A Brief History of Capt. N.B. Clinch's Artillery Company; by O.J. Hickox

(1) There seems to have arisen some confusion about the name of this command, and its association with Clinch County in South Georgia. The compiler has seen occasional references to a so-called “Clinch County Artillery” in the genealogies of, or other stories about, some of the men who served in the unit of the Confederate Army whose history is addressed here - Clinch’s Artillery Company. There was no command in the Confederate Army named the “Clinch County Artillery”. Moreover, there is no direct connection between Clinch’s Artillery Company and Clinch County, Georgia, notwithstanding the fact that the county was named for the deceased father of the company’s commanding officer and that some residents of the county may have served in the command. Any reference to this artillery company should reflect the fact that it was named for its commander, Captain Nicholas Bayard Clinch of Camden (later Chatham) County, Georgia, and not for Clinch County, Georgia.

(2) This sketch and the associated work on Clinch’s 4^th Georgia Cavalry are both largely excerpted or condensed from the compiler’s work in progress on the Civil War history of southeastern Georgia:

“A Test of Character - The Life and Times of Clinch’s Regiment, 4^th Georgia Volunteer Cavalry (The “Wiregrass Fourth”), and Clinch’s Artillery Company, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, 1861 – 1865.”

The photographs of Fort McAllister are from the archives of the Library of Congress and are in the Public Domain. All other illustrations and graphics are from the sources cited thereupon.

Except as stated above, all information presented herein is copyrighted to the compiler and is made available to the public for educational purposes without restriction. No other use is permitted without the written consent of the compiler:

The Fort McAllister Garrison Flag
Captured by Federal Forces on 13 December 1864
From the Booklet
“The Confederate Flags in the Georgia State Capitol Collection”

            Clinch’s Artillery Company was raised and organized by authority of the Confederate Secretary of War from the dismounted men of Colonel D.L. Clinch’s 4^th Georgia Volunteer Cavalry, who came predominantly from Companies H and I. The term “Dismounted” was an administrative protocol of the Confederate army signifying a cavalryman whose horse had died, or become sick or lame, and who was unable to procure another mount. Since Confederate cavalrymen were required to provide their own mounts, and a trooper without a mount could not carry out his assignments, dismounted cavalrymen were usually transferred to infantry or artillery commands, where they could continue to serve effectively. This artillery company, most often referred to in the records as “Clinch’s Artillery Company”, but also as “Clinch’s Light Battery”, “Clinch’s Georgia Battery”, or “Captain Clinch’s Battery, Light Artillery”, had been manned by details from the cavalry regiment since February 1863, but the organization was not formally completed until the end of the year.
            Captain N.B. Clinch (b. 1832) was a younger brother of the 4^th Georgia Cavalry's commander, Colonel Duncan L. Clinch, Jr. (b. 1826). They were the sons of the late Brigadier General Duncan L. Clinch, Sr., a professional soldier, a veteran of the war of 1812 and the wars of the Indian Removals, and a planter and public servant, from Camden County Georgia. The elder Clinch, incidentally, was the father-in-law of Major Robert Anderson, U.S. Army, the Kentucky-born commander of Fort Sumter who remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War.
            While attached to the 4^th Georgia Cavalry, Captain N.B. Clinch’s artillery company, and its predecessors in the 4^th Georgia Cavalry, provided mobile artillery support at key locations, mostly picket stations, along the coast of southeastern Georgia which were manned by detachments from the cavalry regiment. As early as February 1863, the regiment’s commanding officer began to put the dismounted men in a mobile artillery force to gain some effective use from those men who had become unable to perform a cavalry mission due to the non-availability of their personally-owned horses.
            At Colonel Clinch’s request, General P.G.T. Beauregard, commander of Confederate forces in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, had supplied eight guns for this unit. For a time, it was commanded by 1^st LT Charles F. Matthews of Company C, who signed in that capacity on 1 July for one 4-horse wagon, 2 sets of double harness, and various other equipment for 41 government-owned horses, then again on 1 October to obtain forage for 75 horses “for artillery detachment”. He was assisted by 2^nd LT John L. Morgan of Company G from 18 June to at least the end of August, as well as by 2^nd Lieutenant Wilson Campbell, the regimental Drillmaster, who seems to have been filling the role of Acting Assistant Quartermaster during this time, and was signing requisitions for the regiment’s artillery detachment.
            At least some of the men assigned to these artillery functions went with a portion of the 4^th Georgia to the vicinity of Jacksonville, Florida, during a brief deployment in March 1863 to assist other Confederates confronting a Federal force which had landed in the city and begun to prey upon the region’s unprotected farms, businesses, and plantations. Besides Colonel Clinch, the other 4^th Georgia participants were Major J. C. McDonald, a battery of three small pieces of artillery, and 277 men from five companies of the regiment, three acting as infantry under Major McDonald, and two as cavalry. Their stay in Florida was brief and very little real fighting took place.
            While this arrangement worked well for a time to support the 4^th Georgia’s needs as a cavalry unit, and it gave effective employment to the dismounted men of the regiment, as the year progressed and more men were without horses, Colonel Clinch determined to form the men into a larger unit and decided upon a specifically-authorized independent company of artillery. Accordingly, on 5 August 1863, he sent, via his chain-of-command, to Secretary of War Seddon a request for formal permission to form the company. In the request, he stated the reasons therefore, outlining the growing situation with the horses, and the accumulation of men without them, as well as the fact that he had, with General Beauregard’s knowledge and assistance, formed a sizable, eight-gun artillery unit within the 4^th Georgia. The request received both Brigadier General Mercer’s and General Beauregard’s positive endorsement, and it was approved on 24 August 1863.

A Battery of Confederate Artillery on the Southeastern Coast
(From an Internet site - No attribution)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This battery of two artillery pieces with its 22-man crew was probably from Company F, 3^rd Battalion, South Carolina Light Artillery, a company comprised of 90 men in 1863 when this picture was taken. The battalion was more popularly known as the “Palmetto Light Artillery”, and its Company F as the “Chesnut Light Artillery”. It was stationed along the Intracoastal Waterway on the southern approaches to Charleston at the time, and the photo presents an accurate picture of what a section of Clinch’s Artillery Company would have looked like while situated at any of the several outposts which it served in coastal Southeastern Georgia.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The command began its formal organization with the election of officers on 1 December 1863, which took place at Camp Mercer near Screven, Georgia, the operating base of the 4^th Georgia Cavalry at that time. Supervised by Captain John Readdick of the 4^th Georgia Cavalry’s Company D, who was assisted by 2^nd Lieutenants John Collier of Company E and Harrison Jones of Company I, the results were that 1^st Lieutenant N. Bayard Clinch, Regimental Adjutant, was elected Captain of Artillery and company commander, 27 year-old German-born William P. Schirm, 1^st Sergeant of Company A, became 1^st Lieutenant and the company’s Executive Officer, and R.C. Hazzard and Thomas P. Oneal, 1^st Sergeants of Companies F and B, respectively, were elected to the 2^nd Lieutenant positions.^[1] The Quartermaster Sergeant was W.R. Lane. The Line Sergeants were G.E. Atwell, W.W. Buchanan, R.W. Dopson, J.V. Smith and W.R. Strickland. These actions culminated in the formal establishment of the company as an independent command on 18 December 1863, with a staff of about 135 men, or fifteen percent of the nominal strength of the entire 4^th Georgia Cavalry. Its members’ pay while in the cavalry had included compensation for furnishing their own horses and “gear”. This of course ceased when they became artillerymen, but they were paid a $50 bonus for “joining” this new unit.

            It is noteworthy that Bayard Clinch was not elected to this command position solely by political or personal influence, nor did he lack the required qualifications and experience for the position. He had served in various capacities associated with the ordnance field early in the war and was well-versed in his new duties, a fact that was probably common knowledge amongst his electorate. At his company’s formation, Clinch requisitioned 81 sets of clothing for his men, stating as the reason for the need “The company being new formed and in need of clothing”. One wonders that the Quartermasters, usually so adept at filtering over-stated needs, might not have considered that these former troopers had been issued clothing and equipage in their previous units and may not have wholly appreciated Captain Clinch’s attempt to portray these stalwarts standing in ranks in the broad daylight, bereft of any clothing but that in which they were born. Later, he would be remonstrating for various items to outfit over a hundred men, and asking for more Battery Horses to give his new command more mobility. Then, as a highly-visible statement of his company’s new status and mission, in December, he had requisitioned 20 yards of red flannel, which was used in the uniform sleeve and collar-markings to indicate the artillery service of his men, a clear break from their derivation from, and previous association with, the cavalry. Finally, on 29 December, newly-promoted Captain Clinch bought 10 ½ yards of gold lace, with which to adorn his uniform and to display his new rank.
            Captain Clinch’s Artillery Company remained head-quartered at Camp Mercer for the remainder of 1863 and early 1864. But, by early May, it had been ordered to Savannah and seems to have been well-outfitted for a mobile role in that, on 7 May at Savannah, 1^st Lieutenant Schirm requisitioned forage for 1 private horse and 50 public horses for the command. By June, the company was reported to have been posted at White Bluff on the Intracoastal Waterway at the outskirts of Savannah. It seems that this posting was not all garrison work, where one mostly watched and waited for something substantive to happen. For, at one point on this new assignment, Captain Clinch requisitioned lumber, nails, and tools and his men were put to work building boats. He also apparently envisioned the acquisition of some additional mobile capability for his command, in that he requisitioned a transportation wagon and a two-horse wagon, and was constantly submitting requisitions for additional horses to compensate for numerous cases of “condemned” horses, as many as 22 of which had failed to pass veterinary inspection.
            He even made one attempt at acquiring six more horses, which ran afoul of the Quartermasters’ unerring nose for overstated needs. Surprisingly, during the summer, he was consistently requisitioning forage for some 60 to 70 horses and 10 mules. At any rate, from that point forward, his company was involved in the defenses around Savannah, and perhaps his mission required some degree of mobility.
            With its arrival in Savannah, the company, which had heretofore enjoyed generally good health, began to suffer significantly from a down-turn in that department, when 24 men were reported sick. In July 1864, the company was moved to near-by Isle of Hope, also near Savannah, and the sickness had abated somewhat, with only 15 being reported so. During this time, Captain Clinch was assigned extra duties as commander of the post in the absence of a Captain Maxwell, who was obviously the appointed post commander at Isle of Hope. Meanwhile, during August, sickness had returned to the company with a vengeance, when thirty-four men were down with it.
            In early September, Captain N.B. Clinch performed the sad duty of requisitioning a coffin to bury an enlisted man of his company who had died in the hospital at Isle of Hope. The sickness which had plagued the company had abated somewhat during the month, dropping to 25 men from the previous month’s figure of 34.
            Later in the month of September, Clinch’s company’s mobility was to come to an abrupt end. It was ordered to turn over its artillery to other commands and report as part of the garrison at Fort McAllister, an earthen and log fortification located on the Intracoastal Waterway below Savannah.

[1] Listed in the traditional fashion as O’Neal in the records, T.P.O. always signed as Oneal.

            Overlooking the mouth of the Ogeechee River, Fort McAllister controlled the seaward approaches to Ossabaw Sound, the only access to Savannah from the south with sufficient water depth that the Union Navy’s deep-draft seagoing vessels could use, and it protected the regionally important Savannah, Albany, & Gulf Railroad crossing over the Ogeechee upstream at King’s Bridge.
            Fort McAllister had long been a linchpin in the defenses of Savannah. Beginning as a simple 4-gun artillery battery of 32-pounder smoothbore cannon in 1861, it had grown in importance and in capability as the war progressed and as the potential for Federal invasion of the area had increased. By December 1864, it had become the southern anchor to the increasingly extensive defenses of Savannah. Its massive earthen walls, 17 feet wide at the base and some 20 feet high, were surfaced with sod which, with the earth underneath, would absorb the explosive power of even the most powerful of naval shells of the time. It contained several underground “bomb-proofs” in which its garrison could survive an extensive bombardment, a combination powder magazine/traverse, a “hot-shot” furnace for heating cannon shot to a red-hot condition for setting fire to wooden enemy ships, and several wooden barracks and office buildings. Its armament had grown with its role until it eventually mounted a 32-pounder for firing the “hot-shot”, a 10 inch seacoast mortar, three 8 inch and three 10 inch columbiads, a rifled 32-pounder and three smoothbore 32-pounders, and a 24-pounder. It also appears that a number of mobile field guns were brought into the fort as the Federal forces had approached the vicinity. These may have included a 12-pounder mountain howitzer, a 12-pounder Napoleon, and six 6-pounder howitzers.
            In early 1864, the landward approaches to the fort had been cleared of all trees and undergrowth for a quarter mile to expose any attacking troops, and strengthened with additional ports for field guns and an abatis-filled, 15 foot deep, dry moat. Moreover, the Southerners had planted a number of landmines, then called torpedoes, in its approaches. It had been attacked unsuccessfully on seven separate previous attempts by the Union Navy, and its garrison had great confidence in its ability to withstand extensive bombardment by state of the art naval artillery, as well as their own ability to deal out a destructive fire against even the ironclad vessels of the Union Navy. But, it was never intended, or expected, to be attacked from the landward, and was not designed to resist such an attack.

            By the fall of 1864, the fort was the most pivotal point in Savannah’s defenses, and Federal General W.T. Sherman knew it. As his army approached the vicinity of Savannah on its infamous “March to the Sea” from Atlanta, he pondered his options. On the one hand, he wanted Savannah, and he wanted it just as fast as he could get it. It stood in the way of the next phase of his plan to invade the Confederate “Heartland”, the Carolinas. It would have to be taken or at least neutralized before he could go further. On the other hand, his success to date had depended very much on the mobility of his army and its ability to forage from the farms and plantations of the region through which it was passing. He must continue to avoid being entrapped or even stalled at any point where he could not continue to secure sustenance, and face the possibility of being starved into submission to the local Confederates. Were he to establish a siege of Savannah upon first approaching from the northwest, the 10,000 Confederates in and around Savannah might succeed in holding him off, perhaps allowing time for reinforcements from Charleston to arrive, and to pen him up and put him and his men under siege, rather than vice-versa.
            So, he rightly concluded that he must get to the coast where awaited a huge flotilla of Federal ships loaded with food, stores, ammunition, and replacements for those of his men who were wounded or ill. With Fort McAllister in his hands, he could make that link-up. Then, with his force rested, augmented, and re-supplied, he could proceed to invest Savannah from the south with sufficient men and supplies both to avoid any dangerous moves by the Confederates coming from Charleston, and to eventually capture Savannah. With that vital seaport in hand, he could then move into the Carolinas and continue his personal crusade to take the war to the civilians of the South. Without the fort in his hands, Savannah might not yield quickly to his attack, and that could leave him vulnerable to the maneuvers of other nearby Confederate forces. His grand strategy of the last year might fail, and his own military fortunes, as well as those of the United States, could go with it.
            Sherman had to have Fort McAllister, and the Confederates could not afford to let him have it.

[Click on Photo for larger image]
Theater of Operations - Savannah & Fort McAllister
December 1864
From
“The Official Military Atlas of the Civil War”
Gramercy Books, NY

            It has been observed, and accurately so, that war is 99% boredom, coupled with a few moments of stark terror. Up to this point, life in Captain Clinch's Artillery Company had certainly been representative of that observation. The vast majority of its brief life had been occupied by the mundane and boring pursuits of inspection, drill, work, temporary duty, eating and sleeping, personal hygiene, and waiting, mostly waiting for something significant to happen. On the 13^th of December 1864, that “something” was about to happen.
            On that day, Fort McAllister was manned by about 230 Confederates, of which 150 were considered by the fort’s commander to be ready to fight, a fact that would suggest a high incidence of sickness among his garrison. This small and debilitated, but determined, force was commanded by a brave and experienced artillery officer, Major George W. Anderson, who had long served at the fort. Moreover, Anderson had provided his installation with more than a month’s supply of food and provisions, and local Confederates had destroyed the long railroad trestle at King’s Bridge on the Ogeechee River upstream of the fort to hinder any Federal approaches to the fort from the west.
            The fort’s garrison included the “Emmett Rifles” (Captain George A. Nichol/Nicoll/Nichols), “Clinch’s Light Battery” (Captain N. Bayard Clinch), and Companies D (Captain John B. Hussey) and E (Captain Angus Morrison) of the 1^st Georgia Reserves.[1]
            Clinch’s Company had been decimated since its formation by sickness, by absence without leave, and further diminished to a lesser extent by desertion. In June 1864, it had on its active muster list approximately 150 men. Of these, 24 men were recorded as sick. That number grew to 34 in August and was up to 46 at their last recorded muster at the end of October, when the muster list carried only about 110 men. At that point, they were reporting a miserably low 58% present for duty. Perhaps this was the result of typhoid fever, the former scourge of their parent organization, the 4^th Georgia Cavalry, which had appeared around Savannah in late 1863 and spread throughout the region, plus several cases of smallpox which had erupted in Clinch County, further south. At any rate, that trend apparently continued right into the late fall because, on the 13^th of December 1864, Clinch’s Artillery Company mustered only somewhat less than 70 men at Fort McAllister, not quite one-third of the total wartime enlistments in the company. Moreover, many of them had just returned from being sick, and no doubt were still suffering the effects of a recent bout with debilitating disease. Interestingly, while it was a factor, desertion had not been as much of a contributor to this diminution of numbers, with only 22 men having been reported to have deserted from the time of the command’s initial organization in December 1863 to its last recorded muster at the end of October 1864, or about 9% of the 245 total enlistments in the command during its life-time.

^[1] The “Emmett Rifles” were Company F of the 22^ndBattalion, Georgia Heavy Artillery. C.C. Jones in The Siege of Savannah, etc. states that Co. D of the 1^st GA Reserves was commanded by CAPT George N. Hendry/Henry, a statement no doubt derived from Major Anderson’s after-action report. But, Captain G.N. Hendry has not been found with the 1^st Georgia Reserves in the NPS S&S System, which lists Captain John B. Hassy (Hussey) as commander of Company D. There is a 2^nd Lieutenant George N. Hendry listed in the Chatham Artillery. Reportedly, a detachment of that command was captured at Fort McAllister on 13 December 1864, but it does not appear that Hendry was commanding Company D of the 1^st Georgia Reserves on that occasion, since CAPT Hussey’s CMSR states that he was in command of his company and was captured that day at Fort McAllister.

            Early in the second week of December, as Sherman approached the vicinity of Savannah, he had sent his cavalry under Brigadier General H. Judson Kilpatrick to attempt to take Fort McAllister. Kilpatrick found it too strong for his relatively lightly-armed cavalry force to attempt. Not to be denied, however, Sherman had replaced the burned bridge across the Ogeechee with pontoons and approached the fort with his infantry and artillery on the evening of 12 December.
            In expectation of the arrival of Sherman’s forces in the vicinity, Clinch’s Artillery Company had been assigned to a position outside the fort to man one of several light artillery works which had been placed between it and the railroad crossing over the Ogeechee River at King’s Bridge to the westward. It appears that they were withdrawn into the fort proper as the forthcoming assault became evident and most of them met their fate inside its walls with their comrades of the garrison force there. However, a few of the command were temporarily positioned outside the fort for several days, awaiting the arrival of Sherman’s masses.
            As the Federal forces approached the area on about the 9^th of December, Major Anderson had sent out 2^nd Lieutenant Thomas P. Oneal of Clinch’s Artillery Company, accompanied by some pickets, to watch the Yankees and to acquaint him of their movements. Sergeant George Edward McCormick, formerly of the 4^th Georgia’s Company I, was among them. McCormick’s daughter, in a postwar summary of her father’s service, recounted his assignment to “Fire a Gun” upon the approach of the Yankees. On the morning of the 12^th, Anderson went out personally with Lieutenant O’Neal to scout the enemy’s position, and encountered them at King’s Bridge. Narrowly escaping capture, they returned to the fort after burning some rice-filled barns and a steam tug to prevent their capture by the enemy. The Federals hung back on the south side of the river, but set up a battery of two 20-pounder Parrotts near Doctor Cheves’ rice mill across the river from the fort and began to fire into it at regular intervals, all day and into the night, serving notice of their ominous intentions. The Confederates responded with their rifled 32-pounder, and the duel lasted some 30 hours with no material damage done by either side. By the evening of 12 December, all local Confederate infantry under Colonel John C. Fiser and its cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Hood had withdrawn from the area and the garrison at Fort McAllister was left to its own devices in confronting the gathering Federal forces.
            Early on the morning of the 13^th, Sergeant McCormick fired his gun to signal the approach of the Federals on the south side of the river, and was withdrawn into the fort, but apparently not all of his men came with him. Major Anderson later stated that the enemy captured some of his pickets early on the 13^th, reportedly Privates J.J. Davis and Thomas J. Mills of Clinch’s company among them, from whom they learned the strength of the garrison, its armament, and the best approaches to it, as well as the fact of the land-mines planted on its periphery. At some time during the day, or perhaps earlier, Major Anderson, realizing that attack was imminent, reportedly offered the older and married men an opportunity to leave before the commencement of hostilities, in a gallant gesture similar to that of Colonel Travis at the Alamo during the Texas Revolution. Unfortunately, no record of their response has survived, but it is known that some married men stayed to do their duty in spite of the purported, and obviously very tempting, offer to be allowed to escape. At about 8:00 AM, the Federals commenced a “desultory” firing with Confederate skirmishers, which increased at about 10:00 and apparently carried on until the afternoon of the cold, damp, raw, winter day.
            At about 1:00 PM, Sherman decided that he could afford to wait no longer, and ordered a division of men under Brigadier General Hazen to storm the fort. Hazen decided to commit parts from each of his three brigades and to hold the remainder in reserve, sending forward between 3,500 and 4,000 men. Some sources estimate odds of 25 to 1, which would indicate an attacking force of nearly 6000 men. Regardless, the size of the attacking force was overwhelming, which predetermined the eventual outcome. The attack, which took some time to materialize due to the time it took to organize the three attacking segments, developed quickly after the men were finally in place about 4:30 PM. At that time, the order for a general advance was given. Upon the order to commence the assault, the Federals stepped out in purposefully thinned ranks, and headed toward the determined enemy awaiting their pleasure behind the earthen parapets of the imposing fort. Arriving at about 200 yards from the fort, Federal sharpshooters opened fire. Firing between the opposing forces then became general, and the main Federal force came up to a semi-circular firing line surrounding the fort.
            Sergeant McCormick of Clinch’s company, whose duties involved serving one of the “Big Guns” inside the fort, had manned his station at the beginning of the Federal firing earlier in the day. His assignment involved placing the powder cartridge at the muzzle, where it would be rammed down into the breech by another member of the gun crew. But an assignment to one of the guns up on the parapet left its crew severely exposed to both the rifle fire and the cannonading of the numerous surrounding Federals. As the firing had carried on for several hours, and culminated with an increased intensity to accompany the forthcoming assault, all but McCormick and one other man on his gun crew were eventually shot down; his friend Private Thomas J. “Jeff ” Dilbon of Appling County being the other survivor. A similar experience was had by the other Confederate gunners. The intense fire began to fell most of the exposed Confederate artillerists, and their numbers were soon badly depleted. Major Anderson reported that one eight-man gun crew lost three killed and two wounded by the Federal sharpshooters, perhaps referring to McCormick’s gun. Nonetheless, the Rebels opened with their own rifles and field-pieces, killing a captain of the 30^th Ohio and felling a colonel commanding one of the three brigades conducting the assault.
            In spite of the overwhelming superiority of the attacking forces, the eventual outcome was not immediately apparent. Many of the attacking Federals went down under the constant musket and cannon-fire, and many also fell to the “torpedoes”. And, at first, it appeared to the watching Federal officers that the attack had been repulsed. They reported that the fort “seemed alive with flame; quick jets of fire shooting out from all its sides, while the white smoke first covered the place and then rolled over the glacis.” Now, a flag was seen to be down, and the “Bluecoats” around it seemed to falter. But, the flag was quickly picked up, held aloft, and the charge went on, relentlessly. Unfortunately for the Confederates, they had failed to place obstructions below the high-tide mark on the north side of the fort and, it being low tide at the time, many Yankees found their way around the obstacles there, quickly pouring onto the parapets at the Northwestern Angle where a desperate fight was soon joined. Initially, the furiously fighting Confederates pushed back their adversaries at the Northwest Angle, but the overwhelming numbers of Federals quickly began to tell. Other Union forces arrived at the Southwestern Angle and were soon on the parapets. Arriving in the fort in massive force, they unleashed two rifle volleys that sent many of the surviving Confederates running for their bomb-proofs. Quickly, substantial numbers of other Federals came over the parapets, firing and attacking with bayonets, causing other Confederates to panic and run. But, most stood their ground. Those who did stand backed away, fighting with pistols, swords, and rifles, and they exacted from the interlopers the awful price of unwanted admittance to their fort.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note the paucity of landward-facing artillery on the left and bottom. The fort’s primary mission was to defend against water-borne attack coming up-river from the ocean; hence little provision had been made for a landward assault

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first Federal officer over the parapet was killed. Other attackers went down under the determined resistance of the “Gray-backs”. Southern men, too pressed to reload their weapons, were now fighting with ramrods and clubbed muskets. The fighting swirled all through the fort, on the parapets, in the interior, and in the bomb-proofs. Dead and dying men, mixed with the wounded, were strewn all over. Soon, however, the fighting devolved into small instances of hand-to-hand fighting, as the resisting Confederates became fewer and fewer. The fort’s small garrison was shortly overwhelmed in this brief, hotly-contested, but lop-sided battle, costing them 17 killed and 31 wounded, about half of the latter being from Clinch’s command. The attack cost Sherman 4 officers and 20 enlisted men killed, and 110 wounded, many by the land mines buried in the approaches to the fort. He reported capturing approximately 200 men and 24 guns.
Watching the assault from the roof of Doctor Cheves’ rice mill, located on the north shore of and across the river, Sherman and Major General O.O. Howard were much relieved to see the Federal forces enter and take the enclosure from the Confederates. Sherman had let out an audible sigh of relief at the appearance of the United States flag upon the ramparts of the fort, as the sound of fighting subsided and the victorious “Bluecoats” fired their weapons into the air and yelled in celebration, a clear signal that the fort had been taken by his forces. His link with the Federal ships operating off-shore now secure, he could prepare plans in earnest for attacking Savannah.

The Attack on Fort McAllister
at the Moment of Victory
13 December 1864
from
“Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War”
By
Gramercy Books, NY

In the vicious fighting, 2^nd Lieutenant Richard C. Hazzard of Clinch’s Artillery Company, younger brother of Captain W.M. Hazzard, commander of the 4^th Georgia’s Company B, “Glynn Guards”, was killed, and at least 16 men of Clinch’s Artillery Company were wounded. Besides Captain Clinch, whose wounds will be addressed shortly, the company’s records, and other documents, reflect that they were:

Private Benjamin S. Blitch - puncture wound from a bayonet in the right side.

Private Jesse Butler - possibly wounded because he was hospitalized immediately after capture.

Private Joseph Daily - right arm amputated. Subsequently died on 1 or 11 February 1865 at the U.S. General Hospital on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

Private John J. Winn - right leg amputated. Subsequently died on 20 or 26 January 1865 at the U.S. General Hospital # 2 on Hilton Head, 18 years of age.

There were likely other casualties not mentioned in the records of the company. The Confederate Pension application of Private James Day stated that he had been shot in the head, with a resulting skull fracture, and captured at Fort McAllister. The same document for Private Jeremiah Johns claims that he was wounded at Fort McAllister with a broken arm and gunshots to the right side and forehead, resulting in the loss of sight in his right eye. And, in his widow’s Confederate pension application, Private James (J.R.) Oberry (O’Berry) was claimed to have been killed at Fort McAllister on 13 December 1864. Also, Huxford claims that Private Edward Hopson Cornelius was killed in action in 1864 as a member of Company I, his original unit in the 4^th Georgia Cavalry. Since the records show him assigned to Clinch’s Artillery Company as of their last reported muster on 31 October 1864, he could have been an undocumented casualty of this day’s fighting or, possibly, he had rejoined the regiment and was killed during Sherman’s “March to the Sea”.
Of the remainder, one man, the “captured” picket, the young and diminutive Private J.J. Davis, reportedly had actually deserted to the enemy on 13 December and subsequently sworn allegiance to the United States. His companion, Private Thomas J. Mills, who has not been found in the company’s records and is presumed to be from another command, apparently did likewise and later was reportedly sworn into Federal service, becoming thereby a “Galvanized Yankee”.

It is worthy of note that, when called upon to surrender his sword, Captain N.B. Clinch, who had already been wounded by at least one gunshot, attacked his protagonists and received eight or nine more wounds from bayonet and saber. One saber wound to the head fractured his skull. Clearly the hand-to-hand fighting, although short lived, was intense and vicious. One of Clinch’s assailants, Captain Grimes of the 48^th Illinois Infantry, was himself severely wounded in the associated hand-to-hand fight with Clinch and was later commended for his conduct in that fighting. General Hazen personally encountered the wounded Clinch at the conclusion of the fighting, stating: “As I leaped upon the parapet, the first man I saw was Captain Clinch, who commanded a light battery used for defense on the land side and temporarily thrown into the fort for that purpose. He was lying on his back, shot thru the arm, with a bayonet wound in his chest, and contused by the butt of a gun. He recognized and spoke to me. He was the brother-in-law of the United States General Robert Anderson, and I had known him before the war. Contrary to my expectations, he finally recovered.”

General Hazen, in his after-action report stated that the defense was desperate and the combat deadly, that the Confederates contested every inch of ground within the fort, finally retreating to the bomb-proofs “from which they still fought, and only succumbed as each man was individually overcome.” And, in his report of the action, Major Anderson commended for their conduct during the attack 1^st Lieutenant Schirm, 2^nd Lieutenant Oneal, and “the gallant Hazzard” of “Clinch’s Light Battery.” The nearly 30% casualty rate suffered by Clinch’s command alone speaks for the ferocity of the fighting. Lieutenant Colonel C.C. Jones, Jr., writing of the attack many years later, would characterize the Confederate defense at Fort McAllister as “gallant in the extreme”.

            With the fall of Fort McAllister, all of the surviving members of Clinch’s Artillery Company, a few numbers shy of 70, were captured. Sergeant George E. McCormick recorded that they were initially kept under guard at the fort for several days. During that time, a Federal guard returned to him a love letter from a girlfriend that had been pilfered from his knapsack. After this period, they were marched to within five miles of Savannah, where they remained another week. At the conclusion of that wait, they were marched back to the fort, placed aboard a gunboat, and taken to Hilton Head.
            At that location, they were held in the open for some three more weeks and closely guarded, which callous treatment, taking place in the midst of the unseasonably cold and wet winter weather, no doubt contributed to the emergence of the sickness which would shortly take some of their lives. They were finally loaded aboard a large transport and taken north, where they were dispersed to various POW camps. Most of the Confederate enlisted men captured at Fort McAllister were eventually taken to the Federal POW camp at Point Lookout, Maryland and were incarcerated there until the end of hostilities. The majority of the officers went on to the POW camp at Fort Delaware near Philadelphia. Captain Clinch, of course, was captured and, after some hospitalization, survived to be imprisoned with his officers. There is some indication that he was promoted to major while in prison camp, no doubt for his gallant conduct and inspiring leadership at Fort McAllister on 13 December 1864.
            The fate of many of the captured men of Clinch’s Artillery Company held in Federal prison camp would be dismal. In addition to Privates Daily and Winn, discussed above, Private J. Blount, who had been captured in the General Hospital at Savannah 22 December 1864, died in a Federal hospital in Savannah on 13 January 1865. Private W.H. Watson died at Point Lookout 20 February 1865. He would be joined there by Private A. Hodge on 25 February. Private John Bradley died at Fort Delaware on 12 March.
            Finally, and perhaps most sadly of all, Privates John A. Prescott, T.J. Varn, and L.C. Hall would survive the awful winter of 1864-65 in prison camp and live to see the end of hostilities, but would not get home to enjoy the fruits of peace. Finally succumbing to the abominable conditions at Point Lookout, Maryland, as most of their comrades were being released and preparing to return to their homes, they died on 18 May, 6 June and 19 June 1865, respectively. One can only wonder at how sad and lonely they were in their final hours, so far away from home and loved ones, and with repatriation so close at hand.
            In Clinch’s Artillery Company, out of approximately 245 men who had served with the company during the war, at least 14 men died while in service, with 2 other “probables”, up to 3 of which were killed in action at Fort McAllister. Of the 66 known to have been captured, 9 died during their incarceration in Federal Prison camps or hospitals, 2 of which were as a result of wounds received in battle. And, at the end of the day on 13 December 1864, the command had ceased to exist.

Patriotism can be a demanding and pitiless taskmaster. The men from Clinch’s Artillery Company of the Provisional Army of the Confederate States manfully shouldered their fair share of its onerous assignments on 13 December 1864, and on that day made a lasting contribution to the unsurpassed reputation for courage and tenacity in combat, fighting prowess, and devotion to duty earned by the gallant conduct of Confederate soldiers on so many hotly-contested and bloody fields during the American Civil War.

May the members of America’s fighting forces ever emulate their magnificent example.

Note: For a list of the men from Clinch’s Artillery Company who died while in service or were captured, see the following appendices.

Men who are documented to have died while serving in Clinch’s Artillery Company

1. Per Huxford, John Jasper Ganos died single in the CSA. His record states that he had been sick in General Hospital # 2 in Savannah, overstayed a sick furlough at the end of October 1864.

2. Huxford claims an entry on the 4^th GA Cavalry Co. I rolls showing Cornelius as killed in action in 1864, which is not reflected in his record with the regiment. He was possibly an undocumented casualty of the fighting at Fort McAllister.

3. Oberry’s widow’s postwar Confederate Pension Application stated that he had been killed in action at Fort McAllister 13 December 1864. She was a widow when she remarried in 1868. Other sources state that he was paroled at Thomasville, GA on 19 May 1865, which is clearly inconsistent with the foregoing.

Men who are documented to have been captured while serving in Clinch’s Artillery Company

Note: The symbol (W) signifies that he was wounded at the time of his capture.

	Name	Rank	Location	Date	Disposition
1.	Clinch, Nicholas Bayard	CAPT	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	No further record, but survived the war.
2.	Schirm, William	1^st LT	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Released 5 Jun 1865 Fort Delaware DE
3.	Oneal (O’neal, O’Neal, O’Neill), Thomas P.	2^nd LT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 12 Jun 1865 Fort Delaware DE
4.	Atwell, George E	SGTMAJ	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 24 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
5.	Blitch, D. J. (I.)	3^rd CORP	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 12 May 1865 Point Lookout MD
6.	Chancey (Clancy), Wade (William) H	5^th CORP	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Released 26 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
7.	Hickox, Benjamin (Franklin)	SGT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 28 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
8.	Higgs, Elisha	2^nd CORP	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 28 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
9.	Lowe, Madison G.	5^th SGT	Fort McAllister (Probable)	13 Dec 1864 (Probable)	Released 29 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
10.	McCormack (McCormick), George E	SGT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 29 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
11.	Rawls, J. (Japheth)	4^th CORP	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Released 16 June 1865 Fort Delaware DE
12.	Baxter, J.C.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Exchanged 18 Feb 1865 Point Lookout MD
13.	Beckham, William D. (Dempsey)	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 24 June 1865 Point Lookout MD
14.	Bird (Byrd), Jesse (J. or P.) E.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Exchanged 18 February 1865 Point Lookout MD
15.	Blitch (Blich), B. S.	PVT	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Released 12 May 1865 Point Lookout MD
16.	Blitch S. E.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 5 May 1865 Fort Delaware DE
17.	Blount, J.	PVT	Savannah	22 Dec 1864	Died 13 Jan 1865 USA 2^nd Division Hospital, 20^th AC Savannah
18.	Bradley, John	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Died 22 April 1865 Fort Delaware DE
19.	Butler, Jesse E.	PVT	Fort McAllister; Possible (W), hospitalized immediately after capture	13 Dec 1864	Transferred to Hilton Head SC 1 Jan 1865. No further record, but survived the war.
20.	Cannon, James M.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 26 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
21.	Cannon, Jasper A.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Exchanged 18 Feb 1865 Point Lookout MD
22.	Carter, J. (John L.) D.	PVT-Articifer	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 26 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
23.	Carter, William H.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 26 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
24.	Cason, Henry	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 10 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
25.	Crawford, James D.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 26 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
26.	Crawford, Reuben M.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 26 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
27.	Daily (Daley), Joseph (James)	PVT	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Died 11 Feb 1865 USA General Hospital Hilton Head SC
28.	Day, James	PVT	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Released 6 July 1865 Hilton Head, SC
29.	Dean, Elisha	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Exchanged 13 Feb 1865 Point Lookout MD
30.	Dilbon, Thomas J. (Jefferson)	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 26 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
31.	Dopson, R. (Robert) W.	PVT (or 4^th SGT)	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Exchanged 13 Feb 1865 Point Lookout MD, sent to Camp Lee, Richmond VA. No further record.
32.	Dreggars (Dregars), J. J.	PVT	Waynesborough GA	4 Dec 1864 Captured by USA 3^rdCavalry Division	Sent to Provost Marshall Savannah GA. See note # 1 below.
33.	Ganas (Gands, Ganos), Newton M. (Mack)	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 27 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
34.	Gill, Thomas J	PVT	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Sent to Provost Barracks, Hilton Head SC 20 Mar 1865. No further record.
35.	Guy, William	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 27 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
36.	Hall, L. (C.) W.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Died 19 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
37.	Hall, William	PVT	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Sent to Provost Barracks, Hilton Head 20 Mar 1865. No further record, but survived the war.
38.	Herrin, Owen	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 28 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
39.	Hodge, A.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Died 25 Feb 1865 Point Lookout MD
40.	Johns, Jeremiah (G.)	PVT	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Sent to Fort Delaware DE 12 Mar 1865. No further record.
41.	Joyner (Joiner), Benjamin	PVT	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Released 28 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
42.	Lanier, Thomas E.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 28 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
43.	Lanier, W.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Exchanged 18 Feb 1865 Point Lookout MD
44.	Lewis, Henry	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 28 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
45.	Lewis, J.M.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 29 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
46.	Long, Dan J.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 29 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
47.	Martin, Daniel	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 29 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
48.	Montgomery, Richard (age 42)	PVT	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Transferred to Provost Barracks, Hilton Head SC 20 March 1865. No further record.
49.	Morgan, John A.T.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 24 or 29 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
50.	O’Neal, G.S.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 30 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
51.	Petty, Jeremiah E.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 16 June 1865 Point Lookout MD
52.	Pickrin (Pickren), John F.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 16 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
53.	Pierson (Parson, Pearson), E.J.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Exchanged 13 Feb 1865 Point Lookout MD
54.	Prescott, John A.	PVT	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Died 18 May 1865 Point Lookout MD
55.	Riggins (Ragin, Reggins), James	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 17 June 1865 Point Lookout MD
56.	Skinner, George S.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 19 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
57.	Taylor, Henry V.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 20 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
58.	Thomas, John W.	PVT	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Exchanged 18 Feb 1865 Point Lookout MD
59.	Thomas, Lewis	PVT	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Released 20 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
60.	Trowell, (Robert) H.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 7 Jun 1865 Fort Delaware DE
61.	Varn, T.J.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Died 6 June 1865 Point Lookout MD
62.	Wade, J.W.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 5 June 1865 Point Lookout MD
63.	Walker, John R.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Sent to Hilton Head SC 1 Jan 1865. No further record.
64.	Walker, William A.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Released 22 Jun 1865 Point Lookout MD
65.	Watson, W.H.	PVT	Fort McAllister	13 Dec 1864	Died 20 Feb 1865 Point Lookout MD
66.	Winn, John J.	PVT	Fort McAllister (W)	13 Dec 1864	Died 20 Jan1865 US General Hospital # 2 Hilton Head SC

Note: (1) Apparently Dreggars had rejoined his former comrades in the 4^th Georgia Cavalry some time before the fighting around Waynesborough, and done so without the benefit of proper administrative procedures.

William E. Christman -
Undaunted: The History of Fort McAllister, Georgia,
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Darien Printing & Graphics
Darien, Georgia, 1996

Mark Coburn -
Terrible Innocence, General Sherman at War,
Hippocrene Books
New York, 1993

Alfred H. Guernsey and Henry M. Alden - Editors
Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War
Gramercy Books
New York, NY, 1866

Folks Huxford -
Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia
Seven volumes of Southeastern Georgia genealogies, published from 1951 to 1975.
Additional volumes since published by the Huxford Genealogical Society, Homerville, Georgia.

Charles C. Jones, Jr.-
The Siege and Evacuation of Savannah, in December, 1864.
A paper delivered to the Confederate Survivors’ Association, Augusta, Georgia 26 April 1890.

The Siege of Savannah in December, 1864, and the Operations in Georgia and the Third District of South Carolina During General Sherman’s March from Atlanta to the Sea.
Printed for the Author by Joel Munsell, Albany NY, 1874

Gary Livingston
The Fall of Fort McAllister December 13, 1864
“Among the Best Men the South Could Boast “
Caisson Press
Cooperstown, NY, 1997

United States Government-
Compiled Military Service Records
National Archives.

Note: The records of Clinch’s Artillery Company are found in Microfilm Group M266 (Georgia), Roll 102 (Captain Clinch’s Battery, Light Artillery).

United States War Department-
The War of Rebellion-Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.
128 parts in 70 volumes.
Washington DC, 1880-1901

The atlas accompanying the above volumes, reprinted in 1983 under the title: The Official Military Atlas of the Civil War.
Gramercy Books, NY.