The First Battle of Pocotaligo was a battle in the American Civil War fought on May 29, 1862 near Yemassee, South Carolina. The Union objective was to sever the Charleston and Savannah Railroad and thus isolate Charleston, South Carolina.
On May 28, 1862 a Union detachment from the 50th Pennsylvania Infantry, 8th Michigan Infantry, 79th New York Infantry and 1st Massachusetts Cavalry supported by the 1st Connecticut Volunteer Light Battery, all under Colonel Benjamin C. Christ left Beaufort, South Carolina to demonstrate against the Charleston and Savannah Railroad. The force marched toward Pocotaligo, driving back pickets along the way. Some severe fighting took place at Pocotaligo where much of the bridge had been removed. About 300 Union men were able to cross the creek and drive the Confederates into the woods. Since the damage to the bridge and action against the Confederate force was in line with the mission's objective, the Union force withdrew. The Union expedition lost 2 killed and 9 wounded. The Confederates lost 2 killed, 6 wounded and 1 missing.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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