Phillip Maffett standing in front of the memorial to the Confederate dead in Newberry, SC. The beautifully restored opera house is in the background. Six Maffetts from Newberry died in the war fighting for the Confederacy. Please refer to the short biography of Lt. Col. Robert Clayton Maffett.

Lt. Col. Robert Clayton Maffett

Robert Clayton Maffett (abt. 1836-1865) enrolled in Pickens Guards, Company C, 3rd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment on April 14, 1861 at Fog Level, SC (now Prosperity, SC). He was elected Captain. The Maffetts are thought to have arrived in Newberry County, SC in 1772 with a group of immigrants from County Antrim under the leadership of Reverend John Renwick of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. They were part of the massive (25,000) group of landless Scots-Irish who left Ulster in the period 1771-1775 searching for religious freedom and economic opportunity. The Maffetts had prospered in their new home and James H. Maffett (1795-1880), Robert's father, was a successful farmer and long-time member of the state legislature.

The 3rd South Carolina Infantry was destined to become one of the most celebrated military units of the War Between the States. They became part of Kershaw's Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee. They participated in no less than 28 major engagements. A full 45 % (298) of its members were killed and another 698 wounded. Among those killed were 6 Maffetts from Newberry County, SC.

After seeing action at Savage Station and Malvern Hill, the 3rd served in reserve at Antietam during Lee's first invasion of the North. Later in 1862 Capt. Maffett was in Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond recovering from thyphoid fever. In December, 1862, at the Battle of Fredricksburg, the 3rd was positioned on Mayre's Height's above the famous stone wall manned by Cobb's Legion. (Atop this small bluff stands the family home of Martha Washington, our first President's wife.) Seven of the 3rd's officers were wounded at Fredricksburg including Major Maffett. Shortly thereafter, his wounds not being serious, he returned home to marry Sarah Halfacre. His first wife, Ann Lavinia Gallman, having died in 1860. He fathered a single daughter, Florence, who was born about 1856.

In April, 1863 the 3rd was engaged in the Battle of Chancellorsville. On the last day of fighting, somewhere in the deep woods, Major Maffett and several other members of the 3rd were captured by members of the 122nd Pennsylvannia. The Pennsylvanians tried to convince Maffett to surrender his sword peacefully, but the Major refused do so except to an officer of similar rank. Private Henry Nixdorf pointed his rifle at Maffett and said, "Are you going to unstrap that sword, or rather take the consequences of being run through with the bayonet." The Major reluctantly surrendered his pearl-handled dress sword. Maffett soon escaped his captors in the confusion of battle and what happened to his sword is unrecorded.

In June of 1863 the South Carolinians were camped near a small Pennsylvannia college town named Gettysburg. The commander of the 1st Corps was General James Longstreet. On June 2, 1863, the second day of this epic battle, the soldiers of Kershaw's Brigade leapt over a stone wall in an unsuccessful attempt to silence Federal artillery along the Wheatfield Road. The 3rd & 7th South Carolina proceeded straight across Rose's Farm to the Stony Hill. A Federal counterattack forced them back. The fighting was some of the most ferocious of the war. From Lt. Col. Maffett's own battle report, "In this position the enemy advanced to within 30 yards of us, and, for more than an one hour, we held him in check, notwithstanding the repeated re-enforcements brought up by him." The 3rd itself was reinforced by 40 men of the 5th Georgia. He continued, "We remained in this position, under a heavy fire of musketry at short range in front, and an enfilading fire of grape and shrapnel from the batteries that the left had failed in entirely silencing, until about dusk, when we were ordered by General Kershaw back to another line a short distance in our rear. Thus ended the fight for the day."

In September, 1863 the 3rd was in northern Georgia at the Battle of Chicamauga. They were heavily engaged at Snodgrass Hill where the Union General Thomas made his famous stand thus saving the Union Army from total collapse. After participating in the Battle of Knoxville, the 3rd returned to Virginia and saw action in 1864 at The Wilderness where Col. J.D. Nance, commander of the 3rd for over two years, was killed. At that time Major Maffett was promoted to Lt. Colonel.

On August 26, 1864, while on picket line in Halltown, West Virginia, Lt. Col. Maffett and about 100 men of the 15th South Carolina were captured by Sheridan's Federal Cavalry. He was sent to the military prison at Fort Delaware in the middle of the Delaware River in New Jersey. He died there of chronic dysentery on April 26, 1865 just 7 days after the surrender of General Lee's Army at Appomatox. The only comment other than the cause of his death was that he "left no effects." The location of his grave is unknown.

This map conveys the fighting on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863 between 5-6 p.m. The Stony Hill, where Lt.Col. Maffett and the 3rd SC Infantry made their stand, lies at the center between the Peach Orchard and the Wheat Field.

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