Military Appreciation Month Reading List

Cover image from Carlisle & Camden: A Centennial History of Carlisle Military School and Camden Military Academy

Military Appreciation Month honors both current members and veterans of the United States Military. South Carolina has a strong military history, with many people who have served, important military bases, and key events that helped shaped the nation's history.

Below is a select reading list highlighting South Carolina's contributions to our military and military history through biographies and memoirs, our regiments and military schools, and our military installations.

Biographies & Memoirs

Cover of Dearest Mama: The Lost Letters of a Fallen Soldier and the Stories of those He Left Behind

Dearest Mama: The Lost Letters of a Fallen Soldier and the Stories of those He Left Behind

William Walker

William S. Walker never met his uncle, Fletcher "Bud" Blanton, who was killed in World War II before Walker was born. Bud was just a faded memory until Walker discovered a forgotten paper sack in the attic with the note, "Go through before you throw away." Inside were family photos, postcards, and letters Bud had written from the frontlines, the first one beginning with "Dearest Mama." Dearest Mama tells Bud's story and serves as a deeply personal family chronicle that resonates for all those left behind when service members do not return home from combat. 
 

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Cover of Stephen A. Swails: Black Freedom Fighter in the Civil War and Reconstruction

Stephen A. Swails: Black Freedom Fighter in the Civil War and Reconstruction

Gordon C. Rhea

Stephen Atkins Swails served with distinction in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry and became the first African American commissioned as a U.S. combat officer. After the Civil War, he stayed in South Carolina, playing a key role in politics and civil rights. Through later erased from history, Gordon C. Rhea's biography revives Swails' powerful legacy - a story of resilience, leadership, and the ongoing fight for racial equality. 
 

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Cover of Captured at Kings Mountain: The Journal of Uzal Johnson, a Loyalist Surgeon

Captured at Kings Mountain: The Journal of Uzal Johnson, a Loyalist Surgeon

Uzal Johnson

During the American Revolution, New Jersey surgeon Dr. Uzal Johnson joined the Loyalist American Volunteers under the command of the British Colonel Patrick Ferguson. His wartime journal traces their movements through the Carolinas from 1780 to 1781 and offers a rare Loyalist account of the pivotal Battle of Kings Mountain. 
 

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Photo of A.H. Gladden

The Gallant Gladden: The Life and Times of General A.H. Gladden, South Carolinian, 1810-1862, Private, 2nd Seminole War Colonel, Palmetto Regiment, Mexican War, Brigadier General, CSA, the War Between the States

Edith Anthony Purvis

The Military Career of Adley Hogan Gladden, a South Carolinian who served in the Seminole Wars, Mexican-American War, and the Civil War. He was wounded and died at the Battle of Shiloh. 
 

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Cover of You Are Worth It: Building a Life Worth Fighting For

You Are Worth It: Building a Life Worth Fighting For

Kyle Carpenter and Don Yaegar

A memoir recounting the Medal of Honor Recipient, Kyle Carpenter's journey from hiss self-sacrifice in Afghanistan to his remarkable recovery and pursuit of a fulfilling life. 
 

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Regiments & Military Schools

Cover of Cadets in Gray: The Story of the Cadets of the South Carolina Military Academy and the Cadet Rangers in the Civil War

Cadets in Gray: The Story of the Cadets of the South Carolina Military Academy and the Cadet Rangers in the Civil War

Gary R. Baker

The story of the Cadets of the South Carolina Military Academy (the predecessor of The Citadel) and the Cadet Rangers (Co. F, 6th South Carolina Cavalry) in the Civil War.
 

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Cover of Carlisle & Camden: A Centennial History of Carlisle Military School and Camden Military Academy

Carlisle & Camden: A Centennial History of Carlisle Military School and Camden Military Academy

Lachicotte Zemp

Chronicles the combined 100-year history of these two South Carolina institutions, highlighting their evolution and impact.
 

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Historical Sketch and Roster of the South Carolina 26th Infantry Regiment

Historical Sketch and Roster of the South Carolina 26th Infantry Regiment

John C. Rigdon

The South Carolina 26th Infantry Regiment was formed in Charleston in September 1862 from the remnants of the 6th and 9th Infantry Battalions, both devastated during early fighting in Virginia. The regiment later served in the siege of Jackson, Mississippi, the defense of Charleston, and finally returned to Virginia to fight in the Petersburg Siege and the Appomattox Campaign.
 

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Cover of Parris Island: "The Cradle of the Corps": A History of the United States Marine Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina, 1562-2015

Parris Island: "The Cradle of the Corps": A History of the United States Marine Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina, 1562-2015

Eugene Alvarez

For nearly a century, Parris Island has forged raw recruits into United States Marines through grueling physical and mental trials. In this compelling firsthand account, former drill instructor Eugene Alvarez captures the essence of Marine training. Through vivid recollections from recruits themselves, this book reveals a world that is by turns humorous, heartbreaking, and harrowing. The result: a Marine instilled with unshakable discipline and a legacy of honor carried into both war and peace.
 

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Cover of Sharpshooters Forward: The Regimental History of the Palmetto SharpShooter Regiment, South Carolina Volunteers, 1861-1865

Sharpshooters Forward: The Regimental History of the Palmetto SharpShooter Regiment, South Carolina Volunteers, 1861-1865

Brocky A. Nicely

The unit history is followed by a roster of the troops in the Palmetto SharpShooter Regiment with detailed information on each soldier, including a transcription of his service record.
 

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Cover of The Wee Nee Volunteers of Williamsburg District, South Carolina in, the First (Hagood's) Regiment

The Wee Nee Volunteers of Williamsburg District, South Carolina in, the First (Hagood's) Regiment

John G. Pressley and John C. Rigdon

The Wee Nee Volunteers of South Carolina were a part of Hagood's 1st Infantry Regiment. They began the Civil War in South Carolina, then transferred to Virginia, surrendering at Appomattox.
 

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Military Installations

Cover of Cornfield to Airfield: A History of Columbia Army Air Base

Cornfield to Airfield: A History of Columbia Army Air Base

Rachel Haynie

A concise history of Columbia Army Air Base, WWII B-25 training center in the capital of South Carolina.

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Cover of When the Soldiers Came to Town: Spartanburg's Camp Wadsworth (1917-19) & Camp Croft (1941-45)

When the Soldiers Came to Town: Spartanburg's Camp Wadsworth (1917-19) & Camp Croft (1941-45)

Susan Turpin

During World War I and World War II, more than 350,000 men on their way to battlefields abroad came to Spartanburg to learn to be soldiers at the training camps of Wadsworth and Croft. The story of how wartime preparation changed them, and how they in turn changed Spartanburg, is the focus of Hub City’s When the Soldiers Came to Town, a lively, illustrated history edited by Susan Turpin, Carolyn Creal, Ron Crawley, and James Crocker. Few traces remain of the 2,000-acre Wadsworth training facility and the 20,000-acre Croft complex. Many of the soldiers who trained there are gone as well. But this collection of photographs and memories ensures that Spartanburg―and the rest of the world―will not forget what went on at those bases in those short years. It also shines a light on the dynamic beginnings of the Spartanburg Memorial Airport, site of numerous “war games” that trained thousands of American flyboys in the early 1940s. Along with engaging oral histories, there are more than 400 photographs here―from soldiers parading in Morgan Square and dining in local restaurants to digging combat trenches and learning bugle calls.

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Cover of Charleston Reborn: A Southern City, Its Navy Yard, and World War II

Charleston Reborn: A Southern City, Its Navy Yard, and World War II

Fritz P. Hamer

As the nation entered World War II, the city of Charleston struggled with a stagnant economy that had never recovered from the Civil War. The glory days of the antebellum period were decades in the past, yet Charlestonians drew their pride from a bygone era, rather than from hope for the future. This compelling look at Charleston s twentieth-century history chronicles the changes and challenges faced by Charleston as its population exploded in response to expansion of the Charleston Navy Yard. As World War II called for the United States to flex her industrial might, the shipyard rose to meet the challenge and 55,000 new residents flooded into the city.

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Upcoming Event

Colonial militia reenactors in a field.

Defenders of Liberty: The Evolving Story of America’s Military

May 22, 2025, 10:00 AM

Join us for a one hour webinar exploring America's military evolution from its colonial militia roots to its modern global presence. This focused session traces the remarkable transformation of U.S. armed forces that began with citizen soldiers defending colonial settlements against Native American tribes and fighting for independence from Great Britain.