The Battle of Tuliffiny-- Part 4: Sherman Aproacheth

BACKGROUND

In early December 1864 Major general William T. Sherman and his 62,000-man army  was approaching the South Carolina border on his March to the Sea with Savannah as an objective.  Sherman had ordered his men to adopt a "scorched earth" policy against the Confederates.  That meant burning and destroying crops, homes, confiscation  and killing of livestock and the consumption of any supplies needed by his army.

This early example of total war  was meant to cause mass desertion in the enemy ranks and break the South's will to fight.

Tuliffiny was one of eight engagements during the war in which cadets from the South Carolina Military Academy (SCMA) (also known as the Battalion of State Cadets) participated.

Old Secesh

Battle of Tulifinny-- Part 3: The Only Time In History An Entire Student Body of a U.S. College Engaged in Combat

From Wikipedia

Fought December 6-9, 1863, in South Carolina during Sherman's March to the Sea, also known as the Savannah Campaign.

Outnumbered 5 to 1, a Confederate force successfully defensed a critical section of the Charleston-Savannah Railroad allowing troops and supplies from Savannah to be evacuated.

The battle was historically significant because it was one of the rare occasions when the United States Marine Corps fought in combat during he Civil War.  (I don't know about that.)  In addition, the Confederate force also included the  entire Corps of Cadets from the South Carolina Military Academy in Charleston, now the Citadel.

More than a third of the Confederate force was comprised of the Citadel Corps of Cadets and it was the only time when the entire student body of a U.S. college fought in combat.

In a Nutshell.  --Old Secesh

Battle of Tuliffiny-- Part 2: The Battalion of State Cadets From the Citadel and Arsenal Took Part

From the Battle of Tuliffiny blog.

This battle is of particular interest because it involved the use of  entire Battalion of State Cadets from the Citadel and Arsenal Academies as an independent military unit.  They were commanded by Major General Samuel Jones, Commanding General of the South Carolina and Georgia Departments.

In December 1864, the governor of South Carolina ordered them to deploy at Tuliffiny Creek, south of Charleston, to reinforce Confederate troops guarding a key railroad bridge against larger advancing Union forces.

On December 7, 1864, the Battalion, along with Georgia, North and South Carolina militia engaged the Union forces and forced the enemy back.  On December 9, the Battalion successfully repulsed a Union counter attack.

The Battalion suffered eight casualties, including one dead.  They were commended for their action at the battle by General Jones.

A depiction of the Dec. 9 engagement at the Tuliffiny Creek railroad bridge  is on display at the Daniel Library at the Citadel.

--Old Secesh

Canada Returns Col. Tew's Sword-- Part 6: How the Silver Cup Was Returned

In 1873, a traveler aboard a boat in New York met a man, J.W. Bean, from New Hampshire and talked about the Civil War.  The traveler knew Col, Charles Tew and mentioned the story of Tew;s father going to Dry Totugas near Key West while looking for the sword.

Bean had been at the Battle of Antietam and had come across Col. Tew's body.  he had the silver cup and then returned it to Tew's family.

That cup was given by Caroline Sloan's mother to her son, Charles Courtenay Sloan.  She said she had polished it as the family intends to make the trip to the Citadel to loan it for a year.  She kind of thinks her son will eventually loan it to the school on a permanent basis.

--A great Story.  --Old Secesh

Canada Returns Col. Tew's Sword-- Part 5: Coming Home

Michael martin had much difficulty "alienating" Col. Charles Tew's sword, but stayed true to his purpose and this past March got the go ahead to return the sword.

Not much is known for sure about how the sword got from the Antietam battlefield to the Blythe family.  But evidence shows that it was likely acquired by Captain Francis J. Sauter of the 55th Ohio who might have had it shipped home before he was killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville in March 1863.

On Wednesday, the Citadel will send 9 cadets, 4 faculty members and other supporters to the Antietam battlefield to receive the sword from Canada.

The sword will eventually go to the Citadel's Daniel Library for display where it will be reunited with Tew's silver cup.  The library also has Tew's diploma, some of his letters and other documents.

--Old Secesh

Canada Returns Col. Tew's Sword to the Citadel-- Part 3: Searching for the Sword

The Citadel had a cadet and 25 alumni at the Battle of Antietam in 1862.  Two were killed and four wounded.

Charles Tew was shot in the head and among the hundreds of Confederates buried in mass graves.  Their bodies were eventually relocated to cemeteries in Maryland and West Virginia.  His final resting place is unknown and age at death was 34.

After the war, his father began searching for the sword, cup and pocket watch his son had with him at his death.  All they knew was that he was shot along the Sunken Road.

Sometime in 1870, his father got a letter from Ohio saying the sword was hanging at the Odd fellows Hall in Norwalk.  A family friend went there, but it was gone.

Then, there was nothing new for 145 years.

--Old Secesh

Canada to Return Col. Tew's Long-Lost Sword-- Part 2: Military Academies

The return of Col. Charles Tew's sword to the Citadel will be celebrated with three days of activities.

Col. Charles Courtenay Tew was a Charleston native and among the Citadel's first 26 cadets, reporting to the school in 1843.  He graduated in 1846 and later taught at the Arsenal, a Columbia, S.C. military school that was the Citadel's sister institution.

The cadets there gave him the sword when he left to establish the Hillsborough Military Academy in North Carolina.

During the Civil War, Col. Tew led the 2nd North Carolina and carried the sword along with him, along with a silver cup given him by the Hillsborough cadets.  Later, he decided that he could be of more use to the Confederacy by returning to teaching and submitted his resignation.  before it was accepted, there came the Battle of Antietam.

--Old Secesh

Canada to Return Colonel Tew's (CSA) Long-Lost Sword to the Citadel-- Part 1: A Sword With Many Connections

From the September 13, 2015, Charleston (SC) Post & Courier "Canada to return Civil War commander's lost sword to the Citadel" by Robert Behre.

"A single sword unites the Citadel with the South Carolina's Governor's Mansion, the 33 Signal Regt. of the Canadian Army and the single bloodiest day in U.S. military history."

And, it's coming home soon.

Confederate Colonel Charles Courtenay Tew was killed at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862.  His sword was lost and his descendants have been searching for it ever since.

Charles Tew was the Citadel's first valedictorian and the first president of its alumni association.  The sword was given to him by the cadets at the Arsenal, a Columbia, S.C., military academy that was the Citadel's sister institution.    The Arsenal was burned by Sherman's troops in the closing days of the war and never reopened.  Its sole surviving building is the state's Governor's Mansion.

--Old Secesh

Mort Kunstler's June Calendar Page-- Part 2: The Charge At Trevilian Station

"Charge them, my brave boys, charge them," he ordered, and courageously led the attack.  Around him, the troops surged toward the enemy through a haze of smoke and dust.

Bolstering Hampton's veterans was a force of newly-arrived South Carolinians that included the Cadet Rangers --  Company F of the 6th South Carolina Cavalry -- which had been organized at The Citadel.

Typically, Hampton led with his saber -- then, in hand-to-hand combat, switched to his revolver.  Saddles were emptied on both sides and Hampton single-handedly took down three adversaries.

The battle shifted to other fields and continued the next day.  It was finally decided when a bold Confederate counterattack shattered the Federal line.  On June 13th, Sheridan and his troops retreated without destroying the railroad.  Hampton had driven back the enemy -- and had demonstrated his ability to assume J.E.B. Stuart's mantle of leadership.

Lee Had His New Cavalry Commander.  --Old Secesh

Opening Action of War: The Star of the West Fired Upon

From the Jan. 9th NJ Today.

The commander of the Star of the West, the vessel sent by Lincoln to relieve the beleaguered garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor in the months leading up to the war, Captain John McGowan, is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside, New Jersey. The state's Sesquicentennial Committee hopes to restore his tombstone.

Cadet troops from Charleston's Citadel manned the guns that fired on the Star of the West. They were under the command of Major P.F. Stevens who credited Cadet George Edward Haynesworth for firing the first shot.

Stevens (1830-1910) is buried at Charleston, South Carolina's Magnolia Cemetery. Cadet Haynesworth (1841-1887) went on to become a judge in Sumter, SC, and was killed by gunfire in his court room. He is buried at the Sumter Cemetery.

Other persons with Civil War connections buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside, NJ, are Stephen Crane (1871-1900) who wrote the book "The Red Badge of Courage" and two Medal of Honor winners: Rufus King and James Drake.

King won his Medal of Honor for action at White Oak Swamp Bridge, Virginia in 1862. Drake got his for bravery at Bermuda Hundred, Va., in 1864.

New Jersey's Evergreen Cemetery at Hillside. --Old B-R'er

The Citadel Finds It's "Big Red"-- Part 2

In 2007, Citadel alumni discovered a red palmetto flag in the museum of the State Historical Society of Iowa. It had been presented to the Society in 1919 by a soldier from the 20th Iowa and it matched the descriptions of the flag from the past.

Citadel alumni learned the soldier had acquired it after the April 1865 surrender of Fort Blakely, Alabama. The only South Carolinian present was an artillery battery commanded by a Citadel graduate who had served in the Morris Island battery.

Unlike the Citadel Spirit Flag inspired by the mural and state flag of South Carolina, the crescent of the Iowa flag faced inward. No eye witness account of the crescent has been found, but a February 1861 newspaper illustration shows the cadets flying a flag with the Iowa arrangement.

It probably never will be known whether this is the flag the cadets flew that day, but evidence points to it. The State of Iowa Historical Society has been gracious enough to loan the flag to the Citadel where it will displayed at the Holliday Alumni Center.

In 2009, the school's Board of Visitor's voted to adopt the Iowa version as the school's Spirit Flag.

A Bit of History Sleuthing. --Old B-Runner

The Citadel Finds Its "Big Red"-- Part 1

From the Winter 2010 Hallowed Ground Magazine of the Civil War Preservation Trust.

On January 9, 1861, cadets from the South Carolina Military Academy, known today as The Citadel, fired what are considered the first shots of the war at the ship Star of the West which was attempting to resupply Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.

Above their battery on James Island, they flew a red banner with a white palmetto tree and crescent moon that had been given to them by the family of local flag maker Hugh Vincent.

After the event, the flag was largely forgotten until 1992 when it was declared the Citadel's official Spirit Flag. The flag itself was gone to history.

Unfortunately, as the school learned later, one detail on the new flag was incorrect and that was which way the crescent was facing.

Then, came an interesting find.

That, Later. --Old B-Runner

"Big Red" Found?

October 2nd Charleston (SC) Post and Courier.

The Citadel University in Charleston believes it has located the original "Big Red", its Civil War flag that flew over its cadets on Morris Island when they fired upon the Star of the West which many consider as the actual opening shots of the Civil War, not the April 12, 1861 firing on Fort Sumter.

It was found in an Iowa museum to which it was donated by Willard Baker, a Union veteran in 1919. It has been in a storage closet ever since. The State Historical Society of Iowa owns it and now discussion are under way for its return.

Baker said he had gotten it in Mobile, Alabama, at the end of the war, but never gave the actual story. He had been in a unit involved in the capture of Fort Blakely near Alabama.

Captain James Culpepper, an 1854 Citadel graduate, and his battery were at Blakely. He was a student of Major Peter F. Stevens, who had been the Citadel's superintendent during the Star of the West incident.

In 1861, Hugh Vincent's family had designed the 10 by 7 foot flag and presented it to Stevens between January 1st and 4th, 1861 to be used by the Citadel cadets. It is likely that Culpepper had it at Fort Blakely.

Its location became known when a woman posted information about it on the internet in 2004 and a Citadel alumnus saw it.

Hope They Get It Back. --B-R'er