Company I of the 25th Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers was originally made up of the Clarendon Guard when they were mustered into the Confederate Army. The Clarendon Guard volunteered its services to the state prior to the outbreak of the War but was not accepted until later. Some of the members (who are not listed here) joined Hampton's Legion. The Clarendon Guard was organized in November of 1861, in the service of the State of South Carolina, and mustered into Confederate Service on 1 January 1862 as Captain E. N. Plowden's Company C, 21st Regiment, South Carolina. Volunteer E. N. Plowden had been reelected Captain on 1 January 1862; he resigned 1 May 1862 and was succeeded by Captain Butler. After the unit was accepted into service on 1 January 1862 , it served steadfastly until the end of the war. The unit was last shown as Company C, 21st Regiment, in the Monthly Report for 30 June 1862.

Also known as the Eutaw Regiment, the Twenty-Fifth was organized during the winter of 1861-1862 with men from the 11th Battalion who were from Charleston and with men such as the Clarendon Guard who were from the middle region of the state of South Carolina. Under the command of General Johnson Hagood in September, 1863 the 25th Regiment was deployed in the defense of Charleston for much of the war. The 25th Regiment was mustered into Confederate service on 22 July 1862.

Hagood's Brigade served on the islands adjacent to Charleston until May of 1864. They were stationed at Camp Pemberton on James Island and rotated with other units to Fort Sumter, Fort Johnson, Fort Lamar at Successionville, Wagner Battery and Gregg Battery on Morris Island. The regiment lost 4 killed and 14 wounded at Secessionville, and there were 16 killed, 124 wounded and 3 missing on Morris Island from July 10 to September 6, 1863. At this time the regiment contained 36 officers and 491 men. Some of the members of the 25th Regiment were captured on 7 September 1863 at the fall of Battery Wagner(Fort Wagner).

Upon being sent to Virginia during the spring of 1864 following the Charleston campaign the regiment numbered 764 men. The 25th Regiment played a major role in the defense of Petersburg, including the battles of Drewry's Bluff, the Bermuda Hundreds, Cold Harbor, Walthall Junction, The Battle of the Crater, and the Battle of Weldon Railroad. At Weldon Railroad there were 2 killed, 29 wounded, and 70 missing. After the disaster at Weldon Railroad on 21 August 1864, the 25th Regiment participated in the engagement at Fort Harrison.

By late 1864, Wilmington, North Carolina was the only surviving major seaport in the South. As the only seaport in the Confederacy, Wilmington had become as vital as Richmond. In December of 1864 the 25th Regiment was sent to Wilmington, North Carolina to help defend Fort Fisher. Fort Fisher overlooked the Cape Fear River on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. Fort Fisher protected the blockade runners bringing imported munnitions and supplies vital to the confederate army waiting at the Virginia front. It was not an easy voyage. The three transport ships loaded with regiments from South Carolina ran aground and when they finally floated free during high tide the transport crews refused to land the troops because they were so afraid of the Federal naval bombardment. The steamers were spotted by the Federal fleet and two of the steamers retreated when the ememy began their fire. One ship landed its troops when the troops on board forced the ship's crew to take them to Battery Buchanan at gunpoint. The ship that landed with reinforcements for Wilmington carried deatchments of the 21st and 11th South Carolina Infantry and the entire 25th South Carolina Infantry. All were seasoned combat veterans. they had endured bloody fighting and heavy bombardment in other battles, but what they encountered at Wilimington was nothing like they had ever faced before. 

Captain James F. Izlar led the way. They moved out fast, in single line. For more than a mile they endured shot and shell from every direction and behind them they left a trail of dead and wounded South Carolinians. The troops were thinned out by casualties and the demorilized. Many hid in the seaface bombproof wall along the way and despite threats and pleas from their officers refused to come out and fight Finally, the naval fire slackened and some left the bombproofs and joined the stuggle to hold off the Federals.. Once Captain Izler reached the fort, he could account for barely 100 men.

Once the fight was over the total of Confederate casualties in the Fort Fisher Campaign was around 2,300 dead, wounded, and captured. All of the men present at Fort Fisher were captured. The captured troops were separated into 150-man groups and spent the first night, cold and wet on the beach. They were given rations and some were heard to say about the Union coffee, "This is the first we've tasted since early in 1862." The men of the 25th had endured and fought on rations for the last year that "might have caused a mutiny had they been served to the Union army." The men who were victors held great admiration for the gallant men whom war had made their prisoners.

The day after the fall of Fort Fisher the caputured Confederate troops began to be shipped North to prison camps. The voyage north was cold and punishing. Conditions in the prisons were not much better than aboard ship. They were assigned to tents without a fire and were given only a blanket to survive in the cold, sleet, and snow of a northern winter. A great many of those taken prisoner by the Union Army died of exposure and pneumonia at the infamous Elmira, New York Federal Prison Camp. The few who later served in the regiment surrendered in April, 1865. 

According to the official record of Company I, 15 members died of disease, 7 were killed at the Battle of Weldon Railroad, 16 died in Elmira Prison Camp in New York, 3 died at Point Lookout Prison, and nine were wounded.

The field officers of the Twenty-Fifth Regiment were Colonel Charles H. Simonton, Lieutenant Colonel John G. Pressley, and Major John V. Glover. The South Carolina troops from Hagood's Brigade at the Battle of Fort Fisher were the 11th, 21st, 25th, 27th, and the 7th Battalion.

The 25th Regiment was surrendered by General Joseph E. Johnson at Durham Station, North Carolina on April 26, 1865.

• James Island, South Carolina (31 May 1863) 
• Grimball's Landing, James Island South Carolina (30 July 1863) 
• Charleston Harbor, South Carolina (August - September 1863) 
• Mouth of Vincent's Creek, South Carolina (4 August 1863) 
• Port Walthall Junction, Virginia (6 May 1864) 
• Swift Creek, Virginia (9 May 1864) 
• Drewry's Bluff , Virginia (12 May 1864) 
• Drewry's Bluff, Virginia (16 May 1864) 
• Cold Harbor, Virginia (1 - 3 June 1864) 
• Petersburg Siege, Virginia (June 1864 - April 1865) 
• Weldon Railroad, Virginia (21 August 1864) 
• 2nd Fort Harrison, Virginia (30 September 1864) 
• 2nd Fort Fisher, North Carolina (13 - 15 January 1865) 
• Bentonville, North Carolina (19 - 21 March 1865) 
• Carolinas Campaign, South Carolina (February - April 1865) 
• Bentonville (March 19-21, 1865) 

Officers:
• J.G. Pressley, Colonel 
• E.N. Bulter, 30, Captain 
• Joseph Copely Burgess, 37 Captain# (died 1881, buried in Manning Cemetery)
• John J. Logan, 30 Captain# 
• F.B. Brown 35, Second Lieutenant 
• R.F. Felder, 30, Second Lieutenant 
• John W. Cockran, 23, Sergeant 
• W.A. Lowder, 23, Sergeant 
• J. Moultrie Bagnal, 21, Sergeant 
• J.W. Fleming, 31, Sergeant 
• Reuben F. Ridgeway, 30, Sergeant 
• Harvey Vinson Haley*,30, Corporal (died at Elmira on 12 March 1865, grave #1821) 
• William D. Freeman, 26, Corporal 
• William B. Plowden, 21. Corporal 
• J.L. Evans, 35 Corporal
   

Enlisted Men:

• Anderson, A.G. 20 
• Artledge, T.W. # 
• Ball, M.S. # 
• F.H. Barnes (died at Elmira on 1 April 1865 , grave #2587) 
• Barnes, James R., 21 # 
• Brunson, Josiah C.,35 
• Bell, James M. Jr., 16 
• Bell, Manning A. 16 
• Burgess, S.H., 18 
• Burgess, R.G. # 
• Burgess, John A., 25 
• Barwick, George W., 18 # 
• Brewer, J.F., 21 
• Barnes, Francis, 18 
• Burgess, James A. ,18 
• Burgess, Robert B. ,20 
• Burgess, Joseph Calvin, 18 ((died at Elmira July 10, 1865, grave #2844) 
• Brogden, Joseph, 18 
• Burgess, W.R., 25 
• Burgess, Andrew, 20 
• Cooper, S.C. # 
• Crockran, Allen W., 18 (died at Elmira on 8 March 1865, grave #2373) 
• Cutler, James, 18 
• DeLoach, Nelson, 33 (died at Elmira, grave 1980) 
• Davis, J. Elbert, 18 
• Dickson, George W., 20 
• Evans, Peter, 35 
• Evans, C.W., 21 
• Evans, G.H. (died at Elmira on 21 July 1865, grave #2866) 
• Evans, J.H., 19 # 
• Evans, T. Rush, 18 
• Evans, Joseph W., 18 
• Erwin, L. Nelton, 18 
• Freeman, W.D. # 
• Freeman, J.J. # 
• Fleming, B.F., 23 
• Fleming, H.F., 20 
• Fleming, H.L.B., 20 # 
• Fleming, W.D., 18 
• Fleming, S.W., 18 (died at Elmira on 26 April 1865, grave #1423) 
• Gamble, Thomas E.** 
• Gamble, John F., 31 
• Gibbons, Grabriel, 25 
• Haley, Friendly Wilder, 20* 
• Haley, Isaac Andrew, 23* 
• Herrington, Kinder, 18 
• Hill, N.H., 35 ( Buried in Home Branch Church near Paxville under an old cedar tree.)
• Hodge, A.J., 23 
• Hodge, S.N., 20 # 
• Hodge, E.S., 18 
• Hodge, W.J., 21 
• Hodge, J.N., 24 
• Hodge, James B., 20 (died at Elmira on 10 April 1865, grave #2606) 
• Hodge, Samuel R. , 18 
• Hodge, S.R. (killed at Battery Wagner) 
• Hodges, S.B. (died at Elmira on 11 February 1865, grave #2175) 
• Johnson, H.H.J. # 
• Johnson, F.M., 31 
• Johnson, Daniel, 26 
• Johnson, John J., 34 (died at Elmira) 
• Johnson, M.P. (died at Elmira on 23 March 1865, grave #2443) 
• Johnson, Nabor died Aug. 24, 1864, age 35 ### born in Clarendon District 
• Knowlton, John W., 34 
• Kelly, John M., 25 
• Lamb, J.H. # 
• Larden, J.D. # 
• Lesene, P.H. # 
• Lowder, C.A., 19 
• Lowder, J.J., 21 
• Lowder, Henry Sumter, 28 
• Lowder, James Owens, 30* 
• Lloyd, Santa, 16 
• Martin, George # 
• McCullough, William, 27 
• McIntosh, F.F. # 
• McIntosh, John F., 28 
• Mixon, A.W., 37 (died at Elmira 14 February 1865, grave #2185)
  
• Morris, Daniel ####
  
• Moyd, E.M., 24 
• McDonald, R.D., 35 
• Pelt, John, 36 
• Player, J.G. # 
• Player, S. # 
• Player, S.D. # 
• Plowden, John M., 31 
• Plowden, John Covert, 30 (died at Elmira on 8 May 1865, grave #2754) 
• Pendergrass, John M., 25 
• Pendergrass, B.R., 27 
• Plowden, Joseph, 25 
• Raffield, Thomas N., 31 
• Reardon, D.E., 30 
• Richburg, Cantey, 18 
• Richburg, James H., 25 
• Richburg, Joseph Edward, 20* # 
• Richburg, John A., 26 
• Richbourg. John T. (died January 29th 1863)
• Richburg, B.D., 28 
• Richburg, J.C. # 
• Richburg, J.N., 25 
• Richbourg, James H. died May 23, 1864 and is buried at Hollywood Cemetery at Richmond, Virginia (Broken Fortunes Volume I, by Salley)
• Richbourg, R.D. (died at Elmira on 24 April 1865, grave #1409) 
• Ridgeway, Joseph Newton  (Captured at Ft. Fisher, died at Elmira on April 6, 1865 grave #2549)
• Ridgeway, John M., 31 
• Rogers, William, 30 
• Rogers, John, 25 
• Rodgers, Ervin, 18 
• Rodgers, J. Ladson, 29 
• Rodgers, W.M. # 
• Scott, J.F. # 
• Setzer, Alfred, 36 
• Steadman, G.D., 27 
• Smith, William A., 25 
• Stukes, F.M., 28 
• Terry, George # 
• Tobias, F.W., 38 
• Tobias, J.W., 22 
• Tobias, J. Henry, 27 
• Tobias, Thomas N., 19 Died May 16, 1864 ### 
• Tobia, T.J. # 
• Timmons, J.A. 24 
• Timmons, William J., 29 # 
• Teetz, Martin, 35 
• Tindal, A.J., 39 
• White, J.B. # 
• White, H.Y., 18 
• White, H.T., 39 
• Witherspoon, R.J., 33 
• Weston, George W., 32 
• Whitehead, R.W., 16 
• Worsham, J.D. (killed at Battery Wagner) 
• Worsham, Peter, 18 
• Windham, Flinn, 18 

#Wounded at Battery Wagner on Morris Island between August 20 and September 6, 1863 

*Direct ancestors of Cynthia Ridgeway Parker 

** Thomas E. Gamble enlisted on May 16, 1862 and served with Company I until he was caputured at Ft. Fisher. 

He died at Elmira Prison on April 7, 1865 and is buried there.
 (Information from great great grandson, Dan Williams .) 

# # Confederate Deaths in Jackson, Mississippi ref: Volume II of Deaths of Confederate Soldiers in Confederate Hospitals by Raymond W. Watkins 

## #Buried at Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg, Va. ref: Confederate Burials Vol VII

####  Gregg Lee provided this information: "Grave marker at Old Lee Cemetery, Lake City, SC lists my Great-Great Grandfather Daniel Morris as being with Co. I 25 SC Inf.  CSA."  

 

If you have any information to add to this data, please let me know.

Lt. Colonel John Gotea Pressley

Born 24 May 1833, South Carolina 

Died 5 July 1895, California
 
 Family History of J.G. Pressley

John Gotea Pressley, Lt. Colonel of the 25th South Carolina Infantry, is buried in an old rural cemetery at Santa Rosa, California. He was commanding officer of the 25th SCV from 1862 until he was wounded 6 May 1864 at Waltham Junction, Virginia. By profession, he was a lawyer, having graduated from the Citadel in 1851. He served as a member of South Carolina Legislature and was a signer of the South Carolina Articles of Secession.

Pressley is mentioned three times in the Official Records as as "cool, intelligent, reliable, and skillful." Upon leading his regiment on a charge against Union forces on 6 May 1864, he was hit in the upper arm and knocked down. When his men came to his aid, he ordered them "to leave me be and continue the charge." He was commended by his Brigader Commander for  distinguished gallantry. Due to a new surgical procedure, he kept his wounded arm, but it was useless for the rest of his life. After the war he was obliged to emigrate away from South Carolina and removed to California where he was a lawyer and later a Superior Court Judge. Lt. Colonel Pressley was well known and respected locally

It is not known what led Captain E. N. Plowden to resign. It may well have been his objection to the reorganization. Even after his resignation, Captain Plowden must have remained with the unit for a period of time. In a letter to his wife, dated June 4th, 1862, John Covert Plowden (E. N. Plowden's first cousin), writing from James Island, referred to "Cpt. Edgar" being "here this morning" and mentioned "Yankee artillery firing" on the unit.In the obituary of Edgar Nelson Plowden, which appeared in The Manning Times, p. 7, 10 October 1906, Editor Louis Appelt stated that he had served as "Captain of Company I, 25th SCV." The earlier designation of The Clarendon Guards as Company C, 21st SCV, had already been lost.

Captain Edgar Nelson Plowden and his brother, Lieutenant E. Ruthven Plowden, are better known for their role in burning Brewington Bridge and destroying the causeway across Pocotaligo, on 7 April 1865, thus preventing Potter's column from branching out into "Salem" -- up Brewington Road (see Allen D. Thigpen's The Illustrated Recollections of Potter's Raid April 5-21, 1865, pp. 59-69).

H.V. Haley enlisted with his brothers for Confederate service in Company I of the 25th Regiment of the South Carolina Volunteers at Camp Harlee, Georgetown, South Carolina on January 1, 1862 for 3 years or the duration of the war. Prior to that he had served in the Clarendon Guard. (Web Master, Cindy Parker, is a descendant of H.V. Haley and of his two brothers, Isaac and Friendly Haley.)