South Carolina 2nd Infantry Regiment Volunteers

The Civil War in South Carolina

South Carolina 2nd Infantry Regiment Volunteers

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).

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:

ASSIGNMENTS:

BATTLES:

ROSTERS:

Field and Staff

Company A - Governor's Guards

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

REFERENCES:

Crute Units of the Confederate States Army
Rivers, William J. Col. Rivers Account of the Raising of the Troops for State and Confederate Service.
Sifakis, Stewart Compendium of the Cofederate Armies


Researching this unit? Here's what's available.
Rigdon, John C. - The Civil War in South Carolina		CD-ROM $35.00
Rigdon, John C. - The South Carolina Civil War Soldiers Index		CD-ROM $15.00
Dickert, Augustus - A History of Kershaw's Brigade	Hardback $75.00 Ebook $12.95	CD-ROM $15.00
Rigdon, John C. - Historical Sketch and Roster of the 2nd Infantry Regiment, SC Volunteers	Hardback $29.95 Paperback $19.95	CD-ROM $15.00
Rivers, Col. William J. - Rivers Account of the Raising of the Troops for State and Confederate Service	Paperback $10.00	CD-ROM $15.00
Capers, Major Ellison. - Confederate Military History - South Carolina Volume - 424 pgs.	Paperback $45.00	CD-ROM $15.00

The Civil War in South Carolina
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