Butler and his cavalry in the War of Secession, 1861-1865

Front matter

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LIBRARY OF

Preface

An old man living in Kentucky during the Secession War had two sons; one enlisted in the Confederate Army and the other in the United States Army. Within twelve months one was brought home dead, and within a short time the other was brought home like his brother, having also been killed in battle. Both were buried in his garden side by side and this inscription was placed upon the monument : k*God alone knows which was right."

It is not left with me to decide who was right or who was wrong. I think that some one should write a history of the gallant deeds of the men who composed the brigade to which he belonged. I have attempted to write the history of "Butler and his Cavalry." Though very imperfectly done, I console myself because it was the best I could do.

''History is a brilliant illustration of the past, and leads us into a charmed field of Avonder and delight. It reflects the deeds of men, and throws its rays upon the just and unjust, and leads us upward and onward to that mention of facts bearing directly upon a brilliancy surrounding our everyday life — as it was and as it is."

In the language of Gen. Johnson Hagood. "My comrades, it is a long time since we have looked into each other's eyes and grasped each other's hands. In the long ago we together toiled in the weary march and looked upon 'battle's magnificently stern array' ; together we have felt the mad excitement of the charge, the glorious enthusiasm of victory, the sullen anger of defeat; and harder, sterner duties have been our lot. Together we have passed through the valley and the shadow of political reconstruction. We have seen civil rights, sacred from tradition and baptized in the blood of a patriotic ancestry, trampled in the dust, We have seen the accumulations of two centuries of thrift and industry swept away and the State plundered as a ship by a pirate crew. But 'God fulfills Himself in many ways.' "

U. R. Brooks.

Dedicated

to the

Memory of my Brother

Whitfield Butler Brooks

Company B, Sixth S. C. Cavalry

Killed at the Battle of Trevillian, Virginia

Brief, Yet Brave and Glorious Was His Young Career

TO THE MEMORY OF WHITFIELD B. BROOKS

As it is our duty, so it is our sad pleasure, to entwine the laurel with the cypress above the tomb of those who, preferring glory and honor to shame and degradation, — sacrificing their ease and comfort for hardships and dangers, have offered up themselves willing sacrifices upon the bleeding altar of their country.

"Two years ago, with heart bounding high with hope, form elastic with health- — eyes bright with the enjoyment of life, Whitfield B. Brooks left his parental roof for the tented field, a noble and patriotic ambition, gilding, like the dawning sun, the opening pathway of life. Alas ! in the terrible ordeal, in the fierce collision and shock of battle, he has gone down, — while honor decks the turf that wraps his clay.

"He was a member of Company B, Sixth Eegiment, South Carolina Cavalry, and, in the language of his captain, 'was ever at his post and never failing in his duty.' On the second day's fight at Trevillian Station, Va., June 12th, 1864, fell this noble boy, pierced through the head by a ball from the enemies of his country, and the despoilers of his native land, ere he had reached the age of nineteen years. His gentle, kind and unassuming manners that peculiarly endeared him to his parents, won for him the affection of his comrades in arms, and the confidence of his officers. Of quiet habit, energetic and ambitious in his studies, had he lived, and borne out the promise of his youth, he would have culminated an honor to his family, an ornament to society, and in usefulness to his country."

The above was written in June, 1864, by that gallant soldier and able lawyer, Colonel H. W Addison, who left a leg on the plains of Virginia.

Whitfield Butler Brooks, on his paternal side, descended from Captain James Butler, who was massacred by Bloody Bill Cunningham on Cloud's Creek, Lexington County, S. O, in 1781, who was the father of Elizabeth Butler (a sister of General William Butler, grandfather of General M. C. Butler), who married Zachariah Smith Brooks, whose only son was Whitfield Brooks, who married Mary Parsons Carroll, a sister of Chancellor Carroll, in 1818, whose second son was James Carroll Brooks, who was the father of Whitfield Butler Brooks, whose uncles were Preston S. Brooks and Whitfield Butler Brooks, who fell mortally wounded at Cherubusco, Mexico, August 20, 1847, and Hon. John Hampden Brooks, now of Greenwood County, S. C. His only aunt was Ellen Brooks, who married General E. G. M. Dunovant.

On his maternal side he descended from Rev. Peter Bobert, who was the first Huguenot minister of the Carolina Colony and settled in St. Johns, Berkeley, in 1690, who was father of John Robert. His son, James Bobert, and grandson, John Robert, Jr., whose son, William H. Robert, fought in the Revolution and was the father of Ulysses Maner Robert, whose daughter was Sarah Crawford Robert, married James Carroll Brooks, November 20, 1843, and was the mother of Whitfield Butler Brooks, who was born July 21st, 1845.

"Whitfield B. Brooks, with other young Carolinians, tendered {heir young lives in obedience to the call of South Carolina, their native State, enlisted as volunteers in the Confederate army, in defense of their homes, and fell in battle, contending for a principle taught them by their fathers, transmitted from preceding generations, accepted, considered and believed by them to be truth eternal."

Introduction

It has been forty-four years since the Confederate sun sank behind the horizon at Appomatox never, never to rise again, and those of us who have survived the waste of time should write something to cherish the memories of our heroes who fell in battle by our side and to recall the gallant deeds that were displayed on the bloody fields in the War of Secession. Whether the deeds were crowned with success or consecrated in defeat, is to idealize principle and strengthen character, intensifying love of country and convert defeat and disaster into pillars of support for future manhood and noble womanhood.

I had the honor to belong to Butler's Cavalry. The cavalrymen were proud of their leader and he was equally proud of them.

Shall we allow the heroic deeds of his brave followers to sink into oblivion ? We are a people with memories of heroic suffering and sacrifices, so let us preserve our history and let it be written bj eye-witnesses as the story of Butler and his Cavalry is now being told.

On the 20th November, 1843, Capt. James Carroll Brooks, of Edgefield, S. C, was happily married to Miss Sarah Crawford Robert, the eldest daughter of Col. and Mrs. Ulysses Maner Robert, at Mt. Pleasant, Barnwell, S. C. This beautiful home was situated between Allendale, S. C, and the Savannah River, and was, by that "prince of incendiaries," Major-General W T. Sherman, burned to the ground in 1865 in his march of destruction and desolation.

To this happy couple was born on the 21st July, 1845, Whitfield Butler Brooks, who was killed in battle 12th June, 1864, in the second day's fight at Trevillian, Va. On the 27th October, 1846, Ulysses Robert Brooks was born to them. My mother of blessed memory — Almighty God be praised for creating such a woman — was well persuaded that the right or wrong state of human nature depends as necessarily upon the education of children as that of a plant upon proper culture, and that the whole of this art consists not only in strengthening the body by suitable exercises, and opening and improving the faculties of the mind by proper studies, but, above all, by forming in youth strong and lasting habits, and inspiring them with the most noble sentiments of all virtues. Well do I remember the beautiful Bible stories she used to tell me. She taught me to fear nothing but to do wrong. She was blessed with a fine intellect and possessed of wonderful energy. She loved the poor and they loved her, no one in want ever left our house with an empty basket. On the 29th December, 1861, God's finger touched her, and she slept.

I attended school at the Edgefield Male Academy four years. My father served in Kershaw's Brigade in the Peninsula campaign in 1862, and in the same year was appointed enrolling officer for Edgefield District, and was elected Captain of Co. I, State Troops. On the 21st May, 1899, he went to his reward, full of years and Ijpnors.

In 1862 my brother, Whitfield Butler Brooks, and myself wanted to have a good time and joined the Confederate Cavalry, and incidents of the different battles that our Cavalry participated in are as fresh to me as though they had been fought only last week. There is to me a fascination about a battle that cannot be explained or described. Among other things I learned in the army was that a smooth sea never made a skillful mariner; neither do uninterrupted prosperity and success qualify for usefulness and happiness. The storms of adversity, like the storms of the ocean, arouse the faculties and excite the invention, prudence, skill and fortitude of the voyager.

On the 26th April, 1865, when Joe Johnston surrendered his army to Sherman, who had 17 to 1, I thought the war was over. Well, it was, collectively, but individually it was still on, and is yet. The battle of life honestly fought is a struggle that requires courage and fortitude. While in the ranks you get lots of encouragement, but when you climb up the hill above the level, oh, how slippery and steep. Those in the ranks will cheer you for a while, and then jealousy will crop out and you will soon discover that for every Csesar there is a Brutus who will, in the absence of his dirk, use his tongue which is keener and a shade more dangerous. Yet I have had, and still have, some friends tried and true, and thank God, I cling to the memory of those that are gone and to the living ones with hooks of steel.

Butlek and His Cavalry, 1861-1865. 11

In the War of Secession Butler's Cavalry fought some of all nationalities and captured a few of each. I say, without fear of contradiction, that the most cruel of human beings when aroused is the pure white man, and yet the bravest, most enduring, most patient and superior to all races.

In December, 1864, some of the white men of Grant's Army outraged some of our women and burnt the houses over their heads in Virginia. The ground was frozen and covered with sleet. Gen. M. C. Butler, as soon as apprised of it, at once ordered his men to catch these people and throw them into the flames of the houses. Some had their throats cut before being put into the flames. The most imitative people on earth hail from Africa. Some of them ape the men who committed these outrages and invite their own destruction.

On the 24th January, 1883, when I hung up my hat in the State House, I said to myself, "This beats plowing," especially if you have to plow on bread and water, as I did on one occasion in the absence of meat. I plowed in the day and studied law at night. Lawyers don't plow, you know.

I wrote my good friend General Butler not to worry about me, that I liked my surroundings and would stay as long as I could without embarrassing my friends. I am confident that they are not embarrassed, and I am still at my post. "Duty," General Lee said, "was the sublimest word in the English language." My motto is, "Glory be to God on high and peace on earth to men of good will." Let us pray that the others will be good, too. Let us throw the veil of charity over all mankind, for charity is the noblest of all virtues and undoubtedly the rarest practiced. And yet it is a virtue especially loved by God, without which it is impossible to win His favor, and after our duty to Him, He commands us to practice it. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God above all things, and thy neighbor as thyself."

Here is a Confederate permit :

Confederate States of America, Provost Marshal's Office, First Military District S. C, Charleston, 3d December, 1862.

Permission is granted to W. B. Brooks and horses to visit Adams Run upon honor not to communicate, in writing or verbally for publication, any fact ascertained, which, known to the enemy, might be injurious to the Confederate States of America.

Good for two days.

WM. J. GAYER, Provost Marshal.

In 1863 the Conferedate Government had all the horses of our regiment appraised. Here is the form :

Muster roll of horses and equipments of U. R. Brooks : Bay stallion, 12 years old, $1,600.00; equipments, etc. We certify on oath that the figures opposite the name on this roll for the valuation of horse and horse equipments represent and shows the true cash value of the horse and equipments of U. R. Brooks at the place of muster, according to our honest, impartial judgment.