Anderson's Heavy Battery

Description

Anderson's Heavy Battery marching on by the wharf behind the Customs House, what is Concord Street today. Consumers Coal Company tower in background (located on Faber Street between East Bay and Concord Streets.)

When the President of the United States made his first call for volunteers for the Spanish-American War, Governor Ellerbe called a conference of the Brigadier Generals and Colonels of the State Troops at Columbia on April 27th, and stated that South Carolina expected to furnish one Regiment and one Battalion of Infantry and one Battery of Heavy Artillery. At this conference the duty of raising the Battery of Heavy Artillery was assigned to General Edward Anderson, of Charleston, then commanding the Fourth [4th] Brigade of State Troops. Upon his return from Columbia, General Anderson called a meeting of the officers of the Brigade, and stated that the Governor expected Charleston to furnish the Battery, and asked their assistance in raising it. Finding the officers lukewarm, General Anderson immediately issued a call through the newspapers, asking for volunteers without regard to whether or not they had been members of militia organizations, which met with a ready response, and on the evening of May 3rd, at a meeting held at the Carolina Rifles Armory, the Battery was organized. (Source: "A Brief History of the Heavy Battery, South Carolina Volunteer Artillery," website)