Private John Alex Sarter C.S.A. -- Former Slave & Confederate Veteran

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.

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.

Visiting The Memorials At John D. Long Lake

John D. Long Lake in Union County, South Carolina
in mid-November 2021.

 

Located about 3 miles west of the town of Lockhart, South Carolina, John D. Long Lake in Union County is an 80-acre manmade lake built in the 1970s and used for recreational fishing.

The lake was created in the 1970s on the initiative of then South Carolina state senator John David Long III (1930-2005) and named for his father, John David Long II (1901-1967), also a former South Carolina state senator.

I visited the lake back in November of last year, mostly because in spite of living about 20 miles from the place I'd never been there before, though I had driven by the area many times on SC Highway 49 between Lockhart on the mighty Broad River and the town of Union. In a way it was a spur of the moment decision on my part, but I also felt like there was something I needed to do.

You can't really see the lake from the main road. Once you see the sign for the lake there is a short dirt road through the thick copse of trees that takes you from the main highway to the lake.

Standing there alone by the secluded, placid lake with late autumn foliage in the background, I felt very vulnerable and scared. Aside from the few birds in the trees, the place was eerily quiet. Not even the catfish in the deep lake were jumping. Even though there were fewer leaves left on the trees, the sun was having a hard time shining through. The place was dark and spooky.

Its not very hard to imagine some monster similar to the creature from the Black Lagoon crawling out of that lake, or (far more likely) a bear lunging out of nowhere and going right for you.

What drew me there wasn't the view of the lake -- at least not entirely. My attention turned away from the lake to the two beautifully carved granite memorials near the woods dedicated to two young boys who lost their lives on the lake over a quarter of a century ago.

I was 18 years old and less than a year away from graduating high school when, on Tuesday, October 25, 1994, a woman named Susan Smith from neighboring Union County, South Carolina, reported her car had been stolen along with her two young sons Michael Daniel (age 3) and Alexander Tyler (14 months old) by a black man.

The story of the reported carjacking and kidnapping of the two boys would become a national story with Smith and her then husband making emotional appeals to the alleged kidnapper for the safe return of their children.

At the time I remembered being really worried for those kids. Not because of the reported kidnapping (though a part of me continued to hope that they would be found alive) but the small sick feeling that I felt when my grandmother Carolyn (God rest her soul) watched the live television news conference with Smith crying and flat out said, "She's lying."

As usual, it turned out my dear Maw Maw was right, as she tended to be -- well, about 95% of the time anyhow.

Ten days later, on Tuesday, November 3, 1994, Susan Smith confessed to the police that she drowned both of her two sons still strapped in their car seats in John D. Long Lake and made up the carjacking story, turning a national story into a national tragedy with terrible implications.

This was a real life horror story, and it happened about 25 miles from where I lived.

Even now, after over two-and-a-half decades after the event, I can remember the sense of outrage and anger local people felt. Even to this day some people still get angry whenever the subject is brought up.

The fact that she blamed an African-American man for the crime was a terrible throwback to times in our nation's past where similar incidents led to horrible racial issues and reactions; something that many of us at the time believed that our little section of the country was well beyond. Smith's story and accusation showed that many of us still have a long way to go.

Probably the worst part are the mental images one can come up with just standing there next to that lake and imagining the day that car slowly sank with two children in the backseat. It was something I tried very hard not to think of while I was standing by that lake.

There may not be a lake monster living in the depths, but on a fall day like the one I was visiting on, there was a monster there. One far scarier than anything an author like Stephen King could come up with in his worst nightmares. 

Susan Smith was found guilty of her heinous crime and sentenced to life imprisonment. She still remains in prison as of the writing of this article. Nothing more needs to be said of her. 

Though a whole generation has been born since that terrible incident, the lake still carries with it a sense of foreboding. Since that time at least seven other people (including four members of a family group) have tragically drowned in that lake when the vehicle they were in went off the boat ramp and into the lake -- ironically while visiting the memorials themselves. The old boat ramp itself has since been demolished.

Although I do hold some belief in the supernatural beyond what my Christian faith tells me about the afterlife for various reasons both scientific and based on a couple of personal experiences, I have a hard time accepting that places can be cursed.

Still, in spite of the fact that people still go fishing in the lake (and likely other things too if the old condom wrapper I'd found was any indication -- some folks can get antsy anywhere I suppose) I couldn't help but hurry up and do what I came to do and get back on the road.

I went to the two granite memorials for Michael and Alex to get the photos I wanted to share with y'all. 

As you can see one of the memorials is a simple granite memorial and the other is a beautifully carved black granite monument with the images of the two boys, forever young, smiling back at visitors.

Its heartwarming to know that, even after all these years, people still take the time to pay tribute to these young lives by leaving toys and other gifts on the site. It should be noted that neither of the boys are actually buried on the site. Sadly there's no memorial for the visitors who drowned afterwards. The site is well maintained.

I went into the armrest of my car and found a small toy that I left at the memorials, along with a couple of coins. Then I got in my car and thirty seconds of driving later I was back on the main road and thankfully in the sunshine again.

I can think of no better way to conclude this article than with my final photo of the small plaque on one of the memorials and the inscribed message it leaves.

Confederate Monument In Jonesville, South Carolina

On a recent journey I took the time to stop over at the small Southern town of Jonesville in Union County and visit the Confederate monument there.

The 15 foot obelisk monument was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1907 in memory of the Confederate soldier. 

The front of the monument reads simply: "To The Confederate Dead Of Union District."

A Confederate Army of Northern Virginia pattern battle flag flies behind it on a 12 foot pole out of respect for the Southern dead.  

I hope y'all enjoyed this post and as always have a wonderful Dixie day, y'all!