Rebecca Sineath, a laundress for the 21st Infantry was likely at Fort Wagner on Morris Island. The Island had two small forts protecting an entrance to Charleston Harbor. June 1863 was the lead up to the July assault by the 54th Massachusetts, an all African American federal unit. There were multiple Union war ships firing on the island as part of two major battles. The Confederate side ultimately held the island defeating the smaller federal force. However they abandoned the fort a month later.
Rebecca was buried along the edge of ‘Soldiers Ground’ cemetery with members of the 21st Infantry.
Rebecca, Killed In Battle
Today there is nothing left of Morris Island itself. An old Lighthouse sits on spot, the island washed away.
There’s no shortage of interesting things in the old cemeteries. Below are a few stones that caught my attention on our last walk around.
Because Charleston is at or near sea level you can find a number of ‘above ground’ burial sites. None are as elaborate as New Orleans but they all have carvings on large slabs of slate that serve as the ‘top’ of the grave.
Three Old Markers
Off near the old Umbra Plantation house there is an area where broken or worn out headstones have been placed flat on the ground. There were several I wanted to photograph, later read the long inscriptions. To get above them meant walking on the other stones. Well, it just felt wrong walking on these headstones like a pathway. I left them there undisturbed.
Three Old Markers
Last here, a few full gravesite markers. No names or dates. Just the short curbs outlining the grave. A large urn that one day probably had flowers growing inside.
This is a common graveyard marker here. The outline of the individual burial plot in small curbstones with some type of simple group monument. I rather like this. Plain and respectful.
Three Old Markers
All the above were photographed at Magnolia Cemetery and St. Lawrence Cemetery, Charleston, South Carolina.
Childsbury Towne, South Carolina existed from 1707 to 1750. Eventually the land was taken and added to the nearby Strawberry Plantation on the Cooper River.
Pvt Peavy, Bern Ga battery, a replacement headstone. The next stone over is original and completely weather worn.
Mr. Peavy’s unit was artillery formed in Bern, Georgia. I’m not sure of this, Bern was called Frankford during the 1800’s. Was not a town, just a small district.
1864, And Friend
The replacement stones are old also so the information might be confused. After all, this was before ‘the Google’.
A few grave sites in Soldiers Ground are now among a line Palms. Most, like below, were well worn and nothing can be read clearly.
However one grave site had a newer stone of the kind used to replace old damaged ones. He was Lt. McCowen of Co K, 53rd Georgia Infantry.
Lt. McCowen, from Josey Road, Swarr, Georgia died on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg along with 50,000 others. This was the battle that changed the direction of the US Civil War to the Union.
Lt McCowen July 2, 1863
Co. K, 53rd Georgia Infantry, was a Confederate unit in the American Civil War, known as the “Quitman Guard,” primarily from Quitman County, Georgia, serving in the Army of Northern Virginia through major campaigns like Sharpsburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, eventually surrendering at Appomattox with only a few men.
There were conflicting records on Lt McCowen’s death, however one was a typo on the date of the Gettysburg battle. Also he was thought to have been buried with Unknowns at Rose Farm in Gettysburg, PA. (Rose Farm was the location in the battle of Gettysburg where numerous soldiers from both sides were found)
However 80 Confederate soldiers (known as the “Gettysburg Dead”) were reinterred at Magnolia’s ‘Soldier’s Ground’ area in 1871. Because he had been among South Carolina soldiers at the time of his death he was mistakenly moved with them to Soldiers Ground.
Jere Baxter, of Charlotte, N.C., found his great-great-granduncle’s mistaken grave after years of researching his family genealogy. The new headstone most likely was provided by the Baxter family in 2003.
Note; I’m always amazed at what information can be found on line with some research.
The ‘Soldiers Ground’ was never meant to be a pretty place, it fit a need. It was land taken from a plantation and not part of the nearby cemetery. The Ground is maintained now by a private trust. Many of the aging headstones are repaired, or even replaced. Still, this is not a neat and tidy place. Probably shouldn’t be.
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.
Pvt Tobin Stallings Batt Res 1864
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.
J D Montgomery 4th LA Inf Bn 1862
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.
Major Wampler Bat Wagner 1863
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.
