1st South Carolina Rifle Regiment

1st (Orr's) South Carolina Rifle Regiment
1st (Orr's) South Carolina Rifle Regiment
	Flag of South Carolina
Active	July 20, 1861, to April 10, 1865
Country	Confederate States of America
Allegiance	CSA
Branch	Confederate States Army
Type	Infantry
Engagements	American Civil War Seven Days Battles Beaver Dam Creek; Gaines' Mill; Frayser's Farm; ; Cedar Mountain; Manassas Station Operations; Second Manassas; Ox Hill; Harpers Ferry; Sharpsburg; Shepherdstown; Fredericksburg; Chancellorsville; Gettysburg; Bristoe Station; Mine Run; The Wilderness; Spotsylvania Court House; North Anna; Cold Harbor; Petersburg Siege Jerusalem Plank Road; Fussell's Mill; Second Ream's Station; Peebles' Farm; Boydton Plank Road; Third Petersburg; ; Appomattox Campaign;

Orr's Rifles was a South Carolina infantry regiment that served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

History

Formation

On 20 July 1861, James Lawrence Orr organized the First South Carolina Rifle Regiment at Sandy Springs. He was elected Colonel; J. Foster Marshall was elected Lt. Colonel, and Daniel A. Ledbetter, Major. Ten companies were recruited in the following districts (counties were known as districts between 1800 & 1868)^[1]


Company: Nickname	District	Captain
A: "the Keowee Riflemen"	Pickens	J.W. Livingston
B: "McDuffie's Guards"	Abbeville	James Perrin
C: "the Mountain Boys"	Pickens	J.J. Norton
D: "Orr's Rifles"	Anderson	Frank E. Harrison
E: "the Oconee Riflemen"	Pickens	Miles M. Norton
F: "the Blue Ridge Rifles"	Pickens	Robert A. Hawthorne
G: "the Marshall Riflemen"	Abbeville	G. McDuffie Miller
H: "the Pee Dee Guards"	Marion	George M. Fairlee
I: not created
K: "the Marshall Guards"	Anderson	George W. Cox
L: "the Calhoun Guards"	Anderson	John B. Moore

The regiment had seen no action by the time Orr left, but the name "Orr's Rifles" stuck throughout the war.

Initial duty

First posted to Sullivan's Island, SC to defend Charleston Harbor, others called them the "Pound Cake Regiment" in reference to their "light" garrison duty.^[2] The 20th SC Infantry was referred to as the "Poundcake Brigade" on account of limited engagements and they were so close to home, their families could bring them poundcake or other treats.

Transfer to Army of Northern Virginia

In April 1862, the full-strength 1,000-man unit was transferred to Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia (ANV). In June, it was incorporated into Gregg's Brigade, of A.P. Hill's Light Division, of Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson Corps (often termed the "Left Wing" early in the war).

Surrender

Lee surrendered the ANV, including Orr's Rifles, at Appomattox Court House on 9 April 1865. After three years of combat, the regiment comprised 9 officers and 148 enlisted men.

References

^ "Colonel James Lawrence Orr". South Carolina Genealogical Society. Archived from the original on 30 January 2012.
^ Mattison, J. W. (1899). "Orr's South Carolina Rifles". Southern Historical Society Papers. 27: 157–165.