Beauregard's Company, South Carolina Light Artillery (Ferguson's)

Brief History
Beauregard's Battery of Artillery was organized, recruited and trained by Captain Thomas Barker Ferguson, who received his commission on Jan. 1st, 1861. The company was named after him: Ferguson's Company of Light Artillery was originally in the regular forces of South Carolina, and was transferred into the Confederate forces in April of 1862.

Its first eighteen months were spent training in the area of Charleston, SC. Its initial field operations were with the Gen. States Rights Gist Brigade in Pemberton's Army of Relief in the Jackson, MS campaign, where Captain Ferguson was seriously wounded by a Federal sharpshooter. The command then went to Lt. Beauregard, eldest son of Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, and the unit was as often as not referred to as Beauregard's Company for the remainder of the war. The unit then transferred to the Army of Tennessee and was assigned to Palmer's, R. Martin's, and R. Cobb's Battalion of Artillery. It fought in the Chattanooga campaign at Lookout Mtn. and Missionary Ridge, TN; the Atlanta campaign; the Nashville campaign; and the Carolinas campaign, ending its effectiveness as a fighting force when losing its guns for the third and final time at Salisbury, NC in April, 1865.



Counties of Origin
Men often enlisted in a company recruited in the counties where they lived though not always. After many battles, companies might be combined because so many men were killed or wounded. However if you are unsure which company your ancestor was in, try the company recruited in his county first.

Ferguson's SC Artillery Company was recruited largely from the "Upcountry" of SC, over half of its soldiers recruited in the districts of Pickens and Anderson, today's Pickens, Oconee and Anderson counties. Some of the men came from northeast GA, and the areas of Charleston, SC and New Orleans, LA were also represented. The Combined Service Records for this unit show 275 men on the company's roster.

The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database lists 419 men on its roster for this unit, but incorrectly include men from Bachman's Company of Artillery. The 275 men in the Combined Service Records is the accurate number for this company. Roster.

Source Material

 * Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System can be searched by soldier's name or by regiment; includes regimental rosters and additional history of the regiment. This site uses Joseph H. Crute's book, Units of the Confederate States Army, as their main source for the regiment history. Family History Library book 973 M2crua,, WorldCat.


 * Footnote.com (A subscription website, but is available for use at the Family History Library and some Family History Centers). It has digital Civil War soldier service records and brief regiment histories (located at the bottom of some of the muster rolls).