South Carolina 2nd Infantry Regiment

Historical Notes:
Toward the end of December, 1860, acting under authority of an Act of the General Assembly of South Carolina, passed December 17, 1860, Governor Pickens called for ten regiments of volunteers from the militia of the State to serve for one year.

One of the regiments organized under that call was designated the 2nd (Palmetto) Regiment. It was mustered into State service, April 9, 1861. When the men of the regiment were offered the opportunity of volunteering for Confederate service four companies - those commanded by Captains W. H. Casson and William Wallace, of Columbia, John D. Kennedy, of Camden, and John S. Richardson, Jr., of Sumter - volunteered. These four companies, with the field and staff of the regiment, were transferred to Virginia, April 24, 1861. Six other companies soon joined them and the regiment was mustered into the Provisional Army of the Confederate States, by Captain John Scott, C. S. A., Mustering Officer, May 22 and 23, 1861. Much of the subsequent history of the regiment is given in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and in the History of Kershaw's Brigade by D. Augustus Dickert (Newberry, 1899).

The South Carolina 2nd Infantry Regiment [also called 2nd Palmetto Regiment] completed its organization near Richmond, Virginia, in May, 1861. The men were from Columbia, Camden, and Charleston, and the counties of Sumter, Richland, Greenville, Kershaw, and Lancaster. After fighting in Bonham's Brigade at First Manassas , the unit served under Generals Toombs, Kershaw, Kennedy, and Conner. It participated in many conflicts of the army from the Seven Days' Battles to Cold Harbor except when it was detached with Longstreet at Chickamauga and Knoxville. The 2nd was active in Early's Shenandoah Valley operations and ended the war in North Carolina. It reported 5 killed and 43 wounded at First Manassas , and lost eighteen percent of the 338 at Savage's Station , twenty percent of the 203 at Malvern Hill , thirty-seven percent of the 253 at Sharpsburg , and forty-one percent of the 412 at Gettysburg . The regiment sustained 10 casualties at Bentonville and totalled 184 men on March 23, 1865. It surrendered with the Army of Tennessee. Officers:
Colonels:
• Joseph Brevard Kershaw
• Erwin P. Jones
• John Doby Kennedy
• William Wallace
Lieutenant Colonels:
• Erwin P. Jones
• Artemus Darby Goodwyn
• Franklin Gaillard
• William Wallace
Majors:
• Artemus Darby Goodwyn
• William H. Casson
• Franklin Gaillard
• William Wallace
• Benjamin R. Clyburn
Adjutant:
• Edward Elijah Sill
Quartermasters:
• William S. Wood
• William Drummond Peck
• Edward E. Niles:
• James Irwin Villepigue
Commissaries:
• James Irwin Villepigue
• William L. Appleton
Surgeons:
• Thomas Whitaker Salmond
• John Chappell Maxwell
Assistant Surgeons:
• Henry Junius Nott
• John Chappell Maxwell
Chaplain:
• E. J. Meynardie
• A. Pickens Smith
Assignments:
Morris Island, Charleston Harbor (April 1861)
Nelson’s Brigade, Bonham’s Division, Charleston Harbor (April – May 1861)
Bonham’s Brigade, Department of Alexandria (May – June 1861)
Bonham’s Brigade, Army of the Potomac (June – July 1861)
Bonham’s Brigade, 1st Corps, Army of the Potomac (July - October 1861)
Bonham’s Brigade, 3rd Division, 1st Corps, Army of the Potomac (October 1861)
Bonham’s Brigade, 3rd Division, 1st Corps, Potomac District, Department of Northern Virginia (October - November 1861)
Bonham’s – Kershaw’s Brigade, Van Dorn’s – Early’s Division, 1st Corps, Potomac District, Department of Northern Virginia (November 1861 – January 1862)
Kershaw’s Brigade, Van Dorn’s – Early’s Division, Potomac District, Department of Northern Virginia (January 1862 – March 1862)
Kershaw’s Brigade, Department of the Peninsula (March – April 1862)
Kershaw’s Brigade, McLaw’s Division, Magruder’s Command, Army of Northern Virginia (April 1862 – July 1863)
Kershaw’s Brigade, McLaw’s Division, 1st Corps, Army of Northern Virginia (July 1863 – September 1863)
Kershaw’s Brigade, McLaw’s Division, Longstreet’s Corps, Army of Tennessee (September - November 1863)
Kershaw’s Brigade, McLaw’s - Kershaw’s Division, Department of East Tennessee (November 1863 – April 1864)
Kershaw’s Brigade, Kershaw’s Division, 1st Corps Army of Northern Virginia (April - August 1864)
Kershaw’s – Connor’s Brigade, Kershaw’s Division, Valley District, Department of Northern Virginia (August – September 1864)
Connor’s Brigade, Kershaw’s Division, (returning to the Petersburg lines but recalled) (September 1864)
Connor’s Brigade, Kershaw’s Division, Valley District, Department of Northern Virginia (September – October 1864)
Connor’s – Kennedy’s Brigade, Kershaw’s Division, 1st Corps Army of Northern Virginia (November 1864 – January 1865)
Kennedy’s Brigade, McLaws’ Division, Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida (January – February 1865)
Kennedy’s Brigade, McLaws’ – Walthall’s Division, Hardee’s Corps (February – April 1865)
Battles:
Fort Sumter SC (12 - 13 APR 1861)
Blackburn's Ford (18 JUL 1861)
1st Manassas (21 JUL 1861)
Yorktown Siege (APR - MAY 1862
Williamsburg (4 MAY 1862)
Seven Days Battles VA (25 JUN - 1 JUL 1862)
Savage's Station (29 JUN 1862)
Malvern Hill VA (1 JUL 1862)
Nine Mile Road, near Richmond VA (18 JUL 1862)
Harper's Ferry (12 - 15 SEP 1862)
South Mountain VA (14 SEP 1862)
Sharpsburg VA (17 SEP 1862)
Fredericksburg VA (13 DEC 1862)
Chancellorsville (1-4 MAY 1863)
Gettysburg PA (1-3 JUL 1863)
Chickamauga GA (19-20 SEP 1863)
Chattanooga Siege GA (SEP - NOV 1863)
Knoxville Siege GA (NOV - DEC 1863)
Campbell's Station (16 NOV 1863)
Fort Sanders (29 NOV 1863)
Bean's Station (15 DEC 1863)
The Wilderness VA (5 - 6 MAY 1864)
Spotsylvania Court House VA (8 - 21 MAY 1864)
North Anna VA (23 - 26 MAY 1864)
Cold Harbor VA (1 - 3 JUN 1864)
Petersburg Siege VA (JUN 1864 - APR 1865)
Berryville (AUG 1864)
Near Port Republic (7 OCT 1864)
Near Strasburg (14 OCT 1864)
Cedar Creek (19 OCT 1864)
Carolinas Campaign SC (FEB - APR 1865)
Averasboro (16 MAR 1865)
Bentonville NC (19 - 21 MAR 1865)
Roster:
The roster of this unit contains the names of 2875 men.

Company A – Governor’s Guards
Company B – Butler’s Guards
Company C – Columbia, Richland County
Company D – Columbia Grays
Company E – Camden Volunteers – Kershaw County
Company F – The Secession Guards – Abbeville County
Company G – Flat Rock Guards – Abbeville Country
Company H – Lancaster Invincibles – Lancaster District
Company I – Charleston and Beaufort Counties
Company K – Brown Guards – Charleston and Pickens Counties
Bibliography for Research: