the Civil War. Two months later he rose to
lieutenant colonel of the Fourth South Car-
olina Regiment and, later, assumed command
of an infantry brigade under Beauregard at
Manassas Junction, Virginia. On July 21, a
Union force of 38,000 men under Gen. Irvin
McDowell launched its drive upon the Con-
federate capital of Richmond. To accomplish
this, McDowell attempted a flanking move-
ment of 17,000 men intended to turn Beaure-
gard’s left flank, crushing him. Evans, posi-
tioned at a stone bridge with only 5,000
soldiers, perceived this maneuver and ad-
vanced without orders to meet it. Greatly out-
numbered, he was forced to withdraw until
reinforced by Gen. Barnard Elliott Beeand
Col. Wade Hampton. They too were driven
back, but Evans’s prompt actions sufficiently
delayed the Union advance in time for Con-
federate reinforcements to arrive and win the
day. Consequently, Evans reinforced his repu-
tation as a fighter and won promotion to
colonel. Politically speaking, South Carolina
was an extremely important state to the Con-
federacy, and Evans was among its earliest
military heroes. Therefore, military officials
conveniently overlooked the fact that the
hard-drinking Evans always went into battle
accompanied by an aide whose sole function
was to carry a gallon jug of whiskey.
In the fall of 1861, Evans’s brigade assumed
defensive positions in the vicinity of Lees-
burg, Virginia. On October 21, a smaller Union
force under Col. Edward D. Baker, a former
politician, advanced against the Confederates
in piecemeal fashion at Ball’s Bluff. Evans,
sensing an opportunity, boldly attacked, pin-
ning the enemy up against a precipitous river
bank and destroying them. Baker was killed,
along with 237 of his men; an additional 714
were taken prisoner. Confederate losses num-
bered only 149 men. It was a relatively small
action, but for Union forces the disaster at
Ball’s Bluff exercised influence far out of pro-
portion to its military significance. Thereafter,
a military committee under fiery abolitionist
Sen. Benjamin F. Wade formed the Joint Con-
gressional Committee on the Conduct of the
War. This political watchdog was then em-
powered to scrutinize the activities of Union
generals at will. Few could escape Wade’s at-
tention, and he became the bane of most
ranking leaders. The Confederate congress,
meanwhile, awarded Evans its thanks, while
the South Carolina legislature voted him a
gold medal. He also received a promotion to
brigadier general in October 1861.
Such was Evans’s reputation that his
brigade was allowed to function with near
autonomy. It marched around constantly and
was seen at so many locations that it became
popularly heralded as the “Tramp Brigade.”
Evans returned to South Carolina in Decem-
ber 1861 with his men, where he took control
of the Third Military District. There he con-
ducted several sharp, successful encounters
with Union forces on the coast. In the sum-
mer of 1862 he reported back to the York
Peninsula, Virginia, to observe the move-
ments of Union forces under Gen. George B.
McClellan. Shortly after, he was assigned to
the corps of Gen. James Longstreetand
fought well at the victory of Second Manas-
sas in August 1862. Evans subsequently ac-
companied Gen. Robert E. Lee’s invasion of
Maryland, where he assumed temporary
command of a full division. In this capacity
he was closely engaged at South Mountain
and Antietam that November. His men per-
formed well but took exceptionally heavy
losses, and rumors of Evans’s possible intoxi-
cation began surfacing. He then returned to
North Carolina with the Tramp Brigade to
guard the coastline against enemy incursions.
On December 13, 1862, he repulsed an attack
led by Gen. John G. Foster at Kinston but
subsequently withdrew without orders to
Wilmington, North Carolina. At this point,
Evans was charged with being intoxicated,
court-martialed, then acquitted. However, he
began losing the confidence of the govern-
ment, especially General Beauregard, his im-
mediate superior. When reports of unfavor-
able conditions in the Tramp Brigade reached
his ears, Beauregard relieved Evans from
duty pending further investigation. AcquittedEVANS, NATHANGEORGE