Major Thomas J. Goree of Longstreet's staff, in a letter to his mother, describes the attack of Colonel Micah Jenkins' brigade at the battle of Glendale/Frayser's Farm on June 30, 1862:
- The Civil War Letters of Major Thomas J. Goree edited by Thomas W. Cutrer (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1995), pp. 94-95.
Jenkins' Brigade:
2nd South Carolina Rifles
4th South Carolina (Battalion)
5th South Carolina
6th South Carolina
Palmetto Sharpshooters
Colonel (later Brigadier General) Micah Jenkins. Two years later he was infamously killed by the same friendly fire that wounded Longstreet at the Wilderness on May 6, 1864.
Edit to add: Jenkins did file a report on the battle, although it was not included in the Official Records. I don't have access to it, but it has been published in Supplement to the Official Records edited by Hewett, Trudeau and Suderow, ser. 1, vol. 2.
But to quote from James J. Baldwin's bio of Jenkins, The Struck Eagle, he reported that the Palmetto Sharpshooters suffered a loss of 49 killed and 211 wounded (30 mortally) out of 375 engaged.
Jenkins also report 20 killed and 94 wounded out of 275 in the 2nd SC Rifles, 14 killed and 65 wounded out of 200 in the 6th SC, 35 wounded out of 70 in the 4th SC Battalion, and 11 killed and 70 wounded out of 175 in the 5th SC.
So Jenkins' Brigade lost 569 men, killed and wounded, out of 1,095 taken into action, or 52%.
The Palmetto Sharpshooters consisted of some 1,000 men that last April, but only 125 could answer for roll call on July 1, even 35 of whom being slightly wounded.
In a letter several days after the battle, Henry C. Conner of Co. G wrote, "What fiew of us who are left . . . in camp we are pretty well played out and our thinned and vacant streets tells terrible of what we have passed through."
The So. Ca. Brigade under the gallant Col. Jenkins commenced the attack. Kemper was on the right of Jenkins, Wilcox on the left, & Pickett's, Pryor, & Featherston still to the left. One of A.P. Hill's (Branch's Brigade) was ordered as a support to Kemper & Jenkins.
Kemper's (which used to be Genl. Longstreet's old brigade) charged & took a battery. The enemy then brought up reinforcements and Branch failing to support Kemper, the battery was retaken and many of the old brigade captured with it. Jenkins in the meantime had taken a battery and still kept forward. His advance at this time was the most desperate I ever knew. A few hundred yards to the left of the battery he took was one that Wilcox was trying to take. Just in Jenkins' front was a very large force of the enemy's infantry which he immediately engaged, when this battery on his left commenced on him with grape and canister. Thus he advanced in the face of a terrible musketry fire at the same time enfiladed by artillery. Notwithstanding, he pushed on, charged the enemy and drove them from their position with terrible slaughter. He then brought up Branch's Brigade to hold the position. But as soon as they reached the place and saw how far in advance it was & the number of the enemy a half mile farther on, they turned & fled. Being left so far in advance unsupported, Jenkins fell back from position & went to the assistance of Wilcox. The enemy did not return to the position he left. Wilcox during this time had been fighting desperately. He had taken a battery, but it had been retaken, but when Jenkins came in, they made another charge and held it. . . .
The So. Carolina Brigade (Jenkins') lost more than half & the Ala. Brigade (Wilcox) lost at least one half. The 11th Ala. (Col. Syd Moore's Reg.) out of 10 officers commanding companies lost 8 killed & two wounded. The Palmetto Sharpshooters (Col. Jenkins' Regt.) out of 375 men, lost 44 killed & 210 wounded.
His own escape was almost miraculous. His horse was shot twice. A hole was shot through his saddle blanket, his bridle reins cut in two near his hand. An India rubber overcoat tied on behind his saddle had 15 holes through it made by a musket ball & piece of shell. His sword was shot off at the point, & shot half in two near the hilt, & his sword knob was also shot off. Besides all this he was struck on the shoulder with grape shot (which bruised it severely) and was also struck on the breast & leg with fragments of spent shell.
I met him just as he was coming out of the fight and he was weeping like a child at the destruction of his brave, noble men. He told me at one time when he saw how fast they were falling around him, he stopped and prayed to God to send a bullet through his heart. He says, too, that at times as he would ride up and down the line, his men would turn and give him a look as much as to say, "We can go no further," when he would wave his hand to them and they would again dash forward.
- The Civil War Letters of Major Thomas J. Goree edited by Thomas W. Cutrer (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1995), pp. 94-95.
Jenkins' Brigade:
2nd South Carolina Rifles
4th South Carolina (Battalion)
5th South Carolina
6th South Carolina
Palmetto Sharpshooters
Colonel (later Brigadier General) Micah Jenkins. Two years later he was infamously killed by the same friendly fire that wounded Longstreet at the Wilderness on May 6, 1864.
Edit to add: Jenkins did file a report on the battle, although it was not included in the Official Records. I don't have access to it, but it has been published in Supplement to the Official Records edited by Hewett, Trudeau and Suderow, ser. 1, vol. 2.
But to quote from James J. Baldwin's bio of Jenkins, The Struck Eagle, he reported that the Palmetto Sharpshooters suffered a loss of 49 killed and 211 wounded (30 mortally) out of 375 engaged.
Jenkins also report 20 killed and 94 wounded out of 275 in the 2nd SC Rifles, 14 killed and 65 wounded out of 200 in the 6th SC, 35 wounded out of 70 in the 4th SC Battalion, and 11 killed and 70 wounded out of 175 in the 5th SC.
So Jenkins' Brigade lost 569 men, killed and wounded, out of 1,095 taken into action, or 52%.
The Palmetto Sharpshooters consisted of some 1,000 men that last April, but only 125 could answer for roll call on July 1, even 35 of whom being slightly wounded.
In a letter several days after the battle, Henry C. Conner of Co. G wrote, "What fiew of us who are left . . . in camp we are pretty well played out and our thinned and vacant streets tells terrible of what we have passed through."