JAGwinn
Retired User
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2016
- Location
- Bloomington, IL Corvette Gold
Hamilton and Gwin lines merged when Jane Gwin, daughter of Mordecai Gwin of North Carolina, married in 1794.
And, as I lived in Aiken, SC for some little while, I became interested in the Battle of Aiken [SC], which occurred in February, 1864, the last hurrah against Sherman before he defiled Columbia [SC].
Hamilton wrote a book, an excerpt of which follows dealing with the prelude to the battle:
Recollections of a Cavalryman of the Civil War After Fifty Years 1861 — 1865
Next morning and for three days the whole cavalry command continued the work of railroad destruction, and on February 10th, we camped about five miles east of the town of Aiken which since then has become a popular winter resort.
In that engagement our regiment suffered one of its most severe losses. My cousin, Adjutant Arthur T. Hamilton, while riding his horse on the railroad bed, directing some of the men, was struck by a ball that went through his leg near the knee joint, killing his horse. He was taken up with his saddle and bridle, by hospital steward Robert H. Mofiitt. [Robert H. Moffit, Hospital Steward, 9th O.V.C.]
I found him among the other wounded in an old cabin. He smiled and said he was not much hurt. I told him the war would soon be over and he would be safe in the hospital out of danger till the close, and we would go home together.
The wounded were placed in ambulances and sent to the infantry. Two days later I learned from the surgeon that his wound was not doing well, as signs of blood poisoning had appeared. I turned over the command to Lieutenant Colonel Stough, who commanded the regiment through South Carolina, and devoted myself to his care. I saw that his wound was carefully cared for and I held him in my arms for hours as the ambulance jolted over corduroy roads made by the pioneer corps, through the swamp lands of South Carolina. During this time blood poisoning had fully developed and the adjutant was plainly growing weaker. After traveling in this way for one hundred and seventy-five miles with the infantry we reached the town of Cheraw where the army was crossing the Pedee River on a pontoon into North Carolina. This took most of a day. During this time I held the adjutant in my arms. In the afternoon he looked up at me and smiled faintly and I saw he was dying.
I had a box made and a grave dug in the town cemetery, and when all was over I washed his face and hands and wrapped him in his blanket like a soldier.
We buried him at midnight by the fierce light of a burning town. I noticed General Sherman pass by with a column of his infantry as we filled the grave, and I heard a soldier say, "They are planting another one.''
I left him in his grave and rode with my orderly twelve miles up the river in a dark night through a drizzling rain to find our regiment, which had crossed on a pontoon into North Carolina in advance of a column of infantry which was crossing when we arrived. Here we had to wait in the rain an hour before we could reach the pontoon. But after crossing we could not track our regiment in the dark. We tied our horses to a tree and lay down at the roots until daylight. In the morning we found our regiment. The boys looked at me in silence as I with a heavy heart rode along the moving column, and I heard them whispering to each other as we passed. "The adjutant is dead."
I have been thus minute in my account of the death and loss to the regiment of that dear young officer, for he was loved and trusted as one of the kindest and bravest officers of the regiment. And as Sherman said of McPherson, "He fell like a gentleman, booted and spurred." A captain's commission had been issued to him on the day he was shot but he died without knowing it. His body was afterwards removed by the government and now lies in the National Cemetery at Florence, South Carolina.
HAMILTON, Arthur T. - 1st Lieutenant, Co. S, 9th OH Cavalry. Enlisted 1 Dec `62 at age 20. Commissioned 16 Jan `63 into Co. D as 2nd Lieut. Promoted to 1st Lieut. & Adjutant 16 Dec `63. Died 6 March 1865. Grave # 2964
Read the complete book here: https://archive.org/details/cu31924030913598
And, as I lived in Aiken, SC for some little while, I became interested in the Battle of Aiken [SC], which occurred in February, 1864, the last hurrah against Sherman before he defiled Columbia [SC].
Hamilton wrote a book, an excerpt of which follows dealing with the prelude to the battle:
Recollections of a Cavalryman of the Civil War After Fifty Years 1861 — 1865
BY
WILLIAM DOUGLAS HAMILTON
WILLIAM DOUGLAS HAMILTON
CAPTAIN OF INFANTRY, 1861-1862
MAJOR OF CAVALRY, 1862-1863
LIEUT-COLONEL OF CAVALRY, 1863
COLONEL OF CAVALRY, 1863-1865
BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL, 1865
MAJOR OF CAVALRY, 1862-1863
LIEUT-COLONEL OF CAVALRY, 1863
COLONEL OF CAVALRY, 1863-1865
BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL, 1865
Next morning and for three days the whole cavalry command continued the work of railroad destruction, and on February 10th, we camped about five miles east of the town of Aiken which since then has become a popular winter resort.
In that engagement our regiment suffered one of its most severe losses. My cousin, Adjutant Arthur T. Hamilton, while riding his horse on the railroad bed, directing some of the men, was struck by a ball that went through his leg near the knee joint, killing his horse. He was taken up with his saddle and bridle, by hospital steward Robert H. Mofiitt. [Robert H. Moffit, Hospital Steward, 9th O.V.C.]
I found him among the other wounded in an old cabin. He smiled and said he was not much hurt. I told him the war would soon be over and he would be safe in the hospital out of danger till the close, and we would go home together.
The wounded were placed in ambulances and sent to the infantry. Two days later I learned from the surgeon that his wound was not doing well, as signs of blood poisoning had appeared. I turned over the command to Lieutenant Colonel Stough, who commanded the regiment through South Carolina, and devoted myself to his care. I saw that his wound was carefully cared for and I held him in my arms for hours as the ambulance jolted over corduroy roads made by the pioneer corps, through the swamp lands of South Carolina. During this time blood poisoning had fully developed and the adjutant was plainly growing weaker. After traveling in this way for one hundred and seventy-five miles with the infantry we reached the town of Cheraw where the army was crossing the Pedee River on a pontoon into North Carolina. This took most of a day. During this time I held the adjutant in my arms. In the afternoon he looked up at me and smiled faintly and I saw he was dying.
I had a box made and a grave dug in the town cemetery, and when all was over I washed his face and hands and wrapped him in his blanket like a soldier.
We buried him at midnight by the fierce light of a burning town. I noticed General Sherman pass by with a column of his infantry as we filled the grave, and I heard a soldier say, "They are planting another one.''
I left him in his grave and rode with my orderly twelve miles up the river in a dark night through a drizzling rain to find our regiment, which had crossed on a pontoon into North Carolina in advance of a column of infantry which was crossing when we arrived. Here we had to wait in the rain an hour before we could reach the pontoon. But after crossing we could not track our regiment in the dark. We tied our horses to a tree and lay down at the roots until daylight. In the morning we found our regiment. The boys looked at me in silence as I with a heavy heart rode along the moving column, and I heard them whispering to each other as we passed. "The adjutant is dead."
I have been thus minute in my account of the death and loss to the regiment of that dear young officer, for he was loved and trusted as one of the kindest and bravest officers of the regiment. And as Sherman said of McPherson, "He fell like a gentleman, booted and spurred." A captain's commission had been issued to him on the day he was shot but he died without knowing it. His body was afterwards removed by the government and now lies in the National Cemetery at Florence, South Carolina.
HAMILTON, Arthur T. - 1st Lieutenant, Co. S, 9th OH Cavalry. Enlisted 1 Dec `62 at age 20. Commissioned 16 Jan `63 into Co. D as 2nd Lieut. Promoted to 1st Lieut. & Adjutant 16 Dec `63. Died 6 March 1865. Grave # 2964
Read the complete book here: https://archive.org/details/cu31924030913598
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