Never had Lieutenant Charles C. White faced such a dilemma: he had to choose between capture or being shot by his own troops — and he decided to risk being shot. An officer in the 10th South Carolina Infantry at the Battle of Murfreesboro, White commanded a Confederate skirmish line that was surprised and captured by Federal cavalry. "Resistance was then useless, as they were largely outnumbered," recalled an eyewitness. "The enemy were about to take [away] their prisoners...." Then Lieutenant White took control of the tense situation. Troops of his regiment stood in a battle line nearby, within easy rifle range and prepared to fire, but the South Carolinians hesitated for fear of killing their own men.

Lieutenant White realized the Confederate skirmish line was broken — and he and his troops were headed for a Northern prison camp — unless his men opened fire. But a volley from the regiment could kill friend as well as foe. His troops were indecisive, but not Lieutenant White, who yelled the order: "Don't mind us, commence firing!"
"A well-aimed volley was poured into the Federal ranks, a number of them falling from their horses," recalled a veteran of the battle. "Our men [in the skirmish line] with their hands grappled with their captors, released themselves, and brought several of their captors, now prisoners, into our lines."
White, who was later promoted to captain, brought all his skirmishers to safety and established a reputation as a fearless and self-sacrificing officer. "His record as an officer was without a superior," recalled one of his men. "He never asked his company to go where he would not lead, and on [his] support [we] could always implicitly rely. Were his career more generally known, no officer of his rank and name would shine brighter on the roll of Confederate fame than that of Charles Carrol White."

In the spring of 1861, twelve companies of South Carolina volunteers assembled near the port of Georgetown for Confederate service. The eager recruits marched into Camp Marion bearing a variety of colorful names including the Swamp Fox Guards, the Horry Rough and Readys and the Pee Dee Rangers. Recruited from the coastal and inland counties of South Carolina's Waccamaw and Pee Dee River regions, the men of the 10th had an abundance of enthusiasm and little military experience.
Under Colonel Arthur M. Manigault's command, the regiment was detailed to the sea islands on the coast of South Carolina — where some troops believed they had been forgotten. Even the Confederate paymaster seemed unmindful of the men, forgetting to show up to issue their pay of $11 per month. Measles, dysentery and malaria struck the troops, inflicting the regiment's first deaths. The war's early days were spent "drilling, loafing, marching to Georgetown and back, writing and receiving letters to and from loved ones, playing and wishing to get to the front."

The troops of the 10th South Carolina were eventually posted to Corinth, Mississippi in the Confederate Army of the Mississippi. The regiment joined General Braxton Bragg's Kentucky Campaign which ended at the Battle of Perryville. After the battle, Bragg withdrew his army into Tennessee and encamped at Tullahoma. In late December, the 10th South Carolina and the rest of Bragg's Army of Tennessee broke camp and engaged the enemy at the Battle of Murfreesboro, where the regiment distinguished itself in action. Afterwards, Bragg's army went into winter quarters and the 10th South Carolina was consolidated, serving in the field with the 19th South Carolina Infantry. In the summer of 1863, the regiment moved with Bragg's army to northern Georgia near Chattanooga. Colonel Manigault was promoted to brigadier general and command of the 10th South Carolina was assumed by Colonel James F. Pressley.
The regiment distinguished itself again at the Battle of Chickamauga. After Chickamauga, the 10th was engaged during the Atlanta Campaign, and fought in the bloody struggles at Franklin and Nashville. Many of the regiment's troops were captured at Nashville and were sent north to prison camps. Even in notorious prisons like Chicago's
Camp Douglas, some of the 10th South Carolina's troops established a reputation for dedication to Southern independence. Private Franklin Burroughs, a successful Horry County businessman before the war, denied himself three life-sustaining prison meals in order to buy a stamp to write to a former business contact in the North. Burroughs asked the broker to send him underwear and blankets on credit. The Northerner agreed — but only if Burroughs would swear an oath of allegiance to the North. Burroughs starved himself for three more meals in order to buy another stamp and send the Yankee merchant a defiant refusal.
The depleted 10th South Carolina participated in the 1865 Carolinas Campaign and fought at the Battle of Bentonville. Shrunk by losses to a fraction of its original strength, the regiment was consolidated again and became the 19th South Carolina Infantry Consolidated. The determined, but war-weary survivors of the 10th South Carolina surrendered with General Joseph Johnston's Confederate army to Federal forces in North Carolina on April 26,1865.