John Mitchel

Captain John C. Mitchel was a Civil Engineer who built railroads before the beginning of the American Civil War. At the outbereak of the war, he at once offered his services to the young Confederacy and was commissioned a Lieutenant in the 1st Regiment, South Carolina Artillary, Confederate State Army at Fort Moultrie.

Capt Mitchel was the Commanding Officer of Fort Sumter and at 1:00 on July 20, 1864, he was mortally wounded by a fragment of a morter shell. He sustained his wound while observing Union movement during the great Naval Bombardment taking place at the time.

Mitchel lingered in acute pain four 4 hours before dying in the Fort’s hospital. His dying words:

“I willingly give my life for South Carolina. Oh, that I could have died for Ireland”

On October 13, 1896, his mother presented his sword and the very same flag that flew above Fort Sumter on the day he died to the City of Charleston. His youngest brother , Willie, was also killed during the war while carrying his company’s Colors during Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg.