4th Regiment South Carolina Cavalry The 4th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment was a regiment of cavalry in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . They were from the state of South Carolina and served primarily in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War . The 4th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment was organized on December 16 , 1862 , by consolidating the 10th Battalion South Carolina Cavalry and the 12th Battalion South Carolina Cavalry . The 10th Cavalry Battalion ( also called the 3rd Battalion ) was organized in the spring of 1862 with five companies , and Major James P . Adams and Major William Stokes were the commanding officers . The 12th Cavalry Battalion had also been known as the 4th Cavalry Battalion . Organization and history . When it was first formed , the 4th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment was commanded by Colonel B . Huger Rutledge and served in the 1st Military District of South Carolina , commanded by Brigadier General Roswell S . Ripley . The 1st Military District was in the Department of South Carolina , Georgia and Florida , under the command of General P . G . T . Beauregard . The 4th SC Cavalry served here from December 1862 until it was transferred to the Army of Northern Virginia in March 1864 . With 1 , 350 officers and men , the regiment was attached to the brigade known as Butler ' s Brigade under the command of Brigadier General Matthew Butler , which served under Major General Hampton ' s Division of cavalry , in the Cavalry Corps , Army of Northern Virginia . In January 1865 the 4th SC Cavalry and all of Hampton ' s Division were detached from the Army of Northern Virginia and transferred south , by railroad , to the Department of Tennessee and Georgia , commanded by Lieutenant General William J . Hardee , and was under the Cavalry Command of Lieutenant General Hampton . Following the fall of Columbia , South Carolina , the unit , along with the entire Cavalry Command were transferred to the Army of Tennessee under General Joseph E . Johnston , where they fought final actions in the Campaign of the Carolinas through the spring of 1865 , surrendering with the Army of the Tennessee with less than 200 men . CORRECTION TO PRECEDING . Per the book Saddle Soldiers , the Correspondence of General William Stokes ( Commander of the 4th ) by Lloyd Halliburton the 4th SC Cavalry did not surrender . The General ' s own words were " not desiring to go through the formality of surrendering the Regiment which I commanded , I ordered the camp struck at 8 : 30 P . M . and marched toward Asheboro , NC . . . At this place I disbanded the Regiment and sent them home . " < Saddle Soldiers by Halliburton , p 199 > On the morning of 27 April General Stokes awoke to find the teamsters had disappeared with the mule team of the headquarters wagon . He then ordered the wagon burned rather than allow it to fall into enemy hands . With that , most of the history of the 4th SC Cavalry disappeared . Officers and units . The commanding and staff officers of the regiment were : Most of the companies in this regiment existed previously as South Carolina Militia companies . Some , such as the Charleston Light Dragoons , traced their history to the early - to - mid 18th century , and are mentioned as guarding Fort Sumter in the summer of 1860 . The companies in the regiment were : Notable battles . The battle history of the regiment :