Battle of Honey Hill

Battle of Honey Hill

Part of: American Civil War

date	November 30, 1864
place	Jasper County , South Carolina , USA
output	Confederate victory

Parties to the conflict
United States	Confederate States of America
Commander
John P. Hatch	Gustavus W. Smith Charles J. Colcock
Troop strength
5,500	1,400
losses
746 fallen, wounded and missing	8 killed, 42 wounded

The Battle of Honey Hill was a battle of the Civil War that took place on November 30, 1864 as part of Union General William T. Sherman's " March to the Sea ". An expeditionary force of the northern states that landed on the south coast of South Carolina and wanted to damage the railway line leading to Savannah , Georgia , was repulsed by mostly militant southern troops with heavy losses for the northern states.

prehistory

Honey Hill and Grahamsville Area Map, Official Military Atlas of the Civil War , Plate XCI, No. 4

In late November 1864, Major General William T. Sherman's invading army approached the target of their campaign, the port city of Savannah, Georgia, which was defended by Confederate Lieutenant General William Joseph Hardee . Sherman outnumbered Hardee by far, but Savannah was still connected to the rest of the Confederation via the Charleston & Savannah railway line and could thus be supplied and possibly also strengthened. For this reason, Sherman had already asked on November 11th that the US Defense Division South , which is responsible for the Atlantic coast, put together an expeditionary force, land it on the south coast of South Carolina and interrupt the railway line that runs a few miles inland. To this end, General John Porter Hatch's about 5,500 strong division embarked on November 28th in Hilton Head Island to land at Boyd's Neck, march to Grahamsville and destroy the railway line there. Hatch's division consisted of two infantry brigades and a naval battalion hastily assembled from sailors and marines . Most of the associations involved were still relatively inexperienced in combat. One of the few more experienced units was the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, a regiment of colored volunteers that had participated in the attack on Fort Wagner in 1863 .

Hatch's force reached the landing point on the morning of November 29th. The march to the Charleston & Savannah Railroad was delayed by thick fog; On top of that, the division marched in the wrong direction at the beginning, which meant that the railway line was not reached as planned on the first day of the expedition. In the meantime, the Confederates had recognized the threat to the railroad, which in this sector was only defended by the 3rd South Carolina Cavalry Regiment. The only troops Hardee could send to reinforce were militia and reserve troops from Georgia under the command of Maj . Gen. Gustavus Woodson Smith . However, these had only just arrived in Savannah and were actually only allowed to be used within Georgia. After a brief discussion with Hardee, however, Smith decided that the operation to protect the railway line was "right and appropriate" and moved his troops to Grahamsville, where they arrived on the morning of November 30th.

The battle

Gustavus Woodson Smith (1822-1896), Major General of the Georgia Militia, led his troops to South Carolina, but left the field command to Colcock, who was more familiar with local conditions

Meanwhile in Grahamsville, Colonel Charles J. Colcock, the commander of the 3rd South Carolina Cavalry Regiment and an officer who was well acquainted with the local situation, had taken up position on a slight rise called Honey Hill , where two smaller fortifications already existed Robert E. Lee in the military area at the time. Colcock and Smith's men improved the existing redoubts , while the advance of the Northern States was delayed by a company from the 3rd South Carolina Cavalry Regiment and a field gun.

When Union forces finally reached the Confederate line, they found a well-fortified position there, commanded by Colcock and held by some 1,400 men consisting of Smith's militiamen and reservists and Colcock's dismounted cavalry. The Confederates also had eight field guns under the command of Captain Hal Stuart. Before the arrival of the Northern States, Stuart had paced the battlefield, looked for probable deployment points and had the fuses of his ammunition prepared for the appropriate distances. Major General Smith, the most senior Confederate officer, renounced the leadership of the battle and turned it over to Holcock. When the northern states reached the battlefield, they were caught by the heavy artillery fire of the southern states and could only set up their own artillery in a position that was unfavorable for them. Hatch's first attack was carried out by Brigadier General Potter's Brigade and repulsed with heavy losses. An attack by Colonel Hartwell's brigade that wounded Hartwell was also repulsed. An attempt by the northern states to bypass the right flank of the southern states was prevented by the timely arrival of a regular infantry regiment (47th Georgia). As a result, the fighting lasted until dark, but the Confederates, reinforced by parts of another regular infantry regiment, were able to hold their position. Hatch began preparing for the evasion, which was eventually carried out after dark.

Aftermath

In their reports of the battle, the Confederates in particular extolled their artillery fire. Major General Smith wrote, for example, that he had never seen artillery pieces used with more skill and more bravery operated. This, and the strength of the Confederate position, is also evident in the losses in the battle. Hatch said 746 men in his command were dead, wounded or missing, while Smith reported 8 dead and 42 wounded. On the Confederate side, reinforcements arrived from South Carolina after the end of the battle so that Smith's troops could return to Georgia. For them the win at Honey Hill was probably a special satisfaction, as they had only suffered a heavy defeat at Griswoldsville a little over a week earlier . In addition, their victory kept the Charleston & Savannah railroad free, allowing the Savannah garrison to hold out. The abandonment of the city could not be prevented, but only delayed - on December 22, 1864 Sherman telegraphed to Washington that he could give President Lincoln Savannah as a "Christmas present".

Associations involved

union

Coast Division - Brigadier General John P. Hatch

1st brigade Brigadier General Edward E. Potter	56th New York Infantry Regiment 127th New York Infantry Regiment 144th New York Infantry Regiment 157th New York Infantry Regiment 25th Ohio Infantry Regiment
2nd brigade Colonel Alfred S. Hartwell	32nd US Colored Infantry Regiment 34th US Colored Infantry Regiment 35th US Colored Infantry Regiment 102nd US Colored Infantry Regiment 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
Artillery Brigade Colonel William Ames	Battery B, 3rd New York Artillery Regiment Battery F, 3rd New York Artillery Regiment Battery A, 3rd Rhode Island Artillery Regiment 2nd Battalion, 4th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment
Marine Brigade Commander George H. Preble, USN	Artillery Battalion Sailor Infantry Battalion Marine Battalion

confederacy

Maj. Gen. Gustavus W. Smith, commander, 1st Georgia State Militia Division Field commander: Col. Charles J. Colcock

1st Brigade, Georgia State Militia Colonel James Willis	1st militia regiment 2nd militia regiment 3rd militia regiment
Georgia State Line Lieutenant Colonel James Wilson	1st Regiment, Georgia State Line 2nd Regiment, Georgia State Line
Confederate reserve troops	Athens Battalion, Confederate Reserves Augusta Battalion, Confederate Reserves
Regular Confederate Troops and Artillery	47th Georgia Infantry Regiment 32nd Georgia Infantry Regiment 3rd South Carolina Cavalry Regiment A section of the Beaufort Light Artillery A section of the De Pass's Light Battery A section of the Earle's Battery A section of Kanapaux's Lafayette Light Artillery

Remarks

1. ↑ Official Records, Volume XXXIX, Part 3, p. 740
2. ↑ Official Records, Volume XLIV, pp. 421f.
3. ^ Bragg, Victory at Honey Hill , p. 13
4. ^ Trudeau, Southern Storm , 2009, p. 299
5. ↑ Official Records, Volume XLIV, p. 415
6. ^ Scaife & Bragg, Joe Brown's Pets , 2004, p. 118
7. ^ Scaife & Bragg, Joe Brown's Pets , 2004, p. 118
8. ^ Scaife & Bragg, Joe Brown's Pets , 2004, pp. 118 and 120
9. ^ Bragg, Victory at Honey Hill , p. 18
10. ^ Scaife and Bragg, Joe Brown's Pets , p. 121
11. ^ Bragg, Victory at Honey Hill , pp. 18f.
12. ↑ Official Records, Volume LXIV, p. 426
13. ↑ Official Records, Volume LXIV, p. 432
14. ^ Bragg, Victory at Honey Hill , p. 18
15. ↑ Official Records, Volume LXIV, p. 416
16. ↑ Official Records, Volume LXIV, p. 423
17. ↑ Official Records, Volume LXIV, p. 416
18. ↑ Official Records, Volume LXIV, p. 425
19. ↑ Official Records, Volume LXIV, p. 416
20. ↑ Official Records, Volume LXIV, p. 417
21. ^ Scaife and Bragg, Joe Brown's Pets , 2004, p. 129
22. ^ Trudeau, Southern Storm , 2009, p. 508
23. ^ Bragg and Scaife, Joe Brown's Pets , 2004, pp. 129ff.
24. ↑ The field artillery of the Civil War was organized in batteries, which usually contained four or six guns and the corresponding crews and were commanded by a captain. Within the batteries there were two to three sections , each of which usually comprised two guns and was under the command of a lieutenant. See, inter alia, the US Army's Instruction for Field Artillery from 1861, item 332.

literature

• United States. War Dept .: The War of the Rebellion, a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Vol. 38, chap.50. Print. Off., Washington 1880-1901.
• Noah Andre Trudeau: Southern Storm- Sherman's March to the Sea , Harper Perennial, Reprint, 2009, ISBN 978-0060598686
• William R. Scaife & William H. Bragg: Joe Brown's Pets- The Georgia Militia 1862-1865 , Mercer University Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0865548831
• William H. Bragg: "Victory at Honey Hill: A mere flicker of light". Civil War Times Illustrated , January 1984, pp. 12-19

Web links

• Page with pictures, eyewitness reports and the Order of Battle