Col. EnocJi Q. Fellows.
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��his expedition down the coast. Col. Fellows was the ranking colonel during the expedition.
In the winter of 1 861-186 2, with the Third Regiment, he was stationed at Hilton Head, S.C, and held the posi- tion of first commandant of the post, acting as brigadier, having seven regi- ments under his command.
During some of the movements made by the regiment that winter, it at one time happened that Major John Bedel was left in command of the camp, greatly to his displeasure. On this ac- count he conceived a dislike for Col. Fellows, allusion to which appeared in an article on Major Bedel, published a few years since in The Granite Monthly.
Col. Fellows was universally esteemed as an officer and a gentleman by his men and other associates.
When Gen. Sherman was relieved in the spring of 1862, Col. Fellows men- tioned to him, that, as he had been in the service continually for a year, he had been intending to ask for a leave of absence. Gen. Sherman told him to make an application to his successor, and he would indorse it, which he did in very flattering terms ; and a leave of absence was immediately granted.
Just then, however, a movement was made on Fort Pulaski, and re-enforce- ments were needed at Edisto Island near Charleston, and the Third Regi- ment was recommended to go : so Col. Fellows wrote to Gen. Benham, that, if he could be of any assistance, he would defer his leave of absence. Gen. Ben- ham accepted his offer, and at once put him in command of all the troops at Edisto, consisting of three and one- half regiments, four pieces of artillery, a company of dragoons, and a gunboat.
After Pulaski had fallen. Col. Fellows
��was relieved and came home. While at home he was requested by the gov- ernor to take command of the Ninth Regiment, and at the same time hold his position in the Third. This latter, however, he would not do, thinking it would do injustice to the officers of the Third; so on the 26th of June, 1862, he resigned from the Third, and took command of the Ninth.
Within three weeks after the Ninth had left the State, it was engaged in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, and behaved so well it received the name of the " Bloody Ninth."
At the battle of South Mountain, the regiment made a brilliant charge up a hill in the face of the enemy's fire, and broke the line of battle, and drove them from the field. For this charge Gen. Reno complimented Col. Fellows and the regiment ; and, as he was riding away, he was killed by the Rebels.
In November, after the battle of Antietam, Col. Fellows resigned rather than ask for another leave of absence. The regiment was then marching in Virginia, and the cold rains and occa- sional snows brought on the neuralgia so bad it was impossible for him to re- main with his regiment.
He served in all over a year and a half, going through three campaigns, — the three months' campaign under Gen. Patterson, the Port Royal campaign under Gen. T. W. Sherman, and the Maryland campaign under Gen. Mc- Clellan.
He was recommended by the gov- ernor and council to President Lincoln for appointment as brigadier - general of the United States volunteers, and a considerable part of his service was in that capacity.
He inherited a strong liking for the pomp of military life, which was the
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