Olin Miller Dantzler was a wealthy planter serving in the S.C. legislature at the outbreak of the war. Though he strongly opposed the war and had proposed several compromise measures in the legislature, he enlisted on April 11, 1861 as a private. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 20th South Carolina Infantry on Jan. 11, 1862. Dantzler was promoted to Colonel of the 22nd SC Infantry in April, 1864 shortly before he was killed on June 2, 1864 while leading his men in an effort to take Fort Dutton during the Bermuda Hundred campaign. A promotion to brigadier general did not reach him before his death. He is buried in South Carolina at Tabernacle Cemetery in Saint Matthews, Calhoun County.
The earthworks at Battery Dantzler (originally called Fort Howlett), the battery located on the northern end of the Howlett Line named for him on June 13, 1864, are preserved in a Chesterfield County park (see map and directions at http://www.chesterfield.gov/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=16243).
