Brigadier-General Ellison Capers, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 5, South Carolina
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

[190] regiments and three battalions of infantry; two regiments and three battalions of heavy artillery; thirteen light batteries; four regiments and three independent companies of cavalry. Besides the South Carolina commands, General Beauregard had under his command in the State the North Carolina brigades of Generals Clingman and Cooke, and several regiments and batteries from Georgia. His total effective force of all arms, in February, was about 15,500 for the defense of the State, with 10,000 near Savannah and on the coast of Georgia.

It will be recalled that when General Beauregard assumed command in South Carolina, October 1, 1862, General Pemberton, at his request, estimated the troops necessary for the defense of the State against a probable force which might be sent to attack Charleston, at 30,000 infantry, cavalry and heavy artillery, and fifteen light batteries, an estimate which General Beauregard approved as the minimum required. It was with great concern, therefore, that he contemplated the attack which was evidently pending in January, 1863, when his total of all arms in South Carolina was but a little over 15,000, with about 10,000 in Georgia. But with the war raging in Virginia and in the West, and a Federal army threatening North Carolina, the military resources of the Confederate government were taxed to the utmost. South Carolina had put all her fighting material in the field, and thousands of her noblest sons had fallen in Virginia, in Tennessee, and on her own soil. Meanwhile every preparation was being made to defend Charleston and the line of railroad connecting it with Savannah. January closed with two brilliant incidents in the history of this defense.

The Federal gunboats had control of the Stono river up to the range of Fort Pemberton. This strong work, mounting fifteen heavy guns, commanded the Stono and flanked the defensive line on James island to the west. John's island, on the west side of the Stono, was occupied