Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 5.djvu/39

Rh troops again advanced to possess the plateau, but Kirby Smith’s arrival on the extreme left, and his prompt attack, with Kershaw’s command and Stuart s cavalry, defeated the right of McDowell s advance and threw it into confusion, and the charge of Beauregard s center and right completed the victory of Manassas

In the operations of this memorable day, no troops displayed more heroic courage and fortitude than the troops from South Carolina, who had the fortune to bear a part in this the first great shock of arms between the contending sections. These troops were the Second regiment, Col. J. B. Kershaw; the Fourth, Col. J. B. E. Sloan; the Eighth, Col. E. B. Cash ; the Legion infantry, Col. Wade Hampton, and the Fifth, Col. Micah Jenkins. The latter regiment was not engaged in the great battle, but, under orders, crossed Bull run and attacked the strong force in front of McLean s ford. The regiment was wholly unsupported and was forced to withdraw, Colonel Jenkins rightly deeming an assault, under the circumstances, needless.

The following enumeration of losses is taken from the several reports of commanders as published in the War Records, Vol. II, p. 570: Kershaw’s regiment, 5 killed, 43 wounded; Sloan’s regiment, 11 killed, 79 wounded; Jenkins’ regiment, 3 killed, 23 wounded; Cash’s regiment, 5 killed, 23 wounded; Hampton’s legion, 19 killed, 102 wounded; total, 43 killed, 270 wounded.

Gen. Barnard Elliott Bee, who fell, leading in the final and triumphant charge of the Confederates, was a South Carolinian. Col. C. H. Stevens, a volunteer on his staff, his near kinsman, and the distinguished author of the iron battery at Sumter, was severely wounded. Lieut.-Col. B. J. Johnson, who fell in the first position taken by the Hampton legion, was a distinguished and patriotic son of the State, and Lieut. O. R. Horton, of the Fourth, who was killed in front of his company, had been prominent in the battle of the early morning. At Manassas,