A Final Act Of Retaliation -- The Execution of Private James M. Miller C.S.A.

The grave of Private James Madison Miller C.S.A.
(1816-1865).

On Thursday, March 2, 1865 near the small Southern town of Cheraw, in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, a Confederate soldier was executed by Union soldiers under the command of Major General William T. Sherman in a final brutal act of retaliation before the invading army left the Palmetto State and marched north into North Carolina.

By the time the winter of 1864-1865 was turning over to spring, the War Between the States was only a couple of months away from formally ending. However, the war was still very much a serious concern for the people of South Carolina.

One month before, on Wednesday, February 1, 1865, Major General William T. Sherman's invading Union army entered the Palmetto State, beginning the Carolinas Campaign, the final major campaign of the American Civil War.

Despite delaying the Union forces in several small battles, and winning one victory at Aiken, South Carolina, the Confederate defenders could only conduct a fighting withdraw in the wake of Sherman's nearly 60,000 man blue-clad horde -- which conducted itself harshly on the first Southern State that first dared to declare its independence from the Federal Union. Many cities, including the State capitol of Columbia, South Carolina, were burned almost to the ground.

During Sherman's Carolinas Campaign the Official Records report that about 46 Union soldiers were executed by Confederate troops, or civilians. These were Yankee foragers -- better know as bummers -- many of whom were caught in the act of robbing Southern civilians, or committing other personal crimes.

In addition to the destruction of military targets, many of Sherman's forage took it upon themselves to enact personal retribution upon the civilian population of the Carolinas, burning down houses, robbing and destroying valuables, and even committing acts of rape and murder. The worst of the latter  were against the African-American slave population that they were alleged to be liberating from bondage.

These acts became so heinous that many of these bummers, when they were caught by the Confederate army, were shot or hanged without trial on the spot.

The majority of these incidents occurred once Sherman's forces advanced past Columbia, South Carolina into upper South Carolina and many of these acts were blamed on Confederate cavalry under the command of Lieutenant General Wade Hampton III, himself a native of South Carolina.

The following correspondence regarding these incidents was exchanged between Generals Sherman and Hampton gives great insight into just how ugly the war became in its final year.

On Friday, February 24th, General Sherman wrote the following to Hampton directly:

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
In the Field, February 24, 1865.
Lieut. Gen. WADE HAMPTON,
Commanding Cavalry Forces, C.S. Army:
GENERAL: It is officially reported to me that our foraging parties are murdered after capture and labeled "Death to all foragers." One instance of a lieutenant and seven men near Chesterville, and another of twenty "near a ravine eighty rods from the main road" about three miles from Feasterville. I have ordered a similar number of prisoners in our hands to be dispensed of in like manner. I hold about 1,000 prisoners captured in various ways, and can stand it as long as you; but I hardly think these murders are committed with your knowledge, and would suggest that you give notice to the people at large that every life taken by them simply results in the death of one of your Confederates. Of course you cannon question my right to "forage on the country." It is a war right as old as history. The manner of exercising it varies with circumstances, and if the civil authorities will supply my requisitions I will forbid all foraging. But I find no civil authorities who can respond to calls for forage or provisions, therefore must collect directly of the people. I have no doubt this is the occasion of much misbehavior on the part of our men, but I cannot permit an enemy to judge or punish with wholesale murder. Personally I regret the better feelings engendered by this war, but they were to be expected, and I simply allege that those who struck the first blow and made war inevitable ought not, in fairness, to reproach us for the natural consequences. I merely assert our war right to forage and my resolve to protect my foragers to the extent of life for life. 
I am, with respect, your obedient servant,
W.T. SHERMAN,
Major-General, U.S. Army.

Three days later on Monday, February 27th, General Hampton responded, not mincing words:

HEADQUARTERS,
In the Field, Feb. 27, 1865.
Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman, U.S. Army:
GENERAL: Your communication of the 24th inst. reached me today. In it you state that it has been officially reported that your foraging parties are "murdered" after capture. You go on to say that you have "ordered a similar number of prisoners in our hands to be disposed of in like manner". That is to say, you have ordered a number of Confederate soldiers to be "murdered."
You characterize your order in proper terms, for the public voice, even in your own country, where it seldom dares to express itself in vindication of truth, honor, or justice, will surely agree with you in pronouncing you guilty of murder if you order it carried out. Before dismissing this portion of your letter, I beg to assure you that for every soldier of mine "murdered" by you, I shall have executed at once two of yours, giving in all cases preference to any officers who may be in your hands.
In reference to the statement you make regarding the death of your foragers, I have only to say that I know nothing of it; that no orders given by me authorize the killing of prisoners after capture, and that I do not believe my men killed any of yours, except under circumstances in which it was perfectly legitimate and proper that they should kill them. It is a part of the system of the thieves of whom you designate as your foragers to fire the dwellings of those citizens whom they have robbed. To check this inhuman system, which is justly execrated by every civilized nation, I have directed my men to shoot down all of your men who are caught burning houses. This order shall remain in force so long as you disgrace the profession of arms by allowing your men to destroy private dwellings.
You say that I cannot, of course, question your right to forage on the country - "It is a right as old as history." I do not sir, question this right. But there is a right older, even, than this, and one more inalienable - the right that every man has to defend his home and to protect those who are dependent on him; and from my heart I wish that every old man and boy in my country who can fire a gun would shoot down, as he would a wild beast, the men who are desolating their land, burning their homes, and insulting their women.
You are particular in defining and claiming "war rights." May I ask if you enumerate among these the rights to fire upon a defenseless city without notice; to burn that city to the ground after it had been surrendered by the inhabitants who claimed, thou in vain, that protection which is always accorded in civilized warfare to non-combatants; to fire the dwelling houses of citizens about robbing them; and to perpetrate even darker crimes than these - crimes too black to be mentioned?
You have permitted, if you have not ordered, the commission of those offenses against humanity and the rules of war; you fired into the city of Columbia without a word of warning; after its surrender by the mayor, who demanded protection to private property, you laid the whole city in ashes, leaving amidst its ruins thousands of old men and helpless women and children, who are likely to perish of starvation and exposure. Your line of march can be traced to the lurid light of burning houses, and in more than one household there is now an agony far more bitter than that of death. The Indian scalped his victim regardless of age or sex, but with all his barbarity he always respected the persons of his female captives. Your soldiers, more savage than Indian, insult those whose natural protectors are absent.
In conclusion, I have only to request that whenever you have any of my men "murdered" or "disposed of," for the terms appear to be synonymous with you, you will let me hear of it, that I may know what action to take in the matter. In the meantime, I shall hold fifty-six of your men as hostages for those whom you have ordered to be executed.
I am, yours, &c.,
WADE HAMPTON
Lieutenant-General.

Major General William T. Sherman, U.S.A. and Lieutenant General Wade Hampton III, C.S.A.
Photos courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress.

Hampton more than got his point across as no mass executions of Confederate prisoners took place after this exchange.

However, this isn't to say that there were no further individual "eye-for-an-eye" acts of retaliation between the two armies, the last of which occurred at the beginning of March, 1865. 

On Wednesday, March 1st, one of Sherman's bummers, Private Robert M. Woodruff of Company H, 30th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, was found dead near Big Lynch Creek in Chesterfield County allegedly beaten to death by the enemy.

The next day, on Thursday, March 2nd, the Headquarters, 17th Army Corps issued the following order:

HDQRS. SEVENTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Thirteen Miles from Cheraw, S.C., March 2, 1865.
SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 56.
I: In accordance with instructions from the major-general commanding the army, directing that for each of our men murdered by the enemy a life of one of the prisoners in our hands should be taken, Maj. J.C. Marven, provost-martial, Seventeenth Army Corps, will select from the prisoners in his charge one man and deliver him to Brig. Gen. M.F. Force, commanding Third Division, to be shot to death in retaliation for the murder of Private R.M. Woodruff, Company H, Thirtienth Illinois Volunteers, a regularly detailed forager, who was beaten to death by the enemy near Blakney's Bridge on or about the 1st day of March, 1865.

The Union major initially refused to pick a prisoner for execution, believing that Private Woodruff -- who'd apparently been unpopular among his own peers -- might have been murdered by one of his own comrades.

It would actually be learned several years later that the Yankee had actually been killed by a slave who had been taken by this soldier. When the opportunity arose, the slave killed Private Woodruff and returned to his master's farm.

Regardless, the major was threatened with court-martial if the order was not carried out.

At about noon that day, lots were then drawn among the Confederate prisoners. One young prisoner was the unfortunate winner, but another prisoner stepped forward volunteering to take the young man's place, an older man named James Miller.

James Madison Miller was a native of Chesterfield County, born in Jefferson, South Carolina on Sunday, April 7, 1816 and was a Methodist minister and father of six when the war broke out in 1861. Private Miller served in Company C, 5th Battalion, South Carolina Reserves (also known as Brown's Battalion), and later as a guard and minister for prisoners at the Florence POW Stockade between September of 1864 till February of 1865. The 48 year old Miller was at home on leave when he was captured by Union troops in late February, 1865.

Private Miller was taken to a nearby ravine where a firing squad of half-a-dozen member of Woodruff's infantry company waited to execute him.

According to eyewitness accounts, the Union major tried to tie Miller's hands, but the Confederate private asked for no restraints. The major then handed him a handkerchief and told the prisoner to drop it when his prayers were concluded.

According to the personal account of a Wisconsin Union soldier who witnessed the terrible scene:

"As the smoke floated away among the tall pines, our boys looked with sadness upon the bleeding corpse of a brave old man who had med his death unflinchingly and heroically for the crime of another man. If the old man had bounded away into the forest, we'd never have run a step to catch him."

The following was recorded in a Union soldiers diary entry:

"At noon the prisoners had by lot selected one of their number and was sent under guard to the 30th Ills - and was by them shot at 2 P.M. The unfortunate man was over 40 years of age and the father  of numerous family - he met his fate like a hero, five balls entered into his breast. On visiting his grave afterward I found the following inscription: "James M. Miller Co. C. Browns Batt. S.C. Infy. Who was shot to death in retaliation for a regularly detailed forager who was murdered and found near Big Lynch Creek S.C., March 2nd 1865." 

The execution of Private James M. Miller was the final act of petty retaliation by Sherman's invading army in South Carolina before marching north into eastern North Carolina and the final surrender of the Confederate Army of Tennessee over a month later.

Private James M. Miller's grave and memorial marker at
Five Forks Methodist Church Cemetery near Pageland, in
Chesterfield County, South Carolina.

The marker on the gravestone of Private James M. Miller.

The following sources were used for this article:

Touring the Carolinas' Civil War Sites by Clint Johnson ISBN 0-89587-146-7.
The Chesterfield (SC) Historical Society http://chesterfield.scgen.org/historicalsociety.html.
The U.S. Library of Congress -- The War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies.
All photos of the grave of Private James M. Miller were taken by the Witherspoon-Barnes Camp #1445 Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).

Red Spider Lilies, Yellow Butterflies & Red-Shouldered Hawk All Herald Autumn In South Carolina

Red Spider Lilies and Yellow Butterflies are common in the
Carolinas during the beginning of the autumn months following
the fall equinox.

As the month of September comes to an end here in upstate South Carolina, autumn begins to make its presence known. Although most of the trees have yet to change into their glorious red, yellow, and orange fall colors, some leaves have already begun to fall. Yet there are already other signs that signal that the autumn season has finally officially arrived.

This afternoon while I was cutting my lawn -- for what will thankfully be one of the last times for this year -- I had to leave one little patch of my yard uncut to preserve the newly sprouted Red Spider Lilies (Lycoris radiata) that sprout up every late September and early October here.

The red spider lily -- named so because of its beautiful bright red color and umbels that look like spider legs -- are also referred to along the eastern coastal areas of the United States as Hurricane lilies because they often bloom after first fall hurricanes.

Outside of the American Southland, the red spider lily is often commonly called the Schoolhouse Lily because it blooms when school has started. Other names for this fall flower include: Red Magic Lily, Corpse Flower, Resurrection Lily, and the Equinox Flower.

Like the dreaded Kudzu vine, the Red Spider Lily is not native to the South, but rather comes from eastern Asia; possibly Japan or China. In Japan the red spider lily is called the "Flower of Death"; its bright red color said to guide souls into the afterlife. The Japanese common name for this flower is higanbana (which literally means "flower of higan" -- a Buddhist holiday around the autumn equinox). In Chinese culture, the red spider lily is an auspicious symbol that represents beauty.

Today, the red spider lily can be found growing in the early fall throughout the Southern United States from the Carolina and Florida to eastern Texas and Oklahoma.

Believe it or not, this seasonal flower also has a connection to the South's Confederate historical heritage.

Its believed that the red spider lily was introduced to America by Captain William Willis Roberts (1822-1875), a Southern-born botanist from New Bern, North Carolina and friend of explorer Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S Navy. Roberts -- then a First Lieutenant in the U.S Navy -- first introduced the plant to America sometime around 1854; bringing three bulbs home from Japan and gifting them to his young sister-in-law, Lavinia Ellis Cole Roberts (1833-1923), for her extensive New Bern garden.

Captain William W. Roberts served in the United States Navy from 1839-1860 when he resigned following the secession of North Carolina at the start of the War Between the States (1861-1865) and took a commission in the Confederate States Navy (CSN) serving as a Lieutenant on three ships -- CSS Charleston, CSS Albemarle, and the CSS Torpedo on the James River near the end of the war.

Today his grave, located in his native New Bern, North Carolina, has red spider lilies that grow every autumn around his grave marker, a beautiful tribute to the man who introduced this plant to America.

The grave of C.S. Captain William W. Roberts (1822-1875) at
Cedar Grove Cemetery, New Bern, North Carolina.
Red spider lillies grow at his grave every fall.
Photo courtesy of Find-A-Grave.com.

Like the Kudzu vine, the Red Spider Lily is Just about every yard in my small Southern town has at least one patch of wild Red Spider Lilies that pop up out of the blue this time of year. Sadly they don't last more than a couple weeks, or so. That's what makes this surprise flower so interesting and precious to see every year here in Dixie.

The following are the photos I took of the small patch of Red Spider Lilies under the tree in my front yard:

Y'all might have noticed the small, yellow-green butterfly in the last two photos above -- the last one capturing the little beauty in flight.

This beautiful yellow butterfly is the Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) common to most of this part of the eastern United States and America from Argentina to southern Ontario, Canada, especially in late summer and early fall.

In addition to capturing this lovely lady in flight (you can tell by the markings on the wings she's a female) I was about to get a great close-up of her on one of the lilies. 

As I finished giving my front lawn its first official sheering of the autumn season, in addition to the cries of my feral cats for their food, I also heard another cry coming from the trees across the road in my neighbor's back yard. I retrieved my camera and located the source of the crying -- a female Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)perched high on a branch.

An extremely vocal bird, this apex predatory bird is well known in the Eastern United States and Appalachia all year around. 

I managed to capture a few great (mostly clear) shots of this lovely beauty as well.

Please let me know what y'all thought of this post below, and as always have a wonderful Dixie Day, and y'all come back now, you hear!

The Significance Of My Confederate Soldiers Uniform

My Confederate gray uniform & accessories for
memorial services, historical events & parades.

Each year hundreds of Confederate Memorial Day events take place in the American Southland from late April (around the 26th in most Southern States) to around early May (the 10th) in the Carolinas, but usually continue until close to U.S. Memorial Day national holiday (last Monday of May).

These events largely include the volunteer clean up of Confederate soldiers' graves, followed by humble memorial services with descendants decked out in their Sunday best laying flowered wreaths at the sites of those same graves and Confederate monuments to the dead.

Sometimes more elaborate events take place, which include volunteer War Between The States reenactors decked out in 19th century military and civilian attire, portraying people who died over 100 or more years ago (the last reported Confederate Veterans lived until the late 1950s). These include the ceremonial firing of musket volleys and cannons over the gravestones, women dressed up in black "widow" attire and children laying flowers at the flag decorated graves.

On some of these occasions, Confederate Memorial Day and U.S. Memorial Day overlap, with reenactors wearing the hallowed Confederate gray and butternut surprisingly (to some) marching in parades meant to honor the nation's American dead from its various wars.

As both a proud descendant of a Confederate soldier, and a Guardian of Confederate graves, every year around this time I too honor the Southern dead -- particularly a sergeant from northern Alabama who fell in defense of Southern independence and his home -- by going to a trunk and pulling out and retrieving a replica of the light gray uniform of a Confederate veteran.

There is no small amount of irony in my doing this given my anti-war views and my disgust for the death and destruction caused by the lack of reason that leads to armed conflict. In point of fact, I would like to make it very clear that wearing the uniform itself does not condone either the war itself and its causes, nor the results of the bloody conflict on my part.

My only reason for me to wear it is to honor the life and subsequent sacrifice of a man that I have never met and will never meet this side of Heaven, but one whom for the grace of God and the love he shared with his wife, I might never have existed -- nor my father, nor his father, and his grandfather.

My particular Confederate gray uniform is far from an accurate replica. Most troops from Alabama wore a type of light brownish-gray wool called Tuscaloosa Grey. My uniform's gray is a more a generic medium gray type similar to the uniforms wore in the late war period (circa 1864-1865) and has no lining. The jacket is of the type also worn in the post war years by the aged surviving Confederate Veterans for reunion.

Though my great-great-grandfather was a sergeant, my jacket is plain with no enlisted, or officer rank because, again, its not about the war for me. Its about the soldier. Also because I'm not an official Civil War reenactor, I would never presume to give myself a rank.

Seven brass buttons bearing the seal of the
State of South Carolina.

The seven brass buttons on the coat bear the seal of the State of South Carolina. These are actually official replicas of the type of Confederate buttons worn by soldiers from my home state.

The uniform also includes a matching pair of medium gray wool field trousers with period suspenders and carved bone buttons. The color of the trousers is actually a slightly lighter shade of medium gray wool, but nobody really seems to notice the difference.

By the mid-to-late period of the war, most Confederate soldiers switched from the original kepi caps to wide-brimmed black, or brown, slouch hats for more practical protection against the sun and rain on the march. The Rough Rider-style brown slouch hat I wear includes a period accurate black hat cord that signifies State militia infantry forces, and a brass South Carolina hat pin.

Affixed at all times to my gray uniform coat is the black memorial cockade ribbon with the worn 5/8 inch brass button featuring the droopy winged eagle with the letters AVC (Alabama Volunteer Corps) of the type worn on the uniform of my own Confederate ancestor. I wear this ribbon anytime I put this uniform on for any event as a visual reminder of my family heritage.

My uniform appearance is completed by the carpetbag haversack. This item is also period, and serves as my only serious attempt at standing out slightly in groups. Most of the haversacks during the war were either white canvas, or coated with black waterproofing to protect the contents from rain. The carpetbag haversack was largely homemade and features an extra pocket in the back for extra storage.

I normally use it to carry my everyday items when at events, but I also carry at all times my personal 15X15 inch Dixie Cross (Confederate battle flag) to display on occasions whenever it is called for to respectfully honor the Southern dead.

A Bible that stopped a musket ball at the
Battle of Sharpsburg, Maryland on
Friday, September 19, 1862.

I also carry a small copy of the New Testament that I have owned since high school. The small Bible is always carried in the small interior pocket of my shell jacket near my heart -- most Civil War soldiers carried their Bibles there, and it often times literally saved their lives and not just their souls.

One more item I carry with me is what I like to refer to as my small "Scalawag Bag" with 9 plain brass CSA buttons.

After the war ended, occupying Union soldiers would stop former Confederates still wearing their uniform coats -- often because they did not have any other clothes -- and forcibly cut the brass Confederate buttons off their coats because of Federal occupation laws prohibiting the open display of Confederate symbols. The Southern veterans in return would gather up the buttons, put them in bags, and then shake them at the Yankees when they passed by in the streets in defiance.

I keep this small bag with 9 plain brass CSA buttons in my haversack with my battle flag for those few occasions I have to deal with a heckler; just my way of keeping an old tradition alive.

Now I have to confess that, since I'm not an actual living history reenactor, when it comes to my portrayal, I kinda cheat a little in a couple of areas; especially when it comes to the area of the shoes and underwear.

During the war, the foot soldiers largely wore low-quarter boots called Brogans. I do own a pair of these with metal heel plates used to keep the boots from wearing out on long walks.

Unfortunately one downside to this footwear is that brogans, like all period shoes at the time, have to treads. This makes them pretty slippery on sidewalks, or stepping onto smooth surfaces. I've taken more than one or two tumbles as a result.

Because of the issues with the brogans, during parades I usually just wear a pair of brown, worn-looking modern-day work boots. The period trousers usually cover up all but the front of the boots so nobody really notices the difference. I also wear a regular, plain white button up dress shirt underneath my uniform jacket, with modern-day plastic buttons.

An actual professional reenactor would dub me a "farb" (reenactor jargon for someone who portrays less than period authenticity) if I ever tried wearing these during an actual battle re-enactment. For the general public, its not much of a big deal.

The gray uniform and my public portrayal are typically for modern Confederate memorial events, color or honor guard displays, or holiday parades like U.S. Veterans Day. While I wear the uniform to honor the Southern dead, I'm also a man who lives in the 21st century and not my Confederate ancestor himself.

As I said, I'm not a professional reenactor. I've never taken part in an actual living history battle reenactment -- being anti-war I doubt I would ever be comfortable doing so at any rate.

Yours truly at Confederate Memorial Day
in Columbia in May of 2017.

At any rate I don't believe the honored dead would begrudge me actually wearing my modern-day underwear -- though I would never wear sunglasses with my uniform though. I do try to outwardly look the part as well as a 6'2" (currently) 236 pound middle-aged pseudo-adult possibly can.

Finally, and this is a personal choice on my part, I will not carry a weapon while wearing the uniform. I have on a couple of occasions over the years been given a borrowed a musket from a friend for an honor guard service when an extra body is needed for a military rifle salute over the graves. But for parades and other events, I will not carry a rifle -- preferring to be a color bearer. This is where I draw a fine line between honoring the dead and my anti-war stances. 

I hope y'all enjoyed this little explanation of my cosplay as a Confederate Veteran and how I honor the memory of my own Southern ancestor. Please let me know what you thought of this article in the comments below and feel free to ask any questions.

Have a wonderful Dixie day and y'all come back now, ya hear!

Confederate Park Monuments At Fort Mill, South Carolina

Confederate Memorial Park in downtown Fort Mill, SC.
Note the railroad tracks in the foreground.

Confederate Park in downtown Fort Mill, South Carolina is perhaps one of the most unique in all of the United States for containing four monuments to supporters of the Southern Confederacy during the War Between The States (1861-1865). The park also includes a nearly 120 year old band stand and two large Civil War naval cannons. 

The name of the town originates from a fort that was meant to be built by the British military to protect the local Catawba Indian tribe from Shawnee and Cherokee attacks, though never completed; and after Webb's Grist Mill -- named for a local Anglo settler. Officially incorporated into a township in 1873, it is the only town in the United States named Fort Mill.

The small hamlet of Fort Mill was the site of the organization of one of the first companies raised to defend South independence in 1861. Captain John M. White commanded the York Volunteers, also called the York Guard, which became Company H, 6th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment. After the reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862, it became Company B, 6th SC Regiment. White ultimately rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel of the 6th Regiment. 

The park was established a few decades after the end of the war in 1891 on property donated by local landowner, Captain Samuel Elliott White, Colonel John White's brother. 

Captain Samuel Elliott White (1837-1911)
standing in front of the Confederate Soldiers'
Monument in his United Confederate Veterans (UCV)
uniform not long after the monument was
dedicated in 1891.
Photo courtesy of the Fort Mill Historical Society.

A former captain of Company B, 7th North Carolina Regiment, Samuel E. White organized South Carolina's first branch of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Association in Fort Mill in 1889 and became its first president. Its membership comprised the men and women who had known the hardships of the war. This group subsequently divided into the Ladies' Memorial Association, the Fort Mill Camp of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), the sons  and daughters of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV), and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). 
   
He conceived the idea of a Confederate park, "a semi-sacred spot" for many Fort Mill citizens to remember the sacrifices of the Southern people during the war.

White, who was one of the largest property owners in the area, provided the land for the park and led the efforts to erect the four monuments located there between 1891 to 1900. On the park's completion, White donated it not to the municipal government but to the people of Fort Mill. 

Although he was financially capable of purchasing them himself, White felt that if the people of Fort Mill, especially the Confederate veterans themselves, had a part in the purchase of the monuments, it would result in stronger interest and a deeper feeling of pride. The people of Fort Mill -- many of them former Confederate Veterans and some former African-American slaves -- subscribed to the fund for the monument honoring the Confederate soldiers, the monuments to the women, and the monument to the faithful slaves. White himself purchased the fourth monument to the Catawba Indians. White and his associates designed the monuments and ordered them cut to exact specifications.

The park was built next to the local railroad station and also originally served as a place for visiting travelers to relax. Today Confederate Park still serves as a gathering place for local annual events.

Historical marker at Confederate Park erected by the Fort Mill
Historical Society.

The first monument built on the site was the Confederate Soldiers' Monument, which was unveiled on Tuesday, December 22, 1891.

The Confederate Soldiers' Monument.

The pure marble statue of the Confederate soldier rests on a marble pedestal surmounting a foundation of granite elevations, standing sixteen feet tall. The figure on top stands resting on his rifle facing to the South. White unveiled this monument, intending to honor the Confederate soldiers, both living and dead, whose names are engraved on the monument. 

The inscriptions on the monument are as follows:

[South Side]:

1860
Dum Spiro Spero  (Translation: While I breathe, I hope)
(The State Seal of South Carolina)
Spes Animis Opibuscue Parati  (Translation: Prepared In Mind And Resources) 1891
Defenders of  State Sovereignty.

[North Side]:

1865 Image of the 2nd Confederate National Flag flying
at night against stars and a crescent moon.
The warrior's banner takes its flight
to greet the warrior's soul.

The east and west sides of the monument list the names of many of Fort Mill's 170 Confederate Veterans, most of whom served in the 6th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment. 

Confederate soldier standing on top
of the monument with musket at
parade rest.

The second monument build on the site was the Women of the South Monument which was dedicated on Tuesday, May 21, 1895.

The Women of the Confederacy Monument.

This monument was actually one of the first erected in the South in memory of the women of the Confederacy, in particular to the women of Fort Mill who worked to support the home front while their men and boys fought to defend Southern independence. 

The following is an interesting excerpt from the local newspaper at the time which demonstrates one of the efforts made on the part of the women of Fort Mill, South Carolina for their husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers fighting in the war:

Yorkville Enquirer, Thursday, November 7, 1861

Fort Mill Ladies’ Aid Association

The letter to the YE noted papers had given notice of “the patriotic munificence of the ladies in behalf of our suffering and needy soldiers” while Fort Mill Ladies had been working to the same end. But they were “cut off by the Catawba river, and thereby somewhat isolated from our sisters of York and elsewhere,” but they had “a deep interest in the common weal.” They were busy working to the common weal, not to praise themselves. “We would fain hope that our vanity, if we have any in this little work, will be readily pardoned.”

The Fort Mill Association met in the Fort Mill Academy and were assisted by “an auxiliary society, composed of a few ladies of lower Steel Creek,” had the following results of their work. They sent “a large box of woolen shirts, drawers and socks, with a variety of other articles” to the 6^th Regiment, SC Volunteers. Mr. A. Huffman was in charge of delivery of this box and it was received safely. In past two weeks this Association made “an entire suit of uniform” for Captain White’s company of the 6^th SCVIR and were about to send “a goodly sized box of hospital stores.” Gentlemen of the neighborhood packed and delivered boxes to the depot.

Officers were: Mrs. T. D. Spratt, President; Mrs. Dr. Stewart, Vice President; Mrs. A. B. Springs, Secretary and Mrs. T. B. Withers, Treasurer.

The Board of Managers consisted of Mrs. Benjamin Massey, Mrs. John Stewart, Mrs. J. H. Faulkner and Mrs. George Truesdel.

The Committee to Receive Donations consisted of Mrs. Dr. Wilson, Mrs, Dr. Cobb, Miss Lizzie Watson, Miss Rebecca Faulkner and Mrs. B. J. Patterson.

The monument itself sits on four pedestals of masonry and two steps of marble, a total of seventeen feet in height. It is a highly polished shaft wrought from the finest grained clouded marble. The female figure on top is shown kneeling in supplication with the flag dropped around her knees with her hands clasped in prayer and eyes turned towards Heaven, was carved in Italy of white marble.

The inscriptions on the monument are as follows:

[South Side]:

1860
Affectionately
dedicated by
the Jefferson Davis
Memorial Association
to the women of
the Confederacy.
The living and the dead,
who midst the gloom of war
were heroines in the strife,
to perpetuate their noble
sacrifices on the altar of
our common country. Let
sweet incense forever
rise, till it reach them,
in robes of victory
beyond the skies.
1865

[East Side]:

Mesdames
White - Johnston
Spratt - Epps
Springs - Culp
Harris - Graham
Merritt - Coltharp
Kimbrell - Bailes
Armstrong - Garrison
Burns - Stewart
Jones - Massey
and many others.

[North Side]:

1895
Respectfully
donated by
Samuel E. White
to the Jefferson Davis
Memorial Association.

[West Side]:

"Many are the hearts that
are weary to-night
wishing for the war to
cease.
Many are the hearts praying
for the right
to see the dawn of peace."

(Curiously, this inscription is part of the chorus of the Civil War song "Tenting On The Old Camp Ground" which was written in 1863 by Walter Kittredge of New Hampshire and a popular song for enlisted men in the Union Army.)

Southern woman on top of the
monument kneeling in prayer.

The third monument erected on the site is often referred to as the Faithful Slaves Monument which was dedicated on Friday, May 24, 1895, three days after the unveiling of the Women of the South Monument.

The Faithful Slaves Monument.

Mr. Solomon Spratt (1839-1894)
was a formerslave on the plantation of
Thomas Dryden Spratt.
During the War Between the States
he led a group of slaves in an endeavor
to care for the women and children left
behind when the men went to the front
lines keeping families fed and
farms running.
Photo courtesy of the Fort Mill History Museum.

During the war while most of the local able bodied men were away fighting, the local women, children and elderly faced difficulty keeping their farms running. Food was scarce as were other necessities. 

A local slave named Solomon Spratt took it upon himself to organize other African-American slaves in the area to help tend the farms, harvest and distribute food supplies, and provide work when and where it was necessary. Their actions kept the local population from starvation and ruin. The surviving Confederate veterans from the area returned home to find their families provided for and (unlike much of the rest of the now devastated Southland) their farms and homes virtually untouched by the hard hand of war, all by the actions of Spratt and the other local slaves. 

This monument is largely dedicated to the memories of those slaves and what they did and the names of at least ten of these men are listed on the monument, including Solomon Spratt. It is considered somewhat unique as it specifically commemorates a group of African-Americans loyal to the South -- if not specifically to the Confederate cause.

The thirteen-foot pure white marble obelisk monument is supported by four steps of masonry. 

The inscriptions on the monument are as follows:

[West Side]:

1860
Dedicated to
the faithful slaves
who, loyal to a sacred trust,
toiled for the support
of the army with matchless
devotion and sterling
fidelity [and] guarded our defenseless
homes, women and children during
the struggle for the principles
of our "Confederate States of
America."
1865

[East Side]:

1895
Erected by Sam'l E. White
in grateful memory of earlier
days. With approval of the
Jefferson Davis
Memorial Association.
Among the many faithful:
Nelson White - Anthony White
Sandy White - Jim White
Warren White - Henry White
Silas White - Nathan Springs
Handy White - Solomon Spratt

[South Side]:

Engraving of an African-American field worker resting on a log under a tree with a sickle in his hand.

[North Side]:

Engraving of an African-American woman holding a child and sitting on porch steps.

The Catawba Indians Confederate Monument was unveiled on Saturday, August 4, 1900. 

The Catawba Indians Monument.

 

The town of Fort Mill, originally called Little York, takes its name from a colonial-era fort built by the British. Fort Mill began as a gift from Native Americans in the 1700s to whites that were passing through the area. Thomas Spratt was the first European to settle here around 1750. 

 

Before the Revolutionary War, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Spratt spent a night among the friendly Catawba Nation, were invited to live there, and given a large tract of land. The local Catawbas nicknamed Thomas Spratt "Old Kanahwa". Many of the Catawbas served with Spratt and other local Patriots during the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War.

 

The Catawba Indian Monument commemorates the bravery of the Catawba Indians who served in the Confederate army and lists the names of seventeen of them. 

Originally, the monument held the statue of a Catawba brave holding a bow and arrow as if stalking game. Over half a century ago, a storm blew down a large oak branch, which served both of the brave's arms and the bow and arrow. The damage was never repaired. 

John McKee Spratt, who was preparing to join the Confederate army at age sixteen when the Confederacy collapsed, helped White with the purchase. Spratt, the great grandson of "Old Kanahwa," had interests in farming, lumber, fertilizer, and the cotton mill in Fort Mill after the war.

The inscriptions on the monument are as follows:

[South Side]:

1600

Erected to the
Catawba Indians 

by
Sam'l Elliott White
and
John McKee Spratt
The latter is a descendant of Thos.
Kanawha Spratt and the former a descendant
of Wm. Elliott a descendant of Kanawahs
two of the first settlers in this portion of
the Indian Land, 1755-60.
1900

[West Side]:

Engraving of a forest.

CATAWBA

Some noted Catawbas, King Hagler - Gen. New-River - Gen. Ayers 

Gen. Jim Kegg - Col. David Harris - Major John Joe Cap - Billy George

Lieut. Phillip Kegg - Sallie New-River - Pollie Ayers - Peter Harris 

The latter being made an orphan by the small-pox scourge was raised by "Kanahwa".
He received a pension for services in the Revolution of 1776 at 70 years of age. He died at the Spratt homestead and at his own request was buried in the family grave yard.   

[East Side]:

 Engraved image of a Bison.

Some of the Catawbas who served in the Confederate Army
Jeff Ayers - John Scott - Alex Timins - Bill Sanders - John Harris - Wm Canty - Billy George - Gilbert George - Jim Harris - Robt. Marsh - Bob Crawford - Nelson George - Peter Harris Jr. - John Brown - John Sanders - Epp Harris - Bob Head

[North Side]:
The Catawba Indians, although a war
like nation, were ever friends of the white
settlers. They aided and fought with the
Americans in the Revolution and the Confederates
in the Civil War.
Tradition says they immigrated to this 

portion of South Carolina from Canada 

about 1600, numbering some 12,000. 

Wars with the Cherokees, Shawnees, and 

other nations, together with the small-pox 

depleted their numbers greatly. 

In 1764, the province of South Carolina allotted 

them 15 miles square in York and Lancaster 

Districts. About 1840 a new treaty was made, 

the State buying all their land, and afterwards 

laying them off 700 acres on the west bank 

of the Eswa Tavora (Catawba River) 6 miles 

south of Fort Mill. Where the remnant, 

about 75, now live receiving a small annuit 

from the state.

Chief Samuel Taylor Blue (1871-1959) examines the
Catawba Indian Monument at Confederate Park in the 1950s
not long after the storm damage to the monument.
Mr. Blue was chief of the Catawba tribe from 1928-1939 and
again in the late 1950s. He was active in tribal affairs and
advocacy, and was also known to be the last speaker
of the Catawba language. He is buried at the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints Cemetery in York County, SC.
Photo courtesy of the Fort Mill Historical Society.

The old bandstand in the background was built in 1900.

The bandstand at Confederate Park has a rather amusing history. 

It was built in 1900 with municipal funds left over at the end of the mayoral administration of W.B. Meachem. Town regulations required any surplus funds to be spent before a new administration took office and Mayor Meachem used his $50 surplus to fund the building of the bandstand to solve a longstanding problem. 

Town Hall at the time was right across the alley in a building that sat where the lawn and deck area for nearby Hobo’s restaurant is now located. Along the side of Town Hall was a long covered porch where local men used to sit and whittle to pass the time.

Unfortunately, many of the men were avid tobacco chewers, necessitating the need for regular spitting. The combination of tobacco juice and wood shavings made for quite a mess on the mayor’s front porch. Meachem thought the $50 could be best used to building a new structure where the men could engage in their pass time and he could finally get the spitters off the porch.

No evidence exists that proved it worked, though the beautiful bandstand constructed at the park remains to this day, and hosts a number of annual local events every year. 

The two large 6.4 inch (100-lb) Naval Parrott Rifle Cannons in Confederate Park were added in 1901, when cannons that once guarded the South Carolina coast in the defenses around Charleston were given away decades after the war as obsolete surplus and the town of Fort Mill requested two of them for the park.  

The town of Fort Mill continues its yearly U.S. Independence Day tradition of firing the cannons on July 4th. 

The two Confederate Naval Parrott Rifle Cannons.

Well folks, I hope y'all enjoyed this article. Special thanks to the folks at the Fort Mill Historical Society and Fort Mill History Museum for their efforts in providing information for this article. 

Have a wonderful Dixie day, and y'all come back now, ya hear!