Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 08.djvu/553

Rh Herewith I hand the reports of the regimental commanders, from which I condense the list of casualties given below.

I remain, General, Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, , Colonel Commanding Brigade.

May 17.—Enemy sounding Stono channel in barges; one fired on from Goat Island by riflemen and driven off.

May 19.—Several of the enemy's gunboats attempted to enter Stono Inlet; one ran aground and all put back.

May 20.—Three gunboats crossed the bar and entered the Stono river about 10 o'clock A. M. One ran up and anchored a little below "Battery Island," commanding the old (river) route from "Cole's Island," the enemy thinking, probably, to cut off our troops on Cole's Island. Lieutenant-Colonel Ellison Capers, Twenty-fourth regiment South Carolina Volunteers, commanding on Cole's Island, withdrew his force (two companies), under standing orders, to James's Island by the new (back) and scarcely completed route over Dixon's Island. Captain L. Brist, Palmetto Guard, commanding on Battery Island, withdrew