Partial auction listing: According to the 1860 Census, Henry W. Yonce was born about 1843 in Edgefield, South Carolina, making him 18 at the time of his enlistment during the winter of 1861-62. Yonce is listed on the roster of Co. I., 24th South Carolina Infantry, part of the Charleston garrison, before transferring to the Army of Tennessee where it served in States Rights Gist’s Brigade from Chickamauga to Atlanta. Gist and over half the regiment became casualties at Franklin during Hood’s invasion leaving just a handful of 24th South Carolina men to surrender with Johnston in April 1865.
Brigadier-General States R. Gist was a descendant of that gallant Marylander, Gen. Mordecai Gist, who distinguished himself at the battle of Camden in 1780, and at the Combahee in 1782, and subsequently resided at Charleston, at his death leaving two sons who bore the names of Independent and States.
At the organization of the army of South Carolina early in 1861, States R. Gist was assigned to the position of adjutant and inspector general, in which capacity he rendered valuable service in the preparation for the occupation of Charleston harbor and the reduction of Fort Sumter.
He went to Virginia as a volunteer aide to General Bee, and at the critical moment in the first battle of Manassas, when Gen. J. E. Johnston rode to the front with the colors of the Fourth Alabama at his side, Beauregard relates that “noticing Col. S. R. Gist, an aide to General Bee, a young man whom I had known as adjutant-general of South Carolina, and whom I greatly esteemed, I presented him as an able and brave commander to the stricken regiment, who cheered their new leader, and maintained under him to the end of the day, their previous gallant behavior.”
Subsequently he resumed his duties as adjutant-general, organizing South Carolina troops for the war, until in March, 1862, he was commissioned brigadier-general in the Confederate service, and ordered to report to General Pemberton, then in command of the department. He was after this on duty on the South Carolina coast, in command east of James island in June, on that island from July; temporarily in command of the first district, and in December, 1862, in command of the troops ordered to the relief of Wilmington, until May, 1863, when he was ordered to take command of a brigade and go to the assistance of General Pemberton in Mississippi.
Reaching Jackson his command formed part of the troops under J. E. Johnston, took part in the engagement of May 14th at Jackson, marched to the Big Black river just before the surrender of Vicksburg, and then returning to Jackson was besieged by Sherman. His brigade comprised the Forty-sixth Georgia, Fourteenth Mississippi and Twenty- fourth South Carolina, the Sixteenth South Carolina soon afterward being substituted for the Mississippi regiment, and was assigned to the division of Gen. W. H. T. Walker.
He fought gallantly at Chickamauga, commanding during part of the battle Ector’s and Wilson’s brigades, his own brigade being led by Colonel Colquitt, and on Sunday commanding Walker’s division. At an important stage of the fight Gen. D. H. Hill called for Gist’s brigade for dangerous duty, in the performance of which it suffered severely.
He continued in conspicuous and valuable service; during the battle of Missionary Ridge commanded Walker’s division, and throughout the Atlanta campaign of 1864 was identified with that division. After the fall of General Walker he was transferred to Cheatham’s division, which he commanded for some time during the fall campaign of that year.
At the terribly destructive battle of Franklin, Tenn., he was one of the noblest of the brave men whose lives were sacrificed. Attended by Capt. H. D. Garden and Lieut. Frank Trenholm, of his staff, he rode down the front, and after ordering the charge and waving his hat to the Twenty-fourth, rode away in the smoke of battle, never more to be seen by the men he had commanded on so many fields. His horse was shot, and he was leading the right of the brigade on foot when he fell, pierced through the heart.
Source: Confederate Military History, vol. VI, p. 397
Here’s a list of Confederate Generals who were engaged at the Battle of Franklin, Nov 30, 1864.
John Adams
William B. Bate
William F. Brantley
John C. Brown
Abraham Buford
John C. Carter
James R. Chalmers
Patrick R. Cleburne
Francis Marion Cockrell
Zachariah Deas
Winfield Scott Featherston
Samuel G. French
States Rights Gist
George W. Gordon
Edward Johnson
Mark P. Lowrey
Hiram B. Granbury
S. D. Lee
John Bell Hood
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Henry Jackson
William Hicks Jackson
S. D. Lee
W. W. Loring
Mark P. Lowrey
Arthur C. Manigault
William Quarles
Daniel Reynolds
Thomas M. Scott
Claudius W. Sears
Jacob Sharp
Charles Shelley
Thomas Benton Smith
A. P. Stewart
Otho F. Strahl
Edward C. Walthall
The 24th South Carolina served with Gist’s Brigade, Brown’s Division at Franklin. 1st Lt. James A Tillman served as an officer for the 24th South Carolina.
The 24th also fought at Franklin with the 46th and 65th Georgia; the 2nd Georgia Sharpshooters Battalion, and the 16th South Carolina.
The 24th was part of the regiments who clashed with the Union Brigades of Opdycke and Strickland near the Carter House, on the west side of the Columbia Pike.
Fifteen of Tillman’s comrades are known to be buried at McGavock Cemetery.
Picture credit: The Arms and Equipment of the Confederacy (p. 169)
This is the overcoat worn by Col. Ellison Capers, of the 24th South Carolina, Gist’s Brigade, Brown’s Division. Fifteen (15) 24th SC boys are buried at McGavock Cemetery.
Picture credit: Arms and Equipment of the Confederacy (p. 150).
Regarding action Capers and the 24th saw at Franklin, Jacobson writes:
From the west side of the Columbia Turnpike, the sights of the artillery fire smashing into A.P. Stewart’s men was unforgettable. Everywhere the sights were incredible, almost breathtaking. Col. Ellison Capers was in the 24th South Carolina west of the pike and his regiment, part of States Rights Gist’s Brigade, was on John Brown’s left flank. Some distance in advance and to the left of the South Carolinians stood magnificent Everbright mansion, home to the widowed Rebecca Bostick. But it was what Col. Capers saw to his right that he never forgot. At Capers and his fellow Palmetto Staters began to crest the rising terrain around Privet Knob, the ground stretching from the Columbia Pike to the Lewisburg Pike opened up into view. Capers wrote that ‘we beheld the magnificent spectacle the battle-field presented – bands were playing, general and staff officers and gallant couriers were riding in front of and between the lines, 100 battle-flags were waving in the smoke of battle, and bursting shells were wreathing the air with great circles of smoke, while 20,000 brave men were marching in perfect order against the foe.'”
Jacobson, For Cause and For Country: p. 278-279.
The Battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864 