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C.S. Greer
(1836 - 1922)
Home State: South Carolina
Branch of Service: Infantry
Before Sharpsburg
From the Union District, he mustered as First Sergeant, Company C, 18th South Carolina Infantry on 13 December 1861. He transferred to Company A and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, dates not given.
On the Campaign
He was severely wounded in the right shoulder by a piece of shell in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.
The rest of the War
He was wounded again, at the explosion of the mine at Petersburg, VA on 30 July 1864. He later wrote
I had gone into my "bomb proof" to get my night's rest. Lieut. Hill was in the "bomb proof" with me. We were sound asleep when the shock came. When we woke up, we were 8 feet under ground. Lieut. Hill was fastened by a piece of timber and unable to help me any. We were protected somewhat by the timbers of the "bomb proof."At least one account says he was the sole survivor of that explosion from his Company, although there were at least 6 others. He was promoted Captain afterward and was surrendered at Appomattox Court House, VA on 9 April 1865.
I realized at once that what was done would have to be done quickly and I commenced to dig with my bayonet and dug all around first, and as the dirt fell I pushed it underneath myself and was in that way raised up as I dug. Then I used my sword and dug upwards for dear life.
Nobody but God could ever know the sweetness of the first breath of air that came to me with the little opening that I made in that mass of earth. It was about 1 o'clock p. m. on a hot summer day and I had been buried at 4:30 in the morning ...
After the War
By 1880 and to at least 1900 he was a farmer at Union, SC. He was Court Crier in Union County for 43 years.
References & notes
His service from the Roll,1 as Charnes S. Greer, and his Compiled Service Records. His Appomattox parole from the Park Service List [pdf]. Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1880 and 1900, and his memorial in the Confederate Veteran (April 1922). His gravesite is on Findagrave.
His description of his "Crater" experience and the (poor) picture of him above are from the Union Times of 8 May 1914, online from the Library of Congress.
He married Mary Ann Malone (1845-1920) in November 1865 and they had 7 children
Birth
11/20/1836; Union District, SC
Death
02/22/1922; Union County, SC; burial in Sardis Cemetery, Sardis, SC
1 Thomas, John P., and and previous SC Historians of the Confederate Records, Confederate Rolls of South Carolina, Columbia: Historian of Confederate Records, 1898, Roll of Company A, 18th Reg't Inf, South Carolina Vols. [AotW citation 24896]