Emilio, Luis F., History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry , 1863-1865

‘ [252] displayed was not equal to the soldierly qualities of the troops engaged. There appears to have been a lack of foresight in the preparations.’ He gives our loss, from official sources, as eighty-eight killed, six hundred and twenty-three wounded (of which one hundred and forty were slight cases), and forty-three missing: a total of seven hundred and fifty-four. Of the Fifty-fourth (with six companies engaged, numbering sixteen officers and three hundred men), the loss was one officer killed and three wounded; and of enlisted men, one killed, thirty-five wounded, and four missing: a total of forty-four. Lieutenant Reid, who was killed, fully expected his fate. He gave last injunctions regarding his family before leaving Morris Island to a brother officer. At Hilton Head he purchased an emblem of the Freemasons, with which order he was affiliated. Lieutenant Chipman wrote:—

‘I can remember poor Reid that morning before we broke camp at the landing. He was blue enough, and said to me that it was his last day on earth; that he should be killed in the fight. Lieutenant Reid was a faithful, experienced, and brave officer, and met his death in the forefront of battle, his body lying in advance of the artillery pieces until brought back.’

The Confederates fought steadily and gallantly. But their position more than counterbalanced our preponderance of numbers. It is doubtful, however, if we had more than thirty-five hundred men engaged. Lieut.-Col. C. C. Jones, Jr., in his ‘Siege of Savannah,’ gives their loss as four killed and forty wounded. But the Savannah Republican of Dec. 1, 1864, stated, ‘Our loss was between eighty and one hundred killed and wounded.’ Our defeat lost us results which are thus summarized by Lieutenant-Colonel Jones: ‘The victory at Honey Hill released ’