Friends of Honey Hill

Friends of Honey Hill              All Rights Reserved     2016

Fought on November 30, 1864 as a “demonstration” to prevent Confederate reinforcements from reaching Savannah in time to bolster defenses there against Sherman’s impending attack, the Battle of Honey Hill was one of the last significant victories for the Confederacy in the war.  It was also the first time that African-American troops had comprised the majority of forces in an assault for the Union.  Had it not been for the deficiencies in direction provided by the Union high command, the valiant U.S. Colored Troop regiments well might have forced the Rebel troops from their fortifications  


Battle Overview


The Battle of Honey Hill was the third major battle during Sherman's March to the Sea, and was fought November 30, 1864, during the American Civil War. It did not involve Major General William T. Sherman's main force marching from Atlanta to Savannah, but was a failed Union Army expedition under MG John P. Hatch that attempted to cut the Charleston and Savannah Railroad in support of Sherman's projected arrival in Savannah.

Hatch's expeditionary force left Hilton Head, South Carolina, for Boyd’s Neck  (above  Beaufort on the Broad River) on November 28. It consisted of roughly 5,000 men — two brigades of the Coast Division of the Department of the South, one naval brigade, and portions of three batteries of light artillery. They steamed up the Broad River in transports to cut the Charleston and Savannah Railroad near Pocotaligo. Due to a heavy fog the troops were not disembarked from the transports until late the following afternoon, and Hatch immediately started forward to cut the railroad near Grahamville.

The expedition maps and hastily secured local guides proved worthless, however, and Hatch was unable to proceed on the right road until the morning of November 30. At Honey Hill, a few miles from the town of Grahamville, Hatch’s men encountered a Confederate force of regulars and militia, under CSA Cavalry COL Charles J. Colcock, recently reinforced by GA militia under General Gustavus Smith, with a battery of seven guns deployed across the avenue of approach. Determined and valiant attacks were launched repeatedly by U.S. Colored Troops (including the 54th Massachusetts), but the position of the Federal force was such that only one section of its artillery could be used at a time. With the assaults ending as piecemeal forays, the Confederates proved too well entrenched to be dislodged.

Fighting kept up until dark when Hatch, realizing the impossibility of successfully attacking or turning the flank of the enemy, withdrew to his transports at Boyd’s Neck having lost 735 men. The Confederate casualties amounted to 47. Union Captains  George E. Gouraud and Thomas F. Ellsworth as well as First LT Orson W. Bennett were awarded the Medal of Honor. In 2001 another medal was awarded posthumously to then Corporal Andrew J. Smith.

The battle was one of the last major Confederate victories in the Civil War, and the battlefield is now within the town limits of Ridgeland and will be preserved as an historical site.


The Battle of Honey Hill