Sherwood W. Barefoot Jr., M.D.

The Background of My Interest in the Civil War

Years ago, I became interested in my family history and in particular the events in the life of my great grandfather, William Landon Waters, who fought in the Civil War with the 14th South Carolina Volunteers, Gregg/ McGowan Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. I had inherited his pistol, a Bible given to him by his messmate on April 4, 1864, and several photos both before and after the war.

Revolutionary War

Interestingly, William Landon’s grandfather, Landon Waters, fought in the American Revolution at the battle of Kings Mountain.(Foot Note #1), (Foot Note #2). He married Margaret Musgrove, the daughter of Edward Musgrove. Edward owned the mill where another famous Revolutionary War battle was fought, the Battle of Musgrove’s Mill. There a Patriot force of militia overwhelmed a much larger force of British Provincials and Loyalists. Christine R. Swager, (Musgrove Mill Historic Site, Infinitary Publishing, 2013) states Margaret was a daughter of Edward’s third wife, Nancy, and was born in 1771. She was the half-sister of Mary Musgrove, a character in the book “Horseshoe Robinson.” Landon and Margaret gave their children the middle name of Musgrove. Consequently, a son who was William Landon’s father was named Landon Musgrove Waters. I present the involvement of Landon and his uncle, Philemon, in the American Revolution as footnotes. I imagine the example set by his grandfather, Landon, and his great uncle, Philemon, had an influence on William Landon’s decision to join the Confederacy. One could ask what does war have to do with medicine? Progress in medicine and the destiny of a nation have one important factor in common-they are strongly influenced by war! I identify the contribution of war to the development of medicine in the section: In Conclusion.

Captured at Battle of the Wilderness

I learned that my great-grandfather was captured on May 6, 1864 at the Battle of the Wilderness and spent the remainder of the war being imprisoned at Fort Delaware. (3), (4). He took the “Oath of Allegiance” after the war was concluded and returned to South Carolina. He married and settled in Jalapa, S.C. near Newberry, S.C. He belonged to the James Nance Camp (#336) of the Civil War Veterans in Newberry, S.C. and was awarded the Confederate Medal of Honor by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. He died in 1914 and is buried in the cemetery at the Beth Eden Lutheran Church in Jalapa. Col. James Nance was from Newberry, S.C., a graduate of the Citadel, and a practicing attorney when the war began. . Ironically, he was killed in the same battle - the Wilderness - on the same day — May 6, 1864 - that my great grandfather was captured near the spot where he was captured. Col. Nance was leading troops of Longstreet’s Corps into battle and, reportedly standing next to his colors, encouraged his men: “We must fight them here. Never think of leaving this place.” Shortly thereafter he received a fatal wound to the head. (Hell Itself, the Battle of the Wilderness, Chris Mackowski, Savas Beatie, 2016, p. 75)

From his compiled records I also learned that my great grandfather had been hospitalized with malaria at the Confederate hospital, Chimborazo, in Richmond, Virginia. There is also some evidence he may have been wounded.

Visiting the site of the Chimborazo Hospital, I obtained several books written about medicine as practiced at the time which stimulated in me a desire to become knowledgeable about the theories of disease, the therapeutic modalities, the diseases prevalent amongst the troops, and the management of traumatic injuries at that time in history.

My Medical Background Benefited My Analysis

I became aware of the significant achievements that were introduced into medicine that benefit us today a result of the war. I was particularly impressed with the extensive and far reaching improvements introduced during the war by two physicians, Jonathan Letterman, M.D. and William Hammond, M.D., They, astutely, realized the deficiencies that were prevalent in medicine at that time. They were dissatisfied with medical care in general and in the military in particular. Consequently, they “pushed back” against the inertia of the “status quo” that resists change and introduced innovations in both patient care and knowledge acquisition that have impacted American medicine in general and the care of the victims of trauma in particular. These advancements, in turn, helped to redirect the course of medicine in America resulting in the progress that has benefited mankind.

In Summary

The basic theme of my presentation is the contributions and advances in medicine that came from the Civil War. My family history, my medical/surgical background including trauma and critical care, and my research into medicine prior to and after the war have influenced my presentation.



William Landon’s Capture a Blessing

A friend and weekly breakfast companion, Robert Keating, is the author of a successful book on the Civil War regiment of his great-uncle, the New York 7th heavy artillery, entitled “Carnival of Blood,” publisher Butternut and Blue. Being thoroughly knowledge about Civil War battles and dates, he brought to my attention the poignant observation that my great-grandfather’s capture was a blessing based on the devastation that occurred with the Gregg/McGowan brigade at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse a few days after the Battle of the Wilderness. (foot note #5) (The brigade was sometimes referred to as the McGowan Brigade as General Maxcy Gregg was mortally wounded during an earlier battle in Fredericksburg, Virginia). Bob continued “If he had not been captured in the battle prior to Spotsylvania Courthouse, it is most likely that he would have been killed at the “Bloody Angle” and you (meaning me) would not be here.”

I investigated the fate of the brigade following the “Battle of the Wilderness” and realized the truth in his statement. During the Battle at Spotsylvania Courthouse the brigade was positioned in the “Mule Shoe “ salient where the famous “Battle of the Bloody Angle” occurred. Robert Krick states the “Bloody Angle” established “ a new standard for intense, short-range savagery.“ There were nearly twenty hours of hand-to-hand combat which, he continues, “was never matched during the Civil War, and rarely if ever anywhere else in the annals of military history.” He quotes Colonel Joseph N. Brown, the 14th Regiment’s commanding officer who took command of the brigade after McGowan was wounded, “that despite being in all the army’s battles-’he specified Sharpsburg (Antietam) and Gettysburg’- he never saw anything to equal in desperate character that of the “Bloody Angle.” (“An Insurmountable Barrier between the Army and Ruin, the Confederate Experience at Spotsylvania’s Bloody Angle” in The Spotsylvania Campaign. edited by Gary Gallagher, pp. 80 and 113)

The barrage of bullets from firearms was so voluminous and intense they literally cut through the lower trunk of a large tree and brought it down! A map (JNB) showed the Greg/McGowan Brigade located in the “Bloody Angle” and positioned behind and on the right side of the tree.

“There is a huge oak tree a few feet from the line, upon the tough trunk of which the bullets rattle like hail. They are clipping it away piece by piece …The bullets are clipping the very heart of the large oak; if the firing continues, it will fall. The tree is tottering-it comes tumbling down, and wounds several of the First Regiment (a regiment in the McGowan Brigade)… Every flash of the guns lights up the ghastly faces of the dead, with whom the ground is thickly strewn…the tree which fell on the First Regiment is carefully examined (later). Not a shell touched it. On measuring the stump left standing it is found to measure over twenty inches in diameter. Around its base are bullets mashed into many shapes…They (the McGowan Brigade) discharged their duty. They upheld the martial renown of the state to which they belong, and they accomplished all that valor and self-sacrifice heroism could. Every district of the state was represented. It lost nearly 600 men at Spotsylvania, and almost half of whom were killed or died of wounds.” (A Colonel at Gettysburg and Spotsylvania, The life of Colonel Joseph Newton Brown and the Battles of Gettysburg and Spotsylvania. Varina Davis Brown, The State Company, 1931, pp. 124-126).

Years later the stump was removed and placed in the Smithsonian Museum.

Colonel Brown, commanding officer of the McGowan Brigade at the “Bloody Angle,” began his military service when he enlisted as a private in one of the companies of volunteer troops, Company “D,” that were organized as Gregg’s First South Carolina Regiment early in January 1861. Company “D” disbanded after the fall of Fort Sumpter. His uncle, H.R Vandiver, wrote him a letter on February 28, 1861, prior to the commencement of hostilities, which was most prophetic.

“The times are momentous, the events of a few days will decided the fate of this country for the next quarter of a century. If the authorities at Washington are still so reckless that they will still refuse to treat with our Ambassadors and to give us our rights outside of the Union, there will be inducted a bloody Civil War, in comparison with which, the other wars in which this Country has been engaged will dwindle into insignificance…. I am convinced the people of the North are greatly deceived in regard to the valor of our people. The very flower of our Country will fill the ranks in our army, and the best blood of the South will be spilt freely in battle…I repeat that I do hope that diplomacy may yet settle everything satisfactorily, if it does not and the worst comes to the worst, then will you see one of the most bloody as well as one of the most popular wars that any Country was ever engaged in.” (A Colonel at Gettysburg and Spotsylvania, pp. 18. and 27)

The Carnage at the “Bloody Angle”

An insight into the experience of a surgeon at the battle of the “Bloody Angle” is provided in a letter a Confederate surgeon, Dr. Spencer G. Welch of Newberry, South Carolina, wrote to his wife, Cordelia. He served in in the Thirteenth Regiment of the McGowan Brigade.

“…yesterday was the most terrific battle I ever witnessed. Such musketry I never heard before and it continued all night. It was perfectly fearful. I never experienced such anxiety in my life. It was an awful day and it seemed to me as if all the “Furies of Darkness” had come together in combat. Everybody who was not firing was pale with anxiety, but our noble soldiers stood their ground fighting with the utmost desperation…It was the most desperate struggle of the war. I hope the Yankees ae gone and that I shall never again witness such as terrible day as yesterday was.” A Confederate Soldier’s Letters to his Wife, Continental Book Company, 1954, pp. 96-97.

The emotional impact of the battle on the combatants is revealed by David Holt, 16th Mississippi describing the men in his unit on the 13th of May, the day after the battle. The Mississippians were on the left side of the McGowan Brigade and received much of the Union onslaught.

“We halted in a pasture and broke ranks. Then came the reaction. All moved by the same impulse, we sat down on the wet ground and wept. Not silently, but vociferously and long.”

A Federal burial detail that came upon the Confederate dead following the battle described their experience:

“Hundreds of Confederates, dead or dying, lay piled over one another in those pits. The fallen lay three or four feet deep in some places, and with but few exceptions they were shot in and about the head… With much labor a detail of Union soldiers buried the dead by simply turning the captured breastworks upon them. Thus had these unfortunate victims unwittingly dug their own graves…It was the most horrible sight I had ever witnessed.” (Editor’s note: the Confederate General McGowan says ”The trenches on the right in the “Bloody Angle” ran with blood and had to be cleared of the dead bodies more than once). Leaders and Battles of the Civil War, Castle, IV, p. 174.

James McPherson provides additional information about the encounter of the Union burial detail with the aftermath of the battle.

“Next morning the Bloody Angle contained only corpses. Union solders on a burial detail found 150 dead southerners piled several deep in one area of trench measuring 200 square feet and buried them by simply pushing in the parapet on top of them.” Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford University Press, 1988, p. 731.

Bob Keating’s observation was spot-on correct! My great-grandfather and, consequently, I are indeed the fortunate ones. The lives of so many combatants on both sides of the war were, unfortunately, ended including Bob Keating’s great uncle to whom he dedicated his book. HIs life was taken at Cold Harbor. I, as did Bob, responded to the desire to learn about an ancestor, to understand who they were, their suffering, and what they endured so that we can appreciate what we have today and where we are as a people. Additionally, investigating medicine during that time caused me to reflect on and to appreciate my profession to a depth I never had before. I came to the realization of the tremendous progress in medicine that has been made since and as a result, in part, of the war, Delving into the history of medicine prior to the war in order to understand the state of medical practice during the war, I became aware that we benefit today from the diligent efforts, contributions, and humanitarian efforts of those who went before over the centuries. The lives of physicians who served in military campaigns were lost. Medical history is replete with the deaths of physicians who contracted the very diseases they were trying to study and treat such as tuberculosis (consumption). But, is not that the purpose of history: to learn about and appreciate the past to understand it’s contribution to the present? Maybe, it takes an ancestor to awaken one.

General U.S. Grant Answers the Request of the Waters Family

When William Landon was captured the family was notified that he was missing and they were worried that he had been killed. His sister, Matilda Franks, wrote a letter to General Grant inquiring about her brother. She was asked years later to write an article about the experience for the Newberry Herald and News, Newberry, South Carolina. Her description appeared in the May 3, 1901 edition of the paper in a section entitled “Reminiscences of the Civil War between the States.” In it she described the family received the news of William on the “Sabbath” and the distress of her aged parents that followed. Not believing he was dead, she proceeded to write General Ulysses S. Grant, commanding general of the Union armies. “I wrote him a nice and kind letter, appealing to his honor as a soldier and gentleman, and asked him to ascertain where my brother was, if still living.” She received a letter form a Confederate officer that her letter would be delivered to Union officials under “a flag of truce.” She subsequently received the “long looked for and welcome message” informing the family that he was alive and in prison at Fort Delaware. She continued in the article “General Grant treated my letter with all the due respect and courtesy for which I am thankful to this day. He never knew how much I appreciated his kindness.” She added that she had always hoped to meet General Grant, shake his hand, and express her gratitude. She concluded that she had kept the letter for years. Her brother, after returning home, lent the letter to friends to publish in the Union Times, Union, South Carolina, and it was never returned. (Mr. Robert Krick described the Waters family being informed about William Landon in two of his works: “An Insurmountable Barrier between the Army and Ruin, The Confederate Experience at the Bloody Angle,” The Spotsylvania Campaign, Edited by Gallagher, and also in his book The 14th South Carolina Infantry Regiment of the Gregg/McGowan Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. He personally provided me with the source of the reference, and I am most grateful ).

In Conclusion

In seeking to learn about my great-grandfather, William Landon I was led to the Civil War, a subject that had definitely never appealed to me in the past. The war showed me the two opposing sides of human nature in man’s relations with his fellow man. On the one hand there is the aggressive, combative, and destructive side of humans as exemplified by the Battle of Spotsylvania and the ”Bloody Angle.” I expanded on that battle in particular as it dramatically demonstrates that aspect of human nature. Opposing this is the other side of human nature, the humanitarian, as exemplified by General Grant’s response to the request of William Landon’s sister. Grant was the top-ranking General in the Union armies and was under pressure from Lincoln and the Council on the Conduct of the War to win. Yet he took the time to allay the concerns of a family of the enemy. I also came to realize that the Civil War, occurring on American soil between Americans, created a situation not faced by its citizens since the Revolution when Patriots and Loyalist fought each other. (For a description of the violence between the Loyalist and Patriots in South Carolina during the American Revolution, see footnote #2, Philemon Waters). Citizens during the Civil War were faced with the dilemma of deciding on which side of two divides they would be. Each of the two divides, in turn, presented two opposing options. First, there was the political/geographical divide - Union versus Confederacy. Most northerners favored saving the Union and the majority of the southerners favored session. However some northerners were sympathetic with the south and some southerners opposed secession. The first convention of delegates to decide secession in South Carolina that was enacted by the General Assembly was held at the First Baptist Church, Columbia, S.C. on December 17, 1860. James Petigrew was an upstate South Carolinian who vehemently opposed secession. He encountered a stranger in Columbia looking for the State Mental Hospital. Petigrew directed him to the First Baptist Church where the convention was in session and told the stranger, ”It looks like a church, but it’s now a lunatic asylum.” (South Carolina Secedes, a drama in three acts, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1998, p. 14). He was also quoted as saying, regarding secession, “South Carolina is too small to be a republic and too big to be an insane asylum.” Regarding the second divide, each person who was involved in the war had to make a decision concerning the role they would play. Would they engage in being in a hostile/combatant role to the opposing side or a humanitarian role such as Mrs. Howard (footnote #4) and Mary Livermore? Mary Livermore, the wife of a minister in Chicago organized volunteer aid organizations. She eloquently stated the polar opposites in humanity in the following:

“If this war developed some of the most brutal, bestial, and devilish qualities lurking in the human race, it has also shown us how much of the angel there is in the best men and women”

By examining the Civil War one becomes appreciative of these difficult dilemmas forced on American citizens by the war. In addition, I came to realize that physicians on both sides entered the war with a very limited amount of training and experience to deal with the devastating injuries the war created. Yet, in the spirit of humanitarianism, they did the best they could to relieve the suffering of their fellow man including giving aid to wounded enemy prisoners. They endured the hardships imposed by the war along with the troops. Dr. Spencer Welch, in his letters to his wife, described the long marches, going without food, and at times still being hungry after receiving what food was available. Another personal benefit from the war has been, ironically, my awareness of the significant advances in medicine that the war produced. As horrendous as the war was, medically it has improved care for everyone and not just Americans. Historically, wars have always been significant incubators of medical knowledge and advancement, and the Civil War was not an exception. For example, the renown French surgeon, Ambroise Pare (1510-1590), introduced significant improvements in the surgical management of the stumps of amputated limbs that resulted from his war experience. The military surgeons at that time would apply a red-hot cautery to the stump of the extremity following amputation to control bleeding. (Remember, anesthesia had not been discovered). After applying the cautery iron they poured boiling “oil of elder mixed with a little theriac” in the wound, Their lack of knowledge of “the germ theory” and infection led them to believe the “poison” they observed in the wound following operation was due to gunpowder, and they surmised that boiling oil would neutralize the gun powder. Jean de Vigo writing at that time in history advocated in his book of military surgery, Wounds in General:

“To not fail, the oil must be applied boiling even though this would cause the wounded extreme pain.”

Pare experimented with ligating divided, bleeding blood vessels rather than resorting to the cautering iron. The Greek physicians in Alexandria, Egypt had discovered ligation 2,00 years earlier, but apparently this technique had been forgotten. Being depleted of elder oil he also resorted to applying “a digestive of egg yoke, rose oil, and turpentine” to the wound rather than the boiling oil. Pare stated,

“that night I could not sleep easily, thinking that by failure of cauterizing, I would find the wounded in whom I had failed to put the oil dead of poisoning.”

He rose early and examined his patients. He found the wounds of those in whom he ligated the vessels and refrained from the use of boilng oil doing infinitely better than those receiving the routine treatment. Also these men had less pain. Small wonder!! He concluded:

“Then I resolved never again to so cruelly burn (the cautering iron and boiling oil) the poor, wounded by gunshot.”

( A History of Surgery, Harold Ellis CBE, FRCS, Greenwich Medical Media, London, 2001. pp. 128-129). His innovative technique of vessel ligation was subsequently applied to procedures other than amputations and is used in every aspect of surgery today.

Man devotes much energy, effort, thought, and financial resources to the construction of weapons of war capable of increased destruction that produce the “increased suffering of humans.” However, what evolves from war is the advancement of medical knowledge and procedures that are “more effective in relieving the suffering of humans.” That is one of the great ironies of war.

Footnotes:

(1) Landon Waters’ Participation in the American Revolution.

Landon Waters, age 16, and his father were on their way to a mill. (They were the grandfather and great grandfather of William Landon Waters, my great grandfather in the Civil War). HIs father was on horseback with a sack of corn and Landon followed on foot with a rifle. They encountered a group of Tories, (Loyalists) thought to be part of the nefarious “Bloody Bill Cunningham’s” gang. One of the gang shot the father in the back in “cold blood” and Landon was placed on the horse. In a moment of quick thinking he turned in the saddle, pretended to adjust the sack of corn on the back of the horse, turned the horse around and fled. The Tories pursued and fired at him but missed. He and the horse went into a river he well-knew (the Bush River), swam across, and escaped. He, with the help of others returned to bury his father and, subsequently, he joined the Patriot cause. He fought at the Battle of Kings Mountain as did his uncle, Lt. Colonel Philemon Waters. (See footnote 2). He married Margaret Musgrove and they eventually owned the land where the Battle of Musgrove Mill was fought. The writer of this occurrence about Landon relates that he obtained this information from Matilda Franks, the grand-daughter of Landon as she had heard her grandfather and his brother (Philemon) relate the incident. (Matilda Franks was William Landon’s sister who wrote General Ulysses Grant regarding her brother when he was missing after the Battle of the Wilderness as presented in a previous section). If she heard this account, without question her brother, my great grandfather, heard the same account. I believe his grandfather and great uncle’s service in the Revolutionary War inspired him to serve in the Confederacy. This particular incident involving Landon, his father, and the Loyalists portrays the severe animosity and brutality that existed between the Loyalists with the aid of the British and the Patriots in South Carolina during the American Revolution. The author-Philemon Barry Waters, (A Genealogical History of the Waters and Kindred Families) -who described the event with Landon Waters, his father William Waters, and the Tories concluded with a significant quote describing the atrocities committed by the Loyalists and Patriots against each other (Vol II., Moultrie’s Memoirs, pp. 301-301): “Each party oppressed the other as much as they could, which raised the inveteracy to such a great height that they carried on their war with savage cruelty. Although they had been friends, neighbors, and brothers, they had no feelings for each other, and no principles of humanity left.” “The conduct of these two parties (Whigs and Tories) was a disgrace to human nature; and it may with safety said that they destroyed more property, shed more American blood, than the whole British army.” (A Genealogical History of the Waters and Kindred Families, Scholar Select, Philemon Barry Waters, Foote & Davies Company, Atlanta, Ga., 1903, pp. 173-175). Perhaps this “war between neighbors” in South Carolina portended the conflict that was on the horizon and occurred three-quarters of a century later that pitted “brother against brother,” the American Civil War.

(2). Philemon Waters’ service with George Washington, His Participation in the French and Indian Wars, and His Contributions during the American Revolution to the Patriot Cause:

Philemon Barry Waters gives the following information about Lt. Colonel Philemon Waters Jr. According to family records, he was the brother of William Waters and the uncle of Landon Waters, both of whom are described in the footnote #1. I have included him, and described his activities in great detail, as I’m sure my great grandfather, William Landon, was well aware of Landon Water’s participation in the Revolutionary War and also of the contributions of Philemon, his great uncle, in the shaping of the country. Records show Landon Waters served with Lt. Colonel Philemon Waters in the American Revolution. Their commitment to protecting home and the local area, I would think, had a strong influence on William Landon’s decision to join the Confederacy. It is my understanding that individuals at the time of the Civil War considered their primary allegiance to be to their local area and state and not to the national government. Robert E. Lee resigned his commission in the U. S. Army at the commencement of the war and joined the Confederacy when Virginia seceded out of a sense of duty to his native state as it was the honorable action for him to take. The example established by William Landon’s ancestors would have been a strong influence on him.

Philemon was born in Prince William County, Virginia in 1734. As a young man he and his associates were in athletic sports and indulged in pugilistic encounters to the point their village was called Battletown ( renamed Berryville by 1903). In 1754 Virginia organized a regiment under Colonel Joshua Fry with Lt. Colonel George Washington being 2nd in command to protect Virginia’s claim to the Ohio Valley against the French. Philemon joined the regiment and was placed in Captain George Mercer’s company. They marched to the Great Meadows and erected a stockade, Fort Necessity. Colonel Fry died and George Washington took command of the regiment. On a particular night, Philemon was assigned sentinel duty. The sentries on duty the preceding nights at the post to which he was assigned had later been found shot and killed. The account of the events that followed were described by Judge O’Neal in the ‘“Annals of Newberry” as Philemon related them to him. Not wishing to suffer the same fate as the previous sentries, Philemon loaded his rifle with “either slugs or buckshot” and remained “wide awake.” Hearing a noise like a hog grunting, he saw some tall grass moving in the moonlight. He shouted three “hails in one,” as Philemon had told the story to Judge O’Neal, and fired into the grass killing two Indians and three Frenchmen. The assailants were crouched down on all fours “stealthily approaching the sentinel.” Had Philemon not fired after quickly uttering the “hails’ they would have know his location, and he would have suffered the same fate as the previous sentinels. In his report later to Governor Dinwiddie, Washington stated that following the “sentry firing his rifle,” the French came in such overwhelming numbers the Virginians were forced to surrender the fort. Washington, however, did not identify by name the sentry who fired the shot. That Philemon fired the initial shot in the French and Indian War was later acknowledge in a letter to Philemon from Colonel Adam Stephens on July 17, 1773. John Frierson also gives a reference stating Philemon fired the first shot in the war (W.W. Abbott and Dorothy Twohig, eds., The Papers of George Washington, March 1774-June 1775, 10 vols., Charlottesville: U. Va. Press, 1995, p. 339).

During the surrender of the fort to the French, a very critical moment occurred. The French commander informed George Washington he would grant amnesty to every one except the sentinel who “without hailing” killed his soldiers and Indians. George Washington was at a “crossroads in history ” as his answer would determine if he lived or died. Philemon, later describing the event, said he was standing behind George Washington at the time “with his rifle well-loaded, primed, and cocked, and if…he (Washington) had said the name “Phil Waters” (to the French Officer), he (Washington) would have never spoken again.” “Washington being unwilling to expose his young gallant soldier, for once, spoke falsely.” Regarding Waters, Washington replied to the French commander, he was no longer alive as, “he had fallen in the attack and defense of the post.”

In the 1770’s Philemon seeking to obtain property in Ohio that had been promised by Governor Dinwiddie to the participants in the French and Indian Wars. contacted George Washington. George documented Philemon’s participation at Fort Necessity in his letter dated April 20, 1775: “ I do hereby certify that the bearer, Mr. Philemon Waters, was a soldier at the battle of the Great Meadow in the year 1754…”

Following the defeat at Fort Necessity Sir Edward Braddock with two British regiments and auxiliary forces including one from Virginia in which Philemon served set out to capture Fort Duquesne. George Washington served as an aid to the General. Braddock received a wound which soon thereafter proved to be fatal. Waters was one of four men who bore the litter of the dying Braddock. He and the other litter bearers of the General received a gold-laced uniform jacket with silver buttons from the General’s sister in Ireland. The Braddock campaign failed. Washington thereafter led Virginians to drive the French and Indians out of the Shenandoah Valley and Waters served with him in the company commanded by Captain Adam Stephen. Philemon moved to South Carolina prior to the American Revolution and his participation in the Revolutionary War will be described. After George Washington was elected President, he made a tour of the states. George and Philemon met on his way from Augusta, Ga. to Columbia, S.C. in Lexington County at “the Juniper” (Juniper Springs, now Pelion). The account of the meeting continues “Both had been good shots with the rifle, and on a challenge from the General their last meeting on earth was signaled by a trial of their skill offhand at a target one hundred yards distant, with the same unerring weapon. Who was the conqueror in this trial of skill is not remembered.” The account of Philemon Waters is from: A Genealogical History of the Waters and Kindred Families, Scholar Select, Philemon Barry Waters, Foote & Davies, Atlanta, Ga. 1903, pp. 224-48.

John Frierson gives a record of Philemon’s participation in the American Revolution. After the French and Indian Wars he moved to Charleston, South Carolina and later to Ninety-six, South Carolina. He served on the Patriot (Whig) side in the war as a Captain/Major and also a Lt. Colonel. Frierson describes him as emblematic of the Patriot officers who fought in the vicious battles of “the back country” of South Carolina. These conflicts were fought between the Patriots and the Tories (Loyalist-so called because of their loyalty to the Crown of England). The latter were aided by the British regulars. The war unleashed extensive brutality, savagery, and plunder between the two groups. Ironically, they had been neighbors before the war. Philemon also fought in two major battles in South Carolina-Stono Creek and Eutaw Springs. There is an interesting aspect in his approach to restoring peace in the backcountry. In addition to using force against the Loyalists in military actions, he sought to win them over ideologically to the patriot cause. He built a block house on his property where he gave them instructions in “the new American Way.” Frierson says this helped to pave the way to peace and, as the result of such actions, after the war was concluded “many Loyalists were accepted, and to some extent forgiven by their Whig neighbors.” However, there were those whose records were so deplorable, they forfeited their property and went into exile at the conclusion of the war. One such individual was “Bloody Bill Cunningham” who was notorious for hanging and butchering opponents after they had surrendered. Frierson adds that Philemon served in the public arena as a judge, magistrate, and representative in the South Carolina House of Representatives and Senate. Philemon is representative of the many individuals in the colonial period who forged the establishment of the United States and shaped its destiny. (Philemon Waters: A Case Study of a South Carolina Backcountry Militia Colonel and His Contributions to the Successful Completion of the Revolutionary War, John Frierson)

(3) William Landon Water’s Imprisonment at Fort Delaware

My great grandfather, age 22, joined the South Carolina Volunteers at LIghtwood Knot Springs located on the Columbia & Charlotte Railroad 7 miles from Columbia for the duration of the war. He signed into Captain Robert Owens Company (“F”) self- styled as the “Carolina Bees.” (Captain Owens was killed in the war), The company was mustered as Company “F”, 14th South Carolina Volunteers on 10 September 1861. He was captured at the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6, 1864 and taken to Belle Plain, Virginia. From there he was taken to Fort Delaware on “Pea Patch Island”. The fort had been built early in the century to protect the ports of Wilmington and Philadelphia. During the Civil War it was used to imprison Confederate POWs and political dissonants. The Fort Delaware Society has kindly furnished me with their records of his imprisonment at the fort. He was confined on 20/21 May 1864 and housed in “Division 15.” A Division was a group of about 100 men from the same state or unit. They bunked together and took mess together. He was admitted to the hospital on two occasions of unknown causes: 3-5 August and 19-23 December. (I would suspect malaria as he had been hospitalized with malaria prior to his capture). After the surrender of each of three Confederate Generals in successive order - Robert E. Lee, Joe Johnston, and Richard Taylor - the pressure to take the Oath of Allegiance was “ratched up” at Fort Delaware. General Order 85 issued on 8 May 1865 called for the immediate release of all prisoners who had asked to take the Oath of Allegiance to the Union prior to the fall of Richmond on 2 April 1865. 1,072 prisoners were released from Fort Delaware. After Confederate General Kirby Smith signed the papers of surrender on 2 June 1865 on a Federal warship in Galveston Bay, the Civil War was over as “there were no longer any officially sanctioned Confederate military forces or government entities in the field.” General Orders No. 109 was issued by the Federal War Department on 6 June, 1865 which called for the release of all prisoners from Captain and below who took the Oath. The General Order was announced to the Fort Delaware prisoners on June 9 and by the month nearly 7,000 confederates were released. William Landon took the Oath on June 10 having accepted “the cause had been lost.” Transportation was provided to a point closest to their home of record that could be reached by rail or boat. His home of record was listed as Spartanburg County, S.C. (HIs parents lived in Cross Anchor). Based on researched records, the Fort Delaware Society indicated the enlisted South Carolinians were taken by C&D canal boat from Pea Patch Island to Baltimore and thereafter down the coast to Hilton Head or Savannah, Ga. He would have had to walk home from HIlton Head as the railroad between Columbia and Charleston had been destroyed. If taken to Savannah, he could have been transported up the Savannah River to Augusta, Ga and from there walked home. The Society added that some officer POWs were known to have been taken to Charlotte, N.C, by rail, and this could have been a possibility. In any event he, fortunately, returned home safely to begin life anew.

(4) Lt. Whites’ Description of Life in the Fort Delaware Prision

Lieutenant U. B. Whites of the Kershaw Brigade (South Carolina) was imprisoned at Fort Delaware and his description of the experience gives an insight into prison life at that facility. On their initial arrival to the fort “officers and privates were separated, and registered, each as to command, rank, and state….We marched in amid the shouts of the old prisoners, ‘fresh fish,’ ‘fresh fish’ I wanted to fight right then and there… I wanted sympathy, not guying. ‘Fresh fish’ was the greeting all new arrivals received.” The term, “fresh fish” was obviously a reference to the fact they had been recently “caught.” There was a plank fence 12 to 15 feet high which separated enlisted and officer prisoners. A walk-way on top of the fence was manned by guards. Fifteen feet on each side of the fence was a “dead line,'“ and anyone crossing the line was shot ”The cowardly guards were always on the lookout for any semblance of an excuse to shoot a ‘d__n Rebel.’” There was rigid censorship as all out going mail was read as was all mail received. He added that there were hundreds of women sympathizers as well as men in the northern cities who made sure that the prisoners where furnished with “clothing and money.” (Prisoners were not allowed money due concerns they would bribe the guards. Any money they received was exchanged for parchment, called ”sheepskins,” of various denominations). An example of the humanitarian efforts of northerners towards the southern prisoners is Mrs. Mary Howard of Baltimore. She heard that he was in need and wrote him. She took care of supplying money and clothing to him during the time he was in prison as well as “hundreds of other poor, helpless Confederate prisoners.” He never knew how she obtained his name. He expressed his gratitude for her when he wrote after the war ”Today she is reaping her sublime reward, where there are no suffering hungry, starving prisoners to relieve, God bless her descendants!” He also mentioned Mrs. Anna Hoffman of New York as a philanthropist.

There were many various diversions of prison life: games such as “chuck-a-luck” which came over from England in the early part of the century, various types of poker, debating groups, language classes, Bible studies, students pursuing arts and sciences, and gutta-percha ring makers. The books and materials for these activities were purchased from a “sutler” in the prison who he described as a “real, genuine, down-east Yankee. He loved money, ‘sheepskins,’ and he would furnish us with anything we wanted for plenty ‘sheepskins.’ This even included whiskey which was forbidden to the prisoners.” Hygiene of the prison and sanitation were a high priority among the officials. The work of keeping everything clean, including living quarters and bedding, was performed by “Galvanized Yankees.” A “Galvanized Yankee” was a Confederate prisoner who had “swallowed the yellow pup,” i.e., “had taken the Oath of Allegiance to the United States Government.“ They were, ironically, held in contempt by the Federal officers and forced to do the menial chores.

The rations were described as being “entirely inadequate,” especially towards the end of the war. Each man was given 2 ounces of meat and 6 ounces of bread per day . As a result starving men with no means of procuring food “stalked about listlessly, gaunt looking, with sunken cheeks and glaring eyes, which reminded me of a hungry ravenous beast.” During the last 6-8 months of the war “the Federal administration was retaliating, as they claimed, for the treatment their prisoners were receiving at Andersonville.” As a result of hunger, the prisoners turned to eating warf rats that lived under the plank walks that traversed the open court. As the rats were prepared, ”the odor arising therefrom was certainly tempting to a hungry man, and when ready they were eaten with keen relish. They did not require Worcester sauce to make them palatable.” He concluded that he included this unsavory description to portray the extent to which the men had been reduced by hunger. He blamed the inhumane treatment of both the Confederate and the Union prisoners of war entirely on the United States Government by “positively time and again” refusing to agree to an exchange of prisoners.

After Lee surrendered they were urged by their captors to accept the South’s defeat and take the oat of Allegiance to the United States. “This was a bitter pill, ‘the yellow pup,’ to swallow and very few solemnly complied. The great majority still had a forlorn hope… and it seemed to be a tacit understanding that we would never take the Oath of Allegiance as long as one Confederate officer contended in the field,” It’s astonishing that after the hardships these men had endured at Fort Delaware, they were not ready to accept the South’s impending defeat, take the oath, and walk away to freedom and a much better life. They knew that there were Confederate Generals such as Johnston, Kirby Smith, and Mosby who had not surrendered. Consequently, they chose to refuse taking the “yellow pup” and to endure the hardships of prison hanging on to the bitter end with the hope the South would eventually resurrect and prevail. It testifies to their commitment to their cause. Eventually the Union won. They accepted that the war was over and took the oath.

Whites concludes: We “bade farewell to Fort Delaware and inscribed on its walls, on fences, in books, and divisions the French quotation, ‘Font est perdeu l’honoeur’ ” -”All is lost but honor.” (In 1525 Francis I was defeated and taken prisoner by Charles V at Pavia, Italy. Francis wrote to his mother “All is lost save life and honor.” Jacques Barzun, “From Dawn to Decadence.”)

(History oi Kershaw’s Brigade, D. Augustus Kickert, Broadfoot Publishing Company, 1990, pp. 461-467.)

(5). The Battle of the Wilderness

The Wilderness. located in central Virginia, was so named because it was a dense second-growth forest of vines, saplings, brush, honeysuckle. A macadamized road ran through it-east to Fredericksburg and west to Orange Court House. People described it using several different metaphors implying “unpleasantness.” It covered 70 square miles and once had been a thriving forest of large trees. However, iron ore was discovered there in the early 1700’s and furnaces were opened that required a lot of wood. The trees were cut down and used for firewood for the furnaces. Thus the second growth. (Hell Itself, The Battle of the Wilderness, Chris Mackowski, Savvas Beatie, P. 9). The battle was fought May 5-7, 1864. Firearms, unfortunately, during the battle ignited the dense undergrowth, essentially a tinderbox. It was a terrible situation as many men who were wounded in the Wilderness could not be located and rescued due to the dense brush, and, consequently, they were burned to their death.