Gen. Barnard Elliott Bee, who fell, leading in the final and triumphant charge of the Confederates, was a South Carolinian. Col. C. H. Stevens, a volunteer on his staff, his near kinsman, and the distinguished author of the iron battery at Sumter, was severely wounded. Lieut.-Col. B. J. Johnson, who fell in the first position taken by the Hampton legion, was a distinguished and patriotic son of the State, and Lieut. O. R. Horton, of the Fourth, who was killed in front of his company, had been prominent in the battle of the early morning. At Manassas, South Carolina was well represented by her faithful sons, who willingly offered their lives in defense of her principles and her honor. The blood she shed on that ever-memorable field was but the token of the great offering with which it was yet to be stained by the sacrifices of more than a thousand of her noblest sons.
The battle of Manassas fought and won, and trophies of the Confederate victory gathered from the plateau of the great strife, and from the line of the Union army's retreat, the South Carolina troops with General Beauregard's command were put into two brigades, Bonham's, the First, and D. R. Jones', the Third. The Second, Third, Seventh and Eighth regiments made up General Bonham's brigade; the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Ninth, General Jones' brigade. Gregg's First regiment was at Norfolk, and Hampton's legion was not brigaded. Headquarters were established at Fairfax Court House, and the Confederate line ran from Springfield on the Orange & Alexandria railroad to Little Falls above Georgetown. No event of great importance occurred in which the troops of South Carolina took part, in Virginia, during the remainder of the summer.
AFFAIRS ON THE COAST--LOSS OF PORT ROYAL HARBOR--GEN. R. E. LEE IN COMMAND OF THE DEPARTMENT--LANDING OF FEDERALS AT PORT ROYAL FERRY--GALLANT FIGHT ON EDISTO ISLAND--GENERAL PEMBERTON SUCCEEDS LEE IN COMMAND--DEFENSIVE LINE, APRIL, 1862.
Throughout the summer of 1861, in Charleston and along the coast of South Carolina, all was activity in the work of preparation and defense. On August 21st, Brig.-Gen. R. S. Ripley, whose promotion to that rank had been applauded by the soldiers and citizens of the State, was assigned to the "department of South Carolina and the coast defenses of that State." On assuming command, General Ripley found the governor and people fully alive to the seriousness of the situation, and everything being done which the limited resources of the State permitted, to erect fortifications and batteries on the coast, and to arm and equip troops for State and Confederate service.