My ancestor, Simon Peter James, my great-great grandfather, was, born about 1812 in Darlington or Chesterfield Districts (counties) of South Carolina and died about 1886.

Simon was about forty-nine (49) years of age when he volunteered to join the Confederate Army on 12/21/1861 when he enlisted in Company F (Chesterfield Eagles). 26th SC Volunteers Regiment. He served continuously until he was discharged 5/29/1865 at Appomartox Court House, Virginia by order of General Robert E. Lee after the surrender and close of the Civil War. Simon's son, John F. James, my great-grandfather, was 23 years old when he enlisted and served along with his father until he was captured by Union forces on 1/22/1865 in the vicinity of Richmond. Virginia.

On 1/25/1865 John signed the Oath of Loyalty to the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States as well as Order of Amnesty subscribed and swom to at City Point Virginia, a prisoner of war camp. On 1/30/1865 he signed Oath of Loyalty and was then released to return home to SC the best way he could. At dus tune it is unclear if Captain George Sholter James, born in Laurens County, SC, the person credited with firing the first shot on Fort Sumter on 4/21/1861 to start the Civil War, was kin to Simon Peter James. There were approximately 6000 battles, skirmishes and engagements that were fought during the ci\il war. The 26th S.C. Volunteers Regiment was involved in at least seventeen (17) of them with Confederate casualties numbering over 61.000 killed. wounded, missing or captured.

They were:
First and Second Battle of Charleston, SC
Battle of Jackson, Mississippi
and 14 battles in Virginia:
Battle of Lewis Farm
Battle of Port Walthall Junction
Battle of Swift Creek
Battle of Pr octor' s Creek
Battle of Chester Station
Battle of Hewlett's Farm
First and Second Battle of Petersburg
Battle of The Crater
Battle of Fort Steadnian
Battle of Five Forks
Battle of Gravelly Run/White Oak Road
Battle of Sayier's Creek

Disease and poor sanitary conditions resulted in two-thuds of all deaths during the war and records show bath men were sick and hospitalized at times with John F. being wounded at least one time.

South Carolina lost 12,922 men to the war, 23 percent of its male white population of fighting age, and the highest percentage of any state m the nation: additionally, about one in 13 Civil War veterans were amputees.

With no food, no transportation system, no horses and only their bedroll, and with thousands of their compatriots facing the same situation, both Simon and John F. had to travel approximately 240 miles back to their homes. Upon arriving home they faced extremely harsh times as a result of General Sherman's burning and pillage of the state a year earlier,.

For the next decade living conditions in SC were unbelievably bad. Through it all. both men rebuilt their lives and families, and returned to farming and running a freight hauling business from the closest rail stations to rural merchants and customers near where they lived.