New book chronicles final raid in South Carolina

On April 5, 1865, Columbia had burned, Richmond had fallen and the Confederacy was in its death throes.

Union Gen. William T. Sherman was in Fayetteville, N.C., after blazing a swath of destruction across South Carolina, where the Civil War had begun.

But the red-haired general was not finished with the Palmetto State.

He ordered a raid on the state’s interior, beginning in Georgetown, to cut any remaining railroads and to capture supplies rescued from Columbia and Charleston. Brig. Gen Edward Potter led 2,500 Union soldiers, including the African-American 54th Massachusetts regiment – the subject of the movie, “Glory” – through the Midlands, finishing what Sherman had started.

This month, on the 150th anniversary of Potter’s Raid – one of the last combat actions of the Civil War – Columbia historian Tom Elmore has compiled the story of this often-overlooked campaign.

The raid “is not as famous as Gettysburg or Shiloh or Antietam,” said Elmore. “But the fears, the worries and the dangers to soldiers and civilians were the same.”

The book “Potter’s Raid Through South Carolina: Final Days of the Confederacy” ($19.99 History Press) was a natural followup to Elmore’s work chronicling Sherman’s march through the Carolinas. It is the author’s fourth book on the Civil War in South Carolina, an extension of his previous work, “Carnival of Destruction: Sherman Invasion of South Carolina.”

As Sherman’s forces departed Columbia he claimed to be headed to Charlotte, N.C., while his real intention was to move toward eastern North Carolina and the river port of Fayetteville for resupply. The Confederate command took Sherman’s bait and shifted forces to defend Charlotte and western North Carolina.

Sherman’s maneuver meant that Sumter, Clarendon, Lee and most of Kershaw counties remained untouched, housing large amounts of railroad locomotives, rolling stock and military supplies. The general wanted the Midlands swept clean, with particular emphasis on Florence, Manning, Sumter and Camden.

Potter, a New York attorney who had never commanded a combat expedition, intended to make the most of it, Elmore said.

“It was a rational followup” to Sherman’s march, he said, mopping up the isolated heart of the state, a region whose entire population would fit today in the University of South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium.

Potter commanded one division of black troops and one division of white troops. His column snaked through the Pee Dee and Midlands, with skirmishes outside of Manning, Sumter, Camden and the hamlet of Stateburg in Sumter County.

The Battle of Beech Creek, near Stateburg, was the last encounter of the Civil War in South Carolina. There, Edward L. Stevens, a white officer commanding black troops, became the last Union officer killed in the Civil War. The site is now a golf course.

In all, when Potter’s Raid ended back in Georgetown on April 25, 10 Union soldiers were killed, 72 were wounded in action and one was missing.

“The Confederate losses are hard to say,” Elmore said.

In the century and a half since the raid occurred, it has mostly faded from memory. Elmore said at the time it was overshadowed by events elsewhere – particularly the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln April 14. In the decades after, it was mostly ignored by historians, perhaps because it was conducted in large part by African-American troops.

Southerners “had problems reconciling that,” he said.

“Potter’s Raid Through South Carolina: Final Days of the Confederacy” is available at local bookstores, the History Press website, Amazon.com, the S.C. State Museum and the S.C. Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum.

This story was originally published April 27, 2015 at 8:21 PM with the headline "New book chronicles final raid in South Carolina."