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The W.L.I. was part of this charge to retake the ground around the Henry house at Manassas on July 19, 1861.

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The W.L.I. Coat of Arms is shown above.

The weakest of all weak things is a virtue that has not been tested in the fire," so says sage Mark Twain in "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg." The men of the Washington Light Infantry (W.L.I.) down through the years recall the words "Valor and Virtue," to be the motto emblazoned on their flag and engraved on their hearts. As one of the nation's oldest militia companies, the W.L.I. traces its origin to June 22, 1807, as our new nation was severely tested by Great Britain in what is known as the Chesapeake - Leopard affair.

The British warship H.M.S. Leopard in waters off Norfolk, Va., ordered the Chesapeake, James Barron, commanding, to prepare to be boarded and searched for contraband. When the American ship refused, the British fired several volleys in rapid succession.

In the rain of grapeshot and canister, three Americans were killed and a score were wounded. Haughty jack tars of the Royal Navy clambered aboard the Chesapeake and ordered the crew to muster for interrogation. Four crewmen were jerked out of the lineup and taken back to the Leopard under the charge of being British Navy deserters.

American anger was at fever pitch, yet the Nation was practically impotent to defend itself against aggressors. President Jefferson decried the incident and prepared to resort to diplomacy and the court of world opinion.

In Charleston the citizens were indignant that Commander Barron hadn't defended his ship to the last man and gun of them. Red-blooded men across the new republic determined to add teeth to the diplomatic efforts. Slogans such as "Remember the Leopard!" appeared on handbills and even on ribbons in ladies' hair.

On July 17, 1807, scores of Charleston men enrolled in a new militia company formed for defending our country should the Chesapeake affair widen to become another war with Britain. Jefferson's diplomacy merely forestalled the inevitable as war between Britain and the United States erupted in 1812 due to continual harassment of our cargo ships.

Though the W.L.I. saw only guard duty and patrols along the coast during the War of 1812, it did see lively action during the Seminole War and the Mexican War. The real test of the W.L.I's mettle came, however, in 1861 when South Carolina seceded and the call came from Montgomery, then the Confederacy's capital, for South Carolina to send her fair share of soldiers to Virginia.

The men of the W.L.I. assumed, as did other local militia units, that their duty would be confined to defending our coast. Had it not been for a priest, a young South Carolina College (now USC) graduate, and a Broad Street attorney, this grand old organization might have sat out the War guarding the sea islands.

The 32-year-old priest of the Church of The Holy Communion, Reverend A.T. Porter, was walking across Washington Square in May1861, when Thomas M. Logan, age 20, ran to catch up with him. Porter served as chaplain to the W.L.I. and young Logan, just graduated from South Carolina in Columbia, wanted to bend his ear about an urgent matter. The W.L.I. had recently met for drill, and the men voted not to deploy to Virginia.

Porter had opposed secession and feared the consequences of a Union invasion of the South, but he listened to Logan's plea for help in finding someone of courage and ability to lead at least a token company of the W.L.I., Charleston's elite rifle company, to the war's centerstage in Virginia. Former congressman James Chesnut had recently assured everyone here that there would be no war. So, certain was he that the North was bluffing, Chesnut said he'd personally drink all of the blood shed in this war.

Porter inquired who else felt the way that Logan did, thinking that perhaps there were dozens of men eager to deploy. "William Dotterer, Theodore Klink, and myself" came the reply from Logan. That evening at the chaplain's home on Spring Street, the roster of the W.L.I. was divided into sections and Logan, Dotterer, Klink, and Porter set out on foot making calls on the ranks of the W.L.I.. Most men seemed willing to consider going to Virginia if the right man could be found to lead them. But who among the members could command them in battle if war actually came?

Benjamin Jenkins Johnson of Christ Church parish was the name that many of the ranks agreed upon. Once again Logan prevailed upon Porter to travel by ferry to Haddrell's Point, hire a buggy and ride the 16 miles up the King's Road to Johnson's plantation.

Ben Jenkins Johnson greeted his old friend warmly and invited him for dinner, knowing all the while that Porter had not ridden out just to speak pleasantries. Later, the dishes were cleared, and Johnson asked the reverend to lead the family in evening prayers. It was after 9 p.m. when Johnson and Porter discussed the reason for the visit. Johnson begged time to consider, but he gave Porter his pledge the next day. With a light heart the chaplain retraced his steps and met Logan at the Market Street wharf. The deal had been struck -- the W.L.I. had their leader, and Charleston would be represented at Manassas.

The next evening Ben Johnson waited outside the W.L.I. armory on Wentworth Street as his name was put into nomination by Logan. The thundering applause told him that the vote had been unanimous. Johnson was ushered in with Dotterer, Logan, and Klink flanking him. However, when Johnson came to the podium to address the men who'd unanimously elected him their captain, he held up his hand for silence. Reaching into his coat, Johnson pulled out a telegraph that he'd just received that very day from Wade Hampton in Columbia. Hampton promised Johnson a Lieutenant Colonel's commission if he would sign with Hampton's Legion. The W.L.I. members were shocked and demoralized, and many voted to discontinue the idea of deployment.

The next day Logan met Porter on Broad Street near the corner of Meeting, and the chaplain was commiserating with the disappointed Logan. Just at that moment James Conner, one of the city's eminent attorneys stepped out of his office and headed up Broad Street where he encountered Porter and Logan. "That's the man!" shouted Porter. "That's the man we have been searching for. Why didn't we think of him ahead of all the others?" Catching up with Conner, the reverend and the young militiaman put the question to the astonished lawyer. "Will you command the W.L.I. if the vote is unanimous?" blurted the chaplain. The rest of the story is the foundation of legend.

As Richard Schreadley recounts in Virtue and Valor: The Washington Light Infantry in Peace and War the men of the W.L.I. mustered for service in Virginia in June of 1861 wearing black felt hats looped up on the left side with the Palmetto cockade attached. The company was attached to Hampton's Legion and was in the thick of the fighting between the Henry and Robinson houses on Friday afternoon, July 19, 1861.

Through the din and smoke of battle the Captain Conner and the men of the W.L.I. probably heard the hoarse voice of Colonel Thomas Jonathon Jackson imploring his Virginians, "There's [General] Bee standing like a stonewall. Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer!"

An instant later Bee fell mortally wounded. Benjamin Jenkins Johnson of Mount Pleasant was killed a few yards away. Colonel Wade Hampton was wounded but refused to leave the field. Reverend Porter assisted the surgeons in bringing the dead and wounded from the ongoing battle.

No longer was the war about bluffs and bluster, or fancy uniforms and parades. Conner became Major General Conner and received a wound that cost him a leg at Cedar Run. Theodore Klink was killed. Thomas M. Logan, who'd been an eager youth at the war's beginning, became the Confederacy's youngest general. Dotterer was killed at Drewery's Bluff in 1864. Many other men of the W.L.I. also gave their lives in this war.

The W.L.I. aided in the healing of hard feelings by accepting the invitation proffered by President Hayes to march in the nation's centennial of 1876 held in Philadelphia.

Today, 134 years later, the Washington Light Infantry is a patriotic organization unaffiliated with the active-duty military. Its membership is composed of veterans and descendants of some of the original members.

(Dr. Thomas B. Horton is a history teacher at Porter-Gaud School. He lives in the Old Village of Mount Pleasant).

Visit his Web site at www.historyslostmoments.com.