Second battle at Pocotaligo

On September 16, 1862, Major General Ormsby McKnight Mitchell was appointed the new commander of the Union’s Southern Division of Forces. Frustrated by the successful operations of the northerners in Jacksonville , Florida, and St. Johns Bluff, South Carolina, he addressed his subordinates with an emotional speech stating that they had been inactive for too long and that the capture of Port Royal should have become the beginning of large-scale operations on the coast, and what needs to be prepared for an attack on enemy fortifications. After sending the scouts to different sections of the Savannah Railway, Mitchell chose the bridge near Pocotaligo as the object of attack. The expedition was assigned four tasks:

• thoroughly explore the Broad River and its tributaries Kusohatchi, Tulifini and Pokotalaligo;
• verify in practice the speed and safety of the landing force;
• identify the enemy forces guarding Charleston and the Savannah Railway;
• inflict as much damage as possible on the railway in one day.

On October 14, General Beauregard , who succeeded General Pemberton as commander of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida, received intelligence about the impending attack by the northerners. He immediately ordered General Hagud to be ready at any time to send 1,000 soldiers to meet the enemy from Adams Run. General Mercer in the Savannah was supposed to keep 2,000 men at the ready, and Beauregar himself had at the ready 2,000 men in Charleston . Beauregard developed several plans to repel the attack of the northerners, but none of these plans envisaged military operations where they actually happened.

Actions of the parties before the battle

On October 21, 1862, a unit of northerners in the amount of 4480 people ^[1] under the command of Brigadier General John Brannan ^[2] embarked on transport ships ^[3] and sailed from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Brannan was ordered to destroy the railroad track and the railway bridges between Charleston and Savannah.

The detachment left Hilton Head Island at 23: 00-24: 00 and set off upstream of the Pokotaligo River, having a destination at Cape Mackay Point at the southern tip of the Mackay Isthmus, formed by the Pokotaligo and Tullifinni Rivers. From the landing site to the city of Pokotaligo was 11-13 kilometers. Brennan sent a leading detachment from the 7th Connecticut Regiment ^[4] to the landing zone in advance to remove the Confederate guard posts (the task was partially completed ^[5] ). In dense fog, communication between the vessels was difficult, but the northerners enlisted the help of fugitive slaves who had previously smuggled goods along the river for their masters. At 4:30, Brannan, aboard the Ben De Ford , accompanied by gunboat John Paul Jones , reached Cape Point ^[6] , the remaining ships of the squad delayed for 3 hours as the gunboat Marblehead ^[7] ran aground. From 8:00 to 10:00, most of the expedition unloaded on the cape, and a detachment consisting of the 48th New York Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Rhode Island Artillery Regiment (50 people) and part of the 1st New York Engineering Regiment (2 officers and 45 lower ranks, commander Captain Samuel Eaton) ^[8] moved further up the Kusohatchi River ^[9] to perform a distracting maneuver and, if possible, destroy the railway lines.

At 8: 30-9: 00, the headquarters of Colonel Walker in the city of MacPhersonville received a message about the landing of the federal detachment at Cape Mackay Point. At the same time, he received a message that four ships of the northerners rise along the river. Kusohatchi to the village of the same name. Walker put forward the majority of the forces at his disposal in the vicinity of Old Pocotaligot, and sent the Lafayette artillery company (commander Lieutenant Le Bleu) and the Beaufort Battery platoon (commander Lieutenant Henry Stuart) to the village of Kusohatchi with the order to protect this settlement and the railway overpass. Walker also telegraphed to Generals Boregar, Mercer, and Hagud with the demand for reinforcements. Hagood immediately loaded the 7th South Carolina Battalion onto the train and ordered several companies of the 26th South Carolina Regiment to advance on foot from Church Flats to Rantoles Station to also board the train. Beauregard sent an order to Walker "to hold positions and fight for every bridge."

Walker sent a company of Captain Wyman from the 11th South Carolina Regiment, stationed near Kusohatchi, to help artillery units advancing into that area. Rota I of the same regiment, under the command of Colonel Allen Isard, he sent from Macphersonville to Pocotalaligo. Another five companies of the same regiment were to go to strengthen the company Wyman from Hardyville ^[10] .

Fight at Pocotaligo

Having landed on the coast at Cape Mackay Point, Brannan sent two vehicles ^[11] to Port Royal Island for cavalry ^[12] . The main forces of his detachment headed in the direction of Pocotalaligo. In the head of the column followed the regiments of the 1st brigade ^[13] with a platoon attached to the 1st US artillery regiment ^[14] , followed by the regiments of the 2nd brigade ^[15] with a platoon attached to the 3rd US artillery regiment ^[16] , three ship howitzers removed from one of the ships of Steadman’s detachment ^[17] , and 45 people from the 3rd Rhode Island Regiment under the command of Captain Comstock.

After 9 kilometers, the convoy entered an open area, reaching Caston's plantation, and came under fire from the Confederate field battery. A head squad under the command of Colonel Hood entered the skirmish with the southerners ^[18] . Having made several volleys on the northerners, the Confederates retreated to second place. The engineers of the 1st engineer regiment were engaged in the restoration of small bridges destroyed by the southerners, which somewhat slowed down the pace of the offensive.

After another 2 kilometers, Brannan's convoy reached the Frampton plantation, where it again came under fire from the southerners' field battery. Confederate positions were located on a forested hill, which was led by a narrow path through a deep swamp with a destroyed bridge in the middle. The space in front of the swamp was overgrown with a dense impassable shrub, through which a ditch was laid, and the only passage was a narrow road. The northerners' infantry attacked twice, but under a hail of shells and bullets suffered heavy losses and was forced to retreat. The artillery of the northerners fired intensively, but soon the ammunition began to be depleted. General Brannan ordered the regiments of the 1st brigade to advance through the bushes to the very edge of the swamp, and the platoon of the 1st artillery regiment, under reliable cover, sent to the far edge of the forest, leaving the 2nd brigade in reserve. Noticing these movements, the Confederates quickly retreated ^[19] . The northerners rushed into the pursuit, although the destroyed bridge slowed the movement of artillery. Fearing a strike from the left flank, General Brennan sent an infantry regiment and one naval howitzer to block the road to Kusohatchi.

In pursuit of the retreating enemy, Brannan's squad reached the place where the roads from Mackay Point and from the village of Kusohatchi merged into one, which crossed the swamp and crossed into the Pocotaligo Bridge. The siege and field tools of the southerners, located on the opposite bank of the channel, opened heavy fire on the northerners. The arrows of the northerners, approaching the edge of the swamp, fired back fire, inflicting some damage on the servants of the guns. Soon, the artillery ammunition at Brannan’s detachment was completely exhausted ^[20] , so the guns were sent back to Cape Mackay Point.

The Pocotaligo Bridge was destroyed, and the southerners' earthen fortifications cut off all approaches to it through the swamps. Night was approaching, reserves were being drawn to the enemy, there was not enough transport for the wounded, so General Brennan decided to retreat to Cape Mackay Point. Retreating, the detachment carried the wounded on a stretcher and from time to time turned around in defensive orders to bury the dead. On the morning of October 23, the detachment reached the landing site.

Kusohatchi Fight

Union

• 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment
• 55th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment
• 4th New Hampshire Infantry Regiment
• 7th Connecticut Infantry Regiment
• 3rd New Hampshire Infantry Regiment
• 6th Connecticut Infantry Regiment
• part of the 3rd Rhode Island Volunteer Artillery Regiment
• 76th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment
• part of the 1st New York Engineering Regiment
• 48th New York Infantry Regiment
• platoon from the 3rd US artillery regiment
• platoon from company M of the 1st artillery regiment of the USA
• part of the 1st Massachusetts cavalry regiment

Confederation ^[21]

• Hurry Company K of the 4th South Carolina Cavalry Volunteer Regiment (Charleston Light Dragoons)
• Hurried Horse Rootledge Arrows
• Beaufort Light Battery (4 guns)
• Light Lampkin Battery (4 guns)
• Two companies of cavalry.
• Company of the 11th Infantry Regiment
• Company from the sniper battalion Ebni

• H. David Stone. Vital Rails: The Charleston & Savannah Railroad and the Civil War in Coastal South Carolina (University of South Carolina Press, 2008).
• The Attack Upon the Charleston and Savannah Railroad. Full Particulars from Our Special Correspondent // The New York Times, 10.29.1862
• The War of the Rebellion: Original Records of the Civil War

• Report of the commander of the 47th Pennsylvania Regiment, Colonel Tilman Goode