(1843 - 1924)
Home State: South Carolina
Branch of Service: Infantry
Before Sharpsburg
He enlisted in Company B, 3rd South Carolina Infantry Battalion on 5 December 1861 at Columbia, SC at age 18.
We arrived in Virginia in August, 1862, late in the evening, just after the second battle of Manassas, and there we saw our first dead soldiers and at this moment we began to realize what war was. Next day we were put on the march, as it wasn't long till we heard the thunder of cannons and guns. Sure enough this was war; then we could see them bringing back our dead and wounded comrades, and well I remember as we were resting on the roadside and seeing the wounded, there was one boy with his leg shot off, and groaning with the pain and from loss of blood. I put my face to the ground and fingers in my ears to keep from fainting (when I was a boy I would faint on seeing blood)...
On the Campaign
... Then we went on and into the fight at South Mountain or Boonsborough. I never thought of fainting any more.Benton was slightly wounded in action at Fox's Gap on 14 September 1862.
That was our first fight and the loss of so many of our brave boys. Some that I call to mind were killed in this battle; Ephriam Waldrop, Presley Fuller, Edwin Fuller, John Crawford, Ed Smith, Waddy Irby and [the] Colonel.
The rest of the War
He was captured in action at Spotsylvania, VA on 8 May 1864, but escaped when a fellow prisoner shot their captor. Wounded again, in action at Cold Harbor, VA on 10 June 1864. He was paroled at Greensboro, NC on 2 May 1865 as Corporal, Company F, 3rd South Carolina Infantry.
After the War
Resumed farming at Cross Hill. Married three times, elected magistrate.
References & notes
Birth
04/30/1843; Laurens County, SC
Death
08/14/1924; Cross Hill, SC; burial in Liberty Springs Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Cross Hill, SC
1 Davis, Sam B., A History of the 3rd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Battalion (James Battalion): 1861-1865 , Wilmington (NC): Broadfoot Publishing Company, 2009, pp. 68-71, Roster [AotW citation 15971]