 |
| Confederate Veteran Private John Alex Sarter (1835-1933). Photographed years after the War Between The States. Photo courtesy of the SC Dept. of Archives. |
Made up of men and boys primarily from Union County and other upstate South Carolina counties, the 18th South Carolina Infantry Regiment was formed on Thursday, January 2, 1862 under the command of Colonel J.M. Gadberry.
Among those who enlisted in Company B (also known as the Union District Volunteers) was Union County resident Private William Sarter who went to war accompanied by his slave and friend, then 26 year old John Alex Sarter.
As a slave, Sarter started the war as a "body servant" bound to his master, William.
Now when most people today think of slavery and hear the term "body servant" they think of some person who served a single person's every needs while that person more-or-less lazed about. This would not be the case for the average Southern soldiers during the War Between The States (1861-1865).
Aside from the terrifying battles that took place, the vast majority of the life of the average Civil War soldier took place either on the march, or in camp, during which consisted of mundane and tedious (but necessary) manual labor that kept the average private soldier very busy.
This meant that as one of likely a dozen African-Americans, both enslaved and free men of color, who served in a Confederate military unit at any given time, John's served as an extra pair of hands helping the other Confederate soldiers pitch tents, cook food, dig latrines, and collect firewood, among dozens of other necessary tasks.
It also meant that Sarter also likely served as a nurse for the sick and unfortunately also as grave digger for much of the time as terrible diseases -- the primary cause of the vast majority of Civil War deaths -- ravaged camp life.
In early August of 1862, William Sarter was promoted to Captain of Company B as the 18th South Carolina was transferred from the 1st Military District Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, under the command of Brigadier General Nathan "Shank" Evans to join General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, serving in Major General James Longstreet's 1st Corps.
The 18th South Carolina first saw battle during the second day of the 2nd Battle of Manassas on Saturday, August 30, 1862 as part of Longstreet's massive flank attack on Union General John Pope's Army of Virginia and subsequent Confederate victory.
The victory at 2nd Manassas emboldened General Lee to initiate the ensuing Maryland Campaign, and the first invasion of the North in the Eastern Theater of the war. The 18th South Carolina would again see battle at Turner's Gap (South Mountain) on Sunday, September 14, 1862, and then again three days later at the bloody Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam Creek), Maryland on Wednesday, September 17th.
Captain William Sarter was mortally wounded during the battle and would die a week later on Thursday, September 25, 1862.
With his master and childhood friend dead, John was officially a free man and no longer obligated to remain with the 18th South Carolina, but chose to remain and serve the remainder of the war with the Confederates of Company B.
According to the unit's records, John was formally mustered into service as a private and, in addition to his usual camp duties, served as a picket (sentry duty) with a rifle.
Several thousand African-American men like Sarter served in some capacity in the Confederate military during the four years of the war. While the Confederate government as a whole did not formally recognize black men of any status as a soldier, the handful of black men in various Confederate military units did see military action as informal soldiers bearing arms. Like Sarter, many of these men were actually formally listed as privates in the muster rolls of their Confederate infantry units.
The 18th South Carolina would be sent to other theaters of military operation over the next couple of years, but return to the Army of Northern Virginia during the 1864 campaign and the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia this time in the 4th Corps under Brigadier General William Henry Wallace.
Sarter would be captured by Yankee soldiers at some point during the early stages of the siege and, according to family traditions, was forced to help haul the dirt being dug for the mine being constructed beneath the Confederate earthworks by Pennsylvania miners. The Union soldiers attempted to compel their prisoner to join them, but Sarter maintained his loyalty to his Confederate regiment.
On the morning of Saturday, July 30, 1864, the mine dug beneath the Confederate earthworks was packed with gunpowder and ignited creating an explosion that immediately killed, or wounded about 205 Confederate soldiers of Sarter's own regiment the 18th South Carolina, and another 82 men of the 22nd South Carolina infantry regiment and beginning what would become known as the Battle of the Crater.
In the confusion of the battle -- a colossal Union military failure -- Sarter would escape Yankee custody and return to the now diminished 18th South Carolina with a souvenir of his captivity, a captured Union officers sword stolen from the battlefield dead that would remain in his family's keeping long after the War.
Private Sarter would continue to serve in the 18th South Carolina throughout the rest of the Siege of Petersburg, notably during the Battle of Fort Stedman on Saturday, March 25, 1865, the Battle of Five Forks a week later on Saturday, April 1, 1865, and during the final Appomattox Campaign the regiment's last battle would be at Sayler's Creek on Thursday, April 6, 1865.
When the Army of Northern Virginia formally surrendered on Monday, April 10, 1865 at Appomattox, Virginia, the 18th South Carolina Infantry, now commanded by Lieutenant Colonel W.B. Allison, surrendered with just 16 officers and 139 men surviving -- one of them Private John Sarter who returned home with the rest of the paroled South Carolina men.
In spite of Sarter's loyal service in the defense of South Carolina and Southern independence, as well as many other former slaves and free men of color, the State of South Carolina would shamefully not recognize the military service of its Black Confederate loyalists for several decades until, finally, a petition by Confederate Veterans convinced the State legislature to give pensions to those black men who served in 1923 -- most of whom having already passed to their eternal reward by that point.
Sarter would live to recieve a pension for his service every year until his death in 1933 and his widow would continue to be provided for a few years after.
John Alex Sarter is buried in the Wyatt Chapel Baptist Church Cemetery in Union County, South Carolina.
Among those who enlisted in Company B (also known as the Union District Volunteers) was Union County resident Private William Sarter who went to war accompanied by his slave and friend, then 26 year old John Alex Sarter.
As a slave, Sarter started the war as a "body servant" bound to his master, William.
Now when most people today think of slavery and hear the term "body servant" they think of some person who served a single person's every needs while that person more-or-less lazed about. This would not be the case for the average Southern soldiers during the War Between The States (1861-1865).
Aside from the terrifying battles that took place, the vast majority of the life of the average Civil War soldier took place either on the march, or in camp, during which consisted of mundane and tedious (but necessary) manual labor that kept the average private soldier very busy.
This meant that as one of likely a dozen African-Americans, both enslaved and free men of color, who served in a Confederate military unit at any given time, John's served as an extra pair of hands helping the other Confederate soldiers pitch tents, cook food, dig latrines, and collect firewood, among dozens of other necessary tasks.
It also meant that Sarter also likely served as a nurse for the sick and unfortunately also as grave digger for much of the time as terrible diseases -- the primary cause of the vast majority of Civil War deaths -- ravaged camp life.
In early August of 1862, William Sarter was promoted to Captain of Company B as the 18th South Carolina was transferred from the 1st Military District Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, under the command of Brigadier General Nathan "Shank" Evans to join General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, serving in Major General James Longstreet's 1st Corps.
The 18th South Carolina first saw battle during the second day of the 2nd Battle of Manassas on Saturday, August 30, 1862 as part of Longstreet's massive flank attack on Union General John Pope's Army of Virginia and subsequent Confederate victory.
The victory at 2nd Manassas emboldened General Lee to initiate the ensuing Maryland Campaign, and the first invasion of the North in the Eastern Theater of the war. The 18th South Carolina would again see battle at Turner's Gap (South Mountain) on Sunday, September 14, 1862, and then again three days later at the bloody Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam Creek), Maryland on Wednesday, September 17th.
Captain William Sarter was mortally wounded during the battle and would die a week later on Thursday, September 25, 1862.
With his master and childhood friend dead, John was officially a free man and no longer obligated to remain with the 18th South Carolina, but chose to remain and serve the remainder of the war with the Confederates of Company B.
According to the unit's records, John was formally mustered into service as a private and, in addition to his usual camp duties, served as a picket (sentry duty) with a rifle.
Several thousand African-American men like Sarter served in some capacity in the Confederate military during the four years of the war. While the Confederate government as a whole did not formally recognize black men of any status as a soldier, the handful of black men in various Confederate military units did see military action as informal soldiers bearing arms. Like Sarter, many of these men were actually formally listed as privates in the muster rolls of their Confederate infantry units.
The 18th South Carolina would be sent to other theaters of military operation over the next couple of years, but return to the Army of Northern Virginia during the 1864 campaign and the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia this time in the 4th Corps under Brigadier General William Henry Wallace.
Sarter would be captured by Yankee soldiers at some point during the early stages of the siege and, according to family traditions, was forced to help haul the dirt being dug for the mine being constructed beneath the Confederate earthworks by Pennsylvania miners. The Union soldiers attempted to compel their prisoner to join them, but Sarter maintained his loyalty to his Confederate regiment.
On the morning of Saturday, July 30, 1864, the mine dug beneath the Confederate earthworks was packed with gunpowder and ignited creating an explosion that immediately killed, or wounded about 205 Confederate soldiers of Sarter's own regiment the 18th South Carolina, and another 82 men of the 22nd South Carolina infantry regiment and beginning what would become known as the Battle of the Crater.
In the confusion of the battle -- a colossal Union military failure -- Sarter would escape Yankee custody and return to the now diminished 18th South Carolina with a souvenir of his captivity, a captured Union officers sword stolen from the battlefield dead that would remain in his family's keeping long after the War.
Private Sarter would continue to serve in the 18th South Carolina throughout the rest of the Siege of Petersburg, notably during the Battle of Fort Stedman on Saturday, March 25, 1865, the Battle of Five Forks a week later on Saturday, April 1, 1865, and during the final Appomattox Campaign the regiment's last battle would be at Sayler's Creek on Thursday, April 6, 1865.
When the Army of Northern Virginia formally surrendered on Monday, April 10, 1865 at Appomattox, Virginia, the 18th South Carolina Infantry, now commanded by Lieutenant Colonel W.B. Allison, surrendered with just 16 officers and 139 men surviving -- one of them Private John Sarter who returned home with the rest of the paroled South Carolina men.
In spite of Sarter's loyal service in the defense of South Carolina and Southern independence, as well as many other former slaves and free men of color, the State of South Carolina would shamefully not recognize the military service of its Black Confederate loyalists for several decades until, finally, a petition by Confederate Veterans convinced the State legislature to give pensions to those black men who served in 1923 -- most of whom having already passed to their eternal reward by that point.
Sarter would live to recieve a pension for his service every year until his death in 1933 and his widow would continue to be provided for a few years after.
John Alex Sarter is buried in the Wyatt Chapel Baptist Church Cemetery in Union County, South Carolina.
 |
| Joseph Sarter, son of John Alex Sarter pictured here in 1992 holding the sword his father captured during the War, and still in possession of the family. Photo courtesy of the SC Division Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCSCV). |
Decades later in early 1992, Sarter's aged son, Mr. Joseph "Joe" Sarter, petitioned the States Rights Gist Camp #1451 Sons of Confederate Veterans of Union County to secure a CSA
headstone for his father's grave. After a year of effort, the SCV was able to get a US Veterans Administration Confederate headstone for Private Sarter's grave, which was dedicated in a small ceremony at the family's church's cemetery by the States Rights Gist Camp SCV and the surviving members of the Sarter family on Saturday, December 11, 1993.
 |
| The Confederate headstone of Private John Alex Sarter, Co. B 18th SC Infantry at Wyatt Chapel Baptist Church Cemetery in Union County, South Carolina. Photo courtesy of the South Carolina Division Sons of Confederate Veterans. |
A special thanks to the outstanding folks at the Union County Historical Society, South Carolina Department of Archives, and the States Rights Gist Camp #1451 Sons of Confederate Veterans (Union County, SC) for providing the information for this article.
No comments:
Post a Comment