The Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina

Yesterday, I made a blog entry on my Running the Blockade Navy Blog about a boat howitzer crew from the USS Wabash participating in the battle and that Oscar Farenholt was wounded and later became the first man to rise from enlisted to admiral.

I'd never heard of this battle so looked it up in Wikipedia and HMdb (Historical Marker Data Base).

Taken from a highway marker on the site:

Largest action of 3-day expedition to disrupt the Charleston & Savannah Railroad Oct. 1862.  2,000 Confederates defended the area between the two cities.  4,500 Federal troops under J.M. Brannon and A.M. Terry (who later captured Fort Fisher and was involved in the Custer Massacre) landed at Mackay's Point (they had sailed from Hilton Head).

Some 475 Confederates delayed the Union forces at Caston's Plantation until reinforcements arrived by train.  Most of the fighting centered along the Pocotaligo Bridge  By dusk, the Federals retreated toward Port Royal (Hilton Head) after only doing minimal damage to the railroad.

The marker was erected in 2002 by the South Carolina Society of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars, an organization made up of descendants of Confederate officers and government members.

Confederate losses were put at 21 killed, 24 wounded and 18 missing.   Union at 43 killed, 294 wounded (including Farenholt) and 3 missing.

A 284 page book about the battle has been written by Lewis G. Schmidt.  Also, there is an account of the role played by the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry which was also at the battle.

Sounds like a Confederate victory to me.

Now, I've Heard of It.  --Old Secesh