Second Battle of Pocotaligo

The Second Battle of Pocotaligo, or Battle of Pocotaligo Bridge, or Battle of Yemassee, often referred to as simply the Battle of Pocotaligo, was a battle in the American Civil War on October 22, 1862 near Yemassee, South Carolina.[6][7] The Union objective was to sever the Charleston and Savannah Railroad and thus isolate Charleston, South Carolina.

Second Battle of Pocotaligo
Part of the American Civil War
Map of the battle and route of the expedition
Date October 22, 1862 Location Yemassee, South Carolina 32°38′13″N 80°51′48″W Result Confederate victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
Brigadier General John M. Brannan	Colonel William S. Walker
Units involved
X Corps	Beaufort District, Department of South Carolina
Strength
4,500[1]	2,000[1] With additional reinforcements from Charleston[2]
Casualties and losses
43 killed 294 wounded 3 missing[3][4][5]	21 killed 124 wounded 18 missing[3][4][5]

Order of battle

Confederate

Commanding: Colonel William Stephen Walker

Initial force:

• Company E, 11th South Carolina Infantry - Cpt. John H. Mickler
• 1st South Carolina Sharpshooters (Companies B, C, D) - Cpt. Joseph B. Allston
• 1st South Carolina Cavalry Battalion
• Rutledge Mounted Rifles
• Kirk's Partisan Rangers - Cpt. Manning J. Kirk
• Charleston Light Dragoons
• Beaufort Volunteer Artillery - Cpt. Stephen Elliott, Jr.
• Hanover Artillery - Cpt. George W. Nelson
• LaFayette Artillery - Lt. L. F. LeBleux

Reinforcements from Charleston

• 7th South Carolina Infantry Battalion - Lt. Col. Patrick H. Nelson
• 11th South Carolina Infantry (Companies C, D, K) - Maj. John J. Harrison (k)
• 14th South Carolina Cavalry Battalion - Maj. Joseph H. Morgan

Reinforcements from Grahamville

• 3rd South Carolina Cavalry - Lt. Col. Thomas H. Johnson
• 1st South Carolina Sharpshooters (Two Companies)

Union

Commanding: Brig. Gen. John M. Brannan

1st Brigade: Col. John Lyman Chatfield (w)

• 6th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry
• 3rd New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry
• 4th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry
• 48th New York Volunteer Infantry - Col. William B. Barton
• 76th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry - Col. Dewitt Strawbridge

2nd Brigade: Brig. Gen. Alfred Terry

• 3rd Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry
• 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry - Col. Tilghman H. Good
• 55th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry
• 7th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry

Engineers

• 1st New York Engineers (Two Companies) - Col. Edward W. Serrell

Cavalry

• 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry

Artillery

• Battery B, 1st US Artillery
• Batteries C,E,K,L,M 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery

Battle

On October 21, 1862, a 4200-man Union force, under the command of Brigadier General John M. Brannan, embarked on troop transport ships and left from Hilton Head, South Carolina. Brannan's orders were "to destroy the railroad and railroad bridges on the Charleston and Savannah line."[3] Under protection of a Naval Squadron, they steamed up the Broad River, and disembarked the next morning at Mackey Point (between the Pocotaligo and Coosawhatchie Rivers), less than ten miles from the railroad.[1] The 47th and 55th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiments, under Colonel Tilghman H. Good's command, began the march toward Pocotaligo.[8] A smaller detachment of 300 men – two companies of engineers and the 48th New York regiment was ordered up the Coosawhatchie River to destroy the bridge at Coosawhatchie and then tear up the rails as they advanced on Pocotaligo.[1][3]

Colonel William S. Walker, the Confederate commander responsible for defending the railroad, called for reinforcement from Savannah and Charleston. He deployed his available forces to counter the two Union advances, sending 200 of his men to guard the bridges, and dispatching the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery (CS), along with two companies of cavalry and some sharpshooters in support, to meet the main Union advance on the Mackey Point road. The Confederates encountered Brannan's Division near the abandoned Caston's Plantation and the artillery opened fire with their two howitzers. The Confederates retreated when the Union artillery responded.[1][3]

With Brannan in pursuit, Walker's men slowly withdrew, falling back to their defensive fieldworks at Pocotaligo. The Union troops encountered the Confederates on the opposite side of a muddy marsh, and their advance stalled. Brigadier General Alfred Terry, in command of the Second Brigade, ordered the nearly 100 Sharps rifleman of the 7th Connecticut Infantry forward to the edge of the woods where the Union forces had taken cover. The rapid fire of the repeating rifles quickly suppressed the fire from the Confederate battery and associated infantry across the marsh, and they were soon ordered to cease firing to preserve ammunition.[9] The opposing forces blazed away with cannon and musket fire at intervals for more than two hours, until Confederate reinforcements arrived.[3][8] By then it was late in the day, and the Union troops were running low on ammunition.

Aftermath

As dusk descended, Brannan realized that the railroad bridge could not be reached, and ordered a retreat up the Mackay's Point road to the safety of the flotilla. The Confederate Rutledge Mounted Rifles and Kirk's Partisan Rangers pursued, but the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Union rearguard held them off.[3][10] Brannan's troops reembarked at Mackay's Point the next morning and returned to Hilton Head.[9]

References

1. Smith, Steven; Christopher Ohm Clement; Stephen R. Wise (June 2003). "GPS, GIS and the Civil War Battlefield Landscape: A South Carolina Low Country Example". Historical Archaeology. 37 (3): 14–30. doi:10.1007/BF03376608. ISSN 0440-9213. JSTOR 25617077. S2CID 159523706.
2. "The War News". American Volunteer. 6 November 1862. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
3. "Battle of Pocotaligo". Colonel Charles Jones Colcock Camp #2100, Sons of Confederate Veterans. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
4. Evans, Clement A., ed. Confederate Military History: A Library of Confederate States History. Volume: 5. Capers, Ellison; South Carolina. Atlanta: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899. OCLC 833588. Retrieved January 20, 2011. p. 106.
5. Emerson, W. Eric. Sons of Privilege: The Charleston Light Dragoons in the Civil War. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2005. ISBN 978-1-57003-592-0. Retrieved October 23, 2012. p. 50.
6. New Hampshire. Adjutant-General's Office (1865). Report of the Adjutant-General of the State of New Hampshire. John B. Clarke, State Printer. p. 793. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
7. The Land We Love. Jas. P. Irwin & D.H. Hill. 1868. p. 455. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
8. Dewig, Rob (27 January 1998). "Two Jasper County battles helped prolong Confederacy". Savannah Morning News. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
9. Stephen W. Walkley, Jr (1905). History of the Seventh Connecticut volunteer infantry, Hawley's brigade, Terry's division, Tenth army corps, 1861-1865. Hartford. p. 62. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
10. Emerson, 2005, p. 47