The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-11-09

from LIEUT.. Wm. 6. Field on the sam.
subject to Gov. Ellcrbc.) My connec.
ton as an officer WAS severed from til.
battalion after it's consolidation anC
assignment to the lIompton Legion
under Col. NJ. w. Gary. In no SENSE
should their leaving the command bt
construed into descrtiOn. They, Il,
they honestly believed, had complied
with the terms OF their re-enlistment
i'll the battles around Richmond fight
ing with gallantry equal to any, suf-
fcrlng severely, especially at Seven
Pines and Frazicr's farm. There was
no company in the Confederate army
composed of Il more brave and gallant
IL set OF men than Company 'B,n Thir-
ty-scventl Virginia cavalry.
Yours truly,
J. G. HAWTHORNE,
Capt. Co. G. Fourth S. c. Is.
Following is Col. Hoyts statement in
the Greenville Mounfainccr.
"The Fourth South Carolina had its
baptisn of fire in the very first hour OF
the First Manassas, rcpelling the first
charge made by the enemy on that day,
and steadily resisting the advance of
superior numbers until reinforced and
rescued from Il most pcrilous position
by the gallant GcOrgials under Barlow
and Barnard T.. Bee. The regiment was
composed of troops from Glccnvillc,
Pickens and Anderson. and was COM
mandcd by Col. j. i. T.. Sloan, not of
Charleston. Upon the reorganization
i'll April, 1862, about one-half of the
regiment joined III the formation of the
Palmetto Sharp Shooters under Col.
Micah Jenkins, and the remainder was
organized into the. Fourth battalion
under Lieut.. Col. Chas. S. Mattison, OF
Anderson, embracing five companies
commanded respectively by Capts. j.
q. Hawthorne and Henry A. Caublc, of
Greenvillc, ID. l.. Hall and James Long,
OF Anderson, and John II. Bowen, of
l'Ickens. This battalion went throu gll
the battles around Richmond, but was
diminished considerably ut Seven
Pines and FraZicr's farm, and Col.
MattIson received IL disabling wound
ut Seven Pines. A remnant followed
the fortunes of Jenkins brigade mt the
second Manassas and in the first Mary
land campaign, and when the Potomac
WIS rccrOssed the men who were left
became consolidated into two com
panlcs, which were attached to the
infantry Of the Hampton Legion, then
under the command of Col. NJ. w.
Gary. - -
Upon the organization cf thc-FouTth
battalion 1T was understood by the men
that they were rc-cnlisting for ninety
days only, but the, conscript act.would
keep the majority in the service, and
so the bulk of them decided to remain
with the brigade. Between seventy
nvc anu Il hundred of the battalion,
however, considered that they had been
dealt with improperly, and there is no
doubt that unauthorized statements
were made to them as to the extension
of their term of service. While con-
tending for Il release from the 0rgani-
cation an opportunity was offered. to
join Dunn's battalion, which had been
assigned to service in southwest Vir-
ginia, and nearly hundred men or
ganized company for that purpose.
Dunn's battalion was subsequently,
known as the Thirty seventh Virginia
cavalry, and this is the way that these
South Carolinians became identified
with u Virginia regiment, losing their
association with troops from our own
State.
This statement of facts as we recol-
lect them, is given az an act of Justice
to those who were our comrades the
first year of tho war, and many. of
them our intimate friends during q
long period of our lives. They we're
ccnsured at the time for not acaui-
escing in the situation, but they were
conscientious in tho belief that when
the war department. accepted their
services i'll Dunn's battalion all irregu-
larItlcs had been cured and the past
was sealed book. Others differed
with this view OF the matter, and when
Col. Gary was given the remainder of
the Fourth battalion, he procured an
order from the war department. for the
revolving company to report as part of
his command. In October, 1868, he was
visited by Capt. A, T.. Earle, Mt the
camp near Knoxville, Tenn, with the
view of arranging the matter in some
way, but Gary would not yield his
ground, and insisted that Earle shouId
forthwith report with his company to
the Hampton legion. This was never
done, however, and with the rapid pro-
gress of events in the spring of 1864,
when the Confederatcs had all the
fighting they could do on every hand,
the company was unmolested, and the
men did good service under Bradley Il.
johnson, of Maryland, If VIC arc not
mistaken, until the close Of tho war"