Today in History:

688 Series I Volume XLVII-I Serial 98 - Columbia Part I

Page 688 OPERATIONS IN N. C., S. C., S. GA., AND E. FLA. Chapter LIX.

north of Winnsborough by my Second and Third Brigades was seven miles and a half; distance to-day, seven miles. February 23, marched at 6. 30 a.m. ; passed through Morgan's camp, and two miles beyond Wateree Church took the right-hand road for Rocky Mount Post-Office, on Catawba River, which we reached at 3 p.m. There I found the train of the First Division crossing on a pontoon bridge, the troops of both the other divisions having crossed early in the day. This River crossing was one of the most difficult imaginable. The River was 250 yards wide and spanned by a single pontoon bridge. At the end of the bridge the steep, narrow road wound up a very high hill, which the trains after crossing ascended with great difficulty and only by the assistance of the troops. The soil everywhere was treacherous, and the roads were deep and miry. At 5. 45 p.m. my command began to cross. A cold rain had set in, the night was very dark, and the roads became almost impassable, requiring continual repairs. All of my troops were distributed along the train to push the wagons through, which gave about twelve men to each wagon. By 10 p.m. my train had crossed, excepting eighty-five wagons, fifty-five of which were a portion of the cavalry train under my charge. At that hour General Kilpatrick was ordered to cross with his cavalry division. The troops and trains then over encamped three miles from the River on the road toward Hanging Rock Post-Office. Heavy rain continued during the night; distance to-day, seventeen miles. The day's work was an excessively fatiguing one.

February 24, at daylight I went to the bridge and gave my personal supervision to crossing the remainder of my trains, which were all over by 10 a.m. The entire road after leaving the River became impassable, and my troops corduroyed it, using for the purpose, wherever they were at hand, the rail fences, in other places cutting pine saplings and other timber. At 9 a.m. moved forward two miles; there was delayed by the trains preceding me until 4 p.m., when we again moved forward two miles and encamped with the rest of the corps at a point where the Seventeenth Corps, having taken the wrong road, crossed our route. We corduroyed the entire road on which we marched to-day, the soil being of a quicksand nature. The rain continued all day, growing very cold toward night; distance, four miles. February 25, remained in camp, the Seventeenth Corps occupying the entire day in moving out of the road of our corps. Cold; heavy rain continued until midnight. February 26, my division in the center marched at 7 a.m., following the Third Division, and having in my charge the trains of that division and my own. For three miles, to Russell Hill, we moved on the road taken yesterday by the Seventeenth Corps. At that point we diverged to the left, and at 1. 30 p.m. reached Hanging Rock Post Office, where we encamped. The weather to-day was warm and clear. Two-thirds of the road had to be corduroyed for our trains. In most places fence rails were abundant, and were quickly brought into requisition. The surface of the country since leaving Catawba River is a crust with quicksand underneath. Wagons and animals everywhere except on the corduroy broke through the crust to the depth of three feet or more. Hanging Rock Post Office is near a creek of the same name. Near the ford where the main road crosses is a large projecting rock on the hill-side overhanging the stream, and giving it its designation. The place is noted as the scene of one of the minor conflicts of the Revolution, with which this State abounded in the days of Marion, Sumter, Cornwallis, and Tarleton; distance to-day, nine miles. February 27, weather warm, threatening rain. At 2 p.m. crossed


Page 688 OPERATIONS IN N. C., S. C., S. GA., AND E. FLA. Chapter LIX.