"Early in June the battalion was ordered to James' Island, arriving there two days before the battle of Secessionville, but not participating in it. A short while afterwards it was ordered to Richmond, and there remained until the great forward movement of General Lee's, which resulted in the Second Manassas Battle and the invasion of Maryland. The battalion was now brigaded with Philip's Georgia Legion, Fiftieth and Fifty-first Georgia, and Fifteenth South Carolina Regiments, and commanded by Brigadier General Drayton. The battalion was under fire at Waterloo Bridge and at Thoroughfare Gap, and the brigade held the extreme right of Lee's Army at the Second Manassas Battle, but was not seriously engaged. The topography of the country was such that while the incessant roar of artillery could be distinctly heard during the day, no infantry could be heard, and the extreme right did not hear of the result of the great battle until General Robert Toombs marched by and shouted to his fellow Georgians: 'Another great and glorious Bull Run.' After repeated marches and counter-marches during the day, night put an end to the bloody struggle, and the troops lay down to rest. A perfect tornado of shot and shell tore through the woods all around us until deep darkness fell and the enemy withdrew, leaving the entire field to the Confederates."
After resting for nearly a week at Frederick City, Md., the battalion, with the Fifteenth South Carolina and the Georgians of Drayton's Brigade, was ordered to re-enforce General D.H. Hill, who was guarding Lee's rear at Crompton's Gap, in South Mountain. Here the South Carolinians were for the first time thoroughly baptized with fire and blood, and in which the gallant Colonel James lost his life. Of this battle Colonel Rice says:
"Late in the evening of September 14th the brigade reached the battlefield and deployed in an old disused road that crossed the mountain some four hundred yards to the right of the turn-pike. No enemy in sight. Failing to drive D.H. Hill from their front, the Federals made a detour and approached him by the flank. Two hundred yards from the road mentioned above was a belt of woods saddling the mountain, and at this point running parallel with the road. General [174] Drayton, not seeing the enemy, ordered forward Captain Miller's Company as skirmishers to ascertain their whereabouts. Captain Miller had advanced but a short distance when he met the enemy in force. General Drayton ordered the command to forward and drive them from the woods. In the execution of this order some confusion arose, and a part of the brigade gave way, leaving the battalion in a very peculiar and isolated condition. There was a low rock fence running at right angles to the battle line, and behind this the battalion sought to protect itself, but it seemed and was in reality a deathtrap, for it presented its right flank to the enemy. It thus became only a question of a very short time when it must either leave the field or surrender. Right nobly did this little band of heroes hold their ground against overwhelming numbers, and their front was never successfully approached; but as both flanks were so mercilessly assailed, a short time was sufficient to almost annihilate them. Colonel James was twice admonished by his second in command of his untenable position, and that death or surrender was inevitable if he persisted in holding his ground, but without avail. The true soldier that he was preferred death to yielding. Just as night approached and firing began to cease, Colonel James was pierced through the breast with a minnie ball, from the effects of which he soon died."
Colonel Rice was dangerously wounded and left on the field for dead. But recovering consciousness, he found himself within the enemy's lines, that portion of his command nearest him having been withdrawn some distance in the rectifying of the lines. Colonel Rice escaped capture by crawling in a deep wash in the road, and was rescued by some skirmishers who were advancing to establish a new line. Colonel Rice gives this information in a foot-note: "The road in which the brigade was stationed was as all roads crossing hills, much washed and worn down, thus giving the troops therein stationed the advantage of first class breastworks. I do not know that the Fifteenth South Carolina and the other portion of the brigade were thus sheltered—have heard indeed that all were not—but within my vision the position was most admirable, now almost impregnable with good troops to defend it. To leave such a position was suicidal, especially [175] when we were ordered to march through open ground and attack the enemy, sheltered behind trees and rocks. This is my estimate at least, and the result proved most disastrous to the brigade and General Drayton himself, as he was soon afterwards relieved of his command."
It has been the aim of the writer of this History not to criticize, condemn, nor make any comments upon the motives or acts of any of the officers whom he should have cause to mention, and he somewhat reluctantly gives space to Colonel Rice's stricture of General Drayton. It is difficult for officers in subaltern position to understand all that their superiors do and do not. The Generals, from their positions, can see differently from those in the line amid the smoke of battle, and they often give commands hard to comprehend from minor officers' point of view. General Drayton was an accomplished and gallant officer, and while he might have been rash and reckless at South Mountain, still it is hard to conceive his being relieved of his command through the charge of "rashness," especially when his brigade held up successfully for so long a time one of the most stubborn battles of the war.
At the Battle of Sharpsburg or Antietam, the little remnant of the battalion was again engaged. On Lee's return to Virginia, and during the last days of November or early in December, the Third Battalion and the Fifteenth Regiment were transferred to Kershaw's Brigade, and from thence on it will be treated as a part of the old First Brigade. At Fredericksburg, on the day of the great battle, the battalion held the railroad cut running from near the city to the right of Mayree's Hill, and was well protected by a bluff and the railroad, consequently did not suffer as great a loss as the other regiments of the brigade.
COLONEL GEORGE S. JAMES.
The first commander of the Third Battalion, and who fell at South Mountain, was born in Laurens County, in 1829. He was the second son of John S. James, a prominent lawyer of Laurens, who, meeting with misfortune and losing a handsome fortune, attempted to retain it by moving to Columbia and engaging in mercantile pursuits. This he followed with success. Colonel George S. James received his early [176] education in the academies of the up-country. While yet a youth some seventeen years of age, war with Mexico was declared, and his patriotic and chivalric spirit sent him at once to the ranks of the Palmetto Regiment, and he shared the triumphs and fortunes of that command to the close of the war.