ferries near by. The enemy drove our troops
to day from the south side of the railroad bridge and it was burned,
lie-enforcements were sent to McCord s Ferry, in which direction the
enemy was moving. I do not think the militia can be spared at present,
but will relieve them if the governor desires it.
I am, governor, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
C. L. STEVENSON,
Major -General.
KINGSVILLE, S. C., February 14, 1865.
General BEAUREGARD :
The enemy appeared in force at the railroad bridge at 12 m. to-day;
after skirmishing awhile our forces fell back across the bridge and
burned the bridge. Scouts brought in prisoner of Seventeenth Army
Corps, who says that corps is near Fort Motte; Fifteenth Army Corps
confronting Columbia. All quiet to-night.
H. I). CLAYTON,
Major -General.
COLUMBIA, S. C., February 14, 1865.
General BEAUREGARD:
Scouts report enemy camped on State road Fifteenth Corps in front,
Twentieth next, Tenth [Seventeenth?] next, think Fourteenth in rear.
Prisoner from Kilpatrick s wagon train reports him on Blackville and
Columbia road 5 says they are marching on Columbia.
WADE HAMPTON,
Major- General.
75 R R VOL XLVII, PT II
1186 OPERATIONS IN N. C., S. C., S. GA., AND E. FLA. [CHAP. LIX.
CHARLESTON, S. C., February 14, 186510 a. m.
Maj. Gen. W. HAMPTON,
Commanding Sub-District, Columbia, 8. C. :
If report be confirmed, order in my name General Wheeler to con
centrate forthwith for the defense of Columbia, either by joining his
forc.es to yours or by attacking enemy in flank and rear. Order also
Generals Cheatham and Stewart to hasten their movement on Colum
bia, or to join Wheeler, as circumstances may best require. Be careful
dispatches do not fall into the hands of the enemy.
G. T. BEAUREGARD.
CHARLESTON, S. C., February 14, 1865 10 a. m.
General W. HAMPTON,
Commanding Sub-District, Columbia, 8. C. :
Order to Wheeler must not include Dibrell s brigade or equivalent
ordered by General Hardee to guard Me Laws 7 right flank from Four
Hole Swamp to Sautee and crossing of Saiitee.
G. T. BEAUREGARD,
COLUMBIA, S. C., February 14, 1865.
General BEAUREGARD:
Enemy demonstrating at Thewitz Ferry; think they will cross there.
Re-enforcements should go to Kingsville. Think movement against
this place serious. All quiet in front.
WADE HAMPTON,
Major- General.
COLUMBIA, S. C., February 11, 1865 3.30 $. m.
General G. T. BEAUREGARD, Charleston. S. C. :
Enemy s infantry four miles from Congaree Creek bridge and reported
advancing. Other columns of infantry moving on road toward Lex
ington Court-House.
WADE HAMPTON,
Major -General.
COLUMBIA, S. G., February 14, 1865 1.45 p. m.
General JOSEPH WHEELER,
Commanding Cavalry, &c. :
General Beauregard orders you to concentrate forthwith for the
defense of Columbia, either by joining your forces to those of General
Hampton or by attacking enemy in flank or rear.
ALB. FERRY,
Assistant Adjutant- General.
AUGUSTA, GA., February 14, 1865 8 a. m.
General ALFRED IVERSON, Green s Cut:
GENERAL : Cheatham was ordered to move at daylight this morning.
The order for the exchange of Knh elds to be turned over to him was
issued on the llth, repeated on the llith and 13th. Through some
CHAP. LIX.] CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. CONFEDERATE. 1187
unaccountable delay Cheatham has to march without them. The
operator at Green s Cut has been reported out of his office when mes
sages were to be sent. You must have a party opposite Stony Bluff
to watch and resist a crossing. Keep your command habitually ready
to move at a moment s notice. Many deserters are said to be crossing
at the upper bridges of Brier Creek. Prevent this thing as far as
you can.
Respectfully, &c. ?
D. H. HILL,
Major- General.
AUGUSTA, GA., February 14, 1865 1 p. m.
General IVERSON:
GENERAL: If Ferguson reaches Brier Creek to-night you will march
to this place to morrow, explaining to him the nature of the ground,
character of the country, &c., before you leave. Give him all the
information which would be useful to him in his new situation. The
guns have not yet reached here. I wish you would see personally
about them, and let me know what has become of them.
Respectfully,
D. H. HILL,
Major -General.
HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF GEORGIA,
February 11, 1865.
Colonel Hannon will proceed with his brigade to Aiken and relieve
the brigade of cavalry on duty. He will picket all the approaches to
Augusta, and keep the officer commanding infantry forces at Granite-
ville, General G. W. Smith, on Big Horse Creek, and these headquar
ters, apprised of all movements of the enemy. He will still be subject
to orders from these headquarters of District of Georgia.
D. H. HILL,
Major- General.
EALEIGH, February 14, 1865.
(Received 10 o clock.)
Hon. J. A. CAMPBELL:
Shall I order the Third Regiment Junior Reserves to report to Col
onel Forno? Wadesborough, the terminus of Wilmington and Ruther
ford Railroad, is a fruitful country that has not been yet touched. This
region is exhausted.
TH. H. HOLMES,
Lieutenant- General.
BY THE GOVERNOR:
A Proclamation to the people of North Carolina.
Whereas, it is incumbent on me, by virtue of the high trusts your
partiality has conferred upon me, to^ watch with vigilance over your
welfare, guard with fidelity your interests, and warn you of every
approaching danger: Xow, therefore, I, Zebulon B, Vance, governor
1188 OPERATIONS IN N. C., S. C., S. GA., AND E. FLA. [CHAP. Lix.
of the said State, actuated by a sacred sense of duty and love of
country, do deem it necessary to address you in this manner in regard
to the dangers and duties of the present time, earnestly praying that
it may be conducive to harmony and good will, wherein only is to be
found a safe and honorable deliverance from all our troubles. It is
known to you all that in the beginning of these troubles North
Carolina was so decidedly opposed to imitating the secession of her South
ern sisters that any attempt to force her to do so by even a majority
of her people, prior to the proclamation of Lincoln in 1861, would most
likely have resulted in civil war among our own citizens. It pleased
God, however, to prevent this calamity and to calm all the fierce pas
sions of party bitterness, and to cause the most perfect unanimity by
means of that proclamation, which placed before us the dire necessity
of either assisting or slaughtering our own brothers and friends.
Interest, honor, and sympathy combined to decide us upon resistance
to what all united in condemning as a cruel and wicked war upon the
homes and liberties of the South. With unexampled zeal we entered
into the war, rushed forward our bravest sons, and poured out our
richest treasures. With immense sacrifices and varying fortunes we
continued the struggle, still with great unanimity, for years. About
the end of the third year, however, a portion of our people, in common
with many others throughout the South, seeing how our best citizens
were falling, and how our fairest lands were desolated, began to urge
that peace should be sought for by negotiations as well as by the
sword. They argued that our Confederate authorities, moved by pride
of opinion and embittered by the length and fierceness of the conflict,
had not made a sufficient trial of statesmanship as a means of stopping
the war, that no doubt if properly approached, either by commission
ers appointed by our common Government, or by the States separately,
supposing diplomatic reasons would prevent the enemy from treating
w r ith the former, that our enemy would grant us better terms than we
had supposed, and promising that if a fair and honest effort at negotia
tions should be spurned by the enemy or rejected, then all classes and
conditions of men in the South would unite in an earnest prosecution of
the war. This was the first serious approach to a division among our
people. Sympathizing with the reasonableness of this demand, though
not with all the reasons given for believing in its efficiency, and being
as sincerely desirous as it was possible for man to be, to stop the war
on honorable terms, I, as your governor, addressed President Davis in
December, 1803, and urged this course upon him. In answer thereto,
he assured me that three separate and distinct efforts had been made
to treat with the enemy without obtaining even a hearing, and that he
did not see how a fourth one could be initiated without humiliation to
ourselves and injury to our cause. Trusting that Providence would
yet open the way the matter rested here for another year. Many,
however, of our people, who advocated peace upon such vague and ill-
defined terms as to cause doubts of their good faith and loyalty,
continued sedulously to disseminate the opinion that our own Govern
ment alone was to blame for the continuance of the war; going so far in
some instances as to threaten revolutionary measures for wresting the
treaty-making power from its hands, and negotiating with the enemy
ourselves, alleging that we could certainly get such terms, if the
States would act in their sovereign capacity, as would secure our prop
erty and slaves by reconstruction. Since the beginning of the present
year, however, two individuals from the North, having visited Rich
mond on a peace mission by the authority of President Lincoln, and
CHAP. LIX.] CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. CONFEDERATE. 1189
Laving, as our President supposed, opened the way for another effort
at negotiations, it was promptly made. He immediately sent a delega
tion through the lines for that purpose, consisting of Vice-President
Stephens, Judge Campbell, late of the Supreme Court of the United
States, and the Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, C. S. Senator from the
State of Virginia men all eminent for their abilities, public serv
ices, and the long continued confidence and respect of their country
men. The first two are well known to have opposed the beginning of
this war, and to sympathize with the general desire for negotiations.
They were met at Fortress Monroe, by President Lincoln and Mr.
Seward, his Secretary of State, who, without allowing them to leave
the boat on which they arrived, told them what appears in the follow
ing official report:
RICHMOND, February 5, 1865.
To THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES:
SIR : Under your letter of appointment of Commissioners of the 28th, \ve proceeded
to seek an informal conference with Abraham Lincoln, President of the United
States, upon the subject mentioned in your letter. The conference was granted, and
took place on the 3d instant on board a steamer anchored in Hampton Roads, where
we met President Lincoln and Hon. Mr. Seward, Secretary of State for the United
States. It continued for several hours, and was both full and explicit. We learned
from them that the message of President Lincoln to the Congress of the United
States in December last explains clearly and distinctly his sentiments as to the terms,
conditions, and mode of proceeding by which peace could be secured to the people,
and we were not informed that they would be modified or altered to attain that end.
We understood from him that no terms or proposals of any treaty or agreement look
ing to an ultimate settlement would be entertained or made by him with the author
ities of the Confederate States, because that would be a recognition of their existence
as a separate power, which, under no circumstances, would be done, and for like
reasons, that no such terms would be entertained by him from States separately, that
no extended truce or armistice, as at present advised, would be granted or allowed,
without a satisfactory assurance in advance of the complete restoration of the
authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States over all places within
the States of the Confederacy; that whatever circumstances may follow from the
re-establishment of that authority must be accepted out and out. Individuals sub
ject to pains and penalties under the laws of the United States might rely upon a
Very liberal use of the power confided to him, to remit these pains and penalties if
peace be restored. During such conference the proposed amendments to the Consti
tution adopted by Congress on the 31st ultimo were brought to our notice. These
amendments provide that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime,
should exist within the United States, or in any place within its jurisdiction, and
Congress should have power to enforce the amendments by appropriate legislation.
Of all the correspondence that preceded the conference herein mentioned, and leading
to the same, you have heretofore been informed.
Very respectfully, your obedient servants,
A. II. STEPHENS.
R. M. T. HUNTER.
J. A. CAMPBELL.
Thus you see that neither terms nor conditions were spoken of in the
interview, but only subjugation offered us, the mere details of which
they proposed to settle. At one blow all our hopes in the humanity
and moderation of our enemies were dashed to the ground. No terms
or proposals of a treaty, coming either from the Confederate States, or
any one of the States, would be entertained, but a complete, absolute,
and unconditional submission to the Constitution and laws of the United
States is required as a preliminary step to any, even the slightest,
cessation of hostilities. Seeing, then, that we can treat with the
enemy neither by the authorities of the Confederate States, nor by
separate State action, what will be the result if we submit, as we are
required to do? This we can partly judge by examining that Consti
tution and those laws to which we are required to yield obedience.
1190 OPERATIONS IN N. C., S. C., S. GA., AND E. FLA. [CHAP. LIX.
That Constitution is not the one we left, In addition to the changes it
has undergone by corrupt and violent interpretation by Black Kepu]?-
lican judges, its wording has been so changed as to decree immediately
and forever the abolition of slavery. The " laws/ to whose tender
mercies we are referred, provide most minutely and particularly for the
punishment of death by the halter of every man, soldier, sailor or
marine, civilians and others, who have been engaged in what they term
rebellion. Not ceasing to punish with the death of the offender, the
" laws" of the United States also provide that all his property, real
and personal, shall be confiscated. The only mitigation of the rigor
threatened by these laws is contained in Mr. Lincoln s proclamation
accompanying his annual message in December, 1863, in which he pro
poses to hang only those above the rank of colonel in the Army and
lieutenant in the Navy, and all civil and diplomatic officers or agents of
the Confederate Government, and various other classes therein speci
fied, coupled with a vague intimation to our commissioners, in their
recent interview, that whilst we must prepare to accept all the pains
and penalties of the laws, we might rely on a liberal use of the pardon
ing power vested in him. He also informs us that the terms set forth
in his recent message of December last, wherein he re-endorses the
above mentioned proclamation, will be rigidly adhered to. Now then,
we can sum up in some sort the consequences of our submission: Four
million slaves, 200,000 of whom have been in arms against us, turned
loose at once in our midst 5 our lands confiscated and sold out to pay
the cost of our subjugation, or parceled among negro soldiers as the
reward of the slaughter of their masters; our women, children, and
old men reduced to beggary, and driven from their once happy homes;
our mutilated and diseased soldiers, starving in rags from door to door,
spurned by even pensioned negro soldiers, whilst the gallows grows
weary under the burden of wisest statesmen and bravest defenders, to
say nothing of universal financial ruin and the intolerable oppression
of a rapacious and vindictive foe, in the hour of conquest. Great God !
Is there a man in all this honorable, high spirited, and noble Common
wealth so steeped in every conceivable meanness, so blackened with all
the guilt of treason, or so damned with all the leprosy of cowardice as
to say: Yes, we will submit to all this; and whilst there yet remains half
a million men amongst us able to resist. And who says the enemy will
give us anything better? Not Mr. Lincoln; and do the weak and vacil
lating among us know better than he does what he will do for us?
Having made, therefore, a fair and honest effort to obtain peace by
negotiation, and knowing now precisely, from the lips of the President
of the United States, what we are to expect, what are we to do next?
There is only one thing left for us to do. We must fight, my country
men, to the last extremity, or submit voluntarily to our own degradation.
Let no man mistake the issue now. The line of distinction will be
drawn plainly between those who are for their country and those who
are against their country. There is no half-way house upon the road.
The purifying fire is even now burning throughout the land, and
its consuming flames must separate the dross from the true metal.
Degradation, ruin, and dishonor on the one hand; liberty, independ
ence, and honor, if our souls be strong, on the other. Is it not worth
another honest and manly effort? Aye, another, and another, and
another, and a thousand efforts of our whole people. As North Caro
linians, descendants of Eevolutionary heroes, and fathers and brothers
of the noblest dead and living soldiers that ever drew a blade for
human freedom, we cannot tolerate the thought of such base and
CHAP.LIX.] CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. CONFEDERATE. 1191
infamous submission. Should we willfully throw down an organized
government, disband our still powerful armies, and invite all these
fearful consequences upon our country, we would live to have our chil
dren curse our gray hairs for fastening our dishonor upon them. I trust
and believe that there will be little difference of opinion in Xorth Caro
lina as to the propriety of continued resistance. The great argument
which will be brought forward to shake your honor and intended to
incite you to despair will be, that successful resistance is no longer pos
sible. Some will tell you that we are already subdued; that the enemy
outnumbers us; thaV: our fighting men are all slain; our resources all
exhausted, and we might as well submit now. This, my countrymen, is
false, and as frequently proceeds from a craven or a traitorous as from
an honest but mistaken spirit. Great as our calamities have been,
straightened as we are for all supplies both of men and material, I tell
you, in all candor, thai when I survey our condition by the light of
human history, I see no danger which threatens to be fatal to our cause,
except this depression of spirit among the people, and the still more
tearful risk of internal dissension. So long as we remain one, and
determined, it is not in the power of our enemies to subdue us. u But
except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved."
All things may be supplied if we were but possessed of that bold and
manly spirit of resistance to tyranny of which liberty and independ
ence are born. That alone can nil the widow s barrel, and still the
orphan s cry; can cast cannons and build ships of war; can raise up
armed men from the dust of the dragon s teeth; can wrest tangible
realities from the very jaws of impossibility. Without it, numbers but
add to the ignominy of certain defeat, even as the Persian millions
were whipped and shamed by the 300 in the mountain pass. Are our
men all slain? Over 400,000 names yet stand upon the muster-rolls of
the Confederacy, to say nothing of the many thousands who shirk.