15th Regiment South Carolina Volunteers
Camp 51

Lexington, South Carolina

History

Camp 51 was first chartered in Batesburg as the Louis T. Wigfall Camp on October 28, 1897. On January 14, 1993, with eight members from the Wade Hampton Camp in Columbia and seven new members, the 15th Regiment SC Volunteers Camp was organized. By the second meeting on January 29, 1993, there were twenty-one members. The official re-charter date is January 28, 1993.

A charter ceremony was held May 27, 1993 at Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperative with seventy people in attendance. The camp’s new charter certificate was prepared with the original charter date of 1897 and the re-charter date of 1993. The camp name was chosen to honor some Confederate Soldiers from Lexington County (not just one soldier). We honor the 15th Regiment South Carolina Volunteers Infantry Unit, part of which was raised in Lexington County - Companies C and I. Of ten companies containing approximately 1,125 men at the beginning of the war, there were 162 men on March 23, 1865. The Regiment surrendered on April 26, 1865 at Durham’s Station, North Carolina. The 15th Regiment was part of Kershaw’s Brigade, McLaw’s Division, Longstreet’s First Corps, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, Confederate States Army, Confederate States of America.

Some of the Battles that the 15th Regiment participated in were: Fort Walker, Hilton Head, SC; Second Manassas, Virginia; Boonsboro, Maryland; South Mountain, Maryland; Sharpsburg, Maryland (110 casualties and the unit’s Battle Flag was captured); Fredericksburg, Virginia (55 casualties); Chancellorsville, Virginia (54 casualties); Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (137 casualties out of 448 men engaged); Chickamauga, Georgia; Knoxville, Tennessee; Bean Station, Tennessee; Wilderness, Virginia; Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia; Cold Harbor, Virginia; Petersburg, Virginia; Cedar Creek, Virginia (the unit’s second Battle Flag was captured here); Bentonville, North Carolina.

The Regimental Flag of the 15th Regiment, a blue silk, is housed at the Confederate Relic Room in Columbia, South Carolina. It was never captured and was brought back from Richmond by Dr. TA LaFar on April 2, 1865 to avoid capture. Also at the Confederate Relic room is the Company Flag of the “Lexington Guards - Company C”. On the Flag of Company C are the words “Defend this, the homes of your Mothers, Wives and Sisters”. The Flag of Company A of the 15th Regiment is also in the Relic Room. Company A was out of Richland County. The first Battle Flag of the 15th Regiment, captured at the Battle of Sharpsburg, Maryland on September 17, 1862, is in the possession of the Charleston City Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. The second Battle Flag of the 15th Regiment, captured at the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia on October 19, 1864, is in the possession of the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia.

Camp 51 meets the last Thursday of each month at 7 pm in the Lexington Memorial Building. Each meeting has a guest speaker talking about The War or a related subject. A few of the topics have been: Generals RE Lee, NB Forrest, Wade Hampton, James Longstreet; Confederate Battle Flag Issues; Confederate Supreme Court; Murder and Dueling during the war; Ladies of the South; Mary Boykin Chesnut; Battles of The War; Confederate Weapons; war time prisons (South and north), and many other subjects.
Since 1993, the 15th Regiment has grown to approximately sixty members. The Camp Commanders have been: EM Clark, Jr. - 1993; Dennis E. Todd - 1994, 95, 96; Herbert O. “Bing” Chambers - 1997, 98; Charles H. Stoudemire - 1999, 2000. While the 15th Regiment has sponsored and participated in many projects the main one is ongoing­, to mark Confederate Graves.

Since 1993, camp members have installed approximately 150 military tombstones. The graves marked were to veterans of the War of 1812, Indian Wars, Spanish - American War, World War II, Korean, and the majority being to Confederate Soldiers. Stones have been installed in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Two of the Confederate Stones that camp members installed were for the father and uncle of SCV Member and Real Son Jacob Garvin of the Barnard E. Bee Camp in Aiken. These two stones were installed on August 24, 1996 in Wagener, SC. A small service was held after the stones were placed with sixty people present. Real Son Garvin, State SCV Commander Chris Sullivan, Past Division Commander Robert Brown, re-enactors, members of the 15th Regiment and others were on hand for the service. A gun salute was fired in honor of Real Son Garvin’s father and uncle, with one of the shots being fired by Real Son Garvin. Ms. Alysia Marie Shumpert played the violin at the graveside and Taps was sounded.  

Another grave that the camp marked was that of Private Isaac Vansant, SC Militia, War of 1812. The grave was unmarked for 112 years. A family member pointed this out and the landowner located the grave. A military stone was ordered, and on September 11, 1993, Private Vansant’s grave was no longer forgotten. Private Vansant was born in 1798 and died in 1881. He entered the War in 1814 at the age of sixteen and was wounded at Fort Marion, Beaufort Island. Vansant was the sheriff of Lexington County from 1844 to 1848, then again from 1852 to 1856. Approximately forty people were present for the placing of Vansant’s tombstone. Among them were Rosalyn Reeder, mayor of Summit, SC (location of the grave), Lieutenant R. O’Neill of Lexington County Sheriff’s Office, several members of the Vansant family, members of the 15th Regiment and representatives of four newspapers. Camp members continue to clean cemeteries where Confederate Soldiers are buried. One such cemetery is in Abbeville where twenty Confederate Soldiers are buried. On January 15, 1994 five SCV camps came together in twenty-degree weather to clear the overgrown graves. It was a great day.

Camp 51 has had three South Carolina Historical Markers placed. The first was to Lieutenant General James Longstreet, about one mile from his birthplace in Edgefield County. On November 19, 1995, a dedication service was held at the marker with 150 people present including twenty re-enactors, two TV news stations and three newspapers. Present were the UDC, SCV, and MOS&B state Commander. Compatriot Bing Chambers is to be commended for his work on the Longstreet Marker.

The second historical marker was placed to mark the site of the “Battle of Congaree Creek” in Cayce, SC. A dedication service was held at the site on February 13, 1999 with approximately seventy-five people present. State SCV Commander Daniel Verdin was present along with members of the UDC. Compatriot Wayne Roberts is to be commended for all of his hard work on this marker. After the service Compatriot Roberts gave a tour into the woods for many of the guests so they could view the earthworks built by Confederate Soldiers. The third historical marker was placed in Gilbert, SC. It is to the Lewie Family of which four brothers were in the 15th Regiment. Camp members also repaired and painted the historical marker in front of the Lexington County Court House. Commander Charles Stoudemire was the force behind this one.

The 15th Regiment has had members at every statewide observance of Confederate Memorial Day. On May 10 of 1993, 94 and 95 a wreath and Confederate Battle Flags were placed at the Confederate Soldier Monument on the courthouse grounds in Lexington. For those three years the members of Camp 51 stood as honor guards with the Wade Hampton Camp of Columbia at the Confederate monuments on the State House grounds. Then on May 10, 1996, Confederate Memorial Day, a wreath and Confederate Battle Flags were placed at the Confederate Soldiers Monument in Lexington. An honor guard was posted from 7am until 7pm with the Lexington Monument for the first time. The honor guard is made up of members of the 15th Regiment. This is now an annual event.

Camp 51 had the honor of hosting the 1996 SC Division Centennial Reunion. The reunion had the largest number of delegates in attendance in modern times, to that date. Commander-in-Chief Peter Orlebeke was in attendance. A church service was held on Sunday at the First Baptist Church in Columbia where the Secession Convention was started. Dr. Terry Rude led the service of sixty-nine people. The 15th Regiment has had members at every State and National Convention since it was chartered in 1993. At the 1996 National Reunion Centennial Reunion in Richmond, Virginia, members of Camp 51 and their family gathered at the grave of President Jefferson Davis to pay respect and group pictures were taken.

While working to educate the public to the true history of the Confederate Soldier, the camp has set up recruiting and information tables at the Raid on Lexington re-enactment, the Gilbert Centennial Celebration and at a few gun shows. Several members continue to give lectures on subjects dealing with the South and the war to different groups and schools. The camp also donates to other organizations. Some of the organizations are: Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites - yearly membership ($100); APCWS - Brice’s Cross Roads ($100) - Brandy Station Battlefield ($500); Franklin Memorial Association - McGavock Confederate Cemetery ($200); Longstreet Monument at Gettysburg ($600); Books on The War to the Lexington County Public Library; Wade Hampton Park in North Augusta ($100); Confederate Battle Flag Fund ($1,500); Confederate Relic Room - $1,000.00 for the preservation of the “Lexington Guards-Company C, 15th SC Infantry-CSA” Flag; World War II National Memorial in Washington, DC ($100).  

To raise monies for the historical markers and the donations, Camp 51 has held several fund raisers. The camp has had four yard sales, raising $2,500.00. We also sold BBQ at one of the annual yard sales. The camp has held raffles: a shotgun, 1851 reproduction 44 cal. Colt handgun, and a 1993 SCV Commemorative bottle of Maker’s Mark Confederate Whisky. The camp has sold small SCV racecars and centennial baseball caps from the 1996 state reunion. We have even taken to selling South Carolina made Grits and brooms. Fund raising is non stop.

Each year our camp has a Christmas Dinner for all members, family and guests. It is at this dinner that our camp presents awards. There are a lot of hard workers in Camp 51 for “The Cause”. Each year one of them is singled out for the “Colonel Frederick S. Lewie Award” (Lieutenant-Colonel of the 15th SC Infantry-CSA). This award is for the outstanding camp member of that year. The following have received the award: 1993 - John Allen Shealy; 1994 - Larry C. Shumpert; 1995 - Herbert O. “Bing” Chambers; 1996 - Charles H. Stoudemire; 1997 - Dennis E. Todd; 1998 - Wayne Roberts; 1999 - Sidney C. Keisler, 2000 - Addisson Wilson, 2001 - Steve Wolfe, 2002 - Allen Frye, 2003 - Bill Harrell, 2004 - Berley Crosby, 2005 Larry Sharpe and Bobby Frye, 2006 - David Kruger, 2007 - E. M. Clark, Jr.

As we all know the ladies are always there working as hard if not harder for “The Cause” than the men. The following Ladies associated with the 15th Regiment - Camp 51 have received the national “Ladies Appreciation Medal”: Joyce Holmes, Ernestine Todd, Linda Shealy, Christine Todd-Smith, Sharon Harman, Cathy Stoudemire, Andrea Evans-Wolfe, and Diane Padgett.

On the state level, Camp 51 has received the following awards: the S. A. Cunningham Newsletter Award (National Level) - 4 times, the Ambrose Gonzales Newsletter Award-7 times, and the Stephen Dill Lee - Historical Project Award.