A Treeless Ashe House

At the end of the war, Union Brig. Gen. John Porter Hatch was in charge of the District of Charleston, with his headquarters here, in John Ashe’s mansion at 26 South Battery. Born in Oswego, N.Y., in January 1822, he won appointment to West Point from which he graduated in 1845, in time to fight in the Mexican War. He was twice brevetted for courageous conduct. Like many officers in the old army, he served out west in the years before the Civil War. Commissioned brigadier to rank from Sept. 28, 1861, Hatch commanded an infantry brigade a year later in the Maryland campaign. Badly wounded at South Mountain, he subsequently received the Medal of Honor for his gallantry under severe enemy fire. After recovery, his various duties eventually brought him to South Carolina. In this one there is a notable (but easy to miss) disappearance: the big tree in front of the Ashe mansion. General Hatch may have ordered both the tree and wall removed, as they blocked a full view of his fine residence.

This is the caption as printed in 100 Significant Civil War Photographs: Charleston in the War. It has not yet been through this site’s research and fact-checking pass.