Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 26.djvu/93

 7' In Cn.ist l),l',-i,<; nf Smith ('tti-ntinii. 88

that watched the miles of water front between Charleston and Sa- vannah there were few troops in support.

I pur| HIM- to record the undaunted courage, the self-sacrificing prr>isU-nce, and the wonderful achievement of a small band of citi- y.rn soldiers, who, at a moment's notice, volunteered to confront odds of forty to one, and did so successfully and with surprising re- sults.

The late Hon. William Henry Trescot, speaking of the young men of South Carolina at the opening of the war, of whom these were u-irthy representatives, said: "The fathers and mothers who had reared them, the society whose traditions gave both refinement and aurance to their young ambition, the colleges, where the creed of Mr. Calhoun was the text-book of their political studies, the friends with whom they planned their future, the very land they loved, dear to them as thoughtless boys, dearer to them as thoughtful men, were all impersonate, living, speaking, commanding in the State of which tlu-y were children."

That was written of the sentiment and feeling of the young men of South Carolina in 1861. Four years of bloodshed, sweeping losses of property, daily personal privations, had not changed the survivors; rather the intervening four years had intensified their ear- lier motives, and as clearly had not dulled their feelings. But I am only to write briefly of events which marked the twenty-four hours preceding the battle of Honey Hill on November 30, 1864, and must not linger by the way.

There had been a further requisition for a company of cavalry to go to Georgia, to strengthen the outpost service in front of General Sherman, Company K, Captain Peeples, was ordered there from Po- cataligo, and Company B, Captain A. L. Campbell, both of the 3rd South Carolina cavalry, was ordered from. John's Island to take their place. While both commands were in motion the enemy ap- peared at Boyd's Landing. Captain Peeples had arrived at Graham- ville on the evening of November 28, and bivouacked for the night. On the morning of the 29th, while horses were being shod and the many details attended to, preparatory to active outpost duty in front of a large invading force, a courier on his way to district head- quarters reported the enemy landing at Boyd's. Then came swiftly tin ready order, in Captain Peeples's clarion voice, that could be luard a mile. " There was mounting in hot haste," and in a few minutes Company K, 75 men strong, were in a gallop down the Honey Hill road. There was no hesitancy, no waiting for orders;