Berry Benson's Civil War Book: Memoirs of a Confederate Scout and Sharpshooter

Preface

Preface BERRY GREENWOOD BENSON was born February 9, 1843, in Hamburg , South Carolina, just across the Savannah River from Augusta , Georgia, the oldest child of Abraham and Nancy Harmon Benson. He attended Mr. Griffin's school in Augusta until hewas seventeen and a half years old, at which time his father took him into a firm of cotton factors as assistant bookkeeper. But he was not to remain there long; before he was eighteen he had joined one of the companies of Minute Men being formed throughout South Carolina, his brother Blackwood, not yet sixteen, joining at the same time. On January 8, 1861, his company was mustered into service at Charleston, South Carolina. Thus Berry and Blackwoodserved in the Army of the Confederacy from the first shot at Sumter to the last at Appomattox, absent only when invalided home to recover from wounds, and in Berry's case during five months in Yankee prisons. They served inJackson's "footcavalry" until their beloved general's death, and later in the Battalion of Sharpshooters attached to Gen. Maxcy Gregg's 1st South Carolina Volunteers, which became General McGowan's Brigade after General Gregg was killed. Both brothers were soon non-commissioned officers, and before the war was over Berry was several times in command of his company. While holding a high score as a marksman, Berry was soon singled out for scouting, awork which he loved, and for which he was peculiarly fitted. It was on an expedition behind the enemy lines to get information wanted by General Lee that he was captured Iv Lv PREFACE and confined in Point Lookout Prison, where he remained only two days before making his escape and setting out to re-join Lee's army. He got backinto Virginia by swimming the Potomac below Washington, but wasre-captured near Washington, and confined first in the Old Capitol Prison, then sent to Elmira, New York. Searching around immediately for possibilities of escape, he soon became a ringleader in the group of ten men who made the only successful tunnel escape in Elmira's history—though a number of other tunnels were started. Making his way back through three states, Berry rejoined the Sharpshooters in defense of Petersburg, and was in the battered remnants of Lee's Army in the final retreat to Appomattox. But neither Berrynor Blackwood would accept defeat. Learning of the impending surrender, they told a few friends, including General McGowan, that they were going to join General Johnston in North Carolina. Then they stole through the enemy pickets, and set off for North Carolina, where they found General Johnston on the point of surrender. So, still bearing the rifles which to this day have never been surrendered, the boys headed for their home in Augusta, Georgia. After the war, Berry taught school for a while, later becoming a public accountant. Always good at mathematics, he invented an improved system of bookkeeping, which becamewidelyused until it was supplanted by machines. On February 6, 1868, he married Jeanie Oliver of Augusta, daughter of Major Stephen Oliver, C.S.A. To them were born two sons and four daughters. During the war, Berry and Blackwood both kept diaries, but when Berry was captured the section which he had in his pocket was taken from him. Thirteen years after the war, Berryassembled what was left of his own diary, borrowed the part of Blackwood's covering the missing section of his own, and, farther aided by letters carefully preserved by the family, wrote these reminiscences, intended as a record for his descendants. With this object in view, he included much that was primarily of family interest, the narrative sometimes following a wandering course, as one thing suggested another. My editorial task has been mainly one of eliminating material not directly concerned with his war experiences. Except for some PREFACE Ivii necessary transitions and summaries to cover omissions, I am proud to have Berry Benson tell his own story in his own words. In addition to his memoirs, Berry Benson wrote many articles for newspapers, and he contributed achapter to ahistory of Elmira Prison. He also wrote on philosophical subjects for the old Outlook and for Century Magazine. It turned out that Blackwood also developed a flair for writing. He published three historical novels on the Civil War before settling down to a successful business career first in Atlanta, then in Austin, Texas. When a Confederate...