Creswell Archimedes Calhoun Waller

A recent college graduate, not quite 22 years old, he was born and raised on his family's large plantation near Greenwood and he enlisted there as Private, Company F, 2nd South Carolina Infantry on 17 April 1861. He was wounded at Mechanicsville, VA in June 1862, struck by a shell which didn't explode, and spent six weeks recovering. He took the shell home with him.

He was in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.

He was detailed to the Signal Corps for the remainder of 1862 and to 28 September 1863, when he was discharged to accept a commission as 2nd Lieutenant of Company H, 64th Georgia Infantry. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on the death of his oldest brother Pelius Augustus Waller, who held that rank, at Olustee, FL on 20 February 1864. He was cited in November by Brigade Commander Lieutenant Colonel Hall for his bravery at the Crater near Petersburg, VA on 30 July 1864 and was promoted to Captain of Company G on 21 December 1864. He was captured at Harper's Farm (or Sailor's Creek), VA on 6 April 1865, and was a prisoner until released on 31 May 1865 at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, MD.

He lived in Greenville for the rest of his life and operated a store - Waller Brothers, with Cadmus Garlington Waller - and was in real estate. He was Mayor four times, and was elected to a term in the South Carolina House of Representatives and to two as a State Senator.

He wrote three detailed letters in 1899 and 1901 to General Ezra Carman about the 2nd South Carolina at Sharpsburg.

His service from his Compiled Service Records, online from fold3, as Creswell A.C. Waller, with details from a sketch in the History 1 and from Henderson's Roster.2 Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census for 1860-1920. His letters to Carman from Dr. Tom Clemens.3 His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Mary Elizabeth Vance (1845-1927) in February 1866.

His brother Robert Aurelius Waller was killed at Sharpsburg while Captain in command of the 8th Florida Infantry, and brother James Leonidas Waller, Private in the Palmetto Light Artillery was mortally wounded there.

See much more about him from Andy Osterdahl on his blog The Strangest Names In American Political History, source also of a fuzzy post-war photograph of him from the Greenwood Evening Index of 3 March 1910.

The Index featured Captain Waller in one of a series of profiles of prominent citizens. It's online thanks to newspapers.com.

04/2/2/1839; Greenwood, SC

05/05/1920; Greenwood, SC; burial in Magnolia Cemetery, Greenwood, SC