Item #45200 [Autograph Manuscript Signed] Confederate Military Report Submitted to Major John Jenkins, Regarding Union Transports Arriving Around Folly Island and Johns Island, in July 1863 [with] Report of Number of Companies Under the Command of John Jenkins, December 1863. Civil War. South Carolina. Confederacy, Paul J. Gervais, John Jenkins.
[Autograph Manuscript Signed] Confederate Military Report Submitted to Major John Jenkins, Regarding Union Transports Arriving Around Folly Island and Johns Island, in July 1863 [with] Report of Number of Companies Under the Command of John Jenkins, December 1863.

[Autograph Manuscript Signed] Confederate Military Report Submitted to Major John Jenkins, Regarding Union Transports Arriving Around Folly Island and Johns Island, in July 1863 [with] Report of Number of Companies Under the Command of John Jenkins, December 1863.

Camp Fripp, [Fripp Island]; Johns Island, [SC]: 1863. 2 blue sheets. 8x10 inches and 8 x 6 1/2 inches. Very good, extremities worn, torn along folds, few repairs, light soiling and ink bleed through. Item #45200

Johns Island, like its neighbors Folly Island and Edisto Island, was reinforced by several South Carolina cavalry units throughout the Civil War. Among the commanders stationed there were Captain John Legare Walpole, Captain Moses Benbow Humphrey, and Captain John Jenkins, who was promoted to Major in October of 1862, when he took command over all of Johns Island's regular forces (Johns Island Conservancy: The Battle of Haulover Cut).

The first of these documents is a July 19th 1863 report signed by Acting Adjutant, Paul J. Gervais, at Camp Fripp, by order of Captain Walpole, and submitted to Major John Jenkins. The report details the comings and goings of Union vessels along the surrounding rivers. "The report from the North Edisto is that there are Four Steamers and Two Schooners in the river. The report from Stono is that at 8 o'clock a black three masted transport came in loaded with troops and had them still on board at sunset." Gervais proceeds to give a detailed chronicle of ships arriving throughout the evening, including the transport Delaware, the McDonough, and a series of other unnamed schooners and gunboats. In his post script, Gervais notes that there is at least one Regiment at Folly Island.

The Union may have been sending these vessels to support the effort of their South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, as nearby Charleston Harbor was one of the only remaining ports that remained open at this time. It was during the summer of 1863, when the Union staged a successful seige of the port, in the Second Battle of Charleston Harbor.

The second document is an unsigned copy of a report, presumably from John Jenkins, from Johns Island, December 1863, which lists the companies under Jenkins' command. Jenkins reports "five companies, effective total 272 Mounted Riflemen."

Price: $650.00

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