12th Regiment, South Carolina Infantry

United States     U.S. Military      South Carolina      South Carolina Military      South Carolina in the Civil War      12th Regiment, South Carolina Infantry

Brief History
Organized in July 1861 at Lightwood Knot Springs, near Columbia.



Companies in this Regiment with the 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.


 * A Company - (also known as the Palmer Guards and the Bonham Rifle Volunteers) - many men from York Distrist (County)(Yorkville area), a few men from Union District (County)
 * B Company (also known as the Campbell Rifles) - many men from York District (County)
 * C Company (also known as the Cedar Creek Rifles) - many men from Fairfield District (County)
 * D Company (also known as the Richland Guards) - many men from Richland (Columbia) District (County), a few men from Fairfield, Chester, Lexington and Charleston Districts (Counties)
 * E Company - (also known as Blair Guards) many men from Lancaster District (County)
 * F Company (also known as the Means Light Infantry, Long Run Company and possibly the Monticello Guards) - many men from Fairfield District (County)(Long Run area)
 * G Company (also known as the Bonham Rifles Volunteers and the Bonham Rifles) - many men from Pickens District (County)
 * H Company (also known as the Indian Land Guards) - many men from York District (County)(Rock Hill and Yorkville areas)
 * I Company - (also known as the Lancaster Hornets) many men from Lancaster District (County)
 * K Company - (also known as the Grisham Rifles and the McDowell Boys) many men from Pickens District (County)
 * Lancaster Guards Company - Lancaster District (County)

Information about the companies, their nicknames and counties of origin is talen from Seigler's and Boyles books.

Other Sources

 * 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).


 * Boyles, J.R. Reminiscences of the Civil War.  (Bethesda, Maryland : University Publications of America, c1990).   Includes a description of activities of the 12th South Carolina Infantry Regiment (Confederate) in the following battles or localities: Mechanicsville, Va.; Gaines Mill, Va.; White Oak Swamp, Va.; Chancellorsville, Va.; Gettysburg, Pa.; POW--David's Island, N.Y.; POW--Johnson's Island, Ohio; POW--Point Lookout, Md.  Available at the Family History Library    Other Libraries, (accessed 15 Apr 2011).


 * McCrady, Edward. Gregg's Brigade of South Carolinians in the Second Battle of Manassas : an address before the survivors of the Twelfth Regiment, South Carolina Volunteers, at Walhalla, South Carolina, August 21, 1884 (Richmond : W.E. Jones, Book and Job Printer, 1885), 40 pages. Microfiche at   and copy at Other Libraries.


 * Caldwell, James F. J. The history of a brigade of South Carolinians, known first as Gregg's brigade and subsequently as McGowan's brigade. Microfiche of original published: Philadelphia : King &amp; Baird, Printers, 1866. 247 p., Bethesda, Maryland : University Publications of America, c1990. Google Books,, . The regiments which composed Gregg's Brigade of South Carolina Infantry, as it was commonly known, and which always composed McGowan's Brigade, were the following: the First South Carolina Volunteers, the Twelfth South Carolina Volunteers, the Thirteenth South Carolina Volunteers, the Fourteenth South Carolina Volunteers, and Orr's regiment of rifles, also from South Carolina.