"…It was desperate and bloody work…"
- --Lt. Col. William T. Donnelly, Campbell's Legion, CSA
BACKGROUND
By the middle in the Civil War, Union strategic planners began working on details of a campaign to capture the key Confederate outposts that controlled the Palmetto State. A Federal force of 1,500 men under Major General Nathan Black camped on Hopkins' Hill near Camden, a key supply base and site of a Confederate victory in the previous year. However, Black found that the Rebel position in Camden was too strong for an assault, and his forces were too small to maintain a siege. Black decided to provoke the Confederates into attacking his position.
The Rebel garrison, under 26-year-old aristocratic General Franklin Rawlings, only numbered 900-1000 soldiers. Rawlings was an ambitious and aggressive officer who had been an 1855 graduate of the Citadel. Despite being outnumbered, he boldly decided to march from his Camden earthworks and launch a surprise attack on the Federal camp at daybreak on April 25th. The Union position ran along Hopkins' Hill from east to west.
On the eastern end of the ridge, Gen. Black placed two regiments of Pennsylvanians supported by U. S. Colored Troops, and two regiments of New York infantry on the western end. William Jefferson commanded Black's cavalry support. While the Yankees breakfasted, Rawlings advanced his Rebels in a very narrow formation, with three regiments in the line and three following in reserve. This gave Rawlings a much narrower front than the Federals, and he was hoping that he could surprise the Yankees and defeat their left wing first.
This hope was soon destroyed when the Confederates encountered advanced Federal pickets, who were able to warn the main force. Black was able to get his men into place and decide on a plan of his own. Seeing the narrow Confederate front he decided to send his outermost two regiments to outflank the Confederates, while Jefferson and the cavalry were to complete the encirclement.
The Yankee counterattack offered the hope of destroying Rawlings' command, but the Confederate general was up to the challenge. Seeing the Federal threat, he called his reserves into the line, extending it and protecting it from being outflanked. Worse was to come. Part of the 119th Pennsylvania regiment in the center of the Federal line broke under fire. The commander of the regiment, Colonel John Godbey, ordered the rest of the regiment back to reform. The movement to the rear unnerved the 86th New York regiment to their right. The panic spread after a Rebel musket volley killed the commander of the 99th NY regiment.
The Confederates seized the opportunity and attacked the resulting hole in the Federal line. As Rebels swarmed through the gap, Black's brigade came close to disintegrating. However, the remaining Pennsylvania regiment stood firm in the face of the Rebel assault, and Black was able to restore some order during the resulting retreat. Jefferson's cavalry screened the Federal retreat to prevent Rawlings from giving chase.
Despite his dramatic victory at Hopkins' Hill, General Rawlings was still outnumbered as two Union divisions were fast approaching to relieve Black. The Rebels were forced to abandon Camden and retreat to Charleston, reversing the verdict of the battle. Black, being reinforced, besieged Fort Noonan, the sole remaining Confederate stronghold in the interior of South Carolina.
Battle of Hopkins' Hill South Carolina April 25th, 1863
Back to Table of Contents -- ACW Newsletter # 11
Back to ACW Newsletter List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 2004 by Marc Shefelton.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com