I’ve spent the afternoon down something of a rabbit hole – learning a little about the Catawba Tribe of north-central South Carolina and how they are remembered.

I dove in chasing a Private in the 12th South Carolina Infantry listed as John Harris (Indian) in the State Roll.

So now I know of 4 Catawbas who were in Maryland in 1862, all wounded there. John and his brother Jim of the 12th South Carolina, and Jeff Ayers and Bill Canty of the 17th. They were among 19 men of the tribe – probably the entire military age male population – who enlisted in the Confederate Army.

Another story about Antietam soldiers I’d not heard before now.

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The picture at the top is of the Catawba Memorial (1900) in a park in Fort Mill, SC.

Lieutenant John Thomas Parker led Company A of the 12th South Carolina Infantry in action at Sharpsburg in September 1862. After the war he practiced medicine in South Carolina, Mississippi, and finally Texas, married 3 times (in 1866, 1881, and 1895), and had at least 4 children.

He’s pictured here with his granddaughters Elsie (9) and Anna May Word (12) in a photograph shared to the Family Search database by Jerry & Tammy Van Cleve [free membership required].

18 year old First Sergeant John A Rosborough, Company C, 12th South Carolina Infantry was twice wounded at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862. Here’s a photograph of him from long after the war, probably taken while he was a member of the Florida state legislature. It was contributed to his Findagrave memorial by Sonya Eason.

William Elias James, Jr was Sergeant, Company F, 8th South Carolina Infantry when he was wounded at Sharpsburg. By the end of the war he was First Lieutenant. Here are two views of him. On the right is his photograph from the Darlington County Historical Commission and Museum. The picture on the left is from a poster display that appears to be a paste-up of his head from the other photograph superimposed on a person in civilian clothes (from his Findagrave memorial, contributed by Bob Jones).

George C Magure was only 15 years old when he witnessed the battle of Antietam as an assistant to the regimental surgeons at a field hospital there. He’d come along on the Campaign with his brother-in-law Major Salome Marsh of the 5th Maryland Infantry. The partial album page here was posted to the Geni database by Charles William Schwartz [free membership required].