Girden Clark Rathburn (Rathbone, Rathbun) above

The son of Lucy Austin Rathbone and Ebenezer Rathbone (13th Michigan)

Grew up in Thornapple (Middleville), Michigan.

He was 18 years old when he enlisted on 9/7/1861 at Thornapple, Michigan as a Private.

On 9/23/1861 he mustered into "F" Co. MI 8th Infantry

He was Killed on 6/16/1862 at the Battle of Secessionville, SC (Official Story Below)

Union Invasion of James Island

Notwithstanding this failure to cut the Charleston and Savannah line, the main expedition to James Island was not relinquished, and General Stevens steamed out of Port Royal Harbor on the morning of June 2nd, and in the evening entered the Stono River and, at the direction of General Benham, landed his command at Battery Island.

Here they were secure under the guns of the fleet in the Stono.

By June 5th another division, under Gen. H. G. Wright, having marched across Seabrook and Johns islands from North Edisto, had crossed the stono from Legareville to Grimball's on James Island.

These two divisions constituted the force of General Benham - that of Wright covering his left on the Stono and that of Stevens his right, immediately in front of Secessionville.

The gunboats in the Stono. firing by signals from the Federal camps and advance pickets, enfiladed their front and afforded effective support.

Confederate Defense at Secessionville

Secessionville is situated on a peninsula cut from the east side of James Island by an arm of Lighthouse Creek, a bold tidewater stream which empties into Charleston Harbor east of Fort Johnson. Various small engagements and general reconnaissance, from June 3rd to the middle of the month, had enabled the Confederates to fully develop the position and force of the Federal Army on James Island.

In these preliminary movements, Lieutenant Colonel Ellison Capers, of the Twenty-fourth South Carolina Volunteers, was prominent.

Although it is now known that the Federals and Confederates each overestimated the other's strength, by June 15th General Pemberton had gathered a force fully equal to that of the Union army behind the batteries, and on the lines of defense from Fort Pemberton on the Stono, at Elliott's cut, to Secessionville, on the extreme east.

They were commanded by Brigadier Generals’ N. G. Evans, W. D. Smith and S. R. Gist, the former in chief command.

Colonel Johnson Hagood, First Volunteers, commanded the advance guard, composed of his own regiment; the Twenty-fourth, Colonel C. H. Stevens; the Eutaw battalion, Lieutenant Colonel C. H. Simonton, and the Fourth Louisiana battalion, Lieutenant Colonel J. McEnery.

This force was camped outside the line of defense and was charged with guarding the front of the Confederate line, except the immediate front of Secessionville, which was protected by its own outposts.

Colonel T. G. Lamar was in command of the fort at Secessionville (afterward called Fort Lamar in his honor) and its infantry supports.

The garrison consisted of Companies I and B, of Lamar's regiment of South Carolina artillery, and the infantry support, the Charleston battalion, Lieutenant Colonel P. C. Gaillard and the Pee Dee battalion, Lieutenant Colonel A. D. Smith.

The battery mounted an 8-inch Columbiad, two 24-pounder rifles, several 18-pounders and a mortar.

A gunboat battery on the east bank, anchored in Big Folly Creek and commanded by Captain F. N. Bonneau, would have been an effective ally, had not its guns been just moved ashore to be added to those of the fort.

Battle Of Secessionville

The battle of Secessionville opened early in the morning of June 16th.

The pickets were on duty at Rivers's place, a mile in front of the fort, and the Twenty-fourth, with portions of the First South Carolina and Forty-seventh Georgia, was covering the east lines, under command of Colonel C. H. Stevens.

In the fort a gun detachment was on the watch, but the remainder of the garrison was fast asleep.

At dawn the main picket force was surprised by the attacking Federals and gave notice of the approaching attack to Colonel Lamar, the fort commander.

The six Union regiments which moved forward to the assault, under general command of Gen. I. I. Stevens, were the Eighth Michigan, Seventh Connecticut, Seventy-ninth New York, Twenty-eighth Massachusetts, One Hundredth Pennsylvania and Forty-sixth New York.

Each regiment was commanded by its senior colonel.

The assaulting force advanced in two lines.

The peninsula narrowed, so that when within short range of the works the last regiment (the Connecticut) was crowded into the marsh.

At this point in the forward movement, when there was some confusion, the guns of the fort belched forth - the columbiad charged with canister, the mortar and the 24's and 18's. But the Union officers urged on their commands and a considerable number of the officers and men of the Michigan and New York regiments gained the ditch and both flanks of the work, a few of them even entering the fort.

These were met by the galling fire of the Charleston and Pee Dee infantry battalions, under Lieutenant Colonels. P. C. Gaillard and A. D. Smith, and were either killed, wounded or captured.

Meanwhile, 100 men under Capt. Joshua Jamison, who had been sent to the fort to mount Bonneau's guns, had arrived and promptly took their places on the parapet, adding their rifles to the fire of the Charleston and Pee Dee battalions.

A number of the assaulting force, moving along the marsh under cover of a fringe of myrtle bushes, gained a lodgment on the right flank and in the rear of the work, and were doing serious execution by their fire, hidden as they were by the bank of the peninsula.

But they were soon dislodged by the rifles of the Fourth Louisiana battalion, sent by Colonel Hagood to reinforce the garrison as soon as he learned that the fort had been attacked.

The Louisianians, coming up at a run, were promptly put into position by their commander, Colonel McEnery, and drove the Federals from cover into the marsh or open field.

Up to that moment, two 24 pounders on the west flank of the fort and commanding the marsh had been silent.

That fact was noted by Colonel Hagood, who had moved down the Battery Island road to check the advance from that point and protect the right front of the fort.

He therefore dispatched Lieutenant Colonel Ellison Capers to get the guns into action, which was done so promptly and effectively that the Federals had no chance to reform their lines for a frontal assault.

No further attempt was made against the Secessionville line, the Federal forces under Brigadier-General Wright, consisting of forty companies of infantry, two batteries of artillery, and a squadron of cavalry, designed as a supporting column of the regiments assaulting the fort, having been driven down the Battery Island road by Colonel Hagood, also retired to their intrenched positions.

McEnery's Louisiana troops assisted in this movement, which relieved the fort of any immediate danger, and won for the Confederates the battle of Secessionville.

For the time being, Charleston itself was safe from Union assault.

From The Federal Point of View

Any unprejudiced reader of the life of General I. I. Stevens must sympathize with that gallant soldier.

The reports of what occurred in the conference before the battle are so conflicting that it is impossible to reconcile them.

It is clear, however, that General Stevens strongly objected to the time of making it.

He was designated to make the assault, and he preferred to make it in the light of day that his men might see where they were required to go.

He wanted "a continuous fire of the battery and of our gun boats."

General Wright also emphatically protested so long as he could against General Benham's plan.

It was the Seventh Connecticut which was crowded into the marsh, as noted, and Colonel J. R. Hawley, commanding that regiment, describes the crisis in the engagement from the Union standpoint, when the disorganized ranks staggered under the terrific fire of grape and musketry delivered from the fort artillery.

"The line was inevitably broken," he says, "and though the men stood bravely to their work the line could not be reformed until the colors were brought into the open field.

When reformed, it started again under a heavy fire toward the earthwork, but had proceeded but a little distance when an order came from General Stevens, brought by his son who was then receiving his baptism of fire, to call the men off, and the regiment fell back to the cover of the hedge in front of their hospital.

The Twenty-eighth Massachusetts had been unavoidably pushed far to the left and as soon as it was formed into line, advancing, one regiment that was in front fell back and broke through our regiment, throwing it into confusion.

"Forward again," he continued, "marched by the flank through a dense brush on our left and followed the edge of the woods which formed one side of a marsh to within forty yards of the enemy's work.

On our right was an abattis of dense brush and on our left and front, marsh.

Here we lost many of the men who were killed and wounded in the regiment.

Seeing that we could be of no possible use in this place with less than platoon front to retaliate by fire on the enemy, and this position being raked by the fire of the gun on the corner of the enemy's work nearest the observatory, I ordered the regiment to retire and it, too, found shelter behind the hedge."

While the First Brigade of the Union forces was thus being cut up, the Seventy-ninth New York Highlanders, leading the Second brigade, was ordered by General Stevens to the right, in order to assail the work a little to the right of the point from which the Eighth Michigan had been driven.

Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison, who led the right wing of his regiment to the parapet, says: "As I mounted the parapet, I received a wound in the head, which, though slight, stunned me for the time being; but still I was able to retain command.

With me many mounted the works, but only to fall or to receive their wounds from the enemy, posted in rifle pits in the rear of the fort.

From the ramparts I had a full view of their works.

They were entrenched in a position well selected for defensive purposes and upon which our artillery seemed to have little effect, save driving them into their retreats, and in attempting to dislodge them we were met with a fierce and determined opposition, but with equal, if not superior determination and courage, were they met by our forces, and had I been supported could have carried their works for we virtually had them in our possession.

"After remaining in this position some considerable time and not being supported by the other regiments, I received orders to fall back, which I did in good order, leaving behind about forty killed or badly wounded, many of whom fell on the ramparts, and brought back with me six killed and about sixty wounded.

The right companies of the regiment - the left having encountered a perfect storm of grape and canister - were obliged to seek shelter, either by obliquing to the left under cover of a small ravine, or by dropping among the cotton ridges in front of the fort, where they kept up a steady fire on the enemy's gunners."

Colonel Leasure, who commanded the Second Brigade, which was also repulsed from the works, led the assault in person, and describes the advance to the works.

When about 300 yards from the Confederate works, he reached the storm of shell and fire.

"We entered," he says, "the range of a perfect storm of grape, canister, nails, broken glass and pieces of chains, fired from three very large pieces on the fort, which completely swept every foot of ground within the range, and either cut the men down or drove them to the shelter of the ravine on the left.

I now turned to look after and lead up the One Hundredth Pennsylvania Regiment and found its center just entering the fatal line of fire, which completely cut it in two, and the right under Major Lecky obliqued to the right and advanced to support the right of the Seventy-ninth New York.

Many of the men reached the foot of the embankment and some succeeded in mounting it, with a few brave men of the Seventy-ninth who were there with a portion of the Eighth Michigan.

""I may be permitted to report further that at the time I arrived in front of the hedge near the fort I saw nothing of any part of the supporting regiments of the First Brigade, and between the advancing Highlanders and the fort only a portion of the Eighth Michigan, who led the attack in front of the fort, that regiment having already been decimated by the murderous fire through which we all had to pass.

"While the Forty-sixth New York was advancing to the attack, it was run into by parts of the Seventh Connecticut and Twenty-eighth Massachusetts, which were retreating, and swept along with them in their retreat a part of the Forty-sixth New York.

"During all this time, our own artillery fired over our heads from enormous distances and burst several shells right over our heads.

The fire of our gunboats was also very disagreeable until they finally succeeded in getting a better range."

The repulse of the Second Brigade was accomplished in a very few minutes, or, as reported by General Stevens: "My men were at the enemy's works about 4:30 o'clock and the conflict of twenty-five minutes, so dreadful in its casualties, was over and the men returned."

Comparative Forces-and Losses

The Federal force assaulting the fort before Secessionville according to General I. I. Stevens, numbered 2,960 and Wright's column was fully 2,500 strong.

The fort was defended by a Confederate force of less than 1,000 men, comprising two companies of artillery, three battalions of infantry and the 100 picked men under Captain Jamison.

Colonel Hagood's support did not exceed 700 men, with one piece of artillery.

As was usual in the first engagements of the war, there was a divergence of reports as to the comparative losses sustained.

Generals Stevens and Wright reported losses of dead, wounded and missing aggregating 658.

Colonel Hagood claimed that he had buried on the field more than the number reported as dead by the Federal commanders, and General Capers computed that the total Federal loss could not have been less than 750 or 800.

Gen. Samuel Jones fixes the aggregate Federal loss at 683.

The bulk of the casualties—fully one-third—fell on the Eighth Michigan Regiment.

Confederate Dead and Wounded

The Confederates lost in dead, wounded and missing, 204 officers and men.

Among the dead were Capt. Henry C. King and Lieutenant John J. Edwards, of the Charleston battalion; Capt. Samuel J. Reed, of Lamar's artillery; Lieutenant Richard W. Greer, of the Eutaw battalion, and Lieutenant B. A. Graham, of the Forty-seventh Georgia.

Colonel Lamar and Lieutenant-Colonel Gaillard were severely wounded.

Among the wounded were Captain Walker, of the Fourth Louisiana; Captains’ J. A. Blake, F. T. Miles and R. P. Smith, and Lieutenants J. W. Axson, George Brown, John Burke and F. R. Lynch, of the Charleston battalion; Lieutenant J. G. Beatty, of the Pee Dee battalion; Lieutenant F. W. Andrews, of the Twenty-fourth, and Lieutenant Samuel J. Berger, of the Eutaw battalion.

Hunter and Benham

The complete failure of the assault on the Secessionville line and therefore of the occupation of James Island by the Federals, induced General Hunter, then at Hilton Head, to relieve General Benham, who had been in active command of the operations, and order him to Washington under arrest.

Benham was charged with disobedience of orders and instructions in making the assault and General Wright succeeded him in command.

Benham's appointment as brigadier-general was revoked by President Lincoln; but, says Hazard Stevens, "later, by unwearied importunity and the pressure of influence, he managed to get himself reinstated, but never again was he trusted with the lives of brave men.

General Stevens was transferred to Virginia, there to meet death a few weeks later, with the regimental colors in his hand, as he led his faithful Highlanders in the battle of Chantilly.

As early as June 11th he had apparently estimated his two military superiors at their true value, in a letter to his wife in which he says: "I have two commanders, Hunter and Benham, who are imbecile, vacillating, and utterly unfit to command.

Benham is an ass - a dreadful man, of no earthly use except as a nuisance and obstruction."

James Island Evacuated by Federals

The Union army evacuated James Island the last of June, 1862, and General Hunter reassembled the main portion of his troops at Hilton Head, Beaufort and North Edisto.

The troops which had reinforced the command of General Gist on the Island were returned to their former stations on the Carolina coast and at Savannah.

The fleet of the Expeditionary Corps was represented by the gunboats in the lower Stono and the fleet which still lay off Charleston bar.

The defenders of Secessionville had saved the situation for South Carolina, Charleston and a large section of the Confederate States; and they were, accordingly, the heroes of the hour.

The Confederates were left undisturbed to complete the strong line of earthworks on James Island from Fort Johnson, on the harbor, to Battery Pringle on the Stono, which were never captured.