Stephen Elliott, Jr. | |
---|---|
Born | October 26, 1830 Beaufort, South Carolina |
Died | February 21, 1866 Aiken, South Carolina |
(aged 35)
Buried at | Beaufort, South Carolina |
Allegiance | Confederate States of America |
Service/branch | Confederate States Army |
Years of service | 1861–1865 (CSA) |
Rank | Brigadier General (CSA) |
Unit | Holcombe's Legion Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia |
Battles/wars | American Civil War Battle of Port Royal Battle of the Wilderness Siege of Petersburg Battle of the Crater Battle of Bentonville |
Other work | State legislator |
Stephen Elliott, Jr. (October 26, 1830 – February 21, 1866), was a Confederate States Army brigadier general during the American Civil War. He was a planter, state legislator in South Carolina and militia officer before the Civil War and a fisherman after the war.[1] Elliott again was elected to the state legislature after the war but was unable to serve due to his early death.[2]
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Stephen Elliott, Jr. was born on October 26, 1830[3] in Beaufort, South Carolina.[1][2][4][5] He was the eldest son of Rev. Stephen Elliott[6] and Ann Hutson Habersham. Rev. Elliott was a large plantation owner as well as a preacher to the Black people of the area.[7]
After studying at Harvard College for a time, he graduated from South Carolina College in 1850.[2][8] He became a planter on Parris Island, South Carolina.[2] Elliott also served in the South Carolina legislature.[1][8] He was captain of the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery, a militia company.[1][2][3][8] Elliott also was known for his skill as a yachtsman and a fisherman.[1][2][8] In 1854, he married Charlotte Stuart.[9]
Elliott served in the Confederate States Army within South Carolina from the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 until the spring of 1864, advancing from captain to colonel.[2] In order to participate in the bombardment of Fort Sumter, he attached himself to a different unit than his Beaufort Volunteer Artillery company.[3] The Beaufort Artillery company became an infantry company, so Elliott started his official Confederate Army service as a captain in the 11th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment.[5] He participated in the defense of Port Royal, South Carolina.[2] He was wounded in the leg at an engagement at Fort Beauregard, South Carolina on November 7, 1861.[1] In August 1862, he was appointed Chief of Artillery for the 3rd military district of South Carolina.[4] He also made some raids against Union targets after the Union Army captured the South Carolina coastal islands, including making attacks with torpedoes.[3] On April 9, 1863, his raiders sank the steamer George Washington.[3] In 1863, he became major and then lieutenant colonel of artillery.[1] For a time in late 1863, he commanded the Confederate force at Fort Sumter, where he received a head wound during the bombardment of Charleston by Union forces on December 11, 1863.[1][3][4]
In the spring of 1864, Elliott was in command of Holcombe's Legion.[5] At that time, he was ordered to Petersburg, Virginia with his regiment.[2][3] He took command of Brigadier General Nathan G. Evans' old brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia.[2] He commanded his brigade at the Battle of the Wilderness.[4] On May 24, 1864, Elliott was promoted to brigadier general.[2][4][5] On June 16, 1864, Elliott's brigade counterattacked after a Union Army assault took some advanced Confederate trenches in the Petersburg defenses, establishing a salient in the Confederate line.[10] On July 30, 1864, Elliott's brigade was defending the Confederate line at Elliott's Salient near the spot the Union Army's mine blew, which precipitated the Battle of the Crater.[8] Elliott's brigade had nearly 700 soldiers killed or wounded in the explosion and ensuing battle.[3][11] Elliott was asleep in a "bombproof" near the line and awakened to find the destruction and chaos surrounding him.[12] Finding no troops nearby since he was close to the site of the explosion, he went to find his remaining men and organize a counterattack in line with a previous plan to deal with such a mine attack.[13] After finding two of his regiments mainly intact, Elliott led them forward, positioning them to defend against an assault and to counterattack.[13] He then impatiently jumped on the parapet to lead his men in the attack.[13] At this moment, Elliott was seriously wounded in the chest and left arm.[1]
After several months recovering from his wounds, which in fact had not healed properly,[14] Elliott joined General Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee in North Carolina, where he led a brigade of former Charleston defenders and largely untested soldiers.[1][5][15] From January 2, 1865 through March 1865, the brigade was in Taliaffero's division of Hardee's corps.[1][2][5] For the few remaining weeks of the war, the brigade was in Anderson's division of Stewart's corps.[1][5]
At the Battle of Bentonville on March 19, 1865, Elliott ordered his brigade to charge the Union left flank when he found that his line overlapped the Union line.[14] The Union skirmish line was surprised and put to flight.[14] The brigade's success did not last as they were broken and sent into retreat when they charged the strong Union main line, which was supported by artillery.[16] At the point where the Confederate retreat halted, in the middle of an artillery barrage, Elliott tried to reform his brigade for another assault, despite receiving a piece of shrapnel in his leg.[17] In the event, Confederate commanders saw that the brigade was too shaken to make another attack and they were ordered simply to kneel or lie down and hold their ground.[18] Elliott had again received another serious wound.[1][2][5] His brigade surrendered with Johnston's army at Bennett Place near Durham Station, North Carolina.[5][19] Elliott had been sent home to convalesce from his latest wound before Johnston's surrender.[20] Although the Eichers found no record of his parole or pardon,[1] in his 1866 eulogy, Trescot noted that he had received a special Executive pardon at the request of Union General Quincy Gillmore, commanding at Hilton Head Island near Elliott's hut..[2][21]
After the Civil War, Elliott found that his plantation property had been seized for nonpayment of taxes and distributed to his former slaves.[22] They treated him well upon his return but it made it clear that the land no longer belonged to him.[22] Thereafter, he returned to a home in Charleston and a former fishing hut at the seashore, began to make a living as a fisherman and was again elected to the South Carolina legislature.[1][2][21] However, he was completely debilitated by his wounds and exposure and died before taking office on February 21, 1866,[1][4][23] at Aiken, South Carolina.[2][5] He was buried in St. Helena's Episcopal Churchyard at Beaufort, South Carolina.[1][2]