Captain James F. Culpepper and Culpepper's Battery

Source: The Hudsons in Culpeper’s Battery During America’s Civil War, by Alfred Bennie Hudson, Jr., 828 Macedonia Rd. Gaffney, SC 29341. E-mail: abhudson@bellsouth.net.

The unit known as "Culpepper’s Battery" was named for its commander, Captain James F. Culpepper, who was from Darlington, SC. Culpepper’s Battery was designated as "light artillery" and the unit was placed in various positions in defense of Charleston and the vicinity.

Confederate forces at Vicksburg, MS were facing a superior force under the command of federal General Ulysses S. Grant. Culpepper’s Battery and additional troops from South Carolina were selected to aid General Pemberton at Vicksburg. They departed Charleston on May 17, 1863 and traveled by railroad some 700 miles to Jackson, MS, arriving May 24th. On July 5, 1863, Culpepper’s Battery reached the Big Black River located 25 miles north of Jackson. There they learned that Vicksburg had surrendered to General U.S. Grant the day before on July 4th. With a large federal force approaching the Confederate troops, Culpepper’s Battery returned to Jackson and set up defenses for the city. After eight days of constant bombardment by General William T. Sherman’s federal artillery, the Confederate army, including Culpepper’s Battery, retreated to Brandon, MS.

As if the South wasn’t having enough problems with the enemy in the Mississippi, General Braxton Bragg’s Confederate Army of Tennessee had also been chased out of Chattanooga to Lafayette, Georgia by Union General William S. Rosecrans. Culpepper’s Battery having been attached to General Evander McNairs’ Brigade, was sent to support General Bragg at Ringgold, Georgia. Arriving in Ringgold on September 17^th, McNair was placed in General Bushrod Johnson’s Division and prepared to engage the enemy on the 18th, 19th and 20th for the confederacy’s greatest victory at the Battle of Chickamauga. At 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, September 20, 1863, Culpepper’s Battery and McNair’s Brigade under the command of General James S. Longstreet, initiated a massive assault that severed the center of the federal Army and forced General Rosecrans’ troops to retreat toward Chattanooga.

Culpepper’s Battery left the Chickamauga Battlefield on September 23^rd and reluctantly returned to Mississippi to confront General William T. Sherman’s army, which was at that time in route from Vicksburg to Jackson and Meridian, MS. While General Sherman’s troops were destroying the town of Meridian, Culpepper’s Battery was reassigned to Mobile, AL. After arriving in Mobile, Culpepper’s Battery patrolled with cavalry units confronting Union troops throughout 1864 and into early 1865.

In the final days of the war, Culpepper’s Battery was stationed at Fort Blakeley, AL., located in the upper eastern corner of Mobile Bay along the Blakeley and Tensaw Rivers. On April 9, 1865 at 5:30 p.m., 4,000 Confederate troops at Fort Blakeley surrendered to a Union force of 16,000 men. Three hours earlier Lee had surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox. Although the soldiers of Culpepper’s had surrendered, the Union army continued to fire upon them, consequently killing a few men in the Battery. Among those killed was their commander Lt. Joshua L. Moses of Sumter, SC. Lying mortally wounded, his last words were "For God’s sake, save my men they have surrendered". Confederate prisoners from Blakeley were loaded on cattle boats and taken from Mobile Bay to Ship Island, MS. in the Gulf of Mexico. After a few weeks, the imprisoned soldiers of Culpepper’s Battery were taken by cattle boat to New Orleans and from there up the Mississippi River to Vicksburg.

On May 9, 1865, the troops were paroled from the war at Camp Townsend near Vicksburg and began their long arduous journey home to South Carolina. They traveled mostly by foot. Upon their arrival, they witnessed the destruction of their state and hometowns. The families in Darlington had suffered tremendously and had lost nearly everything. Many decades would pass before the area would recover.

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James F. Culpepper, who was a physician according to the 1870 census, was the grandson of John 'the Baptist' Culpepper, the only Culpepper to serve in the U.S. Congress. James was born about 1833 and died sometime after the 1910 census. (Source: Lew Griffin)

Capt. James F. Culpepper's artillery battalion was the only unit of the Palmetto Battalion which left South Carolina.  Culpepper, an older officer was often absent and Joshua Moses was in command when his commander was absent. (Source: 3rd Palmetto Battalion, Light Artillery, Microfilm 267, Roll 81, South Carolina State Archives, Columbia, SC.  Provided to Culpepper Connections! by Thomas F. Moses)