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Published on 3/31/2009

By Tom Rubillo

A series

By the end of March 1865, 2,700 men in arms had assembled in Georgetown under the command of General Edward A. Potter. About 1,000 men and boys had answered Confederate Colonel C.J. Colcock's call and assembled in Sumter. Each group awaited orders.

The Confederate capital of Richmond fell on April 3,1865. On hearing the news, South Carolina Governor A.G. Magrath revoked all leaves or exemptions from military service that had previously been issued. Men holding those (including the walking wounded) were ordered to report for duty. Many of Georgetown's wealthiest slave owners hid in the swamps.

On Tuesday, April 4, 1865, General Potter received instructions to march inland from Georgetown and destroy supply trains destined for the armies of Robert E. Lee and Joe Johnston. Those had been detected by Sherman's army during the conquest of the midlands of South Carolina. The order required Potter's men to "bring in all the Negroes they can," all while supplying everyone by foraging.

Also on April 4, Jefferson Davis made a speech in Danville, Va., his new command post. He urged the people of the South to fight on, saying it was "unwise and unworthy of us, as patriots engaged in a most sacred cause, to allow our energies to falter, our spirits to grow faint, or our efforts to become relaxed under reverses, however calamitous." Instead, he urged the people of the South to continue to resist, saying "I announce to you, fellow countrymen, that it is my purpose to maintain your cause with my whole heart and soul; that I will never consent to abandon to the enemy one foot of the soil of any one of the states of the Confederacy," all while assuring his constituents that God was on their side.

Potter's army began marching at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, April 5, 1865. According to Private Benjamin Bond of Company B, 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, "Troops were all in fine spirits and seemed anxious to have a crack at the Johnnies." They traveled west on the old Gapway Road some 19 miles on that first day, camping near Johnson's Swamp on the Georgetown/Williamsburg county line.

Early in the morning, about two miles outside of Georgetown, Potter's men came upon Ben Smith's farm. Smith's wife was at home tending her baby. Smith's sister was in the yard feeding chickens. Smith himself was not at home. He returned later that evening after the soldiers had left.

According to "Recollections and Reminiscences 1861-1865," a collection of accounts published by the Daughters of the Confederacy, around 9 a.m., Ben Smith's sister heard "geese and chickens squawking, turkeys yelping, the din of many voices and the tramping of hundreds of feet." She went to investigate. When she did, "she saw a sight which struck terror to her heart."

A contingent of Potter's men had arrived. There were about 500 of them. Most were black and, according to the Confederate Daughters, they were "inflamed with the idea of their power, feeling that they could rob, pillage and burn with no fear of punishment now that the Northern army was victorious."

The raiders had been looting for about an hour. Carts carried their booty.

"Well might Mrs. Smith and her young sister-in-law turn pale and tremble at the approach of such a hideous mob of blacks, drunk with their own power. They stood now at the window and watched them as they came on. A great crowd of black Negroes dressed in all manner of clothes, some walking, some riding stolen horses and mules. Wagons and carts loaded with squawking poultry, pigs squealing and cattle lowing; and adding to the din, the voices of those who drove the wagons of plunder and others of the five hundred who yelled and shouted to their hearts' content" is how the scene was later described.

Two black men rode up to the house on white horses. One was named Richard Grant. The other was named Sancho. The ladies thought they recognized the mounts as being from the nearby McDonald farm. Richard demanded that all the firearms and ammunition be surrendered to them. That done, the crowd swarmed into the house, stripping it of everything of value. Ben Smith's sister Donie managed to hide a pocket watch in the bosom of her dress while no one was looking. She took the risk because the watch belonged to her betrothed, Jonah Bourne, who was away fighting what had become a lost cause.

The narrative of these events continues "As they left the house with their great armfuls of plunder, Richard said ... 'Your brother had better come back here and take the oath (of allegiance to the United States), or before God, we are coming back and killing every one of them. You tell 'em so'."

"Mrs. Smith and her young sister-in-law were almost fainting with terror when these wretches drove off with their stolen goods, but they were so relieved that they were gone and that they themselves had escaped any harm."

Another home visited by Potter's entourage was "The Camps" near Georgetown. Hearing that raiders were on the way, the residents hastily abandoned the property. About two hours later, it was ransacked. After the plantation's slaves were informed of their emancipation, one older man went back inside the house and found a little blue tea pot. The next day, after Potter's men were gone, the family returned to the plantation. The old man approached the lady of the house and presented her with the little blue tea pot he had managed to save for her. It was the only possession his former owners and masters had left. That, their land and its buildings.

Next week: The Williamsburg Home Guard.