Captain Charles Seton Fleming (CSA)

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Killed in a skirmish at Gaines Farm, Virginia, June 3, 1864, while leading a gallant charge at Cold Harbor. He was buried where he died on the battlefield. Twenty-nine years later on June 3, 1893 (Florida Governor), Francis Fleming found the burial site, extracted the body and moved it to Hollywood cemetery, Richmond, VA.

The following account is taken from the worthy tribute to a noble brother-- "The Memoir of Captain Charles Seton Fleming, of the Second Florida Infantry, C. S. A., by Francis P. Fleming (ex-Governor of Florida), Jacksonville, 1881," in which it forms Chapter VI, pp. 79-88, and Appendix G, pp. 121-4.

Charles Seton Fleming, the son of Colonel Lewis Fleming, a planter of Florida, of gentle Irish descent, was born near Jacksonville, February 9, 1839; educated in local private school, and in youth found employment in a mercantile house in Chicago, Ill. He evinced at an early age a preference for the profession of arms, and early in the year 1858, entered as a cadet "King's Mountain Military School" at Yorkville, South Carolina, the principal of which institution was Major Micah Jenkins, who afterward served with distinction as a General in the C. S. Army, "and fell a martyr to the 'Lost Cause' on the bloody field of the 'Wilderness' on the 5th of May, 1864."

Young Fleming attended this school until June, 1859. After serving for a time as the purser on a river steamer, he entered, in July, 1860, upon the study of law, in the office of his brother, Louis J. Fleming, in Jacksonville, Florida. In consonance with his instincts he was also a member of a local military company--the "Minute Men." In April, 1861, in the "momentous call of the period," he assisted in raising a company to form a part of the Second Florida infantry, designed as a representative regiment of his State, for service in Virginia. It was organized at Pulatka, early in May, with John W. Starke as captain, C. Seton Fleming, first lieutenant, Alexander Mosely (son of ex-Governor Mosely), senior second lieutenants and John E. Caine, a native of South Carolina, as junior second lieutenant. The Second Florida infantry entered the field by going into encampment at Yorktown, Va., on the 17th September, 1861.

In the sight of Yorktown, in the spring of 1862, the Second Florida, received its "baptism of fire" in a sortie in conjunction with the Second Mississippi battalion, made to dislodge a detachment of the enemy's sharpshooters near Fort Magruder; and in which they were successful.

As acting-adjutant of the Second Florida, in the engagement at Williamsburg, May, 1862, Lieutenant Fleming was severely wounded through the hip and was left in Williamsburg. Upon the entrance of the enemy he fell into their hands, and in the latter part of July, was placed with other prisoners on the "Rip Raps" in Hampton Roads.

Having been exchanged, Fleming returned to his regiment to find himself without rank, the reorganization having taken place whilst he was a prisoner, and it was thought that he would not recover from his wound. He therefore took his place in the ranks of his old company, but soon after the second battle of Manassas, he was appointed Captain of company G, of the Second Florida, and participated in the investment of Harper's Ferry and the battle of Sharpsburg. Upon the return of Lee's army to Virginia the Florida regiments, the 2d, 5th and 8th were formed into a brigade and placed under the command of General Edward A. Perry. The brigade did gallant service at the battles of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862; Chancellorsville, May 3-4, 1863; at Gettysburg, as detailed; at Bristow's Station, October 14, 1863, and in other engagements-- Captain Fleming constantly participating. He sealed his devotion to the cause he loved so well, being killed while leading the Second Florida, in the engagement near Gaines' Farm, Virginia, June 3, 1864. He was buried in the woods on McGehee's farm, but on June 3, 1893, his brother, ex-Governor Fleming, having found the grave, had the remains disinterred and placed in Hollywood cemetery, Richmond, where they now rest.