These are a few headstones in the Soldiers Ground cemetery. None were in the rows of the organized burials, these were off on the side of the land.
What they seem to have in common was the defense of Charleston harbor. Also in common is they were from different states and areas, but still died and buried here.
Research did find some details, there was also contradictions. Considering the time and place I’m amazed when I find anything. Records were spotty at best.
- Pvt Tobin (1864) is the one person here that is a native of South Carolina. Company C was from the Barnwell and Beaufort area. At this time they were on Sullivans Island as part of the harbor defense. Today Sullivans is an expensive coastal community suburb of Charleston. Beach front property.
2. Pvt Montgomery, (1862) 4th Inf Bn was from Louisiana. Two months before his death the unit was defeated in the Shiloh Tennessee area battle with a USS Grants Federal Army and came down to Charleston. The Union Army failed to capture Charleston from James Island on June 16, 1862. Most like Pvt Montgomery was killed during the fighting there. James Island is also a big beach suburb of Charleston now.
3. Major Wampler, Battery Wagner (1863). Battery Wagner was stationed on Morris Island in Charleston Harbor. The all-Black 54th Massachusetts Regiment led a courageous but ultimately unsuccessful charge, suffering heavy casualties and losing their commander, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. A major motion picture was made, Matthew Broderick, was made about the 54th and the battle. After the failed attempt Federal gunboats eventually pushed the remaining CSA troops off the island during the time Major Wampler died. Morris Island is now a small patch in the harbor with a closed lighthouse. Water and storms have worn it away until nothing is really there.
4. James Hegwood(1864) 32nd Georgia Inf. During that summer a second barrier island, James Island, was part of the Federal assaults starting July 3, 1864. Again the Union army was unable to capture Charleston.
All this information was found on line by searching, and then following a hint here and there while ‘going down the rabbit hole’. The movie about the 54th Massachusetts Regiment is titled ‘Glory’. Not much glory in the real world though. Prisoners from the 54th Massachusetts Regiment were placed in the court yard of the old Charleston jail until the wars end.