Edward Lewis Stevens- The Last Union Officer Killed in the Civil War

In April of last year I uploaded a post on Potter’s South Carolina raid that occurred in April of 1865, most of the raid took place after Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox. But there was one thing missing from that post which was a picture of the grave of Lieutenant Edward Lewis Stevens at the Florence National Cemetery. He died during the raid at the Battle of Boykin’s Mill. Lieutenant Stevens was the last Union officer killed during the Civil War.

Edward Louis Stevens was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on September 30, 1842. While at Harvard he enlisted as a Private in the 44th MA just before his 20th birthday on August 29, 1862. He joined the 54th MA as a 2nd Lieutenant on April 3, 1864, and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant later that year in December. Potter’s raid was covered in a previous post at the link, and is briefly summarized below.

During his march through the Carolinas General Sherman discovered that there were several trains loaded with military supplies south of his line of march on the Wilmington and Manchester RR that ran through Sumter. Concerned that supplies south of Camden could be used by pockets of Confederate resistance he ordered that a force be organized at Hilton Head to march inland from Georgetown and destroy the railroad as well as trains and their cargo, “even if it should cost 500 men.” A provisional division of 2,700 men, commanded by Brigadier General Edward E. Potter, was assembled consisting of two brigades of white and black infantry, plus cavalry, engineering and artillery companies. They left Georgetown, SC on April 5th for the 16-day raid.

Potter’s men, nearing the end of the raid, moved south via the old Charleston Road (SC 261) and reached Boykin’s Mill on April 18, where they were met by a Confederate force made up of Kentucky cavalry, Camden and Florence reserves, and militia commanded by Colonel A.D. Goodwyn. To slow the Federal advance and allow the trains to be evacuated the Confederates opened the dam floodgates and flooded the road. Potter tried to flank the Rebels by sending the 32nd USCTs through the swamp but the water was too deep. The 107th OH tried to turn the enemy’s right but the creek could not be forded. The 54th MA tried to turn the Confederate left across the remnants of a burned bridge but came under sharp fire and had to turn back. The 102nd USCT were able to cross even further to the Confederate left of the 54th MA across logs and forced the Rebels to fall back. While riding a white horse Lieutenant Edward L. Stevens, now commander of Company A of the 54th, was shot in the head by 14-year-old Burwell Boykin. His body fell into Swift Creek and was recovered by his men. He was originally buried on the battlefield. In July of 1885, with information furnished by Lieutenant Whitney, secretary of the Association of Officers Fifty-fourth MA Volunteers, his body was located and removed to the National Cemetery at Florence.

**Sketch of the Battle of Boykin’s Mill**

The images below are from Stop 9 of the Potter’s Raid Driving Tour.

The Battle of Boykin’s Mill monument is rare in that it is a monument in a former Confederate state that honors a Union soldier. The story of how it came to be placed here is told on the Boykin’s Mill Farms website- In 1995, the Reactivated 54th Massachusetts Infantry approached Alice Boykin, owner of the surrounding property in Boykin, with an unusual request. “They wanted to put a monument up to Lt. Stevens,” Mrs. Boykin explained. “There aren’t too many monuments to Yankees in South Carolina. So, I told them that if they put a monument to both (Lt. Stevens and Burwell Boykin), that’s fine.” The regiment erected the monument at the 130th anniversary battle reenactment.