The Battle of Tulifinny The date is December 9 1864 and the place is Tulifinny Creek Citadel cadets joined with cadets from their sister academy the Arsenal in Columbia to form the Battalion of State Cadets This was different from the Cadet Company They had been ordered to protect the Tulifinny trestle of the Charleston and Savannah Railroad The mural depicts the cadets repulsing the attack North Reference Room Primary Source listed along with info below Before long firing sounded in Charlestonthe shots that were to blast in pieces this tenurial Southern existence Grimmer and blacker for the South the war years rolled slowly on And on November 30 1864 there occurred near Grahamville the battle of Honey Hill For Beaufort District it meant the beginning of the end Many stories of this battle have been told and written An authentic and complete account was written in 1899 by Captain Ben Williams of Brunson who was a participant was then adjutant of his regiment His articles were published in the News and Courier and in the Hampton County Guardian Outnumbered five to one a little band of South Carolina cavalry infantry and Citadel cadets faced a Federal naval expedition which had advanced up Broad River and disembarked at Boyd s landing or Salvesberg the local name The enemy s destination was Grahamville Depot their real objective the destruction of the railway track according to Sherman s orders With seven guns a well built breastwork and the superb strategy of Colonel Charles Jones Colcock who commanded the Third Military District of the state the little Confederate band inflicted on the invaders losses amounting to nearly 8oo in a few action packed hours Colonel Colcock was everywhere according to other officers He even enlisted a strong blowing wind on his side having his men to fire a field of broomstraw so that the flames were hurled into the faces of the enemy at a critical moment Reinforcements of Georgia Reserves arrived from Savannah hours later under General Gustavus W Smith but the general refused to take over the actual command from one whose ability and success had proved so outstanding Tales have been told by many elderly local people of the surrounding roads literally running with Negro blood because more than half the Federal force was made up of Negro regiments trained at Hilton Head You could walk on dead Negroes for miles they declared Old manuscripts tell further of bodies hastily buried in trenches of later washing rains exposing a gruesome welter of arms and legs These bodies later received decent burial in the Federal cemetery at Beaufort An interesting side light on this battle is the fact that a local Negro Allen Orr participated He was proud of his service on the Confederate side As a teen age boy he went into this battle in which so many of his race were slain Went with a white friend to take care of the horses He lived until a few years ago At the age of 100 years plus he enjoyed giving a pantomime of the manner in which he dodged behind the breastwork as the bullets were flying The breastwork is evident for all to see A number of cannon balls have been excavated at the site