Palmetto Sharpshooters
The Sharpshooters would assist in taking Casey's Redoubt, whipping Union General Darius Couch's division, and capturing several regiments in the process.
"[2][3] The following excerpt is from an address given by James A. Hoyt at the 1885 reunion of the Palmetto Sharpshooters: "The ranks had been divided by the colors, and each wing rested respectively on the right and left of the Williamsburg road.
On March 17 the regiment would be attacked by the 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry and a battery, the Sharpshooters would lose several men wounded and captured.
During the Battle of Wauhatchie, the brigade, commanded by John Bratton, would take part in the night time attack on Federal positions near Lookout Mountain.
During the Battle of Cambell's Station the regiment would play a supporting role in the attacks on Ambrose Burnside's Union forces.
The Virginian's, who were disoriented from their attack through the dense undergrowth of the Wilderness, would open fire up troops who were in the Orange Plank Road, wounding General Longstreet and killing Jenkins.
At the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House Bratton's brigade and the Palmetto's would hold Laurel Hill and earthworks around the Mule Shoe against repeated Federal attacks.
):[10] The Palmetto Sharpshooters and Bratton's brigade would be sent south of Richmond to Petersburg, where they would hold Battery 34 against Union General Gouverneur K. Warren's V Corps.
Throughout the long Siege of Petersburg the regiment would fight in such battles as 2nd Deep Bottom, Halifax Road, and Fort Harrison.
After the breakthrough at Petersburg and the fall of Richmond, the South Carolina Palmetto Sharpshooters surrendered at Appomattox Court House with the rest of the army on April 9, 1865.
The regiment was the largest one in the army at the time of the surrender, numbering 29 officers and 356 men, commanded by Colonel Joseph Walker.
Ironically, the South Carolinians shared rations and shook hands with the 16th Michigan, whose colors they had captured at Gaines Mill, two years ago.
