The 7th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment was a late war creation, expanding the four small companies of the Holcombe (SC) Legion Cavalry into a full sized regiment of ten companies. Independent cavalry companies operating along the South Carolina coast were ordered northward towards Richmond to consolidate with these four smaller companies, and the regiment was formed on March 18th, 1864. Company F of the 7th South Carolina Cavalry had previously been known as the “Rutledge Mounted Riflemen”, and Sergeant Jeremiah Smith was one of the troopers who served with this command. Jeremiah and the 7th South Carolina Cavalry were placed in a brigade of cavalry commanded by Brigadier General Martin Witherspoon Gary, and they participated and engaged themselves in the many battles involving the siege of Petersburg and Richmond in 1864.

On April 2nd and 3rd, 1865, Petersburg and Richmond fell to U.S. forces. Jeremiah with the rest of the 7th South Carolina Cavalry accompanied General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia as they retreated westward, in hopes of getting down south into North Carolina to consolidate forces with another Confederate army commanded by General Joseph Johnston. Less than a week later, the 7th South Carolina Cavalry found themselves at a place called Appomattox Station. It was there trains filled with supplies were waiting on the train tracks for Lee’s army to reach them. The lead elements that reached near the station first belonged to the Confederate Artillery Reserve, commanded by General Rueben Lindsay Walker. They were supported by Gary’s Cavalry Brigade (including the 7th South Carolina). As late evening began to take shape on April 8th, 1865, a bunch of commotion was heard coming from the station. The Confederates realized Federal Cavalry had rode around Lee’s army from the south and now were at the station in front of them, removing and destroying the badly needed supplies for the Confederate army. General Walker prepared for an assault, placing some of his cannons in a defensive semi-circle, and ordered General Gary’s Cavalry to guard his left flank. Jeremiah and the 7th South Carolina Cavalry deployed and began skirmishing with the Federal cavalrymen, driving them back, fighting around Appomattox Station itself. One member of the 7th South Carolina remembered, “[The regiment] was detailed to move up and take a position opposite and return their fire…. Amid the flashing, and the roaring, and the shouting, rose the wild yell of a railroad whistle, as a train rushed up almost among us… we were fighting around the depot.” Jeremiah and the 7th South Carolina shortly thereafter fell back to the cannons, and prepared for a defense, guarding both flanks of General Walker’s guns as perviously instructed. Only guided by moonlight, the Federal cavalryman made a number of separate mounted charges, each one, other than the last, being repulsed by Walker’s guns and Gary’s cavalrymen. The last assault broke the rebel line, and chaos ensued. Jeremiah and the 7th South Carolina Cavalry started to fall back from the battlefield towards the Appomattox Court House village where the rest of Lee’s army was positioned. A member of the 7th South Carolina would later write, “We were going through an open old field, and came now to a road through a narrow piece of woods, where we broke from line into column, and double-clicked through the woods so as to get to the road beyond. Before we got to the turnpike [Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road] we heard the bugles of the enemy… their cavalry charged the [wagon] train some two or three hundred yards below us.” The South Carolinians rode around the Federals, hoping to get back to the rest of Lee’s army. Jeremiah might have been one of the men handpicked to be thrown out on the skirmish line, protecting the regiment’s rear as it linked back up with the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road. Soon afterwards, a Federal squadron of cavalry was heard and seen traveling down the road towards the South Carolinians and the Appomattox Court House Village. The handpicked men from the 7th South Carolina rose from their hidden positions and fired upon the Yankees, unhorsing and emptying the saddles of many. Following this brief and sharp engagement, the 7th South Carolina Cavalry reunited with the rest of Lee’s army and went into camp.

The next morning, on April 9th, 1865, Lee’s army prepared for a fight - a fight that would determine the survival of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Federal soldiers were closing in on three sides and with a flooded river to their north, the rebel soldiers needed to make an assault to break out of the encirclement. Gary’s cavalry brigade with the 7th South Carolina was deployed along the Prince Edward Courthouse Road on the left flank of Lee’s attacking battle line. Federal cavalry was soon seen in their front, and Jeremiah and the other South Carolinians prepared for a charge. One trooper in the 7th South Carolina Cavalry would recount, “[The regiment was] between the town [Appomattox Court House] and a large white house [Col. Morton’s house] with a handsome grove around it. In the yard could be seen a body of [enemy] cavalry, in number about our own; we saw no other troops near. Two or three hundred yards to the right of the house, an officer, apparently of rank, with a few men, his staff probably, riding well forward, halted, looking toward the town with his glass. Just as he rode out, General Gary had given the order to charge the party in the yard… We drove them through the yard, taking one or two prisoners…. We followed up their retreat through the yard, down a road through open woods beyond… when, stretched along behind brown oaks… was a long line of cavalry, some thousands strong - Custar’s.” Jeremiah and the South Carolinians were driven back after fighting for about 30 minutes with General Custer’s troopers, and it was shortly thereafter that white flags of truce were sent to the Federal lines. A couple hours later, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia surrendered. Included in the surrender was Jeremiah and the remainder of the 7th South Carolina Cavalry - 22 officers and 398 enlisted men.