Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 5.djvu/123



N April, 1862, following the battle of Shiloh, in response to the urgent call of General Beauregard, at Corinth, Miss., for troops to reinforce the army he then commanded, the Tenth South Carolina, Col. A. M. Manigault, and the Nineteenth, Col. A. J. Lythgoe, were ordered from the coast of South Carolina to report to that general. Arrived at Corinth, the two regiments were brigaded with the Twenty-fourth, Twenty-eighth and Thirty-fourth Alabama regiments, under the command of Brigadier-General Trapier, in the division of Major-General Withers. From December, 1862, the brigade was commanded by Colonel Manigault, and known as &quot;Manigault s brigade.&quot; Lieut.-Col. James F. Pressley took command of the Tenth.

Covering the front of Beauregard s army, on May 2d, Manigault’s brigade was brought into prominent notice by the firm stand it made against the enemy’s advance. The supports on its right and left having retired, Colonel Manigault held his position and repelled the attack. No report of the details of this affair is at hand. It reflected much credit on the brigade, and gave the South Carolina regiments their first battle before Corinth. At Corinth and at Tupelo, the army suffered from exposure and bad water, and 17,000 sick were sent to the rear, and in these hardships the South Carolina regiments had their full share. The faithful chaplain of the Tenth, Rev. W. T. Capers, and many of the officers and men of both regiments were ill, and many died.