Bells in the Civil War

Rev. Thomas Bell and Patriot Thomas Jr.

Rev. Thomas Bell (1714-1756) was the first of our ancestors to come to the American colonies, arriving around 1747 from Scotland to serve as minister of the Gospel at the Presbyterian Church on James Island, South Carolina. His son Thomas Jr. (1753-ca. 1800), who evidence suggests served as a soldier and Patriot during the Revolutionary War,¹ is believed to have had five children, but seemingly only his eldest John (1792-1864) continued the Bell line.

John Bell of Beaufort

John Bell of Beaufort, South Carolina had five children as well – two from his first wife Henrietta McKee (1796-1825): John McKee (1819- ) and Theodore Augustus (1822-1882); and three from his second wife Margaret Hingston Bythewood (1810-1862): Charles E. (1829-1893), Ann DuPont (1832-1876), and Julius Bythewood (1834-1897). At the outset of the U.S. Civil War, John Bell was nearly seventy years-old. Oldest child John McKee apparently did not live to adulthood. Theodore, a 38 year-old town merchant and his wife Mary Chaplin Adams had seven children, five still living in 1861. Charles was 31, a lawyer newly wed to Frances Kirk with a one year-old girl and another child on the way. Ann and Julius were unmarried.

Fort Sumter, April 1861

There is no evidence that any of our Bell ancestors participated in the bombardment of Fort Sumter in April 1861, though it is certainly possible that one or more did. Theodore and his two eldest sons Ernest Augustus (1842-1916) and John M. (1844-1888) all served with the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery (BVA) during the Civil War, as did their father’s half-brother Julius. Charleston is less than sixty miles from Beaufort, but strangely Confederate military records omit the presence of any BVA guns at the bombardment.⁴ Biographies of BVA commander Capt. Stephen Elliott claim he was present however, and if so it is logical to assume he brought one or more of his guns and a hand-picked crew with him.

Fort Beauregard and the BVA

Immediately after the surrender of Fort Sumter, plans for the defense of the sea islands surrounding Beaufort were implemented, which included the construction of Fort Beauregard at Bay Point on Phillips Island. The BVA were assigned to garrison the fort, and the militia unit encamped and drilled there for at least five months. Service records for Theodore and his 16 year-old son John confirm their presence at Ft. Beauregard on June 12, 1861,² thus the two were almost certainly involved in the Port Royal artillery battle on November 7. 18 year-old Ernest and his 26 year-old uncle Julius were probably also there, but at this point we have no documentary proof of their involvement with the BVA until a March 1862 muster roll.³

Theodore Augustus Bell, Ordnance Sergeant

As stated, 38 year-old Theodore served with the BVA at Bay Point early in the war. An 1862 discharge document claims he was enlisted in Beaufort on April 12, 1861 – the day of the Fort Sumter bombardment – by Lt. H.S. Farley. Interestingly, Lt. Farley is credited with firing the 4:30 a.m. signal shot that began the fireworks in Charleston, so he obviously couldn’t have been in Beaufort that same day. Be that as it may, there are quite a few documents available that chronicle the experience of Theodore during the Civil War. He enlisted as a private, but was promoted and appointed Quartermaster Sergeant on November 25. When his one-year enlistment expired, his home destination was listed as Greenville SC, the inland city to which his father relocated, thus apparently where his wife also resided. As Theodore eagerly wished to reenlist, his time with his family (if any) was short-lived. In an April 3, 1863 plea to Gen. Thomas Jordan, Ordnance Officer Maj. W.W. Elliott wrote, “Having had occasion to employ [Mr. Theodore A. Bell] in my office… [his enlistment having] expired, he volunteered for the war, but owing to a chronic athsmatic [sic] complaint, under which he had been laboring for years, he was rejected by the surgeon as unfit for Military Duty. He was thus thrown out of service. Whilst unable to attend to outdoor work or stand exposure to the weather, he is fully able to performing the clerical work of this office.”² Despite the fact that he was “beyond the consignment age,” the plea was affirmed, and Theodore was reinstated as Ordnance Sergeant, the non-combat rank he held in Hardeeville, Pocotaligo, and Columbia until the end of the war.

Charles E. Bell, Kirk’s Rangers/ Ordnance Storekeeper

On November 7, 1861, the day of the Port Royal battle and subsequent Union occupation, lawyer Charles Bell had just turned 32, and had a two year-old daughter and new-born son, born October 27. It is logical to assume that he escorted his wife and young family in their flight, probably to Greenville. A document dated March 11, 1862 found Charles in Beaufort petitioning the Federal government for remuneration as trustee of his ailing mother Margaret’s estate, abandoned four months previously. In July he returned to the coast to enlist as a private with Kirk’s Partisan Rangers, a cavalry unit that worked and fought alongside the BVA for much of the war. Capt. M.J. Kirk was most likely a cousin of his wife Frances. Charles was soon assigned to the company commissary, then subsequently “Detached as Clerk in ordnance office by order Genl Walker Jany 1, 1863“, where he was reunited with his half-brother Theodore.

In another letter dated December 23, 1863, Maj. W.W. Elliott wrote to “ask permission to retain in my employ Private Charles E Bell Capt Kirks Co Partisan Rangers… for the next year. Private [Bell] has been in my employ as Storekeeper, Issuing & Receiving Clerk… as well as in that of office clerk.” ² It was there that Charles, too, apparently served out the duration of the war.

Julius Bell, John and Ernest Bell, and Other Relations

Julius and his nephews Ernest and John Bell served with the BVA for the entirety of the Civil War, though upon the promotion and transfer of BVA Capt. Stephen Elliott to Charleston in May 1863, Julius’ service records list him as detached “On extra duty Gunner” through at least June 1864, possibly to Fort Sumter with his former commander. His record for Sept/Oct ’63 notes, “Detached as Sgt. at Arms to Genl Court Martial Oct 16, 1863.” ² Both Ernest and John M. Bell are listed as present at the surrender of the company at Greensboro, NC in April 1865. John has the additional notation of “Wounded at Black Creek, N.C.” ⁵ As present-day Black Creek is located north of the battlefields at Averasboro and Bentonville at which the BVA was involved, and as no other man on the roster has the same notation, it remains somewhat of a mystery. Many others in the BVA were possible relations, including an Adams, nine men with the surname Chaplin, a handful of Fripps, and a T.B. Catherwood, whose connection to former Beaufort druggist and Julius’ future father-in-law Samuel Catherwood is unclear.

Adapted from A String of Bells: Stories of a Southern Family © 2020 by Nick J. Guevara, Jr.

¹The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 3, pg 124.

² “Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers who Served in Organizations from the State of South Carolina” via Fold3.com

³ Contained in “Records Relating to the BVA” South Carolina Historical Society, Charleston, SC

⁴ Evans, C.A., Confederate Military History: a Library of Confederate States History, Volume 5 © 1899 Confederate Publishing Co. pgs 18-19

⁵ 1865 BVA roster contained in “BVA Vertical File” Beaufort Public Library Beaufort Room, Beaufort SC.