The 157th New York and Dingle's Mill: A Final Fight in South Carolina

On one of the last days of the Civil War, Captain William Saxton of the 157th New York recorded his impressions of the April 9, 1865, fight at Dingle's Mill, South Carolina. His regiment, formerly part of the 11th Corps, had been pummeled at both Chancellorsville and Gettysburg before being sent to South Carolina in the summer of 1863. They were a veteran unit and when they deployed through the swamp at Dingle's Mill, Captain Saxton spied a pair of Confederate artillery pieces in his front and resolved to take them. 

    "I immediately formed my company in line, a few of the 56th New York boys falling in line with me, and marched them hurriedly to the edge of the woods, showed them the guns, then said, “Boys, let’s take them. Now, every man for himself as fast as you can go. Forward march!” And away we went. How rapidly a man’s thoughts will come to him under certain circumstances. I remember I thought as we were running forward that the muzzles of those guns were large enough for one to crawl into and I expected every second to see them fire into our faces. The distance was perhaps 200 yards but the Johnnies had gotten scared and attempted to hitch their horses to those guns and haul them off, but we were too near them and they cut the traces of those that were hitched and away they went. Their traces were cotton ropes. Some ran up the road west, some climbed the road fence and scattered into a field north. A squad of cavalry was in the road only a few rods away and as we rushed over that little fort, they all fled up the road. I was among the first to arrive and shook hands with one of the 56th New York boys across one of the cannons," he wrote.

    These diary entries from Captain William Saxton, Co. C, 157th N.Y. saw publication in the January 17 & 24, 1902, editions of the Edgar Post published in Edgar, Nebraska.

 

Captain William Saxton, Co. C, 157th New York Volunteers was a veteran of hard fighting at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg as well as service in South Carolina and along the Florida coast. The April 9, 1865, fight at Dingle's Mill near Sumter, South Carolina was the regiment's last engagement of the Civil War.  


April 5, 1865: General E.E. Potter was in command of this provisional division which was composed of two brigades. Adjutant Baldwin of our regiment was A.A.A.G. and Lieutenant Campbell was acting ordnance officer on General Potter’s staff. The first brigade was commanded by Colonel Brown of our regiment; the second brigade by Colonel Edward N. Hallowell of the 54th Massachusetts.

          Two companies of our regiment were left at Georgetown under command of Major Place to guard the post and the two companies (B and D) of the 56th New York were assigned to duty with us and Lieutenant Colonel Carmichael commanded the regiment. The provisional division consisted of about 4,000 men of all branches, infantry, artillery, and cavalry.

          At 8 a.m., the column started and marched northwest parallel to and south of the Black River through a level wooded country towards Kingstree. Before going far, the column was halted and all who thought they would not be able to endure a long march were allowed to return to Georgetown. We made a march of about 18 miles that night and at night three or four Rebels were captured by our pickets.

April 6, 1865: Started at 6:30 [a.m.] and marched through the same kind of country. The weather is getting hot again. Camp near the Black River about seven miles from Kingstree, having marched about 20 miles. I was brigade officer of the day and had charge of the pickets at night.

April 7, 1865: On the move again at 7:30 [a.m.]. The Johnnies are accumulating in our front and harass us a little. They burned the bridge over Black River at Kingstree. We kept to the left and passed Kingstree on our right, marching toward Sumter. The country is more open and a wealthier class of people live here when they are at home. Camped ten miles beyond Kingstree.

April 8, 1865: Started at the usual hour, 6:30 [a.m.] in the rain bit it cleared off before noon. Marched 20 miles, forded two streams, and camped at night near the little summer village of Manning. A dastardly act was committed here by the enemy’s cavalry. We had a small detachment of the 4th Massachusetts Cavalry along with us. In coming into the village on the advance, this squad of cavalry chased the Rebel cavalry out. One of the Rebels, finding himself hotly pressed, turned and held up his hands in token of surrender. Private Elias B. Pratt of Co. C advanced to receive him and, anticipating no danger, when nearly to his side the Rebel dropped his hands, seized his revolver, and shot Pratt in the face, killing him instantly. The Rebel then put the spurs to his horse and escaped. In the running fight that ensured, one of the Johnnie’s saddles was emptied. This was the most dastardly act that came within my personal knowledge during the war.

These are two cannons placed in their approximate positions at Dingle's Mill, an almost forgotten battlefield near Sumter, South Carolina. I visited the site, along along SC 521, in June of 2020. 

April 9, 1865: Started at 6:30 [a.m.] and marched rapidly all the forenoon. A number of cotton gins and pressed were burned en route. We marched 14 miles in the forenoon and at noon came to Dingle’s Mill where the road crossed a wide swamp with a stream flowing through the middle. The Rebels had town up the bridge across this stream and flooded the swamp by cutting the dam to the right of the road. They had erected a redoubt on a little rise of ground across the road on the west side of the swamp and as we approached, they sent a few solid shots across at us. General Potter halted the column out of range and gave the tired troops a chance to eat their dinners.

          After an hour’s nooning, the 157th New York and 107th Ohio were ordered to flank the Johnnies out of their chosen position. Colonel Carmichael took our regiment and the two companies of the 56th New York to the left about a fourth of a mile and then turned west, parallel to the road, marched down to the edge of that thickly wooded tangled swamp, halted, and had the officer’s call sounded.

          He then told us that we were to wade through that swamp and drive the enemy from their position. He said according to the best information obtainable; the swamp was from a mile to a mile and a half in width and in places it would be waist deep. He instructed the company commanders to see that the men kept their ammunition dry and have it ready for immediate use.

          The difficulties in crossing the swamp under the most favorable circumstances would require considerable time and of necessity the regiment would become considerably strung out as we would march by column of fours, left in front. If the enemy stubbornly resisted our advance, it would take still longer time. In that swamp and woods it would be impossible for the commander of the regiment to have an eye on the whole command and therefore each company commander (and especially those in the rear) must see to his own company. When we struck the hard ground on the other side, each must handle it as his best judgment would indicate would be best in routing the enemy.

          The order to advance was then given. The marching of the regiment left in front brought Co. I in the lead and I do not recollect the order in which the other companies came. My company was near the rear of the column, the two companies of the 56th New York were ahead of me. As we entered the chilly waters of that swamp, what a shudder ran through our bodies! It was a dense wood with fallen logs and underbrush with innumerable climbing, clinging, thorny vines extending from the limbs of the trees to the ground. The natural obstructions to our progress were great and as before stated, the swamp had been flooded and the water and mire were from knee to thigh deep as we floundered along.

          Our progress was naturally slow and the distance seemed longer than it actually was. Sometime around 4 o’clock Co. I ran afoul of the enemy’s skirmishers along the edge of the woods on the west side and the firing at once became rapid and severe. As the head of the column emerged from the swamp while still in the woods, it deflected to the right towards the road. Word was passed back for the other companies to hurry up as fast as possible; the firing all the time becoming more rapid as the companies came out.

Map of the Battle of Dingle's Mill; the 157th New York hit the left flank of the 20th South Carolina Militia, perhaps 200 men in all. 


          When I struck the solid ground with Co. C, I advanced to the edge of the woods west and saw across an open field the earthwork referred to on a little knoll in the road with two pieces of cannon mounted in it. I saw at once (or thought I saw) if I could form my company and charge across this field, I could take them in the flank and capture that battery before they could turn the pieces on us. I would be charging along the hypotenuse of a triangle, the road being the perpendicular and the edge of the swamp along which the forward companies had turned to the right being the short side.

          I immediately formed my company in line, a few of the 56th New York boys falling in line with me, and marched them hurriedly to the edge of the woods, showed them the guns, then said, “Boys, let’s take them. Now, every man for himself as fast as you can go. Forward march!” And away we went. How rapidly a man’s thoughts will come to him under certain circumstances. I remember I thought as we were running forward that the muzzles of those guns were large enough for one to crawl into and I expected every second to see them fire into our faces.

The distance was perhaps 200 yards but the Johnnies had gotten scared and attempted to hitch their horses to those guns and haul them off, but we were too near them and they cut the traces of those that were hitched and away they went. Their traces were cotton ropes. Some ran up the road west, some climbed the road fence and scattered into a field north. A squad of cavalry was in the road only a few rods away and as we rushed over that little fort, they all fled up the road. I was among the first to arrive and shook hands with one of the 56th New York boys across one of the cannons.

We did not stop but for a moment in the redoubt. I rushed my men forward up the road a few hundred yards and deployed them as skirmishers across the road and in the field to the north and south. As I was passing through the earthwork, one of my men picked up a blanket roll fastened with a shawl strap lying beside a dead lieutenant and handed it to me saying, “Captain, this will keep you warm at night.” When I unrolled that blanket, I found it was a lap robe, black on one side and green on the other. I kept this and brought it home with me, using it for years. I found also in this roll a pair of cotton drawers and an undershirt which I gladly put on in exchange for the wet and muddy ones I was wearing. The roll also contained a sick leave of absence signed by General Lee for this lieutenant. I kept this paper a long time and presume I now have it somewhere among my papers but in the confusion incident to moving, I have mislaid it and cannot insert a copy of it here.

Yours truly at Dingle's Mill; signs on the site state to keep a close eye out for snakes but I never saw one, probably a good thing given my general distaste for reptiles. 

Almost immediately after Co. C had passed up the road, the other part of the regiment came charging up and charged that battery again. In the fight of Dingle’s Mill or Sumter, Co. I bore the brunt of the fighting. Our regiment suffered 10 casualties, the 56th New York, 15 and the 107th Ohio another 11. I have no means of knowing what loss we inflicted on the enemy but presume their loss was not so great as they had the advantage of us, fighting on the defensive, and were prepared to fire on the head of our column as it emerged from the swamp. The Rebel lieutenant in command of the battery was killed and left in the redoubt. We captured the two pieces of artillery with ammunition and took them along with us, having them to use during the entire expedition, and took them back to Georgetown with us and turned them over to the government.

After taking possession of the artillery, we marched on and after dark camped in Sumter, the county seat of Sumter County. The citizens had planned to give their boys a banquet after they had driven the invading Yankees back, but some of those refreshments found their way into the empty stomachs of those invading Yankees. The boys captured large quantities of peanuts and cigars.

During the 10th of April, the command remained in the city. E.H. Smith of Co. D, 56th N.Y. went into the printing office, set up, and printed a one sheet paper which he called The Banner of Freedom dated Sumter, S.C., Monday morning, April 10, 1865. Among the items in this paper was an article entitled “Acts of Bravery” from which I quote:

“In the affairs of yesterday, a gallant act of bravery was performed which is worthy of commendation. When the order to charge and capture the Rebel battery was given, Private Nathan Morse of Co. D, 56th N.Y. advanced ahead of his company on a keen run, scaled the breastwork which concealed the artillery, found four Rebels in the fort and ordered them to surrender, which they did. Captain Saxton of Co. C, 157th N.Y. was the next to scale the earthwork and he and Private Morse shook hands across the guns. They were all the time exposed to the musketry of the enemy and liable to be captured at any moment as the Rebel cavalry were only a few yards to their left. Both escaped.”

United Daughters of the Confederacy marker at Dingle's Mill. 

In an editorial under the head of “The Duties of the Hour,” an address was made to the citizens of Sumter and to the whole state at large setting before them the fact that they had failed in their attempt to destroy the union by seceding therefrom. That they had fought well and bravely, worthy of a better cause, but now they were beaten and the union would be preserved. How would they accept the inevitable? They were exhorted to take a common sense view of their conditions and yield gracefully to the authority of the United States. It was believed if they would sue to come back under the protecting folds of the stars and stripes and make application for protection to the commander of the department, a guard would be granted them which would secure their persons and property against all guerillas or others who might seek to take advantage of the times to injure them. A goodly number of copies of this paper were printed and distributed to the houses of the city.

Sources:

War Reminiscences of Captain William Saxton, Co. C, 157th New York Volunteer Infantry, Edgar Post (Nebraska), January 17, 1902, pg. 1; also, January 24, 1902, pg. 1

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