|
William McBride Chisolm is my great grandfather. He was born in the old Beaufort District of South Carolina in the area that would later become Hampton County. He was born on the 28th of July 1845, the second of five children born to Sarah Elizabeth Youmans and James Chisolm, Jr. The Chisolms were small farmers in the Beech Branch Community. The name was originally spelled Chisholm with 2 hs. The Chisholms had been a prominent clan in the Highlands of Scotland. William’s grandfather came to South Carolina in the 1700s. The name was later shortened to Chisolm, with one h, so that it was more likely to be pronounced correctly by their English neighbors.
William was only 15 years old when South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860. His older brother Virgil Andrew Chisholm enlisted in the Confederate Army on 4 April 1862. Still only 17 years old, William remained at home to help his family
On 25 July 1863, William McBride Chisolm, just three days short of his 18th birthday, went to Hardeeville, S.C. where he enlisted as a private in Company F, 3rd South Carolina Cavalry. He was enrolled at Camp Allen "for the war" by Capt. Henry C. Smart. He now joined his brother Virgil who was also a private in this unit. Records indicate that both brothers had previously been members of the 1st South Carolina Mounted Militia.
The 3rd South Carolina Cavalry served in various Military Districts of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, much of the time in defense of the vital Charleston and Savannah Railroad. The regiment was composed of ten companies under the command of Colonel Charles Jones Colcock. The ten companies were never all together in one place but served in various combinations throughout the Department. They could be more properly described as mounted infantry as the unit fought dismounted, using their horses primarily to get from place to place.
By the time of William’s enlistment, brother Virgil had participated in many engagements including engagements on John’s Island, James’ Island, the Battle of Secessionville and the skirmishing at Pocotaligo, S.C. After this time the brothers fought together in the Charleston area on James’ Island, at Grimball’s Landing, on John’s Island, Spring Island and against the Federal expedition from Beaufort to James’ Island
In late June 1864 Company F was sent to the coast of Georgia south of Savannah to guard against Federal deprivations up the rivers from the coast. On 17 August 1864 the unit was overwhelmed by Federal troops along the South Newport River near Darien, Ga. All but a handful of the men were killed, wounded or captured. Virgil Chisholm was among those who escaped and he returned to South Carolina to fight the remainder of the war with the 3rd Cavalry. William McBride Chisolm was among those captured. A Georgia state historical marker along U.S. Highway 17 at South Newport marks the site and describes the battle fought there.
William McBride Chisolm was sent to Philadelphia, probably by way of the Union base on Hilton Head Island, S.C. He appears on a "descriptive list of Rebel prisoners of war transferred from Philadelphia to Fort Delaware, Del. on January 10, 1865, by order of the Military Commander." He appears on a Prisoner of War Register at Fort Delaware as being received there on January 12, 1865. He is listed as 5’ 10" in height with light complexion, light hair and blue eyes.
While William languished in a Federal prison, his brother Virgil was present during the Federal campaign against Savannah and the Confederate victory at Honey Hill, S.C. on November 30, 1864. The 3rd Cavalry was assigned to the Cavalry Corps, Army of Tennessee after the fall of Charleston and opposed Sherman in the Carolina’s Campaign climaxing with the Battle of Bentonville, N.C. on March 19-21, 1865 and the army’s ultimate surrender at Durham Station. Virgil was paroled at Augusta, Ga. on 26 May 1865.
William reluctantly signed an "Oath of Allegiance" and was released from Fort Delaware on 10 June 1865, ending his service. It is unknown how he returned home, but like most released Confederates he probably walked a great part of the 500 miles home.
William returned to the Beech Branch area of South Carolina and in 1866 he married Elsie Gifford Parnell. They had eight children of which the last three died at an early age. In 1882, apparently as a result of complications from the birth of a daughter, Elsie Gifford Chisolm passed away.
In about 1880 William married Amanda Fitts, my great grandmother. They would have four children of which three lived to adulthood. The oldest of these was my grandfather John Edwin Chisolm, born in 1882. The family were members of the Beech Branch Baptist Church of which William was elected a deacon in 1898.
At some point the family moved a few miles away to the town of Brunson which had grown up along the Charleston and Western Carolina Railroad. Here William was a deacon of the Brunson Baptist Church. In 1909 he was elected church treasurer. William was active in affairs of the United Confederate Veterans as evidenced by a photograph of veterans and their wives taken on the steps of the Brunson School in about 1910. This photograph was published in a nostalgia column of the "Hampton County Guardian" newspaper in 1994.
Virgil Andrew Chisholm was first married to Mary Fitts. Mary died during the war and sometime later Virgil married Julia Riley, the woman who had cared for Mary during her illness. A number of years after the war Virgil and Julia went to Florida and homesteaded in the Brooksville area north of Tampa. It is interesting to note that Virgil continued to spell his name Chisholm, with two h's, while the family in South Carolina had dropped the second h. Virgil died in 1904 and is buried at Brooksville, Florida beside his wife Julia who lived until 1935. They have many descendents in the Kissimmee, St. Cloud area of Florida.
There was a third, younger Chisolm brother. John James Chisolm is listed on the rolls of the South Carolina Home Guard and may have gone out to oppose Sherman at the age of only 13. He has a Confederate Iron Cross on his grave at Beech Branch Cemetery.
William McBride Chisolm died in Brunson on 13 February 1912 at the age of 66. He is buried in the Beech Branch Baptist Church Cemetery with both of his wives and his infant children at his side. A Confederate Iron Cross of Honor is beside his headstone. His second wife, Amanda, lived on until 23 September 1928, long enough to tell my father stories of Sherman’s march through South Carolina and of the wanton destruction perpetuated upon the civilian population who were at the mercy of the Federal army. William’s descendants are numerous throughout South Carolina with others in Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.
Whether living in South Carolina, Florida or elsewhere the descendents of the Chisolm brothers, are proud of their Confederate service and their love of God, home, family and our Southland.
|
