Battle of Honey Hill

The Battle of Honey Hill was the third battle of Sherman's March to the Sea, fought November 30, 1864, during the American Civil War. It did not involve Major General William T. Sherman's main force, marching from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia, but was a failed Union Army expedition under Brig. Gen. John P. Hatch that attempted to cut off the Charleston and Savannah Railroad in support of Sherman's projected arrival in Savannah.

Battle of Honey Hill
Part of the American Civil War
Date November 30, 1864 Location Jasper County, South Carolina: then Beaufort County Result Confederate victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	Confederate States (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
John P. Hatch	G. W. Smith Charles J. Colcock[1]
Units involved
Coastal Division, Department of the South South Atlantic Blockading Squadron	Georgia Militia Department of Georgia [2]
Strength
5,000	1,400
Casualties and losses
746 total 89 killed, 629 wounded 28 captured	47 total 8 killed 39 wounded

Engagement

Map of Honey Hill and Grahamsville, Official Military Atlas of the Civil War, Plate XCI, Nr.4

Map of Honey Hill Battlefield core and study areas by the American Battlefield Protection Program.

Hatch's expeditionary force left Hilton Head, South Carolina, for Boyd’s Neck (above Beaufort) on November 28. It consisted of 5,000 men—two brigades of the Coast Division of the Department of the South, one naval brigade, and portions of three batteries of light artillery. They steamed up the Broad River in transports to cut the Charleston and Savannah Railroad near Pocotaligo. Due to a heavy fog the troops were not disembarked from the transports until late the following afternoon, and Hatch immediately started forward to cut the railroad near Grahamville.[3]

However, the expedition maps and guides proved worthless and Hatch was unable to proceed on the right road until the morning of November 30. At Honey Hill, a few miles from Grahamville, he encountered a Confederate force of regulars and militia, under Col. Charles J. Colcock, with a battery of seven guns across the road. Determined attacks were launched by U.S. Colored Troops including a brigade led by Alfred S. Hartwell that included the 54th Massachusetts and 55th Massachusetts.[4] The position of the Federal force was such that only one section of artillery could be used at a time, and the Confederates were too well entrenched to be dislodged. Fighting kept up until dark when Hatch, realizing the impossibility of successfully attacking or turning the flank of the enemy, withdrew to his transports at Boyd’s Neck, having lost 89 men killed, 629 wounded, and 28 missing. The Confederate casualties amounted to eight killed and 39 wounded.[5]

Captains George E. Gouraud[6] and Thomas F. Ellsworth[7] as well as First Lt. Orson W. Bennett[8] were awarded the Medal of Honor. In 2001 another medal was awarded posthumously to then Corporal Andrew J. Smith.[9]

Union order of battle

BG John P. Hatch

Brigade	Regiment and Batteries
1st Brigade BG Edward E. Potter	25th Ohio Infantry: Ltc Nathaniel Haughton 32nd US Colored Troops: Col George W. Baird 34th US Colored Troops: Ltc William W. Marple 35th US Colored Troops: Col James C. Beecher 56th New York Infantry: Ltc Rockwell Tyler 127th New York Infantry: Col William Gurney 144th New York Infantry: Col James Lewis 157th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment: Ltc James C. Carmichael
2nd Brigade Col Alfred S. Hartwell	54th Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Infantry: Ltc Henry N. Hooper 55th Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Infantry: Lt Col Charles B. Fox 102nd US Colored Troops: Col Henry L. Chipman
Naval Brigade Commander George H. Preble[10]	Sailor Battalion of Infantry: Lt James O'Kane USMC Battalion of Infantry: Lt George G. Stoddard
Artillery Brigade Ltc William Ames	Battery A, 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (section): Cpt William H. Hammer Battery B, 3rd New York Light Artillery (4x12pdr): Cpt Thomas J. Meseareu Co F, 3rd New York Artillery (4x12pdr): Lt Edgar H. Titus
Cavalry Cpt George Hurlbut	1st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry (2 companies)

Confederate order of battle

MG Gustavus W. Smith[11]
Col Charles J. Colcock[12]

Chief of Artillery: Col Ambrosio José Gonzales

Brigade	Regiment and Batteries
Provisional Army of the Confederate States	47th Georgia Infantry: Ltc Aaron Edwards 3rd South Carolina Cavalry (3-4 Coys): Maj John Jenkins Beaufort Artillery (2 guns):[13] Cpt Henry M. Stuart DePass's Battery (2 guns) LaFayette Artillery (3 guns)
Reinforcement during battle: BG Beverly H. Robertson	32nd Georgia Infantry: Ltc Edwin H. Bacon Inglis Light Artillery
1st Brigade, Georgia Militia Col James Willis	1st Militia 2nd Militia 3rd Militia
Brigade, Georgia State Line Ltc James Wilson	1st State Line 2nd State Line
Georgia Reserves	Athens Reserves Battalion: Maj Ferdinand W.C. Cook Augusta Reserves Battalion: Maj George T. Jackson

Casualties

In a report of Hatch December 1864 summarized the Union losses:[14]

• 1st Brigade: casualties of 2 officers and 54 men killed;28 officers and 409 men wounded; 1 officer and 14 men missing.
• 2nd Brigade: casualties of 3 officers and 28 men killed;10 officers and 160 men wounded; 1 officer and 8 men missing.
• Naval Brigade: casualties of 1 man killed; 7 men wounded; 4 men missing
• Artillery Brigade: casualties of 1 officer killed; 2 officers and 12 men wounded
• Cavalry: casualties of 1 man wounded

The Confederate losses were reported by Lt Col C.C. Jones in his Siege of Savannah as 4 killed and 40 wounded. The Savannah Republican newspaper on Dec 1, 1864 reported "between eighty and one hundred killed and wounded"[11]

See also

• Honey Hill-Boyd's Neck Battlefield

Notes

1. Stone, pp. 214–25; General Smith, of higher rank, relinquished command to Col Colcock, who was more knowledgeable of the battlefield.
2. CWSAC Report Update
3. McKee, James H. Back "in War Times": History of the 144th Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, 1903, p. 184.
4. Jonathan Sutherland (2004). "Honey Hill, Battle of (November 30, 1864)". African Americans at war: an encyclopedia. 1. ABC-CLIO. pp. 217–219. ISBN 978-1-57607-746-7.
5. Reminiscences of Charleston, Jacob N. Cardozo, 1866, p. 118
6. http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civilwar_gl.html#GOURAUD
7. http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civilwar_af.html#ELLS
8. http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civilwar_af.html#BENNETTOW
9. http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civilwar_sz.html#SMITH
10. Bodine, A.S. Narrative of the Battle of Honey Hill; by Lt. A.S. Bodine, Co. B, 127th New York Volunteer Infantry. (undated)
11. Robertson, p. 242
12. Commanding Officer, 3rd South Carolina Cavalry
13. Stone, p. 218 claims 5 guns from Beufort Artillery, 2 guns from Earle's Battery of Furman's Artillery and Kanapaux's Battery of LaFayette Artillery
14. Official Records Series 1 Volume 44 Chap LVI .p. 425

References

• Emilio, Luis F (1894). History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1863–65. Boston,MA: Boston Book Co.
• Roster of the Twenty Fifth Ohio Infantry Regiment
• Stone, David H; Stone, David H Jr (2008). Vital Rails: The Charleston & Savannah Railroad and the Civil War in Coastal South Carolina. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-57003-716-0.
• National Park Service battle description
• Eicher, David J., The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War, Simon & Schuster, 2001, ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
• The Union Army; A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal States, 1861–65—Records of the Regiments in the Union Army—Cyclopedia of Battles—Memoirs of Commanders and Soldiers, Federal Publishing Company (Madison, Wisconsin), 1908 (reprinted by Broadfoot Publishing, 1997).
• CWSAC Report Update

External links

• Official records of Civil War search engine
• Eye witness accounts by Captain Luther Mesnard of Company B of OH 25th